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The article has been moved here:
http://mirrorlesscomparison.com/panasonic-vs-olympus/omd-em1-vs-panasonic-gh4/
The shutter release of the GH4 is angled more than the E-M1 which, to me, is more ergonomic (as are the Canons generally and Nikon D4). A friend with a D4 thinks this change is worth a half stop over the D3 design. As the shutter release is simply an electronic button which can be located anywhere I find it curious that the camera companies have not been quicker to incorporate more ergonomic designs.
The GH4’s front/rear frame and external covers are made made of diecast alloy – not plastic – this is easy to reference on the Panasonic www.
Hi Tommi, the difference at high ISO is not that relevant in a real world situation.In the comparison above the E-M1 has more saturated colours while the GH4 has more neutral colours. The E-M1 has an advantage starting from 12800 ISO but I rarely go beyond 6400 with both.
Thanks for this great Report. If i see the Pictures i have a littel Problem.
Is the different between the compare of the High ISO so great? It looks, that the GH4 are less Dynamic then the M1 or not? The Appel looks at the M1 more colorfull. Is it really so different?
which of these cameras have the most fn button configurations. I read that gh4 has 10 but I read the em1 has 6 with a 1and 2 switch maybe making that 12. Thankx
Hi Gerald, when I compare products I look more in-depth than postcard size images and honestly I don’t see a huge difference between the two cameras. I prefer the Olympus for stills for different reasons but if you really use the GH4 for stills as well you get very similar results. But in the end despite many specs they share in common, they are actually two different kind of products because of their video capabilities.
Hi Thanks for the review. I actually have both cameras and recently made my own test ofs ISO settings. I found that for jpg’s the Olympus is far superiorl. Images look sharper and with better contrast – they have more life. And certainly at higher ISO the Panasonic is quite unusable in my view. So in respect of stills I cannot agree with your review. Perhaps if you only look at postcard size images the difference is not so great – but then phone camera can look good at this size too..
Only at Video does the Panasonic really excel, and that is the only reason I bought it, since the Olympus has very limited video options. Though the in body stabiliser is really great… even works with vintage lenses! So actually two good reasons to favor the Olympus…
GH-4 eye level finder is improved over the gh-3 by +1mpxl.
“The Panasonic LUMIX DMC-GH4 boasts high-precision, high-speed dual OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) displays for 2,359K-dot LVF (Live View Finder) of approximately 1.34x / 0.67x*, and 3.0-inch 1,036K-dot free-angle rear monitor. ”
It’s one of the reasons I am considering upgrading from my gh-3. A 1/250 flash sync speed is the other.
Unless you need to take long exposure with the NR off (which is related to a specific need), the E-M1 is a great camera for long exposures and the Live Time is a unique feature, very useful for light painting for example.
Wait, I don’t get it..
you say choose the EMI for long exposures, yet you make this comment:
“There is a little anomaly concerning the OM-D E-M1, which is that the camera produces too much noise for long exposure shots when the NR (or Dark Frame) is disabled.”
How is that a Plus?? Can’t the GH4 do long exposures WITHOUT this problem? That is very suspect and shows bias. You even said it yourself that the GH4 doesn’t have this problem!
Then, you don’t add lenses to the equation.
I don’t get it… biased, maybe?
This was an excellent comparison. I love getting this blog. It makes up for all the junk mail I get. I have an EM-1 which I am loving, and I have a GH3. My only disappointment is that although the Olympus and Lumix lenses are compatible, the differences in image stabilization somewhat negates this advertised fact. It took me a while to get used to the EM-1 since I am a studio photographer who shoots with strobes. I use the Live-View Boost, and I had to get used to not really seeing my subject with great accuracy. I have to time my review perfectly to instantly check the shot. It’s manageable, but not perfect. I am used to watching every muscle in a person’s face very quickly, and I miss seeing extreme detail at the second I click the shutter. All that being said, I am loving the results I get with the EM-1. Thank so much for this wonderful blog and website. I would be interested in an article about using the EM-1 in the studio.
Hi Romine, that is a good idea, I will try to add more tests about AF.
Hi Klaus and thanks for your comment!
Thank you very much for this excellent, long and detailled report! Personally, I like this kind of reports far more than typical technical ones, as you are writing from a users perpective (instead of an analysts/engineers technical point of view) and mention how to use some specific features in daily work (incl. how easy some features are to configure or not). Although I neither had both of these cams in my hands, I would just assume, that they are head-to-head on top of the lists – and your conclusion just underlined that there is no real winner in this battle: it just depends what you want to do with the gear! Additionally, there are a lot of stunning images as examples!
Best regards,
Klaus
Excellent review! Thanks for taking the time to evaluate the two cameras, write and post this article. I was hoping that you would do just such an article. I would love to hear more comparison comments on AF speed and accuracy of these two in really low light indoor situations as well as some speed light comparisons between the two systems.
mark
I have always read that the exterior of the GH3/GH4 is metal, not plastic.