Gh4 VS Nx1 : My impressions so far.

Here is my impressions (on the video side) after about one week with the NX1 and the 16-50mmS compared to the GH4 with 12-35mm.

• Pro's

- The resolution is better, even if you turn sharpness all the way down, there is still a lot of details.

- The Autofocus is also better. With good light, the AF is really really fast and can track a subject with continuous autofocus. But in low light the NX1 is about equal to the Gh4.

- The swallow DOF, 1.5x crop in photo and video (2.3 for the Gh4 in video !).

- The 16-50mm S : thanks to the F2 aperture @16mm, great and sharp all-rounder lens.

- Iso 100 available and no noise at all until 800 iso.

• Con's

- The rolling shutter is worse than GH4 in UHD (but very good in 1080p), if you shoot without moving no problem but if you move or pan, it is really bad.

- The Dynamic range is average and you must be carefull with the highlights, the zebras are not accurate. The NX1 has probably more DR stops in shadows than in highlights (unusual).

- Noise reduction setting not available (starting at iso 400, the NR smears details a lot).

- The OIS of the lumix 12-35 is better.

- The focus square can't be moved with the buttons (only with the touch screen) and can't be shrunk during video recording, really annoying.

- H265 not supported by most editing softwares.

- Heavier and larger.

In conclusion, i like them both, but for video it may be easier to use the GH4 for now.
When the editing softwares will support the H265 and when Samsung will solve problems that can be corrected, no doubts i will use the NX1 more often.

However, for photography, i prefer the NX1 of course.

Thanks for the comparison. Some good stuff in here. Which firmware did you use for the NX1?

What about the ongoin noise reduction ever applied to video? That smoothout all textures :/

Melidonia said:

- H265 not supported by most editing softwares.

Click to expand...

For someone like you, I created a software to convert H.265 to H.264 or ProRes. (Keep original resolution or resize to 1080P).

I created the tool for people who want to convert H.265 video for editing. You can convert original H.265 with quick option (bigger output size).

It will be easier to handle converted ProRes than original H.265 for editing.

I usually convert it to ProRes 1080P from NX1 H.265 and used the result for edit. Once I complete editing. I remove the converted ProRes 1080P files and keep original H.265 since it has smaller footage.

For detail refer below link.

[DIY] Upgrade: NX1 H.265 Movie Converter for Win64, Win32 and OSX

Noah Truth said:

Thanks for the comparison. Some good stuff in here. Which firmware did you use for the NX1?

Click to expand...

Firmware 1.20

Melidonia said:

Here is my impressions (on the video side) after about one week with the NX1 and the 16-50mmS compared to the GH4 with 12-35mm.

• Pro's

- The resolution is better, even if you turn sharpness all the way down, there is still a lot of details.

- The Autofocus is also better. With good light, the AF is really really fast and can track a subject with continuous autofocus. But in low light the NX1 is about equal to the Gh4.

- The swallow DOF, 1.5x crop in photo and video (2.3 for the Gh4 in video !).

- The 16-50mm S : thanks to the F2 aperture @16mm, great and sharp all-rounder lens.

- Iso 100 available and no noise at all until 800 iso.

• Con's

- The rolling shutter is worse than GH4 in UHD (but very good in 1080p), if you shoot without moving no problem but if you move or pan, it is really bad.

- The Dynamic range is average and you must be carefull with the highlights, the zebras are not accurate. The NX1 has probably more DR stops in shadows than in highlights (unusual).

- Noise reduction setting not available (starting at iso 400, the NR smears details a lot).

Click to expand...

How this is possible if you claim that there is no noise to ISO800? Not to mention other reviews claim that ISO up to 1600 in video is very good, problems start with ISO 3200.

I don't believe that there is a lot of smearing at ISO400. Not possible.

Melidonia said:

- The OIS of the lumix 12-35 is better.

- The focus square can't be moved with the buttons (only with the touch screen) and can't be shrunk during video recording, really annoying.

- H265 not supported by most editing softwares.

