GH4 4k 8bit vs external 4k downconverted to 1080p 10bit?

F

Filmautre

Member
Hey guys,

Am thinking to get a ninja 2 soon (mainly for an upcoming C100 purchase) but for the GH4 am I better off sticking to 4k 8bit, or using the recorder to get 4k down converted to 1080p 10 bit? having 4k 10 bit isnt necessary for me right now and I have no issues with scaling 1080p footage a bit larger rather than just using 4k to play with, this is all for image quality and deliverables in 25fps/24fps 1080p.

I heard that there was an issue with the ninja 2 and gh4 in its infancy have the updates resolved all issues apart from the lag from GH4?

Thanks
 
Filmautre said:
Hey guys,

Am thinking to get a ninja 2 soon (mainly for an upcoming C100 purchase) but for the GH4 am I better off sticking to 4k 8bit, or using the recorder to get 4k down converted to 1080p 10 bit? having 4k 10 bit isnt necessary for me right now and I have no issues with scaling 1080p footage a bit larger rather than just using 4k to play with, this is all for image quality and deliverables in 25fps/24fps 1080p.

I heard that there was an issue with the ninja 2 and gh4 in its infancy have the updates resolved all issues apart from the lag from GH4?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I think you have a few conversion benefits mixed up. You can get close to 4:2:2 1080p color accuracy from downsampled 4K 4:2:0, but you can't get 10 bit from 8 bit, no way no how.

With that said, I just bought a Ninja 2 for my GH4 to give me 10 bit to work with V-Log and it works fantastic! Just make sure you use a hard drive off of their recommended list, and you'll be fine.
 
I don't believe the Ninja 2 will downconvert 4k to 1080p.

The Blackmagic Video Assist downconverts 4k to 1080p, and it is also 10 bit. Just don't expect much in the way of scopes or LUTs or any of that nice stuff. It's pretty much just a recorder with a basic monitor thrown in for free.
 
balazer said:
I don't believe the Ninja 2 will downconvert 4k to 1080p.

The Blackmagic Video Assist downconverts 4k to 1080p, and it is also 10 bit. Just don't expect much in the way of scopes or LUTs or any of that nice stuff. It's pretty much just a recorder with a basic monitor thrown in for free.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the Ninja 2 won't down convert. Maybe he meant the quality difference from 4K to the GH4 down converting to the Ninja 2 in 10 bit.

I know if you record in V-Log , the 10 bit is almost a necessity.
 
balazer said:
I don't believe the Ninja 2 will downconvert 4k to 1080p.

The Blackmagic Video Assist downconverts 4k to 1080p, and it is also 10 bit. Just don't expect much in the way of scopes or LUTs or any of that nice stuff. It's pretty much just a recorder with a basic monitor thrown in for free.
Click to expand...

the Blackmagic Video Assist only downconverts via SDI... useless for GH4 users without a YAGH
 
I was wanting to post a similar question. What about Video Devices PIX-E5H 5" 4K Recording Video Monitor? I can use this monitor to record 4K 10 bit from the GH4, right?

Anyone using this monitor?
 
I have a PIX E5 arriving tomorrow and yes you can record 4K 10 bit from the GH4. However when recording 4K 10 bit in the recorder you cant record anything internally in the GH4.
 
Keep in mind that you can tell the GH4 to downsample 4K to HD through the HDMI. You get better results to whatever HD recorder you use (IMHO). I use a Ninja Star and down convert with the GH4's HDMI output. Works great.
 
Any recorder that records from 4k DCI to 2K DCI? I know the 'expensive' ones (Shogun, Odyssey etc) do but any of the HD only ones?
 
Brandon Freeman said:
Keep in mind that you can tell the GH4 to downsample 4K to HD through the HDMI. You get better results to whatever HD recorder you use (IMHO). I use a Ninja Star and down convert with the GH4's HDMI output. Works great.
Click to expand...

would I do that by just setting it to 1080 out instead of auto?

& is that the equivalent to downsampling 4k to 1080 in post?
 
There is a world of difference between downsampling 4K to HD in camera on a device like the GH4 v doing it on an Odyssey7Q+ or doing it in post. The GH4 only has so much processing space available within it, so the engineers have to juggle priorities and computing power, prioritizing certain tasks. This is easy to test, just try it both ways and compare.
 
Mitch Gross said:
There is a world of difference between downsampling 4K to HD in camera on a device like the GH4 v doing it on an Odyssey7Q+ or doing it in post. The GH4 only has so much processing space available within it, so the engineers have to juggle priorities and computing power, prioritizing certain tasks. This is easy to test, just try it both ways and compare.
Click to expand...

what would be your suggested workflow for downsampling 4K to 1080 using a GH4 into Atomos Ninja Assassin? For the record, editing predominantly in FCPX.. Would you just create a project with a 1080 timeline and just edit/export as usual- or would you convert the files before hand? I'm not interested in the extra real estate to re-frame, zoom, etc. Only interested in the extra resolution, so the most efficient workflow while editing/grading is what I'm most interested in.
 
Mitch Gross said:
I'm sorry, but that is a competitor's product. It would be improper for me to suggest how you use it.
Click to expand...

If I'm using an Odyssey7q+ capturing the full 4K image from my GH4 instead of super sampling in the 7q+ (so I can have a master 10bit 4K file if needed), how would you suggest converting the 4K file to 1080 for editing after it has already been captured?
 
Mitch Gross said:
There is a world of difference between downsampling 4K to HD in camera on a device like the GH4 v doing it on an Odyssey7Q+ or doing it in post.
Click to expand...
Could you share a sample of this world of difference? I am unable to come up with anything that shows this ...
My settings where 4K 10bit out and 4K 10bit downconverted to 1080 out. The recording codec used on the recorder Prores 422 HQ 10 bit. Both clips imported in AE on a 1080 floating point timeline, rendered to 1080 Prores HQ trillions of colors. When the top layer is set to difference I can see a slight difference as the camera shifted slightly changing the settings, but other than that... I don't see it.
Thanks.
 
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