Andrew Reid

Wait and see for now, until final firmware.

Don't forget this isn't a final review at all. Waiting for final firmware and more experience with the camera. One of the Slashcam guys was at the shoot and he's chart tested the GH3 vs GH2. He said the GH3 had a little bit more. I believe him, he knows his stuff. They are based in Berlin and I plan to meet up again. I have zero interest in shooting at 176Mbit to gain an almost in-perceivable difference over 80Mbit. Leave that to the personal-view guys... It got boring (not to mention confusing) pretty fast. The GH1 hack was great since it patched up a broken codec. The GH2 hack began well but now it is all about fiddling and fluffing around the edges. No significant new progress. Out of the box codec is far more important. It isn't hacked. It is designed. I can't have a shot curtailed during a shoot because of an unreliable codec hack. Wait and see the final camera. Also the HDMI may not at the moment be better in terms of image quality than an already superb internal codec but it is THE SAME. Which is more than you can say for the GH2's output, which was worse than the internal! Uncompressed HDMI if you want ProRes workflow straight off the bat is useful for some. Yep, you are - sorry! As for better ergonomics these are as important for video as they are for stills. [*]1080/60p at 50Mbit for slow-mo, no need to drop to 720p [*]Smoother gradation [*]Less banding [*]Better colour and no yellowish / greenish cast to deep reds and oranges [*]Weather proof for wet shooting days [*]Massively improved LCD and EVF for video [*]Huge battery (and battery grip) [*]72Mbit ALL-I is more reliable than hacked GH2 and no need to hack / put up with annoying Russian guy [*]24/25p and no progressive segmented frame nonsense or interlaced [*]Tougher lens mount for anamorphic and heavy lenses

You don't necessarily need an all-in-one, but look at the benefits the video mode on the GH3 has given the stills side. Taking out of the mirror and putting a video capable live view system in, gave us an EVF for stills and an adaptable lens mount for legacy glass. Both things I really miss on my 5D Mark III. The extra processing power to support good video gives you faster AF, more responsive menus and live view, faster, electronic shutter, better noise reduction on JPEGs, faster raw write times, faster SD cards, 10fps continuous shooting on the Sony NEX 5N for $500, list goes on... The GH2 was very underrated as a stills camera. Don't you guys let same fate befall the GH3. It doesn't deserve it!

[quote name='zaz' timestamp='1352100898' post='21041'] Personally, I think I will skip the GH3, and put that 1300 towards storage and ssd's for a BMCC. It's where we're all heading anyways right? I'm realizing now that the GH3 was just an uneccesary step between here and there. [/quote] $1300 towards storage for BMCC? How about $13,000? :) It is a damned nice camera though.

On the moire issues I think some perspective is required. Some of the pixel-obsession on forums like Personal-View is so over the top it is ridiculous. These guys never shoot anything worthwhile just obsess over small things. Glad the discussion here is far more level-headed. There's an approximate 20 point list of benefits over the previous model overall. Many pros and amateurs alike happily shoot with the 7D, 60D, T2i, NEX 5N, NEX 7 and those cameras have FAR MORE moire than the GH3 gave me on that shoot. Perspective!!

This report is based on a pre-production model. The GH3 is Panasonic's most far-reaching attempt yet to take on Canon's DSLR-market domination. So popular were Canon's DSLRs for video that they were able to found the entire Cinema EOS business on the back off it (and in doing so, arguably they turned their back on the enthusiast DSLR video market). But there was always a dark horse and that camera was the Panasonic GH2, with a better image and feature-set than any APS-C Canon DSLR for video. Now the dark horse has come of age but question marks remain. Is the mass market educated enough to choose more discerningly when it comes to DSLRs and DSLMs? And is the GH3 good enough?

This camera doesn't seem built from scratch rather a very mild update, hence it is not an AF200.

Yep, can't win. So I am shutting up about it and getting on with using the camera.

Absolutely and I am glad you drew it to my attention. I've replied on that forum. It is incredible how one crazy conspiracy guy with an axe to grind under an anonymous name can drag one down. CVP's explanation by the way, is 100% honest.

[quote name='kitchentable' timestamp='1351804187' post='20814'] I haven't heard from CVP since the 15th. August email. Mind you, other than telling me what they got up to on their holidays I don't think there's been that much to definitively update me on. I have no idea where I am on their list and until they are getting them through in even remotely sensible quantities its a bit moot unless you are in the first 5. They do seem to have been drawn into having to address your specific order issue on the Blackmagic forum though Andrew ! [url="http://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1288&start=1010"]http://forum.blackma...1288&start=1010[/url] I think a few people on there need to relax and accept its only a camera. [/quote] Re: that link - Really sad to see anyone resent myself getting the camera. That guy forgets I actually paid money for mine like everyone else (it is not a beta test program freebie) and because I believed in the camera immediately as it was being announced at NAB I put down my deposit and ordered it at CVP in a flash. I've waited like everyone else. There's nothing unfair about me getting my camera finally after all this time. Firstly, CVP just couldn't update everyone (and that includes me) on the shipping, because Blackmagic wasn't providing CVP with any info... At all. Blackmagic didn't have the info themselves. It was an engineering issue. Not even the engineers knew when the fix would be done, let alone when the factory could ramp up in significant quantities. So how is the dealer supposed to know!? I think people need to understand this and cut them some slack. I myself many times have felt frustrated at the lack of a camera, and beta testers getting theirs first just rubs salt into the wound so I can completely understand why people might be upset that CVP's first unit went to me but the reasons for that are honest and in the open. I ordered it first at CVP. That isn't me being big headed or rubbing salt in anyone's wound. It is simply stating the fact. Either way, CVP can't win can they? Give 1 camera to anyone, and 100 miss out. What needs to happen is for large shipments to be sent... But because of the engineering related issues, this isn't yet happening. There's no conspiracies. To be honest it really sucks to have those conspiracies aired. If you want to hurt EOSHD, go head with the conspiracies.

