Well, it may be that many of you don’t care about 4K yet but the GH4 will may let you change your mind about it. The image on top shows you how mind-blowing good the quality of the Gh4 video is. The Blackmagic Cinema Pocket and the Canon 5DmarkIII are nowhere near to the GH4. The Gh4 has astonishing resolution and zero moiree. The test has been made by Camera Zone and you can see their full review here below:
GH4 4K Shootout vs BMPCC vs 5D MarkIII from Camera Zone on Vimeo.
You know it well, I wasn’t a fan of the “3D hype”. But the “4K hype” makes much more sense to me! And the early owner reviews on Amazon’s GH4 site (Click here) are also all very positive!
North American preorders, shipping date and price:
GH4 camera at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Ritz Camera and Panasonic. Price: $1,698. In Canada at Vistek.
GH4 camera with interface unit at Adorama and BHphoto. Price: $3,298
Interface unit only at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto and Panasonic. Price: $1,998
Europen preorders, shipping date and price:
Germany: Wexcameras, Marcotec-shop.de.
UK at Wexphotographic, CameraWorld, UKdigital, CVP, TipTop.
Holland at Fotohanskeuzekamp.
Belgium at Fotokonijnenberg.
Norway at Fotovideo.
Sweden at Cyberphoto, Skandinavianphoto.
Finland at Telefoto, Topshot, Verkkoauppa.
France at Photocineshop.
Spain: Fotoboom.
Asian preorders, shipping date and price:
Digitalrev
74 Responses
The GH4 is a pretty amazing camera.
Will the GH4 posts and tweets ever stop? Yes 4K video, yes it’s sometimes in stock and sometimes not. We know.
so what ? don’t read that’s it !
Get used to it, next will be 6k video and names like SuperHD etc. Remember when still cameras offered 1 megapixel then 2,4,6,10,16,24? Expect to see that with video, abd woefully it will necessitate MUCH faster high priced computers to process these technologies, so in for a dollar in for 20k.
Make really good films, good writing, great storytelling and nobody will care if you are SD, HD, 4k. Etc.
The Panasonic GH4 just happens to be the most exciting camera in the world, waiting & pre-order lists abound, it’s just beginning to ship, back-ordered all around the world, we are only just now beginning to see the photos and videos coming from new owners . . . .
If now isn’t the time to talk about and review the GH4, when do you think would be the right time?
Isn’t it possible that many people want to learn everything they can about the GH4?
I can not wait for the 5dMK4 with 4K Video 🙂
you wiil wait for a long time !
if there was no magic lantern hack 5DIII would still be so poor for vidéo…. moiré, very soft, etc…etc…
What moire? The Mark III, unlike the Mark II, has almost none.
That’s cool and all, but how is the stills quality, compared to the MkIII?
Strange, he makes a comment on the video-capabilities and you IMMEDIATELY start to mention stills quality.
He mentions that the video quality looks “very very old”, so how does the stills quality of the Canon 5D MKIII makes the GH4?
Point is, don’t try to bash a camera because one aspect may be better than the other. Last I checked, people still like to shoot stills and if I had the money for it, I would choose the MkIII of the GH4 Any Day. There’s NO contest.
Very often 5D2/5D3 is advertised for its “industry standard” video quality. More often than its still quality. Video sets the cameras apart from the many other FF cameras, and thus is repeated quite often.
It was the industry satandard. The mkiii is getting long in the tooth. That said if the prices would drop to atound $2000, i’d buy one in a heartbeat and use it mostly for stills. I prefer the pannys for video mostly because of then viewfinder, also the are lighter and less expensive.
Isnt that exactly what all FF aficionados do? They make 1 field of comparison and make it the basis of all the world of Photography… DoF. I will say that 5Dm111 video looks downright fuzzy, the camera has less DR barely better Noise for a FF sensor and probably slower SAF…
So a bit more than 1 area… and sometimes 1 area is all it takes… right?
But what is the price of the MKIII ? and what is the DR of MKIII ?
Actually 5d mk3 DR is worse than any current m43, iso performance is better obviously? but if you have to stop down for more dof, then m43 might as well gain it back. Detail capture is really close. But there are many lenses that m43 doesn’t have. Just take a look at raw files side by side and individual DXO scores will make sense.
