GH3 user reviews and opinions

ickejohannes

Another brief banding test. I shot the GH3 in black and white completely dialed down, 1080p 50fps, 25mm Voigtländer Nokton @ 0.95f. Subjectively I'ld also say that there's less banding than on the GH2, but it's still there,

(Sorry for the shakiness etc. it was more a byproduct of testing the camera at my local shop than a proper test. Oh and make sure to download the original mov file because vimeo compression makes things a lot worse than they are.)

driftwood

Insane picture size /macroblock sizes in the GH3!

With 8x8 Adaptive Transform we're really seeing the Pany h264 Progressive codec shine. Here's a Elecard Intra slice grab showing Q range of between 13 and 16 on Stray's Death Chart for the whole picture in a 50M 1080p24 IPB recording.

djhessler · Screen shot 2013-01-10 at 9.02.21 AM.png

I'm curious if anyone is getting lines or banding in high ISO's with the GH3 in video mode, I get horrible lines/banding that honestly make my gh2 more pleasing to the eye. I have attached a file with file of 6400 ISO to make my point, of course I would probably never use 6400 but even at 3200 the lines are noticeable, any one else have this issue?

UPDATE: lol I always end up finding answers to my problems, well as it turns out, I was testing the high iso feature with a 14-42 X lens and that was causing those lines, I slapped a manual lens with no IS and no electronics and now I see how clean my 3200 setting is, so people watch out with those Panny lenses :-)

dustylense

@driftwood Could you explain to the people here (me) what this means? Is this a good thing?

ehmeddie

The EVF has UNITS ARE BUGS OR BAD? BETTER OR NOT THAT THE GH2 EVF?

jjj_ri_usa

Ignore the images below, I don't have permission to delete them. V.K.: if you would be so kind, please delete the images. My comments were about still images, (not video), and pertained to doing absurd things by adjusting for gross under exposures with still images...so...I'd like to remove the entire post...

Thanks!

jjj_ri_usa

The first reply 'hits the nail on the head.' Start with ISO 3200, then push two stops =12,800. And, the image is still under-exposed. In any normally exposed shot, this color mottling is invisible. So, this is not really an issue. I agree 100%.

halimecondor

I'm not quite sure what the point of your post is or what your question is? Are we supposed to screw around in light room and see if we can make still images look bad or do you think there is problem with your specific camera?

endotoxic

NEW VIDEOS:

GravitateMediaGroup

A gh2 - canon 6d - gh3 compare edit.

GRADED

UPDATE 1 - 19 - 2013

UNGRADED

(the 6d is AMAZING in low light, if you didn't notice)

kronstadt

To my eye, GH2 is often the winner over the GH3. Why? Because GH2 just looks more cinematic to my eye. GH3 looks too "crisp" and "cold", like many Sony cameras do. Yes, GH3 has an improved ISO performance, but for me this is not a GH2 killer.

GravitateMediaGroup

it's WAY to early to even consider the fact that "this isn't better than a gh2" It beats the gh2 in a LOT of ways. don't get me wrong, I have picked up and shot with my gh2 as much as my gh3 since owning it, and the detail of the gh2 goes toe to toe with the big dogs (red and such) I don't really get the whole "gh2 is filmic" bit because a lot of people that truly are digging deep to find that "affordable filmic appearance camera" always talk down about the GH2 and end up going with canon. I've owned my 6d for less than a month, and within 3 hours of messing with it, I instantly saw why a "majority" of the time canon is taken more serious as an industry standard (act of valor, red tails, CSI, and every professional photographer) the colors that canon can produce right out of the camera mop the floor with the gh2, not to mention it's extremely low noise in extremely low light. nobody is going to force you to stop using your gh2 and buy into a gh3. one thing to keep in mind with the "gh3 edits that look to crisp" is were they shooting 60p, and weere they using the 12-35 lol

so far this is my take on the gh3

low light performance being one of the better/most useful improvements.

gh3 runs a lot fast in general as a camera (deleting clips)

it has way better performance as a stills camera (with nifty effects to say "look what my camera can do")

better dynamic range (from what I have seen so far)

a WAYYYY better LCD (with no crazy color/gamma shift when you hit record)

better auto focus with compatible lenses and for those that require AF.

less moire/aliasing (from what I have seen so far)

it actually FEELS like a real camera (and that's without battery grip)

oh..... battery grip & shotgun mic

although the wifi isn't perfected yet, it will be a nice addition when it is

being able to drop to -5 across the board is a big plus for a lot of people

and just a wild off the wall guess, the gh2 can be pushed to 2k in mjpeg, I would not be surprised if the gh3 can reach 4k....maybe not possible, but fun to imagine

I'll probably update this list of things I like about the gh3 the more I use it.

these are just things that stick out to me, and if you asked what I like better about the gh2 over the gh3, the only thing I would be able to say is "it's hacked" but at the same time 50mbs and 77mbs isn't no cupcake.

there is still a lot of things to be discovered with the gh3, and if it can be hacked to the same level the gh2 has been hacked to, that "cold & crips" look you are concerned with can easily be fixed with a little post work. sometimes it's hard to accept the "new kid" but other than 422, RAW video, and a few other things that isn't possible to smash into a camera of this size, I think panasonic did a good job of the adding a lot of features that people wanted to see. My guess is the GH4 will truly be the camera we are all drooling for, but that's another topic.

it's 3am where I live, and I have a headache, so please excuse any grammar, typos, and spelling errors lol

24pSlideshow

I have GH2 an GH3. GH3 is better in stills and video. I made resolution test in 24p (flowmotion vs mov50mb) and GH3 has a little cleaner resolution. But I dont use 24p or 25p because I dont like stutter and resolution pumping when moving camera. So in 50p or 60p GH3 has much much better image than GH2. Color, DR, banding, sound, handling, battery etc... are better.