I think it is disgusting you are turning this into an anti-CVP / anti-EOSHD rant Simco123. You don't have any evidence for your accusations either. Consider yourself banned from this forum. You earned it.

Nothing fishy at all as it turns out. When they called, they explained that I was number 1 on the list in terms of time of order. A glitch at the checkout meant the order wasn't fully secured and deposit paid until a bit later. Of course if anyone is resentful of me getting the camera, feel free to seek your coverage and Blackmagic book elsewhere.

[media]http://vimeo.com/52338565[/media] The Canon 135mm F2L is at the moment my favourite lens on full frame. For the kind of shooting I am doing here, I wanted to stand back from the scenery and punch in. How does it perform?

Could well be $25k, my pricing info was preliminary and I had it a week ago. What I was hearing was that the F5 was meant to compete with the C300 on price at $15k, but frankly they don't have to with specs like that. Maybe they will put it in the middle, around the 20k mark and drop to 16k in a few months.

Just gone official... More here http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/show-highend/resource.solutions.bbsccms-assets-show-highend-F5.shtml

[url="http://www.eoshd.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/sony-f5-f55.jpg"][img]http://www.eoshd.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/sony-f5-f55.jpg[/img][/url] Sony are set to shake up the digital cinema market with a specs war, at less than half the price of the Epic and also at the C300 price point of $15k. The Sony F5 (priced to compete with the Canon C300) takes the compact form of the FS100 / FS700 but adds a Red-style modularity and the more logical control layout of the Alexa. The F55 has the same ergonomic design but even more importantly the more expensive camera features an utterly ground-breaking new sensor with a global shutter for the first time on a digital cinema camera.

[quote name='Germy1979' timestamp='1351385252' post='20456']So honestly man.. Did you think you were going to condescendingly pop up a 3 page long slap in the face of every aspiring filmmaker on here and not get a response? For starters, "whining" is a form of ventilation for the majority of us here on the forums regarding the overpriced, underperforming products of companies like Canon. We loved the Mark 2. We were loyal for a Mark 3 that kicked its ass... What we got was a 5d mark 2 without moire & aliasing for $1500 more... Along with a cinema line starting at $15,000 picking up its slack. While i agree that no one has to buy their cameras, you don't have to read our ticked off rants about why we're upset that the very demographic that made Canon a filmmaking revolution, has now been priced right the hell out of the equation. And they wonder why their profits have been pounded suddenly... [/quote] Well put. It isn't whining, it is customer feedback. Canon blamed their 42% drop in profits on a lot of things - the yen, the Euro, product delays - but not actually the products themselves.

I believe Canon have taken their eye of the products, and concentrated too much on the market and focus groups. The products aren't innovative or brave enough and they have fallen behind on the Rebel series, too many baby steps and not enough new technology.

[quote name='Dr. John R. Brinkley' timestamp='1351126729' post='20255'] Great interview. I loved the persistent questions and the remarks to the side. Well done. [/quote] Thank you, hope it was somewhat an antidote to the usual PR.

C300 / C500 / 1D C are all going to be completely smoked by what Sony have up their sleeve. Stay tuned.

[url="http://www.eoshd.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/canon-1d-c.jpg"][img]http://www.eoshd.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/canon-1d-c.jpg[/img][/url] At Photokina Canon had their latest build of the EOS 1D C on display, a $15,000 DSLR which is heavily based on the $6000 1D X but has extra recording modes for 4K/24p and 1080/50/60p. At the time, Canon's product manager at Photokina (not a hired hand or a sales rep) to my surprise told me the main difference to the 1D X was just firmware and that the hardware was identical other than a slightly different selection of connectivity ports. Canon contacted me a couple of weeks ago to expand on and correct this from their side - there are other subtle hardware changes to enable 4K video, other than just firmware.

Get the new firmware here for the 5D Mark III The 2nd Alpha release of Magic Lantern for the 5D Mark III brings a very useful feature for anamorphic shooters such as I, a real-time anamorphic aspect ratio preview in live view. This is extremely useful for shooting bare bones with an anamorphic lens, or for those with no monitor / EVF that supports anamorphic de-squeeze.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/51618708[/vimeo] [url="https://vimeo.com/51618708"]Download the video here (Vimeo Plus members only)[/url] As well as having the coolest name for a camera ever conceived, this is a camera that kind of makes you wonder what the Japanese camera manufacturers have been up to all this time. Although the 720/120fps mode is shared by Panasonic, the GoPro team have smashed a number of barriers here in terms of 4K / 2.7K resolution and processing power in such a small camera, for a frankly unbelievable $400. EOSHD takes a look at the new HERO3 camera.

I can't wait to use this stuff on the Blackmagic MFT. By the way the aspect ratio on this project is an experimental one, it isn't technically correct nor is it meant to be... Rather an intentional creative decision to have a slightly stretched image. I'll write more about this once the music video is done.

[url="http://www.eoshd.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/dreamleaver-lili-niklas.jpg"][img]http://www.eoshd.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/dreamleaver-lili-niklas-660x371.jpg[/img][/url] Above: Lily & Niklas magic hour amour, shot with OCT 19 LOMO 35mm anamorphic The OCT19 mount is a Super 35mm cinema camera mount from Russia, essentially was their equivalent of PL mount. Long time EOSHD readers will know I am in love with the look of OCT 18 mount lenses, but mechanically speaking they are very basic. OCT 19 lenses are improved mechanically, much more solid.