So I went out today to do some lens test and grabbed my tripod but unfortunately forgot the quick release mount. So I had to stabilize these shots in post. I love to take my cameras and film trees at some point because years ago I switch from Canon to the GH2 because I never liked the mushy trees that Canon would produce in my footage. So I know if a camera can make distant leaves on trees good, then I know It will be good to go. When I got home I wanted to see how some new camera settings and some new lenses will look with my filmic color grading treatment. I will post another video soon about my findings, right now I'm still testing. What do you guys think so far with this video. Do you like it the look. Panasonic GH4 Panasonic Lumix 20mm 1.7 lens

@Ru_C I would agree that the BMCC has a filmic look - 'out of the bag'. Its a RAW camera and Pro Res is lovely. But i definitely think the GH4, when coupled with vintage or modern manual glass (SLR MAGICs or Voigtlanders), plus subtly using Film Convert can cut very nicely with it. I use cine D, 0, -3, -5, -3, -0 picture profile and get my white balance 'bang on' in camera. This makes all the difference. With a BMCC its much more forgiving in post. GH4 always get good white balance!!

Once you nail the settings on the GH4 its a revelation!

Shot with 2 GH4s in NTSC 4K, default settings, both mounted on spotting scopes. Keep watching until the last duck jumps...

@RU_C

nobbystylus has a good answer. The GH4 is a different beast than from what many have tried to make it. Neither it nor the GH3 are really a "flat" raw/log type camera, so if one sets EVERYTHING to -5 to try and make the out-of-cam footage look like say the "film" mode of the BM cams, when you lift things back "up" you'll find oft some things you may not appreciate. I tried this at first. Not ... as successful as I would have liked.

It's very easy to use both cameras and gut glutted saturation and VERY "video" look. To be avoided also.

It's finding the sweet spot for your content & output needs that gives the best the cam can do. Probably quite minus on the sharpness, some minus on contrast & sat, probably a lot of minus on noise control in-cam (though some use this at 0). Somewhere in there, you'll find the settings you can work with in post & get repeatable and good results.

But as noted in nobbystylus' comment, you MUST get WB and exposure nailed in-cam. Get WB at least very close, and nail that exposure. You don't have the latitude of a "deep" RAW file, but ... if nailed in-cam, it's quite a good bit of footage for grading afterwards.

The histogram is sort of reliable in-cam, but it's best if you test test test with a meter and learn how to meter your cam so it gives you what you expect every time. Then these babies start to really sing.

@itimjim - wow. Yes please. That would be astonishing. But i'm guessing only to an external recorder.

@h2otara That was a really good video! The gh4 has really good quality! Those ducks were really cute, i hope that gator didn't get any of the babys!

Does anybody have any complaints with the dynamic range of the gh4? Because i still only have the gh2 and have plenty of complaints on the dynamic range with this one... I'm trying to make the choice between the A7s and the GH4

@Vitaliy_Kiselev Sorry great master for i have fallen out of line. how shall i be dealt with. Due to my cursed dynamic range questioning of the unquestionable, your noble sire.

@TATZU

Do you have any full frame cameras at the moment? If you don't I would say keep the GH2 and buy the A7S. If I didn't already have a Nikon full frame camera and video was more important then stills then I would definitely buy the A7S.

However for stills, IMO Nikon still is king. If I was shopping for a full frame camera today and both video and stills were equally important I would buy the Nikon D810. Good luck on your decision.

@tylerknight Looks great, man! CineV maybe?

@tylerknight That is a surprise! Watched a few of your videos before and assumed that you were still using CineV. Great job on the skintones, especially using CineD.

Quick question on Synchro Scan...I chose this from menu and cycled to exactly 180 degrees. But now it's saying 180.1 or 180.2, like thats all that comes up when cycling thru. Just curious to know why this is happening?

After some time spent and a couple of events shot with GH4 I have only very good things to say about it.

First, the high ISO is great, I know other are complaining about it but is unrealistic to compare it with the best low light cameras that exist. For me, the high ISO of this machine is very good. If my target is full HD I have absolutely no problem shooting until maximum ISO of 6400. Noise is very organic and if I want noise free files I clean them in Neat Video (4K ISO 3200 cleans so well that it looks like minimal ISO). ISO 6400 on GH4 looks similar to ISO 3200 on GH3 (I have both cameras).

The photo side is also great, finally I can shot in camera JPG's, GH3 was horrible in this regard, the high NR in combination with high sharpening makes a lot of nasty artifacts which I strongly dislike. Now I have absolutely no problem using GH4 for out of the camera JPG, I shot RAW + JPG and if I need speed, the JPG's are there and looking great.

The AF is fantastic, after working with it for a couple of months, I tried a Canon 5D mark 3 and it felt like a old dog regarding the AF speed and accuracy.

Everybody is praising the battery life of GH4 in 4K, actually it is not that great, in 4K the battery is depleted 40% quicker than in full HD. I have no problem with that, I have a lot of spare batteries but the internet is full of exaggeration.

I use a couple of Rode stereo video mic pro's on the GH4's and GH3 and that particular mic works extremely well with the GH4, much better than with GH3, the sound quality is much deeper and clear (I think GH4 uses better preamps).

This camera works the best for me on natural profile with a little bit of contrast dialed down. I tried to make the image falter and I irrevocably destroyed the files. I strongly remand, until Panasonic makes a LOG profile, to make the look only as flat as you need, making it flatter you only introduce artifacts and noise in grading.

Best regards to you all, I hope I've been helpful to someone.