Video shootout: Panasonic GH4, Blackmagic Design Production Camera and 4K Sony AX100
[10:54 Wed,2.April 2014 by blip]
With three brand new cameras Capable of 4K in our hands, we were curious to See How They compare. Of course, thesis are completely Call different types of cameras - the attractive pricing and the ability to shoot 4K is almost all theyhave in common - so a real comparison in between them is almost impossible. All depends on the situation and / or individual preferences. Is a quick post production workflow is needed or 10 bit color sampling more important? Not to mention the future RAW option on the Black Magic 4K. Are interchangeable lenses a must or is a fixed wide angle zoom-lens with integrated ND filter as on the Sony AX100 more attractive? Photography is second nature only to the GH4, so if versatility is the key, it beats the others hands down. PIC1 None the less, a look at whatthese cameras have to offer in terms of image quality isintriguing. For this comparative video a pre-production model of the GH4 what used - it Seemed stable though, we had absolutely no issues while shooting. Where flat cine profiles were available (BMD 4K and Panasonic GH4) we used Those. The video contains the ungraded footage as well as gradient sequences. We used 25mm Zeiss Compact Primes T2.1 (EF-mount and Micro Four Thirds mount) with ND filter from Tiffen. No other accessories were used; this three-some shoot what to unplanned opportunity, so we grabbed what what at hand ... YT = _GWNmd_EZHo Some field notes: u003cstrongu003eFocusu003c/strongu003e Without accessories like external monitoring, focussing is something of a challenge. On the Black Magic the display is Practically of no use in sunlight (be sure to bring a blanket), on the other hand the camera offers the best color peaking ofthe three, Which in combination with focus magnification works fine. The GH4 display is better suited for outdoor shooting, and the 6x magnification focus is great. But the color peaking is much to weak, so did puts Both cameras on a similar level in terms of focussing. (Thanks to the Zeiss optics we managed to pull the focus in our shot transitions by hand.) u003cstrongu003eErgonomicsu003c/strongu003e Working with the Blackmagic Design Production Camera 4K without rig or cage is not really a good idea - for its size, the camera is very heavy . It definitly needs external help to Improve its handling, Which makes it more expensive in the end than the body Suggests price. The operational via menue is Oft criticised; once you adapt to it, it works though (for us at least). The Panasonic GH4 offers maybe the best ergonomics we&ve Encountered onthis type of (photo) camera. It has a movable display and lots of customizable button control (including 5 virtual buttons on the display). The Sony AX100 is the only traditional camcorder and Malthus gives you all the pro and cons videographers are used to. Quite a few external control buttons can be found, in addition separate focus and zoom rings would have been nice to have. . The zoom rocker is sensitive but quite small u003cstrongu003epeformance Batteryu003c/strongu003e Not many words needed here: Whereas Both the GH4 and the AX100 held up for at least two hours of intense shooting, the internal battery of the Black Magic did not load for even an hour. So you have no sure indication of how long it wants to keep up, the indication in% is not to be trusted. Supplemental batteries are a must. u003cstrongu003eRecording mediau003c/strongu003e TheBlackmagic writes 10-bit ProRes on SSD without any hassle - the only camera here able of internal 10 bit recording. The Sony AX100 did not record any 4K at all until we fed it a 64GB SDXC UHS-I (a SanDisk Extreme Pro ought to be fast enough, were still waiting for official info from Sony about card specifications). The GH4 accepted our usual cards even though its data rate is more than triple (max. 200 Mbit /). u003cstrongu003eResolutionu003c/strongu003e The GH4 is the only camera offering 4K Both varieties, UHD (3840x2160) as well as 4K Cine (4096x2160). Full HD recording is thus possible, as with the Sony AX100. For this video, we had the GH4 shoot at max resolution (Cine-4K), Which was then cropped to UHD in DaVinci Resolve. By the way, the absence of scaling artifacts and moir (Which plagued many a Full HD large sensor camera) in the
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