Sorry for canon, it simply old tech. Nikon d800 can give you quite a bit extra detail and dr than a m43… if you need and can use such large files.
Sure, 4K is cool. But is it really relevant?
There are no 4K TVs at home yet. I doubt there will be any, in the next 5-10 years.
So… Home videographers have no use right now for 4K.
Besides, blowing out a frame to 300% and looking for resolution is more a technological video assessment, than a practical one.
I doubt people who even watch movies in a movie theater would be able to detect which film is 4K and which is not.
In short – 4K is the future. around 2024…
Not all the footage was 300% and I could tell some difference on a mac air screen.
if YOU don’t understand the benefits of 4K TODAY, you did’t not get the point at all !
First LEARN before talking and then you could come back and post something else !
The MediaMarket chainstore already has a demo room for UHD TV’s. I do think that 4K consumer video has a big oppertunity in the videoprojector segment where big projection sizes profit from the extra resolution without costing as much as a 4K tv? You are right though, that at a certain distance, certain amount of megapixels dont matter anymore (as was demonstrated in a gallery article a while ago). For editing purposes like re-framing, 4k is obviously very practical. And lets not forget the ones who prefer to watch everything upclose.
You need to do some research. 4K video tends to look significantly better at 1080p then video captured at 1080p.
It is very relevant if you are editing video. Can I assume by your post you don’t edit video? here are just a few huge advantages of shooting in 4K
1. Shooting at a wider focal and using the same footage to zoom in post without much or any loss of quality for HD (1080p) output
2. Being able to level out footage in the area of 15 degrees or so for HD output
3. better post stabilization
4. better for cropping, tracking and compositional changes in post.
5. In general, 4K video output to 1080p video for a non-4K Television has much better resolution and depth.
So we know it is great for video. However, the majority of shooters don’t care that much for video and do stills photography mostly. They waited for a true GH2 successor rather a fat GH3/4 body and thus switched to OM-Ds or even Fuji. Instead Panasonic seems to drop the G line. The problem of Panasonic’s m4/3 camera line has not been solved with the GH4. Photographers don’t necessarily need or want a video monster.
“The problem of Panasonic’s m4/3 camera line has not been solved with the GH4. ”
So what are YOUR personal complains?
I can discern only one so far: you find GH3 and GH4 too large. That is rather subjective, though. Size-wise GH3/GH4 are squarely in the same size group as E-M1 or X-T1 – the size of a smaller DSLR. So your insinuation that people moved from GH2 to Oly or Fuji because of size is plain trolling.
As stills shooter, I’m pretty excited about DFD (depth from defocus). First reports were positive, but how that would work in real life is yet to be seen.
The problem of Panasonic’s m4/3 line is that they listened too hard to users who liked the GH2 video quality.
So instead of updates to image IQ from the GH2, we have seen a series of, as the original poster stated, camcorders marketed as cameras.
With every GH camera, stills IQ has consistently improved.
You are grasping. That trolling isn’t even funny anymore.
So you are excited about a flaw? You are no photographer, are you? Is it P or O you “work” for? But hey, keep being “excited”.
For stills, M43 is the system with the worst quality/price ratio, and the worst quality in absolute terms. I am surely not going to buy it.
Holly BS. It’s just a tool. If can’t take good pictures with m43 the problem is with you. Now turn off your gadget mommy is calling…
Shut up twittwat…
Looking at the video, I think video users would need new RAW development & retouching tools: those wrinkles and pimples on the faces in 4K become even more visible than in 1080p.
If your client/model is “cosmetically challenged”, you could always reach for a Canon 5d with it’s lackluster video sharpness (or any number of other DSLR type cameras with marginal video performance), for that gauzy soft focus effect.
The GH4 appears to be a great all-purpose camera – video & still. Looks like sales will be brisk!
To those who don’t see a reason for 4k.
This camera isn’t geared toward regular Joe who wants to take a video of his kids playing in the yard, this camera is for the small-time reporter or the young director who wants to break into the business. It exists for that individual who wants the extra reach (zoom) without a drop in quality (if intending to sample from 4k to 1080p).
Also… why not do it if it can be done? That’s how technology moves forward.
