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GH4 4K Panasonic video camera, User reviews and opinions
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  • SuperSetSuperSet

    @FilmingArt, you seen this comparison?

    It looks like the low light comparison is not that drastic.
    Also, I think the difference between the GH3 and GH4 is more than minor - focus peaking, better EVF and LCD, and obviously 4K. Having owned both the GH2 and GH3, I'd pick the GH4 every time.

  • FilmingArtFilmingArt

    @tinyrobot

    I would rate the GH4 maybe 1/2 stop better in lowlight than GH3, so maybe 1 stop better than GH2. The main advantage being a little more room in the shadows and more in the highlights, but 100% Honesty I would not rate it as a serious leap forward, more like a half step.

    I've been using GH cameras and owning since the GH1, so I have a lot of experience with them.

    GH4 main advantage is 4k being able to capture good detail in wide shots, but GH2 Hack + GH3 were always pretty good at this anyways. Heck Hacked GH2 is better detail than 5D Markiii, but the main advantage of 5D is low light high iso camera + obviously FF.

    GH4 also has much much better autofocus speed when taking pictures, so that may be an advantage if you need it.

    Really thinking about it I would much prefer a low light / high iso camera than 4k. A good 1080p camera with low light is imo something Panasonic should have focused much more. I truly think Sony A7s (even though cost more) might be the camera that is really going to make sense for a lot of people.

    I need to run some more tests, but 1st impressions are not really a big difference of Hacked GH2/GH3

  • MimirsanMimirsan

    @hammyuk Where are you getting yours from? Ive spoke to WEX & CVP and they have told me its now the 12th and this is only for the preordered units. So it starts....

  • EnoEno

    @hammyuk The best software is the one you now how to operate. I personally use Premiere CC and is does the job very well.

  • hammyukhammyuk

    hopefully will be getting my gh4 on the 6th of may UK release, whats the best software for editing a 4k clip that can scale it to 1080p as i guess the software you get free with the camera cannot do it ?

  • EnoEno

    For all the super flat amateurs... You should not destroy the image by making it as flat as possible and then complain about high ISO performance, sorry but this is absurd. By lifting the shadows you increase the noise proportionally. For starters, super flat profiles are useful only with good codecs and at least 10 bit of information at lower ISO stings.

    By searching for real iso test I found this site: http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Panasonic_Lumix_GH4/ In the end there are 4K samples at 25 fps in standard profile directly from the camera. I think ISO 3200 is usable, even ISO 6400 with a good NR treatment.

  • tinyrobottinyrobot

    @FilmingArt what would you consider useable high iso on the GH4 for narrative work and doc work? On the GH2 I would only use 800iso if really necessary but tried to keep it under 800iso most of the time.

  • FilmingArtFilmingArt

    @RatLabProductions

    I must agree with Joe on High Iso low Light the camera is bad, borderline unusable with slow glass, but that's about it.......

    Using fast Glass 1.4 will help a lot, also the Max iso I would use is 1000-1250 but really try to keep it below 800. Now the benefit is I light my scenes 80% of the Time for the work I do so while it can be a problem, generally it's not.

    Now what I must admit is when having light or shooting daytime scenes there simply is no camera better, I put it above the 5D Mark III and Blackmagic. C100 resolves about the same detail, but the MAJOR problem with C100 is no 1080 60fps which I need....... Even C300 only does 60fps in 720p.

    Overall just from my first impressions with the camera is this is a GREAT step forward for Panasonic, but if you have a GH2/3 I would not say it's a huge improvement. GH2 with Hack and GH3 are still very good cameras and when combined with great glass I would say is 85-90% close to GH4 Quality.

    I would much rather buy some great lenses for GH2/3 then to buy GH4 right now honestly speaking. I think people can hold out another year for the GH5 and the MAIN thing I really want is a better iso/low light sensor for certain run and gun jobs where you simply cannot light your scene how you want too.

    The new Sony A7s camera should be great for this...... Truth be told though if you own a Panasonic GH2/3 with Panasonic 12-35, 35-100mm and a fast 17-25mm 0.95 glass you can achieve anything you want.

    My decision now is weather to keep or sell my GH4. I own a Pocket Camera, GH3 and now GH4. I can sell the GH4 and Pocket Camera and just save it in the bank as I own some nice Glass.

    Overall if you are first getting into Panasonic MFT system I would recommend buying a used GH3 and a nice lens (Panasonic 12-35mm or Sigma 18-35mm) and skipping GH4. The ONLy problem I had with GH3 was the Low Light High Iso and disappointed to tell everyone is basically the same......

  • SuperSetSuperSet

    @RatLabProductions Great read, thanks for the link. I like his talent and technical chops.

  • RatLabProductionsRatLabProductions

    Joe Simon (Budapest film) blogged about his thoughts on GH4

    http://the-delivery-men.com/panasonic-gh4-budapest-cityscape-film/

  • AdamTAdamT

    @grierdill I was also playing around with contrast today, using both the profile contrast setting and the highlight/shadow curves. You can get an amazingly flat result if max out all the settings but I agree that it's not useable. I was thinking that adjusting the contrast in the profile might produce the same results as increasing contrast via the curves but it seems to produce slightly different results. Need to do more testing to see which is best. I'm thinking that I might go with CineD with some shadow darkening and a notch or two of highlight reduction.

  • discomandavisdiscomandavis

    @jamesgh2 thanks for that clarification. I was completely oblivious to the second set of pins.

