gh3 banding issues at DVinfo.net

Noa Put · July 30th, 2013, 03:24 PM

I have read several reports on the gh3 that it would have banding issues at high iso's (1600 and above), now I do know that these issues can occur when the shutter is at the wrong speed but the reports I read are confusing. Some users state that the gh3 has banding issues while their gh2 with the same settings don't, other reports say the gh3 has banding issues with the 14-42 panasonic lens but not when they put on a prime lens.

To me this doesn't sound like a shutter deviation but something else is going on, anyone else has experienced some strange banding issue on their gh3?

Bruce Foreman · July 30th, 2013, 10:12 PM

I have encountered no banding issues of any kind with my GH3's. I've tested up to ISO 6400 and have seen no banding and no objectionable noise (if you really hunt for it you'll find some but for me ISO 6400 is very usable).

If you have artificial lighting in your scene and your shutter speed is not synchronized with the regions line frequency you can wind up with banding but most likely from flourescent tubes or CFLs. The only case of this I experienced was with a Canon 7D in a room lit with cheap CFLs.

Run tests and find out for yourself.

Noa Put · July 30th, 2013, 11:52 PM

Quote:

Run tests and find out for yourself.

That's difficult because I don't have the camera. :)

I"m looking for a camera to replace my 550d on a steadicam and I have run through several possible candidates that fit my list of requirements and the last 2 I am considering are the sony vg30 and the pana gh3. I usually spend quite some time getting whatever info I can get about a camera, not only good but specifically bad because I"d like to know what shortcomings I have to deal with.

The banding issue popped up on the gh3 and there are quite some reports of it and not all seem to be directly linked to a wrong shutter, I do know too well what sideeffects a wrong shutter with specific light can have as I have to deal with it every weekend if a DJ got himself a cheap set of big led lights that magnify that banding issue where even changing the shutter don't always work, I just don't want to have a camera that has some other strange behavior in such a case giving me unusable footage.

I think I will get the gh3 anyway, the footage I see from this camera on Vimeo can look amazing in the right hands, it's much harder to find comparable really good looking footage from the vg30.

July 30th, 2013, 03:24 PM	#1
Noa Put Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Belgium Posts: 9,510	gh3 banding issues I have read several reports on the gh3 that it would have banding issues at high iso's (1600 and above), now I do know that these issues can occur when the shutter is at the wrong speed but the reports I read are confusing. Some users state that the gh3 has banding issues while their gh2 with the same settings don't, other reports say the gh3 has banding issues with the 14-42 panasonic lens but not when they put on a prime lens. To me this doesn't sound like a shutter deviation but something else is going on, anyone else has experienced some strange banding issue on their gh3?

July 30th, 2013, 10:12 PM	#2
Bruce Foreman Trustee Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: San Angelo Texas Posts: 1,518	Re: gh3 banding issues I have encountered no banding issues of any kind with my GH3's. I've tested up to ISO 6400 and have seen no banding and no objectionable noise (if you really hunt for it you'll find some but for me ISO 6400 is very usable). If you have artificial lighting in your scene and your shutter speed is not synchronized with the regions line frequency you can wind up with banding but most likely from flourescent tubes or CFLs. The only case of this I experienced was with a Canon 7D in a room lit with cheap CFLs. Run tests and find out for yourself.