Gizmodo Japan posted some cool pics of a Panasonc GH4 on a producion set. And another picture can be found at CineVateINC.
Sandisk announced the new Extreme Pro SDHC/SDXC UHS-II cards with 250MB/s write speed and 280MB/s read speed. Perfect for your GH4! Found via Engadget.
DSLRmagazine (translation here) met Panasonic chief engeneer Inoue. He confirmed the GH4 EVF is a lot better than the one used by the GH3 and that has been also achieved thanks of the use of aspherical lenses on the EVF.
Image source: Personal View (Click here)
64 Responses
I knew SanDisk wouldn’t be left behind
If you’re going to build up a rig like that, why not just get a real/dedicated video camera? Good grief…
Because this is much cheaper, lighter and with the same if not better video quality.
stop hating.
I’ve seen rigs with a GX7 and G6… The video quality is like that, so Videographers do it, simple.
Why would the video quality be the same with a much smaller sensor?
I’m not trying to restart the sensor wars,but something here just doesn’t add up. Either APS-C and FF sensors are porrly made, or a prior generation, or they are intentionally crippling them. Otherwis, I don’t see why a m43 sensor should yield the same performance.
The difference between Super 35mm film (which is by far the most common size for feature films in the past) and m4/3 is not much at all really. And once you put a speedbooster on your camera, that difference disappears.
It doesn’t add up because you’re not getting raw data from the sensor like you do for stills. Even if you could, it’s not very practical for most video applications. Smaller sensors often have an advantage when it comes to video cameras. Think about shooting 24-60+ raw stills every second for several hours, for multiple days… There needs to be compression and that’s where your FF and APS-C sensors usually lose their quality.
OMG – you must have started on medication. Your comment actually makes sense and is correct!
mrallcaps – keep up the good work
weight weight weight. If the film crew has dedicated mounting stations for cameras then weight wouldn’t be the prio 1 concern. But for moving rigs such as steadycams this rig will weight mush less than any dedicated video cameras. Also a small camera with great connectivities means the rig will became semi modular (note not fully moular as RED), this is crucial for adapting the rig for different needs. Not to mention the price tag is much less than a dedicated videocamera.
Actually if you add up all the parts you are looking at around $10,000 for that setup. Although it may be less than a C300 it certainly isn’t less than the BMCC. The size and price of the camera itself is great but if you are looking at building a larger production camera my guess is that you will soon be able to find better.
Yes that rig is much less than a BMCC alone, but that’s a terrible example because you still need a rig with the BMCC even more than you do with the GH4…there’s no evf, it doesn’t have proper monitoring to record audio in camera, the ergonomics aren’t designed for shooting handheld without a rig, and for long term shooting you still need an external battery solution…all it does better is the internal recording codec.
It is mostly certainly less than a C300! A C300 goes for $14k, and that is just the body by itself without any extra rigging.
I’m a late bloomer in the filmmaking world but have been a stills photographer for 15 years. Can I say this is almost TOO MUCH Camera for a newbie just learning cinematography? I think I’ll stick with my OMDs and get the Panasonic GH2. I like the ergonomics and the subtle nature of the GH2 because it hearkens back to the Micro Four Thirds design that I’m already starting to miss when I invested in the system in 2008. Time sure flies by… And is it just me, or are these Lumix cameras starting to look like Canons? :/
yeah sometimes i have the same feeling when looking at those setups when used by enthu amateurs, but for serious paid productionwork i take such stuff for granted. I am sure there are enough passionate videographers who just use their single item camera and making clips or even docs like that. I would love to(and will) do more videoclips but i cant imagine working on the level like this example.Just handheld like most people photograph without using a tripod, hit and go style.
For shooting casual handheld video like that, a feature like IBIS will truly be missed. If Olympus, a manufacturer who could care less about video, can do it why not Panasonic? I have heard claims about heat issues, so then why not disable it in modes where it becomes a problem. IBIS would remove the need for stabilizing gear when going handheld. I will wait for the GH5 instead.
