GH4 vs BMPCC

Benjamin Kenobi

Benjamin Kenobi

Easy? You call that easy?
Hi,

I am at a crossroads. I have been a Panasonic man for a while and have just assumed I would be going for a GH4. But then there's the BMPCC. I love the look of Black Magic footage and it weighs a little less (350g ish) than the GH4.

My work is both photography and filming in equal measure these days, but filming is where my passion lies.

I don't know what my question is, well, I do, which camera!?

I'll leave it at that for now or I'll just start rambling....
 



B

baja-king

Here for the ride :)
Hi Ben,

I own 2 GH-4's coming from GH-2 and GH-3's. I'm very impressed with the GH-4.
I shoot with cameras like the Arri Alexa, Sony F55 & F65 and if I have to then Red! So I set the benchmark high when it comes to images. When I was filming in Australia recently we needed some aerials and Matt from the company http://www.rotorworks.com.au/ asked if we'd give the BMPCC a go with their custom gimbal... so I said sure if I can do some tests. So I shot back to back tests with the Alexa vs the BMPCC as they would be cutting together on the show. The result, I was really impressed with the BMPCC it stood up really well along side the Alexa and has a great image. It did have some issues, pixel dropout which seems to be common and the batteries are terrible!
The BMPCC is a great camera but I would say if you were only planing on buying one solution then go for the GH-4, wins hands down for me. Also as a DP if you gave me the choice I would ask for the GH-4...

Ideally we need a M3 Movi @ 1.2kg that lets you use both, the issue I and many others have with the zenmuse is: one camera, one lens...
 

T

tikigod19

Member
Ben we are both having the same battles in our minds by the sound of it..

Tell me, I have lots of canon glass, is there a metabones speedbooster to use these on the gh4 yet? The 2.2x crop on the gh4 puts me off but if I can get it to 1.5x as I've read you can with the metabones it's much more attractive to me as I can't go selling all my lenses..
 

B

baja-king

Here for the ride :)
tikigod19 said:
Ben we are both having the same battles in our minds by the sound of it..

Tell me, I have lots of canon glass, is there a metabones speedbooster to use these on the gh4 yet? The 2.2x crop on the gh4 puts me off but if I can get it to 1.5x as I've read you can with the metabones it's much more attractive to me as I can't go selling all my lenses..
Click to expand...


Metabones Speedbooster is on the way...
 

T

tikigod19

Member
Any idea how much that thing will cost and when we'd see it? Good to know if I buy a gh4 for aerial and love it, I'll be able to sell my 5d3's and still use my glass
 

Benjamin Kenobi

Benjamin Kenobi

Easy? You call that easy?
baja-king said:
Hi Ben,

I own 2 GH-4's coming from GH-2 and GH-3's. I'm very impressed with the GH-4.
I shoot with cameras like the Arri Alexa, Sony F55 & F65 and if I have to then Red! So I set the benchmark high when it comes to images. When I was filming in Australia recently we needed some aerials and Matt from the company http://www.rotorworks.com.au/ asked if we'd give the BMPCC a go with their custom gimbal... so I said sure if I can do some tests. So I shot back to back tests with the Alexa vs the BMPCC as they would be cutting together on the show. The result, I was really impressed with the BMPCC it stood up really well along side the Alexa and has a great image. It did have some issues, pixel dropout which seems to be common and the batteries are terrible!
The BMPCC is a great camera but I would say if you were only planing on buying one solution then go for the GH-4, wins hands down for me. Also as a DP if you gave me the choice I would ask for the GH-4...

Ideally we need a M3 Movi @ 1.2kg that lets you use both, the issue I and many others have with the zenmuse is: one camera, one lens...
Click to expand...

Thanks my good man. Yeah, the GH4 offers so much more flexibility for me, and I really need a 4K camera as I don't have one (and will never be able to afford to lift a RED!).

It's mostly broadcast TV I do so the BMPCC would not be so well received by the person who has to deal with the footage I think.

Cheers!
 

B

baja-king

Here for the ride :)
tikigod19 said:
Any idea how much that thing will cost and when we'd see it? Good to know if I buy a gh4 for aerial and love it, I'll be able to sell my 5d3's and still use my glass
Click to expand...

Around about the £500 mark judging by the BMPCC one...

I'm in the same boat, bag full of Canon 'L' series glass. I have bought the 12-35mm 2.8 & 35-100mm 2.8 for the GH-4 and they're very nice. Toying with the idea of buying the Voigtländer 17mm, 25mm & 42.5mm 0.95 Nokton set :nevreness:
 



T

tikigod19

Member
Sweet mother of God. Well, I could raise that sort of money with selling 5 or 6 of my Canon lenses so good to know I could go down that road if I fall in love with the gh4 and want to ditch canon!
 

Av8Chuck

Av8Chuck

Member
I have the Rokinon 12mm T2.2 Cine lens which is fully manual, is there a focus assist for a manual lens similar to the one available for the auto focus lens? Is there a way to zoom the image up for focusing?
 

B

baja-king

Here for the ride :)
Av8Chuck said:
I have the Rokinon 12mm T2.2 Cine lens which is fully manual, is there a focus assist for a manual lens similar to the one available for the auto focus lens? Is there a way to zoom the image up for focusing?
Click to expand...

This gives a good summary of the GH-4's manual focus attributes: http://cameraergonomics.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/panasonic-gh4-user-review-part-32.html

One thing to remember is that because a manual lens does not communicate with the body, you will need to press the focus assist button (Fn3) to bring up the preview magnified box, it will not appear automatically as it does with Panasonic lenses. You can just use peaking instead which is very good...
 
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T

tikigod19

Member
I take it the metabones will allow manual iris control from the body but not auto focus, right? Looks like if I switchboard gh4 I'll need to keep a Canon for photography
 




Q

Quinton

Active Member
Benjamin Kenobi said:
Right, GH4 it is. Not sure why I even doubted myself! (Oh right, I was trying to save 350g!)
Click to expand...

You can't rule out the Sony A7S 489g Full frame camera..but I'm just playing with your head now as you will probably be stuck with the Zenmuse :)
It is possible to shutter release, focus AND zoom from the GH4 remote if you have X series Panasonic lenses, don't think DJI will be bothered to add the zoom though as they seem to be hell bent on only using the Olympus 12mm lens..
 


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