jonpais

I've been going insane the past few days. When I viewed the clips from the GH4 on the 1080p timeline in FCPX, all I could see was horrible moire, aliasing and noise. That was until I realized it was because I hadn't rendered the files. This evening, I had the chance to see the video as it should be seen for the first time, and it was incredible! The colors are so much truer than the GH3 - somewhat similar to what I recall with my GM1 - but without all the moire and aliasing. with sharpening set at -4, I see much less haloing effect than I did with the GH3, and there seems to be less banding as well. Skin tones are much, much nicer than with the GH3, and what you see on the greatly improved monitor is what you get when clips are imported into the timeline. The ability to view the image in B&W with peaking makes focussing a much less arduous task, though I'll have to practice with this a bit. I mostly use manual focusing, but occasionally I hit the AF icon on the monitor. I wish there was some way to move this icon to the left of the screen, but I believe it's not possible. I've already programmed two of the function buttons for B&W and peaking, so I can toggle them on and off. Even with the peaking set on high sensitivity, occasionally the green (or blue) can be overwhelming. I find the new button to prevent changing the mode dial on the top of the camera a practically worthless feature - I'd have rather seen Panasonic do something about the dials at front and back: I'm always inadvertently changing the shutter speed. I believe it's possible to set the camera so both dials are inoperable, but I only want to disable one of them. Perhaps a piece of duct tape? Until a friend arrives from the States next week with the 64GB Transcend class 3 card, I've been using the SanDisk Extreme Class 1 45MB/s card without incident. Since I'm shooting C4K, I'm also going to have to eventually decide on a wide angle lens, since I don't think the 12-35mm is going to be wide enough any longer. If any readers are living in Vietnam, I'm unloading my GH3 body for just $600 USD!

with the GH3, I've been shooting more and more with off-camera microphone on boom pole and synching in post, so this shouldn't present a huge problem. if anything, it'll just encourage me to stop using on-camera microphones altogether. but all is not lost. Dave Dugdale is supposed to be receiving some different plugs or something from Rode in the very near future to see if they help at all - providing it's just a grounding problem. but jcs's post suggests it isn't. hmmm... I just picked up my GH4, so haven't had a chance to do any testing yet.

I really can't believe someone sold their 35-100mm Panasonic zoom. That is one beautiful lens. I don't think I could ever part with mine.

Is $12,000 the price including discount? omg

I look at it from a totally different perspective. I've never been one to follow the crowd. And if anything, I see owning a Panasonic as something unique here, because, as I've said, I have only seen one person using a Panasonic G camera in the two years I've lived in this city of 8 million.

@Quirky I'm still trying to figure out whether it would have made me a lemming had I purchased the Canon MKIII; or if I'm a lemming because I purchased the GH3. Perhaps sheep would be more apt, since lemmings are people who follow a movement, usually to their detriment (like the stock market). /edit/and if you're not referring to EOSHD readers, why bring it up in the first place?

@Michael Scrip +1

I'm sorry, but even if I was able to reach an actual technician from almost any other camera repair facility and explained the problem I was having, I'd probably receive the same response (send it in, we'll have a look...). I don't believe any techician is going to be prepared to speculate about 'possible design flaws' of the camera. If the problem is with the 2-week turnaround, I consider that the industry norm. Now, if I were talking about an $80,000 camera, my expectations would be different. You are free to feel how you like, but to dismiss Panasonic based on one phone call seems a bit rash to me.

In what way are the results mixed?

First of all, I want to say that I really enjoy reading all of your posts, they are very refreshing! So I was shocked :) that Dave's very next video (about dropping GH4 4K video into 1080p timeline) addressed certain skeptics who think he is receiving money from Panasonic. Incidentally, they are not 'sponsoring his switch'. And if it's free advertising for Panasonic, so much the better: because I've been living in Vietnam for 2 years now, and all I see people using, both locals and tourists alike, is Canon. /edit/ but I still resent the fact that you say I missed the point - on the one hand, you claim that you weren't referring to Dave Dugdale - and on the other hand, you insinuate he is being paid by Panasonic. Which is it??

This guy also recommends just dropping the 4K file into the 1080p timeline. This guy = Dave Dugdale /edit/ at around 6:00" (sorry, I'm still in the middle of watching the tutorial), Dave addresses accusations that he is being paid by Panasonic.

Everyone else in this thread may be wrong, but I find this answer just a wee bit confusing :| Can't we just say that to avoid diffraction issues, avoid the smallest lens apertures or wait for the light to change?

