Personal View site logo
GH4 4K Panasonic video camera, official topic
  • 3230 Replies sorted by
  • @RRRR Wait...is that the "Brick's" price standalone or bundled with the camera? From what your statement suggests the body alone will come out to around $1,6999 USD. Still high...but maybe doable for some.

  • @whiterabbit Thanks for the info. We'd advise subjects to wear solids to combat moire. I'm currently following that rule with the GH3, but with Citizen, I forgot it on one interview. But your comment about the global shutter on the BMPC is revealing. I will be looking into that...

  • @Ian_T That's what I said too.. the BMPC 4K is looking way to good for it's price point and quality & about the YAGH will see how it panes-out.

  • @DailyFilmFixm, I am only two weeks in owning a BMCC, had limited use, just some basic indoor tests and configuring the rig, while I finish editing working. What I did find was while shooting a shot with a particular foreground object in focus, at an angle where the background window screen was also in focus at one point, the cross hatched pattern of the semi-translucent screen completely messed up the shot with moire patterns, and I was using very old soft lenses. I can see why some people simply can't use the BMCC camera on certain paid gigs, just in case shots were spoiled, not picked up on set and deliver files to producer that simply are problematic or difficult to fix in post. That said, there are instances where the resolution and detail that the BMCC can achieve, partly due to not having an OLPF, is simply remarkable. In staying on topic, I am leading this to say that it will be interesting to see how the GH4 compares to previous models in the world of moire. DailyFilmFix, good to know you're already on top of moire in clothing at your auditions shoots, just have to be aware of the surrounds, as you do. If I had a choice, I would sacrifice some sharpness and have a BMCC with OLPF at point of sale, if the choice was available or if the camera had to be one or the other. I can't wait to see the GH4 moire test results.

  • @TrackZillas I love the look of the BMCC4K and it is a great choice for many people. For me the GH4 form factor will be an advantage as I can shoot on the basic camera with a more compact kit. I know it won't be as good but it's always about compromises we must make with our own personal taste or requirements. Now if I could get the BMCC4K look in a small GH4 package.... yeah, I'm dreaming!

  • @Whiterabbit Check out my last short film Citizen (

    ) shot on the GH3 and the G6. One of our subjects had a jacket on that had moire. The banker has a coat on that moires. I usually tell my subjects to wear solids, but this one interview (actually two), I just forgot to mention it.

    On my last feature, Three Days at Foster, we had one problem with moire in one interview. Other than a little moire, the interview looked great--skin was nice and the composition was really good. I found that the bigger the screen, at festivals and so forth, the less noticeable the problem was. In one screening on a huge screen, it was not noticeable at all. And that was a screening from Blu-ray.

    With doc work, I can get away with it. In a narrative, it would be easier to control, naturally...

  • Is there any material that is not graded or so... Just in order to see what one can do with it. We are planning feature film and need a light camera in order to cover the most physical movements.. And we hope that this camera can be a better (read lighter) alternative to BMC 2,5 K and match a lot of scenes shot with en epic... But this is just theory.. would be fun for my grading colleague to play around with..cheers Leif

  • @Ian_T standalone yes.. I´d guess that would mean 2299 for the brick, 1699 for the cam. Mind I would not be surprised if it was a tad lower in the US as the prices between here and the US are not exactly linear. (I´ve never experienced that it would be the other way around)

    I think people have to consider if they actually need the XLR inputs and uncompressed 4k (SDI out) e.t.c.

  • @DailyFilmFix, thank you for sharing your short/documentary, Citizen. The moire you mention was not particularly noticeable to me, however, I will download your original overnight review further in due course. Very well put together documentary, and your interior interviews show what the 8-bit 4:2:0 codec can produce when some effort is put into lighting your scene. Bravo!

    May I ask what you lensed this project with?

  • I hope someone who speak Spanish is capable to extract some useful info on 4K without the brick from this interview of Mr Advertisement...

  • @LongJohnSilver I don't want to be negative, but there is nothing really new in this surprisingly long interview, yet rather a self promotion.

  • Audio cut in and out a couple of times but I do believe he said 200Mbps was available in DCI 4096×2160 but only 100Mbps in 4k 3840×2160. Seems to conflict with other reports. Of course it was a beta firmware so it may have been that the 200Mbps in DCI was implemented on his pre-release demo but not make the cut for the product that actually ships. I guess we'll see.

  • @igorek7 be negative be negative :)

    PS 8 days and still no extra material or real info to judge. That [censored] seems to be the only one on the planet with a GH4 and not being capable of giving the most basic info... Bah!

  • guys, regarding the 4:2:2 output and that "brick": I am thinking long time now about buying an external monitor. There are so many (Small HD, Zacuto, Ninja 2) I am having the hardest time to make a decision and now I see the Ninja 2 records as well so might there be a monitor with recording option 4k in 10bit 4:2:2 that might be cheaper than Pana's "brick"? buying one device that would be a monitor (with good display and options) and recorder would be what I am looking for...