There are still left some stupid things there in GH3 from GH2. Mode dial logic is frustrating. Shutter speed and iso etc. dont change when you roll the dial. So you cant do video and stills with different shutter speed or iso without changing them all the time. For example If you want shoot stills at 1/1000 and then rapidly videos at 1/50 that is not possible. Even C modes cant save shutter speed or aperture. And GH3 is supposed to be good hybrid camera.

One way is to trust red video button and hope camera uses good exposure values (usually too short shutter about 1/500). My way is to use A to stills and S for video. But S in video leeds to jumpy exposure because of aperture stepping. And why in S mode camera cant show aperture value its chooses? M+auto iso would be nice but GH3 doesnt have it. M is now useless to me because it cant hold its values if you do something else and go back to M. It is a mess if you want to use automatic exposure for video. Unless you use cameras iAuto (aka idiot auto). I dont want to use full M but I think it is the only way to get decent video. But it may leed to severe under or over exposure if I dont watch exposure very carefully or conditions change during clip. Why cant it work like a normal video camera? No jumps in exposure and no idiotic shutter speeds in automatic video.

In Canons and Nikon P A S M works independently. Why Panasonic must have their own weird Philosophy? Can anyone tell me one reason?

Why there is EV button while one of the rolls always controls EV? Why is there 8 function buttons but you can program only some of operations to them? Why cant you set iso limit in video mode? Was it too hard to programme? It would also be nice to have contrast etc. under one button. I think they was hurry to get camera to christmas market.

Viewfinder is softer in GH3 and you cannot check focus reliably. You must trust green rectangle of autofocus. Can they do some sharpening adjust in EVF? It is too very noisy in low light althougt recording is clean.

I hope that firmware update could fix theese problems. Please, Panasonic!

PAL/NTSC swichable is too must for me. I hope Vitaly can make it.

Thank you all for testing and hacking and helping.

RBD

My first foray into stills with the GH-3.

GH-3, Dynamic Monochrome, really old Nikkor 50mm 1.4.

Creamy whites!

RRRR

Returning my gh3 this week after a test run.. pros: mic / headphone line-ins (the gh3 managed to run my Roland binaural earphones with very reasonable results!), a host of features, many that I never did managed to test, improved stills, very good video, slight DR range improvement a.s.o. cons: viewfinder, more "fragile" in the cold. 30 minute rec limit.

Overall: some of the improvements felt pretty slight in comparison to my expectations. Low light performance - I don´t fancy the natural grain in the camera, at least not for stills. Stills performance not AS good as I expected. Om-d felt nicer in this regard.. Very promising for the future; a hack will make this a serious tool for me and until then I will have no problems being without it.

The gh3 made me wish for good video performance in the next generation of fuji´s with interchangeable lenses since that seems exactly like what I want from a hybrid with emphasis on stills capabilities. (some might say, get a stills cam - but I want to have a great deal of both in one body)

timfrakes

Hey RRRR, can I have the GH3 you returned? I'm sick of waiting for B&H.

RRRR

@timfrakes it´s a PAL version, in Sweden.. 1625 usd incl VAT. Still interested? :) (the store I bought it from has it in stock and might ship you one, excl VAT - roughly the same as B&H price - still PAL though)

RRRR

By the way, regarding the viewfinder in the gh3: it seems like there has been some kind of screw up when it comes to the glass they put in the diopter. The screen resolution should be enough to make it substantially more precise than the gh2 viewfinder, yet - I can´t imagine myself using it for focusing. Ever. (I have no problems doing that with the gh2).

That´s my take on it at least. I have no evidence to substantiate the above claims other than from my own experiences.

MattRobertson7

Yeah the GH3 viewfinder is horrible, the diopter definitly seems messed up @RRRR

I honestly could not focus with it at all, the LCD was great though. But super disappointing to have a poor evf

IvanUskokovic

@RRRR & @MattRobertson7 - I am finding the same poor EVF results as you gentlemen have. I do wonder if it is some sort of factory mistake. Has anybody contacted Panasonic about this? Like @RRRR, I am 100% unable to focus via my EVF. It's almost a constant "blur".

Vitaliy_Kiselev

I think EVF stuff will be better suited for http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/5488/gh3-issues-topic/p1

AdamT

There is a wide disparity of opinion on the EVF at dpreview's forum. Personally I prefer it to the GH2s EVF and have no problem forcusing with it, but it is very sensitive to eye placement.

Still hoping that Panny or Vitaliy implement peaking ASAP.

RRRR

here´s a test video of the gh3 with roland CS-10EM binaural earphones: in-cam levels cranked up to a maximum. No corrections for audio or video in post. Mind, this is not meant to be exciting. ;) Use headphones for listening.

pass: binaural

GravitateMediaGroup

key word "unscientific"

Ignore the last part of the video, I'm thinking a Voightlander wasn't the best lens to use. I believe what it's showing the "focus point" of the lens?

Also, I've updated a post with the same edit, the new one has no grade, that way you can get a more realistic judgment. See more side notes in the video description on youtube

leonbeas

I'm scared, I don't know if its my monitor, or the youtube compression or even the render you did, but I really hope is not the original footage. I see colour stripes from green to magenta that look like some kind of banding in the flat illuminated surfaces from the beginning of the video to 2:48 its very subtle but its there, I already checked in two monitors, in one is more noticeable than the other. I see it more in the GH3 footage but is there also in GH2 someone also sees this. Can you upload a link from original footage to pixel peep.

Thanks

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