Take a look at most Atomos Shogun "tests" and they will conclude that, except in very few situations, it provides very little improvement in image quality when paired with the Panasonic GH4. Before I delve into my first experiences with the Shogun, I need to dispel these tests as essentially "junk science."
Alright, I'll preface this by saying that if you don't intend to grade/color correct your final product at all, the results of these comparisons are correct, you won't see much, if any difference. Why not? H.264 is an excellent delivery codec. Most of what we watch on television, Netflix, Blu-ray, etc. is highly compressed 8-bit 4:2:0. If we have an image where we want it and encode it as H.264, whether it's RAW from a RED Epic or Alexa, 10-bit Prores HQ from a Shogun, or high bitrate AVCHD from an FS7, it's going to look pretty similar, as that's the intent of the codec. Concluding that the Shogun irrelevant based on the comparison of ungraded footage is like encoding the highest quality 12-bit RAW from RED Epic Dragon to H.264, seeing little difference between the two, and saying that the need for 12-bit RAW is unnecessary. The entire point of higher bit-depths and 4:2:2 is for grading; the final product is almost always going to be 8-bit 4:2:0. Thus, we need to talk about how the Shogun improves grading GH4 footage and not how it improves out-of-camera image quality.
The improvements the Shogun offers are real, but subtle. With the modern deluge of excellent cameras upon us, though, often the differences between mid and high end cameras are subtle as well. It's these subtle improvements that move us closer and closer to Hollywood quality cinematic images. The first thing I noticed is that straight out of the camera, the 10-bit 4:2:2 Prores HQ from the Shogun looks a little cleaner. You really have to pixel peep a bit, but there is no sign of digital artifacts or any macro-blocking. I also feel that the already excellent noise structure of the GH4 is improved a bit with this encoding. I also think that the all I frame nature of Prores improves the motion rendering a bit as well. I know the finished product ends up as IPB, but I think software like DaVinci Resolve and FCP X do a better job than in camera encoding with this respect.
As for grading, the Shogun footage grades better than almost anything I've ever corrected. You can definitely push the image further than with the 100 Mbps AVCHD, while retaining excellent color gradients and hi-light rolloff. In Resolve (at least on the OS X version), the Prores, despite using much more data, seems to tax the computer less as Resolve seems to stay more responsive throughout grading versus the more compressed footage straight out of the camera. Like I said, the differences are subtle, but there's an indescribable quality about the Prores footage that brings the GH4 one tiny step closer to higher end cameras like the Scarlet.
Aside from the Prores, which really produces a much nicer graded product in my opinion, the large, hi-res screen of the Shogun really helps nail focus, leading to a sharper image, and XLR inputs are a very welcome addition. With other excellent Shogun features like waveforms, it is almost a must-have for GH4 owners looking to bring their image quality to a more cinematic level.
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