GH2 vs Sony NEX 5N

EOSHD

More ongoing research not meant to be conclusive or final in any way. That will come on EOSHD later in the week. These shots show that the 5N is far messier in highs than lows. The GH2 is doing a better job with these by far.

Seems the Sony is optimised for shadows whilst the GH2 is optimised for highs. Picture profile has an effect, it just goes to show that you should set up the camera very carefully depending on what you're shooting, otherwise one runs the risk of having an image that goes someway to hell, if not quite all the way there :)

5N left pair
GH2 right pair

EOSHD

Holy sh*t :) I think I've just found what can only be described as an 'easter egg' feature on the 5N hidden in a film mode that makes such a large difference to the image it is almost like having 10bit. Makes gradation incredibly smooth between tones. Blog soon.

EOSHD

Sunset picture profile is incredible!!

stoney

Sony having the best APS-C sensor is no big fat secret. APS-C sensor having better DR and low lighting performance than m43 is not even news. So tell us something new here instead of self advertising.

Ian_T

I'm still trying to figure out what's revolutionary about this "Sunset" mode.

rigs

@EOSHD Thanks for the quick look at the sunset setting (over on EOSHD) it looks like it does smoothen the tones pretty good. I'm excited about what this cam can do, please keep us posted on your adventures with your new mistress.

cbrandin

@eoshd

I have personal reasons to know that all is good with you. So - all is good!

Chris

Aria

From all of the footage i've seen of the Sony Cams, I already felt that they seemed to do a better job of not showing any serious banding. Just go and look at all the online videos and look at the sky and you'll see what I mean.

I'm glad that you found this option and I wonder how this also effects the VG20 since it's based on the same Sensor. I honestly can't wait to start seeing reviews of the VG20. I think that having a VG20 and 5N B cam would make a nice set.

EOSHD

@Aria I'm taking a look at the VG20 today, if there is anything any of you want to know Tweet me at @EOSHD on Twitter and I'll find out

danyyyel

The aliasing on the screen above is terrible compared to the gh2 one.

Gabel

@EOSHD: Saw your article on the Sunset picture profile. It just blew me away, that thing looks amazing! And it smoothes out most of the aliasing too, making it a lot more manageable! But the gradations between the colors are amazing, it really adds a fantastic filmic quality to it!

EOSHD

@danyyyel yes it was bad on those projector samples relative the GH2... awful in fact... worse case scenario. That is what got me exploring the picture profiles to see if it can be improved, and then I had my Sunset Surprise.

@Gabel it makes me love the NEX 5N even more now, getting a very cinematic image from it. Compared it to the NEX VG20 and Sony FS100 today, have footage from each. Holds up well against FS100.

dts

wonderful andrew! keep up positive spirit while exploring and finding workarounds - some users don't see those as self advertising and value them :)

have u made any outside shots in daylight yet with the sunset profile? would be nice to know if it helps against aliasing there too :)

btw love your canon colors on the gh2, good work! maybe the nexxy can be tuned the same way ;)

EOSHD

Thanks @dts

Yes outside the Sunset profile is holding up really well without a hint of red cast or warm white balance if you use manual white balance. It maintains the advantages of better gradation and less aliasing. It also brings up details in the lows that is crushed with the other picture profiles. It is like CineStyle for the NEX 5N.

No_SuRReNDeR

It seems like I need to look more into the Sony then. But I cant afford to keep buying cameras, my GH2 was hard enough on my poor mans budget.

bwhitz

@advantsam "Plus the 5n is plenty sharp for movie and much more cinematic, gh2 looks video'ish and a stop darker in iso, maybe more?"

I haven't seen anything out the the 5n that I would consider "more" cinematic. Maybe the colors of the 5n look more cinematic right out of the box? The GH2 is little saturated, but after grading it's some of the most film-like digital footage I've seen. Almost every production person I've shown my GH2 work to, asks if it was Red MX or 35mm... so I'm not really sure the 5n is going to improve on that by much... especially since (without a hack) it's still shooting to a pathetic 28mb/s... even worse for 60fps.

But, yea... I think the GH2 is also rated a little low in it's ISO performance. ISO 1250 on the GH2 is probably equal to my 7D at ISO 800. It's cleaner though.

Are there any good "real" examples of 5n narrative style footage yet?

Ian_T

@bwhitz +1

Funny...even before the hack I've seen many examples of people matching this camera to Red footage. That has to make a loud statement. I want the Sony to at least be as good as this little cam. Low light ability just doesn't cut it alone.

For goodness sake most of these DSLRs are better in low light than film cameras. People are never satisfied.

kujina

The aliasing on the nex 5n is pretty nasty you can see it in all sample videos including the new video below, in the comments of the video somebody even misinterprets the aliasing for bad deinterlacing. Because of that obvious flaw I don't think it can be considered more cinematic than the gh2.

bwhitz

@Ian_T "For goodness sake most of these DSLRs are better in low light than film cameras. People are never satisfied."

I know right? After the last Zacuto shootout all people were talking about was how poor the DSLRs held up... they didn't even mention how much film got is arse kicked in low-light situations, or how messy the blacks are (without GOBS of DI work).

Funny how the DSLRs just become a scapegoat for everyone's frustrations... ;)

I've got to hand it to Panasonic though... they really nailed the down-sampling in the GH2. It looks like a legitimate 16MP image down-sampled image. No shortcuts taken here...

stoney

Does NEX-5N give 24p frames with photo-like details?

How about motion artifact?

Live monitoring tools?

We need more details please.

ed_lee83

I did a rather niche test comparing both cameras with Lomo anamorphic lenses to see the difference in image sizes: http://lomoanamorphicuser.com/2011/09/10/sensor-size-comparison-micro-four-thirds-vs-aps-with-lomo-anamorphic/

Aria

@ed_lee83, That was good to see in terms of the field of view. The 5N looks comical with that LOMO on it! What was the final ratio 2.66:1?

ed_lee83

@aria 2x anamorphic on a HD resolution would equal 3.55:1. Too narrow for some...

neveraholiday

seems the 5n is overheating:
http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sony-nex-5n-news-and-reviews-roundup-overheating-issues/

sparticos

nex 5n vs gh2

Hi all, I dont know about the 5n but I can say I owned the d7000 and used it with the gh2 for over 1 year
and after extencive testing I decided to sell the d7000 and get a second gh2, the d7000 has terrible alliasing, and moire problems allso too much jitter in 24p. is slightly more sensetive in low light then standard gh2. for photos gh2 is better then d7000 with raw and when used with right lences.
after I started using the inter-esting hack with gop 2 and 3 not sugested 1, my hacked gh2 blows away any camera for low light, sharpnes, graduation, no moire or aliasing, is like a 4k image especialy at the 100mb motion jpeg setting, so stop thinking if is something better out there in my experience you will have to pay over 20k to get it.
Allso to much noise is been made about panys new firmware with 25p, trust me the hack (cbrandids, intra-esting) is something we should all be exploring.

ps, 25 years profesional photography experience with Linhof, Hasselblad, and involved in digital from the start, 2 years using HD video for my work

Wishlist for gh3 when out, just a profesional body like D300, higher flash sinc, two sd slots, larger battery

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