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GH4 4K Panasonic video camera, official topic
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  • flabloflablo

    So we have another video sample shot with the GH4 (at Kenmore Camera I mean). I know it's made on-the-fly and obviously not very refined, but honestly I'm not impressed with the footage EDIT: after watching it again, I change my statement: skin tones look better. I guess I expected some bigger/visible improvement in DR

  • jamesgh2jamesgh2

    We can't really judge the DR objectively from that footage as we cant base the still image quality in the samples from Africa and Japan. We just dont have raw images or direct video encode.

    As it was said in the beginning it will correspond to 1/3 of a stop increase in DR which is very good considering the GH3 was pretty good.

    The 1\1 sensor crop on 4k still has aliasing but so far very subdued. My guess is they are still tweaking the firmware.

  • igorek7igorek7

    The main reason I've posted that video, is to tell that even the stores which have a direct connection to Panasonic are not sure about its final price and availability. This camera is not yet ready to be judged, particularly relying on the mixed --GH3 and pre-released GH4-- video footage downsampled to Youtube 720p.

    Neither you can judge the complete resolution of the GH4 based on these photos, downscaled to 2K, taken by Wasabi Bob: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wasabi_bob/sets/72157641421886023/

    He wrote:

    I really like my GH3, but the GH4 has suddenly made me loose some of affection for the GH3! This sample had early firmware so I was unable to shoot in RAW. Focus peaking made a huge difference with this type of work. I used the 35-100 lens with the Kenko extension tubes. Not the best combination, but they turned out OK.

  • LongJohnSilverLongJohnSilver

    We can't really judge anything from these video/photo posted until now. YT encoder is not the best and we do not know how files were handled. Vimeo wedding video was posted at 720p and it doesn't seem to be a pro work. The printings on the desk of Kenmore video come from a Marl Toal who keeps posting photo taken with a GH4 on google+

    https://plus.google.com/u/0/100277172418525107801/posts

    The air fighter photo is actually a frame grab but again he posts only useless 960 x 773 pics and he doesn't reply to any question.

    Mr. Advertising aka Eduardo Angel flooded the internet with his GH4 short and tons of ads but he never posted the result.

    Last week Panasonic presented the GH4 on a photo/video event here in Rome. It was basically a GH3 with 4K disabled and GH4 logo on it.

    IMHO I think they announced this camera for obscure marketing reasons while the real camera is still in full development. Probably Panasonic doesn't want to shaw original clips and raw stills until they get a more stable product.

  • aldolegaaldolega

    If the "real camera is still in full development" there's no way they'd be saying the camera is shipping in April.

  • thebmillzthebmillz

    I think a few camera rental places are getting the GH4 this week to mess with. Do you think we'll see raw files from the camera to mess with pop up this week? It's so hard to judge this based on compressed youtube footage.

  • JohnTollwannabeJohnTollwannabe

    It looks like the only source for 4k will be hyper compressed Youtube videos for the foreseeable future. In fact, if Hollywood had its way, streaming would be the FINAL source for 4k, which would be a shame.

    The internet infrastructure and ISP's are not ready in the slightest to be the sole source of HD video, let alone 4k. It has to be consistently BETTER than what you could realistically get in a physical medium or it's all just a game of numbers without tangible results.

    I absolutely laugh at the home theater industry falling all over itself with Netflix's announcement of 4k streaming. Have they seen their low bitrate 1080p quality? Ridiculous.

  • joesivjoesiv

    Well, compression artefacts are much less noticeable when they are 4x's smaller ;)

  • AdamTAdamT

    I don't think we could judge much of anything IQ wise even if the straight-from-camera output was available, since these demo units seem to be running firmware v.1 - v.3. But I was glad to hear the Panny rep say that in his own testing he was seeing about a one stop improvement in high ISO.

  • MRfannyMRfanny

    @flablo well worth the upgrade for better skin tone. that gh3 magenta cast is terrible. I curse everytime i see it in my footage.

