The gh3 footage was noisy at 6400 iso but still much cleaner then both other camera's so usable for me in dark venues at weddings, but still need to see that this weekend when I can put it better to the test. Wil post a few shots next week.

I used a tungsten preset since I shot with indoor light.

Just testdrove my gh3 on the blackbird, the camera with a samyang 14mm (28mm equivalent on a full frame camera) is a bit too light, I have to extent the vertical rod all the way up and use the smallest weights which makes it more difficult to keep it from swaying to the left or right, I need to tweak the balance further to get it right but it's OK for use at the wedding I plan to use this on this Saturday. Need to get a wider lens asap, 14mm on this camera is too narrow.

I"ll get the battery grip later on which will make it easier to balance, my 550d had a battery grip and I had some more tilt and pan control on that combo as well, with the light gh3 it's very sensitive to the touch and it's always better to add some more weight to increase inertia in the pan or tilts you perform.

Here the test shot I did, I added some random shots I shot yesterday, I"m taking the camera with me every day now just incase I see something interesting to take it out and shoot, just to get better used to it and I like the output more and more, really nice camera. (there is no sound in the video)

I did notice something strange, I shot the steadicam shots in that 50mb mov codec but importing, editing and exporting was slower then just avchd 2.0, it almosdt looked like edius didn't like the mov file, think I"ll stay with 28mbs avchd in the meantime until I figure out why that is.

https://vimeo.com/72402509

Wow... such smooth motion * _ * nicely done!

What wider lens are you considering?

I want about a 14mm equivalent on a 1.5 crop camera, so that means a 10 to 11mm lens that has f2.8, at first I thought about the Tokina 11-16 but I rather have a lens with a iris ring, samyang has a 8mm lens at f3.5 but I"m afraid it will be a stop too slow, 2.8 was barely enough and f3.5 might cause some issues. The Olympus 12mm is f2.0 but that's a risk when it's wide open to maintain focus, but you can use it at f2.8 as well ofcourse + it's not cheap. Then you also have the 12mm slr magic f1.6 but that one produces some ugly flare, so actually I don't know yet. :)

I completely feel your pain. I browsed through the entire 3 pages of Panasonic/Olympus MFT lenses on BH Photo, and the only lens that sparked somewhat of an interest was the 7-14mm f/4 Panasonic. But it's way too expensive. And it's f/4. So no thanks.

To me it feels like it's a battle between the Tokina and the Olympus. For some reason I don't trust the Tokina though. And I want to be able to use AF, the touch-AF feature produces beautiful focus pulls. Not that you will have a very shallow DoF on a 12mm lens, but still!

The 50mbs files will task your computer as it's a non-standard form of h.264 compression. Many computers and their video cards do not have the power to flawlessly play back 50mbs where the 72mbs intraframe files don't present a problem as each frame is there and not a complex calculation between GOP packets. My laptop plays the files OK until I start filming trees or water then it will choke up after a while. My tower computer mostly has no problems with 50mbs. The one thing to remember is that your finished edit will export flawlessly regardless of how choppy the live playback is in your computer.

Noa, I agree with Luc. Wow that footage looks great especially considering you aren't happy with your balance with the lighter weight yet.

I have a nice rig I like a lot to shoot with the GH3 and especially since I had a new Carry Speed VF-4 loupe arrive today. Everything I've ever read says it is very hard to get good with rigs like your Blackbird and they're definitely not cheap. So I always feel like I will never go there. Unitl I see how great the footage can look like yours and many others.

What kind of building was that, or was it an expensive old house going through renovation?

The 50mbs files will task your computer as it's a non-standard form of h.264 compression.

Do you know if they are much different from the mov files the canon 550d produces? They are also around 45mbs and I don"t have any issue with them, my pc is a recent one and the i7 processor is no slouch. I"ll perform some tests next weekend just to see how much slower the 50mb pana files are in post to export.

I won't be using the all intra as there is more noise in the footage which is a shame, even the 28mbs avchd footage looks looks better.

that footage looks great especially considering you aren't happy with your balance with the lighter weight yet.

