@tylerknight

GH4 compared to GH3 in 1080P in my eyes:

-Smoother colors and gradations, less banding, much better color adjustment possibilities with better color accuracy when making big adjustments.

-Much better dynamic range due to new profiles. More natural tones when digging sensor to extremes.

-a bit better video overal resolution and feel. Finer noise and less macroblocking.

-Much less rolling shutter

-Automatic exposure is more clever

-AF is more accurate and reliable

-EVF and LCD colors are reliable anf faithful to final result. You can judge colors when shooting.

-PAL/NTSC

-low light capability with auto iso is much much better

And then there is 4k...

One question: can you put it in aperture priority with auto ISO and toggle the AEL on and off during recording like on the Sonys?

@oscillian

You cannot toggle AEL or AFL on/off. That is very annoying and a mistake from Panasonic. Maybe they admit it in GH5.

@oscillian @vesku The function of AEL, AFL, AutoISO, Exposure, Exposure Compensation using Creative Movie mode is kind of complicated. Here's my best guess. I think there might be a bug with the way Exposure Compensation works once recording starts. Needs more testing...

I can toggle AEL/AFL on/off before recording starts.

I can adjust Exposure, Exposure Compensation and Focus after AEL/AFL lock, before recording starts.

I can adjust Exposure, Exposure Compensation and Focus after AEL/AFL lock, during recording.

I can toggle AEL/AFL lock off during recording.

I cannot toggle AEL/AFL lock on during recording.

To reproduce...

Set AEL/AFL Lock = On (to set AEL/AFL button in toggle mode)

Set Creative Movie on Mode Dial

Set Exposure Mode = A

Set ISO = AutoISO

Set Aperture

Set Exposure Compensation (+/-)

Press AE/AF Lock button, watch screen for green focus indicator at focus area, AEL (lower left), green dot and AFL (upper right)

At this point the exposure and focus are "locked," but you can manually adjust them.

My observations...including some guess-work:

Manual Adjustments once AEL/AFL engaged, before recording starts... While exposure and focus are locked, you can change either of them using the focus dial and Exposure Compensation setting. After you manually adjusting these values to your liking, the focus and exposure will be locked (AEL, AFL are still showing, green focus box at focal point), but the green dot will disappear if you manually adjust focus.

You can twiddle the dial for Aperture and the aperture will change, but the image will retain the same exposure, within the limits of AutoISO/Exposure Compensation/Shutter. For example, as you increase the aperture value (bigger number, smaller aperture, less light), the ISO will increase, Shutter decrease to keep exposure constant up to the limit of Auto ISO/Shutter. Once you reach that ISO/Shutter limit, then the recorded image will begin to darken/underexpose.

Begin recording.

If the ambient light changes in the frame, you can over/under exposure your image.

If the distance between the camera focal plane and the focal point changes, the image can be out of focus (depending on DOF, of course).

Manual Adjustments once AEL/AFL engaged, during recording... If you adjust Aperture, the behavior of the camera is the same as it was before recording. The exposure will remain constant within the limits of Auto ISO/Shutter.

You can twiddle the Exposure Compensation setting during recording and the exposure will change, but the behavior not the same as if you change Exposure Compensation before recording began. I don't know why this would be - perhaps it's a bug. It needs more testing.

You cannot change focus during recording while the AFL is engaged. You can disengage AFL while recording by pressing the AF/AE Lock button. This will disengage the AFL/AEL lock and you can change focus manually or half-press on the shutter button for Auto Focus. Note that when you disengage AEL, your exposure could change too as the camera will adjust.

@all

If you own the camera and want to share opinion or such we have http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/10202/gh4-4k-panasonic-video-camera-user-reviews-and-opinions#Item_638

This topic is for tests made by sites, teams, and for discussing any common things (tips, etc), as well for any discussion of people who just want to get camera.

La Perouse Bay is a beautiful area with lots of volcanic rock. On this day I went out for a hike and to practice shooting seascapes on my GH4. All but the 96 fps slow motion 1080p clip were shot in 4K 24 fps and then converted to ProRes 422 (HQ) 1080p prior to import into NLE - my computer is too old and slow to deal with 4K so that is my workaround until I can upgrade. I used both Cine D and Cine V picture profiles on the GH4. Edited and graded in FCPX using ImpulZ Luts and presets by mLooks and CrumplePop.

New GH4 firmware has been released.

2014/07/01 - Ver.1.1 - Improved the reliability of video recording performance.

Hack the bagger now and get better 96fps bitrate :P

oh wel, i guess RAW 4K will come in v1.2 ;-)

:-) yep, definitely.

I think that this firmware is the beginning of Vitaliy's hack :p

What you mean? I have firmware for GH4 for long time. I mean 1.0, I won't tell where I got it, but it is so.

The firmware is not recognized by my GH4 European model. Pressing play do not se the firmware on a formated 64G Sandisk 96 card. Firmware placed in the root directory. I have updated firmware on my GH2 and GF3 before with Vitaliy's hacks so I hope I remember how to do it.

GH4 has a very good DR: http://www.dvinfo.net/article/acquisition/panasonic-gh4-dr-and-gamma-timelapse-and-more.html

There is no use in making it more flat than Cine D standard profile, the information is there if man want's more DR. Using master pedestal, curves, and contrast at minimum, you just degrade the files unnecessarily.