  • TrackZillasTrackZillas

    Youtube compression will be there, Vimeo compression will always be there because that's the only two capable sites that we currently can use to deliver good enough Quality to the viewers.. I known there are more but most people don't use them and don't know about them. There is no work around really if you think about it.

  • TrackZillasTrackZillas

    I don't expect the GH4 to be leaps and bounds ahead of the GH3 or GH2 the difference will surely be noticeable Pixel pipping. Let me known what you guy's think?

  • AriaAria

    @TrackZillas, I actually think it's not reasonable to expect leaps and bounds from any camera anymore. There's just not that amount of difference left in the image from the best to the lower levels. To me that's not really the point. I don't think we can look down on the improvements that come with each of the most recent top cameras. Cinema EOS, BMCC, Sony AX100 or GH4 all bring some really valuable improvements in Image or functionality. My favorite image is the Arri Alexa, which I can't afford but any camera that helps in getting closer to that look is all I can ask for. Don't know if the GH4 can do that, but we'll see.

  • IronFilmIronFilm

    Found this video that got shot with it:

    I think this is the first ever footage we've seen shot by an "Average Joe", and not a carefully released and PR managed clip via Panasonic.

  • TrackZillasTrackZillas

    @IronFilm Thanks for posting..

  • TrackZillasTrackZillas

    @Aria Your right camera technology has caught-up.. If your trying to get as close as possible to the Arri Alexa I would recommend the Line-up of Blackmagic Design Cinema Cameras over the GH4 that's just my opinion. Just ordered a BMPCC & will be using it side by side with my lovely GH2. I believe the GH4 will be Back-Ordered for a long time.

  • jamesgh2jamesgh2

    The firmware is probably not finished and it's being tweaked further. The hardware spec was finalized a year ago or more and production is actively going on. The shipping firmware will be ready after testing which is probably nearly done while stable long term firmware with discovered and patched bugs will be ready for download a few months after like with other cameras. Wish they would ad 120p and be done with that spec wall once and for all.

    After all 4k is 4x the 1080p data which means you could probably extract 1080 120 easily considering the cam specs allow for a sensor refresh 2x faster at 240p.

  • JohnTollwannabeJohnTollwannabe

    Unfortunately, the "average joe" user in the above clip did not test for rolling shutter, moire/aliasing, or other important IQ issues that would make this footage useful in any way, shape, or form.

  • caveportcaveport

    Looks like it was shot under fluorescent lighting. White balance looks good. No noise in dark areas. Auto focus was on. I would imagine it was in total auto mode, so until we get some samples with controlled shooting conditions I'm not ready to pass judgement...

  • mrbillmrbill

    @jamesgh2 - can I ask what your source is?

  • flabloflablo

    @MRfanny totally agree regarding skin tones

  • jamesgh2jamesgh2

    No source just regular camera development timelines. Gh2, Gh3 shared a similar release schedule and firmware development.

  • IronFilmIronFilm

    @JohnTollwannabe... yes, exactly like any other "Average Joe User" who might have this in his hands.... :-P

    Hopefully we'll see an "Average Personal View Forum Member" shooting samples with it soon ;-) At least, at a minimum.

  • 3Kids3Kids

    I had the chance to play with the GH4 today at BVE (along with the new 42.5mm) :) The EVF is actually working great, the lock on the mode button is finally designed properly, and the menu makes sense.

    The biggest surprise though was the module, it isn't actually as bad as it looks in the photos. It's smaller than I thought, very robust, and not that ugly :) The representative told me that the module will be sold separately from specialised dealers as opposed to the camera (which will be available in normal stores..)

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  • karlkarl

    @Ironfilm: Thanks for posting.

    The 4k sample from the store suffers from the same "Youtube-desease" as did the official promo-video: It's compressed to ~15.8MBit/s and thus shows horrible compression artefacts whenever there's significant movement in the picture.

    On the plus side, the speed of the continous auto-focus looks somewhat promising (though it's not clear whether it would follow an object that the camera follows).

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