Panasonic GH4 In Depth Review With Dave Dugdale

Photographer Dave Dugdale recently published this very comprehensive video review of the Panasonic GH4 camera with a great deal of emphasis on the video aspects of the camera, and if you are considering buying one it is a definite must watch.

If you are a videographer and you are currently working with Canon gear, this review might shake your world a little bit (or even more than a little). Dugdale compared the results from his 5D MKIII to the GH4 but also to the RED Epic – (a much more expensive and professional video camera) which is used in much more expensive productions and the results seem to be very favorable for the GH4 (especially when it comes to details).

Dugdale also notes that even if you have no intention of releasing your videos in 4K (and lets face it there are still few people who can actually watch it in 4K – although this is changing), you can still benefit from bringing down the 4K of the GH4 in post to 1080p while still saving a great deal of details.

The GH4 with the LCD flipped open

So what is the bottom line? well at least for Dugdale it seems that there is a pretty good chance that he will be moving from his big and heavy 5D MKIII system and all his premium L lenses and buting a GH4 with a comparable set of lenses.

We have already brought you Chris Niccolls and Jordan Drake (from the Camera Store) look at the GH4– which is also worth watching, but Dugdale’s review is definitely more comprehensive.

Here is a quick reminder of the GH4 specs:

Sensor: A new 16.05 MP Live MOS (micro 4/3).
Image processor: New quad-core imaging processor – Venus Engine 9AHD.
Sensitivity: 200-25,600 ISO (improved over the GH3).
Shutter speed: 60- 1/8000 seconds.
Viewfinder: digital – 2,359K-Dot OLED Live.
LCD: Tilting 3.0″ 1,036k-Dot OLED Monitor.
Wireless Connectivity: Wi-Fi/NFC.
Advanced features: Focus Peaking, silent mode, Highlight/Shadow Control, RAW data development in Camera and more.
Shooting speed: up to 12fps burst shooting (AF-S) and up to 7.0fps in continuous AF (up to 40 images buffer in RAW).
AF: Face / Eye Detection AF or 49-point AF with Custom Multi AF mode (up to 00.7 AF with the new Depth From Defocus” (DFD) technology – currently only with Panasonic lenses).
Flash: Built-in/external flash (sync speed max.1/250 second).
Video: 4K video in MOV & MP4 (resolutions include: 4K 24p – 4096×2160, 4K – 3840×2160 30p/24p.
More video: 4:2:0 internal SD recording / 4:2:2 out to external recording devices (4K – 100Mbps Bitrate, 1080p – up to 200Mbps; ALL-Intra or IPB Compression).
Sound: 3.5mm headphone jack for live audio monitoring while recording (many more options for connections including XLRs SDIs micro HDMI with the optional DMW-YAGH /AG-YAGH – attachable interface unit).
Storage: a single SD UHS Speed Class 3 (U3) – 30 MB/sec data stream guaranteed.
Price and availability: available for pre-order (should be ready at the end of April 2014) for around $1700 (you can order one on B&H).

You can find more tips on recording sound for video work on our special HDSLR channel on lensvid.com and more product reviews on our photography previews and reviews channel.

Iddo Genuth

Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.