The GH4 developer team (Image: DC.watch).
DC.watch (google translation here) interviewed the Panasonic engineers in charge of the GH4 development.
– The “H” in the name stays for “High Definition” and “Hybrid”
– GH4 continuous shooting speed is now about twice as fast as on the GH3
– The biggest challenge was how to reduce the heat.
– Low pass filter has been necessary for video recording. But it doesn’t mean Panasonic will get rid of it in future.
UPDATE: Dicahub provided me with a nice translation and pointed me about one curious GH4 feature: The engineers said tracking performance of gh4 is 3x faster than gh3. And it can be tracking the train running about 200km/h!
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GH4 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
GH4 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 and Digidirect Australia.
4K cards
Kingston 16-32-64 GB SDHC UHS-I Speed Class 3 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
Sandisk 16-32-64 GB Extreme PRO SDXC UHS-II Memory Card at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
Transcend 64-128 GB High Speed 10 UHS-3 at Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
Panasonic 16-32-64 GB SDHC-UHS-I U3 Card (90MB/s) at Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
82 Responses
what I don’t understand, you still post preorders for GH4.
Is this damn camera still not normally available?
I want to buy on amazon.de
It sells out from most places within a couple days of being in stock. Then its back to preordering until they have it in stock again. Happens with any new and highly sought after product. Should subside soon.
What, are they like releasing like 2 or 3 cameras to suppliers every time????!! This is all silly marketing.
A hundred to a city at a time, thousands to a country, lots of countries, one factory in China.
Both Adorama and B&H get sufficient stock, but sell out. It’s Supply and Demand, only someone truly Ignorant would think it to be “marketing”.
Be careful about this preorder hype. The GH3 was the same way up until it was price cut $300 for the fall/holiday season. I plan on getting a GH4, but I won’t be burned twice. I’ll be picking one up this fall/winter, in stock, for $1300-$1400.
“- Low pass filter has been necessary for video recording. But it doesn’t mean Panasonic will get rid of it in future.”
Did you mean to say, “But it doesn’t mean Panasonic will ‘keep’ it in the future?”
and they said in future use only DFD,unnecessary for contrast-detect (frame rate process)
Is video capture in the field with still extraction back at the PC/Mac the future ?
What about rolling shutter ?
With the AF methods and the data used in that process will it ever be possible to create RGB point-clouds with the camera ?
I can MF-track a train perfectly giving the train is travelling in parallel to the imaging plane or is the train is at ~infinity…
Yeah, the speed reference means nothing without knowing the distance and angle of view. My G3 can track an airplane traveling 600mph…waaaay up in the sky. That said, reviewers seem impressed with the GH4’s AF speed and tracking.
GH5 obviously will be able to track a train at 800 km/h.
Here a picture of the train
http://euw.leagueoflegends.com/board/attachment.php?attachmentid=184309&d=1398004416
These guys are literally heroes. Would love a framed poster of that photo on my wall.
Yeah, where can I get some nerd love? I was hoping for a t-shirt. Come on Panny, give us the high res copy so we can make these guys into the next Lady Gaga.
Buy those guys a Soporo or Asahi!
Heros indeed
Lol what a marketing scam! If Panasonic had actual engineers working on their cameras, they would have much better performance, reliability and usability. A real engineer wouldn’t dream of using a compact camera sensor like the one in the m4/3 cameras. Learn to think critically, folks! Don’t get fooled by the corporate liars!
it’s not a camera you need it’s a brain !
So what are you saying? That Panasonic has trained engineers working for them? Yeah right, believe that if you want, you mindlees moron! Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of electronics and half a brain could make a camera like the GH4. Even you, perhaps.
you’re right the end is near for mirror based and FF system as they will remain a niche as medium format, just wait ! and get a brain too.
Well, with or without mirrors, M43 is surely not going to be the future… And relax, why are you so angry?
If any half-brain could develop the GH4, then why can’t Canon & Nikon do it?
You could never design nor build anything, you are too busy tearing down this forum and being a hateful malcontent. So far I don’t believe that you have discouraged even one sale of m4/3 gear, despite spending thousands of hours of your trolling, name-calling, filth mouth trash talk etc., making you the most ineffectual ambassador ever.
“If any half-brain could develop the GH4, then why can’t Canon & Nikon do it?”
They can but they won’t. They’re in the camera business, not the toy business. Even Nikon 1 and EOS M are somehow superior to what the m4/3 gang are producing.
SD! You had to up vote your own post three times?! Wait, the Klan guy up voted it. I thought ‘Samuel’ was your registered name? Is that you under the hood?
And at least you didn’t call someone a name until your reply below. One step at a time, buddy. Cheers..
I don’t know who you think I am, but I don’t have a registered name here. There’s more than one of us, who stand in opposition to the small sensor dictatorship.
Actually, what you stand in opposition to is people having a free choice.
The only would-be dictator here is you. Everyone who has bought into the m4/3 format has already concluded for themselves, that sensor size isn’t as important as compared to smaller gear. Why can’t you get that through you thick skull?
If you don’t like smaller formats such as m4/3 and 1″ then don’t come here trashing our enthusiastic community. We are perfectly capable of making our own decisions about our gear.
