No this thread has nothing to do with LSD. Just wanted to praise the GH3 for performing so well in some of the nastiest conditions on the planet.
I just got through with a week long gig documenting a trip on the Colorado River through Grand Canyon. It was a camp/teambuilding of sorts for hispanic teenagers from the southwest. It was an epic and tranformative experience ....but thats neither here nor there as I want to report on the performance of my GH3.
It did outstanding..both for still and video although video was my primary deliverable. My rig consisted of a Carryspeed vf4, Senheiser G2 wireless, tripod, Audio Technica 4073a wired through a iRig (hacked) and plugged direct to GH3.and a diy flash bracket/handle for the shotgun and Irig.
I owned this camera for 3 days before the trip, mind you I had 3 years experience with the GH1. (Which was swiped from the Honolulu interisland terminal last March. If you bought a super cheap gh1 with kit lens from Honolulu, and the viewfinder rubber was all chewed up, thats my camera!) Graduating to the GH3 form the GH1 was seemless with only some minor learning curves. The weatherproofing of this body did well. It stayed most of the time in a non waterproof LowePro hip bag, even through big rapids with lots of splashes and a good soaking or two it persevered. The sand did find its way into the focus ring of the 14-140 kit lens however, but not bad. Sand did not get into dials or buttons. Sand had no affect on auto focus. I relied heavily on continuous auto focus which worked great. The camera also handled the heavy contrast light of the canyon very well with impressive dynamic range.
I have only begun editing VO but prelim viewing looks to be outstanding, again autofocus worked amazingly well. With the camera in my hand 8 hours or more a day I felt like a battery grip might have made a more comfy hold. Lag time for video stop was a bit annoying. Startup not so bad. Because I knew I needed to hold my shots a minimum of 10 seconds for each scene, the auto display off function was a great indicator for this! Sounds weird I know but I learned to use it to my advantage. During interviews though i found myself constantly half pressing the shutter to make sure audio levels were good. Image stabilisation worked very well and dare I say was also crucial as I was shooting on and from a boat for most of the trip. I also shot more hand held than with tripod and image stabilization in the 14-140 was awesome.
The Carryspeed was VITAL for these shooting conditions. Sand did find its way into the workings of the VF4 but I was able to disassemble enough to clean thoroughly. I left it mounted at all times. Yes focusing manually was sometimes iffy, thus my reliance on autofocus.
All in all stoked with this camera and if any of you have taken a G.C. float trip you know just how harsh conditions are down there. Only major grip is lack of focus peaking. My question is concerning autofocus, does the camera not utilize some form of peaking internally to achieve crisp focus? Please Panasonic if you read this, give us peaking thru firmware update 1.2! I have 30 days to produce this 5-6 minute video of this Grand Canyon adventure. Will post here when finished.
Cheers.
I just got through with a week long gig documenting a trip on the Colorado River through Grand Canyon. It was a camp/teambuilding of sorts for hispanic teenagers from the southwest. It was an epic and tranformative experience ....but thats neither here nor there as I want to report on the performance of my GH3.
It did outstanding..both for still and video although video was my primary deliverable. My rig consisted of a Carryspeed vf4, Senheiser G2 wireless, tripod, Audio Technica 4073a wired through a iRig (hacked) and plugged direct to GH3.and a diy flash bracket/handle for the shotgun and Irig.
I owned this camera for 3 days before the trip, mind you I had 3 years experience with the GH1. (Which was swiped from the Honolulu interisland terminal last March. If you bought a super cheap gh1 with kit lens from Honolulu, and the viewfinder rubber was all chewed up, thats my camera!) Graduating to the GH3 form the GH1 was seemless with only some minor learning curves. The weatherproofing of this body did well. It stayed most of the time in a non waterproof LowePro hip bag, even through big rapids with lots of splashes and a good soaking or two it persevered. The sand did find its way into the focus ring of the 14-140 kit lens however, but not bad. Sand did not get into dials or buttons. Sand had no affect on auto focus. I relied heavily on continuous auto focus which worked great. The camera also handled the heavy contrast light of the canyon very well with impressive dynamic range.
I have only begun editing VO but prelim viewing looks to be outstanding, again autofocus worked amazingly well. With the camera in my hand 8 hours or more a day I felt like a battery grip might have made a more comfy hold. Lag time for video stop was a bit annoying. Startup not so bad. Because I knew I needed to hold my shots a minimum of 10 seconds for each scene, the auto display off function was a great indicator for this! Sounds weird I know but I learned to use it to my advantage. During interviews though i found myself constantly half pressing the shutter to make sure audio levels were good. Image stabilisation worked very well and dare I say was also crucial as I was shooting on and from a boat for most of the trip. I also shot more hand held than with tripod and image stabilization in the 14-140 was awesome.
The Carryspeed was VITAL for these shooting conditions. Sand did find its way into the workings of the VF4 but I was able to disassemble enough to clean thoroughly. I left it mounted at all times. Yes focusing manually was sometimes iffy, thus my reliance on autofocus.
All in all stoked with this camera and if any of you have taken a G.C. float trip you know just how harsh conditions are down there. Only major grip is lack of focus peaking. My question is concerning autofocus, does the camera not utilize some form of peaking internally to achieve crisp focus? Please Panasonic if you read this, give us peaking thru firmware update 1.2! I have 30 days to produce this 5-6 minute video of this Grand Canyon adventure. Will post here when finished.
Cheers.