I suspect the very measures taken to control heat made sensor stabilization impractical, and Panasonic wasn’t going to compromise on the GH4’s ability to shoot 4K nonstop.
Have a look at the videos here taken with an E-M1: http://www.eoshd.com/comments/topic/4312-first-look-olympus-om-d-e-m1-vs-panasonic-gh3/page-3
They look pretty good to me. I think the hollering about poor video quality is overstated. The hand held stabilisation makes up for other failings IMO.
Who says you have to have all that crap on your camera to shoot good images? Not me. I make “pro” videos all the time and never bother with rigging.
+1
If you’re trying to draw Canon customers to something smaller and lighter, would you not design the body similarly and provide familiar focal length for lenses?
For sure, in that picture it is “too much”.
But you don’t need to do that! But the great thing is you have that OPTION 😀
If you’re just starting out, just use the GH4 all by itself. Maybe with a shotgun mic on the hotshoe too, keep it simple.
Or even just get the much cheaper Panasonic G6 to learn with, and leave the extra features of the GH4 for another day. 🙂
This photo makes me very happy that I only shoot stills!!!!!!! 🙂
I’m not ‘hating’. I think it’s ok to have an opinion. I don’t really play along with the super-fan stuff. If I don’t like a product, I don’t buy it and there’s nothing wrong with having an opinion about something. I have no brand loyalty and I personally refuse to defend a product unless I happen to own it, like it and have a direct response to a certain complaint someone might have. For example, if someone were to say you can’t make good images with a Nikon V1 because of the sensor size, I’d say that person doesn’t know what they’re talking about 😉 Anyway, regarding the rig in that photo, I just thought it looked a little funny with the GH4 being buried by all the add-ons needed to shoot video like they’re showing in the image. But then, video is not my thing, so maybe everyone builds spends big $ on tons of add-ons to shoot nice video. Maybe I was naive and thought you could make nice videos with just the camera and lens 😉
“Naive” is being generous to yourself… I would’ve used another word and an adjective to describe your analysis.
I dont know about the V1 but I used the J1 as a bts cam thinking it would not show a jump in IQ combined with E-M5 footage. But it did, low light scenes were disappointing, while bright locations were excellent.
Are you trying to make a video of the kids and the dog or are you trying to make a film? You can do both, but hardly with the same simple setup.
‘High Response’ EVF, but still no words about the actual EVF delay value.
I bet whoever built that rig was on here last week b*tching about how “big” the YAGH base is and how he/she can’t hand-hold it…
the photo shows for sure a stuff of some holly/bolly wood makers
I didn’t think the GH4 supported UHS-II cards, only the new Fuji X-T1.
Okay…and look at what they’re actually shooting with this rig. A comb on a piece of paper?
Methinks a bunch of tech geeks got excited and just wanted to rig up a bunch of stuff to the new G4 just because they could.
The fact is you don’t need any of that extra stuff to shoot video on the cam. You might want it for certain types of production, but it’s not in anyway necessary.
Maybe the comb is an aliasing test?
Point being they’re just being technical with the thing and not doing anything creatively worthwhile. Since there’s so much technical focus on gear across the internet, I find myself easily dismissive of yet another bunch of guys shooting charts and still objects.
I’m more curious when the thing is used for field production.
Which is also why I don’t find a bunch of third party rigging on a camera all that impressive. Most production places have closets full of the stuff. I know I do. Slap it on any camera from a Canon Rebel to a Red Epic, it’s no big deal, pretty standard stuff. Just my POV.
If I look at that pic and defocus my eyes, I can faintly see the form of an AF200 with P2 card slots. So where is the real thing? : )
haha, so true! Fingers crossed 🙂
The YAGH interface bugs me, because I have a rail system and follow-focus… and it wouldn’t work if I used a GH4 and YAGH system. (If the YAGH system had a set of rail clamps built in the middle, it’d be great.) Nice to know that there are follow-focus systems that work when the lens is that high from the rails.