Free choice? Like between drinking pee (Oly) or eating poo (Pana)? Knock yourself out.
Well, golden showers are kind of kinky and exciting, so I’d rather drink pee than eat poo. The latter is disgusting and a potential health hazard too.
Tell Zeikon, she likes that stuff.
SD, he who typed it liked it.
Lol, that’s pretty good and right about your level. Are we going to have to start calling your SBD?
Drop your fantasies and tell us about the advantages of 4K! You promised.
Now that absolutely is you SD. Not the first time you’ve trotted out your fantasies on this site.
No one is judging you. Do as you like as long as it’s legal and consensual.
Trying to be funny, even with that disgusting hobby of yours? You have more freedom than your brains can process 🙂
There you are MrSuxDix! Finally you dropped the facade.
I wouldn’t call humiliating you disgusting, but it is kind of mean I suppose. If you’d just lighten up buddy I wouldn’t have to.
Cheers.
P.S. – Don’t forget to comment on my four points above. I suspect you’re going to look silly again. AND you promised to explain the benefits of 4k.
P.P.S. – Your last sentence makes no sense. Even for you.
You sure have a lot of time on your hands. Well, better type rubbish than slurp shafts.
Oh SD. I can always tell you’re cornered when you trot out your fantasies.
Still no response to getting called out on your “Camera market researcher” nonsense?
Who are you? Who is SD? Has your mother got any normal children? Have you ever met her?
SD, do you write down all your names? I have no idea how you keep track of them all.
Hey, as long as you’re back, let’s handle my questions one at a time. I think I scared you typing all four at once.
1. Why do you waste your time reading (and commenting) on a site that supports a product you don’t like?
Take your time and be thoughtful.
It’s one of the dumbest M43 fanboys/fangirls/fanpoofs around. SD appears to be some bully who takes the mickey. LOL.
You won’t get a response from him, because he didn’t write that post. As I’ve already told you, I’m not the arch villain you seem to be so obsessed with. Do you really find it so hard to believe, that there could be more than one person in this world, who thinks that m4/3 is a slap in the face of everything that is good and decent?
This “zeikon” troll is obsessed, she makes a petty point of only one troll possibly being in existence. She actually tries to make a lot of petty points on petty questions, desperately standing up for a junk system. It’s funny, really.
There’s SD for sure :). Fingerprints all over that one.
You only forget to up vote your post buddy.
Actually, yes exactly, I find it difficult to believe that there’s two people that silly here. Well put.
That being said, I asked four pretty simple questions. Why no response to that?
1. Wastes their time reading a site that supports a product they don’t like.
It’s not a waste of time for me, because I’m enjoying myself. It’s like crashing a party you haven’t been invited to.
2. Comments on the “performance, reliability and usability” of a product they obviously don’t use.
I do have experience with m4/3 cameras, very unpleasant experiences. Also, their uselessness is a well known fact among people with developed cognitive powers.
3. Won’t register a name so they can up vote their own comments and hide from previous comments.
I’m a very private person.
4. And most importantly, use the term ‘dictatorship’ for a product they’re free to buy or ignore?
As far as I know, the other guy (whom you call SD) never used that term, so you can’t use that to try to establish an imaginary connection between us.
But the term really is an apt description of reality, because I have never encountered such dogmatic people anywhere else but in the small sensor apologist camp.
Very well put sir, pearl to swines but it’s also fun as you say 🙂
Hey SD, if this is your idea of fun, you really, really need to get out of mom’s basement. Really.
And I think it’s ‘pearls before swine’. You of all trolls should know that.
P.S. – Sorry I called you a troll, but you’re making it so hard not to.
1. I don’t think the analogy fits. You crash a party because the party is fun and you enjoy the people (and booze). If you crash the party just to tell every how stupid they are and that’s there a much better party somewhere else, why wouldn’t you go to the better party to begin with?
2. I’ll ignore the snark and ask what M43 cameras you ‘experienced’? Did you own one? Usability and performance are largely subjective measures, but reliability isn’t. Where did you find out M43 isn’t reliable? I have yet to have one fail. I did have a Nikon 200 mm zoom give up the ghost in less than 6 months though.
There are a number of sites that show fantastic M43 pictures. How can you dismiss them?
3. I can’t speak for all the registration methods, but you don’t need to add any personal information when you register on Disqus. SD has commented under other people’s unregistered names, but since you ‘support his cause’ maybe you’re okay with that. If you’re that passionate about your opinion, stand up for it.
4. No, you used that term, “small sensor dictatorship”. As far as I know nobody is coercing you to buy anything, Don’t they sell Nikon or Canon where you live?
Thanks for responding.
You’re trying to say that there’s more than one person that;
1. Wastes their time reading a site that supports a product they don’t like.
2. Comments on the “performance, reliability and usability” of a product they obviously don’t use.
3. Won’t register a name so they can up vote their own comments and hide from previous comments.
4. And most importantly, use the term ‘dictatorship’ for a product they’re free to buy or ignore?
Come on. There can’t be more than one person that silly.
