GH3 Request to GH3 and GH2 owners

PaPa

PaPa

Major Contributor
I would like to ask those of you who own both a GH3 and a hacked GH2 to do a simple and easy test for us. I say "Us", simply because I assume my curiosity is shared among other users here.

The test:

- Use the same lens on both cameras
- Set ISO to 400
- Place newspaper with fine print, magazines, books, reflective books, matte covers - all over a desk/surface
- Take one light (Desk lamp should work 60 watts or so) and place it in such a fashion where there is a high contrast lighting ratio going across the surface (hot spots and shadows)
- Set your lens at F8 and either back your light up, or move it further away to get the best exposed image you can at F8
- Now set your lens at it's widest aperture and record 3-4 seconds. After that, stop your lens down a half stop and record another 3-4 seconds. Continue doing this until your lens cannot stop down anymore.

I would very much like to see this done with the GH2 on smooth and the GH3 on neutral with all of the settings turned down completely. (Just put your camera on the settings with the least contrast for greatest range)

Would anyone care to take on this challenge? I assume this would take approximately an hour to do from start to finish.
 
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I don't shoot a lot of books in my work. I'd much rather see this done with people, properly exposed on the face, with a lot of shadows in the shot and maybe a practical as well (like a desk or floor lamp). I'd love to see how well each camera can see into those shadows, and how each camera handles the highlights of the practical.

But don't move any lighting, as that's not always an option in my line of work. Rather, adjust the aperture to get the proper exposure for each camera.
 
I know there are owners now that have both, common guys, chime in here! Don't be lazy. This is a very simple and quick test to do.
 
PaPa said:
I know there are owners now that have both, common guys, chime in here! Don't be lazy. This is a very simple and quick test to do.
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Don't worry, it's early days. Comparisons will be posted soon on Vimeo I am quite sure.

Not cool to call people lazy! They're out making money with them!
 
400 ISO interior shot probably at night or in a non-windowed room (for your high contrast) with only a 60W bulb is going to be very underexposed, especially when you ratchet down the aperture.
 
Chris, please re read my post. It was just a suggestion as to which bulb to use. If you point a desk lamp above/to the side of articles and paper, this will be plenty of light. Perhaps 100 W would be better, and at close proximity, that will blow out fast.

Curtains/blinds do wonders :p
 
Will perhaps looking into doing something like this soon, but very busy.

I don't like contrast/sat turned down too much on GH3 at all myself, gets into black and white and single color (white balanced) muddle very quick.
 
For sure. I also want to shoot a rolling shutter and moiré comparison. The moiré seems much worse on the GH3...

Anyway the hack and sheer number of codec options on the GH3 somewhat complicates the idea of doing a side-by-side test.
 
right, but that shouldn't affect a still life DR test no? IF the GH3 can give me the same if not better DR than the GH2 in a way that simply my darks are less noisy and more "usable" then i would consider it. But from what i've seen so far, there seems to be a large placebo effect.
 
PaPa said:
right, but that shouldn't affect a still life DR test no? IF the GH3 can give me the same if not better DR than the GH2 in a way that simply my darks are less noisy and more "usable" then i would consider it. But from what i've seen so far, there seems to be a large placebo effect.
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It does have more info in the shadows.
 
Awesome. That's my only gripe at the moment about the hacked GH2. Great amounts of detail in the shadows that is unfortunately riddled with noise. Only so much you can push the shadows up before it's distracting.
 
I like the highlight falloff on the GH3 a lot myself so far, just visually. But we'll see when I get a chance to do a test. Anyone else feel free to do tests too. Hoping I'll have time on Saturday.
 
I'll be uploading a simple test shortly.
with star chart, color checker, and some minor props. Shot under desk lamp and the cameras with custom WB. 640 Iso each and both on standard profiles with all zeroed settings and all contrast/sharpening all the way down. Stay tuned.
 
Still very anxiously awaiting someone who is brave enough to do this test. Common folks.

There are so many other GH2 vs GH3 tests going on right now, and i think they show off moire successfully, but so far no one has done what is needed to demonstrate the difference in DR. This test will demonstrate just that.
 
PaPa said:
Still very anxiously awaiting someone who is brave enough to do this test. Common folks.
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Worst time of year for spare time at least for me otherwise I'd offer to let you set up the test and swing around with my GH3 but I will be working 12hr plus days leading up to Christmas to get some shows to air for the holidays.
 
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