I would think that the rails are probably at the cinema-standard height to the optical center, which I believe is 85mm.
It’s looks like a “put every on it” for the picture, have like a trillion of $$(sarcasm) on it but a silly way to monitoring the image, the LCD monitor can’t be flipped, and when you need to close it must to dissemble the rig, you need to add a monitor over it to really compose the image, a kind of impractical? This rig configuration can costs as much like $7000. Ummmm; the Blackmagic Cinema 4K can record internally 12Bit and can compete with this rig picture here, you just need to add the Battery adapter.
I know the GH4 is a way more versatile camera than the BMCC but when do you add hardware to compete in a bigger league it loose his versatility and became more expensive that some rivals.
The Yagh adpater is a kind of odd for a camera like this, a smaller adapter with just XLR and batteries make more sense for this camera, hope for this come like a option too.
It has no rivals. I’m sure that will change after NAB, but as of right now, it’s absolutely in a class of it’s own. Also, as far as cost, what are you going to record on with the BMCC? A 240GB SSD will last for 30 minutes at it’s lowest recording setting, so good luck with those cost savings. What are you going to monitor on so you can hit your focus, which is critical in resolutions this high? The rear LCD is only pretty much good for changing system settings, of which there are very few.
I think everyone here talking about Blackmagic cameras have never actually used one.
All the fuss about card speeds is greatly exaggerated!
100 Mb/sec is actually 12,5 MB/sec, so any class 10+ card is capable of recording 4K from GH4. Most of the cheep class 10 cards have about 20 MB/sec write speed.
The new Sandinsk 280 MB/sec write speed card is good for 4K RAW recording, but on 64 GB you can record maximum 10 minutes, depending on the RAW compression factor.
Nah, even my old GH1 can not use “any old cheapier Class 10” card without failing. It needs faster cards. I’m sure the GH4 will too.
Nice!
brings the buzzines max. forward and the “revollution” ( if it is)
is now there, we see in 1993 with adar in audio-industries,……
but waht you see in this picture is
cam 2000,-$
aja 4300,-$
rig+lense etc 2400,-$
you do not get out low expensive and how should aja now go down-in times
they will make biiig big buzzines-with sold 35.000 4k aja -recoders…right.
my sony f5 is not so close away.. but it has a sister cineraw mini and some others.
and some will follow-if you enjoy the art of filming ( the 129 lenses i do not…)
for many out there waht is with this specs of gh4 with next lowpricedonly
full hd G-7 a litte 349,90 beast.. hmmm??? a nice litte beaste..if you understand
it……
A D A T my tasta is old….
and
maybee the gun goes backwards and 4k falls like 3d
down-then it is funny for two.. max 4k to 2k cams for
anonsens of money and a biig advantage in the real
world of consumers…. if the producers of tv and internet
will not go down fastest in price and go up with spped.
no money for nothing……nono
I’m glad to see that the EVF enhancements are working and that they’re more than just an improved contrast ratio and better eye cup. Still, almost anything would improve the experience looking through the GH3 at certain angles.
+1
Though I am not a video guy- that rig is beautiful.
Ummm, I’m going to assume sarcasm?
And the internal record of 4k 10 bit 4:2:2 ???? where is it???
What a crap camera. and what the h3l1 we need that sd card without internal recording of 4k 10bitm 422???
Go to the hell fuckin Panasonic!!! 🙁
Sounds like sour grapes. Pitiful.
Grow UP.
