Andrew Reid

Are you the shooter Bryan? Fantastic job.

 

What lenses?

Even with all the muddy youtube compression it's lovely to see that much detail on my humble 2.5K iMac display.

 

Wait until you see it over HDMI to a 4K TV, then it looks mind-blowing.

Seriously hope this gets Canon to rethink their strategy with the C100 or a newer DSLR. In fact we should all promote the GH4 just so that other vendors give us better options at similar price points.  

 

Can't wait to see Canon's response!

 

What are they going to do on strategy now?

 

Their 4K cameras are mainly aimed at Hollywood. C500 is not really aimed at the C300 crowd. They don't have a 4K camera for the masses yet.

 

The GH4 is a consumer camera which has appeal to pros. Smashes a price barrier.

 

Suddenly upgrading from a GH3 to C100 with external recorder lost a lot of appeal.

I think the GH4 is just the start of a big wave of lovely 4K shooting DSLRs and cinema cameras to come before NAB in April, so great for us, who have finite budgets :)

 

This spec and price is going to be hard to beat.

 

As for the industry, well, people are not going to swap out their F55 for one. But there's going to be very good commercial reasons to shoot 4K soon and it's VERY important Canon bring out better 4K solutions. The C500 isn't aimed at C300 users and the C300 doesn't shoot 4K. The 1D C is aimed at Hollywood and has no videographer features at all.

 

If Canon don't have a 4K version of the C300 at NAB, I think the GH4 could gain a lot of ground in that market, even though it's marketed as a consumer camera.

I'm confused why you keep insisting it's an 8bit camera when it does 10bit over the HDMI port.

People talk about 8bit as if they have no choice.

 

If you want raw, shoot 5D Mark III with Magic Lantern or go Blackmagic. If you want 10bit use an external recorder with the GH4 or shoot ProRes on a Blackmagic. Chill!

I'm sure Pannys real intention is to sell the GH4 as a 8 bit h264 camera that will undoubtably sell more than the BM4K Hwever I don't think we should sit here and pretend its better if it clearly isn't.

 

If it's their intention to sell it as purely an 8bit camera, then the engineers clearly didn't get the memo when they enabled a 10bit debayer, 4:2:2 colour sampling on the sensor, 10bit HDMI output and even a 10bit external box with 4 HD-SDI ports on it :)

 

The sensor in the BM Production Camera doesn't have the pixel design and light sensitivity of the GH4's sensor. The global shutter has a large trade off in image quality. Needless to say, neither camera is done. Neither camera is out there yet. You have looked at 10bit ProRes 4K on the Production Camera and automatically assumed it will be nicer than uncompressed 10bit 4K from the GH4's external box haven't you? Why exactly?

Fourthly - The only reasonable thing you have said is that the lens is slower than the RX10, yes, yes it is. Bravo. I forget that 'dudes' like you think that being a 'lite 'pro' cinematographer means having tiny DoF in every single shot otherwise it's just not 'pro' and if a camera can't do that it totally isn't worthy of their 'pro-ness'. 

 

Ladies and gentleman and not so gentleman we have a Mr Angry on the forum. Calm down Mr Angry. It's only a camera!

 

Contribute without the nastiness from now on, or lose your login privileges. Your choice.

 

I choose not to shoot with the AX100 because I prefer interchangeable lenses on the GH4. My choice.

For example, he points out you can get a 4096 x 2160 still.  He's absolutely right that will come in very handy.   However, that still will be a JPEG, with 8-bits per channel.  If you use a 1920x1080 dng still from a Blackmagic you are getting 12-bits per channel.  The latitude of what you can do in post is leaps and bounds beyond 8-bit.

 

Both cameras have strengths for different types of film-makers.  In no way does the GH4 compete with Blackmagic raw video cameras, and visa-versa.

 

They are both great cameras and EOSHD has written great reviews on both.

 

Well, you have the choice. The GH4's add-on box gives you 4K in 10bit 4:2:2, same as 4K ProRes on the Blackmagic Production Camera but with a sensor that does clean ISO 3200. Dynamic range will likely be similar, if not actually a bit better on the GH4 due to cleaner shadows, but I'm speculating because neither camera is actually even finished yet.

 

8bit is fine if you're only doing light grading or leaving the footage on the picture profile it was shot with.

