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Official Panasonic GH3 topic, series 3
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  • If anyone is interested in audio on the GH3 - did a little test of various mics and also compared the GH3 gain vs JuicedLink which I love (really good preamp for the price).

  • @AronJAnderson Thanks! Considering the results (skin tones) it looks like film convert does quite a good job. And the 'analog' feel pleases me. Which color correctors do you suggest to get same results? I appreciate a post of an example of good skin tone correction since it is quite hard with GH3.

  • @AronJAnderson What picture profile and presets did you use for your video? It looked great!

  • My first wedding video for some good friends. GH3 and GH2 used 14 - 140 Voigtlander 25mm (Love this lens, My favorite by far) Filmed and edited by myself

  • Ok this is going to sound dumb most likely. I am just very busy lately and I am trying to find some quick answers. I currently shoot with a GH2 (hacked). Is the GH3 going to get hacks? or is it better out of the box than my hacked GH2? only reason I ask is because I love the idea of 60p 1080 slow-mo and from what I have read slightly better low light performance.

    Honest answers appriciated!

    Rob

  • I just got my GH3, and I think it's faulty.

    I can't press AF/AE LOCK button. It's just hard and it doesn't go in under pressure.

    I currently don't have any native (AF) lenses so I can't test it, can someone please just answer this stupid question: is it supposed to be like that? :D

  • The center part of the AF/AE lock should depress noticeably. Not much, but it does depress. The outer ring of course doesn't move in at all ... it should be solid to the touch.

    Neil

  • Thank you for your response.

    I already arranged the return/exchange with the store. The button is rock-solid, doesn't depress at all even with more pressure than I believe it would be necessary on any such device. :)

    So there, 1 new kind of malfunction on a new GH3 that I can't find anything about on the internet.

  • I´m totally freak out! I can´t manage to get a proper shot in interior without flickering a lot. When a push rec, start a flicker party, no matter wich mov set I choose, no matter wich ss choose...in lcd or lvf evrything is more or less ok untill I hit rec and all start flickering. If I shoot exterior no problem, but in interior without light, only with the light from the vindow start flickering. Manual lenses, voiglander 25mm, manual focus, manual white balance....any idea? Noo! Even in the outside, the dark and uniform zones flick, less but flick....what is this?

  • I´m getting this flicker effect if the exposition is not correct, even in daylight if the xpor is a little bit sub the dark zones start to flick...any repor of that? should I give back the camara? I never had this with the GH2, never. Banding with GH1 was normal in this zones with no enough light, bad and don´t think is banding ( only natural light involve ), and maybe is banding too in uniform lights, like a chair ( wich it had moire too), wall etc..really weird

  • Hey @fran that flicker is called RGP or random god punishment :P
    Now, more seriously, there's also a GH3 issues thread you may want to look and post at =)

  • Haha! Thanks @maxr!! You are right, maybe I had so fine shootings with the GH2 that I have to pay with some punishment!! :-D There´s a bunch of issues out there! I giving it back to the seller, there were anoying things, like the EVF, I was unable to be confindent in focus...The sharpen affects it, if you put it down you only see a blured screen...we see what happens when they send it back...for photo is not a problem because you got good autofocus, but for pulling focus on video...uff....hard! Thanks for your help!

  • Hey guys,

    Couple of weeks ago I finished my new short film, shot on the GH3. I also used my new Samyang / Rokinon primes and a new Metabones SpeedBooster. So I made a little story, got the crew together and we made this short film. Maybe you are interested :) Opinions are very welcome of course!

  • Very newbie question (just got my GH3, first DSLR):

    When I shoot inside my house, with artificial light (the kitchen lamp) I get like strokes/light flickering/"flashing lights" all around my subject? <---- this is making me crazy.

    (obviously shooting in Manual, not Auto mode) but I'm trying to learn Manual and if you guys could answer me this question, I'll appreciate it a lot!

    Also, from what I've read, the first thing I have to do is set my "Standard" to -5 -5 -5 -5, because it will be easier later to grade?

    And last question:

    Do you guys shoot ALL Intra 72Mbp, or 24p/50Mbps? I can't find infos about whats the best!

    Thanks a lot, thanks thanks thanks!

