GH3 I'm skipping the GH3 and sticking with my GH2 (for now). Anyone else?

Personally there are enough improvements in form factor and features alone that even if the image were identical to the GH2, I'd still be interested in buying the GH3.

Fortunately, it seems a good bet that we'll be also getting a better image along with all the other goodies.
 
I'm going to wait for the camera to be finished and properly tested, but what's going to get me to buy as it stands right now is dynamic range. If the GH3 brings 2 more stops of dynamic range to the table, then shooting in high contrast situations will be significantly better. Situations like bright sunlight with deep shadows, or shooting a stage show with lots of backlighting, or shooting in the city at night. All very contrasty situations that the GH2 struggles with. The GH3 could instantly change all of this...
 
TheDingo said:
I'm going to wait for the camera to be finished and properly tested, but what's going to get me to buy as it stands right now is dynamic range. If the GH3 brings 2 more stops of dynamic range to the table...
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The thing to bear in mind about dynamic range is that the camera's max DR is available only at its lowest ISO setting (not counting "extended" ISO settings that are implemented with digital scaling). While this is true of all digital cameras, some have the built-in advantage of an ISO range that extends down to ISO 100. That's one of the factors that gives the Nikon D7000 a 14-stop max dynamic range, compared to the GH2's 11-stop DR:

http://www.sensorgen.info/NikonD7000.html

http://www.sensorgen.info/PanasonicDMC_GH2.html

Note that in Sensorgen's chart, the GH2's DR maxes out at ISO 200, and doesn't get any better at ISO 160. That very likely indicates that on the GH2, ISO 160 is digitally scaled down from ISO 200. By contrast, the Nikon D7000's chart shows a huge gain in DR in stepping down to ISO 100 from ISO 200. If you start at ISO 200 on both cameras, the D7000's initial 3-stop advantage (at ISO 100) gradually decreases to a 1 1/3-stop advantage at ISO 3200 and beyond.

What this means is that the GH3 would only need to improve high-ISO DR by about 1-stop to match the D7000's high-ISO DR. If you compare the two cameras at the low end of their ISO ranges, the GH3's DR at ISO 200 will likely fall far short of the Nikon D7000's 14-stop DR at ISO 100.
 
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Thanks @lpowell. This Flowmotion 2.02 is a great setting. I'll be using it in an upcoming wedding shoot.
Why would I pine after a GH3? The GH2 is still a great story machine. I just bought another one!
cheers.
 
lpowell said:
The thing to bear in mind about dynamic range is that the camera's max DR is available only at its lowest ISO setting (not counting "extended" ISO settings that are implemented with digital scaling). While this is true of all digital cameras, some have the built-in advantage of an ISO range that extends down to ISO 100. That's one of the factors that gives the Nikon D7000 a 14-stop max dynamic range, compared to the GH2's 11-stop DR:

http://www.sensorgen.info/NikonD7000.html

http://www.sensorgen.info/PanasonicDMC_GH2.html

Note that in Sensorgen's chart, the GH2's DR maxes out at ISO 200, and doesn't get any better at ISO 160. That very likely indicates that on the GH2, ISO 160 is digitally scaled down from ISO 200. By contrast, the Nikon D7000's chart shows a huge gain in DR in stepping down to ISO 100 from ISO 200. If you start at ISO 200 on both cameras, the D7000's initial 3-stop advantage (at ISO 100) gradually decreases to a 1 1/3-stop advantage at ISO 3200 and beyond.

What this means is that the GH3 would only need to improve high-ISO DR by about 1-stop to match the D7000's high-ISO DR. If you compare the two cameras at the low end of their ISO ranges, the GH3's DR at ISO 200 will likely fall far short of the Nikon D7000's 14-stop DR at ISO 100.
Click to expand...

Thank you for this post. I learned something new today. I'm still knew to Video and I didn't know this. I always thought that DR just adjusted on a scale when raising ISO, like Floating Point or something. It all makes sense now that you've explained it tho.
 
lpowell said:
The thing to bear in mind about dynamic range is that the camera's max DR is available only at its lowest ISO setting (not counting "extended" ISO settings that are implemented with digital scaling). While this is true of all digital cameras, some have the built-in advantage of an ISO range that extends down to ISO 100. That's one of the factors that gives the Nikon D7000 a 14-stop max dynamic range, compared to the GH2's 11-stop DR:

http://www.sensorgen.info/NikonD7000.html

http://www.sensorgen.info/PanasonicDMC_GH2.html

Note that in Sensorgen's chart, the GH2's DR maxes out at ISO 200, and doesn't get any better at ISO 160. That very likely indicates that on the GH2, ISO 160 is digitally scaled down from ISO 200. By contrast, the Nikon D7000's chart shows a huge gain in DR in stepping down to ISO 100 from ISO 200. If you start at ISO 200 on both cameras, the D7000's initial 3-stop advantage (at ISO 100) gradually decreases to a 1 1/3-stop advantage at ISO 3200 and beyond.

What this means is that the GH3 would only need to improve high-ISO DR by about 1-stop to match the D7000's high-ISO DR. If you compare the two cameras at the low end of their ISO ranges, the GH3's DR at ISO 200 will likely fall far short of the Nikon D7000's 14-stop DR at ISO 100.
Click to expand...


