Image courtesy: Tanaka.

Unlike Olympus Panasonic has no history of film cameras. Their first cameras were the digital [shoplink 37499 ebay]DMC-LC5[/shoplink] and DMC-F7 released in 2001. The LC5 was (or is) a very nice camera with fixed lens while the DMC-F7 were particularly ugly ([shoplink 37498 ebay]to see here on that eBay auction[/shoplink]). But the real unique features of both cameras were the fact that they used a Leica designed lens. At that time Leica was in huge crisis and maybe Panasonic should have bought Leica :)

The LC-5 had a 3,8 Million Megapixel CCD sensors, a rangefinder look and a built-in optical viewfinder. The major drawback from the camera was that it could take only 1 image every 6 seconds because of the slow processor. Anyway, what you will notice is that the LC5 has the one elegant style that Panasonic keeps reproducing on modern digital cameras. And it may be that the future GX2 or high end compact cameras will look even more like the LC5.

You can read two reviews at DCresource and Steve Digicams. Great camera!

DMC-LC5 auctions on [shoplink 37499 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

DxOmark (Click here) tested the GH4 sensor performance and it becomes the best rated Micro Four Thirds camera yet although it beats the E-M1 by 1 point margin only. DxO writes:

The sensor performance is on a par with the highly regarded Olympus OM-D E-M1 and is competitive when viewed against rivals using APS-C size sensors. Sony has yet to revise the aging NEX-7 though the new full-frame Sony A7s looks as though the firm is tempted to build more video-centric models. However, for the time being at least the hybrid GH4 looks like a formidable contender for both stills and video users.

More GH4 tests:
First Lab Shots now posted at Imaging Resource.
GH4 with Nocticron image samples at Cameras.reviewed.
Panasonic Lumix GH4: Product Overview – Adorama Photography TV (Youtube).
B&W from a GH4 4K Stream (Outbackphoto).

North American preorders, shipping date and price:
GH4 camera at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), and Panasonic (Click here). Price: $1,698. In Canada at Vistek (Click here).
GH4 camera with interface unit at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here). Price: $3,298
Interface unit only at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and Panasonic (Click here). Price: $1,998

Europen preorders, shipping date and price:
Germany: Wexcameras, Marcotec-shop.de.
UK at Wexphotographic, CameraWorld, UKdigital, CVP, TipTop.
Holland at Fotohanskeuzekamp.
Belgium at Fotokonijnenberg.
Norway at Fotovideo.
Sweden at Cyberphoto, Skandinavianphoto.
Finland at Telefoto, Topshot, Verkkoauppa.
France at Photocineshop.
Spain: Fotoboom.

GH4 CineD Vs Cine V from Sherif Mokbel on Vimeo.

Time to make a new GH4 samples roundup. Interesting to notice that firmware is still at 0.4. In one month from now the camera will ship and it will be nice to see what improvements they can bring till there.

The video on top shows you the performance of the GH4 with the latest 0.5 firmware. And if you are interested in seeing still images watch these GH4 image samples by Wasabi on Flickr (Click here) and Reality Scanner also on Flickr (Click here). And Lightweaver sent me the following message “If you are interested, I just posted on my long neglected blog, my thoughts on the Panasonic GH4 and its potential impact on markets other then the mostly discussed enthusiast, commercial and entertainment markets.  Feel  free to post the link if you find it interesting. http://lightweaversblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/panasonic-lumix-gh4-more-then-just.html”

Panasonic GH4 graded with Arri Alexa profile in Film Convert from Andrew Reid on Vimeo.

P.S.: The Gh4 preorders at Amazon are still good and the camera holds the position around place 22th (Click here to see full ranking).

North American preorders, shipping date and price:
GH4 camera at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), and Panasonic (Click here). Price: $1,698. In Canada at Vistek (Click here).
GH4 camera with interface unit at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here). Price: $3,298
Interface unit only at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and Panasonic (Click here). Price: $1,998

Europen preorders, shipping date and price:
Germany: Wexcameras, Marcotec-shop.de.
UK at Wexphotographic, CameraWorld, UKdigital, CVP, TipTop.
Holland at Fotohanskeuzekamp.
Belgium at Fotokonijnenberg.
Norway at Fotovideo.
Sweden at Cyberphoto, Skandinavianphoto.
Finland at Telefoto, Topshot, Verkkoauppa.
France at Photocineshop.
Spain: Fotoboom.

GH4 vs GH3 file comparison by Quesabesde

Quesabesde (translation here) is the first site giving you full size GH4 RAW files to download. And it proves that the GH4 isn’t only a killer video camera, but also a better stills camera! Enjoy the pixel peeping and tell us what you think about those images!

Some more Gh4 image samples and also some image samples with the new Leica 15mm lens can be downloaded at the German Dkamera site (Click here).

North American preorders, shipping date and price:
GH4 camera at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), and Panasonic (Click here). Price: $1,698. In Canada at Vistek (Click here).
GH4 camera with interface unit at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here). Price: $3,298
Interface unit only at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and Panasonic (Click here). Price: $1,998

Europen preorders, shipping date and price:
Germany: Wexcameras, Marcotec-shop.de.
UK at Wexphotographic, CameraWorld, UKdigital, CVP, TipTop.
Holland at Fotohanskeuzekamp.
Belgium at Fotokonijnenberg.
Norway at Fotovideo.
Sweden at Cyberphoto, Skandinavianphoto.
Finland at Telefoto, Topshot, Verkkoauppa.
France at Photocineshop.
Spain: Fotoboom.