 

The source signal is 10bit 4:2:2 from the sensor and the encoder does a good job of compressing it into 8bit 4:2:0. The images really did look lovely. Will they fall apart with heaving grading? Yes, like a JPEG does. So choose the external recorder route, problem solved. Do I need the headache of raw file sizes and transcoding any more? After looking at my stack of hard drives after a year shooting Cinema DNG, I'm really not sure raw is viable long term.

Incidentally, I'd like to see Panasonic form a partnership with Cooke^^

 

Haha! Stay tuned.

Yes, this is a good reason, albeit the motion from video-like Inter-frame-prediction is little different then from all-I cedec so it would be nice if GH4 has the all-I option for 4K or UHD. Of course then we would need at least 400Mbps for this (and a bunch of 64GB memory cards too).

 

Let's wait and see what 4K over HDMI does. If it is uncompressed 10bit like the 1080p, then I will have my eyes peeled at NAB for an affordable 4K external recorder for sure. Atomos are you listening? Hint hint!

I hope the price for the camera is 1500 euros and I may get it new. The price for the box would be reasonable at 1000€

 

Ah come on now. Canon charges $25,000 for their uncompressed 10bit 4K and $12,000 for their 4K DSLR and you won't pay 2000 euros for the Panasonic, which has more features by far than the 1D C?

I think the camera is a possible disaster hurriedly rushed through to compete with the BM4K giving them time to make a Panasonic af100 4k or a DSLR along the lines of the 1DC.
I didn't like the skin tones in the demo films and I thought the image looked oversaturated with high contrast and crushed blacks.Will be interesting to see what the DR is on this.

 

I braced myself for The Mark Response. Truth is I've been treading this moment. I'll try not to be too harsh on you, and try to keep it short.

 

You're wrong.

I mean, the BMPCC can record 10bit 4:2:2 internally on sub $100 64GB SD cards, why not this camera?

 

For me it isn't a huge issue as we now have it via HDMI, with the advantage of SSD media capacities, prices, much better focussing and monitoring if you choose a recorder like the Atomos Ninja!

 

ProRes 10bit 4:2:2 is very processor intensive, maybe Panasonic didn't want to give us 40 minute battery run times like Blackmagic ;)

Andrew, are you sure internal recording is 4:2:0? Panasonic Europe told me 4:2:2 8 bit and 4:2:2 10-bit over hdmi (no need for the YHAGEHAYGEH). But the tech product manager wasn't very knowledgeable about video, so could be wrong...

 

It's hard to find any exact specs on this.

 

Btw, the sensor is based on the GH3 sensor... so probably a Sony.

 

Uematsu-san said 4:2:2 sampling on the sensor, debayer, right through the imaging pipeline until the actual encoder, then it goes to 4:2:0.

 

Yes 10bit 4:2:2 over HDMI to your Ninja, which is how I intend to record 1080p on this beauty.

And "the brick" (i opt to keep that name). Who the hell designed it? That is the most unhandy brick i have ever seen.

 

Sure the image quality is great. But a bigger cropfactor as "normal" m43 is really a no go imo. It sets the m43 filmer back. All lenses feel different and look off, if the cropfactor is different. That's at least how I felt shooting with a BMPCC. If I want that I would buy that. 

 

I love the systemcameras and m43 format of Panasonic. But they need to move on to a filmcamera on this system. Get out of the photocamera formfactor because it is just in the way and holds the development of a new standard back!

 

THR

 

Don't forget the Speed Booster. Will give you almost Super 35mm field of view with no loss of optical quality (an increase in sharpness and exposure actually) with Nikon lenses on the 2.3x GH4 4K mode.

Panasonic didn't miss on anything. They heavily improved the GH3, it's a no brainer for journalist, high quality video and stills. What this release tells me is that a AF101 successor is right around the corner. Panasonic is smart IMHO, I bet we'll see a GH4, AF200 and the anticipated Vari Cam in 2014. I suspect what you're looking for you'll be happy once NAB rolls around. Coming out with a new AF series, 4K, 10 bit, higher frame rates along with the new Vari Cam could make Panasonic the new Blackmagic. Sonys not gonna beat down the F5, Canon has the c500, nothing from Nikon, Blackmagic needs to deliver before anything else, and sadly I haven't seen any normal decent footage from the DB yet, so the markets ripe. It's a great transition into 4k, terrific offering but the Gap is too wide between the GH4 and Vari cam, I think we'll all be happy this spring. I'll end with saying this review was one the best I've read in a while. Thanks

 

AF100 successor, now that's an interesting thought. It's no secret the AF was not a huge success and was trampled on by Sony and Canon. Maybe they see the GH4 as the successor and there won't even be an AF200?

