We were using the D800 and the A7R, and sometimes the Gopro 3+ for some video editing. The 780 or even the 1080 are plenty good for us, but the greed for a higher pixel grew exponential when we’d finally switched to the Final Cut Pro X. The workflow of the FCPX is almost identical to the iMovie, and this makes life so much easier and the transition that much smoother. With the power of FCPX at hand, we’d realised the missing link to open the pandora box was the 4K camera. And so the search for the holy grail began.
The contestants were the Sony A7s and the A7 MK II, the Pansonic DVX200 and the GH4, lastly the Blackmagic cameras. The Blackmagic requires quite a few add ons in order to grasp its full potential, and doing so would break our bank. So eventually the Blackmagic was removed entirely from our shopping list.
The finalists were the GH4 and the A7s. The DVX200 may be a good camera, but the fact that it has a non-interchangeable lens is just not that sexy for us.
We are quite familiar with the Sony camera bodies, they are acceptable to hold for a still photo but a pain in the neck when shooting videos. The fact that Sony is a full frame and we have quite a bit of lenses, this combo alone is enough to make us buy. What’s worse is, we have the antique GH1, and we hated that camera. But then again, we are not entirely thrilled with the A7R either. We are using the Nikon D800 for both still photo and video, more so than the Sony A7R. Our history with Sony started with the NEX5, then the NEX7, followed by the RX1, and now the A7R. There is always something missing with the Sony but we can’t exactly pin point what the problem is with them cameras. Maybe they don’t age too well? We don’t know.
Surfing around the reviews and all, we had decided to give the GH4 a try. Roughly half the cost of the A7s and half its sensor size, we feel the GH4 should serve our purpose as an entry level 4K if not entirely our ego. The camera is here in our hands but we haven’t taken any footages of it. The initial impression was we are very impressed with the body, it’s solid unlike its brethren the GH 1. We’ve got the package deal ,the 12-35mm f2.8 lens is included which is the first autofocus lens we have gotten in a very long time. The fact that this lens protrudes when zooming needs a bit of getting use to. We figure having an autofocusing and the image stabilisation would boost our confidence level a little during motion filming. After all, we are a beginner and this is our starting line in the 4K video imaging.
Let’s see what the future holds, we are curious how this GH4 would work its magic !!
