GH2 Beach use, is the GH3 a must over the GH2?

J

JollyGreen

New member
I'm looking to get a GH2 or GH3 primarily for beach use, photos/videos of water sports, maybe using a tripod.
If I get a GH2 is the salt air, sand and wind going to ruin it pretty quickly?
Any thoughts on how to protect a gh2 from the elements?
 
GH3 has better splash protection but I think I'd personally use a GH2 and just risk it. You can buy 2 for the cost a GH3, and I think a lot of things that would destroy a GH2 would also destroy a GH3.
 
Remember that the GH3 needs a weather-sealed lens to be completely sealed (which would probably be the 35-100 for what you're doing), so factor that into your decision.
 
forum member rambo on PV shoots watersports for a living on his GH1's =) just be aware of your surroundings, situation, conditions, and dont forget to wipe down your equipment after salty use. I think theres a plastic camerabag that you can use for added protection that screws onto the lens thread.
 
GoPro cameras that come with a waterproof housing (good down to almost 200ft!) are almost perfectly suited for what you want to do. I got a couple of GoPro Hero2's in the "Want to buy or sell" section of this site for about $150 each. They take both video and stills and have 3 angles of view you can select, I often use the narrowest which gets rid of most of the "fisheye" look that is characteristic of these things.

On each one I added an LCD "back" for $79 on each, I caught a sale and got the "dive housing" for it's flat port in case I want to use it in a pool (at my age I don't dive, parasail, ski, or climb. But it's an amazing little camera with a lot of uses, almost perfect bad weather camera!

An inexpensive (compared to the 12-35mm Lumix) weather sealed lens for the GH3 might be the Olympus 12-50mm f3.5 - f6.3 lens that was one "kit" option for the Olympus OMD E-M5. I've seen a demo video showing a glass of water being poured over both camera body and lens when the OMD E-M5 was first introduced. I picked up one of those lenses used from B&H for $389. some are now selling for as low as $269 on ebay. On the GH3 I would trust the weather sealing of the combo to be OK in light to moderate rain.

Anything heavier than that I'd use one of the GoPro's.
 
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