gh3... any typical problems?

[William Hohauser]

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.

[Ron Fabienke]

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?

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by William Hohauser

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.

[William Hohauser]

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.

[Noa Put]

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?

[William Hohauser]

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.

[Noa Put]

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.

[Les Wilson]

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

[Chris Duczynski]

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.

[Noa Put]

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

[Erick Perdomo]

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

[William Hohauser]

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

[Les Wilson]

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.... ;-)

[Ron Fabienke]

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?

[Ron Fabienke]

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?