Limited Time Sale - $300 off Panasonic GH3 - and $50 off the G6 with 14-42mm kit lens

The two best still/video cameras below $1000, the Panasonic GH3 and Panasonic G6, are now an even better deal.  For the next couple of weeks (while supplies last), the GH3 (body only) is marked down $300 to $797.99 - while the G6 with the kit lens is marked down about $50 to $697.99.

If you've been waiting for one or both of these cameras to come down in price, you may want to push your cart through before the price goes back up!

Which is better for Chromakey - the 4K compressed Panasonic GH4 or the 2.5K RAW Blackmagic Cinema Camera?

Here's a very nicely done video from Paul Shillito at Video-Alchemy, who gives us an in-depth discussion of keying with 10-bit ProRes 422 and uncompressed RAW video from the 2.5K Blackmagic Cinema Camera (BMCC)  - and then compares the results to an 8-bit 4:2:0 compressed video key from the 4K Panasonic GH4.

In this 15:25 video, Paul does a 9 minute, detailed walk through of the setup - and then about 6 minutes of side-by-side conclusions. If you'd like to cut straight to the bottom line, please click here.

It would be reasonable to expect that the 8-bit compressed video would not hold up well to the key as uncompressed RAW - but let's take a look at the video and see:




So - to my eyes at least, compressed 4K looks clean enough for a production quality key. This should be interesting to two groups of people. First, those who have already bought their GH4s, and who have had concerns that they'll need to buy an external 10-bit recorder to get a clean key. Those folks can relax - internally recorded 4K works just fine.

The second group is those who have hesitated before buying the GH4 because they were concerned about this issue. Those folks can relax too - and go ahead and order their cameras.  The best price for an in-stock GH4 right now is $1793.95 at Cameta via eBay.

"Videographer's Dream Camera"

The reviews are starting to come in for the Panasonic GH4 - Luminous Landscape, ephotozine and others have had a chance to review the v1.0 version of the camera with production firmware.  ephotozine goes so far as to call it a "videographer's dream camera."

I have to agree - just about every challenge with the GH cameras that shooters have kvetched about for the past five years (except the lack of a built-in ND filter - ugh) has been addressed - and Panasonic quadrupled the resolution of the camera while they were at it.

At $1698 , this camera is a steal.

Panasonic GH3 $998 Deal Ends Tonight!

According to this Gold Box Deals page at Amazon, the $200 off, $998 Panasonic GH3 deal ends tonight.
If you want the best still/video camera on the market today - and you don't want to spend more than $1000, you may want to pull the trigger on this deal today.

Panasonic FZ200 On Sale - under $500!

In addition to its amazing 24x constant f2.8 lens, the Panasonic DMC-FZ200 superzoom is the only video-capable camera with an external mic jack and HD slow motion below $7000.

I have the earlier version of this camera, the Panasonic FZ150, and it is a great hybrid still/video camera even without the fast lens or 720/120p.

With these features, the FZ200 can create video images like these (please watch at 720P):




And it's not a bad still camera, either.

The FZ200 is on sale now for $499 at Amazon and $488 (with a full manufacturer's warranty) from BuyDig via eBay.

The Amazon sale lasts until September 27th - and there are only 8 cameras left at the $488 price on eBay.

If you'd like to buy this camera, please click on one of the links above or display ads below.  It won't cost you anything extra, and it will help keep these blog posts coming.  Thanks!