@stanlymanly2 I think it is quite obvious that what you program is the time interval from start of one shooting cycle to the start of the next shooting cycle, and that if you don't yourself take focus time, exposure time, bracketing, noise reduction time, and writing time into account, you will be prone to set up interval shots that the camera can't keep up with (which is what you did).

You would of course have focusing, and noise reduction disabled, and most often bracketing as well, so you only end up with exposure time, and the writing time should always be possible to discount since it should be parallellized with the next shot and buffer-fill is impossible I think with the minimum-interval of one second.

@Rambo yes I think the 14-140 is a good lens. Ok I'm lucky to have beautifull lighting all the year in my country.. @maxr Many thanks. The movie 'Inside the Monster' will be uploaded on august the 15th in Vimeo. I hope you'll enjoy this 26 minutes movie about the monster wave of Teahupoo..

The focus assist has a 3x (doesn't fill the screen and is incredibly blurry), 5x (which is great) and 10x, which is too much. The back dial controls which zoom you have when in focus assist mode.

@h2otara exactly what I was writting ;-) and that happens both in back screen and EVF

this is a very helpful feature, can be also used (EVF wise) with back panel touch pinpoint (or small area) AF

@jul and @mankus71 very cool videos guys, even my heartbeats slowed down ;-)
Julien the inside the monster video promo is pure awesomeness XD

The focus assist has a 3x (doesn't fill the screen and is incredibly blurry), 5x (which is great) and 10x, which is too much. The back dial controls which zoom you have when in focus assist mode.

I took a look at a second GH3 today, at a different camera store, and the EVF focus assist worked exactly as I hoped it would.

The previous GH3's focus assist didn't fill the entire screen or EVF, and was incredibly blurry. I can only guess that improper camera settings were conflicting with the focus assist, or possibly the camera was defective. I showed the issue to the first GH3 salesman, who stated that he has seen this with other GH3's, so I didn't pursue it further. In retrospect, I should have asked to do a factory reset on the camera or look at another GH3.

At any rate, the second GH3 satisfied my concerns so I bought it.

jul 4:03PM @RBD Thanks. This footage was recorded in .mov 24p in standard mode ( 0.0.0.0 ) and i.Dynamic in standard mode... That's the only settings I had, except of the frame rate at 40% naturaly.

Additionally, this was shot with the 14-140 Pany tele that many people don't like, my experience with this lens is also great colour, it's what I use 98% of the time outdoors.

R

@jul Really nice vid. Good music choice too. I'm going to have to revisit the 40% mode. Shooting at 60p and slowing down in post works well but man you got some great shots using 40%. Again nice stuff.

Thanks for the replies to my inquiry.

I have zero manual focus problems with my GH2, so I expected the GH3 to be comparable. Some people have clearly stated that the EVF requires careful eye placement, and I recently read a post (sorry, can't find the link to it) that said the user spent a few days of constant diopter tweaking and adjusting settings for the EVF to make it work "almost" as good as his GH2. That is encouraging, so now I will go to a different camera dealer and test a second GH3.

As enough people mention issues with the EVF, to the point of returning them, maybe the GH3 I tested today has a faulty EVF. Or, maybe I need to spend more time tweaking the diopter to get usable results. I'm willing to give it another try.

bwhitz - I whole heartedly agree with you that there should be "nothing difficult about finding manual focus with the GH3". The one I tried, simply didn't give me remotely useable results. User error? Maybe. GH3 EVF issue? Maybe. Nit picking? Guilty as charged! I'm kind of nit picky about trying to shoot in focus.

BTW: Folks like Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein and Joan of Arc to name a few didn't quit when it got "hard."

There is a difference in ideas here... "hard situations" vs "lack of ability". Albert Einstein naturally had a mathematically mind, math wasn't "hard" for him. Sure he encountered difficult problems and equations, but if mathematics was really "difficult" for him, there is absolutely no way he could have discovered what he did. Same goes for Jobs and everyone else. Hard work is necessary, but not sufficient.

Sorry bwhitz, but as an advertising TV professional of 25 years - I humbly, respectfully and professionally choose to disagree.

Well, congrats, honestly. But I'm speaking more about Narrative-film directing/cinematography. So yea, maybe broadcasting/ENG have a different emphasis on the useability of focusing tools. This might be why so many are polarized on the use/useability of cameras like these.

But still, even in ENG... how exactly is the lack of critical focus going to translate into something that really impacts the audience? At best, better focusing will maybe save 1 out of 30 shots in a face paced environment... and only "save them" from bad focus. It's not like a good EVF is holding you back from the visual/spacial skills and framing sensibilities of a great Director or DP. It will AT BEST again, make your job easier (which, you're right, has a place in some areas), but it won't make your "skills" any better per se. Which is why I feel this is still "scape-goat-ism" and not legitimate claims against the GH3.

Sorry bwhitz, but as an advertising TV professional of 25 years - I humbly, respectfully and professionally choose to disagree.

BTW: Folks like Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein and Joan of Arc to name a few didn't quit when it got "hard." They voiced an opinion, kept on, searched for solutions to the inadequate or insane ... and changed things. (Also kinda like Vitaliy Kiselev and Nick Driftwood in my humble opinion :^)

I've given up on the EVF for critical manual focus for live work. For situations when I have more time to set up shot I use the EVF and magnification prior to recording. I have ordered a varavon loupe and will give that a go. But in the mean time I will use the GH2 for live documentation work requiring manual focus.
I hope that the Varavon will fix this but I agree it is a pity to have one more bit to carry. I have narrowed down my kit to a light version which has GH3, and three lenses & 2 batteries. To have the added varavon bulk means new bag :-)

Q: How are GH3 owners achieving reliable manual focus?

I spent my lunch break looking at the GH3, and although I am impressed with (and want) many of the GH3 features, the EVF is a major disappointment. In a brightly lit camera store, I was unable to verify if the camera was in focus with or without the MF assist. I brought my GH2 for comparison, and just couldn't adapt to the GH3's EVF. BTW, this GH3 had the 12-35mm Lumix lens, and it focused fine with auto focus. Also, I did tweak the diopter, but it didn't resolve the mush into something reliable for focusing. I've read many comments here about the soft focus of the EVF, but I never imagined it would be so bad. I even wondered if the GH3 I was reviewing was faulty, but the salesman claimed that all the GH3's he has tried suffered from this.

The OLED screen is nice, but I much prefer using the EVF for focus, especially in bright light. I have seen plenty of well focused footage from the GH3, so I'm curious to know how GH3 users are dealing with the manual focus. The Varavon attachment would help, but adds bulk and conflicts with some of the side mounted connections.

Is this issue something Panasonic can improve with firmware upgrades, or is it a limitation of the sensor?

That would be Firmware v2.0...