G85 overheating? record time? light sensitivity? stabilization?

Quantum Target wrote:

properly lit, framed, color balanced, etc. Of these, focus would seem to be the only part that would possibly be harder. I can't imagine that you are saying the G85 AF performs poorly at 4K and acceptably at 1080p! Makeup? Plastic surgery for 'talent'?

I think I did not write that AF is worse on 4k than on 1080p, but I do now: AF speed

can be a lot slower when shooting 4k instead of 1080p. Both 4k video and AF require a lot of processing power. For example, look at this post:

I didn't understand your earlier comment to be about AF performance. I am under no illusions here. True, AF is more critical at 4K but in several other comments in this thread suggest that G85 & 4K is not a 'viable option' - my paraphrase. I should not use the camera in 4K because _________, is equally an assertion that the G85 is a 'dog' - I should look elsewhere. When Panasonic added 4K to this design they also added processor power, firmware, tightened electromechanical specifications, etc. to support it. In doing so, those improvements can reasonably be expected to improve 1080 performance as well. That improvement can not credibly be used as a 'proof' that 1080 should be used and 4K should be avoided. It may be Panasonic may not have succeeded in implementing 4K well enough to satisfy some or many users. My stated interest is in users experiences that correlate in some way to my use case.

It all depends what you need, and a tiny bit what you want. Maybe this post will give you some perspective.

I have G7 and it's a great camera, and I expect G85 to be even better. I usually shoot 4k, although I don't know why. There are almost infinite combination of choices that you need to take into account, or then just experiment and learn. I like your approach about thinking all the possible aspects, but in reality, you need to try and see what works best for you. Video is another world compared to stills photography, and there will be many surprises you need to deal with. Don't expect to get it right straight from the beginning.

I used to shoot with 180° shutter speed (half of the frame length, 1/50s for 24fps and so on) with all manual, but nowadays I think it's much safer to do it the easy way, and shoot video in an automatic mode. Manual mode gives the best results, but it is not good if you have a camera standing on a tripod and someone turns on additional lighting (without you noticing).

From what I have understood of your needs, it is not so important if you shoot 720p or 4k. Before that choice, make sure that you have the basic things covered: for example lighting and decent audio. Some small remote microphone that you can put on your shirt/jacket sounds like a very reasonable investment. Perhaps the easiest way is to get an external recorder with small external microphone, and put the external recorder in your pocket. This adds additional steps while recording and post-processing, but it's simple (and stupid) method that works. Most importantly, be sure that you have a backup recording the audio (great audio is useless if the cable was not connected properly, or if you forgot to turn the microphone on or if the battery was empty or...)!

Two cameras is great to have so that you can change the angle between your presentation. However, this will take considerable amount of time in post processing, unless you do it really quick and dirty (still just importing, exporting, uploading and watching the video through ONCE will take several hours).

How much would it cost to hire a company to make a video of your presentations (let's assume they would not need to travel)? Only a small fee would be coming from the "rent" of the equipment they use, and most of the costs would be from things you need to do on your own. My purpose is not to scare you, but the same applies to you (unless you have free labor).

All-in-all, I would suggest you to just get the camera(s) and some audio equipment and perhaps some lights*, start playing around, gather knowledge from video forums, download free Da Vinci Resolve or some other video editing software, try to do some basic editing, give your presentation, try things for real, go play around with the camera once more, gather more knowledge, give another presentation, try to avoid the same mistakes again and so on. After some months or years, you'll start feel confident.

*or just get/rent one camera first.

All that being said, it does not matter if the video does not look very good in the beginning, as long as you have some video (and audio!). Do not worry about the small things, try to get the big things somewhat right at first.