  • Last question first: very few here use the All-Intra mode, it seems in many tests to have a bit more noise and artifacts (I think those are the problems) than the "regular" mov mode. So whether shooting 24, 29/30, or 59/60 fps, most folks stick with the 50mbps output.

    Second question ... there's a difference in preference between "Natural" and "Standard" ... I'm one of the folks using "Standard" more ... but though I started at the all-5 settings as had been suggested by some ... the GH3 seems to do some unfortunate modifications to the image at those settings. First, in order to get the lowest over-all contrast (-5) and most dynamic range ... it seems to slightly compress the mid/upper-mid tones ... ESPECIALLY skin tones. Not good.

    So, contrast of maybe -2 is being used by more and more around here ... carries pretty good dynamic range, but doesn't "squash" the contrast of skin tones nearly as much.

    Next ... -5 on saturation seems to end up with some difficulty getting other than pasty-plasticene skin color, mostly to the blue/magenta side for some of our eyes (especially when combined with -5 contrast) ... and then occasionally flicker to a bit yellow/green before reverting to pasty. Again, saturation of -2 to even 0 is becoming more common from comments. I'm playing with -1 for now.

    As to the flicker ... if you've got ANY fluorescent lights in the room, shutter speeds are very problematic. If not, what you may be seeing (if it's on computer monitor) is ... if shooting at 24fps, I've heard ... a problem between computer monitor screen refresh-rates and the shutter speed of the camera. A few people have noted that on their monitor they can get flicker, but ... when playing the same file over a "regular" tv, there's no flicker.

    Now ... one last bit about skin-tones. We've seemed to reach some agreement that if you want the best skin-tones, a very CLEAN white-balance in camera is necessary. Possibly with (after setting the K or doing a manual WB) playing with the adjustment of the WB in menus. Such that the skin-tones look best in-cam.

  • Thanks for the -2 -5 -numbers tips :) I'll set them now.

    And yes, the "flickering" I get, is only indoors (at night/with no sunlight) with artificial lights. Approaching the light source/subject.

    It must be a very stupid mistake, easy to solve from my part, I'm sure (since I just got started). But can't figure out what setting must I 'touch' in order to get rid of the flickering lights (which I also get/see in the in-built LCD screen of the cam.)

    I didn't know the GH3 was "so sensible" (problematic) with skin tones or magentas, If I knew... I would have go for the GH2 and hack it. I really hope the GH3 will offer a hack at some point.

    Thanks for the help! :) Really appreciate it!

  • I prefer the look of the GH3 to the GH2 personally. I always hated the green cast the GH2 had on skin. But again that is just me. I don't shoot ultra flat. I prefer everything about the GH3 over the GH2 save for the EVF which I don't use much anyway other than stills.

    What kind of flickering? Can you post an example? What is your shutterspeed set at? Are you taking into account the current hz cycle of your area when shooting with indoor lights?

  • @Flanders

    I do love working with the GH3, and I came from shooting totally portraits ... stills ... and my last camera was a Nikon D3, an amazing tool. (I started 35+ years ago with medium-format film RB67 cameras.)

    I've found that the GH3 does have some sort of skin-recognition thing going on, tries to modify the hues and contrast ... "soften" things I think ... and can go a bit "plasticene" as it's said around here. So, for stills (processed in Lightroom 5) I'll add a very small amount of "medium grain" to the image to get away from the over-smoothed native look of the GH3 ... and up the "vibrancy" ... and skin looks great. Quite real and normal.

    In video, the settings I've listed above ... contrast probably -3 or -2, sharpness -3 to -5 (take your pick), color saturation between -3 to -1, sharpness maybe -3 or -4 will do pretty decent.

    Nail the WB in shooting, probably tweaking the grid settings in the "adjust" section of the WB screen.

    Do this, and the GH3 is quite a nice cam to shoot with ... there's been some gorgeous stuff shot with it. If using good settings for this camera, it grades quite well. It is NOT a GH2, and some of the people who've tried using settings that worked great for the GH3 have been very frustrated with it. Those that roll with what this can do that a GH2 can't ... and in the way a GH3 "works" ... have been mostly very pleased. As have I.

