GH4 4K Panasonic video camera, official topic

mpgxsvcd

Thanks for the manual. I read all 420 pages this morning. Lot's of stuff to test. How did you get yours delivered on Saturday or did you pick it up yourself?

Mistas

I don't seem to get this: how does Time Lapse differ from Stop Motion Animation?

AdamT

@Mistas per the manual, it seems that stop motion can operate like time lapse but it has some additional options:

it allows you to record frames manually instead of on a timer (but still assembles them into a movie on completion); and
it provides an option to view a couple of ghosted frames to guide you in moving the animated object.

Zaven13

I walked to Samy's Camera in Pasadena, CA yesterday and they had one available in the store so I bought it. They did not have U3 class cards yet. The cards are on the way. However, I came home and used my Sandisk Extreme pro 95MB/s U1 class 10 card. I did a 30 seconds recording of all of the Rec Qualities including 4K and I-200 mbs for both MP4 (LPCM) and MOV formats. I also did 100mbs 30p 96fps slow motion. Every one of the formats and Rec qualities worked fine without a single failure. Picture quality is amazing. I downloaded the latest version of the VLC player and it plays 4K with no problem. I have a tendency to speak the format, quality and picture modes as I record the clip so I know which clip belongs to what format. The audio seemed to be missing in some of the clips. I don't know if that was a function of the player or a problem with GH4 but I will do more testing to make sure. I do my video editing with Premiere pro and After Effects for fancier work and Cyberlink PowerDirector 12 which is a very powerful prosumer editing program for quicker jobs. It supports multicam and 4K editing. I pulled couple of clips in 4k 30p and 24p on the timeline , edited it and created an output in 1080p. It worked like a champ and resulting output file was great quality. I think you will be a happy camper once you get your GH4. Cheers.

kellar42

This is wonderful to hear @Zaven13, thank you!

Tomaso

@Zaven13 The MP4(LPCM) and the MOV format might use a sound format not supporten by your PC or player. i have this problem when I try to edit downloaded clips. Page 198 "About the compatibility of The recorded ......" Might be a hint.

Edit: The camera have two MP4 modes MP4 and MP4(LPCM). Only MP4(LPCM) supports all high bitrates.

Zaven13

@Tomaso. I checked the clips with no audio playing in GH4 playback mode inside the camera. Still no audio for the following condition. I think I may have found the first bug. When you set the camera to FHD100MB 24p or 30p either in MP4 (lpcm) or MOV, even though I am in AFC or AFS mode, the camera automatically displays MF mode with peakH and displays a greenish color on the LCD panel. When this happens, there is no audio during playback. The other Rec qualities seem to be OK. I will continue to test further.

Vitaliy_Kiselev

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.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/panasonic_gh4_report.shtml

Zaven13

Earlier, I reported that I tested all GH4 recording modes with Sandisk 64GB 95MBs card without any failures. So I decided to use a lower class card and see what happens. By the way, I used Panasonic 14-140 lens zooming all the way shooting the cul-de-sac I live in full of houses, cars, trees and flowers. in a well-lit sunny day. This time I used Sandisk 32GB 30MBs SDHC class 10 card. I recorded 30-45 seconds clips using all recording modes (AVCHD, MP4 (lcmp) and MOV, and all Rec qualities including (4k and 200-I) and could not get it to fail. If this holds up with tests from other folks who get their GH4, we may not need U3 cards and can use our existing cards. This could be the best Easter present Panasonic could give us besides the GH4 itself. I also tested Ex-Tele with FHD 100MB 60p and it worked fine. Happy Easter everyone.

Zaven13

@Vitaliy_Kiselev. After spending a few hours with my GH4, I wholeheartedly agree with the comments you posted above. The quality, the versatility, number of options and the feel of this camera is unbelievable. I took some stills using the built-in flash from 5-6 meters indoors and it looks very good. BTW, the iA mode which was problematic with GH2 hacks is working flawlessly just in case you need it.