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GH4 4K Panasonic video camera, official topic
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  • I think Nick is a good actor and is using his acting skills in the interview, even though it is clear he really likes the camera. I believe he is making the most of an opportunity to help sell as many of these as possible so we will have a GH5 to look forward to in the future.

    Everyone I talk to about shooting video on a DSLR thinks Canon is the best at video based on the name alone. We need more videos like Nick did to get the word out that this is possibly the best hybrid video/stills camera as of May 2014.

    Anyway, I respect Nick and think that his motives are to further the community even at the risk of being misunderstood.

  • @jamesgh2 The aerial footage has supers on it which means it has been through a post production process. It's not straight out of the camera even if they did no treatment to it.

  • @caveport of course. I'm certain they just meant it had no stabilization in post. But what kind of surprises me (well, surprise might be a strong word since these ARE forums!) is that the clip doesn't get some praise. If it is a genuine GH4 video, it's one of the best I've seen: colors aren't over-saturated, very little aliasing or moire, and the best drone footage yet. Watching it in 1080, I realize that's probably how I'm going to work with the camera for the most part: shoot in 4K and downscale to 1080. I just hope we can get some good CineLike to download and play with.

  • Hey Gift Horse. Can I look inside your mouth?

  • Nope didn't get a penny off Pany to do that. Wouldn't take it if they offered. I like the GH4. There, I admit it. Doing the interview was fun. We had a laugh and it went live! Hey what the fuck!

    What it means is that I get more info and valuable time with Panasonic for personal-view.com. I will be doing an in-depth report on all the features of the GH4 this weekend - so any questions that need answering email/pm them asap.

    @endotoxic I wrote a few notes and wanted to include it, so, here and there I did read from a note or two! C'mon, it was an on-the-spot- video done quickly! I was invited to put across my thoughts to Jessops store visitors in layman's terms. Just remember this: Good relationship with Panasonic = good relationship for p-v. Simple. And that's what its all about.

  • Although the new better capabilities, GH4 still produces the same "thin" picture.

    Don't you agree?

  • GH4 still produces the same "thin" picture.

    "Thin picture", "improper skin tones", "slightly rotten high frequencies"... good sequence of bullshit.

  • @driftwood Thanks for the info. Loking forward to your in-depth report.

    I do not have stuf to do 4K editing yet but would like to start using 4k from The very beginning. How should I convert it to 1080p for editing, any suggestions on not to expansiva solutions. This is perhaps different subjekt but I start it here for the moment.

  • It would be nice if GH4 can recall the previously used shutter speed in creative movie mode and photo mode when switching between vid and still

  • I will be looking at downscaling 4K to 4:2:0 8 bit 1080p and other flavours this week.

  • @driftwood It looks like you were having a great time there. I for one can't wait for May to roll around.

  • I thought Nick Driftwood looked genuinely enthused about the camera, bring it on!

  • Does anyone know if the Stop Motion feature has onionskin?

  • I spoke to the Panasonic rep in Jessops on Friday about the 29.59min recording limit here in the UK (and beyond) on the GH4. He surprised me by explaining that as it is a "world" camera, there are no different models, so the PAL settings will be restricted no matter where the GH4 is purchased, but the NTSC settings will be unrestricted everywhere. He said he would confirm this and get back to me but I haven't heard further yet.

    It seems unlikely to me that Panasonic would be able to avoid charging the EU "camcorder tax" by just restricting the PAL settings. It also wouldn't make much sense for places like Hong Kong

  • @c_adams , i don't think so, i think except EU even Australia PAL is in use ...

  • @Driftwood Smashingly excellent stuff!

  • I have taken some 4k video posted from the GH4 converted it to 1080 using the Edius AVCHD converter. It dosen't have to be a AVCHD file to convert to the Edius HQ (fine) codec. It played well on Edius 5.51 and looked very good to me played back from my timeline out to a 1080p monitor. I think my workflow will be to shoot in 4K, convert to Edius HQ, edit and output to the web. I will have to find another application to edit the 4K files as Edius 5.51 only goes up to 1080.

  • @driftwood

    I like the GH4 too. In fact I liked the GH3, GH2, and GF1 before that. They will keep making great cameras and we will keep buying them.

    Thank you for taking your time to do that interview. On the spot interviews are difficult and I understand not wanting to forget anything. Your relationship with Panasonic benefits us greatly so anything that we can do to foster that is a good thing for all of us.

  • I found this program to downscaling 4K. I have not tried it yet. http://www.firecoresoft.com/convert-4k/downscale-4k-in-prores.html Do anyone have experience with this program?

  • I don't know what all the complaining is about with Nick's GH4 video. He looks to me like he's having a bit of fun and passing along some good info. Most of all, Nick seems like a guy you can have a good beer and conversation with on any good ole' day. Works for me!

  • Nick did a great job, what people don't understand is that with a pre-release camera you just cant waltz about and expect to be given time with it with an indication of not playing for the team in some way. Driftwood knows how to play the game, you have to be encouraging and genuinely excited about the product as that is what will sell the gear to the viewers.

    Some review sites that are overly critical usually are left with a loan or purchase once the product is out to review it loosing on exclusives and early testing. It doesn't mean Nick was out to be a PR person for Panasonic, he managed to channel the enthusiasm and at the same time show a lot of the features on a quick interview. You are not going to be negative or critical this early in the game especially with a pre-release product, you need time and a few shoots to measure the true strengths and weaknesses of a product and do a fair assesment that is of some worth.

    @driftwood

    First off thanks for everything, the info you will provide will be of most importance, second the following tests would be ideal if you have time and are just ideas:

    -Rolling Shutter against GH2 or GH3 mounted side by side or on the hot shoe.

    -Cinegamma D and V vs standard profile on the same shot, hopefully with a person in the shot.

    -Pedestal before and after tweaking.

    -Slow Mo Mode 96f how long can you record and quality compared to regular 1080p, maybe the quality is reduced like in the FS-700

    -AF tracking moving targets and faces.

    -Fast pan for finding Mud on 4k and 1080p. Detailed scene.

    -5 seconds of Cinema 4k and 5 Sec of Standard 4k to see differences in crop factor & quality.

    -Ask it if it can do an English Breakfast? ;-)

    Thanks again!

  • Quick Preview with some detailed Bamboo forest scenes, looks very good even with Youtube compression.

  • It may be that some programs will be better than other for downscaling, but I just took the footage EP provided and did a bog-simple 50% scale in AE and it looked great at 1080p. Of course it already looked great at 4K, so perhaps not the best test. Very curious to see what downscaling does to a noisy high ISO shot.

  • @jamesgh2 Thanks for providing the video link, it clarified a few vague issues about the microHDMI and SD card support for 4K. Also acquiring variable frame rates files w/o post processing is a huge benefit. The GH4 can't come soon enough!!

  • Anyone tested these out on greenscreen? Would downscaling 4k 4:2:0 into 1080p 4:4:4 give a better key? I would love to see a greenscreen test with this baby both under ideal conditions (even lit screen, good distance from subject, good lighting setup on subject...) and not quite so ideal conditions (i.e. badly lit screen, 50 cm from subject, 20$ eBay muslin wrinkled fabric and work lights, in other words your average garage sci-fi production setting)

    Any idea what sort of recorder can record 4k from the HDMI output? I haven't found any - at least not anything remotely budget friendly.

    I'm torn between this and the BMPCC because this would be awesome because it is still a hybrid with great still photo features, the BMPCC is a video-only camera, and less "wife-friendly" but it's cheaper and probably better for greenscreen because of the raw features.