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LUMIX GH5 Slow Motion Test! ► Exploring The Best Way To Get It

Photo Moment - March 21, 2018

What’s better… shoot 4K and slow down, or shoot 1080p slo-mo and scale up? I shoot 4K60p regularly so I can do a 2x slowdown on a 30p timeline and have no added frames. But what if you want even SLOWER footage? What is the best way to get it?

On a 30p timeline… 
1. Shoot 4K at 60fps and slow down 4x (for a 120fps look), where the software adds every-other-frame?
2. Shoot 1080p at 120fps so you have every frame created in-camera, then scale the video up to 4K (200%)?

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The results look clear to me. What do you all think?

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This is a great test, thanks!
I would probably never slow down a video whereby it would have to add frames. Unless of course it was an unimportant videos and I had little choice. But I never considered increasing from 1080p to 4k really. Looks great if I'm honest.
Yeah I think a lot of people would never notice, especially mixed in with other footage. If you’re looking on a huge screen, sure, but most people are viewing on small screens anyway!
why 30frame timeline and not 24?
I own a GH5. Great overall, But I can't understand for the world why would they have this internal slow-mo. Is there any quality reason to it? Can't see any. I mean the downside is huge: losing audio. Why can't it record 120fps/180fps and still have normal audio and normal video and then convert it to slo-mo in post? I come from a Canon DSLR and it was very convenient to shoot at whatever fps and then in post you choose what to do with the footage not worrying you're losing the audio. Can anyone give me a good reason why GH5 implemented this internal slo-mo? Thanks guys!
Got it. I figure it has to do with being able to play back in camera in slow motion then. That’s super important to me. Also remember that the GH5 does do 60fps with audio; it’s only after that that you lose AF and audio recording. The AF is, as I understand it, a processing issue. The GH5 and G9 do up to 180fps in 1080p, and the GH5S does 240!
Thank you for your answer. You actually did answer me :) One good reason is the slowmo playback in the camera as you said. But I wish they would do both: real time and slowmo playback and keep the audio. Maybe it would be just too much processing and would bring about more issues. The Canon I had went up to 60fps so I don't know about 120. But it wasn't playing the slowmo in the camera. So you could check it only in post
I don’t have an answer for you but please help me understand… so on a Canon if you shoot at 120fps, when you press play you see it play as 1 second = 1 second, and you want to make it actually slow motion, you do that in post? Interesting (I’ve never used a Canon that had VFR). The only thing I can think of is that I know I like looking at my slowmo clips in camera to see if I got what I wanted. It’d be very frustrating for me to not be able to see it playing back slowly on the camera. Or can you play it back both ways on the Canon?
@photojoseph
Greetings again from Florida!
So VFR cuts audio. I see people referring to shooting 4K/60p/8 bit as "slow motion with audio" for 24p/25p timelines.
Have you compared that footage with your VFR settings? Cheers.
I shoot 4k60p almost exclusively. VFR loses a little quality on ALL cameras, but it’s never been an issue.
Has anyone tested the thought of shooting in 4k All Intra and slowing that down in post? Would that not give it the equivalent of 90fps on a 30p timeline in 4k?
Ok, I'm still learning this sort of stuff, I thought All Intra was was just all the frames, vs LongGOP is 1/3rd of the frames. I figured in post you could/might be able to 'add' in frames, effectively turning it into slow motion. So what is All Intra that I'm misunderstanding? Is it just a larger 'container' for less compression compared to conventional consumer compression codexs?
All-I is every frame, yes. But All Intra is specifically NOT LongGOP so that’s not something you can “add in”. That’s a method of recording video, not adding frames. When speed ramping in software, it’s adding frames, and the better the algorithm the better the result.
Well All Intra is every frame recorded right. So 30p is 30 real fps correct? Then in post, add the long GOP which is 2+ frames turning 30p to 90p. I could not theorize what shutter speed/other considerations would be to make that work. Could this work if the workflow was figured out?
I don’t follow the logic… how would that be the equivalent of 90fps?
nice one Joseph
Haha thanks mate
as usual I should had said ;-)
Great test, helpful, thank you.
This is handy, I am taking my G9 to the Vegfest Brighton where we are doing some exercise and fitness stuff (where slo mo would work well), so knowing the best settings will be very useful 😁
Question: once the GH5 is customized (c1,c2...) how can u change between PASM modes w/in the customized setting. I have found that u need to rotate the dial first, then save it as C1 then rotate back. But that negates the other customized buttons previously saved to that custom setting. Have u found the same?
PhotoJoseph ur the best bro. Congrats on everything u do!
You can’t. It’s annoying, I know. That’s why in all my tutorials I always say you have to first choose a PASM mode, program that into a C slot, then you can tweak everything else and save over (i.e. update) that C setting.
This is great, Joseph. Thank you. One factor to consider is whether you think there is any chance you'll need the audio which would be reason to go 4k60 but other than that, the 120 seems better.

I guess this is what we would expect to see but until you see it side by side, you don't really know what you are giving up one way or the other. Thank you so much for taking the time to test this out. I really appreciate it. You are really good at this stuff.
Thank you! And yes, losing audio may be a factor for sure.
I think the 120 VFPS at 1080 looks best, this is what I use at 24fps. Also my I don't use slo mo for more than 5 seconds on my timeline so it not a big deal. I'm happy with the quality.
I've been testing the GH5 on holiday here in Portugal. Ended up really liking 4k60 slowed to 24p for most shots around town. Also used 1080p/120fps for shooting surfing. Still looks great, but doesn't do well with VLog(switched to shooting everythiing in CineD everything -5). I didn't bring a long enough lens to shoot the surfers and ended up trying out the Tele Conversion and Digital Zoom functions. I feel like there is a limit to how much you can use these and maintain quality while shooting slow mo. 4k60 with Tele was totally fine, and even decent with Digital Zoom, 1080/120 was pretty bad with either. If you're interested in the results I just posted a vid using mostly 1080p120 here: https://youtu.be/A2rwNeekYn8 It's my first time using Premiere, and first travel vid :) PS. Thanks so much for continuing to post such great content!
Can you make a Video about Shutterangel?
Definitely a good topic.
I heard, that it's good to make Videos with a 1/50 Shutterspeed, to get a nice looking Video. But I have not found an option on my GH5 to set the Shutterspeed. Now I think this is can be done by the Shutterangel. But I'm not sure. I also don't know that the Shutterangel does exactly. Pherhaps this will be also interesting for others. Greeting from Germany! I love you Channel.
Sure! What do you want to know?
Great info. Please tell me, what were the plugins you were talking about?
Thanks. I’ve never used any but if you google it there are a few. Usually as plugins for after effects or Premiere.
Is there a difference in how the software extrapolates between All-I and long-gop all other things being equal?
Great question. I would assume NO because the software has to generate a frame in longgop before it can display it, so it’d do that to render the new frames as well. Perhaps a marginal difference but not in how the frames would be interpolated. For the scaling, yeah there you might see more of a difference. Hm does it shoot All-I in VFR? I don’t think so. Don’t have it in front of me.
Different results with GH5S?
I wouldn’t expect it to be (other than that it can shoot 1080p slomo even slower)
Great show recommending to everyone. I'd like to see it at a slower shutter speed too.
Agreed. I will have to repeat.
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