@peternap It's a YouTube video link.

Here's a test pertaining to the earlier settings posts. -5 Contrast does really flatten out. As @yak described it... "chalky." At -5 contrast I'm able to recover contrast in the flesh tones but the color grade of the flesh can be a struggle. Both straight out of the camera with no color or tonal adjustment. Both were shot with the 24p 72Mb/s All Intra setting.

@rlima that oly 75 it's a razorblade, watch out don't cut anybody's throat :P

Sometime ago a friend of mine and I did also some comparison tests (can't recall patch used) we agreed that GH2 overall IQ still tops GH3, (ungraded) DR was on pair and that GH2's multi-aspect sensor had quite bigger/wider (+useful) FOV... I'm gonna search for the footage

About settings, I shot always C1 = Natural -5 -5 0 -5, reason: lazyness XD

My settings were, iso 200, f/8.0, ss60, 25fps

Hey guys! I was about to sell my GH2 to get another GH3 when I found this thread, and after reading some posts, specially maddog15 and driftwood's, I got very intrigued by Moon T5. I used to have self customized patches (42 and 88 mbps) on my GH2 and when the GH3 arrived something with the colors and the factory high bitrate made me use it more and more. I had the feeling that GH3 was a step ahead (IQ)…. but… well, decided to try out this driftwood's masterpiece… and my conclusion: it is IMPRESSIVE!! I had the chance to compare it to GH3 the other day in a real world situation and I was blown. And more, noise is beautiful, files play smooooooothly on camera…. not to tell I have a good viewfinder again… GH3's vf sucks!!! Definitely… I'm in love with my GH2 and it is my main camera again…. @Vitaliy_Kiselev and @driftwood and all the team… you're the men! It's a shame the GH2 ran out of production. This camera is a classic! I think I'll never sell mine. Check out the quick comparison with the GH2 w/ Moon T5 and Olympus 75/1.8 versus GH3 w/ Oly 45/1.8, both at around f/2. If the BMPC and the hacked GH3 can beat this, we all will be very pleased…..

@jonpais I shoot at 0 contrast because I found out it may be the only way to get good skin tone (hope I'm wrong). It's like the camera is processing the colors after the compression. It would'nt make much sense, but I always felt there's more loss data when everything is dialed down.

With everything at 0, I've had success recovering shadows and highlights while keeping a nice looking skin tone.

@deang001 the variable nd filters unfortunately distroy photos and videos. You may notice the filter creates a star in the middle and I think all variable nd filters do that even if you pay a lot, its ok to use it for a quick shot but for something "professional" I suggest buying something like 3 stop nd in combination with 2 stop so you are gonna have 2-3 and 5 stops with clear image. I need nd filters also and that's what I am going to do. @maddog15 I am also between saturation to be at -2 or -3 but always in weddings I shoot in -2 trying not to loose color, maybe in my first movie I'll shoot in -4 and will not saturate it in post to look like pro cameras :P, I really dont know for sure about saturation, but I feel that contrast is something you can do whatever you want in post and even that I see more noise in low light with contrast in -5 because probably midtones come up, I prefer it, I find it more natural and editable. I am still waiting for my adapter from china for c-mount tokina 12,5-75 f/1.2, I will upload as soon as possible with this tiny manual baby and we'll all probably cry with the half black video cause of vignetting :P, I hope for the best :)

@maddog15 Would love to see your results. I'm not sold on shooting really flat with an 8bit codec. I'm so swamped with post work this month I won't get to play with picture tests till mid Sept.

I saw this video

in the 12-35mm 2.8 lens thread and really liked the look. On the vimeo page he says he was using Vivid dialed down. I have never tried that because it seems like ending up at neutral anyway but I think now I might run a test when I get some time and see what it does.

Is there any real info about the hack ?

@yak Dead on with this. thanks for sharing.

@yak Nice comparison. I fight that battle with skin tones too. Flat and chalky. Good description. To date the best remedy I've found isn't the camera but how well or dynamic my subject is lit. I have my fingers crossed VK and the crew will get a GH3 hack in progress with a higher bit rate than 72Mb/s. (My GH2 with Moon T5 at 153Mb/s added so much more information and wiggle room to play with in post) Sorry...kina got off topic for second.

@deang001 That's a good question and difficult to answer as different lenses have different finicky personalities regarding diffraction. "By the book" the sweet spot is supposed to be f4 and up. (I think.) But my personal experience has taught me that because every lens has its own personality/quirks - I test each lens as soon as I buy it. I have an old but nice manual focus 50mm f2 Pentax prime lens. At f16 it out performs the Pany 14-142mm as far as full frame clarity and sharpness at the same f-stop. It's not supposed to (as the Pany lens is new, made for the m4/3 camera etc etc...) But the prime 50mm Pentax does. Go figure! Still learning a lot myself.

That's my two cents. Perhaps others will post a more educated opinion on the subject. I'd like to know more myself.