New to GH4 Urgent Questions for Upcoming Shoot: 4K? Data Storage?

R

Redoak

Member
Hello Everyone,
First post here on this very informative forum. I just upgraded from the GH3 to the GH4 in preparation for a promotional film I will be shooting next week for an educational organization. I want the highest picture quality available with the greatest detail and dynamic range. Does this mean shooting in 4K, even though the final product will be shown on DVD and online (with some screening via video projection as well)?

Also, how many minutes of footage can I shoot on a 64gb SD card in the recommended resolution (see above), be it 4k or 1080 or whatever?

Finally, what is the best and most cost effective way to create backups of the SD cards in the field? I was thinking of getting the Western Digital Passport Wireless 2 TB, which has an SD card slot through which I can directly download to the hard drive. The bonus is that I can stream from the Passport wireless to my iPad to show the client examples of my footage.

Thanks for whatever help you care to provide.
 
These Wireless HD are good - but the SD reader aspect is SLOW - USB2.0 slow... So transferring movies files will take time.

The file sizes for either 4k or 1080 will be the same - as the bitrate is the same (100Mbps) - 1080p at 200Mbps is even bigger than the 4k files...! So don't let the 4K aspect intimidate you. A 64GB card will record roughly 1hr 25mins of 4K or 1080p at 100Mbps.

I think you will have to test to see if its indeed capable of streaming files off the device straight to the iPAD (as my Kingston MobileLite can't do it)
 
Thanks for the information, Rich. Good to know about the SD card reader speed from your real world experience. Curiously, a tech suppirt person at WD told me that the built in SD reader would transfer files at whatever speed was listed on the info sheet for the particular SD card I was using, which didn't make much sense to me. The product sheet for the WD Passport Wireless says it can transfer via a USB 3 card reader at something like 3 GB/sec - is that for real?

Should I be shooting my film in the MOV format at 4k? The Passport wireless is supposed to be able to stream in that format and the iPad is supposed to be able to play it.... If it can't then I won't be buying the Passport after all.

Gentlemen and ladies, is there a definitive online or DVD guide to shooting video with the GH4 that you can recommend? I have much to learn about this camera in a short period of time..

With thanks,
Kevin
 
The SD Card Reader part is USB2.0 - for a full 64GB card you are looking at 45mins transfer time :( where as 64GB of data from the HDD to the PC (via the USB3.0 cable) would be around 4mins.

EOSHD do a GH4 shooters guide, but I haven't read it, as it appears (to me) that is deals with mainly shooting with adapted lenses where as I shoot with Panasonic and Olympus native lenses so haven't read it, but thats not to say it doesn't contain useful info on shooting generally with the GH4...
 
With the Passport Wireless, can I go from a USB 3 card directly into the drive on the PPW and transfer at those fast speeds?
 
Thanks for the shout out Raytracer :) There's a whole series of straightforward guides on configuring the GH4 on the site, but the 5 minute setup guide will get you in good shape for shooting.

Are you going to be out in the field for an extended period of time? If so, you may want to check out a dedicated backup drive like NEXTO's ND2901, as it allows you to make an additional backup to a 2nd drive automatically. Another option is a Windows-based tablet with a full-size USB 3.0 port (I've been looking into the WinBook TW800 tablet), which you can use to run software like Red Giant's Offload or ShotPut Pro to offload the files to multiple drives in the field.

If you will be back at the studio at the end of each day, a simpler and more affordable option may be to buy a healthy supply of memory cards and a good hard case (I use Pelican's waterproof/shockproof cases) to keep your cards safe until you can offload and archive the footage.
 
Redoak said:
With the Passport Wireless, can I go from a USB 3 card directly into the drive on the PPW and transfer at those fast speeds?
Click to expand...

The SD aspect of the drive, be it transferring from SD to the internal HDD or directly to the PC, you are still limited by the SD Card reader slow read times.

For Photo and the like, this isn't really much of an issue - but for video its a pain.

The SD Card reader for the iPAD isn't any faster either. Like Sol suggested a USB3.0 based Windows Tablet would be a good choice or a small netbook also..
 
Hi Trickster, so if I am understanding correctly you are saying that the SD reader on the Passport is very slow. I'll skip getting this device then.

On my shoot I will have access to a Macbook Air with a USB 3 port and now I am thinking of using the Macbook with a USB 3 card reader to transfer files to a Western Digital My Book 3 TB USB 3 drive. Does this sound good? What card reader would you recommend I get?

Many thanks..
 
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