GH3 GH3 v Gh2 with color check and star chart

dustylense

dustylense

Veteran
OK.
Here is a link to download the test from dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/s/aw8gk6s1o4qhizp/GH3vGH2-h264 20mbits sec.mov DOWNLOAD IT, Don't stream it!

Both cams shot with standard profile with settings zeroed and then contrast and sharpening all the way down. Lit with a desk lamp and both cameras with custom WB.
Lens is the 12-35 and I focused on the star chart.

Gh3 was shot with .mov in both IBP and All-I
Gh2 was shot with flowmotion.
Both shot at 24p with a 1/40th SS @640iso

No color or contrast tweaking.

Here are my thoughts:

Gh3 has better DR and the camera is set up better. It's monitor and EVF are way better than the Gh2's. It does however moire ever so slightly more. But the image benefits other than that are a plus. The HDMI out on the Gh3 is excellent. It's real time and is just a joy to have connected to an external monitor. For sure a winner there.
I feel that the image controls are better on the Gh3 as well. Setting up custom color profiles with the color shift is a breeze.

On the last shot, pay attention to the nikkor lens to see the gain in DR. (screen cap below).

I feel the Gh2 has the edge in resolution and moire. But the DR is just not as wide. The good thing is that if you increase the contrast on the Gh3 a bit, you should be able to match the cameras up very well.

Obviously the Gh3 has 1080/60p. A big plus!

OK, So after more shooting that is not in this test I find that the AVCHD codec in the Gh3 is the way to go. The All-I reminds me of the Canon Mk3's all I codec with creepy crawly artifacts going on. IBP.mov is even a but better than the All-I.mov. But the AVCHD just seems to be the best (so far).

I like that the camera is stock. No worries about long runtime recording with hacks. Just shoot and have piece of mind. However, I hope that the nutty russian can crack the Gh3 and give us some AVCHD hack and other goodies.

ETC on the GH3 is very nice! Just increase the sharpening 2 clicks. But is does have some noticeable rolling shutter. But overall I like it.

Overall, I like the Gh3. I'm keeping both cameras but the Gh3 is just set up as a camera much better and has a better build. Battery just plain smokes the Gh2's. Function buttons galore. Headphone jack and audio monitoring. All in all, I see it as an upgrade but as a minor upgrade. If you don't have the cash, the Gh2 is still a remarkable camera just with some drawbacks (monitoring and build).

Not much of a difference putting legacy glass on the Gh3. I will test it more and report back. The autofocus (for those that like AF) is FAR superior on the Gh3. Like night and day!

I give the Gh3 a thumbs up. Now I just need to shoot some real stuff with it.
GH3vGH2.jpg
 
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Hey, dustylense, thanks a lot for this - I always prefer to see tests than merely hear opinion, and you've done a great job! Thank you very much!
 
Nice test. They are very close. Indeed a small increase in DR for the GH3.

In the still in the OP, it look tho that the GH3 is not a sharp / crisp. Look at the writings on the lens & camera. Could that be the focus which was off?
 
Stab said:
Nice test. They are very close. Indeed a small increase in DR for the GH3.

In the still in the OP, it look tho that the GH3 is not a sharp / crisp. Look at the writings on the lens & camera. Could that be the focus which was off?
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I just focused on the star chart. all other settings the same.
 
I've read that the GH3 can be unsharpened more in-camera than the GH2... ie, the oft-used "-2" setting matches on the two, but the GH3 can be reduced even further (thus made less sharp when desired). If the GH3 in this sample was down full, that might explain it... but yes, it does look just a slight bit mushier.

When anyone has the time, I'd like to see verification of this.
 
They are neck in neck in sharpness. Again, I focused on the star chart. Why the nikkor is a bit softer in the Gh3 grab could be millimeters in focusing.
All in all, I give the Gh2 the very very slightest edge in resolution. But is creamed by the Gh2 in DR. Pick your poison...
 
Very interesting.

The more I think about it the GH3 seems like a massive upgrade for those who shoot normal video and only minor for those with film style in mind.

autofocus speed, 60p, better audio quality and control in camera, better ETC, massive improvement for battery time, no hack needed for GH2+hack quality. These are all things event shooters will benefit more from and make the GH3 much more attractive then those of us 24p plain old vanilla shooters who never use half of that stuff anyway. I could see the wedding market loving the GH3 a lot more then the GH2.
 
Thomas Smet said:
Very interesting.

The more I think about it the GH3 seems like a massive upgrade for those who shoot normal video and only minor for those with film style in mind.

autofocus speed, 60p, better audio quality and control in camera, better ETC, massive improvement for battery time, no hack needed for GH2+hack quality. These are all things event shooters will benefit more from and make the GH3 much more attractive then those of us 24p plain old vanilla shooters who never use half of that stuff anyway. I could see the wedding market loving the GH3 a lot more then the GH2.
Click to expand...

