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The Gh4 can, and needs to improve
  • UEstudiosUEstudios

    I just got a gh4... and I have used a gh3 since it was released. Now I don't think the gh3 could improve much, its IPB codecs specially 50p are very nice. But the gh4... kinda disapointed me in some ways. The 4k modes, will only be at 100mbps, while there are 1080p modes at 200mbps. Why would be the reason of that? My guess would be the gh4's hardware can actually record 4k at 200mbps. Getting rid of some of those compression artifacts... Also something else that kind of made me sad is why the 96fps mode looks like uprezed 720.. I guess a ~70fps mode at full 1080 could be possible on that hardware too

    At the moment my gh4 feels like a strong horse with 3 legs. If i want to make a video with it, I won't use the 96fps mode because it looks mushy, also I doubt I will use 4k, if anyway Im going to need to shoot some takes at 50p (4k 50p? too much maybe?), the 4k doesnt present much of an advantatge, rather a problem later in post aswell as weird changes in resolution and detail throughout the finished video. Im actually scared of using it for money work.. Probably customers wouldn't even tell but Im scared of ending up with non-solid products. I will keep using my well trusted gh3 for the jobs and the gh4 shooting at similar settings only... Doesnt feel so much of an upgrade.

    Is there any possibility of a firmware hack? If any of those issues could be sorted, it would make this camera becomes a serious serious tool, to the level that I doubt that I would spend my money on bigger cameras instead of lenses lighting etc.

  • 6 Replies sorted by
  • RottenCarcassRottenCarcass

    I have not seen any discussion about hacking the GH4 - I don't think Vitali has even gathered money for a GH4. Anyhow, so far there's no hack for the GH3, so I doubt work will start on the GH4. It is not easy. Clearly Panasonic didn't make it easy to crack, or else Vitalii would have done it long ago. I'm surprised Panasonic doesn't just give Vitalii all the info, after all, he's doing more for the sale of GH1/2 than half a dozen marketers. Unfortunately, we don't know if GH3 can be hacked. By the time that's done, it will be onto GH99 before the GH4 is cracked. Anyhow, the more advanced the camera becomes, the less people feel a need for a hack.

  • mrbillmrbill

    For starters,you're ill advised not to shoot everything in 4k and down convert to 1080p - it's moire free and looks stunning. If you want slo-mo, then go to 1080p 200mbps 50/60fps when you need to. And there are some great examples of the 96fps mode out there.

    If you're selling, I'll buy it off you.

  • UEstudiosUEstudios

    I do love the gh4, and sure I go 4k if I know the whole piece is going to be in 4k. I also use it a lot for interviews to punch in and so on.

  • chauncychauncy

    again, if your end product is speced to be 1080p, shoot in 4k, edit, render in 1080p. This will give the highest quality 1080p. Way higher quality than shooting in 1080p.

  • SangyeSangye

    When cutting footage from my old Moon T7 hacked GH2 with my new 4K-downscaled-to-1080P GH4, I frequently think that the GH2 may have it beat on image quality alone. I am keeping the GH4 for all of the features like VFR, in-camera timelapse, Synchro Scan, peaking & zebras, and the improved DR, but I really get the feeling that they crippled the 4K mode with the 100Mbps codec. If they could bump it at least to 200Mbps, or ideally 300 or so, then I'd really love this camera and wouldn't miss the GH2.

  • bhintonbhinton

    I'm not finding shoot-4k-then-downscale is always the best choice. I despise rolling shutter artifacts much more than moire - so for some projects the really speedy readout at 1080 is worth the other compromises and makes me very very happy. But when RS isn't an issue, yes, 4k to 1080 definitely beats the 1080 in other respects on this cam.

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