Panasonic GH4 24p C4K ‘Cine-D Profile’ Skintone Quickie test from Nick Driftwood on Vimeo.

We are seeing more and more GH4 tests! Nick Driftwood just uploaded this GH4 video on vimeo. It’s a first in a long series of tests. Nick recommends: “Please download the 4K file version for 4K representation as Vimeos transcoding and downsampling is pretty $%^&!” Follow the discussion at Personal View (It’s where Nick comments the GH4).

Panasonic GH1 4K vs 1080p and EOSHD shootout with other cameras from Andrew Reid on Vimeo.

And Andrew from EosHD posted the shootout video and the Gh4 simply delivers impressive video quality:

The 4K video output from the GH4 is easily a match for the 16MP stills. So we can say with certainty that this camera produces video ‘like moving stills’. That it does so for $1699 compared to $12,000 gives you an idea of how much Canon’s stronger brand is worth.

Quite amazing!

P.S.: The Gh4 preorders at Amazon are still good and the camera holds the position around place 22th (Click here to see full ranking).

North American preorders, shipping date and price:
GH4 camera at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), and Panasonic (Click here). Price: $1,698. In Canada at Vistek (Click here).
GH4 camera with interface unit at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here). Price: $3,298
Interface unit only at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and Panasonic (Click here). Price: $1,998

Europen preorders, shipping date and price:
Germany: Wexcameras, Marcotec-shop.de.
UK at Wexphotographic, CameraWorld, UKdigital, CVP, TipTop.
Holland at Fotohanskeuzekamp.
Belgium at Fotokonijnenberg.
Norway at Fotovideo.
Sweden at Cyberphoto, Skandinavianphoto.
Finland at Telefoto, Topshot, Verkkoauppa.
France at Photocineshop.
Spain: Fotoboom.

Image courtesy: ThePhoBlographer

ThePhoBlographer (Click here) posted a Leica 15mm f/1.7 first impression article. it also contains the first full size image samples. This is their first impression:

So far looking to be quite awesome. The version we played with initially focused quickly, offers punchy colors, feels great, and begs to be attached to your camera all day

What do you think so far about the lens quality?

Lens preorders:
Black lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Wex UK (Click here), Amazon Japan (Click here).
Silver lens at Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Amazon Japan (Click here).

Ballade de Nuit à Hong Kong en 4k avec le Panasonic GH4 from Emmanuel Pampuri on Vimeo.

43rumors reader Emmanuel is one of the few lucky people having a GH4 for testing! He just sent me this:

“I am the founder of « Les Machineurs » a rental house and post-production facility based in Paris. I started as a photographer in 1991 and I am directing for TV since 1993. I am crazy about cameras and I like to share my point of view on my blog I made for french speaking people (www.pampuri.net) this is maybe my first post in english, my apologize if my english is not good.

I had the chance since the GH2 to be a beta tester for Panasonic. And I am very honored to do that because I like this products and Panasonic Camera team is listening to people like me to improve the quality of their cameras.
When I just had the GH4 in my hands 2 weeks ago it was a very good surprise. All the good things in the GH3 are still here, the very good ergonomic form factor and this compact size I really appreciate a lot. And a lot of improvement also. At first, the picture quality in the EVF is now very sharp and you can use it for focussing manually with 2,3MP it’s amazing and you can now use peaking !
The new 4K video is insane, because of no down converting, and there is also a Cinelike D mode what I liked so much on the Varicam. For still photography the new shutter have a very quiet and sexy noise and it’s incredible fast. I have to wait about new Lightroom version to see how is the raw but Jpeg are better than GH3.
For video codecs, the 100mb 4K H264 4:2:0 looks good and the 1080p 200mb All-I mode is also very good. The dynamic range is also better than GH3.
we are in Beta 0.4c and there is some little bugs but nothing really bad to says about this new camera, I already love it and for me this is the most mature M43 hybrid camera ever built. I liked the Olympus OMD-EM1 very much for stills but there is a huge step for Olympus to improve the video part of this camera. And Panasonic GH4 still photography quality is now growing up. If we could merge the two products, that would be great.
For me GH4 is the most exciting versatile hybrid camera to shoot videos and photos I had in my hands. Of course you can have better quality, This picture quality regarding to the price is incredible.
I shot this video in Hong Kong in street night public lighting conditions and you can download the 4K file from vimeo (Click here) to see the quality. Or watching it on YouTube (Click here).
I will do some other footage in few days, stay tuned !

follow me :
twitter : @emmanuelpampuri
tumblr : pampuri.tumblr.com
facebook : https://www.facebook.com/www.pampuri.net”

Readers are free to comment this post to questions for Emmanuel. He will answer you!

Thanks Emmanuel for the feedback on the GH4!

North American GH4 preorders, shipping date and price:
GH4 camera at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), and Panasonic (Click here). Price: $1,698. In Canada at TheCameraStore (Click here) and Vistek (Click here).
GH4 camera with interface unit at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here). Price: $3,298
Interface unit only at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and Panasonic (Click here). Price: $1,998

European GH4 preorders, shipping date and price:
Germany: Wexcameras, Marcotec-shop.de.
UK at Wexphotographic, CameraWorld, UKdigital, CVP, TipTop.
Holland at Fotohanskeuzekamp.
Belgium at Fotokonijnenberg.
Norway at Fotovideo.
Sweden at Cyberphoto, Skandinavianphoto.
Finland at Telefoto, Topshot, Verkkoauppa.
France at Photocineshop.