There are more than one small sensor apologist agitator here, so why would the missionaries of enlightenment and common sense only consist of one person?
I am not the person you are referring to, but I support his cause.
You ran away from all of my observations.
Is that your way of confirming that you are that silly?
PS – Nice self up vote 🙂
I received my Panasonic GH4 today!! Everything the trolling fool just below has said is nothing but flat-out jealousy. The Panasonic Lumix GH4 is totally awesome!!!
People stating otherwise are blinded by an all consuming prejudice.
I am going out to take some pictures. . .. . . . Eat your heart out troll.
Good to see the Peoples’s faces behind my most liked camera ever, I want to Thank you guys for your great work.
DFD seems to live up to the hype. Kudos to the engineers! (Now hurry up and put it into more cameras.)
It is remarkable that some people get a kick out of randomly throwing around unprompted, non-sensical insults at total strangers. Maybe somebody can explain me how the downvoting here works, it doesn’t seem to affect the placement of posts as much as I can see.
You do know that the GH4 has a much smaller sensor than full frame, right?
Makes it easier to focus quicker. 🙂
This is the same as when someone says a FF has better low light performance and one would say “you do know that FF is a much bigger sensor, right?”. I mean, if it has focusing advantages solely because of the size, it’s pointless to try to disdain and diminish the feat, it’s simply part of the package that comes with a smaller sensor, pros and cons, nobody cares why, it simply has a pretty quick focus and it works, that’s what matters.
You know it is much faster than any FF sensor, yes? This sensor is video optimized, who cares about FF….
The better to kick you in the gonads with.
Well, we have to admit, FF DSLRs make much better blunt instruments…
GH4 has a full frame sensor – full 43 frame sensor.
P.S. Man, this spam is getting tiring.
> And it can be tracking the train running about 200km/h!
From what direction? At what distance?
I don’t care, actually. What would be really impressive and important is if that is all from pure contrast detect. That would be another nail on the coffin for mirrors. Does anyone know?
Panasonic’s description seems to suggest it is. I vaguely recall a patent about this being posted here or somewhere.
http://eng.faq.panasonic.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/26478/~/what-is-dfd-(depth-from-defocus)-technology%3F—dmc-gh4
It has to be contrast detect. There is nothing else available in the camera.
What we see is just the beginning of a development based on fast sensors, delivering more pictures per second, fast electronics doing more calculations per picture in the timeframe and lenses with smaller elements, moving faster to reach the point of sharpness. This is a race, heavy FF can’t win on the long run.
We had this before, when FF was taking more and more from medium and large formats. The big cameras are still used in studio, fashion and a part of nature fotography but in most cases, the fast autofocus and the easyer handling of a smaller camera made it a better choise – even with the disadvantage of a not just that good picture quality.
Equivalent FF lenses are not larger, check the basics.
My 7-14 is half the size of my 17-40 f4L. Same for my 35-100 f2.8 and 70-200 f4L. Check the basics.
Why do so many people waste thousands on things they don’t understand? Wait a minute, I have an idea: let’s sell a crappy camera system based on a puny sensor and price it higher than the competition, it will sell like hot cakes. People don’t get it anyway.
Ive got a better idea PoorJ – why don’t you go spend even more thousands on a heavy hi res DSLR dinosaur and still take shithouse pictures with it that no one cares about?
Have you ever seen my pictures? Are you any good at photography loser? Are you “Zeikon”?
If you want anyone to take you seriously, stop hiding behind an alias and show us your pictures. You know where to find mine.
And now that you’ve said that? What now? I am not going to be taken seriously? Muahahaha. The fact is now confirmed: you are not very good at photography.
Put up or shut up. Coward.
Guest? Coward? LOL.
My Nikon 80-200/2.8 is 1,3kg. Compared to my Panasonic 35-100/2.8 which is 0.36kg and has a larger DOF. In fast moving Sports like Football or Soccer you need to move the Camera faster, focus faster and take pictures faster. What you don’t need is a mirror-delay a shallow DOF and in some sports you realy don’t need a camera making noise while taking series of pictures.
Your Nikon 80-200/2.8 is equivalent to an M43 40-100/1.4. Do not waste more money before you have brought this home. Your photography cannot be good enough if you ignore the basics, never mind what equipment you use.
Well, do these look like we don’t get the basics?
https://www.flickr.com/groups/43rumors/
Yep.
Oh, I have to admit, it’s true, I don’t get you! 🙂
The really cool part about this photo of the Panasonic engineers is that they are all young. Looking to be an average of 30s to mid-40s, they have already developed the most advanced pro-sumer camera of our time.
These engineers are the future of Panasonic camera designs for perhaps the next 20 years.
That sure puts on the pressure on train designers. Now they have to design trains that can outrun camera focusing systems.
Really? At what distance? On what axis? This is the sort of lies that usually cover a scam. However, the great artists here will be able to create timeless art with that toy.
Like, you need that data for comparison with other train-speed tracking specs for other cameras?!?
Yes, it is vague, but translated anyway, so most of the info provided will have large or small interpretive errors. The same questions should be asked of claims such as “X stops of image stabilisation”.
Scam? M43? Neihhhh…. 🙂