GH3 GH3 ISO Test

S

Scott Bastedo

Member
I've uploaded some test footage from the new Panasonic GH3.


The first portion of the video contains fairly even lighting with tests from f2.8/ISO 200 - f16/ISO 6400. The second portion introduces a hot spot via a desk lamp. Test are from f4.0/ISO 200 - f22/ISO 6400.


Gradation looks very good in the bright areas of the footage. Blacks are fairly consistent throughout. ISO 200 - 800 appears damn fine, as far as noise is concerned. ISO 1600 fairly good and easily workable. ISO 3200 is usable. 6400 is useless.


https://vimeo.com/58314941
 
This is gonna surprise you, but I see no appreciable noise in your 3200 and 6400 sequences (and of course none below).

The "culprit" is likely your monitor settings, the very slightest degree of oversharpening will cause the appearance of noise where there is little or none. I'm talking about the settings available from controls on the monitor itself.

Most monitors come "out of the box" with Sharpness, Contrast, and Brightness set way too high, one of mine had all three of those over 80% and that monitor showed noise so bad I almost threw it out. Same photos and videos on my other two looked fine and I'm a sharpness nut so I don't have any of mine set soft.

I took that monitor and pulled everything down to "midpoint" (50%) and then began tweaking from there until I had the sharpness I have to have for stills in PhotoShop but minimal noise. Oversharpening combined with too much contrast will take very minor color artifacting and accentuate it until you have what looks like noise where none should be.

On your video I watched all potentially underexposed areas (that's where noise shows up worst) and saw no noise at all. On my GH2's I'll see a little bit at ISO 3200 but not bad, it's more obvious and visible at ISO 6400 but still fairly usable. I've seen nice ISO 6400 shots from the GH3 and quite usable 12,800 (same from the Olympus OMD E-M5).

So check your monitor settings. Your test looks great on my end, and I'm looking forward to my GH3 which is scheduled for delivery Jan 30th.
 
I haven't looked at the 1Gb file yet but even 6400 ISO on the vimeo compressed file looks really good, a tiny bit of noise but nothing that would stop me from using a shot like that for theatrical release. If you have the time and inclination could you reshoot the extreme highlights test underexposed -1 -2 and -3 stops and move the camera so we can see if there's any fixed pattern noise.

I'm just about ready to ditch the 5D MKIII for one of these.
 
It really is a fantastic camera. I'm impressed.

squig said:
I haven't looked at the 1Gb file yet but even 6400 ISO on the vimeo compressed file looks really good, a tiny bit of noise but nothing that would stop me from using a shot like that for theatrical release. If you have the time and inclination could you reshoot the extreme highlights test underexposed -1 -2 and -3 stops and move the camera so we can see if there's any fixed pattern noise.

I'm just about ready to ditch the 5D MKIII for one of these.
Click to expand...
 
Folks aren't very likely to be stopping down the lens enough to make 6400 ISO necessary.

I think the test would be more telling had the f-stop remained constant and the available light diminished, thus necessitating the raise in ISO level.
 
What film mode is this test made with. All intra or ipb or avchd. Just asking since all intra has ugly noise
 
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