I agree this is not for the hobbiest or beginner, but it’s not for a young reporter either. It’s a mother of a workflow for a reporter who needs documentation of events over the highest production value. Also it’s not just for young directors. I’m an old director, sometimes i get a million to do a project but more and more often the gigs are 1or small crew affairs, so the gh4 will work great for me too.
Agree. The Sony RX10 is more geared for journalists; even Sony stated that that was one of its target markets.
Like the Canon Scoopic was in the 60s…for reporters getting the scoop!
A camcorder in a camera shell… Marketed as a dslr. DESPARATE TO MAKE SALES. There are more buyers demanding superior stills than 4k video… because no one give’s a flying fig about your daughter’s 1st communion. And staring at her zitty face in 4k.
Another panny fail. TRY AGAIN.
c’mon…that wasn’t even a 1/4 of a Trick.
Desperate comment
Get a horse!
should you not call yourself ‘one sick pony’ or even ‘one thick pony’ it would suit your comment style better.
What a troll. 4K is the future!
It doesn’t seem that they compared RAW from 5D3 so comparison is irrelevant.
5D3 is not “Industry standard” either. But many of the people that use 5D3 professionally for video, they shoot RAW.
If that is the truth the comparison is TOTALLY irrelevant. Cheap trick no. 10′
Can we do better than that on this website please. (If true).
Most professional I know shooting with a DSLR would never trust raw or any other hack for paid work. Whether it’s reliable or not, they perceive it as unreliable and reliability is everything in paid work. To say that 5D3 is not “industry standard” based on this is bs. First, what industry? Videography? You better believe a sh*t ton of people use it. I shoot for a lot of feature docs, as well as some BTS on commercials, and 5D3s are everywhere in that world. It’s annoying when people start spouting off about raw bc I guarantee 90% of people who think that is the holy grail don’t have the computer infrastructure or skill to get the most out of that image.
I’m sure the GH4 is a great camera snd ‘m trying to sell my gh3 to buy one, but it’s not my dream camera. I wish the body wasn’t so bloated (gh3 too). Also with the 5dmk3 video suffers from lack of sharpness, you add sharpness in post and the video looks
amazing. It’s a small tweak in the post workflow that makes a world of difference, and would have in this comparison.
Also in this particular video above it appears that the shooter kept missing focus a lot. The kids’ face in the park was off with the 5d 3, during the low light drummer scene, focus seemed to be on the back wall not on the drummer. You’d think at f 5.6 he’d have the DOF for the both to be in focus but apparently not.
Nt looking forward to loading 4k into my imac and watching it explode, but i will get a gh4 or perhaps the so ny a7s if it arrives sooner
I was quite impressed with the GH4’s 200mb 1080p. I’ll be interested to see more testing of that.
No one has said anything but the title’s English is bugging the crap out of me
Ok they fixed it
It’s the height of bad manners.
Don’t you think that its your impoliteness which is bugging the crap out of all of us ?
You don’t speak for anyone here. You are the “height of bad manners” of which you speak. STFU
definitely nice person you are !
I’m learning from you.
For those that do not know, this is how 5D mark 3 with raw Magic Lantern looks. https://vimeo.com/77580463
We have been using raw on production shoots for feature and commercials, etc for about 8 months now, and its very reliable to use.
GH4 certainly is a wonderful camera, but still does not compare to the cinematic look and colour space of 5D mark 3 shooting raw.
(disadvantage of raw is of course the workflow and cost, so its not comparing apples with apples).
and without ?
Without raw hack the 5D shoots in h.264 , like most SLR cameras the compression reduces a lot of the IQ that the sensor can actually deliver.
At the high end, many DOP’s will agree that the Arri Alexa (2k camera) has a certain “filmic look” to it, where as the RED Epic (4k/5k/6k) has more of a digital look. Its not something that is easily quantified, but something that is down to taste of the viewer. Tech specs of the RED are way better than the Alexa on paper, but so many DOP’s will choose the Alexa rather because of the “look” it gives.
I see a parallel here, where the GH4 is almost like a baby RED Epic (very good tech specs on paper), but the 5D3 with raw ML is like the Alexa (more filmic look with colours more pleasing to the eyes).
This takes nothing away from either camera, it simply shows how one camera is not simple “better” than another because of a few features. There is a lot more to it.