    I go back to my beloved D3, or my wife's D600 ... and wow, there's no touch control on the rear LCD, how dumb is THAT? Just things like that. No, the GH3 isn't quite a D3 or D600 at stills ... but pretty darn close. Though the D600 does decent video files (I've worked a few through ... not bad stuff at all) the GH3 is a HECK of a lot handier to use in making those video files. Overall, comparing the GH3 to two very awesome pro-level image tools, it's pretty darn nice.

    A Red? Ha ... no. Can a hacked GH2 do some things better? Yeah ... but ONLY hacked in video use. Shoot stills better? Um ... no. Not hardly.

    Neil

  • No, the GH3 isn't quite a D3 or D600 at stills ... but pretty darn close.

    Ja ja ja that's a good one @rNeil

  • Been to 24x30 inch prints ... portraits ... with the GH3. Understand, I came from medium-format film, using Mamiya RB67 Pro-S cameras, 6x7cm negative format, and even some 4x5 inch work. We had our own pro portrait printing lab up through 60" images for quite a few years, besides our studio ... primarily because we were so damn picky on exact color and contrast no lab wanted to work with us. For very long, at least. :) If I can't make a print I'm happy with, I won't have the camera. I've tried a bunch, of course.

    I've been through several generations of digital cameras and this isn't a hobby ... it's how our entire family income is created. For again, over 35 years. And no, the GH3 isn't quite a D3 or D600 for stills ... but handled wisely, both in-cam and in post, none of our clients (who pay dearly for their images and expect something above the standard "faux" photographers out there) would ever be able to tell which camera the image came from without being asked to look for differences, which on a 24x30 inch print at a typical viewing distance of say, 3-4 feet (meter and a half ... ) one will have a great trouble discerning.

    Absolute quality of the images? Yes, a fair amount of difference. Practical image quality differences? After working by intelligent practices, not so much.

  • @rNeil that was just too general a comment for some obnoxious dumb fuck like me not to pick it up :P

     
    But now... since were "talking", I think that is fair to say that it would greatly depend what you're using the machine for

     
    As a neutral ground we can agree wedding, studio, news, nature or action photographers have different needs.
    You might even be a cross-category-outcasted-weirdo photographer - my case I'm afraid. But not hypster eh!!!

    Not complaining about GH3 abilities, for Mandela's sake, I started a thread about it within the photographic context/medium.

     
    As experience is a tricky thing, I try not to compare so much single images but jobs and you're down right

    which on a 24x30 inch print at a typical viewing distance of say, 3-4 feet (meter and a half ... )

    Now, as a tool (a stills camera one) I found that for multi-purpose critical jobs this baby makes me have to work much harder though big drawbacks such as bad high ISOs with poor DR (and here please read grain quality more than clinical aestetics), pixel-pitch, bad ergonomics, so-so build quality, wifi imposition for tether, very bad EVF (i.e. that would have make a worlds difference), etc. Curiously enough some of the drawbacks become, sometimes, very handy and off course has lots of nice things, being a big one, for me at least, weigh.

     
    I also found something interesting in our relationship. It is when filming that the whole experiencing is more... integrated, symbiotic, chachi piruli; an when I feel "at home" or like some manga guy once told me: one with the machine, ji ji

     
    @rNeil all and all I try to convince myself I'm a better photographer now, you wanna see my cats' turds ;-)

  • @RatLabProductions @rNeil

    "Current Hz Cycle of my area". Wow... As soon as I sent this post, I will type that in Google (i have no idea what your talking about) My shuterspeed was always "Auto" (I just figured out 5 minutes ago, that even shooting Manual, you still have to "active/set" your shutter speed "to manual") - What shutter speed would you recommend for indoors, with just the "house lights"? -- I'm afraid, because on Sunday I have my first "serious (1st) video shoot" (a model wants a videobook) and it's going to be indoors, in the bed/couch, so I really don't want that flickering to show.

    Video example of flickering (10 seconds long - dont worry):

    you can also see how the image at first has a "blue light" - and then it turns darker (by itself) Oh, and I always choose the "bulb" icon, when shooting indoors. Or the "K" icon when it's really dark (<-- i probably dont even undestand what Im doing here)

    Any advice is highly appreciated. (in order to not f*ck up my 1st video shoot) - I will post the result on Sunday. And hand out beers for you too! (even if it has to be a beer-invitation-donation over PayPal) Much appreciated! :)