- Heavier and larger.

In conclusion, i like them both, but for video it may be easier to use the GH4 for now.
When the editing softwares will support the H265 and when Samsung will solve problems that can be corrected, no doubts i will use the NX1 more often.

However, for photography, i prefer the NX1 of course.

Click to expand...

ihkim said:

Melidonia said:

- H265 not supported by most editing softwares.

Click to expand...

For someone like you, I created a software to convert H.265 to H.264 or ProRes. (Keep original resolution or resize to 1080P).

I created the tool for people who want to convert H.265 video for editing. You can convert original H.265 with quick option (bigger output size).

It will be easier to handle converted ProRes than original H.265 for editing.

I usually convert it to ProRes 1080P from NX1 H.265 and used the result for edit. Once I complete editing. I remove the converted ProRes 1080P files and keep original H.265 since it has smaller footage.

For detail refer below link.

[DIY] Upgrade: NX1 H.265 Movie Converter for Win64, Win32 and OSX

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/55132131

Click to expand...

Thanks, I use Clip Toolz with good result, i will try your software soon.

The problem is you can get quality loss and banding due to multiple conversions.

The lack of nr settings for low iso is really a big issue for nx system (both for stills and video). It's incredible that samsung doesn't listen about this and doesn't release a fix via fw!

arbuz said:

Melidonia said:

Here is my impressions (on the video side) after about one week with the NX1 and the 16-50mmS compared to the GH4 with 12-35mm.

• Pro's

- The resolution is better, even if you turn sharpness all the way down, there is still a lot of details.

- The Autofocus is also better. With good light, the AF is really really fast and can track a subject with continuous autofocus. But in low light the NX1 is about equal to the Gh4.

- The swallow DOF, 1.5x crop in photo and video (2.3 for the Gh4 in video !).

- The 16-50mm S : thanks to the F2 aperture @16mm, great and sharp all-rounder lens.

- Iso 100 available and no noise at all until 800 iso.

• Con's

- The rolling shutter is worse than GH4 in UHD (but very good in 1080p), if you shoot without moving no problem but if you move or pan, it is really bad.

- The Dynamic range is average and you must be carefull with the highlights, the zebras are not accurate. The NX1 has probably more DR stops in shadows than in highlights (unusual).

- Noise reduction setting not available (starting at iso 400, the NR smears details a lot).

Click to expand...

How this is possible if you claim that there is no noise to ISO800? Not to mention other reviews claim that ISO up to 1600 in video is very good, problems start with ISO 3200.

I don't believe that there is a lot of smearing at ISO400. Not possible.

Click to expand...

You can't change the settings applied for video and there is strong noise reduction used at the lower ISO’s (ISO 400 and more) in low light. So indeed there is no noise, but a lot of details are washed out.




ISO 400

Melidonia said:

arbuz said:

Melidonia said:

Here is my impressions (on the video side) after about one week with the NX1 and the 16-50mmS compared to the GH4 with 12-35mm.

• Pro's

- The resolution is better, even if you turn sharpness all the way down, there is still a lot of details.

- The Autofocus is also better. With good light, the AF is really really fast and can track a subject with continuous autofocus. But in low light the NX1 is about equal to the Gh4.

- The swallow DOF, 1.5x crop in photo and video (2.3 for the Gh4 in video !).

- The 16-50mm S : thanks to the F2 aperture @16mm, great and sharp all-rounder lens.

- Iso 100 available and no noise at all until 800 iso.

• Con's

- The rolling shutter is worse than GH4 in UHD (but very good in 1080p), if you shoot without moving no problem but if you move or pan, it is really bad.

- The Dynamic range is average and you must be carefull with the highlights, the zebras are not accurate. The NX1 has probably more DR stops in shadows than in highlights (unusual).

- Noise reduction setting not available (starting at iso 400, the NR smears details a lot).

Click to expand...

How this is possible if you claim that there is no noise to ISO800? Not to mention other reviews claim that ISO up to 1600 in video is very good, problems start with ISO 3200.

