GH4 Matching the GH4 to my current AF100 settings (softer, vibrant color, etc.

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filmguy123

Veteran
My GH4 is in the mail! I get it Wednesday. Can anyone give any tips or direct me to any resources as to how to dial in my GH4 to get the same look I liked out of my AF100?

I am GUESSING it's not as simple as creating a scene file with the exact same settings...? How do I need to compensate on the GH4 for the AF100s look.

What I like about my AF100 footage is it is a nice filmic soft - not the harsh sharpness seen by default on so many DSLRs. Also, people complement the vibrant colors and skin tones all the time, without even color grading. How can I dial in a similar look on my GH4?

Any tips for how to compensate for the new image sensor?

ALso how does focus peaking accuracy and the LCD compare to the AF100? More accurate? Sharper screen? Easier to dial in focus or harder?

Finally, does Barry have a GH4 book...?


THANKS!

(any other tips on my AF100 to GH4 transition are very welcome!)
 
For a baked in look, I use Cine D, -5 noise reduction, -3 sharpening and +1 hue. This is for shooting UHD 4K and down converting. So far, it has cut pretty well between a C300, a C100 and an af101. I think sharpness will be your biggest problem - YMMV
 
Congrats... Just got a GH4 last week as well and am slowly trying to wean myself off the AF100.

I wasn't ready for how much better the image was from the GH4... saw online comparisons and such, but in terms of resolution, range, and flexibility it leaves my AF100 and GH2 in the dust. I have to keep reminding myself that the elders are still perfectly good cameras that I'd been using in perfect happiness not very long ago at all. If only the '4 had an easy onboard XLR option and built-in ND's...

Anyway... since I don't know exactly how your AF is set up, the bulk of that will have to be on you. First calibrate a monitor (those on the cameras and optionally also an external HDMI monitor/HDTV). Both cameras have bars, so that part is easy enough. Buy or print out a color checker chart, tape it to a white or black board, take it into some good constant broad-spectrum light (sunlight or tungsten), white balance both cameras by Kelvin temp (GH4 has weird built-in daylight and sunlight WB settings, IMO), and fiddle in menus until the image on each looks close. Do some further side-by-sides in real situations and tweak as necessary.

Some guidelines and stuff I've found, etc:
- Cine D matches up pretty readily across the cameras color-wise. Unfortunately it's also the flattest, most lifeless out-of-camera image available. It's a good starting place for workflows incorporating color grading.
- I liked Standard and Natural as starting points for pleasing 'baked in' settings... Cine V worked OK as well. YMMV.
- To get the best matches between GH4 and AF100 and/or GH2, [in the GH4 menu] I've had to decrease sharpness, increase contrast, decrease noise reduction, and slightly tweak hue.
- to further match the cameras, you can adjust the GH4's "HIGHLIGHT/SHADOWS" setting for increased contrast (raising highlight and lowering shadow)... be careful with this and test thoroughly, as this setting works across all GH4 scene settings. Decreasing contrast by lowering highlights and raising shadow can introduce a lot of noise, but can sometimes be what you need for a situation.
- In regards to decreasing sharpness on the GH4, don't forget that you can always leave it with designs to add a slight gaussian blur in post, as-needed... kind of like I regularly added mild sharpening to 5D or AF100 footage.

Best news is that the 'color science' isn't that far off, and they're pretty easy to match. The GH2 is a bit of an odd duck in the mix and the colors are just slightly different.
 
So here are some sample match settings, which still need tweaking... with these settings the AF still seems slightly more saturated in the reds. Going to see if I need to do a color balance adjustment on the GH to compensate, amongst other things. Testing at 400iso, f5.6, 3200K, Lumix lenses (14-140 and 14-50/2.8-3.5)

Flatter Profile:
AF100
Detail +2
Master Ped. +4
Gamma Cine-like D
Matrix Cine-like

GH4
Cinelike D Profile
Contrast +2
Sharpness -3
Color -2
Hue +2


Baked Profile
AF100
Chroma Lvl +2
Master Ped +4
Gamma Cine-Like V
Matrix Norm2

GH4
Cinelike V profile
Contrast +2
Sharpness -3
NR -2
Color -3
Hue +2

Also of note: GH4 has iDynamic, iResolution off, Luminance at 16-235

I'll update as I can
 
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