The balance was not exactly right as the camera was still leaning to the left a bit. I was also in a hurry and could not finetune the blackbird as I was trespassing since the building is closed for public. The building is a old Casino that is destined to be broken down. With the vertical rod pushed up all the way to the handle also gives very little room for tilt control in, there is a extra extension piece that can be mounted underneath the sled but I won't be experimenting with that and rather add some extra weight to the camera, in that way I can use the 550d this weekend as well when needed. (I still need to get a extra battery for my gh3)

I am still learning to control the blackbird better but must say that the very first time I used it I got some decent shots out of it, now after 2 years I"m much better in controlling pan and tilt motions but it is still not perfect and it takes a lot of practice and "feeling" to direct the steadicam where you want it to go in one fluid motion.

It has been discussed here as well that you are supposed to get the same results with some spareparts from home depot but that's nonsense, if someone can show me one video from such a rig with similar results I"m getting now (and I don't even consider myself as very experienced) I"d believe it but I"m sure they can't.

I sent some 50mbs B-Roll to a client that was shot on the GH3 and they had problems with the hand held footage on their i7 iMac. The tripod footage was OK. Once they converted the footage to an intra-frame format (ProRes) it worked fine. This is probably more an issue with the video card than the processor but I could be wrong. 45mbs might be just below the threshold for your computer. The choppy playback could also be a result of how the computer's software decompresses the footage and might be fixed with a software update if one is written. Anyway my finished work with the GH3 alway comes out fine.

And yes, 72mbs doesn't look good to me either.

Some weird thing going on what I"m sure must be a setting I have missed but I can't find it; when the lcd screen is open against the body and when I put on a hoodloupe, the screen turns black, when I flip the screen out and away from the body the image flips up side down as soon as I press the loupe against it. Anybody knows what exactly I need to change so the loupe doesn't create any unwanted behavior?

I was shooting hand-held with the loupe on the other day and the LCD went suddenly black. I immediately thought that I had hit the display button and while still recording was pushing it but nothing happened. I pulled away from the camera and saw that a leaf was hanging in front of the eyepiece sensor which had dutifully switched over to the EVF. You can go into the custom menu, page 7, and switch the auto eye sensor off. The upside down image, I don't know about. It never happens to me with a loupe.

Thx William for the tip, I checked and I allready had set the eye sensor to off but then I noticed something I didn't realize before. I have 2 older hoodloups here, one of them has a magnet where you have to glue a metal square onto the lcd screen and the houdloupe locks on to that with 4 small build in magets, worked fine on the 550d, the gh3 however reacts to those magnets and as soon they come near the screen it either turns black or flips upside down, weird :) I tested with a loupe without the magnets and that one did not have any effect on the screen.

Yes....another example of why would never use the word AWESOME to describe the GH3 but instead: FRUSTRATING.

I hit this in spades shooting discreetly from the chest and when holding the camera with my right hand (I use an Edelkrone Handstrap) and moving my hand across to push the record button or anything else on the right side. Basically, you have to stay about 6" away.

The setting that controls the behavior is not the Eye Sensor setting. You can only set that to High and Low. Setting the Eye Sensor to Low does not solve the problem. Rather, it is the second item buried inside the Eye Sensor Submenu. You have to set the very intuitive "LVF/Monitor Auto" setting to "Off". I know, I know, you feel stupid. It's so obvious. LOL

Same happened to me wearing a reflective safety vest, but not the upside down image - that's a new one. I think the reflectors triggered the sensor.

Got my varavon today, no weird lcd behavior with this one, my gh3 is almost ready for prime time :) There was also a sling follow focus strap included

Hi everyone. I have decided to upgrade my DSLR and the GH3 seems to be the best option for me for the price! My question is about editing the.Quicktime MOV H.264 at 50Mbit with FCP 7.

Currently when I use my Canon T3i, I import using iphoto, then I transcode the footage to apple pro Res and all is well..will this work flow also apply to the GH3 using the .MOV codec? I wont use AVCHD at all.

