http://heriphotography.com/2014/01/20/panasonic-gh3-field-test/

Hello - first post on here (or anywhere) since getting a GH3. Been using it on and off for a few months now and have finally just about found some settings that don't make everyone look like they're claymation. Was absolutely gutted for a while with the quality I was getting, but happier now. Most recently, shot all the training scenes in this (on Noktor 0.95 17.5mm and 42.5mm):

It's largely ungraded (these are speedy turnaround projects) and there's a lot of nice stuff that is on the cutting room floor too... But still, I was pleased with how the camera held up on a very fast shoot. Few niggles (some of which may be unfamiliarity) but hopefully I'm getting somewhere with it now.

I have had GH3 about an year now and I think it is time to share my experiences.

At first I can say it is a workhorse. It has been served me very well and I am generally happy with its ergonomics and photo/video quality. There are of course cons and pros. We all know good things so here are some problems:

Build quality: Loose mem card door, loose LCD almost broken now, EVF ocular scratched (very soft coating), Grip slippery with sweaty hands in summer events, Front wheel not working properly (not responding all times, rolls without doing nothing), flash sync cap dropped, AF malfunction with lenses. Info icons burnt partly in OLED EVF. Pro quality?, not really.

Ergonomics: Hand grip could be bigger for my big hand. Video button too deep in its hole. WB, iso, ev buttons uncomfortable placed and not differing in feel. Many fn buttons hard to find. Mode roll could be lighted- hard to see in dark. Playmode button hard to press when filming-need left hand off objective and often to look where it is. Generally still one of the best ergonomics of all cameras.

Operating camera: Panasonics own very STUPID PASM logic. Shutter speed and/or aperture follows you everywhere when you switch to various modes. So when you shoot stills at 1/2000 speed and switch to video you must also shoot video at 1/2000 unless you furiously roll back to 1/50 or whatever you want. And then back to stills-same problem backwards. Even C1-C3 cant save exposure values so no wonder if my front wheel is soon broken. There are several Fn-buttons but you cant program all important functions to them. I wanted to use picture control and autofocus control (video) with Fn but that is not possible. Why all menus cant assign to Fn buttons? In fact 6 of my favourite menu items could not be assigned to Fn. Then EV-button on top. In a year I havent found a situation when it is needed. One of the rolls always controls EV. So It could be Fn-button instead.

Other findings: -SH burst mode is useless because it uses video scaler so why not use 60fps video instead. SHburst jpegs are no better than video frames. -PAL/NTSC swichability is my first wish to Panasonic, Vitaliy, Santa or somebody. Even Sony has got it now. Please we live in global world. -50Mbs mov is way better than AVCHD- (levels 0-255 vs 16-235), no little "flies" everywhere, even plays better in players. -Natural (contrast-5, color 0) best profile for me (video) -Sharpen -5 best (video). Normal sharpening creates disturbing thick halos or black sharpening outlines. Fine detail thickens and resolution becomes uneven. Better sharpen in post (Potplayer sharpen is very good) -Noise reduct. -5 (video) better results in post. -Resolution is not fullHD, maybe 85% of ideal 1920p. (Still better than Canons or Nikons or Sonys (60-70%). -Dynamic range in video is almost same as jpegs with same profiles and close to raw when using artistic filter "High dynamic". It is handy in some situations (sunsets, city lights etc.) but it has strange color profile and horrible standard sharpening. But you can handle these in post. -Sound quality and stereo surround feel is quite good and balanced. Interiors are realistic with good audio surround system. -Croma quality and resolution seems to be better than other 4:2:0 cameras. I cant say why but my eyes says so.

Despite all these issues I am very happy with GH3. Hack would be nice christmas present. I live in Finland (Europe) and I would like to have 60P because it has so much better motion handling than 50P and some extra bitrate would be good for 60P also.

Thats all for now Vesku

Mount Doom and the Eye of Sauron all in one. What an incredible shot. Wow!

HH

Photo details: Camera Maker: Panasonic; Camera Model: DMC-GH3; Focal Length: 35.0mm (35mm equivalent: 70mm); Aperture: f/2.8; Exposure Time: 3.200 s; ISO equiv: 500.

http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2013/11/klyuchevskoy-eruption.html

Ok thank pind.i will go check.

@Tscheckoff: sorry about that. Now fixed!

@Midsummerfilm: All videos are actually "private". Please change.

Hello to all. I am new to this forum. Bought my GH3 back in May for stock video. A former Canon t series user; now a GH3 fan.

@jfilmmaker. We shot this in Finnish summer so not really night here. This shot was actually quite much work in terms of lighting (one trailer full of light equipment) Pulled exposure down in post. There is some making of shots on my page www.facebook.com/christianwengercine.

@SuperSet Thank you very much SuperSet. It's a joy to use this camera!

@Chris74 - wow, that is an outstanding trailer! I love everything about it! Can't wait to see the rest - you really got something there. Great all-around!

Gonzalo and Chris74, that is some great looking footage!