GH3 Why Does G6 have Focus Peaking but not the GH3?

Fresno Bob said:
If you are using the GH3 is a serious capacity, you're going to have a proper monitor anyway.
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I respectfully disagree, but this is proabably a different discussion entirely.
That being said, what monitor do you recommend? Since peaking doesn't appear to be any near-distant implementation, I'm looking for a good, but inexpensive monitor that can show peaking.
 
We don't even know if the G6 video is any good or if it will get hacked to higher bitrates...

If it does take good video, maybe Panasonic will sell three times as many G6's than GH3's.
 
Panasonic haven't included peaking on the GH3 because they are a bunch of morons!


Seriously though, the GH3 is still fairly new in its product life cycle and is supposedly aimed at videographers as much as the stills guys. Focus peaking is nothing new and the GH3 really should have it.

Canon gave the 5DII proper frame rates with firmware updates as well as manual audio control. It's not too much to ask of panasonic to fix this glaring omission with a firmware update.
 
vtwiz said:
Panasonic haven't included peaking on the GH3 because they are a bunch of morons!


Seriously though, the GH3 is still fairly new in its product life cycle and is supposedly aimed at videographers as much as the stills guys. Focus peaking is nothing new and the GH3 really should have it.

Canon gave the 5DII proper frame rates with firmware updates as well as manual audio control. It's not too much to ask of panasonic to fix this glaring omission with a firmware update.
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That is your opinion and you have no idea what can and cannot be added via firmware. People who don't program think it is so easy to just flip a switch and there it is. None of us know the technical limitations of this feature and what it could impose on the resources in the camera. Focus peaking is not a simple thing. It is a rather math intensive function that has to try to guess if something is in focus by constantly looking at the contrast in the scene or by using other intensive calculations. Don't just assume this is a business decision or a trick to make you upset. Nobody knows the reason behind it so guessing or assuming really serves no purpose.

If you want it submit a feature request to Panasonic or write them a letter. If the camera processor and firmware are capable of doing it and Panasonic decides it is worth the development time then perhaps we will get it. Talking about it on a forum however does nothing and speculating as to the shady practices of why we don't have certain features does even less.
 
I understand this. The fact is that Peaking should have been there from the start. The fact that the GH3 has Timecode support, MOV 50Mbs and All-I Intra codecs among other 'pro' features would suggest that this camera is aimed at more than just mums and dads wanting to take video of their kids. The lack of any focusing aids during video recording is an embarrassing oversight on Panasoncs part and if it's not fixable with a firmware update Panasonic should hang their head in shame.

Considering that peaking, zebras, live histogram, live waveform display were all able to be added to Canon cameras as low as a 3yr old Canon 550D, I am pretty confident that the hardware in the GH3 is capable of producing some peaking.

And I have written to Panasonic about it. If I also want to discuss it with fellow owners on a forum I will. Feel free to stop reading a thread about the lack of focus peaking if you don't think we should be talking about it.
 
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Fresno Bob said:
If you are using the GH3 is a serious capacity, you're going to have a proper monitor anyway.
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Why, the rear OLED with a loupe is as good or better than most VFs on cameras we've produced with for years, and everything we produce is serious and for serious money.
It has a very proper monitor already that plays to it's advantage - small, light, quick.
 
You have to keep in mind that the GH3 is Panasonic's first attempt at building a "Pro" quality camera, and it's a big step up from the GH2.

Based upon Panasonic's past behavior, I think you will have to wait for the next generation GHx camera to get peaking. ( Panasonic rarely adds new features through firmware updates )

I am curious to see what the G6 is like for video work. The test I posted the link to looks promising, especially when you look at how much cleaner the shadows are relative to the GH2.
 
Panasonic's first attempt at a Pro camera? I think not!

Sony's consumer NEX cameras all have focus peaking so not sure what Panasonic where thinking.

If it wasn't for the fact that I needed the GH3 for two jobs I have coming up in the next few week, I would have waited for the G6. Would Panasonic rather people buy the cheaper camera? Seems like a strange business model if that is the case.

I think the GH3 is too recent in its product cycle to have to wait for the next GH? for a basic function. The GH2 was out for two years before the GH3 replaced it. The GH3 has only been out for just over 6 months. Does Panasonic really expect people to hold off for a year and a half? Like I said, that means that (if the G6 video quality is on par with the GH2) for the next 18 months people wanting a camera primarily for video will mostly choose the cheaper G6 unless they need the All-I Codec and weather sealing of the GH3 which isn't too high an most peoples priority list. The G6 will also do 1080 50/60p in ExTele mode! Silly Panasonic.

PS, I still really love my GH3 and it's a massive upgrade from the 7D I was using until recently. I just can't understand how Panasonic could have left out such a basic feature requirement.
 
Maybe, if more time was spent using the many advanced focus features the GH3 DOES have, rather than continuously flogging this "no focus peaking" dead horse, our camera skills would supersede the need for focus peaking?
 
The GH3 doesn't have ANY focus aids while video recording. That's the whole point. NOTHING.


