Raining - GH3 exposure tests / color grade

Julien Miscischia · September 9, 2014

This short edit is a test of how do I need to expose my shots with the GH3. It was also a great opportunity to see how the weather sealed body is impacted or not by the rain.

I've used only two lenses : Olympus 45mm 1.8 (with Vari ND) and Canon FD 35-105 f3.5 with RJ Lens Turbo. I've recently shot FMX and I've found that the Canon FD and the Panasonic kit lens (14-42) give some moire on the image. So this test was also made for checking moire with this two lenses.

I find that the GH3 need to be expose for highlights, shadows keep enough details and can be recover in post. Be careful with the noise. GH3 tends to be (very) noisy - even at low ISO - when you try to gain the maximum of dynamic range. Although it has just 50mbps MOV codecs, I find it pretty stable and robust for post. Don't try big corrections or grades of course. I've edited it directly in Premiere Pro without encoding.

I've used FilmConvert, Neat Video, Fast color correction and some curves for achieving the look. It was a good test for the denoiser and this codec. You can smooth the noise easily but banding start to appear. Some examples in this video.

In conclusion, I really like the GH3, despite some drawbacks/missing features, it has an incredible quality. It just need lots of tests to find the right profile or codec for the right scene. It's a good B cam, very interesting in sports.

The compression give some big artefacts and bandings. I will try to encode a better one and update it soon. You can download the H.264 file which is better.

Comments are welcome !

Beyond the GH3, this is how were our summer months in Annecy (french alps) :-(

Shot and edit: Julien Miscischia

Premiere Pro CC 2014

After Effect CC 2014

FilmConvert

Neat Video

Panasonic GH3

MOV 50Mbps IPB

1080p50 PAL

Neutral -5, -5, -3, -3

ISO 320 (mostly)