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The full Panasonic GH3 review


Andrew Reid
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GH3 review

Above: my GH3 kitted out with Leica 14-50mm F2.8, Lanparte follow focus, carbon matte box and baseplate

Six months in the making here is my final and full review of the Panasonic GH3 jointly published with DPReview.com. I highly recommend checking out that review as well, to which I contributed the video mode insights.

The Panasonic GH3 is an affordable $1299 hybrid camera and has a special legacy to build on with indie filmmakers.

Does it succeed?

Read the full article here
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Great article/review!  Another thing to add to the cons list (unless you've found a way around this?): the info on the display disappears after 10 seconds, you have to keep pushing the button and there's no way to keep it on permanantly and it's terrible for trying to maintain exposure/watch histogram.

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Yay! I've been pretty excited to read your review of the GH3 Andrew!

 

A couple additional things worth highlighting:

 

1. I'm surprised that it didn't get more play in your article, but the GH3 does 60p overcrank at 1080p. I don't think any other camera in it's class comes close. Is there anything under $5k, except for the FS100 that can do full HD slow-mo? (Bonus: some folks are saying to shoot in 60p, so you can still hear the sound on slo-mo sequences until you go to post! Great idea!)

 

2. WiFi integration. Having the capability to use your phone or tablet as a portable monitor is awesome. You can walk around a set, getting composition/lighting setup -- without running back to the unit or to an external monitor. Wireless HD + decent external monitor can be pretty pricey still.

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Great review, been using the Gh3 for about a month now, agree with everything you said. Plus after 35years in the business, It's easy on the back.... Hpong a fim ware upgrade with help with the lowlight issue down the road....

 

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Thanks for the extensive review. Bit of a bummer on the low light side. Is there anything out there that does 108060p and is great in low light in the DSLR market? 

 

Canon 1D C... $12,000.

 

NEX series have 1080/60p as does the new Samsung NX300... But poor video quality especially on the Samsung.

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Thanks for the review! FYI, in camera slow-motion is at 24fps (23.976) and personally, I find it better in post to use then 60fps because the GH3 recorded the motion in slow motion natively with less motion blur whereas recording in normal speed (at 60fps), you still have motion blur, then to slow it down in post, you are slowing down the footage but also the motion blur.  Here's some test I did with in-camera slow motion and I used either Premiere Pro or Twixtor for super slo-mo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F44IIPUSNA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUW3aFJgG_w

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Hi Andrew

You own both the Cinema Camera and the GH3 so in light of recent announcements of both the 4K Production camera and the Pocket Cinema camera announcements would you still recommend the GH3 to serious shooters? Such as documentary filmmakers?

Regards
Daniel Bunker
Director
Bunker Media

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Hi Andrew,

 

Thanks for the review - I've had my GH3 for a couple of months now, love it and have been eagerly awaiting your take on it.

 

The one thing I'm struggling with is the effect of i.Dynamic and i.Resolution when recording video - I can't find much information about the pros or cons of such modes when filming. I've done some tests but the only thing I noticed is the max. i.Dynamic setting made everything flat and muddy but that's not exactly scientific.

My GH3 display also seems to bump up the saturation whenever I press record - anyone else experience this and have any clues what might cause it? Makes it a bit tricky when lighting sometimes (esp with coloured gels!).

 

Cheers!

 

Tom

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You can walk into a store, grab a GH3 and start shooting today... that's definitely a big plus for the Panasonic :)

 

Good to see DPreview teamed up with you Andrew! The GH2 was misunderstood by many Photographers I think. Still many Canon (video)shooters have no idea that this small chip can give better images than a fullframe 5D in many aspects. Spreading the word on DPreview might help :)

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Nice review!

 

I've had the GH3 for a few months and a few extra cons for me:

 

- Ex-tele only works with 24/25/30fps modes. If you, like me, deliver to TV and have to shoot in 50/60i/p you don't have the ex-tele mode that worked in GH2. This is really disappointing!

 

- On-display info disappears after 10 seconds. If you shoot an interview and want to keep an eye on the audio levels or other settings you have to hit a button every 10 seconds to have the info displayed. Also after the info has disappeared and you want to change a setting like ISO you have to push the button twice; Once to "wake" up the screen and once to access the setting. I still don't understand this behavior.

 

- I'm not too sure about the build quality... I'm about to return my second GH3. On the first one the hot shoe came off, and the second one I have now shuts down randomly causing lost clips if I'm in record. Both these problems have been reported by others as well.

 

Other than that, great camera! 

 

 

 

AndersM

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Great review Andrew!  I really like my GH3, and when I make enough money I'm going to replace my GH2s.  Another thing to think about is how reliable the camera is versus a hacked GH2.  No matter how stable the hack, it is still a hack and I've had my GH2s lock up on me at the wrong times on paid jobs.  Very embarrassing.  The GH3 is a real champ, so reliable and great picture quality.  I am very happy with mine!

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