MaxAperture Films

Looking forward to future review segments. Regarding the iris glitch... correct me if I'm wrong, but couldn't you just hold your hand in front of the lens during start-up (or leave the lens cap on) to get a wide open aperture? Seems that might be an easy work around for either setting exposure or bypassing it at the time of start up.

If Nikon jumped into the RAW video game and began offering some sort of live view RAW recording mode with stable/official support I imagine they could also put a nice dent in Canon's high-end cinema camera market.   Doesn't seem like there would be a downside for Nikon if they could achieve similar results to ML.  I can almost see it happening due to the fact that they were first to release a camera with uncompressed HDMI support (D800) while also expressing a commitment to further develop video features in their DSLRs.  Perhaps the Expeed buffer architecture is too slow to achieve the same results as Canon, but who knows.

Nice preview and sample images! Is there any word on whether the Nikon version will have a manual aperture control ring? I'd prefer to keep things consistent and pick up a Tokina 11-16 as an F mount. Thanks.

Awesome camera, but what happened to DNxHD for all the non-Mac users out there?  I am hoping this feature will also come later like the compressed Raw option.

I wonder if the D7100 will share the same sensor and image processing as D5200 in video mode, it would be nice to have a weather-sealed, moire-free APS-C option.  Bummer that 1080/60P is still not available with any Nikon.

Thanks for the tip... and have fun shooting your new GH3!

I've been shooting -5 Contrast and -5 Noise Reduction in the standard color profile and I like the results thus far.  I like to retain all of the color information so I leave saturation at 0.  The rationale with saturation is that it's always easier to desaturate in post than to recover color information that has been lost during the capture (8 bit baked-in image).  I leave sharpness at 0 because I personally like seeing more detail and I can always soften in post.  Sharpening in post from an artificially soft image has a greater chance of introducing artifacting.  Softening in camera is still a good idea if you prefer that look and are interested in keeping your post processing workflow to a minimum.   The above settings are just my thoughts, everyone will eventually create a profile that appeals to their own taste and lenses.

Olympus 60mm Macro seems like the natural choice, great portraits and closeups for only $499. Super sharp and sealed as well, so it should run nicely with the GH3 even if the weather doesn't cooperate. http://robinwong.blogspot.com/2012/09/olympus-mzuiko-60mm-f28-macro-review_23.html http://robinwong.blogspot.com/2012/09/olympus-mzuiko-60mm-f28-macro-review.html

I came to the same conclusion comparing his videos, dynamic range is better for sure - probably a 1 stop increase shared between highlights and shadows. I really like the skin tone rendering. The shot of the accordian girl at 2:28 is simply beautiful. If I had to guess, I'd say this camera comes in around 11 stops of dynamic range based on overall landscape detail. That's still 2 stops shy of the BMCC, but very respectable considering the price point and portability of the shooting kit. The one negative I noticed is that ETC mode still generates noticeable noise in the blue band at base ISO, which is probably to be expected without any pixel bin or averaging during image processing.

Shadow detail looks darn good in the screengrab w/ Natural mode and -5 contrast. The noise/grain seems uniform and not at all muddy in the darks. What ISO was that shot at? Edit: I see now it was shot at ISO 800... damn that looks really good for 800! Also pays to remember that dynamic range drops off dramatically the higher you crank the ISO. Great tests, Julian!

Sorry, I should have said "unprocessed video file" rather than "Raw." That being said, Adobe Camera Raw now supports GH3 files, here is the download link: http://labs.adobe.co...meraraw7-3.html So feel free to post up any still image RAWs and we will be able to read them. Camera and lens support in 7.3 http://labs.adobe.co...=details#tabTop

The GH3 moire chase seems to have become a real witchhunt here... I see nothing in that video that would ruin a shot, however I am seeing nice detail in what appears to be a dimly lit scene... looks good so far! Can we move on to some other tests like dynamic range or a sharpness comparison with the GH2? Raw files would be best with 0,0,0,0 settings on both cameras and the same lens used, if possible. TIA foggy.

I really like the difference in skin tones, they just look smoother overall with nice gradation and dynamic range. Looks very decent for Youtube compressed content.

How about a resolution chart? Let's see a comparison between the GH2 and the GH3 on the same chart with the same lens and in standard picture profile with 0,0,0,0 settings. It will induce moire as well, so it would be a nice comparison test in general.

Never gonna happen. Red has been shitting on 2K ever since their birth 6 yrs ago... only 4K or 5K RAW will succeed in their view. The fact that they're $15K and $50K camera offerings completely disrupted the market when no competitors yet existed meant that they could sit back and focus on trying to meet mfr'ing demand while not worrying about what they would want to charge down the road. It's funny how a little competition changes everything. Red, Sony and Canon will now duke it out for 4K market share and they will ultimately find themselves achieving bouyancy in a new pricing tier. It's very possible that this new price tier will arrive in the Indie shooter space sooner than many of us expect, especially considering the pressure that BMCC is bringing into the bottom tier of the RAW film making market. There is alot of room for movement with Red, just look at how much they upcharge for their media and monitors... they have incredible margins at the moment and a lot of room to move. Black Magic is probably just one announcement away from stealing a ton of market share from all the big boys if they can deliver on S35, ergos and compressed RAW. Of course they still have to deliver on the BMCC version 1 first. [quote name='Germy1979' timestamp='1351723831' post='20738'] ... I'd really, really like to see them make a camera like i was talking about above though to fill that gap... They just don't need to. A 2k camera ready to go out of the box from Red. Why not? [/quote]

Will the FS700 be able to send Raw to the new 4K recording module?

