@AKED we used an external Anton Bauer setup for the BMD that thing ran all day, we never shut the camera off, and never had to change the battery. The storage space is a factor though. The RAW is amazing, but the massive amount of data to get it makes you appreciate the R3D codec.

GH3 isn't half the price of the BMCC, it is more like 1/6th — rig, batteries and SSDs add a lot of BMCC camera costs, and all are essential, and unless you have a collection of manual glass to cover all ranges you'll have to get that. Also, no slow motion. Passive M43 BMCC won't hold its value -- get the EF one, or wait for the active M43 version...

In the meantime gh3 is looking pretty good.

Here's the crop factor - overlay matchup test. Looks to only be around 10% but as you can see visually, it's significant.

(I haven't seen the specs, so I don't know specifically the number, but these test are about what we actually see, not numbers)

We did more testing last night, and we'll start compiling our findings, showing you guys what we saw from all the cams, and pointing out strengths and weaknesses. The problem was the 72 ALL-I .mov's were garbage. Now it's a closer race, with the GH3 showing some promise.

"From_Paris 3:43AM @shian

The screen terribly under-exposed: the pictures are finally absolutly over-exposed in FCP!
The viewfinder is useless.
Intra is horrible.
The .mov have problems cadences.

These are the things that I can and cannot corroborate so far. I will try to open a Vimeo account in order to post my findings as soon as I can:

I do not find the EFV "useless". I would call it annoying. The edge smearing can be a pain and it would have been nice to have peaking and zebras since critical focus is almost impossible through the finder. But that goes for many VIDEOSLRs. I personally prefer it to the 7D.

In my experience the flip out screen is great. So far I have found color fidelity very good and I haven't seen any color smearing. It's annoying that the brightness pumps depending on the ambient light, but it is not reflected in the final shot. I haven't looked to see if there is a way to control this behavior. I've not noticed that shots are over-exposed in FCP, but I tend to check my exposure using the meters ;-)

There definitely seems to be a marked increase in noise levels when shooting @72mbps. Even at ISO 800 the noise can be seen crawling on light backgrounds.

I have only been able to shoot using the 12-35 and a very old Canon wide angle, so I cannot judge whether the problem of motion refreshing on pans is due to lenses or something else. But there is definitely something going on when shooting .Mov files at both 24p-1/50 and 30p-1/60. There is a stutter during pans that is not the normal motion strobing I have seen when using other cams. I have seen this in many examples presently on the net. I seem to even detect it in the Genesis film at certain points.

Even on my 8 core Mac Pro, I'm finding that importing the .MOV footage directly and playing it in an appropriate timeline can tax the system. Converting to Prores smooths things out and reduces render times greatly. No problems with the low bit- rate AVCHD stuff.

This is not the camera per se, but I noticed some pretty severe distortion on the 12-35 lens when shooting some extreme low angle shots the other day. My poor daughter in the Bkg looks like Zippy the Pinhead.This is troubling.

The ergonomics, weight, size, customization of buttons and functions, auto-focus and focus speed, and the flip out screen all make run'n'gun shooting a pleasure compared to most other cams of this type.

stills are very good but there seems to be some issues, for me at least, with consistent white balance settings. In a series of shots of the same subject with the same white balance settings, I've found that suddenly one shot out of the series will have a severe color cast.

I hope that with a few firmware upgrades and some more loving care from Panasonic, this camera can reach its full potential.

@ shian, looking forward to your tests!!!

@VK and ND, Keep up the great work! I certainly hope you can find a stable way to improve this cam. Please keep a critical eye open and let us and Panasonic know your findings.

@klodavid

"The Actual broadcast TV format is 2K and the future 4K (4096/2160)"

Thats a disaster since 1920 x 1080times two really is 3840 x 2160 if you want square pixels - and we do!

The Sony 4K tv is 25 000 USD. Perhaps not ready for prime time yet.

Vitaliy_k, it was just a question… for transform a GH3 like a Canon C300 4k

13932800 / 11943936 = 1,166 = 16,6% différence

The Actual broadcast TV format is 2K and the future 4K (4096/2160)

the GH3 will can make 4K ?

shian yes the gh3 sensor is smaller, but is not very important for make a good film if you have a good lens. 16/9 GH2 def 4976 X 2800 total pixel 13932800 16/9 GH3 def 4608 X 2592 total pixel 11943936

@from Paris, you exaggerate… I think you have a factice copy of Taiwan's GH3… or you don't dominate yours setting on gh'3.

@From_Paris

We got "all is horrible" thing you repeat in each and every post.

Please post photo with you and GH3 in the frame and your test video made with GH3.

@Shian thanks for the time you are putting in to these tests, very valuable feedback, I look forward to hearing more :)

If the GH3 is on a level that is close to the unhacked GH2 in video, but has increased stills quality, I can see this would still be a positive upgrade for some people. For those who already have a GH2 the question of a hack might be an issue. What I do see are quite a few comments wondering if a hack as just down the road, but everyone should consider that hacking a camera is no small undertaking, added to this is the fact that an earlier poster who indicated that they worked at Panasonic commented on the fact that hacking the GH3 may have been made more difficult/impossible? by the manufacturer, that post was editted later but I think assuming that the GH3 will be hacked is not a great idea.. Don't get me wrong I hope that the GH3 ends up being tweaked, but I think VK has achieved great things already and if there were no further goodies down the road I am still a happy bunny :)

These comments were aimed at nobody in particular, I think a lot of people are looking at a possible upgrade, and it is strange how our brains deal with all of this information and conflicting viewpoints, I find it interesting I may still go for a GH3 at some point, but untill that time.. Thanks for all of the feedback and reviews! :)

@driftwood as you'll see from today's shooting (to be posted later this week) that much of your discussion with Chris will prove accurate. The GH3 72 ALL-I is really bad in low light, and even worse in low light high DR, while the AVCHD stuff looks pretty damn good. The noise is still blocky, and not fine like GH2 Intravenus, but the GH3 has nearly 2 stops of additional DR on the shadow side. Once it's hacked to shoot over 100MB/s the GH3 will be awesome. Right now it's on par quality wise with an unhacked GH2 but with more DR shooting in AVCHD 24p. The quicktime modes look terrible in our tests.

@VK I guess I'll just have to take a picture of the screen when it displays low light images like it's only capable of 256 colors. Has no one else experienced this with theirs? The screen looks great on playback, but when shooting in low light or wide DR the image breaks down, and the colors are not even close to accurate.