The full Panasonic GH3 review

[Policar]

Where's the C300/C100 comparison? You quoted similar levels of detail to that camera so you must have shot a comparison, but it's not in the image.

[JR Lipartito]

I'm currently using Portrait but without turning contrast down. I leave that in the middle. Saturation too. Sharpness I dial right down to -5 and add in post. Noise reduction I also dial right down. I use 1080/25p IPB 50Mbit rather than ALL-I. Saves card space and looks a bit better.

 

Thanks! I would have never thought to use Portrait as a base. I'll give these settings a try!

[QuickHitRecord]

I rented one and I liked everything about it but the moire. This is the only reason that I'm still rocking the GH2.

[CoolColJ]

Posting relevant info
 
GH3 has about 9+ stops of dynamic range it seems...
 
But very good rolling shutter specs as per the link
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?303559-Measuring-rolling-shutter-put-a-number-on-this-issue!&p=1986306886&viewfull=1#post1986306886
 

RESULTS:

GH3: 15.5 ms (15.4-15.7-15.4)
5D3: 20.5 ms (20.7-20.5-20.4)
D5200: 22.4 ms (22.5-22.1-22.6)
BMC: 25.0 ms (26.7-24.8-23.5)
5D2: 25.9 ms (25.5-26.4-25.8)
NEX-5N: 29.4 ms (28.8-29.6-28.9-29.8-29.8-29.1-29.7)

NUMBERS THAT SQUIG FOUND SOMEWHERE ON THE WEB:

Scarlet 14ms
F65 14ms
FS100 15ms
AF100 14.85ms
C300 16ms
Red One MX 16.6ms
7D 21ms
5D MKII 25ms
GH1 25ms
D90 33ms

 

GH3: 15.5ms (three measures: 15.4, 15.7, 15.4)

That puts it clearly ahead of the DSLR pack, with a shutter that is as fast as those from the video and cine cameras. Impressive. Pity about the DR, which still seems a lot worse than the competition.

 

On the neutral setting with everything dialled down to -5, Samuel measured it at 9.3 stops. I've done some real world comparisons to the 5D MKIII and D5200 and it's apparent that the GH3 has less dynamic range. The GH3 noise level/pattern is much better than the 5D and D5200 up to 1600 ISO, there's no fixed pattern noise.

The saga continues.

^ that

I wouldn't have posted that "9.3" number, since we're not sure yet about what the optimal settings are for the GH3
but now that it's online... this is the chart with those settings (in thirds of a stop):

[psoetio]

What I especially wanted to hear about was the feature that allows you to focus on the touchscreen while looking through the evf. If it works well, seems like you could get away with autofocus in most event situations. Andrew, did you use this feature a lot? Anyone else? Also, is it easier to switch back and forth from mf to af during a shot? With the gh2 I'm always worried I'll push the shutter button too hard and and end the shot...

[Wild Ranger]

Very nice review Andrew!

 

I know it doesn't have nothing to do with this article but, is there any review coming or something about the new Nikon D7100? I´ll like to know how it compare to the D5200 or a 5D mk3.

 

Thanks for everything!

[VanWeddings]

been looking forward to this review. thanks andrew!

 

my biggest surprise of the gh3 over the gh2 was just how much more dynamic range there was. it was so substantial that when i shot a test with the gh2, gh3 and 5d3, i could tell just by looking at a clip which camera it came from.

 

the biggest disappointment aside from ex-tele not working in 60fps mode, is the super annoying disappearing menu. as another poster has said, it has the awful side effect of requiring two presses of a button to first wake up the screen then change the setting. but what's more, that also appears to the deeply recessed record button, so when the menu is on, one press starts recording, and when the menu is off, TWO presses are needed to start recording. i can already see this causing huge problems in a live shoot. andrew if you have access to panasonic please tell them about this problem. i don't care if leaving menu on causes screen burn-in. it causes real problems when under the gun in event situations.

[chad78]

Hi there,

 

Long time GH user and just recently got my GH3. The image off the camera is lovely and I love the ability to overcrank at 1080p - the touch screen to focus assist on the LCD is also great.

 

With my GH1 and GH2 I became very dependant with outdoor shooting particularly on the evf which i found quite workable on both cameras for focus but I am struggling with the GH3. I actually took the camera back and had it swapped for a new one but Im having the same issues. I am finding this extremely frustrating and it has really taken the joy away from shooting in this format as I cannot rely on focus through the evf which makes shooting stressful. Additionally the LCD screen resolution seems to drop noticeable when you hit record which I have found distracting at times (with the dreaded color shift occurring from time to time as well).

 

I am wondering if anyone has found a successful Z-finder style adapter than can be used on the GH3? I would like to be able to shoot handheld and think this could be a possible workaround. Such a great camera but the evf has really got me wishing for my GH2 back!

[Andrew Reid]

Thanks for the review. I disagree with the summation that the GH3 EVF is better than the GH2. Maybe it is on paper, but I tried them side by side and the GH2 was clearly brighter, slightly larger (esp. shooting stills in 4:3) and sharper. I find it much easier pulling focus in video mode with the GH2 EVF but impossible with the GH3. For me, the single biggest advantage of mirror-less over flapping mirror is the inbuilt EVF - but if it's unusable, then unfortunately I can't shoot with it. (And no, I can't manually focus moving subjects accurately with the LCD either.)

