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GH4 4K Panasonic video camera, User reviews and opinions
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  • Here's a minute video I put together from today.

  • Hi Kilinahemedia, I am trying to find out wether you can record the variable frame rates via HDMI to an external device. If you set the variable frames to say 96 on a 24p frame rate so you are recording 1/4 slomo in camera, then connect the GH4 to either a TV or if you are getting a Ninja, either one as long as it is connected via HDMI & select the 10bit 422 colour option & hit record. If you connect it to a TV, while recording slomo it will show up on the TV as either playing a 24p image, ie normal speed or it will show as a slomo image. If you film something that is moving quickly you will see wether it is slomo or normal speed. The XA20/25 also records internally conformed 50/25 so when I download the footage from the sd card & drop that into my editor I have a 50% slomo clip at full res & bitrate HOWEVER, the camera doesn't export that slomo through HDMI. So if I am recording slomo, it records it internally but I cannot record the slomo onto my ninja. I am really interested to see if I can record a 1/4 slomo clip directly onto the Ninja. So if you download the clip from the ninja & drop it into your editing suite is it slomo or normal speed? I really want to be able to record 1/4 speed but at 10bit 422 colour not the internal 8bit 420 colour. I appreciate your help, thankyou.

  • Here is a sample video that I shot this weekend with my GH4. It contains 4K @ 30 FPS, 1080p @ 60 FPS, and 1080p @ 96 FPS footage. I shot half and half of the 1080p @ 60 FPS with All-I and IPB until I had a write failure with my UHS-I class 3 card with the All-I.

    I can't have write failures with this live action footage so I switched to IPB after that failure.

    I rendered everything to 2.7K @ 30 FPS because I did image stabilization post processing on a few of the clips. There were too many clips to do all of the editing I wanted so I didn't color correct anything. This is all either Cine-D with -1 Darks and -5 Lights with +1/3 exposure in Shutter Priority creative movie mode with a shutter speed of 1/60 for the 4K footage or Scenery color profile for the others with the contrast turned down slightly and the color turned down as well.

    The 96 FPS has less resolution than 4K but not really that much less than 1080p. I actually really like that mode now. It gives you the ability to do very good super slow motion.

    I also included a few pictures I took. These were out of camera jpgs. However, I created the jpgs in camera with the RAW processing function. That is a fantastic tool for people who need to upload immediate images. It works very well.

    I am working on an instructional video now that focuses on how to shoot like an Amatuer but get pro results with the GH4.

    Try viewing this in 1080p and then 1440p on youtube. You will see the difference in the compression then.

    P1610589_resize.JPG
    810 x 1080 - 394K
    P1610593_resize.JPG
    1440 x 1080 - 599K
  • The GH4 from Personal-view deals is waiting at home.. (Hong Kong Monday arrived UK Wednesday 9am) speedy service! :)

  • My first 4K video with the GH4, in Standard Picture mode, MP4 at 1/60th aperture priority, using the 45-175 Lumix lens. No grading:

    A dreary day.

    What I learned so far: the camera overexposes; default contrast is a little low for straight to viewing (Master pedestal is conservative) rather than for editing even in Standard; good detail.

  • @markr041 You'll get less overexposure if you use the Cinelike D profile. Also use zebra stripes to dial in exposure compensation.

  • @AdamT Thanks. I used zebra stripes (set to 95%). They work fine where there are bright highlights, but are of little help in most scenes on a dull day (see the scene above). They did come in handy when I shot the white flower - which indicated overexposure and I corrected appropriately. As you know, the Cinelike D profile is a not a delivery profile, but an editing profile. It is, without grading, unattractive in many ways for viewing.

  • Can some one do a 60fps 1080p slow motion video .thanks .seen many 96fps. But not many.60fps

  • @markr041 is right. Cine D and other extra flat settings are great for editing, but not for delivering. Anyway you need at least 10 bit to properly grade a flay profile, and this is where Yagh+/external recorders come into play.

  • @arvinoculus Nice ride. :-D But a bit overexposed.

  • @Sammy

    There are examples of slow motion for 2.7k @ 30 fps, 1080p 60, and 1080p 96 in my video above. Can you tell which is which? I will post exact times for them when I get home tonight.

