GH3 Confusions

S

sharry

Well-known member
Hey guys. Okay, in my country the elections are going on and it is pretty hectic. As soon as the elections are over, I am going to go and buy myself a camera. People who have read my recent threads know that I am going for the GH3. Now the confusion comes through the internet when I research over different forums. I also recently saw Upstream Color which was shot on the GH2 and found it absolutely fantastic. I have not seen Primer but now I will. Watching Upstream Color and looking at that GH2 image I was very much relaxed that I am making the best decision by going for the GH3 as it is newer camera and would be indefinitely better than the GH2 in certain areas. So I am going to jot down the pros and cons that I feel are looking at the GH3 footage on the internet.

Pros:
- Better Image Quality out of the box and no need to hack your camera. Shooting on the IPB setting is going to give the best image from this camera.
- Dynamic Range is much better with at least one stop in both shadows and highlights.
- Better and cleaner Low light. I have heard that it is in the range of EOS 7D. Now I am not the kind who would shoot without lights. There are situations where you need light sensitivity and I think this camera is perfect for those situations. I dont need a 5D to tackle those situations.
- Timecode is present. Huge for me as I export EDLs and AAFs and take footage from my NLE to Resolve and different software. Really worth it. I know it wont help me in syncing audio to video but that is fine. Not a deal breaker for me.
- Much better built. People wont say it is a toy.
- Battery is awesome.
- Price point is brilliant.

Cons:
- I think and there is no way that you can import color profiles like you can do on the Canons and Nikons. Can you? Can you make a good profile from within a camera that will maximize post production capability? I loved what 7D could do for its price.
- I have heard its got motion issues. Its all over at personal-view. But as far as I read it was just a couple of people who said that. I dont know what setting they are shooting on. I didnt see it in Genesis shot by Philip Bloom. I didnt see it in any videos posted by Andrew Reid. I didnt see it in Shian's shootout. I probably dont even know what to look for. People who bought the GH3 and shot with it, do you have any issues regarding motion? I read something like there is judder but also read that it is in GH2 and also in other DSLRs. This is my most concerned issue. Please help me out with this.

If you think that there are more "realistic" cons then please mention them. By realistic I mean dont write that it does not have 13 stops of DR and it doesnt do 120fps and it doesnt do Uncompressed Raw and it doesnt do 4:4:4. Really looking forward to your replies.
 
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I had similar concerns to you in regard to motion issues and low light performance when I chose to go for a GH3 after selling my 7D. I needed 1080p50 for an upcoming project and the GH3 sounded perfect and at a good price.
I have only had the GH3 for a week and not used it extensively yet but I did a brief test on my jib yesterday and the images blew me away. The picture is head and shoulders better than the 7D in 1080p 25 mode and in a different league at 50p. The detail in the GH3 video is remarkable and puts the 7D (and even the 5DIII) to shame. I was pretty attached to my 7D but have not missed it at all since getting the GH3. I have been shooting mainly in 50p MOV and have not seen any motion issues. Also, while it may be on par or slightly better than the 7D in low light, I find that the noise the GH3 generates in high ISO's much nicer than the chroma noise of the 7D. The GH3's noise looks more like a film grain over the 7D.
Im also, liking the smaller form factor.
 
Thank you vtwiz. I never owned a camera before but have been renting different cameras. And I loved 7D. More than 5D Mark 2 (have not worked with Mark 3 till now). And from what I read you are in PAL land, like me, and so you didnt feel or werent put off by the motion issues and judder being mentioned elsewhere. Is it possible that you shoot a panning shot with your GH3 on 25p and send it to me, along with the settings it was shot on. It would really help me. Better just upload it to vimeo. It would help a lot of people.
 
Ok I'll try to do it within the next week. I have only filmed in 50p so far but will try 25p.
 
Get the GH3 and stop worrying. The pros far outweigh the cons.....

And all the best with your elections. I understand it's rough over there.
 
Does anyone know if the GH3 has the low iso banding issues that the GH2 has? That's what drives me crazy the most...

SB
 
Hello Sharry,

Considering your Cons:

The GH3 has the ability to save 5 custom setting profiles (C1,C2,C3-1,C3-2,C3-3). They allow an almost infinite combination of camera and picture setting to be saved.

The judder issues I've seen relate to operator error. Moving too fast for the frame rate. Seems many new camera owners want to shoot 24fps, but don't understand proper panning speeds.

