Well, that was an eye opener. The GH4 is a bloody good stills camera.
I've got back from a long-anticipated trip up the Norwegian fjords on the Hurtigruten post boats. I only took the GH4 because it was meant to be at least partly a holiday and I decided I wanted something lighter than my 7D (and definitely lighter than my Hasselblad, which I've really only got studio focal length lenses for anyway).
The 7D has always been my go-to stills camera for when the Hasselblad is outside it's comfort zone. I've been doing a video project at the top of a local mountain showing the changing seasons with the GH4 and been impressed with its toughness, light weight and battery endurance so thought I'd give it a go.
Plus being able to cover everything from 15 mm to 400 mm full-frame equivalent focal lengths with just three lightweight lenses ( Tamron 11-16 + speedbooster, 12-35 f/2.8 Panasonic Lumix and 45-200 mm telephoto zoom) was very attractive. Especially when I tried lifting a bag with my closest Canon equivalents.
I added a Voigtlander 25 mm f/0.95 in the hopes of Auroras and decided to go with JUST the GH4. (I think my wife would have objected to me taking a second camera!)
I shot a few thousand pics with it. Today I went back to the 7D and it felt like going back several generations, not to mention the sheer bloody weight of the bag again.
I've been using Canons for 20+ years yet the ergonomics of the GH4 just feel better to me now.
I love that the centre one of the three WB/ISO/EC buttons on top has a "nipple" so you can tell which is which without looking, even with gloves on. I love that the mode dial locks. I got used to the EVF after swearing I hated anything that wasn't optical viewfinder (the trick is to shade my viewing eye in bright sunlight, so no light spill gets in between spectacles and EVF). I liked the image stabilisation in the lenses, the built-in two second self timer, the timelapse facility, the autofocus, the quick change to continuous shooting when a sea eagle appeared, and the battery life is epic. Even on days where the temperature stayed below -10 degrees C I never ran out of charge.
I love silent mode with electronic shutter- this plus IS enabling me to hand hold down to shutter speeds I'd never have dreamt of trying with the 7D.
The GH4 is a kick ass video camera but it's also my new best friend for mountain photography.
I don't know how well it'll hold up when I start trying to make large prints from it, so the dream of a landscape sideline for the business may not come to fruition. But the GH4 makes me feel like I have a fighting chance at taking some really stunning photos in the mountains where I'd end up not getting anything if I had to lug the Hasselblad or 7D plus heavy tripod.
I like to be fast and light when I'm shooting, hate tripods, and with a stabilised lens, no mirror slap and clean ISO 400 or 800, plus a gorillapod, I think I'm good to go.
I feel like I was shooting landscapes the way
I like to shoot, instead of the way you're "meant" to
and I loved it. I'm never going to be the guy who camps out for a week with large format camera to take one shot, so better go with my strengths and my style. I feel like the GH4 is the right camera
FOR ME for the mountains.
I was really impressed by the ergonomics (can you tell?)
The image quality? Well, no, it isn't up to the Hasselblad's, there's no denying it. The dynamic range is OK but nothing to write home about. The noise performance likewise, but at least the noise looks fairly grain-like and organic. The lenses are pretty sharp considering their low cost and light weight. I'm pretty happy with what I got. Even the ISO6400 aurora shots (from a moving boat, remember) came out pretty well- some fixed pattern noise but a better shot than I'd have managed with any other camera I currently own, I think.
Here's a few quick samples- let me know what you think (but please be nice, I'm not claiming great things).
Cheers, Hywel.