For sure. There are all sorts of reasons the Gh3 is the better camera. I haven't even really tested the stills capability of the Gh3 and I'm primarily a stills guy.
 
Great test.

very excited to see you do something similar while going from completely blown out while stopping down and darkening the image to see when which camera begins losing detail in the shadows and highs.
 
Great video, thank you for posting it! Sorry if this sounds dumb but what's the IBP codec? I couldn't find mention of it in the manual. And based on your test, the best setting seems to be AVCHD so just avoid MOV and MP4?
 
Just started shooting with my GH3 and i think it is a giant leap forward over my GH2. Only raw stills were usable from the GH2. GH3 jpegs look great and color corect. I shot up to 2000 iso and they look great. 1080 60p video is beautiful. Using auto focus while shooting video is smooth, couldn't do that with the GH2. The oled display is much more responsive. Menus look much better on the GH3. I liked my GH2 , mainly for video, but the GH3 is a giant leap forwad for videos and stills.
 
flinty said:
Sorry but if the GH3 IS A giant leap forward for video,the GH2 must be crap and a lot of bull has been talked about it in the past two years plus.

http://vimeo.com/42107369#at=0
http://vimeo.com/54076272#at=0
There are bound to be improvements but the GH2 is still a good camera and not a giant leap back.
Click to expand...



Their examples prove that the GH2 is more real to film in color and texture, but I like the first example that the second.






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flinty said:
Sorry but if the GH3 IS A giant leap forward for video,the GH2 must be crap and a lot of bull has been talked about it in the past two years plus.

http://vimeo.com/42107369#at=0
http://vimeo.com/54076272#at=0
There are bound to be improvements but the GH2 is still a good camera and not a giant leap back.
Click to expand...


?
I own both cameras (selling my GH2) and I will tell you the GH3 is a Giant leap forward. GH2 no doubt can provide an excellent image when worked in the right situation with hacks, but the GH3 is a better camera inside and out.

First and foremost is the handling of it ,being much larger and weather sealed alone allows shooting in conditions simply not possible with the GH2. Then we have clean iso, I mean iso, I mean shooting 1600 iso on the GH3 is like iso 800 on the GH2. Oled display, simply bright and super clear compared to GH2 lcd. 1080 60fps, enough said. Built in wifi feature. Timelapse feature, I mean the list goes on and on.

Based on image quality alone excluding all of the other features, the GH3 is simply cleaner. Is it night and day difference, no. What it is though, it's like giving cleaning your glasses and allowing the image to look cleaner than before. Really nice how clean the image is when compared to the GH2. GH2 is an excellent camera and many projects can still be shot on it and for the price there is NO better camera.

For $1200 you can buy two GH2's that for some might be better. Me personally though I find the GH3 a better camera. Image quality resolution is similar, but what stands out to me is less noise at higher iso's which provides a cleaner image. I love the fact that the body is larger and the buttons on it make sense. Having top buttons for iso and wb makes using it so much more comfortable as well. Before anyone knocks this camera , use it. Everyone who has says it's a better camera than the GH2.


juliovideo said:
Their examples prove that the GH2 is more real to film in color and texture, but I like the first example that the second.

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Click to expand...

This is simply not true and couldn't be more false.... Different lenses, shooting styles and situations. What was done in the Gh2 video will more shallow dof can be done with a GH3, Canon7d or any camera. The colors are based on grading. With the GH3 you can set your colors however you want just like ANY camera. Just wait till more footage comes out so you can see what many people already have. GH3 is a better camera inside and out.

 
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Pana would not put out a worse camera,but for me not being able to make BDs exept in in 24P or 50i is a loss,the true 25P & 50P are of no use without tiresome conversion.So i guess my poor GH2 will have to do me for a while.
Forgot i see the high resolution 7D can do the same.
 
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dustylense said:
Overall, I like the Gh3. I'm keeping both cameras but the Gh3 is just set up as a camera much better and has a better build. Battery just plain smokes the Gh2's. Function buttons galore. Headphone jack and audio monitoring. All in all, I see it as an upgrade but as a minor upgrade. If you don't have the cash, the Gh2 is still a remarkable camera just with some drawbacks (monitoring and build).
View attachment 63526
Click to expand...

Some clarification required please:
You did a strange thing buy using the two cameras AS subjects. I'm confused when I SEE an image of the camera shot with the OTHER camera ( I presume).

If that's what you did, the GH2 Flowmotion hacked simply smokes the GH3 image quality wise and Moire wise as well.
I don't doubt that the GH3 is a better overall package but that doesn't help if beating the hacked GH2 was any part of the redesign objective in the GH3, which is priced according to the upgrades.

Bottom line. Panasonic STILL doesn't get it. We need a small form factor camera like the GH3 that emphasizes videography requirements, not hybrid still/video.

Nice job and yes, let's see some comparos on real footage ( not the cameras as subjects please ;)
 
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