Personal View site logo
Make sure to join PV on Telegram or Facebook! Perfect to keep up with community on your smartphone.
Please, support PV!
It allows to keep PV going, with more focus towards AI, but keeping be one of the few truly independent places.
GH4 Firmware 2.3, V-log for $99, Epic Panasonic marketing fail
  • 1451 Replies sorted by
  • Well, log formats are just way to put more available information into less space (usually compressing top and bottom range). If someone do not understand their usage intention and their restrictions - worse for him.

    As it is not raw, removing ISO settings is strange, and fixing ISO at 800 make no sense at all.

  • Quick comparison of different profiles compared with V-Log:

  • @rNeil Who knows? I guess we will find out soon enough.

    Make of it...what you will. Cheers

  • Loving the new 4:3 mode. We are finally able to utilize anamorphic shooting into our commercial work. Take a look!

  • It feels a little too wide for me, might have to try that Letus 1.8X to get the perfect ratio.

  • NO V-log in GH4 Firmware 2.2!!!!

  • This was an April fool joke, wasn't it? Why re-post?

  • https://twitter.com/TCSTVJordan

    Thanks to the new Sony announcements, in a defensive move Panasonic just sent out new version of V-log to Jordan at the camera store for testing. Competition is always good for us consumers. Samsung, what are you gonna do about this? lol We know Canon and Nikon not gonna do jack.

  • in a defensive move Panasonic just sent out new version of V-log to Jordan

    This V Log thing long time ago turned into some Panasonic marketing illusion. At leas it seems so.

  • I hate panasonic fot this!

  • GH4 V-LOG on the right

  • how long we have to wait for this? GH5?

  • Panasonic marketing and information = CRAP!

    Cant...Reveal...Anything...People

    But hang in the for the next 2 years while Sony, BMD and Samsung makes a ton of new Cameras and releases new firmware regularly....

    But soon...someday...maybe we will have "wait for it"!!!

    V-LOG!!!!!!! ...that now means Vintage Log BTW LOL!!! I'll say it again Pannys marketing =CRAP!!

  • I have never made a comment here as of yet, but I just had to make one after watching this recent comparison by Nick Driftwood and the discussions around the web.

    Most people seem to think the right image was taken with the GH4 and the left with the A7s (I am among those by the way). While I don't have experience with the A7s, I have worked with S-Log2 and 3 on Sony's cinema cameras before and therefore had a feeling this looks like S-Log2 on the left. Never had any experience whatsoever with V-Log from Panasonic, however I do own a GH4 and could see some characteristics I'm familiar with on the right image.

    Must say that I hoped to find out the right is in fact the GH4. I liked that right image better than the left by appearance, at least for this specific scene.

    So now let's cut to the end: Left is A7s. Right is GH4. Period.

    How do I know that so certain and sure? That is most simple. Driftwood mentioned the exact LUT files he used for each camera. I simply downloaded the 4K video from YouTube and applied those LUTs myself in Premiere Pro (to both sides together). I have attached grabbed frames so you can see for yourself.

    https://www.flickr.com/gp/134106866@N07/0S0n9y

    https://www.flickr.com/gp/134106866@N07/W5u604

    https://www.flickr.com/gp/134106866@N07/Nb5795

    https://www.flickr.com/gp/134106866@N07/1oeH94

    The answer is of course very clear after seeing the results, but what I find to be very interesting as well is the fact the two cameras can be matched rather well just by applying the same LUT files to them. With the proper grading and matching tools I believe the two can match and blend together amazingly well.

  • do we really think V log is coming for the GH4? even though it's been tested as a 'proof of concept' that it's possible, there is no reason for Panasonic to hold on to it. I'm sure their sales would increase if they actually released it. It's one of the reasons I'm thinking of jumping ship. Recently been comparing the GH4 to 1dc and the colours out of the 1dc with their clog and a LUT just look leaps and bounds better than the GH4. would anyone else agree?

  • I think a lot of people are going to be disappointed when V-Log finally comes to the GH4. A log curve does not magically make a camera better. Exposure latitude and dynamic range are limited by the camera's shadow noise, not by the curve. Color accuracy is determined by the camera's color filters and its processing, not by the recorded gamut. Gradability is determined by the color space you're grading in, your process, your tools, and your skill, not by the color space that the camera records to.

    Camera log color spaces have an aura to them because of their association with high-end cinema cameras. But it's not the log color spaces that make those cameras good. I've built an OpenColorIO input transform for the GH4's standard color space. You can use it today to transform into ACES, or even into V-Log, if you like. It won't turn the GH4 into an Arri Alexa or a Sony F65.

  • why don't you just download some sample footage and see for yourself?

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/xtwhwbpe75k3k7s/VLogL-SHOGUN_S001_S001_T008b.mov?dl=0

  • @balazer Those who have actually used V-Log seem to think it's a very nice upgrade - better skin tones and dynamic range. My eyes tend to agree with those assertions. Maybe you should wait for the masses to actually start using V-Log before you hock your own products in this thread?

  • @Tron

    Maybe you should wait for the masses to actually start using V-Log before you hock your own products in this thread?

    Balazer's stuff is free, he's not just another LUT vendor, "hocking his own products".

  • Having seen what can be done with it ... GH4 V-Log is a nice upgrade to the GH4's output. It's not a revolutionary change, but a nice & usable one.

    Worthwhile for the "heartier" users? Most certainly. But as noted, it doesn't make the GH4 into a cheap RED rig. It makes it a little better GH4. Worthwhile for some users, but for many, not enough to change. Especially as I doubt the "pro video" section of Panny will let this out without forcing a charge for it.

    For someone already maxing out the GH4 in tightly controlled shooting & post, this would give a bit more capability. A bit better highlight roll-off, a bit better shadow noise situation, and some additional grading ability. Not a lot of each, but together, enough to lift the final result up another notch. On a MANY notch scale.

    Balazar's points are well-stated, even if he is a bit more limited in what he expects a V-Log firmware would accomplish in the GH4 compared to some others that are also technically knowledgeable and have used it. But it's not a great difference, folks. It's certainly no magic bullet.

    And for grading ... how ... "thick?" ... a file a camera produces is the big determinant. Which is why my D3 is still our go-to stills camera for both +3200 ISO shots and for those we know will require a lot of corrections in post, compared to the D600 my wife shoots for stills. The D600 technically has a LOT more pixels/resolution. Yet for all that ... the D3 files take one heck of a lot more bending before they even start looking "worked" let alone "break". You can sharpen the hades out of them compared to the D600 for starters. You can't get away from the combo of the sensor with those HUGE pixel elements and a very special "engine" doing the initial processing of them in a decent bit-space. The data in those files is "hot".

    So ... V-Log just gets the data that sensor/engine produces into a slightly better file for post work. You WILL need to do post on it, so it's no use if you're trying to cut down the amount of time from shooting to delivery. And to really get any advantage, you will need to know HOW to do the righteous post to those files ... or don't bother shooting it.

    Still, it would be most useful if Panny stopped arguing internally and just released the darn thing. Another useful tool ...

    Neil

  • The V-log setting would be great for grading control in the bottom 20% of the luminance range, but with an 8 bit 4:2:0 codec, there will always be limititations. My GH4 produces the "thickest" images I have seen, but still "falls apart" if "pushed" too far. Sorry rNeil, I couldn't "resist"!

  • I just downloaded and played with @SeekingHeartwood's sample. To me it adds a very noticeable level of quality and flexibility to the camera. So much so that I will go ahead and get the shogun, anticipating the release of v-log.