I find it funny people are calling this a crap camera even though it has not yet been released yet. The GH3 produces awesome video at 4:2:0 8bit so why wouldn’t the GH4 produce awesome video at 4k at 4:2:0 8bit which can be downsampled to 1080p at a stunning 4:4:4(several people including vitaly and driftwood have stated that on Personal-view as well as speculations saying that HDMI can have 10bit 4:2:2 from the micro HDMI out on the camera as one can see from the panasonic presentation). Also the interface unit speculated at 2100$ seems like a reasonably priced item which gives Hd-sdi, full hdmi, XLR ports, and audio monitoring. For the GH4+interface unit+Convergent Designs Odyssey 7q+2 512gb ssd+4k codec pack comes to around 9500$ way cheaper than a c300 and giving users a good easy workflow to edit with compared to cinema DNG. And the fact that this camera records in the DCI 4k 24fps instead of just QHD(which it also does as well). And there is no camera that can please everyone…….except the Arri Alexa. So people should just stop with the stupid bickering at a product that isn’t even out yet. This happened with the GH3 also and look at the quality of video comes from that unit.
take it easy…. they will launch gh4 mk2 with 8k 12bit 4:4:4 soon… 4k will be garbage….
Nemo you need to go have a beer. If you need 4k 10bit 4:2:2 INTERNAL, then just find another camera. At the estimated $2,000 price point, this camera delivers BIG TIME. Pitching a hissy fit when most people would have no way of differentiating the footage since the final deliverables end up as a 1080p Vimeo/Youtube clip… What exactly are you mad about?
Panasonic is delivering fantastic gradeable 4K (unlike JVC’s entry), high frame rate 1080p (96fps), synchroscan to adjust to different terrible lighting situations, more points on the auto focus, more focus options, better codec options, etc… etc… Those of us who were GH2 users who have upgraded to the GH3 and kept all our lenses, are in for a treat!
They listened to input from those of us who use m43 cameras to get work done. 4:2:2 is not necessary, and that is why it is available for those of you who have an external recorder to get it done. The rest of us are perfectly fine without it!
Thx for your opinion, but im disagree with you.
GH4 is not good enough, Panasonic wants sell us a half-cooking video camera which is not exactly they promised from start.
There is difference between 4k and 1080, and between 4:2:2 and 4:2:0 (IMHO). For post processing 10bit 422 is a huge step up!. Who wants to get back to 8 bit after work on 10bit???
And why the hell we should buy a “YAGH…whatever” for get that quality??. Besides…where is the portability of m43 system left with that wrong marketing movement?. New SD cards arent enough powered for handle 10bit 422 ????
I expected a great camera and this one is too much under that definition. Yes, it seems get better specs againts gh3 (like you said in your post), but…..
My opinion only.
What exactly are you shooting that requires 4k 4:2:2? A movie? Commercials? Most of us fall into two camps… Those who are enthousiasts working on short films, movies, etc… and the other camp: those who use the cameras as their primary income.
For those of us who work in video production on a professional level, this camera is great. Maintaining multiple 20TB+ RAIDs for archiving footage is trouble enough. I can’t imagine having to store all of that as 4k 10bit 4:2:2!!!! Try 200TB+ RAID arrays.
If you are working in a professional environment, or on a movie, do you have the funds to store all this 4K 10bit 4:2:2 footage? All associated equipment to film something worthy of 4:2:2? Does your work require that much heavy grading in post? If the answer is yes to all of this, then why are you so mad? If yes, then you are loaded with cash and likely should go pickup a C300 or whatever floats your boat for 4:2:2.
You are certainly entitled to your opinion. It was the level of anger that surprises me. Panny doesn’t owe you or me anything. I just happen to love every single feature set they are announcing, in particular synchroscan! I’d take synchroscan over 4:2:2!!
Thanks for setting the record straight. You’ve given us more facts about the GH4 and video-making than any 20 “nemos”, (what an ugly attitude).
As a GH3 owner and potential GH4 buyer – I am VERY grateful for the facts you’ve shared with us.
This camera, evidently, can work as a top-notch performer in handheld or studio use, and is priced at least $10,000 cheaper than any of it’s competitors, EVEN including THE YAGH unit.
It is NOT easy sorting through the complexity AND all this cheap-talk from people with an ax to grind, so I VERY MUCH appreciate your Professional opinion.
>>>>GH4 is not good enough
So what problems did you have when you were shooting with it?