 

On the other hand, I still think one makes sense. Built in NDs, XLRs, HD-SDI. Maybe the AG-pro division GH4 add-on is the AF200's image processing hardware in a box :)

8 bit 4:2:0 seems a bit of a bummer on paper, but realistically as a complete noob it probably isn't such a big deal for me. It is the what-seems-to-be-intentional crippling, just like Canon et al, that really turns me off. Downsampled 4k should be able to give 4:4:4 right?

 

I think the GH4 kills the 'intentionally crippled' argument stone dead. I've never seen a consumer camera with so much pro video stuff in it. Peaking, zebra, pedestal, 10bit, and the pro external box jacks too, and that's just a few.

 

4:4:4 sampling requires more processing power at the compression stage to maintain it right through into the IPB codec. If you want 4:4:4 shoot raw and use your $3000 Mac Pro to debayer the footage :)

One more boo - no all-intra frame mode for 4K. Only IPB. Boo.

And more - 100Mbps for 1920x1080 IPB and for 4K nothing more. Boooo! :)

 

Good reason for that! The ALL-I codec spreads the bitrate more thinly as every frame is separately compressed and stored. To get equivalent quality to IPB you need a much higher bitrate with an ALL-I codec, which is why the MJPEG codec on the 1D C is 500Mbit and a real card gobbler.

 

If you need intra-frame uncompressed 4K you can have it with the GH4's external box. Can't wait to see the image from that!

 

Yeah it adds bulk and size but it's not that heavy and as a whole, the GH4 + external box is still smaller and lighter than a C500 with external recorder, likely lighter than the Blackmagic Cinema Camera too, with much better ergonomics than the latter.

most of the PROs of this camera dont affect me so much.

 

as of right now i dont need and i dont want 4k. this might be changing the next 12/24 month, but id much rather have a crisp 1080p image. i mean 4k on youtube? 99,5% of the people cant even view this. its good to have a 4k option but its nothing i need right now. and for editing i dont need the zoom in option.

 

Ha. Someone who didn't read past the first line of the blog post. What did I say about crisp 1080p image? 4K gives you the crispest 1080p image out there and then you even have 10bit 4:2:2 from the HDMI port. Infuriating!

I'm curious Andrew, you liked the RX10 seemingly a lot for it's great feature set (for a run and gun shooter), but hated the AVCHD codec. You are also (obviously) very keen on 4K at the minute. So my question is this - It's been weeks since CES and not one peep from you about the AX100? Obviously it is not in direct competition with the GH4, but it does seem to fix the issues with the RX10 and add a similar 4K capability into the bargain... And at $1999 no less! 

 

Seriously don't get why this wasn't plastered all over EOSHD? This is the first 4K for $2K camera ever, has a 2.7x crop sensor (vs 2.3 in the Panasonic) with a decent ranging lens, 100Mbps 4K, scraps the crap AVCHD in 1080p, even supposedly does 120fps. So what gives?

 

It was like a week after you proclaimed going to 4K and everyone else should follow... So, could your trip to Panasonic have had something to do with both of those things (your post about everyone should go 4K and your complete silence on the AX100)?

 

Hmm why no AX100 coverage. Well the AX100 is a camcorder and this is a DSLR blog. I've had my hands on a GH4 and I've not had my hands on an AX100. It isn't available to buy yet and it doesn't excite me as much as the GH4. It has a fixed zoom lens, with a spec that's a step backwards from the constant F2.8 aperture lens on the RX10. There's better stuff out there dude!

Based on a pre-production model

Since the GH1 I have been shooting with Panasonic's mirrorless system for video. Without this series of affordable cameras my early work as a cinematographer and filmmaker simply wouldn't be the same. The GH4 marks a much needed major leap for the line, the first to shoot 4K to an efficient internal codec AND output 10bit 4:2:2 1080p over HDMI to an affordable external recorder like the Atomos Ninja!

On a visit to Panasonic I got to see the camera, see 4K sample footage and give my feedback. Here's an account of what I saw...

Read the full article here

Andrew do these have the same scalloped iris shape as the S4s ?

 

Yes. Which makes for a unique bokeh. Wonder if they patented it? Haven't seen it on any other lens.

Poor photographers, they have so few cameras to choose from :)

Take the humble anamorphic lens. The look appears in your content. You take the look away, the content and mood changes.

 

For me there's no need to have a wall between content and equipment, they're all up there on the screen together.