Damien Demolder explores Panasonic 4K Images & Movies

Damien Demolder, Photographer, Journalist and good friend of CameraWorld, explores 4K images and movies on the latest Panasonic Lumix G-Series Cameras.

It was Henri Cartier-Bresson who coined the phrase ‘the decisive moment’ to describe that splitsecond when all the elements of a story come together within in the viewfinder. We have plenty of examples of his skill at capturing that meaningful but fleeting occurrence, but we rarely hear about the shots he missed. A man who had a camera with him all the time and who shot a massive number of frames, there must have been plenty of images on his contact sheets in which he had shot just a fraction of a second too soon or too late, and the elusive moment had slipped between the frames to escape and never be seen again.

Perfect timing used to be a skill that only professional photographers could enjoy but now, with the help of a new Lumix camera, anyone can make the world stand still whenever they want. Recording an outstanding 30 high-resolution pictures per second Panasonic’s 4K Photo feature means every first step, every bubble popped and every sports day finishing line crossed, will be safely captured and stored.

Panasonic’s 4K Photo modes give us the safety-net of a high-resolution video clip which records not only the decisive moment but all the other moments that come before and which happen after. All you have to do is play back the video on the camera then press pause and ‘save’ when you get to the magic moment. It is as simple as that. You only have to use your skill to decide which is the best picture, and all the perfect timing is saved for after the event when it can be watched back frame by frame.

No more empty pictures

We all know the disappointment of trying to capture a special moment only to find we haven’t been quick enough to press the shutter button at the right time or the camera has been too slow to respond. We end up recording the aftermath – the candles already blown out, the empty path with the learner cyclist long gone, the ball sitting still in the back of the net or nowhere to be seen in the picture at all. They are all moments when we wish we had better reactions or a camera that did as it was told. The truth is these moments are extremely difficult to capture and professional photographers train for years to hone their craft – and spend a lot of money on top end equipment along the way.

With 4K Photo no one has to miss a moment again, whatever your skill level or reaction times. And when you don’t have to concentrate like mad on pressing the shutter button at the right moment, you also have more time to work on your framing and to make sure you have everything in the picture that you want – such as heads and feet!

Ways of working to suit the occasion

There are three ways to use the 4K Photo mode on Lumix cameras that are designed to suit different occasions. Sometimes you know exactly when the moment will happen, such as when there is a countdown to pulling the party poppers, and you only need a short burst to capture the action.

With the pre-burst mode the camera is recording all the time, but it only saves the seconds before and after the shutter button is pressed. So you wait as you would with a normal camera for the right moment, and press the button when you think you should. The camera stores what happened in the second right before you pressed the button, what happened at that moment and what happened in the second right afterwards. With a shooting rate of 30 frames per second those two seconds net you sixty pictures to pick from – and you may be surprised to find more than just one magic moment among them.

The other two modes record much longer bursts with the camera starting and stopping on your instruction. You can set the mode to record only while the shutter button is held down or, if you want to be in the shot yourself you can press to start, leave the camera recording and then press when you want it to stop. These clips can be as long or short as you want, with a maximum clip length of 29 minutes and 59 seconds. That should really make sure you get the moment you were looking for.

On the bus

The main shot was taken in Edinburgh on a cold day of low angled but bright winter sunlight. I spotted that a gap between two buildings was allowing the sun to shine across a road onto the massive brick wall of the city library. I was photographing people as they lit up stepping from the shadow in to the sun-drenched area when I noticed that as a bus passed behind me it threw its own hardedged shadow across the road as well. As it passed by the shape of the top deck appeared on the wall for a second or so.

I imagined a shot in which I’d captured the bus shadow as it coincided with a person walking through the sunlight zone, but it was going to be difficult to capture. The buses were passing behind me, so I couldn’t see when the shadow would appear, and I certainly wouldn’t have been quick enough to capture the person cleanly between the struts of the upstairs windows just by watching the scene unfold in front of me.

It was all happening far too quickly and without enough warning. By the time I’d seen the picture the moment had gone. The solution was easy though, to switch the camera to 4K Photo mode and to activate the video when I could see someone coming and could hear a bus behind me. It only took a couple of takes to capture the moment I was looking for in the net. Playing the footage back on the camera demonstrated on the spot that two or three frames had worked. They showed the moments where the man’s face was lit by the sun that was shining through the bus window, while at the same time his head was comfortably composed within the frame of that window.

Cameras with 4K Photo modes

The new Panasonic Lumix G7 is ideal for recording all sorts of special moments. Because, for a camera of its type, it is small and lightweight you won’t mind carrying it with you wherever you go, which means you will always have it when you need it. It is easy to use for new-comers to picture taking, but with more than enough control to keep advanced photographers very happy.

The black and white picture on this page was shot with Panasonic’s new 20-million-pixel Lumix GX8 compact system camera, but it isn’t the only model in the range that offers this feature. The Lumix GH4 also has 4K Photo mode, as does the new Lumix G7

The G7 isn’t the only model in the Lumix range that offers this feature. For those who like smaller models try the Lumix LX100 premium compact or the CM1 smartphone with its 1-inch 20-million-pixel sensor. Alternatively, the Lumix FZ1000 “bridge” camera packs in a powerful zoom lens and 1” sensor to ensure you can get close to the action and ensure fantastically detailed photos.