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Best settings for unattended Video with a GH3
  • RRRogerRRRoger

    I recently bought a GH3 with 14-140 HD OIS lens The purpose is unattended Video for more than 60 minutes at a time. I am the Church Vidographer, but prefer to watch the Service rather than the camera. So this is indoors from about 40-60 ft and with poor light. Each week I burn DVDs for those who want them.

    Then there is my bowling which is done with 1080P 60 and viewed regular and slow motion. It is used to critique mine and my fellow bowlers. I watch the original footage on my Ultra High Def 30" Monitor. And, of course, I cannot be behind the camera and bowl at the same time.

    What setings do you suggest?

  • 10 Replies sorted by
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Check this long topic - http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/7091/gh3-best-video-settings#Item_530

  • SeekingHeartwoodSeekingHeartwood

    whatever you do, don't leave it on autofocus, it will just hunt. pick a good spot to focus on, and leave it there. your focal plane should be pretty deep with that lens because it only goes to f4, but you'll probably have to crank up the iso in any low light situations.

  • RRRogerRRRoger

    So far AFF has been working really well, unlike my D5300. There is a lot of movement when bowling although pretty slow. I think that 1080P 60 is the key here as well as 125/s shutter speed Depending on the distance, the f stop has gone from 4.5 to 5.8 I have taken two Videos so far and the one with Auto ISO is set for 6400 showed a lot of moire and some artifacts. The one at the second Bowling Alley was much better when I lowered it to 3200. I think changing from AVCHD to MP4 also helped as did from Standard to Vivid Profile.

    Tomorrow, I will be filming inside the more dimly lit Church. We will see how that goes.

  • VeskuVesku

    In dim light I suggest to use 30P and 1/30shutter (60HZ land). In bowling 60P and 1/60 shutter may work too. You get better iso. Maybe slight under exposure is OK too. I dont like when iso goes over iso2000. Set sharpness to -4 and NR to -5 and do them in post.

  • stariosstarios

    I am trying to save some money to get a faster zoom lens cause I shoot also weddings and baptisms and I have the same crap lens, it is very sharp lens for so wide zoom range but in low light is awful.

  • RRRogerRRRoger

    Default Vivid Profile and 1080P 60 with MP4 worked pretty well in the Church. I discovered that GH3 will only record up to 4GB at a time, so I will not be using it untill Panasonic changes the firmware. Tuesday I will be VideoGraphing my bowling practice in a different Alley. My settings will be Neutral Profile -5 and recorded with MOV codec (50Mbps).

  • davjddavjd

    My Gh3 stops every 30 min. Besides that big problem, I had to film a kids musical in very dark conditions, and the gh3 was unattended, not the main camera. I was in a hurry and didn't have time to find out which would be the best settings for those critical conditions. So guess... I went IA! I'm surprised, the result is better than expected, very usable, the best among the other cameras I used. Gopro2 was just too ultra noisy, gopro3 a little better, a DvcProHd P2 cam not bad, but noisy. The only comparable camera was handheld Gh2 with moon T7 hack.

  • VeskuVesku

    @davjd

    I think that GH3 in iA video mode goes automatically to night video mode in very dim light. It is then using 25P/30P and shutter 1/25 or 1/30. Even when file is 50/60P camera duplicates frames so that there is always two identical frames and more light to sensor. Iso is then smaller and colors better. Motion could be very soft though.

  • davjddavjd

    Yes, video mode was 50p, slightly soft motion indeed, but the kids were standing in a chorus, so every thing worked fine.

  • RRRogerRRRoger

    I found out the hard way, when using the GH3 for Video, you must use AVCHD or MOV if you want to record more tha 4GB (20-30 minutes). I do not know why Panasonic limited the MP4 files. They are my favorite codec so I hope there is a firmware change.

    I also found out that iA MOV (72 Mbps) is limited to 24-30 fps. Perhaps the processor can not keep up with the huge files?

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