As you know, Vimeo has many fine GH3 samples to examine. Here are a few of mine if you're interested: https://vimeo.com/user582748

One shortcoming of the GH3, if you're shooting high detail, is terrible moire in the All-I 70Mbps codec. However, shooting IPB 50Mbps produces stunning, practically moire free (though I've tried to produce it, I've seen none) images.

Best of luck with you choice Sharry. Having come to the GH series from the 7D myself, I think you'll be very pleased with the GH3.
 
I think the motion issues were mostly pegged to editing hardware issues or something messing with the playback over on PV...
 
vtwiz said:
I had similar concerns to you in regard to motion issues and low light performance when I chose to go for a GH3 after selling my 7D. I needed 1080p50 for an upcoming project and the GH3 sounded perfect and at a good price.
I have only had the GH3 for a week and not used it extensively yet but I did a brief test on my jib yesterday and the images blew me away. The picture is head and shoulders better than the 7D in 1080p 25 mode and in a different league at 50p. The detail in the GH3 video is remarkable and puts the 7D (and even the 5DIII) to shame. I was pretty attached to my 7D but have not missed it at all since getting the GH3. I have been shooting mainly in 50p MOV and have not seen any motion issues. Also, while it may be on par or slightly better than the 7D in low light, I find that the noise the GH3 generates in high ISO's much nicer than the chroma noise of the 7D. The GH3's noise looks more like a film grain over the 7D.
Im also, liking the smaller form factor.
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I totally agree, although in my case I shot my last film with the GH2/7D. The 7D has horrible looking grain structure compared to the GH2 -- like a crayon factory exploded or something. The GH2 grades infinitely better, too!
 
FWIW I ran some tests on location this week where we were using a 5DII for photographing the shoot and a GH3 for 60p capture.
I took a few minutes to set them both up in 24p using the 20mm and Z 45mm on the GH3 and the 50mm L and 85mm L lenses on the Canon for comparison.
The 5D still captures lovely images, but side by side the difference in resolution and detail is striking.
The GH3 has a much better sensor, the 5D looks like much older technology - because it is, and Canon has strangely abandoned this huge end of the market for the EOS rental crowd.

By the way, if you do a lot of outdoor work, do yourself a favor and pick up an Oly 12-50mm.
You can find them cheap (we got a pair for $250 each) and it's like a baby Canon 24-105 L.
No IS on the GH3 but in every other way, it's a killer little R&G lens for filming.
Just get a couple of cheap NDs so you can shoot it in the 3.5 to 7.1 range where it's optimized.
 
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petrspetla said:
What about G6? It seems to be better than GH2 and GH3.
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I doubt that the G6 will have better image quality than the GH3, but from the one test I've seen so far it might be better than the stock GH2 camera.

So far the only thing that the G6 has over the GH2/GH3 is focus peaking, which is very handy to have in camera.
 
TheDingo: And what about absence of green shift, better luma noise in shadows, 1080 60p, 3,5mm microphone jack, 17 levels of audio etc. (over gh2) and half price of gh3. =)
 
petrspetla said:
TheDingo: And what about absence of green shift, better luma noise in shadows, 1080 60p, 3,5mm microphone jack, 17 levels of audio etc. (over gh2) and half price of gh3. =)
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Or half the bit rate of the GH3 and No All-I codec which is being worked on now for a hack to push the bit rate even further. G6 looks cool, but a GH3 it is not.....
 
petrspetla said:
TheDingo: And what about absence of green shift, better luma noise in shadows, 1080 60p, 3,5mm microphone jack, 17 levels of audio etc. (over gh2) and half price of gh3. =)
Click to expand...

I would like to see how this camera stacks up against a hacked GH2 running one of the better 100 Mbps patches like Lee Powell's FlowMotion ver 2.02, as this is my benchmark for the image that the GH2 can create. I also wonder if the G6 will be hacked, because that could change things in a big way. ( I really don't want to go back to 24 Mbps data-rates )
 
Kellar42 said:
I think the motion issues were mostly pegged to editing hardware issues or something messing with the playback over on PV...
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I haven't seen the threads discussing "motion issues" with the GH3, but as someone who participated in providing test footage for the original GH2 discussion I completely agree that the problems weren't with the raw footage. As someone pointed out at the time, most every 24P capable camera generates those kinds of threads when it's first released - those threads eventually fade as new users figure out their workflows and expectations.
 
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