The video recording limit is a very vexing one. Only Panasonic is addressing it.
Apparently, cameras in Europe are subject to a whole 5% tax if they can record longer than 30 minutes.
The problem is that Pentax, and even Canon and Nikon, would rather not pass on this tax to US buyers, and make a single model worldwide with this limit.
Only Panasonic has addressed the true need of videographers by making different versions for different regions.
I just got a Lumix DC-GX85 for $599 with two lenses (12-32 and 40-150). $499 after a 20% ebay coupon a few weeks ago.
It can record up to 4K / 30p at 100 Mbps bit rate, up to 96GB or the size of your SD card continuously, whichever is less.
So far I got 1 hour 44 min in this mode out of this camera on one battery (stationary, left all night, turned off the LCD to conserve power) using a 128GB SD card.
The camera says I could have recorded up to nearly 3 hours of video. I don't know if that would have been continuous. But it would have required using an AC adapter, which I also purchased, but did not try yet.
IMO, Pentax is so far behind in video it's not even funny.
For $500-$600, the GX85 just can't be beaten for video.
Yes, the micro 4/3 sensor is smaller than APS-C, but it's still decent. And there is dual IS, both in body and in lens, which can help for handheld use.
For tripod, the APS-C sensor of recent Pentax bodies will do better in low-light, but it is mostly wasted by the low bit rate, recording limit, and low resolution (no 4K) in Pentax bodies.
The GX85 4K photo mode is good enough to extract 8MP frames that can be printed large and look great. Think of it as an 8MP still camera that shoots at 30fps, with no shutter sound. This is better quality for stills in low-light than my first Pentax APS-C body, a 10MP K200D, which had a much worse sensor in terms of noise (peak ISO was 1600 and looked horrible, and the K200D didn't do video at all).
And there is a Fotodiox adapter you can use to mount Pentax lenses on the GX85. It has an aperture ring on it, so you can even use DA lenses.
---------- Post added 04-12-18 at 08:20 PM ----------
Originally posted by stevebrot That is probably because DXOMark normalizes its sensor scores according to sensor size and pixel count. As a result, valid comparisons for the GH4 should only be made with other m43 bodies.
What's your evidence of that ?
I don't believe that's the case.
DxOMark camera sensor testing protocol and scores - DxOMark
The K-7 is about 9 years old. Sensors have evolved dramatically since then. I think the DXO comparison between the GH4 sensor and K-7 is accurate. The GH4 has a much better sensor, despite the smaller dimensions.
Similarly, a comparison between my first Pentax body, a K200D, vs my newest DC-GX85, shows this :
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX80 vs Pentax K200D
(it says GX80 there, but it is the same as GX85, GX80 is just the European version with the 30 min recording limit, I believe)
On the other hand, my 2012 vintage Pentax K-30 gets a better showing than my 2016 vintage GX85 :
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX80 vs Pentax K-30
The difference is particularly true in low-light, where the K-30 sensor does nearly twice as well in terms of ISO as the GX85.
It is fair to say that both the K-7 and K200D are obsolete today due to their outdated sensors.