Some thoughts after using two G7s on a long day:

First of all, there's lot's to like. No going back to the GH2 (exception, see below). Color is decent, sharpness is decent, and the large number of dials and buttons is what you need. After a whole day of filming, no issues with heat--it got warm, warmer, and fairly warm, but not hot. Of course, this was indoors, not the Sahara.

Next, assigning the dual zebras to a function button meant that I could check for overs, then check for skin exposure quickly and easily. Built in leveler very handy for 12mm and 14mm primes.

I'm always surprised by the image when I get home and check it on a calibrated monitor--it 's sharp, neutral, and the grain is not a pain.

Slight bummers: although the AC adapters worked OK (one official, one clone) there's no battery backup. I would prefer a backup.

Also, Panasonic color is always a bit weird. Each cam is better than the previous ones in this respect, but the color is just a bit off.

Crop factor: better than the GH4, but, for example if I put my 12mm on the GH2, well, that's just a totally different look.

RAW photo lens correction: not working perfect yet, I expect to get this done one way or the other.

And, lastly, working side by side with several FDR-ax100 Sony camcorders, the Sony's just pull a but more detail. and the color is slightly better. At twice the price, of course.

It's a small difference, when you lay them out, side by side, the skin tones are slightly better on the Sony to my eye, and the jewel tones look a bit more jewel like. But the difference is pretty small. Of course, you can't put a Panasonic 20mm on the Sony, it's a camcorder. It's also subjective, on the scopes it looks fine.

I'm using the color profiles suggested by Andrew Reid at EOSHD the GH4 guide. Only difference is the G7 doesn't have hue settings, so I'm trying to match them as best as possible

@ttranredi if you put a 12mm on the GH2, you get a real nice wide angle owing to the multi-angle sensor. It "feels" like less than 11mm in 43 world. You can take the same lens and put it on a GH3 or a GM1 or whatever, and it's just not as wide because Panasonic stopped making the sensor with the extra pixels on the sides. For everything else, color, resolution, post, grain etc the G7 is a step up and it's a cheap camera (or, shall we say, a good value). The G7 has a slightly better IQ that the GH4, but it isn't quite as good as the Sony ax100, by a teeny weeny bit, although at certain ISOs I slightly prefer the grain of the G7 and of course it has interchangeable lenses. Sony has manual ND filter, cheap battery options, etc, etc.

Don't overthink it, 4K rocks and it's a lot of cam for the money. Something else will arrive in 6 months.

Like @Aria, I too love the Panasonic G7 as my starter 4K camera. I love the features in the PAL version that I got on sale, and I also like the fact that I can downscale the 4K into HD quality with lots of room to play with. I had a heck of a time trying to edit/render from new NLEs, with the exception of Resolve. However, I manage to provide a video to show just in time for the New Years. Just a test in color correction. Hope you like.

Not trying to bother our friend Vitaly. The camera is great as is for its price. But i would donate for a hacked firmware with improvements like on the gh2.

The camera automatically down converts 4K to 1080 when connected live output to 1080 recorder like ninja 2, or 1080 monitor. A message on lcd screen confirms this.

Took the plunge with a pal model from P-V's deals after selling a GH2 outfit. Rather excited...

@Fora72

Well, contact the seller.

The seller doesn't have others, only with NTSC. It likely is technically unrealizable? Only another should be bought? With exchange rate, in Russia it is difficult ((( Yes, and the Rostov service told that it is impossible. Not to change an insertion.

@mrbill what do you mean by "all flat". Nothing changed except Sharpness -3?

Firmware update v2.1 is available

The frame of AF area is displayed in 4K Burst mode.
(Except when the auto focus mode is set to [49-Area] or [Custom Multi])

http://av.jpn.support.panasonic.com/support/global/cs/dsc/download/fts/index2.html