Official Panasonic GH3 topic, series 3

joethepro

Some quick shots in pleasant evening light. Nothing special, just having some fun.

rNeil

After further testing, and checking ... I still prefer a touch of the ol' anti-plasticine Look applied, but it could get by without it using these settings. Though I've not gone to the higher contrast setting yet which the "originator" said was necessary to really nail the skin. That'll be next. I will say that I'm used to seeing tiny blocking bits now & then on my GH3 footage, most of the people around me never notice them ... but I can see hints & pieces passing by ... and this setting so far has produced none of that. Also ... the darker areas I've lightened to counteract the heavy contrast setting have been very clean, up to ISO 500 no noise whatever. I don't normally object to the small amounts of noise I've gotten at 500, as it's rather minor and again not hardly anyone who sees these has a clue what I'm talking about from simply viewing the stuff played. This ... it's just not there.

So ... over the next few days, will be trying the higher contrast setting (+5, unbelievable to be trying that!) and see how well the bottom comes up in post. The highlight fall-off with this setting is so smooth ...

Neil

rNeil

So, shot about 40 minutes later in the day, here's moi ... same settings a the missus, same grade applied. Again, without the Look I normally apply in Sg to fix the GH3 pink plasticine skintones ... I'm a bit of a pink Caucasian to begin with, rather more than half Norwegian genetically. Don't tan easily ... nor very far even. But I was a great "Shirley" back in our color printing lab days ... ;-)

Neil

rNeil

Did a bit of the missus in natural north light in the studio's reception area ... here's a screen grab of a bit in Premiere Pro at 100% ... Portrait, contrast +3, sharpen 0, hue -2 and NR -3. ISO 500. Using a 17-35mm f2.8 Tamron lens in Nikon mount wide open with the Vizelex "Throttle" down a stop or two to check that. Didn't do a custom WB, just used the daylight setting off the cam. Rather pleased at the smooth fall-off of highlights and the very clean shadow areas. I might even give sharpen a point or two higher, though I wouldn't go higher than this with contrast outside.

Loaded into PrPro, then quickly to SpeedGrade for a bit of work, and it took what little I needed easily. Which was a touch of setting the R, G, & B channel black & white levels, small touch of contrast & temp/tint, then to Shadow for a slight drop of lowest third, slight lift of upper third control, then back to overall tab for a bit of gamma lift and to the Highlights tab to bring top brightness control down a smidge. All rather minor bits, really.

I've got a Look in Sg to apply to my GH3 for people shooting to fix skin tint/contrast/sharpening ... didn't apply it here. Didn't need to. Now, the missus "films" a bit yellow/green, we could never use her for a lab "Shirley" for color control for printing color portrait work, we always used me. Next up, I'll shoot a bit of myself, same place & settings ... see what my skin looks like.

Neil

rNeil

On the GH4 threads, there's a post of a guy who's using a rather different set of settings based in the Portrait mode ... thought I'd try them out. Here's a listing of his settings/rationale, and below my first impressions using this on my GH3:

-Portrait: – it "develops" the mid-tones as brightly as possible, and gives us the largest amount of control of the skin tone contrast.

-Contrast: - +3 in sunshine, and +5 generally, gives contrast to the mid-tones

-Sharpness: +1 the highest amount before it becomes noticeable in noise and detail

-Noise Reduction: 0 takes care of of colour noise, leaving us with more than enough details in 4K

-Saturation: -5 It is easier/less destructive to add saturation than to subtract

-Hue: -2 the GH4 is pinkish of the shelve.

-Highlight/shadow: -5/0 this function overrides all other functions!

-If you for example use +5 in Contrast, the image "levels off" same-same as when you use -5 no matter what you do in any other setting. Any limitations in highlight or shadow are therefore best controlled here. At -5/0 you get the least risk of burning the highlights, and the shadows are the cleanest and most flexible, as long as you keep the setting at 0.

-I.Dynamic, I.Resolution, Master Pedestal, Luminescence Level are all unnecessary as they are less predictable and less precise than Highlight/shadow.

Ok ... so looking at his demo vid and settings, I modified a bit and shot some just out the window of our studio in western Oregon, looking north on a clear sunny day at 44.85 N. lattitude.

I used the following: Portrait w/ Contrast +3; Sharpness -2 (just not used to going even that high on sharpness!); Hue -2; NR -2.

First impressions: The contrast was on the high side, needed bringing highlights down in post even in our "weak" winter mid-day sun looking north. I think I'll try next with that at +1. Sharpness ... well dingnabbit, I think that Portrait mode must apply a LOT less sharpening so I'll go up to 0 for my next test ... this wasn't showing any problems at all or nearly over-sharp. Hue ... yea, stay with -2; NR ... -2 was fine. Noise in the shadows, even when brought up quite a bit in post, was rather minimal in appearance.

Very interesting results, and from one used to Natural/Contrast -3/Sharp -4/Hue -1/NR -5, I have to say this set of settings is quite nice on initial trial. Got some interview & people stuff upcoming, going to test for that.

