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GH4 4K Panasonic video camera, official topic
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  • @crowbar The person who made the comparison between GH4 and BMC stated that exposure was dialed the same on both cameras. I also see Gh4 a little bit brighter, about 1/3 or so, but the highlights are better preserved on GH4, they clip after the BMC....this can only men better DR.

  • http://www.bhphotovideo.com/find/eventDetails.jsp/id/1818 For those who already have the GH4, learn from the pros on how to use it. I will still be watching to see what I am missing. :)

  • @mrbill Well I am no expert but yes unless I am missing something, it surely converted the 4K clip to ProResHQ liked I programed it to and when I checked the file size of each, the ProRes was larger than the 4K clip which is to be expected. But when converting the 4K clip using Firecoresoft (yes it worked for me) there is only "smart fit" option when it comes to the bit rate so there was no way to retain the quality and the file size was way smaller than the 5DtoRGB transcode plus I could notice a softness in the image for sure next to the 4K clip. The 5DtoRGB conversion was supreme to my eyes! Firecoresoft is convenient for less crucial internet stuff and also can snap a jpeg photo from any footage loaded into it. However I will certainly avoid it like the plague for converting 4K video! Sure wish rarevision and other experts who have actually done the test would weigh in here on the pros and cons of using 5DtoRGB as a convertor to preparing the 4K for editing in a 1080p timeline. The frame grabs I posted earlier should speak for themselves...

  • @crowbar - I'm confused. Does 5DtoRGB actually convert 4k? Thought it was just 1080 conversions. The Firecoresoft programme just bombs out every time I try to load a 4k file - load failure error message. Did you have any problems with it? (pc trial version)

    thanks - just desperate to find a down-convert method that will give me aliasing free footage to import into avid..

  • First test @4k

  • @Eno The BMC was consistently darker. The GH4's green tones were quite different with a lighter green tone. Detail on both looked close. Would be interesting to see a color grade with the intention to match as close as possible the two cameras. I recently received comments on Vimeo from my GH2 Moon T7 vs BMPCC comparison that Blackmagic camera's image is superior to any DSLR including all the GH series. I suppose each of us have our own personal views and tastes and that is what makes it all so interesting! Personally I like using the GH cameras which are so much easier than Blackmagic. I own a BMPCC, hacked GH2, Gh3 and now GH4 while looking forward to the Sony A7s for low light and still photos. I will surely be using the GH4 more than the BMPCC but yet want to also challenge myself in learning how to better grade the Blackmagic footage as it does require more color grading skill.

  • @bleach551 - thanks for the tip about "Log and Transfer" - don't think that FCPX has this command but 5DtoRGB works great and I like having the ProResHQ transcoded files for editing while keeping the original camera files as backup.
    Would still like to hear feedback from someone who like me has compared GH4 4K files with their 5DtoRGB ProResHQ transcodes for editing in a 1080p timeline. Seems like there is a very slight difference in the exposures between the clips and perhaps the skies varied ever so slightly but damn I could probably not tell them apart without looking at their identiyt! For me, until corrected with a better method, editing the 4K as transcoded ProResHQ via 5DtoRGB should seem ideal when working on a slow computer and when final output will be 1080p.

  • The BMC colors look like crap, but this is my personal opinion. Yes, I also saw the black spot issue on clipped whites.

  • BMC 4k colors are more deeper, but I like GH4 look. But BM 4k has black sun issue? :O

  • A DR comparison between GH4 (on the left ) and BMC 4K on (the right).

    I'm glad to see that GH4 has not only better DR than BMC 4K but also better colors.

  • @crowbar

    I use Final Cut Pro 7 and I use "Log and Transfer"for my sony a6000 avchd footage. I don't know if you use this or not. It will transfer all of the footage from your mounted sd card in your camera and transcode it into Final Cut in whatever codec/compression you have selected for your sequence.

  • I don't care that a consumer delivery is 4:2:0... What's important before that fact is the color we have to work with during the edit.

    If the consumer codec was all that mattered, we wouldn't care about 200mb data rates either.

  • Forgot to mention - above frame grabs of the ship are from Cinelike D: -2 -5 -5 -2 +1 In addition, Highlight was -2 and Shadow +2 Master Pedestal was 0. Luminance Level was 16-235 and camera meter showed overexposure but yet just shy of zebras showing.

  • @aldolega

    So if the crop factor is GH4 16x9 UHD: 2.49x does this mean that my 50mm F/1.4 turns into a 125mm F/3.5 lens??? Thats a big bummer ;-(. So what will the crop factor be with the Metabones adapter then? Lets say I use my 35mm 1.4 with a Metabones adapter as an example.