I would hate to spend more time transcoding than actually working.
thanks
E

That work flow will work fine. FCP7 will playback the files straight from the camera but your success depends on your computer.

Bugs or design oversights. Doesn't matter to me. Here's some more typical problems I hit on a recent week long adventure with the GH3.

As far as I can tell, storing settings in one of the 3 Custom Settings modes doesn't store aperture and shutter speed. Those values carry over from the last photo you took. So having one Custom Setting for video doesn't get you the fixed shutter speed you want. Even if you stored it in S mode. The shutter speed is still set to the last thing you did before going to a custom setting.

Auto ISO is not available in Video or M modes. This is a feature from Canon cameras you will miss with the GH3. It's a handy way to hold both shutter and aperture fixed while still getting some auto exposure help in fast run and gun situations.

On top of the other limitations of the GH3, I miss these features. YMMV. I do like having a flip out screen though... until the overlays turn off.... ;-)

Can one of the function buttons be set to activate Extended Telephoto "during" a video take? I set the function 3 button to Ext Tele and have tried to activate that mode during video takes, with the Extended Tele option in the main menu both On and Off. It does not seem to work. Both in manual still mode and in manual video mode.

Is that true..... you have to pause, and even then the function button doesn't seem to change it, only the main option in the menu. This would be one of the most handy things ever if you could switch it while recording, such as for back camera point of view and pick up shots during a wedding. I have the 35-100 Panny 2.8, and the 12-35 as well.


And did I read correctly above that the camera will NOT record video in any mode with Auto ISO set at a limiting level.... say 3200? If you just set shutter speed to say 1/50th to be near double 24 frames per sec with 24P, would the auto ISO then function, as well as adjusting the aperture? In either manual video mode or still mode when you hit the red button?

OK apparently you cannot switch to Ext Tele or off of it while recording, I have to be in pause. But in pause, should I not be able to toggle the Ext Tele on and off without having to spend more time going into the main menu? I chose that, Ext Tele, for the Fn3 button as it was offered. But even in pause, and whether I have Ext Tele turned On or Off in the main menu, hitting the Fn3 button makes no difference. Only going into the main menu seems to turn it on or off. What am I missing?

Help please?

I have the etc mode assigned to fn1, when I want to use it I first place the camera in stdby, then I press the fn1 button and the etc menu appears, then I tap the lcd screen to activate the etc mode and I half press the shutter button to confirm.
You do know etc mode doesn't work in 50p? I found out only last week.

I slowly am getting to speed with the gh3, used it during a fashion show yesterday and had to do some behind the scenes, shot handheld with the 12-35 f2.8 lens and saw the results on my pc yesterday evening, the footage looks very stable and I only used a varavon loupe, I still find it difficult to set correct exposure, I have the histogram on all the time but I do miss the extra zebra's my ea50 gives me, with that cam my exposure is spot on all the time, with the gh3, like my 550d, it's a bit more a guessing game. I know you can make overexposed parts flash but that's really distracting and also not that precise.

I didn't realise that ETC doesn't work in 50p mode on the GH3 as it works OK on the G6 (which I own). I also have an Olympus OM-D & have one of the function buttons allocated to ETC & that allows me to toggle ETC on & off with one push of the button. The extra step on the G6/GH3 of needing to access the menu to select ETC off/on is irritating.

Nigel
Are you saying in the stop mode you can actually toggle the "effect" Off and On? Or that you get two boxes to choose from and have to do one more step and select one? That's what I see. And it does not work either way.

Am I supposed to be On in he main menu with the ETC? That's how I have been trying, but also I (think) with it Off as well. That so far is the only place I can change it. ???

Ron, I have to do the extra step. It's my OM-D that I can just toggle on/off. On the G6 there is the option for ETC when taking stills but as this uses the central portion of the sensor it only works if you have the camera set to take less than full resolution JPEGs which seems a bit pointless. I don't see why you would ever want to shoot less than full resolution stills.

