Whenever a new camera gets shipped you will find plenty of unboxing videos on youtube. But the one posted by Peter Gregg really beats them all :)
Watch the video above to see “His performance” and the very interesting AF test in complete darkness. It shows you an “Untold” aspect of the GH4 camera. It’s likely the best System Camera for low light focusing too! Peter also posted a 4K video sample you can see on Youtube.

Meantime Photoreview Australia tested the GH4 and writes:

From the start we felt the GH4 could be the most significant camera Panasonic has released so far, and after using it for almost two weeks we believe it will be a genuine game-changer. Not only is it a superior performer for still image capture, but to offer such a wide range of video options – many of them meeting professional requirements – puts the icing on an already attractive cake and takes the camera into areas we could only dream about previously.

5D Mark III raw versus Panasonic GH4 by EosHD. Video below:

Matching the Panasonic GH4 to full frame 5D Mark III raw – an EOSHD test from Andrew Reid on Vimeo.

Our reader Sherif posted that GH4 grading test:

GH4 Cinematic Grading Tests from Sherif Mokbel on Vimeo.

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

Asian preorders, shipping date and price:
Digitalrev

Image courtesy: Imaging Resource.

I swear, I never heard of that “onion effect” before. But It’s good to hear that the expensive [shoplink 46017]Nocticron 42,5mm f/1.2 lens[/shoplink] is the first Aspherical lens NOT showing that issue! Imaging Resource reports about a meeting they had with Panasonic engineers. Currently all Asperhical lenses on market show these strange concentric circles or spirals to appear in out-of-focus highlights (See image on top, very right image). Panasonic says their Nocticron is the first lens getting rid of them. The image on top shows how the effetc were on the Nocticron when they started to develop the lens. After 1 and half year the effect was gone (circle on the very left).

Panasonic is the only worldwide company that can produce these kind of aspherical lenses yet and Imaging Resource writes:

What’s more likely in the short term, though, is that other camera and lens companies may just purchase aspherical elements from Panasonic for critical applications. Panasonic already produces a huge volume of aspheric lenses for other manufacturers, and the people I interviewed for this article indicated that they would indeed sell aspherics made with this process to others … for a price.

Read the full story at Imaging Resource.

You can buy the lens at Amazon US (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here). In UK at Wexphotographic (Click here). In Germany at Redcoon (Click here), Technikdirekt (Click here).

Edmondo Senatore
OLYMPUS OMD EM5

Time for our weekly 43rumors reader picture show. As usual you can see all our images on the 43rumors FB wall. These are just some of the pics that got most of the readers likes (or my own personal like):

Introducing 4K Video Advantages – A Revolution in Videography (Panasonic)

GH4 test at Fotopolis.
Olympus Stylus Tough TG-850 Waterproof Review (ePhotozine).
Cheap focal reducer test with gh2 also compared to full frame D600 at Stronzvanderploeg.
Documentary filmed with Panasonic 4K (in low light) on Youtube.
Nocticron comparison at Tomnguyenstudio.
Olympus SH-1 review at DC.watch.

David: “Hey, I found a way to make smooth, super-slow, sharp, slow-motion video cheaply! A video test sample is here:  www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkb0JtrN0n0&feature=youtu.be   (To view it properly, select “1080P” and “full-screen”.  It takes a few seconds to switch to the higher resolution and larger size, and you may need to pause the playing to let the streaming get a bit ahead to prevent “stops” in the playing of this video.) I put a half-sizedfull-speed version of the video at the beginning and end for comparison with the 1/8th play speed of the full-sized version between them. The slow-motion version on YouTube still retains much of the original file’s sharpness, even with streaming, but both sharpness and smoothness do suffer a bit compared with the original slow-motion file. The “music” was a quick “cobbling together” of some of my MIDI and bird sound recordings. The camera used was a Panasonic G5, which shoots very sharp 1080-60p video. The lens is a very sharp selected sample of the Rokinon 180-degree 7.5mm fisheye. This was only a test – and it “ain’t purdy”…;-) To find out how I did it, click on “About” on YouTube, and you will know “the secrets”!;-) “

Tamino: “some work done with GH3 we did for Coach https://vimeo.com/91715204”

Jan: “I made a comparioson review of a noname Four Thirds to Micro Four Thirds Adapter from china and the original MMF-1 Adapter from Olympus. I thought this might be interesting for your readers. The comparison is on Youtube in English (http://youtu.be/dG9IG9j33Vg) and German (http://youtu.be/YzvRuIvVL10). I posted the full article (in German) on my blog: www.janundseinekamera.de/olympus-mmf-1-vs-noname-ft-mft-adapter-vergleichstest/”

Brian: “This is a sports video shot entirely with the Panasonic GX7 and GM1. The lenses used were the Panasonic 12-35mm and 35-100mm f2.8 zoom lenses. Drake Relays 2014 https://vimeo.com/93013966”

Anonymous: “Not bad at all! “NOTE: Testing the Olympus OM-D E-M1 continues. Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät -photo set was shot entirely with Olympus and FM2000 shots are taken with EOS 5D Mark III. By looking at the pictures you can hardly see any difference (if at all). This guy has three sets of E-m1 images here: http://petrivilenphotography.blogspot.fi/search/label/OM-D%20E-M1”

Paulo: “Here’s a video of a Panasonic rep going over the GH4 and the A500 action camera that also shoots 4K videos. Feel free to embed it on your site if you like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gybBZ_oUJwo“

United States Patent 8693110 discloses a couple of Panasonic Micro Four Thirds lens designs:
25mm f/1.4 (current Leica 25mm lens?)
34mm f/1.8 (could become a 35mm f/1.8)
43mm f/1.4 (could be the current 42,5mm Nocticron)
64mm f/1.8 (could become 65mm f/1.8)
98mm f/2.0 (could become a 100mm f/2.0)

Obviously what you see on a patent don’t mean it will get into production. But…

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After hearing that Panasonic is rethinking their camera line up I thought I would ask you one simple question:

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Graph courtesy: Personal View.

–

Cipa released the full Japanese camera shipment data for March 2014. And you can se plenty of great graphs at Personal View. These are some of the key changes that happened:

– Small increase in shipments for both DSLR and Mirrorless. But the results could be a influenced by the fact that Japan will soon increase the VAT on all products. So Japanese internal market shipment increase may not be a constant factor.

– The bad news is even with the small increase the situation is quite worse compared to previous years:

– Mirrorless is still not doing well in American and European markets. It’s mainly Asia that loves them :)

In summary: The next 2-3 years we will see who will survive this crisis. There are so many challenges I think no one really know’s with 10% certainty what needs to be done to make money with system cameras. And there is the fact that new kind of photo devices are coming out every year, Not only smartphones and tablets but now we will have Google Glass and other super portable and “always connected” stuff.