  • joe1946joe1946

    We had up to 6" of rain yesterday and last night and there was flooding in my area so I shot some 4K UHD 2160p videos that are good enough to get some 8mp still shots off the screen captures for web use. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7448/14061046836_6ff34d3a06_c.jpg

  • ragnarragnar

    I enjoyed your video, Mr. Driftwood. Or should I say, Frankie. So, is that Tony supposed to be Mickey Rourke from Angel Heart, or maybe Year of the Dragon? Anyway, I liked the film references: On the Water Front, French Connection, Few Dollars More, etc. Nice Ennio Morricone music too. I also enjoyed that nice retro intro with the circle and red effect.

  • grierdillgrierdill

    @SuperSet I just used the extremes for testing which were hilights +5, shadows -5, then no curves then opposite, hilights -5, shadows +5. Of those I will probably shoot at no curve at all. The other adjustments with the picture profiles didn't seem to matter as much (I could still push and pull them all in post to make them match) but I would still like to do one more test with the Cine D vs other picture profiles.

  • SuperSetSuperSet

    @grierdill What shadow/curve adjustment did you end up using?

  • grierdillgrierdill

    My friend got his yesterday and we played with it a bit doing some quick tests of the cine-D profile, contrast, saturations settings and the new highlight/shadow curve functions. Even though it goes against my instincts to shoot as flat as possible, the cine-D footage with highlight/shadow curve INCREASING contrast to the max looked the best even after trying to correct the other footage.

    With the low contrast settings (mainly trying the highlight/shadow curve) I couldn't correct the footage back to a normal look. I'm coming fromt he GH3 and Pocket Camera so I'm fairly used to grading, but all the ultra low con GH4 stuff had a really strong color cast, very yellow and red, and weird highlights.

    Also, messing with ISO settings, in the the same scene the different ISOs dramatically change the saturation and color. I feel like I never noticed this on the GH3, but the higher ISOs are way more saturated on the GH4.

    I was experimenting trying to adjust lower and higher ISOs to look the same (trying to see if you can hold onto highlights or shadows by under or overexposing) and it was really tricky. Definitely some weird stuff going on.

    Otherwise, the 4K footage resolution looks great. Slow mo is nice, but at 96fps its pretty mushy. My 64gb 95MB/s card worked well with every mode I tried (not long shots though). I was hoping the noise/grain would disappear a little more when downscaling to 1080p, but it didn't really do much.

    Pretty excited to start using it for green screen stuff and having twice as much resolution to play with.

  • driftwooddriftwood

    Cinelike D and V tested in this lill' mini movie I'll do my eval write up over the weekend as to what I thought about the camera during the shoot.

  • emwebemweb

    I'm looking to sell my GH3 or Gh2. Which would be a better match for a B cam for the GH4? A hacked GH2 or GH3.

  • thetricksterthetrickster

    @kilinahemedia - all the Ninja's can only handle unto 1080p30 or 1080i60 - they cannot accept a progressive signal higher than 30p.

    The GoPro's HDMI output is capped at 30p for 1080p - hence why you can see / record it.

  • WhiteRabbitWhiteRabbit

    @markr041 footage, the micro jitters were removed effectively in Premiere CC by adding Warp Stabiliser (WS) at, say 10%. There are many options to finesse the outcome of Warp Stabiliser. Also, if micro jitters cause frames to smear, it is possible to shoot with a faster shutter, so that the frames remain mostly sharp, and after Warp Stabiliser, add ReelSmart Motion Blur (RSMB) plugin, which may work in some instances, not in others. I do not use RSMB myself, only limited testing.

    As for the RS with the shot of the woman walking with the umbrella, that became fun house mirror to correct, as it would with other CMOS sensor that suffer RS to varying degrees. I am sure better results with Warp Stabiliser can be obtained, however, I tend to use it very lightly (5% to 15% WS stabilisation range) for a lot of long form work shot on 5D cams, not shot very well, yet WS helps, considering these are low budget jobs. I will dream of F55 tonight, while most of my post work is a nightmare...

  • kilinahemediakilinahemedia

    @Pete I tried out the ninja blade and the gh4 in the very mode it shows up on the ninja while recording but at 24p... However if you go to playback the footage from your camera you are able to record it on the ninja but I think it read the footage coming out of the gh4 to the ninja as 720p... gonna do more tests later as my battery died so I'm charging everything over night...

    Some of the issues that I have been having though with the ninja blade is that there are only a few recording formats that show up on the ninja... none of the 60p will show up... Most of the 30p as well...But almost all of the 24p or 23.98 will... Does any one with the ninja 2 have the same issues? Earlier today I was able to get my hands on a ninja 2 and a gopro hero 3 and the output of 60p would show up on the ninja two...I'm going to test the blade with a gopro to see if I can get the same reults...anyone with thoughts?

  • leonbeasleonbeas

    Definition and sharpess out of GH4 is indeed stuning Spec wise I'm impressed, I also, almost can say color are very improved from gh3 But please someone help understand this.

    @jamesgh2

    I also noticed that rolling shutter really bad issue on the non stabilized footage tests, every movement is noticed in a badly wobbling way. I don't know if its some settings problem but that seems to me 4k is completely out of question for handheld run and gun type shooting. And maybe just usable in solid tripod with very smooth panning movements. And really hope that fast movements like leaves in the wind and people running, wont generate this same nasty effect.

    Can someone confirm this I'm really thinking on buying an gh4 because I'm so happy with the gh3 results, but this issues is really stopping me from doing so.

    THANKS ALL

  • AdamTAdamT

    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?

  • natureflixsnatureflixs

    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.

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