The converts are jumping on board the GH4 bandwagon after Al Caudullo posted some of the first test footage of (a real production model, not pre-production) of the Panasonic GH4 in action in 4K and 1080.
It includes some amazing variable frame rate footage shot from 2fps to 96fps. This camera is truly a game changer. This shoot-out by No Film School shows just how fantastic this break through camera is, even up against the mighty Red Epic.
Cameras that shoot RAW video, like the RED EPIC and 5D3 Magic Lantern RAW, do minimal processing internally to the image. Some has to be done to actually give you a clean image out of the box and remove fixed-pattern noise, but for the most part RAW is left to post. ThePanasonic GH4, on the other hand, is a highly compressed camera, and it aims to give you the best possible image right to the card in the camera. This means it’s doing a lot more processing, which includes internal sharpening.
Is it actually resolving more detail at 4K compared to the RED’s 5K downsampled to 4K? It may very well be, and regardless of what you can do in post to an image, the vast majority like something that looks nice right out of the box. Could you sharpen the 5D Mark III and RED to look more like the Panasonic? Possibly, but in the end, for many people, the camera that costs the least, looks “the best,” and requires the least amount of work to get to a satisfactory image might be the one they favor, especially if it’s stuff going to the web where there may only be the slightest difference between a $2,000 camera and a $100,000 camera thanks to all sorts of factors like compression and screen resolution.
In the end, there are many factors that affect image quality, and resolved detail/sharpness is just one of them. There are plenty of others like color, dynamic range, motion rendering, etc. Each of these cameras has their own unique look, and they also have their own usability differences, which are often more important than the image, and are why one camera might be right for one job while another is not.
The test above shows that Panasonic is pushing as much detail as possible through this new 4K sensor, and with minimal correction, it stands up next to a camera that costs 10 times as much. Granted, the MX sensor is quite a few years old at this point, and DRAGON likely performs better, but we have now reached a point where you can get 80-90% of the overall quality of those high-end cameras for a fraction of the cost.
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Source: Nofilmschool.com