This month Panasonic released a firmware upgrade for their GH5 series cameras, which added a bunch of new features to the camera. One of the highlights of the upgrade for me was the 6K 200mbps LongGOP anamorphic mode added to the camera. I've wanted to shoot some anamorphic stuff with this camera for a while, but haven't owned the right lens setup to do it. After seeing some great footage online from it, I decided to get myself a lens and try it out.
I settled on the Sankor 16F - Nikkor 50mm f/2 combination after watching some great footage from Tim Moichido. I also saw recommendations for anamorphic clamps via Redstan.com and decided to purchase one from them, which was a great idea. I highly recommend them for their quality clamps and customer service.
I got lucky and found some really clean glass on Ebay, purchasing the Sankor 16F and Nikkor 50mm lenses. After I got them I put them together with the Redstan clamp and attached it to the GH5 via 0.71x Metabones Speedbooster. Here's what the setup looked like:
GH5 > Metabones 0.71x Speedbooster > Nikkor-H AI 50mm f/2 > Redstand Clamp > Sankor 16F
I did some tests around the house and then took the combo out for a short hike around Prettyboy Reservoir northeast of Baltimore, MD.
Hiking along the stream running south east from Prettyboy Reservoir, Parkton, MD.
Overall I'm quite happy with how the setup works. The 6K anamorphic has some intense flaring and vignetting, but with the resolution it provides it can be scaled nicely to a 4K 2.39:1 timeline. I used a program called EditReady to convert the 6K HEVC files from the GH5, rendering them to Pro Res HQ, and then put together this little edit below in Premiere. Hopefully if someone is reading this and is interested in a similar setup for their GH5, this post has been somewhat helpful workflow wise. :) . Enjoy!
