Panasonic GH4 testing

Panasonic Switzerland was very nice and loaned me a pre production  sample of the GH4 for a couple of days.

panasonic-gh4_001

As I just got it today i can’t tell you too much about it yet.

I’ve only done some GH4 hand held shooting but really love it already.

My Canon c300 has a great form factor too, but the compact size of GH4 can be a real plus in some situations.

And I can really see how this cam could team up with it. Even I will use it up in the air on a multicopter most of the time.

Day 2:

Today I took the Gh4 out for a quick shoot in the City. You can find some new added files to download on the bottom of this post.

Handling seems great. But focusing on the Gh4 screen is not always easy. The peaking shows sharp but when you check the footage sometimes its a bit off. This might be a flaw in the v0.4 firmware. So as this is not a final product this will hopefull change a bit.

Otherwise I would suggest to add a external monitor for some shots. The camera has also frozen a few times. But my guess is this is due of the beta firmware also.

As I’m completly new to the GH body, I need to get my self used a bit to it. But that should not be a big thing. All needed buttons are in a nice layout. And once you understand how the menu works you’ll reach anything fast. Either trough buttons or touchscreen.

 

Audio vise I’m really surprised how good it is out of the cam. It’s far from perfect. But better then what I have heard from other “DSLR” formfactor cams.

more to come.

 

I’ve also already tested if the Panasonic GH4 fits the DJI GH3 Z15 gimbal.

It actually fits just like the Panasonic GH3 and is balanced out of the box.

Maybee just a tiny bit of fine tuning but nothing major. Both the GH4 and GH3 were loaded with battery and SD Card.

panasonic-gh3_dji_z15_001 panasonic-gh3_dji_z15_002

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You’ll need a new hdmi cable, as the GH3 uses a hdmi mini vs. hdmi Micro on the GH4.

So you’ll need someone to resolder the 19 pin cable, or you will need to build some kind of Adapter solution.

I’m pretty sure DJI will offer a matching cable very shortly. Ist also unproven yet if the GH3 hdmi to analog converter will work with the GH4 Signal.

All we know yet is, that it works with a direct connect to the Lightbridge. But I’ll be testing a new hdmi converter soon. So that might be a solution too.

Weight wise the GH3 and GH4 are very similar. The GH4 weights only 11g more.

panasonic-gh3_001 panasonic-gh3_002

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saddly I can’t bring it up in the air right now, as I’m still missing some parts for my new DJI S1000.

If I find a pilot with a capable UAV in time i’ll do a test for sure 🙂

Panasonic GH4 Footage from Riot Media on Vimeo.

Panasonic Lumix GH4 Cinelike D test / review footage from Riot Media on Vimeo.

All of the following shots are under Creative Commons with credit for non commercial use.

Day1: Here are some very quick, out of the hand shots, untouched GH4 4K files for you to download and play around with em.

The first ones are shot with the Standard Profile.

http://www.riot.ch/temp/gh4/P1000010.MOV

http://www.riot.ch/temp/gh4/P1000012.MOV

http://www.riot.ch/temp/gh4/P1000017.MOV

These ones with Cinelike V Profile,

http://www.riot.ch/temp/gh4/P1000041.MOV

http://www.riot.ch/temp/gh4/P1000044.MOV

 

Day 2 files shot on a small tripod (Cinelike V Profile):

http://www.riot.ch/temp/gh4/P1000133.MOV

http://www.riot.ch/temp/gh4/P1000144.MOV

http://www.riot.ch/temp/gh4/P1000149.MOV

http://www.riot.ch/temp/gh4/P1000153.MOV

http://www.riot.ch/temp/gh4/P1000159.MOV

http://www.riot.ch/temp/gh4/P1000161.MOV

http://www.riot.ch/temp/gh4/P1000162.MOV

Day 3 files on a small tripod (Cinelike D profile)

Cinelike D is pretty much like a Technicolour style flat profile which is probably the one I’ll use most one on the GH4.

Cinelike V seems to crush all the shadows into black.

Something i learned pretty late in the tests 🙁

http://www.riot.ch/temp/gh4/P1000561.MOV

http://www.riot.ch/temp/gh4/P1000586.MOV

http://www.riot.ch/temp/gh4/P1000586.MOV

 

I’ve been asked what kind of memory card I was using. Panasonic supplied me a matching card with U3 standard.

Product Code is RP-SDUC32GAK

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