We were lucky to get our hands on the Panasonic GH3 earlier this year when it first became available and we used it on our first project in Austin at the South by Southwest music conference this past week. This will recap our observations while using the camera extensively for 5 days. At the bottom of the article you can also see two videos that were shot using the camera in different lighting conditions.
Overall, I was very happy with the camera, I have used both the hacked GH1 and GH2 and can safely say that this camera unhacked is better than both. Their are several things that really set this camera apart:
1. 1/8″ Headphone Jack- this was a huge issue with the previous models and Panasonic obviously listened to us and understand that people are using this camera to shoot video and we need to monitor the audio.
2. All-Intra recording at 72/mbs per second. This is essentially what the hack on the GH1 and 2 did for those cameras but now comes standard without having to perform a hack. This also means that the files write to your card as .Mov’s with no need to import them into your editing software after you shoot. This takes up more space on the card as it is not compressed like the AVCHD footage, but rest assured you still have the option to record in AVCHD. The resulting footage is beautiful and clean and for those wanting to delve deeper into the technicalities, check this out: http://vmi.tv/training/useful-stuff/avc-intra
3. Improved low-light capability- the camera does better than its predecessors but still has its faults. The camera does particularly well in areas of shadow with about a stop more in dynamic range then the Gh2. Considering it is a micro 4/3rd sensor, it does pretty well. I had to shoot in some dark venues at South by Southwest and I saw some noise at levels 1000-1200 and which can be seen in the Flying Lotus video, but it does perform better than the GH1 and GH2.
4. Time Lapse function. This is kind of a “gimic” feature on the camera but it works great. Instead of shooting 5 minutes of footage and speeding it up 2000% for some timelapse, the camera can take a frame of footage at intervals thus savings SD card space. There is also no post processing needed, the footage has a timelapse look out of the box which is great.
5. Rugged body construction- the body is much more solid which doesn’t feel as “plasticky” as its predecessors. This makes the camera heavier, but in my opinion is more balanced and feels a lot more like a Canon 5D when its in your hands.
The camera has its limitations due to being a Micro 4/3’s camera, you will still deal with rolling shutter as you can see in some of the footage I shot below. Overall, the moire and aliasing is much better than the previous models. The body only price is about $400-500 more than the GH2 but is worth every dime.
Below are two videos shot on the GH3. The first had some great lighting conditions and the second was shot in a dark club with ISO at 1000-1200 using a 20mm 1.8 lens and using the Extra Tele Conversion Function to get some crop in.