I also almost always use ND filters outdoors, sunny or no. I like the Tiffen kit, which cost around $40 USD. I mostly use the .9 filter I believe.

I'm sorry, Ebrahim, but I don't follow. How is it very probable that Nikon will be putting all these features into one of their cameras in the very near future? Are you employed by Nikon? Do you have information the rest of us don't? Otherwise, this is pure fantasy.

@Tusoli Are these picture styles something that were developed by Canon, or by users? And how does something like this differ from 'pretentious color correction'? Are you saying that these looks couldn't be created in post? And in what way is color correction pretentious? Finally, could you elaborate on how being able to personalize picture styles means that Canon understood DSLR filmmaking more than either Sony or Panasonic? This seems like a bit of an overstatement to me. If Panasonic did offer a camera without moire, rolling shutter, personalized picture styles, and something other than h.264, would they then be more deserving of your respect? Do you think another manufacturer will get there before Panasonic? Because, from everything I've seen, read and heard so far is that Canon isn't planning on delivering on the video features we want below the $10,000 price point. While it's abundantly clear that Panasonic has been listening... /edit/ since you've already sort of dismissed BM

Magenta skin tones.

You needn't have explained yourself. I thought Dave's was one of the most thorough reviews/comparisons I've seen yet, and he has long been a Canon user. I think that speaks for itself.

@Zach Sorry if I came off too strong, but you earn your livelihood with your camera, I'm just a hobbyist, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that many professionals are using computers and storage that are way insufficient. You've got a nice machine in the iMac, and the Air was a gift - my bad! Some may dismiss the the idea of buying the LaCie outright because it needs AC, but when I'm doing editing on the road, it usually means finding a comfortable coffee shop or something: and even in this part of the world, there are usually plenty of AC outlets where I can plug in my laptop. In fact, I almost never use the battery in my laptop at all. The LaCie weighs a little over a pound and will easily double your read/write speeds -which is what you're looking for; and it is future-proof, since, if you ever purchase a new MacBook Pro or iMac with Thunderbolt 2, it will attain speeds of over 1,300 MB/s, which is more than you'll ever need, even if you shoot uncompressed 4K. I should also say where I'm coming from: my first MacBook Pro was a 2011 with a hard drive and 4GB RAM. I ended up having to upgrade both the memory and the drive in order to edit 1080 60p from my first camcorder. Now, I have a 2013 MacBook Pro with 8GB RAM and no discrete graphics card (neither of which can be upgraded), and I'm already regretting it.

This video looks somewhat flat and a little blurry to my old eyes. Is it meant to show that focus peaking works, or doesn't work? And is there a special reason you leave noise reduction at factory setting (0)? Does it give you better results than turning it down and using Neat Video?

Here's a

Welcome to the forums, Tusoli. Beautiful work (and a little scary, too!)

@Tusoli So when will we see your next fashion shoot for Elle with the GH4? :rolleyes:

Finally, you are already talking about replacing a 2012 laptop: are you going to keep buying inadequate gear, then replacing it every year? Buy the very best you can afford.

Or, better still, HOLD ONTO your MacBook Air and purchase the LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt 2 1TB drive. Your read/write speeds should be double on the 2012 Air, and on your iMac, assuming you have the Fusion Drive, write speeds should more than double, which should speed up your render times considerably. You'll save a ton of cash and have a portable work of art at home or on the road. Unfortunately, neither your Air nor your iMac have Thunderbolt 2, or you would see read/write speeds of over 1,300 MB/s with the LaCie.

If you want comparisons between models, this is as good a site as any: http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/macbook-pro-retina-display-faq/ 13" of screen real estate is hardly adequate for video editing. The 15" is much faster than the 13" and is well worth the extra cost. The entry level 15" does not have discrete graphics card, so I would pass on it. Also, 16GB is the minimum you should have for photo/video editing. RAM, GPU and a storage solution are key. if you are upgrading from Air, and price is no object, why half-way measures that will disappoint you in no time. Also, how can any of us know with 100% certainty what we will be doing five years down the road? Look at the benchmarks. Compare your current Air. Higher Geekbench scores, faster performance. If your Air scores 5,000 and the rMBP is 14,000, it should be several times faster. I also suggest looking at Larry Jordan's site. Then if you don't invest in extra RAM and GPU, you will have nobody but yourself to blame. I also own a 15" rMBP 2013 and 2013 27" configured iMac.