What's really strange is that it wasn't introduced because EU wants to tax video cameras but because these devices can potentially be used as a camcorder for copyrighted TV/DVD/etc material. The tax goes to the hypothetical loss of the rights holders. Big thanks to the copyrights lobby.

As far as I know it was originally for cinema shooting.

As for TV and DVDs. EU has special taxes for computers, disks, recorders and HDDs - everything that can potentially be used to record copyrighted content.

Rods and support gear will most like have to be mounted on the top of the camera when mounted to the base unit. Can't wait to see what the 3rd party companies comes up with for cages, baseplates, etc.

From what I've read so far, this is a piece of equipment indie frugal-class filmmakers could only dream about 2 years ago.

For the consumer, it really is an amazingly incredible time that we live in, for instance when I can buy a Panasonc G3 for just US$150 bucks (as I did this week on eBay)

A decade ago an indie filmmaker would kill to have such an item as a Panasonic G3! (that is now thought of as so lowly compared to say a mighty GH4!) So I try to spend a little less time lusting over what I can't have such as a GH4/D5300 (but I can't help it! I'm a gear nerd :-P) and appreciate more of what I do have :-) My GH13 ;)

I have a strong urge to get one, even though realistically I don't need it...but I'm trying to reason myself - I'm thinking whoever buys this, he will be set from buying another camera for 3 or more years...right?

Ha, sure you can try telling yourself that now! But I know within a year or two (or much much less! :-P ) I'll be finding yet another camera to lust after ;-)

Anyway, I have found a site in Sweden with the price.

There it will cost $2300, but they have 25% VAT so without VAT it’s $1839. Not so bad for a fantastic product. That's around $80 less than a D600.

http://www.cyberphoto.se/info.php?article=DMC-GH4

@Fitzy Hate to disappoint, but the 4:3 mode on all GH models and the GM1 has always been limited to 640x480.

Humm. Guess the BMPCC will have to wait a bit

I'll have one in my hands early next week or the week after (most defo by 17th) so a full report and interview will be coming here on p-v. I would say UK wise the forthcoming NEC Photography Show 1st to 4th March will be the first chance in the main when Panasonic UK customers will be able to take their own personal look at it.

@johnnym i dont like the yucatan video full stop.

Ok people.

I saw 3 times Yucatan video.

I don't have a measure tool, but if those images are out of camera no grading, then we are talking about 12,5 stops.

highlight rolloff from tooth of alligator, sky, clouds, and glows on water are very good already. Blacks are well managed also, on the aerial shots you can see the inside of the pyramids, on the water cliff that circular one, you can see shadows quiet well, and on black rocks you can see detail.

Remember my words, good post on 4k reduced to 2K or 1080p in 10 bit , would match Alexa and other high end cinema sensors EASY only when post is applied. Panasonic has come back with this sensor again by manufacturing it.

I see GH3 camera like a Renault Clio, and GH4k a Renault Clio Cup V6.

They are almost the same outside, but the insides are mayor change!!! Expect grate things from this new GH4!!

Congratulations Panasonic, you fuck us some times, but also give as god value for our equipment.

Sensor crop is a pity. We get 34mm FF FOV with our 14-xx lenses when shooting 3840 4k.

I wonder if the crop is normal 2x with fullHD video?

Is there any crop mode with fullHD?

@endotoxic wow the Clio comparison is funny :) if we're comparing Panasonic GH to Renault (blasphemous lol) we should say...GH3 is Megane RS, and GH4 is the racing Megane Trophy version :)

Sensor crop is that big? So Roki 7.5mm fisheye becomes 16mm?

@John_Farragut I live in Italy and we learned to live with this tax. It's the result we pay to copyright lobbies. Once, it was very common to have this and other limits removed only on the top level models where prosumer customers don't care to pay an extra fee. E.g. until some years ago only top gamma camcorder had the A/V input enabled because they were considered digital recorders and you could convert analog copyrighted material $$$. I see that 5% it's not too much but this tax goes entirely on the final seller and then the customer. Moreover every year the copyright lobby tries to rise this tax.

More or less It's something as if when you buy a knife you go in jail for six months because you COULD kill someone one day with that knife...

There are a few important things to think about with the GH4. Since it has so much resolution in video mode you can do software stabilizing and render to a lower resolution like 1440p or 1080p. A good software package could do very well with this and like VK said you can’t do on sensor stabilization with this beast because of heat issues.

Finally you can use the Olympus lenses for handheld 1080p video without stabilization concerns. This is absolutely huge for me because that is all I shoot and I know that stabilization is the biggest problem in my videos. The GH4 should remedy that.

This means that I will have to shoot wider to give the stabilizing routine room to crop. That is ok though. I have the 14mm F2.5 for wider stuff and the 25mm F1.4 for closer up. Then if I need more reach the mighty 35-100mm F2.8 will work great. I actually like the extra crop factor in the GH4. I feel that my 35-100mm just doesn’t quite have the reach I want. I would love to have it work like a 43.75mm-125mm lens.

The other thing is that the improved rolling shutter should make even action shots with the electronic shutter mode possible. I do a lot of photography around horses and they really get distracted by the shutter noise. I would love to be able to shoot silent stills around them. However, they move so fast the rolling shutter is an issue with the GH3 and the electronic shutter mode.

4K is not a requirement at the moment. However, it will open up new doors for handheld unstabilized video that we never thought was possible before.

Here is a sample of what I shoot that I think the GH4 will help me with. This is a mixture of GoPro 2.8K footage, GH3 1080p footage, and Full Spectrum(UV and IR) GF1 720p footage all upconverted to 1440p on youtube. If I could get this to be much more stabilized and still have great resolution I would be happy.

Make sure to watch this in 1440p resolution.

This isn't going to sit well with some people.

From driftwood's link

"(Up to ISO6400 in motion picture recording)"

"ISO sensitivity (Standard Output Sensitivity) Auto / Intelligent ISO / 100 (Extended) / 200 / 400 / 800 / 1600 / 3200 / 6400 / 12800 / 25600 (Changeable to 1/3 EV step)/(Up to ISO6400 in motion picture recording) (ISO Auto in M mode)"