Andrew Reid

Sorry for the 60Mbit confusion. Indeed the codec is not limited to that. The AX100 is. The paragraph should have read as follows and I have corrected it in the article...

 

I also did some research on the AX100's implementation of XAVC-S. It records in MP4 format but perhaps rather disturbingly it has a much lower bitrate than the GH4's 4K codec. It is just 60Mbit/s vs 100Mbit/s on the GH4 in Ultra HD. I have not yet graded any footage from the Sony AX100 but it will be interesting to see how XAVC-S stands up at that bitrate. It is a very modern codec and bitrate isn't everything.

The AX100 sensor is 20MP though.

 

This is 12MP and will run a lot faster hence the "S".

 

Unless that stands for 'slow' ;)

Well I know for sure I haven't seen any GH4 4K footage that's better than the AX100, and that's with $8000 lenses in the hands of professionals.

 

I'm curious what AX100 footage looks better than the GH4. Really curious.

 

Was it the bendy trains that did it for you?

 

And you do realise that 90% of the look is defined by the lens, and with the AX100 you only have one!

 

F0.95 vs F2.8... hmmm. Quite a difference.

 

Cooke vs consumer camcorder zoom lens. Hmm.

 

I'm not convinced AX100 has the imaging prowess over the GH4 and the codec is a full 40Mbit short of the GH4 in 4K too.

 This is pretty much why I went with the Nikon D5300 despite Andrew basically taking a huge crap all over it. It got me what I needed now so I can go shoot while I wait for something that exceeds or meets my needs later. Plus, it's an awesome lightweight stills camera for when I get a better video/cinema camera it will still be useful to me as a stills photographer who owns Nikon glass. I would have been really pissed had I heeded the suggestions to spend the extra money on a GH3 or Pocket Cinema with all the required extras now that I know what the GH4 can do and what the A6000 "might" do once it's released. 

 

You just can't fall for all the prerelease excitement on ANY site. Some site admins get paid to promote, other's get paid for ads, some get free gear and pre-production gear they ultimately get the keep, etc. Point being... if a manufacturer was giving ME free gear, or giving ME sneak peaks on what's coming, or paying me outright via online ads, etc. I'd be hard pressed to say anything negative about their line. 

 

Truth is, I have no idea how folks who run any of these sites keep the gears greased. But, find it hard to believe they're investing the time and hosting bills as a hobby alone. ;)

 

I don't get paid to promote anything.

 

I do believe I was first to sing the praises of the D5200. When the D5300 came out it was way too small a step to be considered "golden", especially after all the revolutions of the previous year such as raw on the Canon DSLRs and Blackmagic Pocket ProRes.

 

Now the GH4 is here and all that nice Nikon glass you have can go on the Speed Booster. You could shoot 4K with the same effective sensor size as the Nikon D5300, with an extra stop of low light performance, for under $2000.

 

Look to where the ball is headed not to where it has been if you wanna catch it.

 

If you don't want to catch it then stick to whatever works for you, just don't bother us with it :) It's boring.

I've just had some information from a source that may be of interest to those awaiting Sony's NAB announcement.

Read the full article here

In theory 4K over HDMI works and GH4 has it.

 

If this had 10bit 4K over HDMI as well then great.

 

If not and the internal Sony codec sucks then I will be sticking with GH4, full frame or no full frame :)

I think the rumoured 12MP is a genius decision by Sony. A real gap in the market for low light and lower resolution camera with amazing video.

 

Just tweeted this but bears repeating...

 

Nikon D3S is 12MP like rumoured A7S. Horizontal pixel count on that was 4256. Not gonna be a big crop to 4096 4K video on A7S

I must say, Sony should be commended for their approach to adapters. They even display them on cameras in some stores and sell Novoflex adapters in their Berlin flagship store at the Sony Centre.

 

Perhaps Metabones have found problems with Canon or Panasonic which have delayed it.

 

I am sure they are trying their upmost to get them done and shipped.

From my week long experience with shooting GH4, dynamic range is at least a match for the 5D Mark III raw.

I still think the 600mm will be sharper obviously, but putting the 600mm in front of a Canon video mode will lose you a lot of sharpness and full frame will lose you a lot of reach, so if you are shooting 1080p at 600mm on full frame, the sharpness and reach of such an expensive lens can get a little wasted.

