As I was browsing through YouTube this morning, I spotted a new video from the folks at TheCameraStoreTV that looked quite interesting, pitting the new Panasonic GH5 II vs the RED Gemini 5K. And right after the introduction, I spotted a familiar face, my buddy Ryan desperately trying to not laugh at the antics of Noah from Glean Productions. So, I’m posting it here.
There are two ways one can take “this camera vs that camera” style content. The first is to see which is objectively “better” – which is what makes this comparison so unfair – and which is better for a certain target market or use case. The RED Gemini 5K pretty much hammers the Panasonic GH5 II in most every respect, but are there times when the GH5 II is better?
Well, sure. The RED Gemini 5K is a pretty massive rig once you start to add lenses, monitor, power, wireless video transmitter, remote follow focus system, and you’re holding a gimbal large enough to tackle it all. It’s not exactly a run-and-gun setup. There is perhaps an argument to be made that it is run & gun vs something like a huge Arri cinema rig, but it’s not a small lightweight setup.
But if you’re a solo shooter or a very small production company with more portable, something like the Panasonic GH5 II is much easier to wield and still produces very decent results – depending on what the footage is for. For a start, the GH5 II has autofocus built in. Whether or not it’s objectively any good is a debate for another time, but if its abilities will keep your subject in focus in a manner that’s satisfactory to you, then that means you don’t need the HDMI transmitter and remote follow focus unit.
You possibly don’t need the monitor, because it has a built-in flippy out LCD. You can power it with a small battery inside or using the single-handed hand-held gimbal you’re able to mount it on. The lenses are also often (but not always) smaller than the larger Super 35 or “full-frame” lenses used on something like the RED Gemini 5K.
As to how the footage holds up between the two, and the specific advantages and disadvantages of one camera’s sensor vs the other… Well, I’ll let Ryan and Noah talk about those and you can watch the video. It’s well worth checking out if you’ve been considering the Panasonic GH5 II and really puts into perspective what it really can and can’t do.
It’s also just a very interesting discussion on filmmaking and covers a lot of things to consider when purchasing any camera or shooting a production, as well as a few shooting tips and tricks.
Videos like this are great to me because they’re about setting up expectations. If you have a task that you need to do and you were considering buying a certain camera and then something new comes along, you can see whether or not the new one can stand up to the task or not. Sometimes no, but sometimes yes. It’s about having the right tool for the job rather than what’s “better”.
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