GH4 Very Disappointed

J

Jim Simon

Veteran
I've had a chance to shoot several projects with my newly acquired GH4 (I'm a bit late to the party), and so far I'm very disappointed with the image quality, to the point of returning it or selling it. While the GH4 is miles ahead of the GH2 in terms of usability and features, having gotten used to the Moon Trial 7 image quality, I can't help but find the GH4's image quality severely lacking by comparison, and I thus find myself wondering - why the hell is everyone praising this camera?!

I can think of three possible explanations here.

1. My lack of skill as a shooter.
2. A defective camera.
3. Having been accustomed to Moon T7, I have a higher standard than most.

I'm really hoping it's 1 or 2, because those can be remedied. 3 can only be fixed with a new camera, and money doesn't come in bucket's-full for me. (I'm two years behind on my purchase for a reason.)

So I'm hoping you fans of the GH4 can help me out by uploading some short clips with an image quality that you find at least acceptable, if not downright gorgeous. I'm looking to download the original clips here, straight out of the camera, so YouTube or Video uploads won't do. I want to load the clips into Premiere Pro and do some pixel peeping at 400% (where Moon T7 holds up beautifully at low ISO).

For myself, I shoot exclusively at either 23.978 or 24 exact, in 1080, 4K and C4K. I do see the issues people are talking about with V-Log (noisy shadows, magenta macrobloacking, etc.), but even Cine D at 200 ISO is noisy and just fugly, man.

So can you help me out? Show me the GH4 can produce gorgeous footage and is worth keeping?

V-Log L, ISO 400, Proper Exposure - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/106505510/P1030404.MP4

Cine D, ISO 200, Proper Exposure - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/106505510/P1030406.MP4
 
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Using premium quality cine prime or zoom lenses (with large focus rotation and up to 270 degree focus turn) will help immensely. This cam is very easy to be overexposed and out of focus without additional accessories. By the time you buy all of those cumbersome accessories to make up for the cam's shortcomings, it'd be better getting the next cam up (Canon C300 m2, FS7, etc).. where it's all integrated into a single body.
 
If you're shooting internal 8-bit at 100 Mbps, you may want to try an external recorder with 10-bit ProRes.
 
Shot on GH4

Shot on GH4

Jim Simon said:
I've had a chance to shoot several projects with my newly acquired GH4 (I'm a bit late to the party), and so far I'm very disappointed with the image quality, to the point of returning it or selling it. While the GH4 is miles ahead of the GH2 in terms of usability and features, having gotten used to the Moon Trial 7 image quality, I can't help but find the GH4's image quality severely lacking by comparison, and I thus find myself wondering - why the hell is everyone praising this camera?!

I can think of three possible explanations here.

1. My lack of skill as a shooter.
2. A defective camera.
3. Having been accustomed to Moon T7, I have a higher standard than most.

I'm really hoping it's 1 or 2, because those can be remedied. 3 can only be fixed with a new camera, and money doesn't come in bucket's-full for me. (I'm two years behind on my purchase for a reason.)

So I'm hoping you fans of the GH4 can help me out by uploading some short clips with an image quality that you find at least acceptable, if not downright gorgeous. I'm looking to download the original clips here, straight out of the camera, so YouTube or Video uploads won't do. I want to load the clips into Premiere Pro and do some pixel peeping at 400% (where Moon T7 holds up beautifully at low ISO).

For myself, I shoot exclusively at either 23.978 or 24 exact, in 1080, 4K and C4K. I do see the issues people are talking about with V-Log (noisy shadows, magenta macrobloacking, etc.), but even Cine D at 200 ISO is noisy and just fugly, man.

So can you help me out? Show me the GH4 can produce gorgeous footage and is worth keeping?
Click to expand...

This was shot on GH4.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBvYFpF7t1c
 
DLD said:
If you're shooting internal 8-bit at 100 Mbps, you may want to try an external recorder with 10-bit ProRes.
Click to expand...

I think the encoding is only part of the issue. Even ISO 200 has more grain than seems normal, which would mean a sensor problem.
 
brdplya1 said:
This was shot on GH4.
Click to expand...

Thanks for playing, brdplya1. But I was looking to download some original, straight out of the camera clips with no processing or transcoding of any kind so I could load them into PP and take a close look.

Have any short clips you're willing to share?
 
Its the same for me i have had mine 6 months but the PQ has been a let down,i also have a FZ1000 which i prefer for wide angle footage and a HC-X1000 which with an extender gives me better long shots,i know with a realy good lens the GH4 can take great footage but its normal priced lenses for me.Nothing i have shot with lumix lenses comes close to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tDXrmN_qJ0
 
Moon T7 is a hard act to follow.

It has a very elegant look.

You may find all the DSLR's to have diminishing returns for you.

Try renting or borrowing any camera that shoots in RAW - even the affordable little Blackmagic Pocket Camera - this may be more what you're looking for.
 
Jim Simon said:
So I'm hoping you fans of the GH4 can help me out by uploading some short clips with an image quality that you find at least acceptable, if not downright gorgeous. I'm looking to download the original clips here, straight out of the camera, so YouTube or Video uploads won't do. I want to load the clips into Premiere Pro and do some pixel peeping at 400% (where Moon T7 holds up beautifully at low ISO).

For myself, I shoot exclusively at either 23.978 or 24 exact, in 1080, 4K and C4K. I do see the issues people are talking about with V-Log (noisy shadows, magenta macrobloacking, etc.), but even Cine D at 200 ISO is noisy and just fugly, man.

So can you help me out? Show me the GH4 can produce gorgeous footage and is worth keeping?
Click to expand...

Can you post a link to footage you've shot that in your opinion sucks?
 
Jim Simon said:
V-Log L, ISO 400, Proper Exposure - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/106505510/P1030404.MP4

Cine D, ISO 200, Proper Exposure - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/106505510/P1030406.MP4
Click to expand...
I finally got a chance to download and watch the clips you posted.

In my opinion, V-Log is a recipe for disaster. Stay far away from it.

The other clip in CineD looks better, but is very high contrast.

In my opinion, the best GH4 video is produced following the advice and LUTs from Paul Leeming:
http://www.leeminglutone.com/

Best GH4 footage I've seen was using the Leeming LUT One. Well worth the $15.
 
Jaime Valles said:
Best GH4 footage I've seen was using the Leeming LUT One. Well worth the $15.
Click to expand...

+1

Paul's LUT makes the Cine-D profile very useful for higher contrast subjects.

So switching between the STANDARD ---> NATURAL ---> CINE-D camera profiles enables you to match the contrast of your subject and obtain a great looking image.
( turning off SHARPNESS and NOISE-REDUCTION are also key to getting a great image from the GH4 )

I have big hopes that the coming GH5 will fix all of the nasty 8-bit V-log issues. ( fingers crossed! )
 
c3hammer said:
You definitely need to shoot in 4K and re-evaluate. All of the 1080 modes are sub par IMHO.
Click to expand...

I will definitely test that.

However, one client wants the original 1080 clips, so 4K isn't always an option. And like I said, my GH2 with Moon T7 hack produced what I consider significantly better images, even at 1080 and even with a lower bitrate.
 
DPStewart said:
Try renting or borrowing any camera that shoots in RAW - even the affordable little Blackmagic Pocket Camera - this may be more what you're looking for.
Click to expand...

That was exactly my plan.

But in looking over some GH4 noise tests posted n YouTube, it does look like even their ISO 3200 is cleaner than my ISO 200 images.
 
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