  • @olli66 Ninja doesn't record 4k, only fullhd. To have a 4k recorder you have to go to very pricey items (about 4000$) and moreover you'll probably need the yagh to achieve 4k 10 bit, since the in-body micro HDMI seems to achieve only 1080p 422 10bit

  • "Guys, please remember that GH4 HAS internal 1080p 444 recording. It is just called 4K :-) Simple convert utilities will appear after GH4 release that will make 444 lossless formats out of 4K videos."

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev am I correct when I say that 1080p 444 has 4 times as much info as 1080p 420? Would that mean that 1080p 444 would look exactly the same as 4K 420 when it comes to resolution or am I wrong in my assumptions? If so wouldn't that mean you loose none of the info of your 4K recording?

    At the same time I'm wondering what would yield best results 1. 4k 420 ipb recorded at 100mbs converted to 1080p 444 2. 1080p 422 all-i recorded at 200mbs

    Perhaps the only way to know is to test it but maybe there is a technical explanation. There is so much talk about those numbers that it makes my head spin :-)

  • @giuliobottini: as I said I was asking for a device that may be able to do 4k. I know the Ninja 2 can't... well, it looks that all 4k external recording options will be too expensive for me so I will stick with the internal processing, still leaves me to the quest of finding a good HDMI monitor

  • am I correct when I say that 1080p 444 has 4 times as much info as 1080p 420? Would that mean that 1080p 444 would look exactly the same as 4K 420 when it comes to resolution or am I wrong in my assumptions? If so wouldn't that mean you loose none of the info of your 4K recording?

    You are wrong, I think I already provided here links about color sampling.

  • @Vitaliy_Kiselev sorry, maybe I've misinterpreted or I'm explaining myself wrongly. I've checked and I count 1 red and 1 blue in 4:2:0 and 4 red and 4 blue in 4:4:4 so don't I have 4x the chroma info in 4:4:4?

    Schermafbeelding 2014-02-15 om 13.51.03.png
    604 x 338 - 51K
    Schermafbeelding 2014-02-15 om 13.51.12.png
    604 x 339 - 51K
  • @andrevanberlo

    Please, go back in topic and check links. You are right if you are talking about ONLY COLOR information.
    Thing is, human vision is also close to 420 encoding :-)

  • thanks @Vitaliy_Kiselev

    I've check the thread but I've must have missed the links. I'll check good old google, see what I can dig up :-)

  • Maybe somebody already posted this, but this is pretty interesting with also new footage screenshots http://www.eduardoangel.com/2014/02/13/7-things-we-discovered-after-shooting-4k-with-the-gh4/

  • The guy in the article at "4. Stor­age" is wrong: "Shoot­ing 4K @100mb/s 30p on a 64GB card will give you about 29 min­utes of shoot­ing time."

    You get ~ 90 minutes of 4K video at 100 Mb/sec, not 29min. as he says.

  • @whiterabbit With Citizen, I used three lenses: the 14-42 kit (broll and the one wide library shot); the Leica branded Panasonic 25mm; and the Zuiko 45mm. Cameras were the G6 and the GH3.

    The GH4 is supposed to have peaking like the G6 and, man, that really helps. In the Canon universe, with Magic Lantern, peaking is a Godsend. When I'm shooting broll of houses for reality programming, having peaking with handheld is just completely necessary. Couple a better more robust codec in the GH4 and I think you'll have a fantastic camera.

    I wonder if the peaking will be even better with a better processor in the GH4. When shooting handheld, you can just use the peaking to following the movement and set your distance (if that makes sense).

    On all my interviews, I typically shoot the 25mm for head and shoulders and a close-up with the 45mm. The Zuiko is my favorite lens. It is really sharp and the color is mighty fine.

    The 25mm is a great lens as well. It sometimes isn't wide enough to really get the hands when I'm shooting in small rooms. I have to watch my composition so that the hands don't creep in and look awkward. It is always a struggle.

    The next lens I'm going to buy is the 14mm 2.5. A guy I shoot with sometimes, who bought my GH1s, has the 14mm and it is wonderful.

    I want to also purchase the teleconversion lenses from Panasonic, but I need to find out it I can slip an ND filter in there somewhere. The fisheye might be just what I need for some shoots.

    I have a number of legacy lenses including the classic Super-Takumar 50mm 1.4 and the Pentax 135 3.5. But I prefer to do everything by wire these days--usually, I'm doing everything myself.

    Also, for this film, I used two small LEDs. With my feature, Three Days at Foster, I used three softboxes and a couple other lights. I shot 46 interviews and it wore me out. So, I'm trying the small LED approach moving forward.