More and more camcorders and action cameras are now including the ability to capture 4K resolution video, including Panasonic’s own HC-X1000E and HX-A500. However, their popularity has been limited because most of us don't have 4K TVs in our homes yet. In some cases you could argue that you're shooting today to watch tomorrow, but the temptation of going 4K is certainly lessened if you have nothing to watch it on today.
With the Lumix DMC-G7, Panasonic is instead taking advantage of the added video resolution to help with capturing still images. By using 4K Photo mode, the DMC-G7 can capture 4K video at 30fps and then allow you to individually go through the video footage frame-by-frame to pick the best shot. This helps you to avoid missing fleeting moments in fast-moving activities.
There are three 4K Photo modes to choose from: 4K Burst Shooting, 4K Burst (S/S) and 4K Pre-burst. The former works similarly to the traditional burst shutter mode you’re probably already familiar with on your existing camera, although it's recording video instead. Start/Stop allows you to start and stop recording with two presses of the shutter button. Both of these modes allow video recording just shy of 30 minutes in length. The Pre-burst mode will save 30 frames from before you press the shutter and 30 after, which is useful if you’re not exactly sure when you’ll need to start recording, helping you to not miss the all-important moment.
We were able to put 4K photo to the test at Panasonic’s Digital Imaging seminar in Palma, Mallorca, where we were given plenty of shooting opportunities to test out the different functions. We’re happy to say that the mode worked extremely well for the most part. You’ll want to put the camera in manual focus mode, though, as we found the autofocus would shift between the subject and background occasionally throughout the video. At least with lots of frames to choose from, we were able to pick the sharpest.
^Photos are from a pre-production model, so image quality may change
Still, we were impressed by the untouched images straight from the camera (8MP photo from 4K Photo mode)
^The camera made it easy to select a specific frame where the powder didn't obscure the models' faces (8MP photo from 4K Photo mode)
^The 4K Photo mode will help with capturing unpredictable subjects (8MP photo from 4K Photo mode)
Once you’ve recorded your footage, you access the playback mode of the camera to select any frames you want to save as an 8-megapixel still image. Images are saved in 3,328x,2496 (4:3) or 3,840x2,160 (16:9) resolutions. Depending on the length of the video you’ve recorded, bringing up the interface to select frames can be a little slow, with the need to wait a few seconds while the camera prepares the footage. Once it’s ready, scrolling through frames is intuitive using the DMC-G7’s touchscreen to slide across a filmstrip of frames. Once you’ve found the frame or frames you’re happy with, you simply select the option to save and a .JPG is saved separate to the MP4 video. Videos can also be imported into Adobe Lightroom, which will then let you select and save frames in a similar way.
The camera itself is comfortable to hold and relatively light, weighing 410g for the body. It’s never going to fit into a pocket but it will be easier to carry around than a DSLR. There are five function buttons for quickly changing settings as well as dedicated buttons for accessing ISO, white balance and adjusting AF points. Two adjustment wheels can be used for separately changing aperture and shutter speed when shooting in full manual mode, which is preferable to holding a toggle button to switch adjustments.
^There are plenty of adjustment and mode dials and the camera was pleasingly quick to turn on
There’s also a 3in articulating LCD, which has a touchscreen as a secondary option for adjusting settings. The screen has 1.04m dots and is decently bright and we rarely struggled to see the display even in the bright sunlight in Mallorca. Tilting the screen also mean shooting from the hip and capturing candid images was easier.
There’s also an electronic viewfinder (EVF) with 2.36m dots. Annoyingly, we found the EVF would become jittery once focus was engaged with a shutter half-press. Once you then attempted to re-compose, the view through the EVF would stutter, as though the refresh rate had reduced drastically. It didn’t cause us to miss any shots but it was a little disorienting. We hope the issue gets ironed out in the final firmware.
The DMC-G7 can capture 16MP still images as well as the aforementioned 4K video. In traditional burst mode it can capture up to 8fps. The camera managed to capture over 60 shots before the buffer filled up, although this will be dependent on the speed of memory card you use. There are plenty of autofocus modes to choose from, including the usual face detect as well as using touch to autofocus. We found that autofocus operated quickly.
^Still images captured were well exposed with good sharpness (16MP photo)
Overall we were very impressed with our time with the DMC-G7. It was a comfortable camera to use and it was easy to get to grips with its controls. We were mostly happy with the resulting images straight out of the camera, although ideally we would have liked a little more saturation, though a little tinkering in Lightroom will fix that. 4K Photo is a great way to capture tricky images that you might otherwise miss but you do lose some of the flexibility of working with RAW files, which are only available when you shoot traditional stills. Otherwise, the DMC-G7 is an exciting camera.
It's available with the 45-105mm F/3.5-5.6 kit lens for around £850, with a 14-42mm F/3.5-5.6 lens for £679 or body only for £599. We shot predominantly using a Panasonic 14-140mm F3.5/5.6, Panasonic 14mm F/1.7 and Panasonic 30mm F2.8 Macro lens, so we’ll be sure to give the DMC-G7 a full review with one of the available kit lenses as soon as we can.
