Panasonic DMC-GH4EB-K Compact System Camera (Body Only)

Product Information

Since the movie modes also employ an electronic shutter, Panasonic has tried hard to reduce the rolling shutter effect by speeding up the data readout of the GH4’s sensor. I believe it’s better than the GH3, but you can still trip it up under the right – or wrong – conditions. Either way though, I’m pleased Panasonic offer it as an option for stills, as it’s a rarity on other cameras. There’s certainly plenty of situations where the subject is fairly still in a quiet environment, and under those conditions a silent camera is very welcome.

Approx. 40 images (when there are RAW files with the particular speed)/Approx. 100 images (when there are no RAW files)/Approx. 120 images (when using electronic shutter)/(depending on memory card size, battery power, picture size, and compression) The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH4 maximum shutter speed is 60 seconds and there's also a Bulb option for exposures up to 4 minutes long, which is excellent news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 25 seconds at ISO 160. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like. The camera takes the same amount of time again to apply noise reduction, so for example at the 15 second setting the actual exposure takes 30 seconds. The Fn1 button, which as with the other four Function buttons on the rear of the camera and the two soft Function buttons on the touchscreen, can be configured to activate one of 38 settings, allowing the camera to truly be customised to suit your way of working (there are "only" 10 options available for the Fn4 button). The row of white balance, ISO and exposure compensation buttons make it extremely easy to access the camera's key exposure controls, while the dual control dials makes it easy to use the fully Manual shooting mode. I’d say this is a good result for the GH4. Admittedly it’s nowhere in the same league as the Sony A6000 which can keep moving subjects in sharp focus at 11fps, nor even the Fujifilm XT1 which can do the same at 8fps thanks to their hybrid AF systems, but it remains the best result I’ve experienced from a 100% contrast based system and certainly allows you to capture action with reasonable success.As a camera aimed at video professionals, there’s also a choice of Zebra patterns to indicate exposure. There’s two Zebra options, which you can independently preset to between 50 and 95% in 5% intervals. The GH4 does have some things the A7 does not, but then again, the a7 has some the GH4 does not (I like using digital zoom on the fly for instance and having FF and APSC modes). For stills, I much prefer the A7.....and I would prefer the a6000 too at the price. IF I was a video pro with control of the lighting, then the GH4 would be a great choice.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH4 produced images of outstanding quality during the review period. It produces noise-free images at ISO 100 to 1600, with limited noise starting to appear at ISO 3200. ISO 6400 and 12800 exhibit quite visible noise and loss of fine detail, while the fastest setting of 25600 looks much better on paper than in reality. RAW, RAW+Fine, RAW+Standard, Fine, Standard/MPO+Fine / MPO+Standard (with 3D lens in Micro Four Thirds system standard)

Conclusion

So from these tests I’d say Panasonic’s technology certainly seems to let the GH4 focus a little faster and more confidently than the EM1 when fitted with Panasonic lenses, but again the difference was subtle and there was no benefit when using Olympus lenses. There can be some confusion though. If you want 24.0fps, you’ll need to select the 24Hz frequency, but if you want 23.98fps, you’ll find it under the 59.94Hz NTSC configuration. As a format aimed for theatrical release, Cinema 4k is only available at 24.0fps, so you’ll only see it offered when the system frequency is set to 24Hz – and in addition only when the shooting mode is set to Creative Movies. In contrast, UHD, as a TV format, is available across all three system frequencies, and for any shooting mode. Panasonic Lumix GH4 with 17mm f1.8: field of view for movie modes

When Intelligent Auto is switched on, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH4 changes the scene mode used when you touch the subject, for example selecting portrait mode if you touch a face and macro mode if you touch a close-up flower. If you prefer to manually focus rather than use the snappy AF, you can magnify any part of the subject by 1x, 5x or 10x by simply dragging the image around the screen. The final touchscreen ability from an image composition point of view is the ability to release the shutter, with a small icon on the right hand screen enabling this functionality, and then a single on-screen tap all that's required to take the picture. Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are soft at the default sharpening setting, and benefit from further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. You can also change the in-camera sharpening level by tweaking the Film Mode, with five different settings available.For [4K] or [C4K] video output, use an HDMI cable that has the HDMI logo on it, and that is described as"4K compatible". IPB) (LPCM) / 100Mbps (IPB) (AAC)/[Full HD] 1920x1080:50.00p, 200Mbps (ALL-Intra) (LPCM) / 100Mbps (IPB) (LPCM) / 50Mbps (IPB) (LPCM)/[Full HD] 1920x1080:25.00p, 200Mbps (ALL-Intra) (LPCM) / 100Mbps (IPB) (LPCM) / 50Mbps (IPB) (LPCM)/[Full HD] 1920x1080:50.00p, 28Mbps (IPB) (AAC)/[Full HD] 1920x1080:25.00p, 20Mbps (IPB) (AAC)/[HD] 1280x720:25.00p, 10Mbps (IPB) (AAC)/[VGA] 640x480:25.00p, 4Mbps (IPB) (AAC) The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH4 has an extensive range of Creative Controls, denoted by an artist's palette in the shooting mode menu, with 22 different options on offer. Approx. 560g / 19.75 oz (SD card, Battery, Body)/Approx. 480g / 16.93 oz (Body only)/Approx. 865g / 30.51 oz (SD card, Battery, H-HS12035 lens included)/Approx. 825g / 29.10 oz (SD card, Battery, H-FS14140 lens included) Again, the GH4 seems a wonderful camera for video pros and serious video amateurs and is the best 4k camera around at its price point while being a good M4/3 stills camera, 4k is currently only up to 30p though. For 50/60p it would be nice to see some comparisons...and for stills, they are different class cameras.

Focus peaking was high on the list of demands for the GH3, but it never arrived in a firmware update. Happily, the GH4 has focus peaking to help with manual focusing and video recording by highlighting the areas of highest contrast. This is accompanied by the picture-in-picture view first seen with the GX7 to allow the whole scene to be seen while an enlarged view is visible.For serious professional workflows, Panasonic also created alongside the GH4 an attachable interface unit, the AG-YAGH (or DMW-YAGH for the US), shown above, providing 4K HD-SDI output with timecode, XLR audio, and DC power. This gives the Panasonic GH4 the ability to integrate very well with professional cinema and high-end video production workflows with industry-standard connections and interfaces. In single-AF mode the GH4 can shoot continuously at up to 12 fps (frames per second) with a UHS-III SD format card installed. This rate drops to 7.5fps in continuous autofocus mode. Panasonic will introduce a UHS-III card when the GH4 comes to market. PHOTOfunSTUDIO 9.5 PE (Windows XP / Vista / 7 / 8)/SILKYPIX® Developer Studio 4.1 SE (Windows XP / Vista / 7 / 8, Mac OS X v10.5 / v10.6 / v10.7 / v10.8)/LoiLoScope (trial version) (Windows XP / Vista / 7 / 8)