Yesterday I almost had a heartattack, the day before the wedding I performed a format on my cf card through the camera menu system and the next day started filming, no problems, at a certain moment I had the camera in standby and when I wanted to shoot and when I looked at the viewfinder I couldn't see a live view but the format screen was opened with "delete all data from the memory card?" selected and luckily 'no" was highlighted. (it defaults to "no" when you open that screen.)

What happened? When the camera was in standby I accidentally pressed the "menu set" button (small button in the scroll wheel) twice with the palm of my hand while holding the camera. Because I had formatted the card the format option screen opened as that was where I left it at the day before and the second press of that button went to the actual format choice.

Lesson learned is to now leave the menu in a screen that has no destructive options but it is another example that the button layout on the GH3, just like on the G6 which I own as well is pretty bad because I have been activating the menu screen several times by accident, never had this kind of behavior with my 550d.

I am getting to dislike the GH3 a little more with every shoot I undertake. Really, Really fed up with thinking I am recording, only to find out the camera is still in standby mode because of the disappearing info on screen leading you to have to press the 'REC' button twice (once to bring the screen info back and then again to start recording)

Come on Panasonic, sort this out please!

How is that? Even after most info disappears the most critical part, the recording info, is still visible on my screen, I get a red blinking dot and the time it has been recording and the time remaining and that doesn't dissapear.

I have finally gotten into the the double click habit. Now I have to remember not to do that with my other cameras!

You could always buy a shutter release cable. I have Panasonic's own rather expensive one but prefer to use a cheapo version I got via Amazon UK for about a tenner (£10).

Ron

I"m just like you about to get a gh3, in my case to replace a 550d on a steadicam mainly but for other purposes as well. Eventhough I don't have the camera yet I just looked at the many videos on vimeo and for me it's clear the camera is a very solid performer.

One of my favorite videos is this one, shot handheld using just one lens:

bali on Vimeo (https://vimeo.com/70663191)
Great video, did you use the 550D or the GH3 ?

It was not one of my videos :) Mine can be seen in below link, the video I was referring to is from Igor.

How is that? Even after most info disappears the most critical part, the recording info, is still visible on my screen, I get a red blinking dot and the time it has been recording and the time remaining and that doesn't dissapear.

John is correct. When the display info disappears, pressing the record button once does not start recording and you will miss the shot. That press brings the displays back. Pressing it a second time starts recording. If you get into the habit of pressing twice, you can also miss recording if the displays were still on for the first press because then recording will start e.g. displays on, recording starts. So the second press will actually stop recording and you will miss the shot.

It's an egregious error to anyone with human factors skills and reflects poorly on Panasonic development acumen.

I missed some great footage in Africa learning this lesson. I disable the record button and use the shutter button with the camera in Movie mode instead. That button works properly. YMMV

I actually use both shutter and rec button to start or stop recording but I still don't get how you can miss a shot, yes, you have to press twice to start recording but if it is recording you always do get the info on screen so if there is no info visible at all there is also no recording going on or do you mean something else?

Why does Panny even have the seperate record button ??
The shutter release button does it all without having to go through the display on/ press once, display off/press twice routine. I never use the record button and havn't missed a shot yet. Seems a dumb option (for Panny), when the natural instinct is to use shutter release.

I can't understand why they haven't fixed this with a firmware update to at least get the dedicated rec button function like it should, but anyways, by using the shutter button there is no issue at all, you press it once and it activates the record mode, you even can get a beep sound when it does and when all info disappears on screen the rec button is still flashing and the counter is still running so I don't understand why people keep missing a shot thinking it's recording when it's not.

To get all info back on screen I also press the shutterbutton slightly, it's annoying most info disappears and when I started using this camera it was quite a shock but after some time of use I start to get used to it and actually find it better to have all clutter removed from screen when I"m recording so I can concentrate on what's going on. I only keep an eye on the rec button to assure it's recording and I press the shutter button a bit in from time to time to confirm other settings.