[quote name='KarimNassar' timestamp='1351266692' post='20380'] Interesting approach and worth trying out. I am the first to say that it was a limited test and the best I could do with the constraints that I had. I clearly stated that. So not necessarily the most flattering or revealing nor accurate test. What's the point then you may rightfully ask? Well for instance, if the gh3 really had a new high dynamic range sensor, that would have been clearly visible even when shooting handheld in a rush. But it is not. So it is definitively revealing and useful in that aspect for example. [/quote] I don't think we can conclude that until all picture profiles are explored. For example, you used the widest dynamic range picture profile on the GH2 (nostalgic) but only set a custom profile on the GH3 (picture profile unkown). I am sure there are some picture profiles on the GH3 that have a wider dynamic range than others, but this will all become evident with more testing. On the dynamic range test you posted it also appears to me that the back wall lights are more blown out on the GH2 and not on the GH3, while the GH2 ceiling lights also appear more blown out in comparison.

[quote name='yellow' timestamp='1351265802' post='20376'] @MaxAperture, steady on, Karim has already said he'll post the native camera files, I too have no interest discussing 'tests', so many variables in every respect can skew, but he's prepared to spend time shooting and providing, lets not bite the hand that feeds. Do we need images repeatedly requoted from a post or two above, really. [/quote] Good point, pics now deleted from post response.

[quote name='KarimNassar' timestamp='1351266065' post='20377'] No............... This would be very true if relevant but it is not. I did not use wrap stabilization. Only tracked the footage and moved it along the x and y axis which does not deform pixels. Also I did not crop the footage but only masked the area I did not want. And finally the raw footage straight out the camera is available for download so there is no room for misinformation. [/quote] Thanks for clarifying Karim. I still think something is somehow off due to the fact I have never seen my GH2 alias the way the hacked GH2 and GH3 look in your comparison. This may be somehow due to how Media Player is decoding the F4V files (which I never use). Tough to say for sure... and thanks for all your efforts, please don't take my concern as an attack upon you in any way.

[quote name='KarimNassar' timestamp='1351259177' post='20366'] You are very welcome, I just wish I could have done it with much more care. From my tests the gh2 (on the left) has more detail and sharpness than the gh3. But to be fair that should be tested more carefully than handheld at a low aperture. But all the vids I have seen so far including mine seem to indicate that the gh2 has more detail [/quote] I would recommend trying a sharpness test with both cameras set at 0, rather than -2 and -5. We don't know if the GH2 and GH3 are artificially softening the image at the lowest value or just removing all in-camera sharpening altogether. Comparing both at 0 should increase the liklihood of a fair comparison (no softening or sharpening) assuming Panasonics implementation methodology has not changed.

[quote name='KarimNassar' timestamp='1351257962' post='20361'] what do you mean rescaling the footage NLE? I did not rescale anything. what is a NLE? [/quote] You cropped the footage and used image stabilization, this changes the pixel scaling when it is rendered back out in the final comp and causes aliasing artifacts. This was meant as a response to jgharding's freak out, and is what you see on the rims of the glasses in both camera's footage. To be honest, I'm getting a bit tired of watching poorly implemented comparisons that end up promoting myths about this camera's image quality. If you don't have the time to do a proper comparison with a tripod and have to rely on warp stabilization just to compare the shots, you're really not doing anyone a service because the footage is not representative of true pixel-pixel output quality. It's just muddys the water further and leads to more confusion.

The additional noise viewed in the GH3 footage is likely as a result of lifting the exposure to match the GH2 in post... when you increase the gain of any signal you increase the visibility of noise. The aliasing visible in both shots is obviously from rescaling the footage in the NLE. Both cameras look good and very comparable, although I have noticed that the GH3 has less of a shift towards greenish-yellow tint than the GH2 which adds a bit more warmth to the image overall. I would say the color is closer to Canon now, but this could also be as a result of the custom picture profile that was used in this test.

Karim, what lens was used in this test... same on both cameras?

[quote name='cameraboy' timestamp='1350997886' post='20161'] or just stay away from that 12-35 panasonic lens ... [/quote] I thought moire was evident in shots with the Voigtlander footage above... Has the shooter acknowledge those shots were obtained with the 12-35 rather than the Nokton 25mm? I'd be very glad to stand corrected on this! Edit: John Twigt's Vimeo comments seem to say he did not notice any aliasing in his test shots... perhaps it was just the downscaling used for the side-by-side grading comparisons that gave that appearance in the corrugated metal backdrop. I'm glad to stand corrected on this.

I'm very comfortable with the strength of the codec, it seems to hold up better than my hacked GH2 when pushed. Color gradation just seems to be smoother. The skin tones look very pleasing as well and I don't see that greenish-yellow color shift in the shadows that sometimes crops up in my GH2 footage. My concern at this point is the moire that has reared it's head, although to be honest it seems fairly minor when compared to Canon and Nikon as it does not seem to exhibit strong false color artifacting. I think worst case scenario would involve having to obtain a drop in filter from Mosaic engineering to correct aliasing artifacts. Mosaic has now expanded their line to cover the 5D2, 7D, 60D, D800, T2i, T3i and T4i, so it seems reasonable that they could also produce a filter for the GH3, if enough demand was received for the product. With a mirrorless camera like the GH3 the filter could probably remain in the camera permanently because it would not have to be removed for still shooting like with Canon and Nikon DSLRs that require movement of the mirror in still shooting mode.