GH4 or 5D3?

N

nefilmgroup

Member
I want to upgrade from my T3i and have narrowed my selection down to either the Panasonic GH4 or the Canon 5D Mark iii.

Could anyone give me advice or tips on which on I should choose?

Some factors I have considered are:
1) I have not edited with 4k footage before. How will this effect my ability to edit on Final Cut Pro?
2) Is there a lens mount for the GH4 to use Canon lenses?
3) Will the 5D3 become "extinct" in a couple years due to all the new 4k cameras?
4) How much does it matter that the GH4 is not a full frame 4k camera?
5) Will the price of the 5D3 decrease a lot once the GH4 hits the market?

Any other tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Paul
 
1) If your computer cannot handle the native files, you can always create lower-resolution proxies (offline edit) and then reconnect the full-resolution files when you're done.
2) Yep: Redrock Micro LiveLens
3) A tool is a tool is a tool. If you use it right, a Flip cam is still a viable tool.
4) How much does it matter that the Red Epic isn't a full frame 4k camera?
5) Who's to say, but it's unlikely that Canon will discount their professional stills camera because of the GH4's prowess in the video department. They still will be selling 5D3 bodies to photographers.
 
It's about you and what your shooting, I love 4k for the added flexibility it offers in post when outputting to 1080. Do you like the m4/3rds format? It's shockingly different compared to full frame field of view.
 
What lenses do you have for your Canon? If you only have 2-3 mediocre lenses, a switch to m43 will be less complicated (sell them all!) vs. being fully kitted in L-series full-frame glass. Also, if those Canon lenses are for APS-C and not full-frame (EF-S vs. EF), you'd have to buy new glass anyway as the 5D3 offers no crop mode (without hacking). With DSLR/mirrorless hybrids, the lenses can be a much larger part of the financial equation than the bodies.

Personal biased opinion, having shot both 5D2/3 and GH2/3 professionally:
The GH3/4 are excellent, flexible cameras with wonderfully compact system size and handling that shoot good sharp video and good stills but get pooh-pooh'd due to their "non-standard" sensor size and "consumer" market positioning. Future prospects are that m43 consortia will continue to push limits and offer increased professional hybrid capability, and may or may not ever gain a strong foothold in the production community.

The 5D3 is an outstanding stills camera that also does video well enough, and can be pushed to perform better with hacking and accessorization. It generally remains cleaner at higher ISO. It is an industry standard because Canon created the hybrid market with the 5D2, and Canon gear thus quickly gained ubiquity in the industry. It's rather large and expensive (although you may be able to find used 5D3's for much less), doesn't have a good onboard monitoring/focus solution, has challenges with onboard audio, and generally isn't as flexible as cameras like the GH3/4. Future prospects are that its ubiquity will remain, and it will continue to be a preferred tool of professionals simply because almost every other professional has a Canon something-or-other.


Now for some opinionated bloviation:
In all honesty, I hate shooting video with 5D's. The images can look really nice, but I just hate working with them, mostly due to the monitoring issue. While it added a few professional video touches over the 5D2, it's still clearly a stills camera with a video feature, really more of a 'stopgap' to push large sensor video shooters towards the very good but relatively underfeatured C100 cinema camera. If you're used to the T3i and aren't sick of working with it, operationally transitioning to working with the 5D3 shouldn't be a huge thing.

Panasonic seems to have abandoned their low-to-mid-priced AF m43 cinema camera, and thus packed a TON of full-on professional video functionality into the GH4 - so much so that it almost seems to have been designed first as a video camera with an interesting stills-shooting feature, especially when considering the YAGH breakout box accessory (GH4 + YAGH are roughly equal in price, and size, to a 5D3 body). Even if you never shoot a frame of 4K video, as a 1080p camera it still compares VERY well with anything else in its class.

To further complicate your decision, you might also consider the Sony A7 series. Plenty of reviews of those elsewhere.
 
1) I have not edited with 4k footage before. How will this effect my ability to edit on Final Cut Pro?

I am thinking of getting either a Canon 6d or a Panasonic GH4. I will not need 4k within the next year at least, probably longer. I will have to spend 1500 on a pc and upgrade to adobe creative cloud before I can even edit 4k anyway. I think 4k looks weird on youtube right now and plays slowly, i dont expect to be shooting 4k for web videos for a couple of years and by then im sure there will be better 4k cameras out from canon and everyone else.


2) Is there a lens mount for the GH4 to use Canon lenses?

You can get cheap adapters and use the canon fd lenses. I would get panasonic/olympus lenses rather than spending more on the $600 adapter.


3) Will the 5D3 become "extinct" in a couple years due to all the new 4k cameras?

No. I've yet to see footage match the film look, shallow depth of field, dynamic range, low light video or photography abilities of a cheaper dslr including the GH4 so would not recommend the GH4 over the 5dmIII unless you need 4k (which i dont even know why you would need this any time soon)

4) How much does it matter that the GH4 is not a full frame 4k camera?

The footage is super sharp. If you want sharp video you will be fine. If you want a wider shot without a cropped image, if you want shallow depth of field or if you want a camera that is great for photography then the 5d will beat out the GH4 for your needs.


5) Will the price of the 5D3 decrease a lot once the GH4 hits the market?

I doubt it, but if people start to sell their 5d's on ebay to buy the new GH4 and sony A7s then you might be able to find cheaper used canons on ebay.


imo it all depends on what you shoot. For someone like me who does it all from TV commercials, to web videos to photography it makes for a tough decision.
 
nefilmgroup said:
I want to upgrade from my T3i and have narrowed my selection down to either the Panasonic GH4 or the Canon 5D Mark iii.

Could anyone give me advice or tips on which on I should choose?

Some factors I have considered are:
1) I have not edited with 4k footage before. How will this effect my ability to edit on Final Cut Pro?
2) Is there a lens mount for the GH4 to use Canon lenses?
3) Will the 5D3 become "extinct" in a couple years due to all the new 4k cameras?
4) How much does it matter that the GH4 is not a full frame 4k camera?
5) Will the price of the 5D3 decrease a lot once the GH4 hits the market?

Any other tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Paul
Click to expand...

all cameras with mirrors are obsolete.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top