 

4K will gain whatever you lose in terms of sharpness with the much cheaper 100-300mm OIS.

5D Mark III is in raw... that is the optimal setting :)

Well a $12k lens is going to be clear isn't it? If it wasn't I'd be very upset ;)

 

I think you should try the 100-300 in 1080p crop mode (or 4K mode and crop in post) and that 1680mm maximum reach whilst maintaining full HD should satisfy. Last time I used the 100-300mm I remember sharpness was pretty good.

 

If it doesn't, then fair enough. No amount of consumer gear is going to be good enough.

 

You might want to consider Sony A7R + the $12k Canon 600mm for stills though... 36MP would help.... and for video wait for the Smart EF adapter for Micro Four Thirds & shoot 4K with the Canon on the GH4.

Well the 5D Mark III here is raw. No compression.

 

There's zero macro blocking in raw due to no compression.

 

The GH4 gives you 8x smaller 4K files than the Blackmagic Production Camera, something has to give. It does have macro blocking in areas of the image where space is being saved such on plain skies, very dark shadows, etc.

 

It does have banding too but this is reduced when you go 4K > 1080p.

 

Banding isn't a problem with the GH4 like the GH3. It only really appears when you push the ISO to silly levels like here, or do a really extreme grade and you have a blue sky taking up almost all the frame.

With a variable bitrate, the GH4 will allocate less bitrate to the sky frames, so the less detail in the shot, the more compressed it ends up being.

 

When the scene is well lit and detailed the codec does a great job, almost as good as a JPEG.

 

If the GH4 lacks a fine grain and that's what you want, you can do noise reduction but then add back the film texture afterwards with Film Convert.

Canon 600mm F4 IS is $12,000.

 

How can anybody complain about consumer stuff topping out at 300mm with a straight face.

 

With 4K you have extra cropping ability. A 1920x1080 box from the GH4's 16MP sensor gives you same detail as 5D Mark III but has something like a 5.6x multiplication factor on the focal length.

So actually 300mm = 1680mm in crop mode on the GH4. Much longer reach than a 5D Mark III video mode with that $12k lens.

Djrockadoo: thanks a lot for your observations - much appreciated!

 

+1

Nowhere am I saying it is in the same league as the Alexa or matching it on how far you can push the grade.

 

I know it isn't THAT good.

 

But it's great and Panasonic's consumer 4K codec is clearly a step forward for grading compared the usual DSLR codec.

300mm on a 2x crop sensor not long enough for you ajay?  :wacko:

 

The 100-300 has stabilisation... equivalent on full frame would be 200-600, go and price that up at Amazon :)

I may upload again with a slightly more evenly matched grade. But I love the Kodak look.

NAB 2014 thread... Fire away. Hopes, expectations, news anything goes!

The GH4 looks a full stop underexposed compared to the same shots of the 5DMIII and the GH3. Am I missing something?

 

It's just the grade. Settings were correct, including ISO.

So just to confirm this is 1.5x sensor on the GH4 with Speed Booster, so you are looking at Super 35mm (the cinema standard) holding up to 5D Mark III full frame, at ISO 6400. Pretty amazing really.

 

A7S going to have to be a complete package to beat it, but it has a good chance of being even better at high ISOs thanks to the rumoured 12MP full frame sensor.

I bet it will have the same 4K specs as the Sony 4K AX100 with XAVC S 4K @ 24 and 30 fps on SD cards with exFAT file system.

 

Most likely. Suddenly I feel very interested in finding out how well XAVC on the AX100 holds up.

 

Only thing that could cripple the A7S is rolling shutter, but the 12MP count and "S" for Speed is a good sign that won't be a big problem.

2. Also Andrew, please don't jinx the GH4. I know you are really excited about it, SO ARE WE! It was a light hearted dig at your obsession. Has the time you've spent in Germany robbed you of your humour? I get it's your forum, but take a chill pill.

 

Time spent on this forum has robbed me of my patience man... Obsession? How about being more thankful for the info and less insulting.

I haven't used a GH4, but to me the difference between the GH4/GH3 (ISO) isn't the jump I was expecting. From the vimeo clip, viewed full screen they are very similar - similar enough I think to not be a easy pick in a blind test.

 

It's really important you download the original clip on this one :) Vimeo's compression hides all the noise.

12MP is a superb choice if true.