Panasonic GH3, or nikon d800, or canon 5d mark iii : video and photo

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Doxx

New member
Hi. First, presentations:

My name is Hector and i'm from madrid, spain. And advise of my bad english :(

I'm a cinema student in university, i'm learning about montage, theory color, cine language etc etc...

Now i'm waiting to buy my first "professional" gear, i have a lot of projects (videoclips, shortfilms, boxeo fights, etc etc...) So i need a videocamera, obviously, but the next year i have a full photography asignature, so here is my question.

I'm 100% decide with this models and this "specs"

Panasonic gh3 + 12-35 f2,8 + 35-100 f2,8; or 14-140mm + voitlanger 25mm f0,95; also include a slyder, external microphone etc...

Nikon d800 + tamron 24-70mm f2,8 and rokinon 85mm f1,5

Canon 5d mark iii + tamron 24-70mm f2,8 and rokinon 85mm f1,5


Well, is so complicated to me for decide about what gear i need; if i only want video my choice is easy ---> panasonic gh3, but i repeat that the next year i com to study photography, and maybe the full frame can be more seriosly for me. Also this summer i have a full room for shoot my videos with my leds, reflectors etc.. and can be use for photography to; so maybe the gh3 for photography in this function its not a good choice; of course maybe the true is that i dont need a full frame camera

Again sorry for my bad english, and thanks to all.
 
Hello, have you read the Metabones Speed Booster threads on this forum? If not I would recommend reading them. And if you've read those threads I would recommend the GH3 + Speed Booster then drop the Voigtlander 25mm 0.95, and use it in something like a Nikon 35mm 1.4 + Speed Booster combination, this is less expensive and would preform optically better. I have the Voigtlander 25mm f0,95 my self and TBH, I find it optically terrible at 0.95-1.2, it doesn't look dreamy, just smeary, the Metabones would be really close in speed and focal length with a 35mm 1.4.

Else, I would recommend the D800, it is a fantastic camera that delivers very cinematic images and takes great photos, the 5DIII looks more smooth, but the D800 really outperforms it in resolution and image latitude, and I would say it's the best all-rounder.

But, all cameras are really good! I would recommend choosing the one that has the image that fits your movies best, and that is really hard to choose with just technical specifications...
 
Stranden said:
Hello, have you read the Metabones Speed Booster threads on this forum? If not I would recommend reading them. And if you've read those threads I would recommend the GH3 + Speed Booster then drop the Voigtlander 25mm 0.95, and use it in something like a Nikon 35mm 1.4 + Speed Booster combination, this is less expensive and would preform optically better. I have the Voigtlander 25mm f0,95 my self and TBH, I find it optically terrible at 0.95-1.2, it doesn't look dreamy, just smeary, the Metabones would be really close in speed and focal length with a 35mm 1.4.

Else, I would recommend the D800, it is a fantastic camera that delivers very cinematic images and takes great photos, the 5DIII looks more smooth, but the D800 really outperforms it in resolution and image latitude, and I would say it's the best all-rounder.

But, all cameras are really good! I would recommend choosing the one that has the image that fits your movies best, and that is really hard to choose with just technical specifications...
Click to expand...

Hi, now i'm reading the article of philip bloom about metabones speed boster, thanks for the info.
I read the problems of the voitlanger at the high apertures; and people say that this is not a good buy thinking for the future (??)
And what about the gh3 for photography?

The nikon d800 i think is so amazing, the crop modes can be a "salvation" for me. But i read in video dont have the detail and the good quality of the gh3. but i love the film look this camera have; maybe i'm crazy but i love the noise of this camera in high isos

Also, i forget say that i want realice a works in extreme low light conditions, the boxeo fights that i want to realice have a very very low light conditions in the rings; the lasts i film i shoot in 1600 iso or 3200 (with all the noise problems with the 7d) And i include the voitlanger for this reason, the 0,95 aperture can save me in very situations, but if the look its not good... Maybe is better the choice of d800 and shoot in 3200 iso; the gh3 at 3200 have noise problems?

Thanks for your post :)
 
5D vs. GH3
There is no doubt that 5D is superior for stills. That’s where the DSLR has an advantage. However for video it’s more complicated. 5D is a very capable and possibly better quality in the video area due to the larger sensor but you need to accept the limitations. From its design DSLRs are worse suited for video than shutterless cameras:
  1. You cannot use the viewfinder (which is the primary advantage of a DSLR) because the mirror has to be up for recording video. So you need to rely on the back screen when shooting focusing using that screen. This is awkward and not precise (especially in bright light) unless you purchase an add on viewfinder that fits over the screen like the one from Zakuto which works but makes the setup bulky and more awkward (and especially that the back screen quality of LCD is inferior to OLED that the GH3 has).
  2. I believe that Phase detection is superior to Contrast detection but Phase detection only works for stills. As a matter of fact 5D has no continuous autofocus at all for shooting video so you need to focus manually or use a spot focus by half pressing the shutter button while filming which creates a short distortion that would need to be edited out in the post. This is seen as advantage by professional videographers, and it well may be, but if you are an enthusiast who aside from yearning for better quality video, better low light, the shallow depth of field of the full sensor, etc., still wants to shoot an occasional video of his kids running after the family dog, you need to accept that this will be much, much harder with a 5D than with a GH3 in the continuous autofocus mode. Especially that with the GH3 you can use the viewfinder and may not need a tripod because of the image stabilisation. So if you need to follow a moving object handling the zoom and the manual focus and worrying about the stability of your video without a tripod, it’s very difficult to get great results from otherwise a great camera as 5D is. Interestingly enough, this is somehow recognised by Canon. Canon’s flagship DSLR – 1Dx has continuous autofocus.
I own a 5D Mk III, played quite a bit with friend’s GH3 and saving to purchase one. I’m not replacing my 5D thought, GH3 cannot beat it for stills but I may end up using the GH3 quite a bit, because for less critical work GH3 is simply much lighter and convenient to use.
 
Do we have any measure of DR on the GH3?
And, can you load custom picture styles on that one?
 
Hi Doxx,

I have both the GH2 and the D800. Perhaps you might consider the GH2 (with hack) for your video purposes? It is certainly cheaper than the GH3. And when the time comes, you might consider the D800 for photography. You could use the D800 for video... but it is a lot more steps than the GH2. Yes, the D800 produces superior video and photos, but the video suffers from some moire and aliasing. Also, the GH2 is superb for handling - run and gun. Flexible LCD and video shooting through the viewfinder are major plus points. In the future you could use the metabones adapter for m43 to help you out with low light....
 
There is a new kid on the block. Check the Nikon d5200 thread. The sensor is the best sensor for APSC photo camera with 24 megapixel, best low light and about 14 stop of Dr and the camera is quite cheap. In video it looks to be high resolution and with no moire and aliasing. I am a Nikon d800 and gh2 user. I use my d800 for my pro photography. But now I think I replace the gh2 with the d5200 to use the same system. The only thing lacking is 60fps at 1080p for me. I also forgot to say is that the d5200 hdmi output is clean so you can even record on a recorder at much higher bitrate. The last thing is that I just saw that nikonrumors says that a replacement to the nikon d7000 is coming before April. If they put this sensor in a more pro body it would be killer as a hybrid camera for photo and video.
 
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