Neil

rNeil

If @Vitaliy_Kiselev or someone comes up with a useful hack, I'll look at it. If not, oh well ... I've certainly not felt shorted because no one has so far. Yea, it's got some peculiarities. But hey, a secondary in Sg and skin's pretty decent for the work I do, and all in all it's a great tool when set and used properly for that particular tool. I make sure I give dead-on exposure and WB as good as possible while shooting ... never use the stoopid "smart" modes of the camera, and keep the contrast & sat middling low but not totally bottomed. Do that, it grades pretty decently and I never get surprises.

So ... it works as a good tool. Very reasonable initial cost. Life's good, right?

Neil

abraham1307

@maxr well said.

maxr

I think those 5% is winning. Besides who cares any more anyway.

What a depressing thing to say. Anyway, I care, which doesn't have to do with expectations but with the fact I have and use a GH3. I didn't bought it thinking one day @Vitaliy or anyone would hack it, but if it happens I'll surely welcome and use that improvement.
On the other hand

…I was beginning to feel that no man should ever punch a shutter release without many years of instruction and at least $500 worth of the finest equipment.

My only salvation lay in a Hasselblad, a Nikon and quick enrollment in a photographers’ school. I pondered this for a while and soon found myself running in circles, going from one camera store to the next […] Meanwhile, I zipped my camera into a suitcase and stopped taking pictures altogether. They were bound to be terrible, and besides that, I was embarrassed to be seen on the street with my ratty equipment.

When photography gets so technical as to intimidate people, the element of simple enjoyment is bound to suffer. Any man who can see what he wants to get on film will usually find some way to get it; and a man who thinks his equipment is going to see for him is not going to get much of anything.

Extract of Hunter S. Thompson's letter sent to Pop Photo magazine, 1962.
Source

yskunto

Okay, I already calm down. :)

lumixmaxgh3

@Vitaliy, please, you've thousands of lives on conscience :-)

Vitaliy_Kiselev

Guys, calm down. If it'll be any good news I'll post them.

konjow

there are Millions who cares Im sure! So do not provoke Vesku

Vesku

I think those 5% is winning. Besides who cares any more anyway.

iliezubascu

This was posted at some point, I guess that's why people are hopeful (me included).

"Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev July 2014

Considering, GH3 hack. I am around 95% sure that we'll have such hack.

All the while we are working to make it possible to save time and make more things in future."

antlvk

Years goes by. I'm still holding on my GH3 hoping 1 day it can shoot both ntsc n pal with 200mbps bitrate. ;)

RBD

I've been away from video for more than a year, seduced by stills, which I have been making since my youth.

Anyway, I had way too much fun putting this together with help from Alice, the more than beautiful model, Garrett J Smith, video professional who did the editing, and original sound by Craig Dobbin.

Stills are Nikon D800, where the resolution shows to great benefit when Garrett zooms in.

Let's see if Vimeo will embed?

debinatx

I still love this camera, although so many have moved on to GH4, including our team.

joethepro

joethepro

You can see the originals compared in the second half of this video, and they are definitely warmer than what the screen was showing before I started recording. The white balance was off regardless, but still, I dont remember it being off by that much.

Anyway, this was a fun little exercise in color correction in Resolve.

rNeil

Some have reported this sort of thing, a few to the point of causing deep distress at what is happening ... is the display off or does the footage actually change? As I recall, for some it was only the display that seemed to change ... others noted quite a shift in the first 30 frames or so. Not a common thing, but has happened.

Unnerving would this be ... but if you're setting more by metering and white-balance setting rather than the display, and the footage is still what you expect, you can still operate. If it's changing the WB or exposure from what you've metered/set, then ... that's trouble.

Neil

joethepro

Is it common to experience a color shift on the screen when recording starts? Seems to get a bit warmer, or more saturated, hard to tell. Could be both.

joethepro

From a recent trip to Freeman's Mill Park --

kellar42

Been using the GH3 more again lately as a bcam for the GH4 (since my hdmi port is out on the 4, I need the GH3 on the rig), and it reminds me how good the camera is. Cuts nicely with the GH4 for 1080 applications.

After a long time, I finally put this video out to the public the day before yesterday. Versions of it have been seen on the site, but the final is here. GH3 was the principal cam mixed with GH2 and 4. The GH3 60p coincided with me getting the 12-35 and 35-100 last year, and I found by shooting 60p with image stabilisation and post cleanup I could do moves that did not (to my eye) look like a fellow hand-holding a little camera. Was a big breakthrough and I do even more of that now with the GH4.

This is a local initiation for the first major Center for Contemporary Art here in Panama. All Spanish.

petersellersbuyers

My latest promo video, for design students National Competition. One of the 5 finalists. gh3+rjlensturbo+sigma 18-35+minolta vintage lenses. Adobe Pr and Sg. Done with no budget and in no time, as usual... :)

joethepro

An old water mill house in Georgia. GH3 + 14-45 kit lens + Lightroom 5.

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