I use a pistol grip with a trigger plugged into the camera's remote port, and the "double click" trick is required there as well. I rely on the big flashing red dot to tell me when I am recording (or not).

I don't think I've ever used the red "movie" button in 3 years of owning GH1/2/3 cameras. It's an artifact of a bygone era, as far as I am concerned.

I agree about the display - you are left with a flashing record light and a timer - the screen is clear - beautiful.....except I would like the audio meters left up. During interviews in loud environments I find I am constantly triggering the display to check audio, but that's about it.

You miss the shot when the thing you wanted to film is in the past because you were busy pressing the button twice. There are other scenarios that are similar such as you think you pressed the button before the displays turned off but you just missed it. It takes second for the camera to show the blinking red dot and after you wait to see it not blink, the moment is gone.

Recording should be a highly reliable and simple operation that does not require a lot of cognitive load on the brain. Ditto the displays turning off. You should be focussed on the creative aspect of what you are doing not on operating the display every 10 seconds so you can keep an eye on the settings for what's happening in front of the lens and as Chris pointed out, visually monitoring audio. The GH3 designers did poorly with these ergonomics. Panasonic won't fix if they feel users give them a pass and are selling cameras anyway. Public criticism holds their feet to the fire.

The shutter release button does not do everything as asserted here. The dedicated record button lets you start video recording when your camera is in one of the photo modes. It's one of the first features shooters wanted when DSLRs for video hit the scene.

Recording should be a highly reliable and simple operation that does not require a lot of cognitive load on the brain.

That's not the case here Les, I press the shutter button once and it records, I have a visual confirmation that it is recording whether the screen info dissapears or not, if I press the shutter button after the screen info dissapears to start or stop recording I also don't need to press twice and the red blinking dot tells me it is recording or if there is no red dot it's not recording, so here I don't follow your reasoning, if you use the dedicated record button, yes, you can have issues when you don't pay attention but that's not the case with the shutter button.
I use that shutterbutton to automatically focus before or during recording and to show all info on my screen, that's 3 different functions in one button easily available. It looks to me you only want to see negative things in the camera and while the technicians surely made some design mistakes there are other easy ways to deal with it. The only thing that does require constant monotoring is sound and that's the biggest design mistake, all the rest of the screen info I don't need during recording and if I do it's there in a split second.

Ditto on that Noa

Be nice. There's no need to attack me.

My post was answering your question of how shots are missed. Shots are missed due to the design flaw of the record button not the shutter button. Why have it if users have to use the shutter button? Why not fix it in firmware? The display timeout and the record button are justly criticized by experienced shooters. When you become an experienced shooter you will understand.

Panasonic marketing folks love fan boys like you who give them a pass for their mistakes and they use you to justify not investing in making firmware updates that fix these problems. You are also used when it comes to new products and whether to invest in features like peaking, zebras or false colors. They say you are ok with a camera that usability flaws and lack these features.

Shots are missed due to the design flaw of the record button not the shutter button.
When you become an experienced shooter you will understand.

I thought only inexperienced shooters miss shots ;)

I do agree with you that the button which should be used to record doesn't function like it should and that Panasonic needs to address it, but if you can use the shutterbutton instead which does work like it should, why insist on using a function on the camera that makes you miss critical shots, hasn't happened to me since I started using the shutterbutton.

Also the info on screen is only critical for constant monitoring audio and there I also agree with you that the disappearing screen info makes this a almost impossible task, but beside that pulling the info back on screen is also just a matter of pressing the shutter button slightly.

It doesn't mean we have to accepts these flaws and it should be addressed to Panasonic but we also shouldn't be blind for any usable workarounds that this camera provides.

The record button is a DOG - don't use it. It makes the whole disappearing display scenario an even more complicated operation. The shutter button does do it all Les, except make me a cappuccino, which I hope is in the next firmware update.

