zephyrnoid

Great review Andrew! I'll probably get one, as I have the budget and a gap in my field kit. I do agree that the next iteration ought to implement a wireless I/O comm, but it can't happen with current wireless protocols AND pass a 4K stream. My guess is that the next 'BMD Video Assist, will support 4K Prores as an update. It would be great if that occurred via firmware.

Thank goodness I caught a link to this review on the GH4 Forum in fb. I've been honing my major hybrid upgrade strategy for weeks now and the Issues that you bring up with the A7SII simply never showed up in other reviews. I'm definitely getting the A7RII but was hoping the A7SII would be my backup and video centric version. No more. Thanks for saving me $3K Cheers.

Kaizen doctrine would rule that A7 could be eliminated. I'm praying for a 24MP A7S2 so I can avoid having to buy a second body, the A7R2 for stills. And yes. I really need the 42MP sensor for some stills.

"How often do you record continuous takes one after the other of 30 min+" It's a perennial conundrum. How Long a 'Take' should a capture system accommodate? The answer depends on the context of the situation. - Well planned interviews (except ones of incessant talkers) should warn the interviewee of roughly how much time they have for an answer. I keep my questions short and one point per question. At most, I've pushed the interviewees into 20 minute answers on one question. - Documentaries are notorious for running into longish takes. Particularly if the subject is an event with multiple subsections flowing continuously like a parade for an hour or more. In such cases, multicams and continuous audio are the solution. - For TVC, Feature film etc. somewhere between 10 seconds and 5 minutes max for a take. If you're shooting politicians talking, you might want to use a camera that can accommodate an hour take or more I woould have rephrased that as : Samsung H.265 CODEC, Sony Sensor and Olympus IBIS

​Are you referring to STILL or MOVIE Images in your declaration? Hybrids are expected to COMPROMISE to achieve a balance.

Andrew I haven't commented in AGES. That's because I've been waiting for a Hybrid like the A7RII. So now some questions. If you know the answers.... Internal 4K . How has Sony solved what is typically a Heat Management Issue for the sensor?Based on 1. Is there a record time limit at 4K Internally?We're guessing that 4K is Sony4K compressed 10bit at best. Any news on the color space spec front?Is there a chance it'll send out a signal via WiFi to a Smartphone as does the Samsung NX1?

@leeys The Note3 had been in my sights for a while as a phablette. Trying to get a used unlocked and clean one

A smart phone in a ff camera. So you take a $300 camera, add wireless com and then shackle your customer to service plan or charge them $1,000 to buy it outright. Doesn't seem very SMART to me LOL! 😈

Would love to finally toss my 5year old point and shoot camera. My only problem is that smart phones are shackles to your carrier but unlocked this may be worth the buy out cost. Do we know all the rest of the facts? - removable battery? Lion or lipo chemistry? - screen resolution and dimensions? - wireless functionality and protocols? - 1/4-20 mount??? Tell all Andrew!

"Now if someone can find out how to make the perfect ergonomic camera with Super 35mm sensor for news, run & gun and documentary shooters, they will have a winner on their hands." The actual questions is WHY none of the susual suspects have done so, not "how" The answer has been the same for the past 6 years. The don't want to fill the gap as long as selling at both ends of the market segementation makes them more money. The Gap filler is not a "Super 35mm sensor for news, run & gun and documentary shooters," But rather, a Super 35mm sensor for documentary shooters. For news, run & gun and events, the Panasonic GH4 is ideal.

"The way this works is quite technical but it essentially amounts to using the extra pixels present in the 4K files to rebuild the lost colour information. Neighbouring pixels are summed to create a super pixel with a greater bit depth and better sampling. It requires a lot of processing power and a finishing codec good enough to store the extra colour data (10bit 4:4:4, with CineForm and ProRes being suitable choices) which is why the camera doesn’t do it internally. It does require a transcoding step in post but the increase in quality over the 8bit internal 1080p codec will be marked. The message is clear. Even if you’re working in 1080p, shoot 4K on the GH4 if you want the best quality." That's pure fakery. What matters to me is the ORIGINAL RAW Clut. It's not 10Bit 4:4:4. So they are trying to convince you that by widening the color space via dithering ( AKA Interpolation) that 'magically' a wider gamut has been recovered. That's incorrect because the the orginal space off the sensor was 8Bit 4:2:0 The 4K>2K hat trick is just that. A TRICK A trick because pixel density has NOTHING at all to do with capture color gamut. Sorry to be so harsh. You will discover this when someone runs Imperical Chroma Key tests. Panasonic Please stop this nonsense!

You missed two key points about the GH4 1. It's a hybrid FOR hybrid shooters, like I used to be. Shoot stills for bread n butter, shoot video for bread and butter and fun. 2. It's a transitional camera. A fuller integrated 4k camera SHOULD emerge from Panasonic that is boxy and does not required external box or 4k recorder. My guess is it will be called Arri Amira ;)

If you read all my posts you'll have the answer. They're rolling out incremental upgrades to make adopters pay for the bigger milestones down the timeline

Excellent comparison. Some points to ponder. "Sensor size and your choice of lens is indelibly linked – an important thing to consider..." Indeed. So let's put the squeeze on Panasonic to get it right. APS-C/DX ! When discussing critical highlight exposure (zoneVIII) it helps to mention that pros, reflexively lock in that highlight tone and holding VIII becomes a non issue in post. Also. The BMCC is not a hybrid. It's an experimental beta product. The GH4 is a bone afide hybrid. But you've already implied the distinction.

Dx