  • @MikeLinn Maybe the best GH4 footage i've seen. Lacks the usual YELLOW color cast, but still have bad aliasing and sharp flickering edges. Did you use sharpening?

  • Here's a quick comparison of the GH4 and GH3 at 1080p 60. All shot in MOV using the Natural profile in each camera. Unfortunately I had the GH3 set to -3 contrast, -1 saturation, and -5 NR whereas the GH4 was at 0000. I tried to compensate with curves but did not attempt to equalize color.

    As with the GH3 I'm finding that IPB is better than All-I which seems noisier and less detailed. Panasonic needs to hire Driftwood.

  • @AdamT on the video, did you mean GH4 1080p 60 200mbs?

  • Maybe this is a stupid question, but does the focusing seem slower in 4K mode? It doesn't have that snappiness to it like in 1080p or photo mode. Just wondering if its just my camera.

  • @HillTop1 Oops! Yes, that's the GH4 at 200mbs.

  • @Misfire

    No that is precisely what I am seeing. Even at 30 FPS 4K it still seems slower. I have quick focus and 60p refresh turned on. 1080p @ 60 FPS is a great mode on the GH4 if you are planning on doing much color correcting and want it to just look great straight out of the camera.

  • @mpgxsvcd

    Thanks for the confirmation, puts my mind at ease lol. I wonder if that's intended though and why no one else has mentioned it before. It's one of the first things I noticed because I wanted to check out what the fuss about the new autofocus was about, so first thing I did was set it to 4k and test.

  • @mpgxsvcd You seem to be the king of SD cards. I just got my SDXC UHS-II card today and found this on the back. In the upper left hand corner it says 4k @ 500mbps. Does this mean if we were able to hack the camera, we could could output 4k at 500mbps?

    photo.JPG
    1632 x 1224 - 706K
  • @discomandavis

    I don't think that will be possible as the second set of pins on that card for UHS II will not work in the GH4 as it is missing the 2nd set of contacts. Hence why it will be a good test to see if these speedy sandisks are worth the cash aside from UHS-1 U3 or Extreme 95mb/sec SDXCs Class 10s.

    @markr041

    I like your video but something became really apparent off the bat, if you have no stabilizer or a tripod, 4k will be unforgiving. I could see Rolling shutter wobbles on every shake in the foliage, stability will be a priority in 4k for sure. Did you have OIS off in that lens? Maybe it was inducing those micro tremors.

  • Feeling kind of dumb but I just got my GH4 today and I'm having trouble finding how to change shutter speed to shutter angle. Anyone know? Thanks

  • @marshalljeske motion picture menu, p.6, SS/Gain Operation

  • I'm just chiming in really quickly to say I've had my GH4 for a day and half and I'm flippin loving it. I upgraded from my GH2, and I think the 4K Cine D footage looks spectacular. Low light is great. Obviously there's grain there, but it looks like "nice" grain. Functionality of everything, the touch screen. It's all great. EVF is a tiny bit wonky (I've heard others say this too.) You have to have your eye in the right spot, but it sounds like it's not as bad as the GH3 (which I've never used). The controls have been a bit steeper of a learning curve than I was expecting, but most things, once I find them, seem to make sense. Wireless link is great. Couldn't do critical focus on it very well, but the peaking passing through to the app does help, but very little lag makes it all totally useable for framing. So far it gets a 9.5/10 from me!

  • Need a suggestion for a good scene file setting for nature subjects (foliage, rivers, flowers etc.) . Don't want to grade nor need flat image as clips shot will be trimmed and submitted quickly for stock video. Any help would be appreciated.

  • I'm love love luvin' the GH4. But what's up Panasonic? The GH3 seems to make better use of the font/back dials. With the GH3, when you hit the exposure compensation button you can adjust EC with one dial and the flash EC with the other dial. Not with the GH4. The flash compensation setting is gone. Likewise, with the GH3 when you hit the ISO button you could adjust the ISO with one dial and the ISO limit with the other dial. Not so the GH4. The ISO limit adjustment is MIA.

    Can we get that stuff back?