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Official Panasonic GH3 topic, series 3
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  • @Aria But its these very "flaws" that many focus on when bitching at Nex,Nikon,Canon,Pentax because the GH2 was one of the few vdslrs that doesnt really have this issue. GH2 owners constantly do these moire comparisons even though theres plenty of great stuff shot with these other cameras. As an upgrade from the GH2 (for video) and if moire concerns you (which concerns most GH2 owners), wouldnt you want to really know for sure its not a step back in that area before plonking the dough?

    I had a vg20 and for a good month I shot lots of footage around that had very little moire and alaising,was very happy with it until one day I went to a local village to shoot..90 percent of my shots were unusable (there was no way to save footage of bulidings doing rainbow dances). I loved that camera but it had to go.

    Point is we should look at the negatives also so we can decide if we can work around them (maybe a partiular thing causes it) or choose not to go there. Anyway veering off topic I hope that we get to see more real world footage showing the flaws as well as the well done scenes where the videographer works around to hide the limitations.

  • At this point there are FAR more videos that show no real signs of bad Moire/Aliasing than ones that do. Why is it that some only seem to want to focus on the few videos that show some? Whatever the reason for the issue in some videos, the 1st hand reports from those who actually have the GH3 also confirm that it's not a major issue that some are trying to make it out to be.

    I may be in the minority but I don't go out of my way to look for evidence of flaws. Unless they jump out and become distracting to the point of not being ignored, then I don't go pixel peeping to try and find an apartment window on the 30th floor that shows some moire in the background of a scene. Rather than moire tests I want to see some more well done scenes that can show just how good this camera can be. I like the many creative modes that @driftwood demonstrated. The GH3 seems like a far more adjustable than the GH2 was.

  • @Vitaliy Thats true but that "churchyard" video is pretty extreme amount of moire (if it is genuine) way more than the GH2 would. Ive shot in similar surroundings with GH2 and had nothing what that video demonstrates.

    Maybe the ones who currently own GH3's havent experienced something that would ring it off so much yet. Still early days.

    It would be nice to rule out the churchyard video example. See something shot similar. Just for peace of mind.

  • oh thanks, didnt know timelapse could work with raw since it was blacked out for me hdr also?

  • @Mimirsan

    Looking at all owners reports I do not see any that mention moire that is more than GH2.

  • @danyyyel Im in the same boat. theres a lot to like about the GH3 but the alaising/rainbow color moire is something that I need to see more of especially that church video environment as here where I live its all red brick and funky rooftops. I need to see more proof before going ahead and buying one.

  • For it is urgent that someone does a side by side test about the moire/aliasing, because if videos like the one with the church above is just horrible and if it not representative of the gh3 than it is making a lot of bad publicity to it.

    But then if it is true and representative of the gh3 than why any need for a hack, etc. Because it shares the same family number than the gh2. At least with me, I would look elsewhere.

  • Would anyone be willing to do a comparison of the GH2 and the GH3 with the SAME lenses (preferably anything non-lumix), nikkors, FD's, Zeiss, Sigma etc- something vintage maybe.

    High ISO tests to me are pointless, the GH3 as we know wins handily in not only ISO but in almost every other way.

    My issue is, that my needs are a bit different than most. I like as an organic image as possible, colors that aren't too overwhelming / vibrant and finally good "film-like" motion cadence (other cameras like Sony's have trouble here). I think the GH2 does better than most on all of the above. And so far, it seems that for what I like, it's much better than the GH3 as well. BUT I haven't seen a decent comparison on which I can finalize that judgement just yet.

    As of now, nothing has convinced me to stop using the GH2, which is surprising even me to say the least. I'm still obsessed with this little beast despite its faults.

  • Could someone who has the gh2 and gh3 do a side by side panning shot with some brick wall. This moire/aliasing issue or non issue is just dragging so long even if the camera is still out. I think it is a given that the gh3 is better in low light so no need to see more of these.

  • Found this side-by-side ISO comparison night test between the GH2 and GH3.

  • @kellar42 Me too. Although I downloaded the original file and while theres clearly something done wrong in post. the video shows more detail than what ive seen from Canon,nikon and sony cameras. So hmmmmmm...

  • @Mimirsan I have a hard time believing that is the GH3. I haven't been concerned at all with Moire or Aliasing through any of this, but that looks quite unusable, and on a not an inconceivable wide shot rather than a test chart or something. Perhaps something in the way he scaled or transcoded it? It's BAD.

