Panasonic GH4 versus Arri Alexa - How Does 8-bit 4K compare to 12-bit 2K?

Sittipong Kongtong, a DP in Bangkok, Thailand has his hands on a preproduction Panasonic GH4 and has posted a few interesting clips. The latest is this side-by-side comparison (below) between the GH4 and the Arri Alexa.

Sittipong is a working DP and seems to be shooting these clips on the margins of his day job, so they're not as scientific as many of us would like. This test, for example, is not really a color space test - the Alexa is shooting a flat LOG 12-bit ProRes 4444 in 2K, while the GH4 is shooting a normal color profile and h.264 8 bit 4:2:0 in 4K (downscaled to 2K in post). This is more a resolution, 24 fps motion, moire and dynamic range comparison than anything else - and, in my view, the GH4 intercuts pretty well with the Arri in every one of those categories (at least on my small screen):


  Panasonic GH4 4096x2160 vs Alexa 2048x1152 24P from Sittipong Kongtong on Vimeo.
I just booked my flight to Vegas for NAB - I am really pumped to see this camera in person. I have to make sure to order a Kingston UHS-I Speed Class 3 card before I go so I can record the usual shaky, dark trade show footage.

Seriously, I hope I can bring back something that is steady, in focus and decently lit so that people can make real judgments about what the camera can do. Hopefully, my familiarity with the GH3 will allow me to at least turn the camera on and record something useful.

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Great GH4 Product Demo with Panasonic UK's Mark Baber

Hat tip to videographers.co.uk for staying off camera and letting Mark tell us about the camera without interrupting him.

We learn a few things here that go beyond the specs, e.g.:

- There are only 8 pre-production models of the GH4 in all of Eurasia, outside of Japan

- "Face Detection" autofocus now includes "Eye Detection"

- Panasonic seems to have fixed the GH3's SD card door problem

- There is a new 15mm f1.8 in the pipeline and a new, smaller 35-100 constant f2.8 in development

It's a little long, but worth watching all the way through.

If you'd like to have your 4K-capable SD card in hand before your camera arrives, you can get a Kingston 64GB UHS-I Speed Class 3 for $110 or a Panasonic 64GB microP2 Card for $372.

You would only spend the extra money for a microP2 card if you planned to make the GH4 a "B" camera to a Panasonic VariCam or other camera that records to even more expensive full-sized P2 cards. I may invest in microP2 because I'd like to rent the new Panasonic Super 35 VariCam someday - but shooters who plan to stick with the GH4 should get the Kingston (or the new Panasonic Gold Series SDUC when it is released).

Great GH3 review over at Soundimageplus

I haven't unboxed my GH3 yet (too busy - don't ask), so I'm living vicariously through the first GH3 still shots and reviews from bloggers such as David over at soundimageplus and emm at cheesycam.  My favorite camera description of all time has to be David's intro to Part 1 of his GH3 review and user experience. Hilarious.

In the meantime, here is my boxed GH3, still in its Adorama shipping parcel - with an unopened Kingston 128GB SDXC card ($85 from Amazon as of today) sitting on top of it.  And the sun is out today too. I can almost hear it calling: "open me, open me now..."