If Panasonic can release a v2.5 firmware version with Vlog and unlimited recording for GH4's purchased in UK, I would happily pay £200 for it

I bought a 2nd GH4 this week, but if I waited a few more days, I would have been able to buy a GH4 with Vlog and no recording limit :(

@Brumbazz That's a great point. I'm doing the try before you buy thing to see if it's worth the money, and my goodness is it ever. I'll definitely pay $100 for this feature, even if they don't do e-mail activation and send me a card through the mail.

Been playing with VLog a bit for the last day and I've got to say that I'm very impressed. Nothing's perfect, of course, but I'm getting much better color and DR than I was ever able to manage with Cine-D, which was my preferred profile. Cineon LUT does a pretty nice job by default, but I can generally get a better result by making a few pedestal/gain/gamma adjustments in Color Finesse 3. Another way to go about it would be to apply Cineon and then fine tune in CF3 via adjustment layer.

Guess I'll end up paying for it since I like it so much.

Panasonic can get their money back with this new 2.4 firmware by adding 4.2.2 internal recording at some point.

Look like this will be a success near to GH2 VK hack days.

I thought from reading some earlier comments that zebras can be set to say 75% to safe guard highlights and also using V-LOG in Custom preset remaps the histogram... Is there any flaw then in these tools in V-LOG custom preset as is assuming of course that we know the % range from black to pure white is 10 - 80% zebra?

Also, perhaps dumb question but I learn from asking - I have Cineroid EVF which works great when using my BMPCC especially when I dial up the contrast and saturation all the way with it's generic internal LUT applied. I use zebras at 95% and read the false colors as usual. But now if I connect GH4 to this EVF via HMDI will zebras have to be reset on it to say 75% and will false colors need to be remapped in my mind or will these function normally as with BMPCC?

FROM PANASONIC:

ACTIVATION ISSUES – LUMIX GH4 V-LOG L WITH FIRMWARE V2.3

Many thanks to those who have recently purchased the LUMIX GH4 V-Log L upgrade. We are aware of an oversight in our Panasonic Image App which allows enabling of V-Log L as a “custom” setting without purchase. This was not our intent, and our apologies for the oversight.

We appreciate the many messages of support for the continuing development of innovative new products and features, and Panasonic intends to stand behind your investment in V-Log L and the LUMIX GH4. Therefore, it’s important to know that future LUMIX GH4 firmware upgrades, including mobile app upgrade pushes, will disable unlicensed activations of V-Log L. In addition, it’s Panasonic’s service policy to upgrade firmware during warranty claims, thereby eliminating unlicensed features. Thank you again for your continued support of Panasonic and the LUMIX G camera system and innovations yet to come.

NOTE A new firmware V2.4 will be available starting Sept 17th. Use of the V-Log L workaround associated with firmware Version 2.3 runs the risk of the Zebra Function not working and the Histogram reading improperly.

VK: Use quotes, and all this is present in early post.

V-Log is so compressed under 8-bit 4:2:0 that bringing up saturation and contrast to match other color profiles adds an insane amount of Macro-Blocking, Banding, and color noise that to me it seems unusable even in 4K. Am I doing something wrong, can you only use LUTs(instead of curves, gamma, gain, saturation)? The only way V-log seems like it would work well is to use an external recorder. Hopefully the paid version has none of these problems or I don't think it would be worth purchasing. Maybe 4:2:2 Internal please?

Not impressed with V-log on internal 8 bit 4:2:0 recording. Going to stick with Natural setting. As @tedbrah says, there is a lot of colour macro-blocking & noise. I did exposure bracketed tests in semi-overcast daylight exteriors. Yellow/orange hues were the worst. I graded with DaVinci Resolve using standard tools and also proper V-log LUT. I think an external 10 bit recorder will be necessary to use V-log and get high quality results.

@endotoxic They do not say "Use it without paying, warranty over" They say that future firmware upgrades and warranty servicing will remove this loophole. Profile V-log is found on all firmware 2.3 installs and will be found whether it is activated or not.

@Tron From the list we gathered here ages ago one of the things was to include LOG. We got it now and I hope there are other developments in the near future. Its actually been a good thing connecting with their UK side from my perspective. I don't care about reputations. Lets hope more good things happen.

what's "density" mean as it relates to image?

I'm getting that uncontrollable giggle again.

You can ignore my earlier summary assessment, V-log is exactly what i was hoping for - http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/comment/205827#Comment_205827

I cracked this nut, and it's glorious. Still shooting, and I'll have footage beyond just shots of the ground (used cuz it was very close to middle gray) to back it up, but V-Log makes the GH4 a true filmic MONSTER. It's all about interpretation. Skip it, or do it wrong, and V-Log is almost worthless. BUT Do it right, and let's just say; I'm not even considering any other "higher end" cameras anymore. Gonna buy a couple of more GH4s. V-log does EVERYTHING I want it to do. It does it better than the BMD cams, and better than RED(simply cuz I can get right into editing and grading without converting, rendering, or buying an exceedingly expensive machine)