GH4 Review, Tips & Cinema Settings

The last few months I’ve had the chance to use Panasonic’s new 4K camera, the GH4, and I have been really impressed with it. The camera is easy to use and lets you create amazing shots.

Here is my video review and examples of footage I shot. I also share some tips on best camera settings in your GH4.

I got my GH4 at B&H Photo Video. Besides the camera, they have a lot of great lenses and accessories worth taking look at. Here are all the lenses I used in the above video:

Panasonic GH4 at B&H Photo Video


Here is a must-have lens. It works great on steadicams and 3-axis digital gimbals. It is so popular that it sometimes goes on back-order. If that happens, I would put an order in anyway.


Another great lens. If combined with the above lens, you will be covered for most shooting scenarios.


Here is a great set of prime lenses that produce that super shallow DOF.

Despite the MFT mount, I am still putting my Canon-mount lenses to a good use, thanks to this good and affordable lens mount adapter.


It’s always a good idea to have extra batteries. Here is a nice battery and charger combo.


This I like about the GH4:
-proper video camera functions
-great compression for video
-amazing battery life
-beautiful and cinematic video
-super easy to use slow motion
-amazing 4K recording directly to SD cards
-small but rugged and durable camera body
-built in timelapse function (even has stop motion option!)
-fully customizable buttons
-amazing EVF
-super sharp yet small m4/3 lenses

Here is how I setup the custom buttons on my GH4 camera

9 thoughts on “GH4 Review, Tips & Cinema Settings”

  1. Thanks for the video. I know that highlight / shadows is unfavourable for shooters knowing the noise issue. I thought increasing the master pedestal is also causing the same noise issue. Someone has the shot with lens lid closed and demonstrates that in this video:

    Can I ask what your shoulder rig is? How much is the weight? I have one (Lanpart with offset and C bracket) that has become front heavy with a large lens and I’m wondering if you find mostly using hand held stabilizer. I came from broadcast shoulder mount camera and bought that setup for myself but now I’m thinking may be the hand held stabilizer is a more practical and useful option. Thanks.

  2. I just checked the impact of highlight and shadows on a low light scene and looks like up to +3 I can get more colour out of the very dark areas but above that, I just created a mask of grey over the dark areas. Also I was able to go up to ISO 1000 (1/3 stop increments has to selected) without having annoying noise but taking advantage of more life in the image. The other thing I found that setting the iDynamic to “standard” helps to get better colours and more revealing dark stuff without too much noise increase in the low lit areas. I tend to use reverse highlight shadows -2/+2 instead of +2/-2 for a cleaner look but still it hides some of the very dark areas. I can see its use though.

  3. This video is so great! I’m just starting to wrap my head around all the technical jargon. I’m a beginner when it comes to filmmaking i guess. I saved up for a camera and had no idea what to buy out of the thousands of options on the internet. This video helped me to confidently decide on the gh4. The settings and tips you describe are so valuable thank you!

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