So if I'm understanding you correctly I should stick to the whole numbers in iso settings? On canon DSLR I always used 160,320, etc. On GH2 I should not use those and use 200, 400, etc...?
 
lpowell said:
...
What this means is that the GH3 would only need to improve high-ISO DR by about 1-stop to match the D7000's high-ISO DR. If you compare the two cameras at the low end of their ISO ranges, the GH3's DR at ISO 200 will likely fall far short of the Nikon D7000's 14-stop DR at ISO 100.
Click to expand...

*14* stops of DR for a *D700*? I would love to be proven wrong, but I've never heard of such a thing. A Red Epic doesn't even have 14 stops and an Arri Alexa might.
 
From what I've seen the pixel sharpness of the GH2 is better than the GH3, the aliasing and moiree is better, and the sensor is a true multi-sensor. OTOH the color looks good on the GH3, DR looks better. I hate noise. GH3 looks noisy, but so it GH2. GH2 takes cracking photos with the 12 or 14 in true wide angle mode in raw, but maybe the GH3 photos are good as well, who knows?
Can't see myself buying it before the price goes down, and if the IQ really is slightly worse, can't see myself buying it. You can add a stop or so of DR with a legacy glass :)
If it was 2k, I would pre-order, but it isn't.
 
There is still the misunderstanding, that a manufacturer with a consumer photo and pro-video department would offer the same power of one of it´s pro-cams at the price tag of one of its consumer cams.
Just imaging yourself offering the same value (your skills) with different names and different day rates. Jim Brown will do the same job for 500 bucks while Martin Steven Ironstone will ask for 2000 - both times you show up, doing the exact same thing...
So once more, the GH3 is a great DSLR alternative, with really good video capabilities. The "machine" itself has improved in almost all aspects you could improve hardware.
Time will tell, but I bet the photo mode has improved and for mom and dead ready to go "pro" with their holiday movies, the GH3 offers high bitrate and a headphone jack.
The latter will appeal to many pros too, I GUESS ;o)
Actually, with this announcement I´m pretty sure now, NAB13 will bring a true "king of the indies" contender from Panasonic (with hopefully enough pre-run to answer to BMD...)
 
Spartacus said:
There is still the misunderstanding, that a manufacturer with a consumer photo and pro-video department would offer the same power of one of it´s pro-cams at the price tag of one of its consumer cams.
Just imaging yourself offering the same value (your skills) with different names and different day rates. Jim Brown will do the same job for 500 bucks while Martin Steven Ironstone will ask for 2000 - both times you show up, doing the exact same thing...
So once more, the GH3 is a great DSLR alternative, with really good video capabilities. The "machine" itself has improved in almost all aspects you could improve hardware.
Time will tell, but I bet the photo mode has improved and for mom and dead ready to go "pro" with their holiday movies, the GH3 offers high bitrate and a headphone jack.
The latter will appeal to many pros too, I GUESS ;o)
Actually, with this announcement I´m pretty sure now, NAB13 will bring a true "king of the indies" contender from Panasonic (with hopefully enough pre-run to answer to BMD...)
Click to expand...

I would have to say that the GH2 with the Hack is probably some of the best footage from any Panasonic camera I have seen... Also as noted by GH3 developer they are different divisions
 
Spartacus said:
There is still the misunderstanding, that a manufacturer with a consumer photo and pro-video department would offer the same power of one of it´s pro-cams at the price tag of one of its consumer cams.
Just imaging yourself offering the same value (your skills) with different names and different day rates. Jim Brown will do the same job for 500 bucks while Martin Steven Ironstone will ask for 2000 - both times you show up, doing the exact same thing...
So once more, the GH3 is a great DSLR alternative, with really good video capabilities. The "machine" itself has improved in almost all aspects you could improve hardware.
Time will tell, but I bet the photo mode has improved and for mom and dead ready to go "pro" with their holiday movies, the GH3 offers high bitrate and a headphone jack.
The latter will appeal to many pros too, I GUESS ;o)
Actually, with this announcement I´m pretty sure now, NAB13 will bring a true "king of the indies" contender from Panasonic (with hopefully enough pre-run to answer to BMD...)
Click to expand...

Depends on volume....

I do the same work for different prices.
The clients who give me the bulk of my work gets price A.....
Other clients may get price A + B.....
And clients who are a real PITA get price A + B + C....
However - selling your services is much different then selling a product.
Some people try to sell services as a product - some do well and some don't.
When I buy a product - I am a loyal customer and will usually purchase from the same sources.
Chasing a product price to save a few bucks usually results in headaches...
 
ErikTande said:
The want factor for me is huge. I love new toys. The need factor for me is virtually non-existant. I'll wait a year or more when I can pick one up for $600.
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Yep, that's my current line of thinking. I have no doubt it will be a fine camera, but I can't really justify the expense at the moment.
 
Here's my ***** and am waiting to see if the GH3 solves it.

I am soooooooo sick of washed out colors...... if the GH3 doesn't solve that in a huge way, no sense in the upgrade at $1300.
 
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