On my own experience, I would say not so sure as I am very pleased with the result I am getting out of my GH1, GH2 and now GH3. And my GH3’s video is not making a huge difference compare to what I got with the GH1 or GH2. I am still using the hacked GH1 every summer, as a copy is stored in my home country (France) and I love its color rendition compare to GH2/3. FYI, I am living and working in China since 9 years.

Every year I am shooting a short movie or an experiment with the hacked GH1. Some complained about the AVCHD format, but I never got problem in post with it as I am using Premiere CS6 on a powerful enough PC (Dell M6400). I also tested heavy color grading without problem on my GH1 footage, as you can see here on the following videos. Sorry one of the short film doesn’t get English sub yet, but I am posting a link to those video for their visual quality first, so enjoy that part. La Deuche from Hell HD (US sub Version) (there is a longer French version too)

Revolverte HD (F)

In China, I am also using my GH camera beside a Panasonic AF100, which is well known to NOT be the most exciting camera on the market (4:2:0 8 bits, AVCHD at 28MB/s, what a shame!). I had to buy an AF100 as no serious client in my field would accept to pay my usual fee (I was working with a HVX200 + Letus Ultimate prior to the AF+GH) if I were shooting with a GH2 only. After 2 jobs my AF100 got paid back and I can enjoy the use of it with my GH2 and GH3 on project now. ,

AVCHD, 4:2:0, bits… Nevertheless, I shot this Making Of video on huge project with my newly arrived AF100 and GH2 (not hacked yet). Production house, agency and client were delighted by the result. I did everything: shooting, lighting (for interview), sound recording and editing… I am a one man crew shooter (kind of MacGyver sometime) and I prefer to keep things, cheap, simple and light. CrossPolo TVC Making OF HD (US)

To keep the story short, since 2012, I had completed bunch of projects with my M43 equipment without any complain from clients (VW, Audi, French Consulate, TV Channel…) and I might invest in the GH4 if it solves the 3 main problems of the GH3: Viewfinder definition (GH3 is a nightmare compare to GH2 for manual focusing) + real video assistance (Peaking + zebra + waveform) + full time display of histogram and sound recording level while shooting.

4K or higher bit rate are not important to me as my video will NEVER be projected on a big screen and the file of the GH3 are already big enough in term of storage. Quality wise, I really like some of my GH1, GH2 or GH3 shots, and I don’t see much of a difference in term of emotion, and I think this is a more important feature for an independent filmmaker than pixel count or comparing numbers on data sheets…

You can see more of my work here: http://vimeo.com/channels/659428/videos

It displays data of Rec 709 YCbCr and fixes pixel location where you like to read color changes - you see changes during color grading at defined position.

Tip for MAC: take care about huge shadow around Windows, this acts like a filter if you pick close by

I am confused about the 50mbps / 72mbps date rate that the GH3 supposedly records at.

My footage, recorded as H264 MOV files in either of these high bit rates, is listed in FCP as between 5.8mbps and 8.5mbps. Analysing the footage with cinema tools reveals the same data rate - not the 50 / 72 it should be.

If I convert the files to ProRes I get the higher data rates - around 30 - 60mbps. Although this is closer, and sometimes in excess of the data rate I want, am I not merely up-resing the footage? The new date rate might be higher, but if it is not what the camera recorded, the information isn't t there.

I am also confused about the colour management. My h264 footage has a colour profile of 1-1-1. Is that the best I can get? I read somewhere that the GH3 will record 2-4-1. How do I set that?

Again up-resing to prores 422 or 444 will not introduce colours that are not recorded in the first place!

I look forward to hearing people's thoughts.

Jules

Comments welcomed.