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Panasonic‘s new Lumix G7 with 4K video and 4K photo mode
For the right
moment
With the Lumix DMC-G7 (G70 in Austria, Germany and
Switzerland), Panasonic has introduced another exchangeable lens camera with integrated 4K photo and video mode.
The follow-up model to the G6 can record video clips with
3,840 x 2,160 pixels and 25 or 24 fps, and also offers an
innovative 4K photo mode that enables a scene to be captured as a 4K series with a speed of 30 fps, and the desired
still image to be subsequently extracted as an 8-megapixel
photo.
The Lumix G7 aims to close the gap
between the premium bridge camera
FZ1000 and the DSLM flagship GH4.
Just how much importance Panasonic
attributes to this product is demonstrated by the fact that Yukio Hirose, Managing Director Panasonic Consumer
Marketing Europe (Wiesbaden), and
Yoshiaki Sawada, Director Imaging
Products Business Unit of Panasonic
Corp. (Osaka) jointly presented the
new model at its European premiere in
Palma de Mallorca to the European
trade press and a large number of
photo retailers. “The imaging market is
not declining, but is getting bigger,”
At an affordable price (body about 700 euros in Europe), the
Lumix G7 allows amateur photographers to enter the world of 4K
video and hybrid 4K photography.
said Sawada. “After all, more and more
people are taking photos and enjoy
communicating with pictures and sharing them with other people.“
With mirrorless system cameras (DSLM),
said Yukio Hirose, it was particularly
easy to gain new photographic experiences in a quality that was formerly
the preserve of large and heavy SLR
models. In the meantime, the DSLM
category had gained a market share
of over 25 percent in the major European markets of Germany, France and
UK, with the tendency up. The advantage of mirrorless system cameras was
not only their compactness but also
their fully digital design. Another advantage, explained Hirose, was the
camera’s outstanding video capabilities, with which Panasonic had first set
new standards with the Lumix GH3.
Panasonic integrated the new 4K standard at an early stage into its camera
range – first of all into its system camera
flagship, the Lumix GH4, then in the
compact LX100 and FZ1000 models,
and also the innovative CM1 smartphone camera. “The Lumix G7 now
brings 4K from the professional, highend segment to the mass market,” explained Yoshiaki Sawada. “Consequently, we are not only giving
In 4K photo mode, the Lumix G7 accurately captures that decisive moment. The improved AF system reliably tracks the focusing.
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customers the possibility of enjoying
fascinating video pictures in high resolution on 4K TV sets, but with the Lumix
G7, they can also discover the new
possibilities of hybrid photography by
being able to extract from a
movie the shot of that decisive moment
and then share it with other people,
print it, make it into an attractive wall
decoration or put it into a photo book.“
Hybrid photography
with 4K
The new 4K standard not only raises the
quality of moving images to a new
level, it also extends the photographic
possibilities of the Lumix G7 in a spectacular manner, because the high resolution of the video images makes it
possible to save single 8-megapixel
frames as JPGs. At a recording speed
of 30 fps, it is very easy indeed to capture the decisive moment. Additional
help is provided by the various 4K photo modes that Panasonic has built into
the G7: In “burst” mode, the camera
shoots 4K images without limitation (up
to 29 min 59 sec), as long as the release button remains depressed. In
“burst start/stop” mode, the image capture starts with a press on the button
and stops at another one. If the photographer knows that something special is about to happen, the “pre-burst”
mode is the right choice: The camera
will then take 4K shots at 30 fps without
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interruption; if the release button is
pressed, the camera saves the 30
frames before and 30 after pressing
the shutter, ensuring that the decisive
moment is captured. The improved AF
system also ensures that the subject
remains in focus.
Improved sensor
Compared with the predecessor model, Panasonic has upgraded the G7 not
only in matters of 4K but also for “normal” photography: The 16-megapixel
Digital Live MOS sensor has improvements not only in terms of speed (up to
ISO 25,600), but also with regard to
gradation, resolution and color rendition. Furthermore, thanks to the new
Venus Engine Quad-Core processor,
the camera is much faster and can
capture continuous shots with a speed
of up to 8 fps (AF-S) or 6 fps (AF-C) in
full resolution. The processor‘s new diffraction compensation system produces
crisp images especially at small apertures. Noise is effectively suppressed by
the improved Multi-Process NR (=
Noise Reduction) without impairing fine
edges and details. A new random
filter creates a more natural impression
of the chromatic noise in the picture.
Faster autofocus
The new AF system in the Lumix G7
matches the speed of the camera: The
DFD (Depth From Defocus) technology
significantly shortens the time to focus
With the focusing dial on the top of the camera, the desired photo mode (single frame,
continuous shooting or 4K photo mode) can
be quickly selected.
by calculating the distance to the subject by evaluating two images with
different sharpness levels while consulting the optical characteristics of the
current lens at that moment. With the
help of this information, the focusing
adjusts directly in the relevant focusing
range so that the camera only has to
do the fine tuning. The speed advantage gained in this way is particularly
useful with longer focal lengths. In lowlight situations, the Low Light AF works
all the way down to -4 EV. Through
accurate calculation of the
contrast values of smaller AF zones, it is
thus even possible, according to Panasonic, to focus on a star in the night sky.
In addition to the normal face recognition AF, the G7 also has an eye detection mode that automatically sets the
point of focus on the eye. With a new
AF tracking algorithm, not only the color but also the size and motion
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That‘s how fast the sugar cube sinks in the coffee – 3 shots in 4K photo mode show what happens.
of fast subjects are recognized so that
the camera can lock on to them even
more reliably than before. Panasonic
claims that this has raised the AF tracking performance compared with the
G6 by more than 200 percent.
Easy operation
The Lumix G7 is equipped with a newly deve-loped fast OLED finder with a
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resolution of 2.36 million dots, 100 percent field of view coverage and a magnification factor of 0.7 (35 mm equivalent). The touch-sensitive 7.5 cm /2“
OLED display has a resolution of 1 .04
million dots and is swivel-mounted.
Two mode dials on the top of the camera body and dials on the front and
back allow intuitive operation. They
can also be customized with various
functions. A focus switch allows a faster
change between AF-S, AF-C and
manual ocusing.
For faster sharing of the pictures, the
G7 is equipped with a new WiFi mode
with which mobile devices can be connected to the camera without entering
a password. The Lumix DMC-G7 is
available immediately in black and
black & silver.
Copyright by INTERNATIONAL CONCTACT 4/2015