26
Camera review
ABOVE Dynamic range is excellent, giving plenty of detail in highlights and shadows. BELOW Optical image stabilisation is included in the 14- 140mm kit lens, helping to take shots with slower shutter speeds.
move the AF point – unless you flip the screen out, your nose can operate it unintentionally, but what’s clever is that you can turn this Track Pad function off without sacrificing touch AF functions altogether. The viewfinder too is very impressive. It has 2359k dots, the same as the best electronic viewfinders around, and a decent magnification of 0.67x for a bright and clear image, but what really impressed me was its speed. Even tracking Spitfires and modern fighter jets, movement was smooth, and there was no lag whatsoever, so I had no trouble with timing shots. The only complaint was once I started burst shooting, because then you get no live view of the subject between frames, so it’s tricky to keep your focus point in the right spot – this is a fundamental difference between electronic and optical viewfinders, but it seems more acute with faster shooting rates.
negates the usual size advantage of the Micro Four Thirds system, although there’s still an advantage because of the more compact lenses. At first, the GH4 control layout didn’t seem very logical, and the number of custom buttons was a little daunting, but it wasn’t long before everything became second nature. The top-plate is particularly good, with white-balance, ISO and exposure compensation buttons within easy reach of your shutter finger. But what I thought initially was disarray across the rest of the body soon became intuitive, and provides excellent quick control. Ten programmable buttons with at least 50 options each means there’s huge flexibility – it’s almost too much, and I didn’t feel the need to change anything from default, but if you want to pull settings out of menus, then the option is there. The only thing I didn’t really like was the control wheel on the back, which turns too easily and can be fiddly. The LCD is a touch panel, which you may consider a blessing or a curse. I used it very little because the other controls felt so natural, but it’s very well implemented. It’s not a case of having it on or off; different functions can be deactivated independently. For example, when using the viewfinder, the touch screen can still be used to
I used the touch screen very little because the other controls felt so natural, but it’swell implemented
Photography News | Issue 9
www.photography-news.co.uk
Powered by FlippingBook