Panasonic GH4 first look video by BHphoto.
A note for US readers: The Panasonic GH4 preorders will start at midnight tonight (New York time) or 9pm Los Angeles time! These are the 100% confirmed prices:
GH4 camera at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), and Panasonic (Click here). Price: $1,698
GH4 camera with interface unit at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here). Price: $3,298
Interface unit only at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and Panasonic (Click here). Price: $1,998
P.S.: BH preorder links wil be active at 12.45am NY time while Adorama is active now (from 12.00 am NY time).
52 Responses
Camera and unit less than unit only.
LoL!
I think that’s a mistake
It’s official. This site says so!
the prices listed on this site are the wrong way round.
Admin: delete this post
I think the price should be the other way around
No
Interface unit costs as interface unit + GH4? Admin update please and switch the names. I’m not a math genius but that’s the mistake. 🙂
Switched the numbers 🙂
Wow. $1,998 for GH4 camera with interface unit, wahooo ! Now that is a deal ! LOL
In belgium: 1499 euro for the body, 2099 euro with the 14-140 lens: http://www.fotokonijnenberg.be/catalogsearch/result/?q=panasonic+gh4
From GH1 to GH4 the introduction price has doubled! What happened with the line that started as a perfect hybrid for travellers? I am not interested in 4k, I do not have the computer power and storage. I hope the G7 gets a first class sensor (not an old one like in the G6), IBIS and a reasonable price.
The GH4 camera is for professional work at this point. If you don’t do pro work get an amateur’s camera. Is that simple.
The GH1 was an amateur camera at an amateur price, with witch I was happy. Now the line has been kidnapped by pro’s.
Whine, whine, whine. No one cares.
For you and many others, 4k is not the answer now. But one day, we will all be using it like we are using HD today. At that time you can buy your camera.
😀 As if any professional would rent a GH4 to shoot 4K. I really do not know who this camera is made for with it’s internal 8-bit and ad-what-you-need excuses. I really wanted to upgrade my GH2 but this GH4 is not what it’s going to be. Neither for my professional tasks (I will rent something else) nor for my semi professional stuff (the one that isn’t paid to well). I’m disappointed – that’s what panasonic achieved with GH3 and GH4 but nothing more.
Then just get a GH3 for much cheaper than the GH4.
From GH1 to GH4 the capabilties of the camera have improved 10-fold. I don’t get all the whiners who say they don’t care about 4K. There are dozens of other cameras for you. This if for people who DO want 4K. Grow up, and understand the entire world doesn’t revolve around you and your needs.
Not bad pricing at all. You get a 4K body with a perfectly calibrated interface unit. Just to point out, you dont HAVE to shoot 4K, but you have the option,. and the interface unit makes setting one of these up for video much much easier.
Good job Panasonic.
Yes, you do not have to use 4K but you have to pay for it.
My god, is Panasonic forcing people to buy this camera now?? Marketing sure has taken an aggressive turn!!
Actually you DONT have to pay for it, you can buy one of the many, MANY other m43rds options.
There are not many options for good video and photo. Olympus refuses to add 25/50 frames per second. Many m43 cameras do not have a viewfinder which make them useless in bright light. Then there is only the GX7 and the G6. The problem with the G6 is that panasonic sees it as a cheaper model and gives it an old sensor, not like the GH1 which had their best sensor.
The GX7 has Panasonics best sensor available right this minute. I suspect the G7 will, too. And the G6 sensor is dramatically better than the “best” sensor in the GH1.
Huh? You need “good” video? How good do you mean? Good like the GH3? That also does nice stills… Or the GH2… Or do you mean you NEED better video quality… Like professional video quality? Well then this is a steal right now…
If you just want good video quality the GH3 is very good as far as I know. But then the G6 is no slouch, the Blackmagic camera is very good, and if you can live with 30fps then the OMD cameras really are not that bad.
Point is, you have options, this 4K camera may not be for you… But then, is every camera supposed to be “for you”?
You don’t have to pay for it if you don’t want it. Just don’t buy the camera at all. Buy something else. Is your choice alone to make. It doesn’t take too much brain to figure that out.
It’s basically a half baked option. The GH4’s headline capability is 4K video, but the best quality can only be achieved after more than doubling your exit price. The true 4K camera to wait for will be the GH5. It should be able to do everything and perhaps a bit more than what the interface unit is capable of, except it will be available right out of the box. To make things even better, 4K devices should be commonplace at such a time as well, making it all the more practical to the average user.
:), no, the GH6 will be the camera to wait for, or the GH8 with 8K, or the GH19… Of course cameras in the future will be better… The questions really are, do you need it for your work? Do you know how to get the most out of it? Do you have the money to buy it?
Can you make great work with it? Only if you are a great videographer. The rest will just moan.
