Andrew Reid

A few days ago Thomas Worth of Rarevision (5DToRGB and RAWMagic) asked me for some original files from the GH4 so he could develop an experimental app he had in mind. The result is an embryonic new command-line app for the Mac, which takes 8bit 4:2:0 4K files from the GH4 and resample them 2K 10bit 4:4:4. Read the full article here

These images (>download the original 4K file at Vimeo to get even a clue of the full performance of the camera) are rather lovely. The colour, texture and detail is quite amazing. I'm also very impressed with the 2K slow-mo at 96fps. Read the full article here

Indeed so let's not say we will pay more than $2000 for it.   The sensitivity and XAVC-S is nice and I will definitely sell my A7R for it but the price doubles when you want to make use of the camera's biggest selling point, 4K, whilst that is not the case with the GH4.

Sorry, Copy seems to be kaput. I'll link to each individual file separately on a new page. Got to rush off now though, so will be tomorrow now.

  Agree. GH4 would have made more sense.   Can see the advantage of unplugging if you want small size.   I just think what most people wanted was a similar solution but smaller and less overkill.

One of the enigmas emerging from the A7S is whether you can shoot 4K in APS-C crop mode as well. This would allow the use of standard Sony E-mount / NEX lenses, Canon EF-S and Nikon DX lenses, even PL cinema lenses on the full frame sensor. Sony's information (above) implies that is the case with "both resolutions available at both full frame and APS-C size". I dug a little deeper to find out more... Read the full article here

Not sure - do the HDMI > HDI converters work in 4K?

  I would love the 2.5K BMCC sensor in a decent form factor with more features. They had 2 years to make this but didn't.

Indeed. I thought Blackmagic had a nice unique product line going, providing for a genuine market that existed and needed the products... and then suddenly here they are putting all they R&D and best software features into a couple of high end cameras aimed at Arri and Sony, at a price tag too low for pros and too high for 90% of the previous user base.

A clue is in the body. It is A7 based with same shutter. It doesn't have the more expensive trimmings of the A7R body.   Therefore I am expecting the price to be around about the A7 level, which would be a steal.   The recorder is likely to be the more expensive part... but still considering the end spec you are getting - full frame 4K ProRes 4:2:2 with 14 stop dynamic range... it ain't bad.

  Why can't you have some empathy and stop forcing your world view on other people... what is right for you, for example, is right for you. It isn't right for The World. The filmmaking world is very varied, many flavours, many different techniques, sizes of crew and shooting styles.   I used both the Production Camera (aka URSA sensor) and GH4, preferred the GH4's image... and that is $1699.   And hey for your $1699 you even get audio meters. Imagine that!?

It's not too expensive for what it is.   But the size and weight are throwbacks to a bygone era.

It looks fine to me on the dynamic range front. Very little of it is blown out. The actual shooting could do with a bit more imagination but I'm not seeing any glaring problems.   Dynamic range does not look like LOG or CineStyle BTW... Nor does it look like the horrible HDR sick. Dynamic range for cinema really is how much of the shadows and highlights remain while keeping a ton of contrast in the image. Alexa and BMCC are good examples.

Try this for Copy instead - https://copy.com/EoeMcoA2T9L4

Hopefully Canon will react to A7S and GH4 with a 5DC / 4D with 1D C sensor (and image quality) - just not the pro photography features or as high build quality. Ideally it would be more up to date on the 4K side with more space efficient 4K codec than MJPEG. 10bit via HDMI would also be useful.   Price no more than $3k.

  BMC as in Blackmagic Cinema Camera?   The AJA is $9k so not the same market.

  And roll like it's the 80's all over again.

  Must say URSA looks better in the flesh.   UI seems to have a lot of features and works smoothly. Screen looks well built and overall camera is attractive to look at.   Still not really for my style of shooting though.   Make it smaller and lighter, put a more sensitive sensor in there and I'm in.   Also that UI, audio levels, etc. let's see them on the other cameras before too long hey!

  It will be nice for 1080p for sure. Especially for drones and gimbals where the weight and size needs to be kept down to a minimum.

Let's try to avoid harsh personal comments in this forum please bwhitz, no hard feelings but keep it classy!

What that Sony ad suggests is a physical impossibility.   Very strange!   If you read out every pixel from a 12MP sensor you get approx. 4.2k horizontally. This will be either cropped or zoomed to 3840 pixels in-camera. Cropped I hope, as zoomed would be pixel binning on the image processing side, if not on the sensor.   If you crop out an APS-C area from the 12MP sensor there's not enough resolution in that window to create a 4K image, so how are Sony doing 4K in APS-C mode? Like I say... weird!

GH4 certainly has the advantage of coming first. Sony were very unclear over availability and pricing for the A7S. I can only assume it is a few months of yet as a result, as usually companies of this size are pretty clear on such issues.

Good thing is we now have a choice. A7S for low light 4K under $2k. GH4 for internally recorded 4K under $2k.   Both make superb 2K solutions as well because of the benefits of oversampling 2K from a 4K image in post.   Bob you get it better than many....   And I love the GH4 for same reason I loved the GH1... at the time, stunning image, lots of features, for low prices and no hassle. Very creative.

  You see I prefer not to have that.   I'm happy to trade 1 stop dynamic range for some levels and an OLED screen / EVF so I can expose properly in the first place.   I'd trade 1080p raw for 4K 8bit, because of the more manageable file sizes, especially long term for archival of the master files. 4K on the GH4 grades extremely well as I showed in some of my production diary posts.   I still love colour in raw but again I am happy with colour on the GH4, and it makes for very smooth 10bit 2K 444.   1 and 2/3rd Speed Booster is nice on the Pocket but I would trade that 2/3rd of an extra stop for the better low light performance in the GH4 from the sensor.   Same goes for BMCC 2.5K MFT.   I am not all of a sudden a Blackmagic hater but I think the Ursa is not an appealing direction as far as I am concerned and I think the A7S and GH4 have more features as well as images which are a huge step up to what we had before from mirrorless cameras.

Since I have used the GH4 I wonder when I pick up my Pocket camera why I am not just shooting with the GH4 instead.   I didn't get the feeling with the GH3 because the image just wasn't as nice, but now...   Especially with 10bit 4:2:2 output and 4K it is nicer.