GH3 Over a Year Into the GH3...

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Ianscreations

Well-known member
I've been happily using the GH3 bodies now for over a year.
While I am very happy with the camera, I thought by now we would have two important updates:

1) A hack or version update that provides some missing functionality (peaking, display shutoff prevention)

2) A consensus on the best "picture profile" for video. I have seen people post all over the map regarding contrast/sharpness settings and even
the general "Profile" they prefer: Natural, Vivid, Standard, etc.

I'm not sure how long it took the GH2 to get a decent hack/update, so perhaps I have unfounded expectations regarding the hack. That being said, I'm shocked there is a more general consensus on the ideal profile pictures.
 
Happy GH3 user here and I agree with your points. But, I have noticed that Panasonic has continued to release firmware upgrades so that was a surprise, considering how long they waited to release the first GH2 firmware. As for the hack, who knows but a year is a long time in product lifecycles and we now have the Blackmagic Pocket, which takes M43 lenses, shoots with Prores and priced cheaper than the GH3. So, it could be that folks are just using their Blackmagic Pockets now.
 
Ianscreations said:
I've been happily using the GH3 bodies now for over a year.
While I am very happy with the camera, I thought by now we would have two important updates:

1) A hack or version update that provides some missing functionality (peaking, display shutoff prevention)

2) A consensus on the best "picture profile" for video. I have seen people post all over the map regarding contrast/sharpness settings and even
the general "Profile" they prefer: Natural, Vivid, Standard, etc.

I'm not sure how long it took the GH2 to get a decent hack/update, so perhaps I have unfounded expectations regarding the hack. That being said, I'm shocked there is a more general consensus on the ideal profile pictures.
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1. Brand new features typically are not added with hacks for the GH cameras. Most of what the GH1 and GH2 hacks added were just increases on already existing features of the camera. For example bitrate and ISO max levels. Peaking would be a brand new feature the camera was not designed for and "may" physically be impossible.

2. What does the "best picture profile" mean? The reason you are getting answers all over the map is because everybody has a different opinion on what best means when it comes to quality. Some people like super sharp video while some like soft and organic. Settings are the same as lenses or film stock or color correction techniques. It really depends on your personal choice. The other reason why they are all over the map is because the GH3 has so many more options which gives GH3 users even a wider range of looks. The more options users have the more impossible it is for a consensus to determine the best settings. No camera has ever had a consensus because there is no such thing.
 
I purchased the GH3 recently and I am still experimenting. The only thing I wish was fixed was the noise levels. Now while I play with it I am waiting for the GH4K!
 
What ISO's are you shooting at?

In the 200 - 800 ISO range, I find noise pretty minimal.
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No, I know. Past 800 ISO is where it starts getting ugly. I just got MB Denoiser to help out. I also need to get a faster lens!
 
I must say the eye sensor is driving me nuts. It's just as over-sensitive as the GH1 and GH2 was. I had major issues shooting while snowing this week, one tiny flake onto the sensor and it turns off the display. On a positive note that HDMI out is ideal for a nice crisp HD monitor, just bought one with focus peaking so that hopefully gets rid of some annoying issues.
 
Thomas Smet said:
1. Brand new features typically are not added with hacks for the GH cameras. Most of what the GH1 and GH2 hacks added were just increases on already existing features of the camera. For example bitrate and ISO max levels. Peaking would be a brand new feature the camera was not designed for and "may" physically be impossible.

2. What does the "best picture profile" mean? The reason you are getting answers all over the map is because everybody has a different opinion on what best means when it comes to quality. Some people like super sharp video while some like soft and organic. Settings are the same as lenses or film stock or color correction techniques. It really depends on your personal choice. The other reason why they are all over the map is because the GH3 has so many more options which gives GH3 users even a wider range of looks. The more options users have the more impossible it is for a consensus to determine the best settings. No camera has ever had a consensus because there is no such thing.
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I agree with your point number 2. That being said, I haven't even seen a consensus on how to achieve the "flattest" image in the GH3. I have seen complaints that reducing contract to -5 results in skin tones that can't be fully recovered. I have also seen that -5 sharpness is too dull. I personally think the "0" saturation levels are too high within the camera, but they shouldn't be set to -5 either.

I actually like to achieve as much as I can within the camera, so I'm not trying to shoot flat all the time. I prefer to minimize the amount of work I do in post.
 
Yeah flat isn't always the best option with a compressed 8bit format. When shooting with an 8bit format you actually want to try to get the look as close to your final look as possible. This way you don't have to push the 8bit format as hard. Yeah I know that isn't always easy but that's the tradeoffs between an 8bit camera and a good 10bit or RAW camera. As soon as you touch an 8bit format you are tossing away color information and reducing the quality.
 
With the C100 AVCHD codec I can get a pretty good grade shooting C log, but that's different than just flatting out the settings on a camera.

I think no hack for the GH3 is because it's pretty darn good as is and like others have said we have so many new cameras that offer a lot of image at a low price.
 
The only real omission from the GH3 for me is the focus peaking, I had a Nex-7 that made me fall in love with that feature, had to sell it to a photographer, too much overheating. I'm pretty happy with my GH3, I'm waiting for the wave of 4K cameras, not for 4k display, but for the crop aspect and the the room for AE's warp stabilization. Many people can't tell the difference from 1080 and 720, so taking 4k with some crops ( with good len's) and warp and then out to 1080P will be awesome.
 
1. Best improvement of coming GH3 hack would be PAL/NTSC switch. Second best is better intra bitrate wich is now useless. Long GOP benefits of hack too because I see artifacts in 50P 50Mbs mode. And we dont know what could be possible with GH3 4-core processor.

2. GH3 -5 contrast is not so flat. It is to me best option to achieve natural looking picture. I use Natural c-5, col0, sh -5, nr-5. GH3 sharpening with Panasonic lenses thickens fine detail and creates halos. And NR is better in post or player. But with other lenses it is a different story.
 
Compared to my un-hacked GH2, I think the GH3 is a significant improvement. I added a Zacuto Z-Finder Pro, which "fixed" the hard-to-see-anything EVF. An expensive way to fix it, but its something I can transfer to my next camera, whatever that may be. All in all, the GH3 is a dang good camera. Nothing stays great for long in this biz.
 
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