I have worked in the camera department in both Film and TV for the last 16 years. The only cameras i have had to focus through without Peaking were the Arri 435 film cameras but they have an optical viewfinder and a had a tape measure. Every pro video camera has the peaking function and it gets used by many pro even though their viewfinders are B&W and much clearer than the GH3's. It doesn't mean that these pros are no good at focusing. Do you think that Pros shooting with the BMC are going to say 'I'm a pro, I don't need peaking'? No, they will use it. Do Pro's using the histogram not know how to expose correctly?

As EVF's can vary in quality, its handy having these aids weather your a pro or not.
 
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The thing you have to remember is that the GH3 is not a Pro video camera. It's a hybrid: stills/video camera. It would be a great addition, but they added an awful lot of features GH2 users were requesting.
Better codecs, better build, better VF and screen, bigger body and better controls, better battery life, 1080 60.

We had a thread going here about requests for peaking through firmware updates for the GH3. The G6 has it now.... one way or another made possible through users requesting it across various platforms.
 
vtwiz said:
The GH3 doesn't have ANY focus aids while video recording. That's the whole point. NOTHING.


I have worked in the camera department in both Film and TV for the last 16 years. The only cameras i have had to focus through without Peaking were the Arri 435 film cameras but they have an optical viewfinder and a had a tape measure. Every pro video camera has the peaking function and it gets used by many pro even though their viewfinders are B&W and much clearer than the GH3's. It doesn't mean that these pros are no good at focusing. Do you think that Pros shooting with the BMC are going to say 'I'm a pro, I don't need peaking'? No, they will use it.
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If a camera, any camera, doesn't have the features we want or need, either we have to change and adapt to its shortcomings or find a different camera. How many of us can remember owning anything that had every feature we wanted?

Fingers crossed that magically, after all this carrying-on about missing features on a $1,200 camera, tomorrow we can power on our GH3s and find focus peaking.
 
I understand where your coming from. I chose the GH3 and its a great camera. The feature I am requesting is found on $500 camera bodies so making the GH3 sound cheap at $1200 and using that as reasoning for not containing a simple feature doesnt really work.

Yes, there are no perfect cameras. Its almost as if companies like Pana are doing this on purpose. Every camera has little things missing. The GH3 was ever so close to being the perfect cam for me.
 
Many of these stills cameras that shoot video don't have it. The reason it seems little things are missing is that they simply can't include every feature every person wants. Because, sure...lets say it has focus peaking. Cool. Still, the next guy says: Why doesn't it have x feature or y feature.
Canon bodies up to the 1DC don't have it either, a $12,000 camera - as released by Canon, not talking about hacks.
Nikon bodies don't have it. The new BMCs have focus peaking, but have other features missing people wish they had.
 
vtwiz said:
Panasonic's first attempt at a Pro camera? I think not!
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When the GH3 feature set was still unknown, there were a few Panasonic interviews floating about that touched on the next camera after the GH2, and one thing that kept coming up was that Panasonic was going after the Canon 7D / Nikon D7000 still photo territory. That this would be their first "pro" still photo EVIL camera. And there have been a few pros that switched from Canon / Nikon to the GH3 after testing it out for still photo work. I don't think anyone switched because the image was better, but rather that they could get essentially "pro" level image quality out of a camera kit that was significantly smaller.

I turned down a few corporate still photo jobs last year because I knew that my GH2 could not cut it ( and it would not be worth the hassle/expense of renting a Canon or Nikon kit ), but today using my GH3 I would have taken them on.

vtwiz said:
Sony's consumer NEX cameras all have focus peaking so not sure what Panasonic were thinking.
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...I think they were trying to cram as much as possible into the GH3 that focus peaking for video work was overlooked.

I am not too thrilled about the optics of the GH3 EVF, so given my choice, I wish they had spent more time getting the EVF optics right. I expect this will be fixed in the GH4.


vtwiz said:
If it wasn't for the fact that I needed the GH3 for two jobs I have coming up in the next few week, I would have waited for the G6.
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Right now I would be cautious about the G6, as I haven't seen enough to know if the video is as good as the hacked GH2, or if the G6 will be useable for still photo work. I shoot mainly video, but I can see myself getting back into still photo work now that I have the GH3 to shoot with.
 
hunter richards said:
I think this video explains the G6 pretty well and why the gh3 didnt get peaking: PanasonicJP_Official_Statement
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I'm not sure this is the link you mean to post.

And, I think we should clarify for purposes of this post:
I think most would agree that it may be difficult if not impossible to implement peaking to the GH3s firmware at this point.

The main points of contention, though, are:

-Why market this camera as a professional videographer's tool but leave out such an important feature from the get-go? We realize not "every" feature will be on a single camera, but certainly the most important tools/features should be.

-If peaking is not possible on the GH3, then:
Why announce a camera only 6 months later that has added this major feature? If Panasonic just needed 6 more months of R&D, I would have gladly waited!

I understand how hard it is to change firmware, include every feature on a camera, etc. But the main point is:
Panasonic SHOULD have made peaking happen. And now that they have announced in such a quick timeframe a camera that has it, they almost have an obligation to find a way to put peaking in the GH3.
 
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