I don't believe that there is a lot of smearing at ISO400. Not possible.

Click to expand...

You can't change the settings applied for video and there is strong noise reduction used at the lower ISO’s (ISO 400 and more) in low light. So indeed there is no noise, but a lot of details are washed out.


ISO 400

Click to expand...

The smearing might have something to do with the h.265 codec. It seems to not be as detailed as h.265, that is how the files end up so much smaller. Here is a great article explaining better then I can:


Have you also tested the battery on both cameras?

ocphotodad said:

Melidonia said:

arbuz said:

Melidonia said:

Here is my impressions (on the video side) after about one week with the NX1 and the 16-50mmS compared to the GH4 with 12-35mm.

• Pro's

- The resolution is better, even if you turn sharpness all the way down, there is still a lot of details.

- The Autofocus is also better. With good light, the AF is really really fast and can track a subject with continuous autofocus. But in low light the NX1 is about equal to the Gh4.

- The swallow DOF, 1.5x crop in photo and video (2.3 for the Gh4 in video !).

- The 16-50mm S : thanks to the F2 aperture @16mm, great and sharp all-rounder lens.

- Iso 100 available and no noise at all until 800 iso.

• Con's

- The rolling shutter is worse than GH4 in UHD (but very good in 1080p), if you shoot without moving no problem but if you move or pan, it is really bad.

- The Dynamic range is average and you must be carefull with the highlights, the zebras are not accurate. The NX1 has probably more DR stops in shadows than in highlights (unusual).

- Noise reduction setting not available (starting at iso 400, the NR smears details a lot).

Click to expand...

How this is possible if you claim that there is no noise to ISO800? Not to mention other reviews claim that ISO up to 1600 in video is very good, problems start with ISO 3200.

I don't believe that there is a lot of smearing at ISO400. Not possible.

Click to expand...

You can't change the settings applied for video and there is strong noise reduction used at the lower ISO’s (ISO 400 and more) in low light. So indeed there is no noise, but a lot of details are washed out.


ISO 400

Click to expand...

The smearing might have something to do with the h.265 codec. It seems to not be as detailed as h.265, that is how the files end up so much smaller. Here is a great article explaining better then I can:

http://www.cnet.com/news/what-is-he...eo-coding-h-265-and-4k-compression-explained/

Have you also tested the battery on both cameras?

Click to expand...

Yes you're right, it could be the H.265 codec but on my videos the smearing occurs only in low light and since there is no noise, i think the problem is related to the auto noise reduction which is too aggressive.

The battery is decent and you can use the USB cable for charging it.

Melidonia said:

Thanks, I use Clip Toolz with good result, i will try your software soon.
The problem is you can get quality loss and banding due to multiple conversions.

Click to expand...

My tool provides an option that you can change output quality. Even you can choose lossless for H.264. For option H.264 output, I set default quality as 10. Even this option results much bigger output file size. I don't recommend to choose lower number (which means better quality).

For ProRes output, you can set the quality by choosing HQ, SQ, LQ, PROXY.

Good luck.
ihkim.

What's the number to use for having exactly the same iq as the one from the original h.265 file? Thx!

If the nr for video is the same as used for stills, it's terribly aggressive under iso 3200, where it cannot be turned off. This is really absurd and a shame, especially considering that raws from any recent nx are full of detail even at iso 1600!

tecnoworld said:

What's the number to use for having exactly the same iq as the one from the original h.265 file? Thx!

Click to expand...

Hmmm... I didn't really compare those IQ head to head. But, in according to the document ffmpeg, when you set 20 for H.264 encoding, human eyes cannot detect diffence between original and encoded one.

So, I set H.264 default value as 10 for good enough IQ for editing. Yes, you can change the number as well.

ihkim.

So 10 is already better iq than 20 if I understand correctly?

tecnoworld said:

So 10 is already better iq than 20 if I understand correctly?

Click to expand...

Yes. smaller number is better IQ. "1" is lossless. But huge filesize. :-O