GH4 4k and HD and ETC and Digital Zoom

W

wwjd

Well-known member
FINALLY got around to testing the effects of ETC and 2x and 4x on the GH4.
I used the Panny 12-35mm 2.8f set at f4 for sharpest, and here are my conclusions:

ETC doesn't do anything in UHD 4K mode
4K looks great
4K using x2 digital is about 95% as good as 4k. Much pixel peeping required to notice the difference, most viewers will NEVER see it.
4K using x4 looks crappy.

HD looks okay
HD with ETC is zoomed a little more than 2x and looks BETTER than regular HD zoomed in post.
HD x2 and x4 forget about it. Unless totally desperate.

Most of you probably know this, maybe it will help others.
 
Mm i am getting on but i dont remember the GH4 i had having ETC in 4K recording mode,the GH5 does,sorry if i am wrong.
 
Guess mines broken. Does nothing.

you video says "one of the nice new additions is ETC" ON THE GH5.

My post is GH4
 
The GH4 has a 2.5x crop in 4k video mode,so a 300mm lens would be 750mm 35mm equivalent,on the GH5 a 300mm would be 600mm 35mm equivalent with ETC off but 840mm with ETC on so it does beat the GH4s HD mode.
 
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balazer said:
ETC doesn't do anything in UHD mode on the GH4 because the UHD mode is already 1:1 pixel mapped. That's what ETC mode does. The UHD is like ETC already.
Click to expand...

2x digital works really well in 4k though. Much better than I was expecting. Thought it was identical at first, but then blew it up and did some deep pixel peeping, and there is loss. Not much at all though, seems very useable.

GH4
 
wwjd said:
FINALLY got around to testing the effects of ETC and 2x and 4x on the GH4.
I used the Panny 12-35mm 2.8f set at f4 for sharpest, and here are my conclusions:

ETC doesn't do anything in UHD 4K mode
4K looks great
4K using x2 digital is about 95% as good as 4k. Much pixel peeping required to notice the difference, most viewers will NEVER see it.
4K using x4 looks crappy.

HD looks okay
HD with ETC is zoomed a little more than 2x and looks BETTER than regular HD zoomed in post.
HD x2 and x4 forget about it. Unless totally desperate.

Most of you probably know this, maybe it will help others.
Click to expand...

wwjd said:
2x digital works really well in 4k though. Much better than I was expecting. Thought it was identical at first, but then blew it up and did some deep pixel peeping, and there is loss. Not much at all though, seems very useable.

GH4
Click to expand...

4K 2X Dig zoom is a crop to 1080x1920, then oversampled to 4K res. on the fly, with frame FOV identical to 1080/ETC: so the same 800 L/PH res of GH4's 1080 ETC crop rather than the 1600 L/PH of native 4K (Adam Wilks' figures). And yes, very usable!

A little video from the wilds of India showing GH4 4K without and with the 2X dig zoom:

 
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