  • Not sure if I did this right but in order to upload photos here I had to resize them so imported into lightroom then exported without any adjustments other than "limit file size to 2000K.

  • Had my first day out with GH4 so now need to understand proper workflow/down-scaling with 4K when the final export will be 1080p. I’ve read this entire post but am still confused. I have a 4 year old iMac computer, plan to get a new top of the line by the end of year but meanwhile even editing HD is very sluggish so I feel my best option is to down-scale first and then drop into a 1080p timeline. Is there anything wrong with transcoding the 4K into ProRes 422HQ with 5DtoRGB and selecting the “Source” option. Is this a good way to down-scale/transcode the 4K to 1080p? And would there be a difference in quality with this method compared to dropping the 4K directly into the NLE onto a 1080p timeline (assuming my computer could handle it)? Are both these methods down-scaling and which would do the better job - 5DtoRGB or the NLE (FCPX in my case)? And am I correct in assuming that dropping the 4K into my NLE onto a 1080p timeline would tax the computer much more than the ProResHQ? Also would there be a visible improvement in ProRes4444 over 422HQ? Two frame grabs are included below - one from the original 4K clip and the other from the transcoded ProResHQ clip - may not be the exact frame but the ship was not moving so should be good comparison with lots of detail.

    By the way, Firecoresoft Video Converter yields much smaller files than 5DtoRGB when converting 4K to ProResHQ and the difference in clarity can easily be seen! With 4K transcodes using 5DtoRGB, I can barely see a difference if any between the 4K clips and the ProResHQ transcodes and by selecting “Source”, the frame rate is not converted which is useful for slow motion when shooting at higher frame rates. Any help and/or comments are appreciated. Look forward to posting 4K-1080p sample video once edited and graded.

    GH4-4K.jpg
    3840 x 2160 - 1M
    GH4-4K-5DtoRGB ProesHQ transcode.jpg
    3840 x 2160 - 1M
  • @apefos I understand what you're saying, but it's confusing/misleading for others when you're calculating crop factors from stills into video.

  • @ revitdazio 5. I use that same card and tried it last night at 200Mbps and it was fine. I think it said around 42 min. remaining when I started. 6. I have the Think Tank Streetwalker Pro backpack, and really like it http://www.thinktankphoto.com/products/streetwalker-pro-backpack.aspx?code=CC-368. I do all my shooting with my camera mounted on a spotting scope, and both fit really well in that pack. There is also a larger one secifically designed to carry your camera gear and a laptop: http://www.thinktankphoto.com/products/streetwalker-harddrive-backpack.aspx?code=CC-368

  • Hello, Excuse-me to be a little rough, but why there is alway the same music with every sample of video? It's not possible to heard something real and in relation to what is showed? I will start a topic: stop the copyright free music, use your ears, you microphone, your recorder, your taste, your vision! (please apologize for my poor english due to anger…) Jacques Hoepffner

  • @aldolega I believe both of us are correct. both of us are comparing the diagonal.

    You used a 16:9 full frame video camera to compare to others, I used a 3:2 still camera to compare to others because i would like to perceive what you said: "the most accurate measure of how close to the edge of the image circle the sensor is "seeing"".

    the advantage os using the diagonal is that it is the most accurate to compare different aspect ratios considering how far the image gets close to the image circle limits.

    this way a 16:9 full frame camera will have a 1.047x crop factor when compared to a 3:2 full frame still camera.

    also there are people who prefer to use the horizontal dimension to compare the crop factor or the field of view, so the crop factors are different in their calculations. I prefer to use the diagonal because it gives me more perceiving of how much vignetting or edge aberrations I will get, and a better understanding of the lens focal lenght in each camera considering the image circle.

  • Hi, Our production company just received the GH4 from the local dealer (Foto Hans Keuzekamp, the Netherlands). Here are some sample videos we made.

  • @apefos Aren't you forgetting to calculate the full-frame's diagonal from a 16x9 crop of the sensor?

    I do agree with using the diagonal to calculate crop, though, as lenses are spherical and thus the diagonal is the most accurate measure of how close to the edge of the image circle the sensor is "seeing".

    Edit: by my calculations (and I am by no means a math whiz, so correct me if I'm wrong), with a FF sensor's diagonal being 41.3mm (when cropped to 16:9 for video), the crop factors are the following:

    -GH2 16x9 1080p: 1.91x

    -GH3/4 16x9 1080p: 2.08x

    -GH4 17x9 C4K: 2.375x

    -GH4 16x9 UHD: 2.49x