  • @cablefreak76

    the 5D markiii also isn't sharp (straight out of the camera) and needs sharpening in post(but give great detail when you do), do you think it is better to record with sharpness at -5 and then doing sharpening afterwards with the GH3? I mean not just because of the look but would that yield better results and perhaps give more detail?

    and do i understand you correctly if I say that you think that the camera handles the 25mmPL differently when having sharpness dialed down to -5? Does the PL25mm have extra sharpening in its lens firmware or something like that?

    (great video by the way!!)

  • Wow! It just keeps getting better! :-). I just did a quick hand-held test of the Continuous Auto Focus using a lens designed for that (the 14-140). The performance was FANTASTIC! I used a small central area as the focus point and swept between some points (hand held). The focus locked on INSTANTLY and IT DID NOT HUNT AT ALL. I'm loading a MOV directly from the raw footage to Vimeo. It is very rough and shaky since I shot hand-held. I used 1080/60, since 60 fps should allow the fastest focus. It is GREAT!

    I can't stay around to see if the conversion of the raw MOV straight from the camera works on Vineo or not.

    I know Pros say you should never use auto-focus in video. But...at 60 fps, and based on this little test, as an amateur parent filmer, I expect I will use continuous auto-focus a lot (with a lens that is made for it, like the 140-140). :-)

    I'll add the link to this fast test after it loads it Vimeo (and if Vimeo will accept the raw MOV file from the camera. If Vimeo chokes on the high bitrate and rejects it (as usual) I can't transcode to mp4 and upload till 2nite. But...I am happy as a clam. It looks FANTASTIC. It focuses so fast you can;t even see it happen. And...it doesn't hunt once it's focused! WOW! What a camera.

    I have to get my daughter rousted and fed and ready for Mass, so I hope the upload of the raw MOV file to Vimeo works, since I won't be able to do anything else till this evening.

    IF it works, the clip will be here:

    PS: With my limited experience the stills ARE better than my old GH1...

    Here is a link to the same clip converted to mp4 before uploading.:

  • Is this GH3? If it is then the moire is as bad as the 5n I have aleady!

  • @cablefreak76 Beautiful work and example to all. Excellent.

  • Martin: Wow. Your video on Vimeo is beautiful. It takes professionals like you to really show what can be done with these 'consumer' level cameras. I have no qualms in stating I'm just a hobbyist/parent who happened to get fast delivery from Amazon. Seeing your work is inspiring as it shows what can be done with the GH3. I know I'll never get the kind of results you (and other real pros can), but, it is inspiring to know that it is possible to get such results out of such an affordable camera. Thanks for posting a link here.

  • @swaneon The timelapse function also works with RAW, or even RAW+JPEG and with electronic shutter if you would shoot long sequences and like to save your shutter :)

    Two short clips using the timlapse function I shot RAW in the middle of this:

    @Driftwood That's what I've heard too about the Lumix Link app in Sweden, according to some very reliable sources :)

    In terms of moire, I would like to say that the GH3 is nothing worse than our GH2:s and in that regard, it shows the very slightest colouring of 45 degree detail on a chart at close to 1000 lines. But I've done the same tests on a Canon C100 (same 4K RGB-readout sensor as in the C300 but with the crappiest AVCHD codec on earth ;) on the very same chart and it renders worse moiré than the GH3.

    Another thing I like about the GH3, sharpness seem to be able to turn down COMPLETELY to a level almost without any in-cam sharpening at all (except image processing itself of course). That also applies to the Lumix/Leica 25/1.4 which looks almost identical to the Nokton 25/0.95 on the chart. Sharpness level -5 is quite different to -4 and up, which clearly applies sharpness. I know a lot of you guys are sharpness freaks, but personally I absolutely LOVE the look that the GH3 produce at -5. Initially, I prefer to shoot at Natural -5 -5 0 -5.

    Another tip is to look for CrumplePop's plugin 'Finisher' for FCPX which seems to be match made in heaven for the GH3's All-I footage at sharpness -5 if you care for a sharper look with nice fimic grain to it... I know CrumplePop has some love for the hacked GH2, they'll likely keep on coding nicely for the GH3 as well. I was PM'ed by the crew a while ago to try out Finisher with my GH2 footage, they seemingly pretty much had the GH2 in mind during when developing the plug. :)

    Will post some samples and more info later, specifically some positive info on how the GH3 works at high ISO night photography, lengthy exposures etc... and my thoughts on the OM-D vs GH3 sensor... have to feed my wee daughter now!

