Panasonic GH4 Sample Images from The Luminous Landscape on Vimeo.
Michael Reichmann from Luminous Landscape (Click here) posted an initial field review of the Panasonic GH4. The first conclusion is:
To summarize the GH4 in a single sentence, I would say that this is a MFT system camera that is fully competitive in terms of features, functionality and image quality with anything currently on the market. It leaves little undelivered for stills work. If a 16MP image size is adequate for your shooting (and it is for mine), then you’ll likely find the GH4 a very practical and enjoyable stills camera.
When it comes to video, the GH4 is in a class of its own. There is nothing currently on the market, or even announced from any manufacturer, that can trump the GH4 when it comes to video in a DSLR / CSC form factor. This is the only camera of its type that can shoot 4K to an internal card, and which also features variable frame rates in HD mode. Note though that a U3 rated card is needed for the highest video bandwidth. These cards are still very pricy.
Oh yes – and at $1,699 the GH4 is nothing short of a bargain.
That’s a good start for a first impression review 😉
North American preorders, shipping date and price:
GH4 camera at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), and Panasonic (Click here). Price: $1,698. In Canada at Vistek (Click here).
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
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.
10 Responses
No surprises for the GH4 review. It’s better for still photography and way better for video than the GH3.
I wish the GH4 supported Olympus lens profiles and the E-M1 supported Panasonic lens profiles but I doubt that will happen.
That is exactly my problem. Camera-wise I like the Oly bodies more (OOC JPEG suits me more, Live stuff would help my shooting, better feel to the bodies, especially the dials), but I much prefer the zoom lenses from Panasonic 12-32, 14-140 and 12-35-100 and as for primes I am interested in the 45 and the 20 (again one Pana).
But unfortunately, the Oly bodies will not correct the Pana CAs and so on…
@ all: Do you think that those lenses will be fine on something like the E-M10 (with JPEGs)? I want to start with the M10 (or the G6) and the 14-140.
PS: Why are the dials on the Pana bodies so bad? Really, the G6 and the GX7 rear dials are very sticky and feel cheapish and flimsy. The GH3/4 are exceptions of course.
I don’t use JPEGs from the camera body, but I get your point. They should work together to make micro Four-Thirds better instead of simply competing now.
Maybe we should ask Vitaly to provide that hack 🙂
He is the person who was hired by Panasonic to be a firmware engineer?
Was he ever hired by Panasonic, I dunno, but he was behind all the hacks on GH1 and GH2
You mean it is a tiny fraction better for stills[ if that? ] and way better for video lol. As with all the other top mFT bodies since the E-M5 still image quality is pretty much the same give or take tiny fractions of a stop. It is a bit disappointing how little has advanced in still image quality with mFT .Personally I hope for a higher MP body with genuine 50ISO base , i am not into high ISO and if I was I certainly wouldn’t be using mFT
If that’s what you mean, fine. That’s not what I mean.
I think you’re hoping for too much, unless you switch systems. We haven’t seen more than 24 MP in APS-C or equally, more than 16 MP for micro Four-Thirds. When the pixel density can be driven further, we’ll see something from both.
The Pentax K-3 and Nikon D7100 have good image quality at a similar pixel density to the GH4 and E-M5 but they’re not really any better–just different.
The K3 and the D7100 are clearly better than the EM5 in DR, colour depth and high ISO .The D7100 has 1.4 stops better DR!
http://www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Compare/Side-by-side/Pentax-K-3-versus-Nikon-D7100-versus-Olympus-OM-D-E-M5___914_865_793
If the mFT sensor had a true 50 ISO Base it would allow for significantly better low ISO results.Probably at the expense of high ISO but to be blunt I find mFT high ISO to be pretty poor anyway. Sadly it will never happen as apparently everyone shoots in the dark , though looking at the various photo storage sites it looks like 95% of photos are taken in daylight , with another 2-3% using flash leaving , maybe 1-2% of shots. Talk about the tail wagging the dog lol
I think Nikon has it right a high MP low ISO high image quality camera the D800, with a jack 0f all trades 24MP d610, and the 16mp D4S/DF for the shoot in the dark crowd,
European preorders, shipping date and price update for FRANCE:
>> Boulanger
>> Digit-Photo