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Which 4K to choose on GH4? (Too many notes, Mozart!) Talking heads shoot for 1080P output.
  • mschubbmschubb

    I'm an experienced shooter (GH2, EX1, Canons, etc.) and just got a GH4 this week. Was expecting to ease into 4K, shoot camera tests, try out workflows and then do something "real" in 4K somewhere down the line.

    BUT - an unexpected project just came up and I'll be shooting doc interviews straight away. Producer just found out I have a GH4 and asked about shooting 4K -- mostly to have better reframing options in post.

    My first (and second) instinct is to say "not a good idea" because I know I can deliver beautiful 1080P with no surprises in post. And no one on this project has 4K experience. Post will be quick: Adobe Premiere CS6, 1080P timeline and minimal grading if any. All the shoots will be interviews, interiors, nicely lit. SD cards limited to existing Sandisk Extreme Pro 95mb/s.

    Frankly, the real problem is that I'm overwhelmed by the number of 4K recording options for resolutions, recording formats and data rates, with little time to figure things out. (And no time for testing so I can have my own professional certainty.)

    Anyone with GH4/Premiere experience have any wisdom or suggestions about "safe and easy" 4K recording format settings for this situation? Or links to good discussions/posts about merits of the various 4K format choices on the GH4?

    Any advice, help or links will be much appreciated. Thanks!

  • 4 Replies sorted by
  • matt_gh2matt_gh2

    @mschubb Here's a discussion on GH4 stuff, with some specific mention of Premiere. I like GH4 look for docs. There may be some more GH4 discussions here on personal-view.com

    http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/10202/gh4-4k-panasonic-video-camera-user-reviews-and-opinions/p43

  • c3hammerc3hammer

    There's no downside to 4K UHD 24 or 30p. Simply frame your talking heads a bit wider so you can crop a bit or go with the full image when you need to do cuts. Eliminates the need for the two camera setup completely. Drop the file on your timeline and output to 1080p. It's really that simple.

    If you want the simplest route for post shoot in either Standard or Neutral with 16-235 luminance. You can save all the Cinelike D and V experimenting for later.

    Your cards will work fine with all modes on the GH4 except the 200mbps 1080p.

    Do a quick test. Put your cam on a tripod and frame about 15% wider than normal in 4K. Then do a test shot. Drop the test shot in premiere and cut it up with a few different crops to see what looks best before you go to your shoot. I use Vegas, but the two are similar and super easy to do.

    Just remember that 4K UHD is about a 2.49x crop factor vs. 2.08x in 1080p mode on the GH4. It really makes your normal lens act like a portrait lens. A 17mm is the same FOV as a 42mm on stills full frame and makes for a beautiful normal FOV. It doesn't make for that distorted wide look at all in 4K.

    Cheers, Pete

  • soulkeepersoulkeeper

    @c3hammer i thought crop factor was 2.3 for 4k UHD and 2.2 for cinema 4k..

  • c3hammerc3hammer

    @soulkeeper, here's the crop factors compared to a full frame 41.3mm diagonal vs the GH4's 19.85 diagonal for 16:9 video:

    -GH4 16x9 1080p: 41.3/19.85 = 2.08x

    -GH4 17x9 C4K: 41.3/((4096/4608)*19.85) = 2.34x

    -GH4 16x9 UHD: 41.3/((3840/4608)*19.85) = 2.49x

    If you compare field of view between full frame video and GH4 video in the different modes it correlates to these number really well.

    Cheers, Pete

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