GH5 uw autofocus

As per the thread title how is the GH5 autofocus underwater? Settings recommendations?

I think most people will recommend manual focus under water.

For me.

f5.6 or above, set to focus (manually) on something around 2-3m away and you are good to go, as almost everything will be in focus.

I wouldn't trust the GH5 AF on continuous AF.

It works, but it is not always very reliable. I find it usefull when there is some light and not to much debris in the water. Choose not to many focus points. When doing video, use AF to focus, put in MF when filming so it doesn't hunt. It will not hunt without reason though. Low contrast or too much stuff in the water is a problem.

AF is better than most critical reviewers are trying to tell you, but indeed worse than the high end DSLRs or dedicated video cameras.

These are some short video's I made during my last trip to Norway with a GH5 in a Nauticam housing. Most of it is shot in continuous AF.

@Rollin, I see what you mean about switching to MF, but doesn't the AF-L button work just as well? I haven't tested my new setup yet, so I don't have practical experience underwater. I was thinking a single small AF point, aperture f5.6 or higher, then AF-L would do. I have the Pana PZ 14-42, and there's no MF control with the NA-GH5.

Matt

If you don't have a focus knob, the back button is a good option indeed.

I choose the aperture I need for the image, sometimes f2.8 is the best, sometimes it is f16.

@Rollin, I see what you mean about switching to MF, but doesn't the AF-L button work just as well? I haven't tested my new setup yet, so I don't have practical experience underwater. I was thinking a single small AF point, aperture f5.6 or higher, then AF-L would do. I have the Pana PZ 14-42, and there's no MF control with the NA-GH5.

 

Matt

Thats how I'm setup. back button AF, remove the AF on shutter, so I can setup initially and not worry about it shifting even if I start/stop recording.

This past weekend I tried the C-AF underwater with my Atomos showing me the focus peaking, you could see it shifting the focus while recording, so I decided its not worth using.

Agreed with rollin thou, its not that bad and the testing I did with it and my dog, it was fully useable for day to day stuff, but following a fish underwater for it to shift the focus would annoy me a lot.

I guess most people shooting with a gh5 must know by now but there is a setting change that looks like its making the auto-focus system on the gh5 much much better.

According to all the you tube videos i ve seen so far you have to set your camera on shutter angle and then by using the synchro scan option set your shutter angle to 179 degrees instead of 180. It looks like its most effective at 30p but 24p and 60p are also improved. Haven't still found out if it works if you keep your camera at shutter speed.