The difference is the prevailing environment. In a couple of years 4K content will be everywhere, much like HD is now. That will be the time when you will have less moaners and more believers… And, thus, the GH5 should be much more marketable then.
Of course when 4K is pedestrian it will be everywhere, but then Panasonic has no edge in marketing the technology.
My point is, either having a 4K camera will give you an edge, or it wont. If it wont then there are lots of other options. However what 4K can do for the enthusiast videographer? That is for each to decide.
How much is the cheapest price of 4k camera besides panasonic GH4 ?
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/855962-REG/Canon_EOS_1D_C_EOS_1D_C_4K_Cinema.html
Here is a true GH4 true competitor. $12,000 (no lens), weighs 3.5 pounds.
There is also the 4K Blackmagic/Polaroid look-a-like for $2,995.00 (B&H)
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/964119-REG/blackmagic_design_blackmagic_production_camera_4k.html
None of those sites are currently showing prices.
Okay, most other sites are reporting the following prices. So the price above are reversed for the YAGH unit only and the price of YAGH with GH4 body.
Panasonic GH4 body only (black) with 4K video recording – $1698
Panasonic YAGH interface unit only (for 10bit 4K, HD-SDI and XLR audio) – $1998
Panasonic GH4 with YAGH interface unit (bundle) – $3298 ($300 below individual prices).
Fantastic price. This will be a very popular camera.
What will be interesting is when the more average photographer figures out they can extract very usable stills from video. That is a revolution waiting to happen.
Question becomes whether people who care mainly about stills (the majority of the market at this price point) will want to pay $1700 for a large M4/3 camera. That’s low-end FF DSLR range, so for people who mainly want to shoot stills, they might see this as much too expensive. Then the question becomes – how viable is it to subsidize production costs on the dollars of budget filmmakers?
Will be interesting to see. I plan on getting one in a few months.
Why would a stills-only photographer be interested in this camera? How do you know that’s the majority of the market at this price-point, especially when you go on to say that the same group will see this as too expensive…
… that’s the point – I don’t know why a stills-only photographer WOULD be interested in this camera. Can you subsidize production on these things selling them only to videographers? That was my question.
And stills photographers are the majority of the market share … I’m a video shooter, that’s why I’m buying one. Just curious about the business model, that’s all. No need to get defensive.
There are few things you can do with 4K even though you do not have 4K monitor or “Interested” in 4K before.
Photo: You can now shoot (frame grab) 8 megapixel photos 24 frame per second without time limitation
Video: Downsample to 1080P for sharp image and you can reframing; Also EOSHD previously mention you could convert 8bit 4:2:0 4K to 10bit 4:2:2?
Just placed my order for $1699. Hope it ships in the next month or two.
Were from ?
Samys.com
I did it with B&H but they did not have it available at 12am ET and I just did it now after 5am ET. I could have ordered at 12:50am ET but I fell asleep.
It’s 15 minutes past midnight, and you still can’t preorder one. Surprise! Rumors!
Pre-ordered from Panasonic directly. Was up about 30 minutes before midnight actually! Paid tax though..
Just place an order thru BHPhoto
Ordered mine from B&H
I just ordered mine from B&H too!! Hopefully it ships on time, not like the Black Magic (9 months of waiting) haha…
Its funny, when the 4K video is very expensive. People can give tons of reason why they don’t need 4K. But when the price comes down. It seems everyone is happy to go 4K!! Just like the GoPro 4K, no one complains about why they put 4K video in that little device. But because they are cheap. So no one says anything about that. Price can really change peoples mind!! haha… But seriously I personally prefer 4K, I’ve seen some downscale 4K to 1080p videos. They just look super sharp just like Black Magic ProRes and even 1080p RAW (Compared with Pocket camera). And the file sizes are much smaller!! But focoz the good thing about having RAW is you can do so much more in post!! But think about it the Back Magic 4K shoot 880mbps in ProRes. Thats 5.2GBs per min. I can’t imagine the file size with the 4K RAW?? So for me, I prefer GH4 more than Black Magic. Just so many limitation on Black Magic, I’m sure the quality should be better on Black Magic 4K production camera, but having almost Black & White colour of image is very annoying. Takes forever to colour grade an hour video. And you can’t even take stills too. Also internal battery (Which only last for 20mins of shooting), 1600ISO only and no live view colour balance adjustment!! And don’t forget the GH4 also gives 10bit 422 uncompressed 4K output!! Thats really good already 🙂
I embrace 4K, I Hug it and I kiss. But the new MacPro…. OMFG!
Would you buy this if you already have the GH3 and do not plan on using 4k video? Is the still photo quality a huge improvement over the GH3?
Yes. I will buy the GH4 even though I already own GH3. It is superior technology by every measure. I expect the value of the GH3 to drop rapidly.