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GH4 4K Panasonic video camera, User reviews and opinions
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  • 3rd party batteries work great. Still need to test if they show accurate power left though.

  • Just interested in comparing long exposure with and without NR enabled, doesn't matter if it's tele or wide. As I recall the GH3 seemed to create quite a few hot pixels whenever NR was turned off, would be interesting to see if the new sensor also suffers from this at higher ISOs. Also, the GH3 interval bug was fixed in firmware 1.1.

  • @mpgxsvcd Do you think the highlight curve adds a tiny bit of DR to the image? Thank you for all the tests!

  • @cinemasteve87 I think it is perceived DR. There is actually quite a bit of room to push the image recorded in Cinelike D with everything set to 0.

  • No AFC in 60fps? That sounds bad, considering my GH3 can do this.

  • @superset GH4 does have AFC in 60fps. Just not at 96fps.

  • @aaronchicago Whew, thank you. That's not a deal breaker for me. The 96fps mode looks like up-rezzed 720p anyway.

  • Guys could you test if US model have 30 minutes limit after changing to PAL recording please.

  • Wow this camera is really amazing! Eye cup definitely feels better and the body is solid. Just tested some shots out with the Sigma 18-35 and Metabones Speedbooster and the shots looks great. As for the Panasonic 12-35, it seems to be a bit oversharpened at first, but if you dial the sharpness down then it's not as bad. The Highlight/Shadow adjustment is great. Pulling down the highlights is very subtle, but it's nice to have. Stills are great too and noticeably better than the GH3. The silent shutter mode is really cool, but I'm not sure if that decreases megapixels or not.

    In the manual I noticed that AF is disabled when 96 fps variable is on. Not sure if a firmware upgrade could fix this. Slow motion for tighter shots definitely look better than wider shots with less detail. I won't see myself using Master Pedestal very often because it seems to cause more unwanted noise in the shadows.

    I'll be shooting a few narrative shorts with this camera but so far I am very satisfied with this feature-packed camera!

  • Peaking seems to be disabled when the camera is set to AF. Would have been nice to have that feature on whenever you want but that's just a minor quirk for me. MF is works like a charm.

  • @cinemasteve87

    Peaking works in manual stills mode with AF. Not sure about video though.

    I was wrong about this. The peaking works in play back mode with AF. Not in true live view.

  • Ladies and Gentlemen. Panasonic hit this one out of the park. Way too many new things to go over everything right here. So here is just a taste.

    1. Burst speed with AFS is stupid. It will take 39 consecutive RAW+JPG images in less than 4 seconds. The AFF burst rate with live view is plenty for me. The cool thing is that it doesn't slow down half way. It will take 39 images and then slow down. I haven't seen too many cameras that can match that in any price range.

    2. Highlight and Cinema-D is what we have all waited for. Crank down the sharpness and contrast and post process till your heart is content. Nostalgic looks like it was made by fisher price now.

    3. Apparently the specs are wrong or the display is wrong. However, you don't get the extra wide field of view with 24p 4K. Both 24p and 30 are 3840x2160. BOOO! They will have to fix this if that truly is the case. They advertised that 24p would give the wider field of view.

    4. Auto ISO goes to 25,600. However, ISO 12,800 is probably the last real ISO.

    5. The shutter delay when ISO is above 6400 for single shot stills is gone now. YEA! That annoyed me so much.

    6. I only had one write failure with my el cheapo class 10 card. It was in 1080p @ 60 FPS All-I when I was waiving the camera around wildly. I am convinced that pretty much any decent class 10 card will work with the 100 mb/sec. You probably need a higher dollar class 10 card for reliable 200 mb/sec though.

    7. The Wasabi powered batteries I have work 100% with the GH4. They show exact battery level and everything.

    Lot's more to come. I have cat and dog videos. I have really cute pets.

  • Re: #3 - You have to set the size to C4K to get the 4096 width.

  • @mpgxsvcd This was for video when I was using the Panasonic 12-35, but good to know it works for stills.

    As for the C4K 4096x2160, you have to change the system frequency to (24.00 Hz) Cinema to get this setting. Took me a little while to find it in the settings.

  • Here is a sample 4K still. This was generated in camera. Remember this is a single frame from video.

    P1590432.JPG
    3840 x 2160 - 1M
  • @cinemasteve87

    Thanks for the system frequency trick. That worked but then it limits everything to 24 Hz. Totally not worth it for me. I still need to have access to 60p for some things. That wasn't well implemented but I am sure they have their reasons.

  • 0-255 seems to be the best color space. The others clip the highlights. At least on my PC they do.

  • Here is a super zoomed in still from video. You can see the reflection of me taking the video in the cat's eye. 4K rocks.

    This is a lot more than 100% zoom.

    GH4Comparo00001.jpg
    3840 x 2160 - 891K
  • Thanks for the system frequency trick. That worked but then it limits everything to 24 Hz. Totally not worth it for me. I still need to have access to 60p for some things. That wasn't well implemented but I am sure they have their reasons.

    Presumably you could create a custom setting for C4K ... or is frequency not sticky with the custom settings?

  • 4k looks not good enough in 100%. But i really like it looks downscaled to full hd

  • @mpgxsvcd

    How is audio quality on GH4 compared to GH2?

  • Info screen stays when recording?

  • @AdamT I think I recall somewhere that the camera had to power down whenever changing the system frequency.

    Can anyone confirm if shutter speed can be set in the custom presets? Or is it like the GH3 where shutter had to be changed everytime when going from stills to creative movie mode

  • @mpgxsvcd

    Congrats for a new GH4. Could you check 2 things?

    -Can you set shutter speed independently for video when using degrees. So that camera remembers shutter degree after taking photos with photo modes? Can you save those with C-memories?

    -Can you set iso limit for video?

    Thanks

  • @Vesku

    Yes it remembers the shutter speed now for custom settings. I love this new feature as well.

    Not sure about iso limit for video. It doesn't tell me what iso it is using for auto iso video because it would be constantly changing.