GH4 Trying to figure out of it's worth getting a GH4 now

Bruce Foreman said:
One very big fault with this line of reasoning: 4K footage, edited in 4k, then rendered down to 1080p results in a very noticeably improved look in 1080p.
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What does this have to do with anything?

The OP said the the reason he'd get the camera is to have 4K. I said if that is the reason then he should try to avoid the purchase.
 
DLD said:
Adorama is giving away a $200 instant rebate on it now. (so, it's back down to $1,300 there)
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To correct myself - I think - Adorama has it for $1,297 + the $150 instant credit/gift card, which makes it $1,150.
 
Bruce Foreman said:
One very big fault with this line of reasoning: 4K footage, edited in 4k, then rendered down to 1080p results in a very noticeably improved look in 1080p.
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rob norton said:
What does this have to do with anything?
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It's a very good reason to have 4K capability.

rob norton said:
The OP said the the reason he'd get the camera is to have 4K. I said if that is the reason then he should try to avoid the purchase.
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A lot of us with this camera do not have a 4K display. I don't have a 4K TV (yet), but that doesn't stop me from working in 4K and producing a better 1080p deliverable. While edge outline sharpness may not look a lot crisper, the color tonal values have a more solid look resulting in an overall richer look. This shows when the project is saved on flash media which is what I deliver most of the time.

If he wants to have 4K, it's a very good reason.
 
rob norton said:
What does this have to do with anything?

The OP said the the reason he'd get the camera is to have 4K. I said if that is the reason then he should try to avoid the purchase.
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Why?

I used to shoot a lot of SD projects back in the day and when HD cameras first came out I continued to shoot SD for awhile. Guess which projects now look pretty bad and have no place in a demo reel. Some of my best creative work was shot on SD and yet I will not show that stuff if my life depended on it.

Just because you don't care about 4k doesn't mean nobody else cares about 4k. I agree universal 4k acceptance may still be a long way off but like Bruce said shooting 4k on the GH4 is about a lot more than just delivering 4k. Think of the future and not just the now.

I have a GH3 and to me upgrading to the GH4 made complete sense. Sure I will likely not deliver 4k anytime soon but there are so many more quality advancements to enjoy from shooting 4k with a single sensor camera. Hollywood shoots many big budget effects movies at 3k or 4k but only edits and masters at 2k. This is done partially for budget reasons but also for quality reasons. They treat a 4k camera as a over sampled image to create a very high quality 2k master from.
 
Thomas Smet said:
Why?

I used to shoot a lot of SD projects back in the day and when HD cameras first came out I continued to shoot SD for awhile. Guess which projects now look pretty bad and have no place in a demo reel. Some of my best creative work was shot on SD and yet I will not show that stuff if my life depended on it.

Just because you don't care about 4k doesn't mean nobody else cares about 4k. I agree universal 4k acceptance may still be a long way off but like Bruce said shooting 4k on the GH4 is about a lot more than just delivering 4k. Think of the future and not just the now.

I have a GH3 and to me upgrading to the GH4 made complete sense. Sure I will likely not deliver 4k anytime soon but there are so many more quality advancements to enjoy from shooting 4k with a single sensor camera. Hollywood shoots many big budget effects movies at 3k or 4k but only edits and masters at 2k. This is done partially for budget reasons but also for quality reasons. They treat a 4k camera as a over sampled image to create a very high quality 2k master from.
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Where does it say I don't care about 4k? It's not even implied anywhere. You and Bruce have made great cases for the GH4 and its 4K abilities - I never said otherwise once.

Again, if the OP's sole reason is to have 4K in his "arsenal", unprovoked, then if it were me, I would not buy one. This is based off the OP's criterion, not mine nor anybody else's.

If the OP had said he simply wanted to own something with a Panasonic logo on it and pay $1297.99 then the GH4 is a fantastic purchase - but he didn't.

Sorry for going so OT but I actually do disagree about the future proof argument. I think it's flawed because resolution does not make a camera future proof. 4k video from a GH4 will absolutely look dated because we'll continue to see increases in dynamic range, low light ability, less noise in shadows, the list goes on. Also the concept is strange to begin with. The video is not future proof by virtue of its content. Unless we're talking about wildlife, videos date themselves by fashion, featured technology, and trends in language, included graphics and background music. So although it'll be great to be able to shoot things now which can be viewed in a standard that is still in development, I don't think any viewers are fooled into thinking they're watching something current.

On top of this, nobody knows what the future holds. If there's a sudden shift to 16K for example, and the main factor that makes something future proof (at that time) is 4K resolution, then future proof it is not.

Please don't think there's any venom behind this post, I just wanted to clear a few things up and am interested in anyone else's thoughts.
 
If I have to buy one, I would get used one for no more then 900$ US, metabones and EF lenses (panasonic put out theor pro line camera with EF mount; that tells you how much they have faith and information about future developments of m43 system; too bad because seitching from canon to m43 was such a relief for my body).
 
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