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

Product Information

The Panasonic GH4 features many other focusing improvement seen on other recent Panasonic cameras like the GX7 and GM1 including Pinpoint AF and higher AF performance in low-light conditions (-4EV). The GH4 also introduces some new features for the GH line including a 49-area AF grid (up from 23 on the GH3) with the ability to manually select custom AF area groupings. There's also a freely re-sizable 1-area AF mode as well as face and eye detection AF. Okay so let’s start with establishing a connection between the camera and a smartphone or tablet. NFC or not, the first thing you’ll need to do is install the free Lumix Image app, available for iOS or Android devices. Next you’ll need to enable Wifi on your phone or tablet and if you’re intending to use NFC, you’ll also need to enable this on your phone / tablet. In the center, the GH4 has a standard hot shoe for mounting various accessories like the Panasonic DMW-MS2 Stereo/Shotgun mic, which thanks to the new processor and software in the GH4 is now able to zoom and adjust the balance between stereo and shotgun recording angles. The hot shoe is also compatible is flash units such as the new Panasonic Wireless Flash DMW-FL580L. Flanked on either side of the hot shoe sit left and right mics for stereo audio recording.

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.

Large capacity SDHC/SDXC memory card. If you're recording 4K or high bitrate Full HD video, a UHS Speed Class 3 (U3) card is required. Full HD] 1920x1080:50.00i, 24Mbps (IPB) (Dolby) (Sensor output is 25.00fps)/[Full HD] 1920x1080:50.00i, 17Mbps (IPB) (Dolby) (Sensor output is 50.00fps)

No scene modes. Creative Control (Stills): Expressive, Retro, Old Days, High Key, Low Key, Sepia, Monochrome, Dynamic Monochrome, Rough Monochrome, Silky Monochrome, Impressive Art, High Dynamic, Cross Process, Toy Effect, Toy Pop, Bleach Bypass, Miniature Effect, Soft Focus, Fantasy, Star Filter, One Point Color, Sunshine; Creative Control (Movies): Expressive, Retro, Old Days, High Key, Low Key, Sepia, Monochrome, Dynamic Monochrome, Impressive Art, High Dynamic, Cross Process, Toy Effect, Toy Pop, Bleach Bypass, Miniature Effect, Fantasy, One Point Color Still image: Max. 2x (Aspect ratio sets at 4:3. Not effective with L size recording. Magnification ratio depends on the recording pixels and aspect ratio.)/Motion picture: 2.4x (FHD), 3.6x (HD), 4.8x (VGA) The GH4 lets you film movies while applying several of the picture effects. Here’s what you get with the Miniature effect applied. The camera inherits whatever the movie quality is currently set to, but only supports a maximum of 1080p for the miniature effect, so no in-camera 4k miniature movies.

Sample RAW Images

While the Panasonic GH4 undoubtedly features a lot of improvements for still photography, Panasonic themselves have said the image quality is a slight improvement over the GX7, but the main focus was drastically increasing the video recording features, performance and image quality. The remote control feature is really neat, showing a live image on your phone or tablet’s screen and allowing you to take a photo or start or stop a video. You can tap anywhere on the live image to set the focus to that area or directly take the shot. If the camera’s mode dial is set to Aperture or Shutter Priority, you can remotely adjust the aperture or shutter speed respectively, and in Manual you can change both. If the 1080p frame rate is set to 23.98, 24, 25 or 29.97fps and the bit rate to 100Mbit/s, you’re also given the chance to apply a variable frame rate to speed up or slow down the footage. The maximum frame rate in the 23.98 and 24fps modes is 96fps, which in turn results in a four-times slowdown.

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. In terms of the system, Micro Four Thirds is the most established of the mirror-less system camera formats, bringing bodies and native lenses to the market at least one year before its first rival arrived. Being first to market along with having not one but two major manufacturers behind it are two major advantages Micro Four Thirds enjoys over the competition, and it really shows when you compare their respective native lens catalogues. Micro Four Thirds has over 40 lenses available from Panasonic and Olympus along with third parties including Sigma, Tamron, Samyang, Voigtlander and others. So while many rival mirror-less formats are struggling to offer even one lens in every category, Micro Four Thirds typically has two or more options available. Whether it’s Fisheye, ultra wide, fast aperture, macro, super-zoom or good old general-purpose, the Micro Four Thirds catalogue has it covered, and many of them are great quality too – find out more in my Micro Four Thirds lens guide. Panasonic Lumix GH4 viewfinder and screen Auto*, Auto/Red-eye Reduction*, Forced On, Forced On/Red-eye Reduction, Slow Sync., Slow Sync./Red-eye Reduction, Forced Off * For iA, iA+ only.

miniHDMI TypeD / VIERA Link, Audio: Stereo/59.94Hz: Auto / 4K / 1080p / 1080i / 720p / 480p/50.00Hz: Auto / 4K / 1080p / 1080i / 720p / 576p/24.00Hz: Auto / C4K / 4K / 1080p/(4:2:2 10-bit or 4:2:2 8-bit is selectable.)

Just like its predecessor, the GH4 wraps its sealed magnesium alloy body around a 16MP Four Thirds sensor. But that shouldn't be taken to mean that the GH4 is a minor update. The most striking difference is that the GH4 can capture 4K footage (both in the DCI 4K and UHD 4K resolutions), but the extent to which the GH4 supports a professional workflow is arguably just as significant. The Gh4 is not far off at base so it is not a big difference. But the combination of a better sensor when it comes to DR, tonal range, colour sensitivity PLUS 24 Mpixels indeed makes a notable difference. I don't know if there are good lenses for this cam, bit if so it is a better cam for that. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH4 has a multi-aspect 17.20 megapixel sensor that provides 16.05 effective megapixels. This is both to accommodate the movie recording functionality, and also to offer four different aspect ratios for still photos (4:3, 3:2 and 16:9 and 1:1 square modes) without affecting the angle-of-view by cropping or interpolation. 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.In practice the Intelligent Auto Mode system works very well, with the GH4 seamlessly choosing the most appropriate combination of settings for the current situation. The 5 available scene modes are Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Night Portrait and Night Scenery, so obviously not all situations are covered by Intelligent Auto Mode, but it does work for the majority of the time. It makes it possible for the less experienced photographer to easily take well-exposed, sharp pictures of people, scenery and close-ups by simply pointing and shooting the camera.