 

The only other advantage was body size. Remember? No mirror - smaller lighter? Certainly camera body size is not an advantage anymore. The GH3 is as big as most of the APS-C DSLR's. Luckily I'll stick with my GH2.

 

The EVF panel technology is superior on the GH3 but as noted in the DPReview the optics are smeary at the edges if you wear glasses or don't look directly through the centre. I get the same on the NEX 7's OLED viewfinder and on the OM-D E-M5 so it is not a problem unique to the GH3's OLED.

 

I'd like to see the optics and eyecup beefed up for future models and articulation, if that requires a yet still larger body so be it. If you want a Pocket Cinema Camera sized camera there are plenty of options, yet never truly pocketable due to the optics. I'd rather have the better handling than the cute downsizing.

[Andrew Reid]

Posting relevant info
 
GH3 has about 9+ stops of dynamic range it seems...
 
But very good rolling shutter specs as per the link
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?303559-Measuring-rolling-shutter-put-a-number-on-this-issue!&p=1986306886&viewfull=1#post1986306886

 

Thanks for this, very nice to see rolling shutter measured so clearly.

[Andrew Reid]

Where's the C300/C100 comparison? You quoted similar levels of detail to that camera so you must have shot a comparison, but it's not in the image.

 

C100 vs GH3 coming next week.

 

Also Philip Bloom has already done GH2 / C300 resolution comparison shots.

[marcszeglat]

What do you say to this shot made in all-i 720 p50 72mbits? its not this single frame, all sequences during the night have this marcoblocks and banding! whatch the video on youtube.

 

 

Marc Szeglat, vulkane.net

[haarec]

It is a little confusion about a dynamic range of GH3 and GH2 too. DxOMark states 12,4 Evs for GH3 and 11,3 Evs for GH2. Both at their lowest ISO. Someone quoted above claims only 9 stops for GH3. Maybe units of measurement or the ISO were different. They measured probably in the standard profile. Here is the link to DxOMark comparison site: http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Cameras/Compare-Camera-Sensors. Chose a brand from a drop-down menu, select model and click "Compare up to 3 items" button. Then "Measurements" and finally "Dynamic Range". Here is a result.

 

 

The higher ISO the lower dynamic range.

[Julian]

DxO is irrelevant for video. DxO measures raw sensor data for stills. They don't measure anything video-wise.

[Stab]

So how many stops of DR do the GH2 and for instance 5D Mk3 have in video mode?

[Andrew Reid]

DxO is irrelevant for video. DxO measures raw sensor data for stills. They don't measure anything video-wise.

 

This is a good point. Dynamic range in video depends more on how the sensor data is treated, how it is downscaled to 1080p and the codec.

 

Don't read too much into DXOMark.

[haarec]

The codec is the source of many problems but the difference between 12 and 9 stops of dynamic range is so big, that we should see this difference between stills and video with the naked eye. On the other hand the fact is that there is a significant difference between shots from Blackmagic camera and any DSLR so if BM states their cameras have 13 Evs it is not possible GH3 has 12 Evs. Anyways it would be good to have a method to measure this properly.

[sir_danish]

What do you say to this shot made in all-i 720 p50 72mbits? its not this single frame, all sequences during the night have this marcoblocks and banding! whatch the video on youtube.

 

I´ve also noticed macroblocking in all-i mode. I´m not an expert, but many people say, this is due to the fact that 72mbps isn´t enough for all-i. I do avoid this mode and use 50mbps IPB instead. It looks much cleaner with less noise and more detail.

[jean-baptiste lefournier]

Nice review of this awesome camera.
Yet I have two remarks :

- You didn't mentioned that GH3´s viewfinder resolution is not as high/good as GH2
GH3 EVF is brighter and has better contrast yet it feels unsharp and make manual focus more difficult (lack of focus peaking)
The French GH3 filmmakers I know share my view.

- How can GH3 dynamic range can compete with Blackmagic Raw? (You say that it has the same DR) Is blackmagic liying about its raw capacity ? Even prores 422 should provide more latitude for color grading.

[Andrew Reid]

Nice review of this awesome camera.
Yet I have two remarks :

- You didn't mentioned that GH3´s viewfinder resolution is not as high/good as GH2
GH3 EVF is brighter and has better contrast yet it feels unsharp and make manual focus more difficult (lack of focus peaking)
The French GH3 filmmakers I know share my view.

- How can GH3 dynamic range can compete with Blackmagic Raw? (You say that it has the same DR) Is blackmagic liying about its raw capacity ? Even prores 422 should provide more latitude for color grading.

 

On the EVF:

 

OLED is certainly a superior technology to the panel used in the GH2. It doesn't do the rainbow-flicker when you pan, the contrast is far higher, you get inky blacks with it, the new panel is 16:9 so suited to video and very wide. Colour from the OLED panel is richer and deeper although different in tone to the main screen. The resolution isn't quite as crisp as the GH2 though, you're right.

 

The main thing that lets the EVF down is the optical side rather than OLED. It does smear too easily at the edges when your eye isn't dead straight on. All EVFs do this including the GH2 but on the GH3 it is particularly easy to get blurry edges.

 

On the dynamic range, I never said it could compete on same level as Blackmagic raw with 13 stops, so not sure what this refers to.

 

Thanks for comments!