Again the f”film look” text. There is nothing “filmic” about Arri Alexa. When somebody likes a digital camera more than others (or has thrown a huge amount of money in it) brings this nonsense. They are all digital, and none of them looks “filmic”. You can grade the video and apply filmic noise to it yes but the files whom came from the digital cameras do not resemble film in any way, they are just more perfect. And Red Dragon has the best sensor out there yet, it has a huge DR, about 16+ stops and can mimic the human eyes, in other words you can mimic the filmic look better if you desire. In the end only the colorist makes the difference. Arry has nothing special about it, except for a very high price!
Every camera and lens has a different feel too it, and even the best colourists find it hard / near impossible to match footage shot with 2 very different cameras. Just ask any editor to match RED and Alexa, and watch his eyes roll because its not a simple task.
The DoP will make his camera and lens choice based on the look he wants, not simply shoot on any camera and leave it all to the colourist afterwards. Just like with stills, more pixels does not always mean a better image, the look and feel of the lens and camera combo are very important choices.
Its not as simple as saying that RED is perfect and Alexa is just over priced. Many of the top movies are still shot on the Alexa despite its lower specs in just about every spec sheet, and despite its higher price point.
Many of the top performing and awarded films are still shot on Alexa, despite all this, is a testament to other properties.
Waaaay too much sharpening applied. Botched number of perfectly fine textures and transitions to OOF.
Any comparison of GH4 still image quality with that of the 5D III?
Yeah, the 5D1 vomits on it.
Super sharp all thru the image is not exactly what i’m looking for ( nor most of the DOP’s) when i’m buying a camera. And if camera manufacturer is not understanding that, it’s not worth looking for that camera. And what a demo who would ever zoom the image 250%….stupid test
So you will stick with your 5DIII?
you can always blur it in post, but you can’t make sharper what’s not there to begin with
You zoom 4K vid so you can do a number of useful things to it while retain a full resolution 1080p image including: Adding stabilization, create panning shots, create zoom-in shots, etc. You cannot do this with 1080p video and retain a high quality output at 1080p.
Why wasn’t the 5DM3 ML Raw used??
When did the Blackmagic Pocket camera become a “industry standard” piece of equipment? This would have been far more useful if the used the Blackmagic Production 4k camera.
This tests show us only that out there are million of idiots who wait
what the product-popes say and when the idiots have to run to
buy. and so we have the show in many churches
the pana-church
the canon-church
the sony-church
and then i read stuff of some like that…. i also du not upgrade my
4k -epic because WHERE ARE THE LENSES..hm? ( dragon 6k)
and so we hear one funny story for next…
the GH-4 is what the scarlet was… now 2014-and with lowexpensive
bmc c in neck-but if realy i would gues to work a bit with the Kineraw 4k..
this litte big cam is it real–but does not make so much tamtta t t ram tt a t a marketing.
works fine with my angeniouxyyy and…next we hear that
a vw polo winns against a porsche 911…. ( yes.. from 1600 metrs above-down…)
Oh this is so stupid, comparing two HD/2K cameras vs one 4K camera. Aplles to oranges. Different resolutions, different codecs, bit depth etc etc. How even you can promote it here, seriously? This is just so noob. Compare GH4 with other 4K camaras like BM 4K, Red One (Epic), Sony A7s that would be more relevant.
I guess it’s just to show how a cam half the price of the 5D3 performs 2-3 times better in videomode.
I stopped looking at resolution few years ago (I don’t say it’s not important but I don’t need it). Whenever I take a look at a camera I take a look at the the dynamic range, the low light performance, and the COLORs.
Umm. Many of these comments sound so familiar. But. With the boot on the other foot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8kwMWb2KPB4 There you go, a test using EPIC and the Magic Lantern hack. Now everybody shut up and shoot.
This is a pretty floored review. You are comparing 4K resolution with 1080p. Yes, the GH4 is going to look more detailed. Where you have each camera cropped side by side, you can clearly see that there are differences in focus. Also, in the ‘graded’ section of the video, the colour grading appears to be simply masses of saturation. Based on other reviews it seems like the GH4 is a good buy for video work. However, the BMPCC’s dynamic range and RAW capability make it a great camera camera if you want to shoot digital film.