Oh I forgot, you’re talking out of your *ss.
>>>>There is difference between 4k and 1080, and between 4:2:2 and 4:2:0
Yes, I think most of us are aware of these differences. We also know that the GH4 internal 4K 4:2:0 footage can be down-sampled to 1080 4:4:4 format, which should produce an outstanding finished image.
>>>>Who wants to get back to 8 bit after work on 10bit?
Most video cameras under $10K shoot 8-bit internal footage, with the exception of the Black Magic, the Pansonic HPX-250 and HPX-370, and Canon Magic-Lantern hacked cameras shooting RAW.
>>>>And why the hell we should buy a “YAGH…whatever” for get that quality?
There is only one 4K camera under $10K that can shoot equivalent quality ( $3K Black Magic Cine Production camera ), and I’m not sure it’s any better than the GH4 when it comes to being a compact cine rig.
This summer should be really interesting to see what this new GH4 and the Black Magic 4K cameras can do.
From what I’ve read, and what you just said, you can get an external SSD-based recorder and connect it directly via HDMI if you want to record 10bit 4:2:2? It’s supposedly fairly inexpensive and rather compact. Several people have posted links over the past few days.
Maybe you have some suggestions for external recorders? I don’t do much video, but like to stay informed.
The GH4 sounds like it’ll bust open a whole lot of doors!
I dont want to buy a external SSD. I need portability and quality (4k 10bit 422). GH4 dont offers that anymore. What about new SD cards?.
I don want 4k 420 for downsampling to 1080 (even if this 1080 is 422). ¿WTF?.
I dont mind if GH4 is 10000$ cheaper than other ones, still being a half-cooking videocamera. I dont mind neither if other brands have 8bit internal.
Panasonic r@pes our @sses with this commercial strategy and no one minds about that. Talking about “YAGHhzcv-blabla-wathever-piece of crap-accessory-terriffic-unergonomic”. Connect other peripherals remains a scourge.
You’re not going to convince me with your arguments.
And is just an opinion, there is no need to get angry. You will have the vdeocamera of your dreams, not me.
Hey Nemo, CALM DOWN. No one here is angry except you. You are blowing flames out your butt over something not being built to order for you and then not sold on the down-low just for you.
If you don’t need this 4k Camera from Panasonic, buy something different, just don’t sit and fume and cry because some manufacturer won’t build your dream toys and then give to you for free.
Panasonic never promised you anything and they don’t owe you anything.
>>>>You’re not going to convince me with your arguments
I’m sorry if logic hurts your brain.
I think the only video camera on the market right now that shoots 4K 4:2:2 internal is the Blackmagic 4K Cine Production camera that uses SSD drives and has an non-changeable internal battery that lasts 30 minutes before it’s dead. ( you are going to have to invest in a big external battery pack system to power it if you want to shoot for more than 30 minutes )
Even the $20K Sony F5, $35K Sony F55, $20K Canon C500, or RED Epic cameras all require external recording systems to shoot 4K 4:2:2 footage.
So your dream camera is only a pipe-dream right now. Go back to sleep for another 5 years and maybe Panasonic will have an AF500 that shoots 4K 4:2:2 internal by then.
Wow! I don’t understand 99% of what you guys are saying! It’s like you are speaking english, but not a English that I can understand. What the hell is a Synchroscan?? And why is a pic of the Mars Rover o top of this thread? IS that a camera? 😀
Do a Google image search for “Canon video rig” . . . same, only the price of the CANON is $10,000 to $100,000 depending on which Canon Cine lens you attach to it.
In appearance, it is a typical video rig. I don’t think most “snappers” have any conception of video.
This rig is so unergonomic it’s not funny.
Right. You need IBIS to use it. 😉
What passions! It is necessary to wait wisely for the first real images of the GH4. Then each of us will make then choice. GH4, 5dm3, BBMC 4K, C300. We waited all of for 10 bit 422 inside. This way, the disappointment is big.