The shutter button does do it all Les, except make me a cappuccino

Only a fanboy would believe that will happen, but if it does, let's hope it won't require pressing the button twice :)

Since all design mistakes appear to be because of people like me I wonder where one would best address this kind of flaws? All joking aside and seriously, we can complain about any typical problems in a thread like this but Les has a point that if you do nothing, nothing will change, let's say you want the screeninfo to remain on screen and only to disappear if you press a button (like with any other camera), how do you bring this message to Panasonic and how do you make them change their minds that this is important enough to develop a firmwareupdate? I"m sure that by now many users have complained about this in fora but that doesn't quite seem to do the trick, what does?

I do use the shutter button. Started using it in the middle of a trip this past July the moment I figured out the record button defect. I hadn't read anything about it even though the camera had been selling since last November. Too many fan boys and not enough critical review. I've since read more complaints about these same issues on other forums. A thread named "GH3 ... any typical problems?" should be a safe place to render these flaws explicit.

There are scenarios when the shutter is the less convenient button of the two and it's a pity it's badly designed. The same is true for the overlay displays. Plenty of situations when you want them displayed longer. In fact that sums up the design pretty well. It has these design flaws that reflect a limited imagination by it's designers who are apparently inexperienced with shooting and are held captive by product marketing people who have lots of ammunition that users don't care about the flaws.

If camera manufacturers would use professional videographers to do design reviews before designs are finalized, they could avoid a lot of design mistakes such as the record button 1-tap / 2-tap problem. I am talking about REAL professional videographers, not engineering technoids.

How many camera manufacturers really ask working video pros what they need before designing? Maybe a couple but certainly not Panasonic. Their camera design for video has been terrible for years. It's known around the industry that Panasonic's SLR department doesn't communicate with the Pro Video department. They are designing from a still camera perspective and perhaps it's better with still photographers but I wouldn't know.

Ever since cameras no longer needed to be in large bodies that had to be perched on the shoulder for hand-held work, nothing has really been designed intellegently except to make everything smaller. Note that the Panasonic Pro DSLR cameras are actually getting bigger as photographers were complaining that a small size wasn't working for them. The JVC Pro video division does make an effort to get input but they have stayed in the ENG realm for the most part.

Look at how Blackmagic Designs designs their cameras. Technically impressive but even people who love the cameras say that the design is flawed for many reasons. Blackmagic is one of the best companies out there and even they didn't really ask before finalizing a product. This is very prevalent in industry, I worked with a hardware designer who was in the Microsoft X-Box division years ago. He quit as he was disgusted that the engineering people were forced to fit the hardware in a box designed before they had finished the hardware prototypes. The box was too small for the CPU's heat sinks but Microsoft execs refused to budge, the chassis design came first even if that meant replacing millions of X-Boxes due to the red circle of death.

So in other words, if you complain or not, nothing will ever change with an existing model? My Sony nex-ea50 is not able to quickly scroll through it's iso values, like you can with a dslr, everybody complaints about it and Sony brings out a new firmware but it only adds what nobody asked for. I see this trend in so many different camera's, why does teh g6 have peaking and the gh3 not, why can you select etc mode in the g6 in 50p mode and not with the gh3, the g6 is half the price of their flagship yet has more useful features, I"m sure it's just a matter of a firmware update. I thought Panasonic used to listen to their users, something that was proven with the dvx100 line of which I did own the last version, looks like some things changed along the way.

Actually I found the DXV100 the start of Panasonic's trend away from making cameras with the user in mind. I was using Panasonic cameras for years before, the CLE200, CLE250, CLE700 because they were reasonably priced well designed cameras. The DXV series and HXV series went further and further into bad ergonomic design. These were not cameras for long days of hand-held work due to the brick like weight distribution. I switched over to Sony for a few cameras and then to JVC. Now I use JVC video cameras and Panasonic GH series. I like my GH cameras a lot but if I am to be in uncertain situations, the JVCs come out no question.

Years ago I was on a few focus groups and I could see how little the advice was being accepted. Frequently the designers are looking for confirmation that their work is good and if people say otherwise then it's a "bad group".

I always thought that with the "a" and "b" version the implemented new features where for a big part based on user requests? Then I must have been wrong informed.