  • only thing is that its not raw, shame though

  • Someone asked about the time-lapse function. Whether it shuts the camera off at the end of a programmed sequence. Yes, it does. It is very easy to use. You set the time duration between shots, the number of shots, and then hit start. I tested with 6 shots with 10 seconds between. After you hit start in the menu and exit the menu system you get a message to tell you to press the shutter button to begin the sequence. I did that. It took 6 pictures 10 seconds apart, and then shut itself down. When you power back up there is a message the N pictures were taken. You can play back the saved time lapse as if it were a movie on the camera OLED panel, or, single step through the shots if you want. Very easy. No more intervalometer needed!

  • i personally love the upgrade to the GH3

  • As for turning off the "Continuous AF" function in the Menu for Movie shooting: I think you'll want it OFF unless you are using a fast focusing LUMIX lens designed for "HD Video"? I have not shot anything with my only fast-focusing Lumix lens (the 14-140). But, at my daughters karate demo, I started with the Sigma 30mm/1.4. That's really a 4/3rds lens that gets put onto a u43 body via an adapter. The auto-focus did not work on a GH1, and it is pitifully slow on a GH2 or GH3. I deleted the first two clips where I started withe Continuous AF ON, and that lens. It was out of focus most of the time and continually hunting. I guess I could have saved some as examples? But, the files off of the GH3 are huge, and these were worthless, so I deleted them.

    I then switched to the Lumix 20/1.7, which is pretty notorious for slow and noisy focusing, but set the Continuous AF back to ON. That was a mistake. Again..focus hunting during filming. I think I deleted all those ruinedd clips but I might have an example?

    However, I expect different behavior using the 14-140? It was designed for auto-focus video use on the GH series. But...chores all day today, more chores tomorrow, so I can't test.

    Happily, since so many folks are getting their GH3s, I think we'll we'll know the answer soon. My guess is that the 14-140, 12-35, and 35-100 might do pretty well with continuous focus in video mode? But...I'll never know about the 12-35 or 35-100 until they begin to show up used and much less expensiveon Ebay. :-) And...they sound so nice that may be never. :-)

    I should edit this to say that I had the physical switch on the camera body set the AFS/AFF. Maybe I should have had that set to AFC before setting the "Continuous AF" menu to ON for video? Hmmm. The GH3 manual is not very complete nor clear...

  • Hi All. Been busy all day with family chores. I just posted a clip to Vimeo that was shot in 1080/60p. I also exported it as a 1080/60p mp4 file, but Vimeo automatically converts the version they display to 30p. But, you can download the mp4 that is 60p. For the mp4 version, I used the default VBRs in PP for 1080/30 (Max 48, Target=32).

    At about time=50 seconds I repeated the prior few seconds slowed down to 40% of the original speed. I did this in post. That's what's nice about shooting at 1080/60p, you can slow it down in post and it looks much better than something shot at 30 or 24. I lost the ability to shoot 720/60p in my GH1 when I went with the lpowell 75 Mhz Peak Performance patch. But, now. Wow: with the GH3, I get 60 fps back, but, also at 1080 resolution! Hurrah!

    There was zero other grading done to the clip. It is straight out of the camera (and, slightly degraded since I encoded it into an mp4).

    I think I really love the GH3 already, and all I've been able to shoot was a pretty dimly lit stage.

    Keep in mind that I used all manual exposure, and that this clip was shot at ISO 1000 (so it's probably over-exposed)?

    Also, I made an error in titles in the clip. The first clip was shot with a Sigma 30mm/1.4 at f=2.0. The second clip was shot with the Lumix 20mm/1.7 at f2.0

    f2.0 might give too shallow of a depth of field...but...

    And Tex: I'm perfectly fine with the sharpness that I'm seeing out of my GH3. And...keep in mind, we have only scratched the surface. This was shot in Standard Mode {0,0,0,0}. Maybe you would be happier with clips shot with sharpening set higher? Time will tell if the GH3 can match the incredible resolution of a GH2 running one of driftwood or powells hacks?

    Here's the vimeo link: