Photkina is getting closer and the new Panasonic GH3 is probably the “hottest” new Micro Four Thirds product. Quite many sources contacted me saying that this is an incredible nice camera. And very likely the first camera that can be considered as “pro” level camera. It is aimed to compete against all high end DSLR APS-C cameras like the Nikon D7000 or Canon 7D. But we know well…we have to see it to believe it 🙂
At least I finally I can share the Panasonic GH3 specs. Many trusted sources confirmed that these are correct. So here they are:
– 16 Megapixel “Wide dynamic range” CMOS Sensor.
– New Venus 7 engine
– electronic shutter
– ISO 100-12.800
– 6fps
– Fastest AF of any interchangeable lens system camera.
– Video Bitrate 50Mbps (72Mbps ALL-I)
– 30p/25p in MP4, MOV and AVCHD
– 3.5 Mic in
– built-in stereo mic
– Audio out
– Pc control
– Time Code
– 1740k OLED LVF, Touch Monitor OLED 610k.
– external battery grip
– Wifi with remote control through iOS and Android Applications
– external XLR accessory
– Focus Peaking
– Interval shooting and slow motion. Slow Movie extension (40%, 50%, 80%) Fast 160/ 200 / 300%
– Magnesium alloy body. Body is bigger than the [shoplink 16254]Panasonic GH2[/shoplink].
I still don’t know the price yet. The only rumor I got says the GH3 with 14-140mm lens will cost 1700 Euro/Dollars (But this hasn’t been confirmed by any of my trusted sources yet!). Based on those specs I would like to hear from you:
[poll id=”154″]
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Rumors classification explained (FT= FourThirds):
FT1=1-20% chance the rumor is correct
FT2=21-40% chance the rumor is correct
FT3=41-60% chance the rumor is correct
FT4=61-80% chance the rumor is correct
FT5=81-99% chance the rumor is correct
253 Responses
Nice
If it doesn’t shoot 20% slow motion I am not buying it. You didn’t mention 1080p @ 60 fps. I can only assume that it has that? Why only 6 fps? That is very sad news to hear.
Those video specs, thats probably one Vitaly hack away from having them.
I can see a lot of people owning both the GH3 and the E-M5, the GH3 for video and the E-M5 or a Pro O-MD for photography…..
I think the GH3 is going to be both the “Pro” stills and video camera everyone was looking for. The OMD only goes to ISO 200 while the GH3 goes to ISO 100. Also the dynamic range in the GH2 was absolutely the worst Dpreview has ever tested. If Panasonic can get that up to the OMD’s level then the GH3 will be outstanding.
ISOs over 6400 are not really that useful except for on some of the very expensive cameras like Nikon and Canon’s top models. I see no problem with the GH3 only going to ISO 12,800.
@mpgxsvcd
E-M5 has
5 axis stablisation
live bulb mode
built in wireless flash support
underwater housing
flash sync speed up to 1/250th sec
useful artfilters
colour tones in the black and white options
The 5 axis IS is great. I would love to have that for my prime lenses. However, Panasonic just simply won’t ever do it. That is fine they make in lens IS that works equally as well.
For pictures IS is not really as necessary. In some cases it actually messes up more than it helps. For video it is essential. Thankfully the 35-100mm F2.8 will be out soon as well.
Perhaps you don’t find it necessary. For me, it enabled me to take countless photos during my vacation that would have been a blurry mess without IS. And it worked for both Panasonic and Olympus lenses. This is one of the main features that won me over to the OM-D.
does the OM-D have have in-built wireless flash support? I thought you had to attach the mini flash?
Or the fl600r.
Wireless flash support Olympus style requires a controlling camera, a comand unit (flash) and a receiving unit. You need all 3 components, the clip-on flash acts as command unit.
DPreview test DR with JPEGs which is simply idiotic .DXO rates the GH2 max DR at 160 ISO as 11.34 the E-M5 comes in at 12.2 on Imaging resource so not even a stop difference. All the Pen’s have poorer DR with the max DR on DXO OF 10.1 trusting a JPEG test of DR is foolish. If you have ever used a PEN next to the GH2 this would be obvious.
@mpgxsvcd
6fps will be great if it also supports autofocus/no screen blanking.
9fps sounds great, but according to people who own the EM5, the screen blanks out and there is not real live view at this speed, something the GH2 offered in M burst mode over 2 years ago.
If Panasonic have increased the burst speed, while maintaining live view to 6fps, this will be more useful in many cases (most for me) than 9fps with interrupted live view and no AF.
I agree the burst mode with live view and AFC is the most useful. However, there are times when the subject is not moving that much but there facial expressions are changing quickly(Think baby pictures where you can’t just tell them to smile). That is when a high speed burst without live view or AFC is very handy. In that case at least 12 FPS is ideal.
Hopefully the “GH3” (or whatever they call it) will include 1080p60/50, and be available “soon” as a body-only. Those are must-haves on my list.
Beyond that, I’ll be looking for much improved stills & video quality compared to my hacked GH2, and especially in video: Greatly reduced 8-bit banding artifacts, higher than GH2 data rates, improved S/N performance, “live” full-time audio monitoring via headphone output, and “clean”, full-time, 100% bog-standard live HDMI out.
I have a Blackmagic Cinema Camera on pre-order, so I’m looking at the “GH3” as a B-camera to intercut with it, especially with the BMCC’s 10-bit 1080p ProRes 422 HQ 220-megabits/sec mode. If the “GH3” image quality is even just a modest step up from the GH2 (hacked or otherwise), these 2 cam should intercut nicely.
Assuming the new “GH3” features good weather-sealing, I’ll also use it as a fall-back camera for situations where using the more expensive and not-advertised-as-weather-sealed BMCC might be too risky.
Bring it on, Panasonic, and please, please, make it available for sale in the US _____soon_____! Cheers.
Wow! thats what we like panasonic……
external xlr’s thats real good!
XLR! woot- Do you think the hack made Panasonic think more about filmmakers?
Where’s 60p!!!!!!
These are only rumors…the official specs will have many more features than these and logically they will have 60p…
Wheeeere’s!?!?!?
I find it a big handicap not have 60p, i think will my choice of another brand, and I do not see at this point why take the GH3 and not a GH2 that costs less… ok for the bit rate, ok for other improvements, but the 60p is vital!
I think so…
That part of the list has to be incomplete – it will certainly have more bitrates than the one mentioned, and it will have 720p60 … but it would seem 1080p60 should have been mentioned by the sources if it was there?????
G5 have 60p, why not GH3?!
I also believe (and hope) is incomplete
I´m sure it will have 1080/60p in avchd mode, because G5 has it, but what I really want is 1080/60p in 4:2:2 color so I can use it for serious work and some grading
I would not believe that camera that has timecode and xlr´s and high bitrate which is suitable for pro work will have a consumer avchd 2.0 codec.. it must have something good too, professional video quality is not only about sharpness, GH3 should be sharper , better DR is expected in video and stills due to new HDR senzor, so the last thing is codec and framerates, I don´t believe they would mess up the last thing that we are all wainting for.. panny make it 1080/60p with 4:2:2 8 or better 10bit and take my money!
and I almost forgot! thank you admin ! my adrenalin level allways jumps when I see GH3 word on this site
Excatly. That´s what I want to hear: 10 Bit 4:2:2, all the other improvements are secondary
@ werner
Although I agree that 10-bit 4:2:2 video would be great to have in the “GH3” (that’s one of the main reasons I’ve pre-ordered a BMCC), myself I’d be happy if the GH3 merely featured high-quality properly dithered 8-bit 4:2:0, relatively low noise, and above-average DR.
There are many video cameras that record great-looking 8-bit 4:2:0 video by using clean dithering, and that are relatively low-noise, and have decent DR, too. I’d hoped the GH2 could do this, too, but unfortunately for all of us, it doesn’t.
So, sure, bring on the 10-bit 4:2:2, but in the case of the GH3, I care more about how its video looks than how they achieve it. Cheers.
I think 60p is the 200% slow motion setting. I don’t think the video specs as shown are complete or accurate, as no mention of 24p (23.976) is made, which would be critical for this camera.
1080p/60 was mentioned as a rumor before. Suddenly it’s gone from this “updated” spec sheet. So what’s the deal, admin? Are we getting 60 frames per second or not? This will be a deal breaker for many.
Don’t worry, this is not official specs…
1) AVCHD specification since 2011 includes 50p and 60p for 1080
2) slow-mo at 50% needs 50i/s, 40% needs 60i/s and it sounds it will be progressive
so 50p and 60p will be present ! (GH2 and GH1 have already 720 50p, not1080 50and 60p but their release was before 2011)
What is unknown is the bitrate for the different flavors of 1080 , because i don’t think you get 72Mps for all settings…
I’m very happy with my E-M5 now. Looks like GH3 is much better in video aspect. I guess I will pass GH3 until I work on a video project.
Sounds like a good video cam…
Now how about a good stills camera?
Rumours are only about specs, IQ always is a mistery before some initial shots. Lets wait to see this “high dynamic range” camera in action. I hope it will not be the case of GF5, which supposed to be on par with Canon FF in low light shooting…
GH3 is too much video! I’m going to wait GX2.
what dose “electronic shutter” mean…… it could be…… maybe
Exactly same as for G5. It can take photo without Panasonic’s noisy and camera vibration causing mechanical shutter.
Global shutter is different thing.
No GPS?
I wonder how expensive the xlr accessory is and how big? Won’t Sony be offering a similar option for the upcoming Nex and/or A99 and pricing it at $850? Anyway, this will be the most exciting Photokina in a long time. The d600, the GH3, the a99, the Nex6…can’t wait!
Good camera , but i really love my OLYMPUS EM5 , i will not change it , for long time !!!!
@admin
any word on focus tracking especially in video??
Do not care about 60P if the slow motion modes work really well.. Here’s hoping they do.
HOWEVER I HOPE that the crop video mode is still available.. I plan on shooting some surfing films and that feature would be amazing for me, even if it’s exactly the same as what the GH2 can do.
I prefer OM-D size, but I’m glad to hear that there is micro43 improvment. Wi-Fi with Android and iOS remote control is good direction. I’m not filmmaker, but better sensor, better EVF, better AF are always good.
Maybe some imporvments will be in future in other Panasonic’s bodies, therefore maybe I will replace my OM-D by Panas body in future. My primes will be 100% compatible.
3,5 inch mic in sounds a bit too big 😉
I also have to wonder why it only has 30p when the G5 has 60p?
Furthermore 6 fps sounds a bit low as well. The specs look nice but I can’t help feeling they aren’t entirely true, still very interesting.
P.S.
Happy to see an intervalometer and OLED in the camera. 😀
@Admin: Hope you just forgot to write it’s weather sealed… though you’ve written it so many times now that it might implicitly be taken for granted 🙂
electronic shutter means very fast x-sync speed, thats what i need ….atleast 1/500 please
Hopefully that would be true but I would not count on it.
The Nikon 1 cameras have an electronic shutter but since it is a rolling shutter the max sync speed is 1/60. Even without the faster sync speed I would still like an electronic shutter option since it is silent and would eliminate the vibration induced blur problems on lenses like the 14-42X.
I rarely shoot video and want a smaller, less expensive camera. So while I am going to pass on the GH3 if Panasonic puts a high dynamic range sensor with an electronic shutter into the GX2 I will probably preorder it.
ISO 12.800 does this mean that the EM5 might still outperform the GH3 in low light?
And how long do we expect it to be till the GH3 is actually available in shops?
ISO range… calibrated, or uncalibrated? (Nikon D700 has calibrated up to ISO 6400, and uncalibrated up to 25 600)
yes I would really love to know! Low light performance is a key for me, as it being small.. I am holding out to find out more, as might opt for the OMD.
Anyone have any experience using the Summilux 25mm and OMD? Does IBIS actually make any difference in low light with this lens?
Have a look at the E-M5 highest ISO raw files with no NR they look like pointillist paintings just because they put a setting on the camera and fan boys say it is good doesn’t make it true lol
Some improvements are nice, but my next camera must have stabilized sensor for video. So, I will not buy it.
You sound like a typical Oly fanboy looking for any feature that E-m5 is likely to have over the GH3 , if there is a huge need for IS you can have in lens from 14-300mm { 28-600mm FF equiv} zooms and even in the 45 macro . The main advantage of the fast primes is to hopefully give you a chance at getting a shutter speed that allows you to photograph non dead subjects. The ability to shoot static subjects at lower shutter speeds is of dubious benefit for a lot of photography.
And you don’t sound like a Panasonic apologist? I wholeheartedly subscribe to the benefits of in-body IS for both video AND stills. And that’s after a decade using a DSLR system with lens-based IS. Don’t be so quick to discount other people’s preferences/requirements.
never mind that he was talking about IS for VIDEO.
It more looks like someone here is a bit over-sensitive…
No, having is in some lenses is no alternative for always having it. Additionally, if is for fast lenses makes little to no sense, then why does the 12-35/2.8 have OIS? Right, because it also gains at least a stop or 2 in handholdability for fast lenses.
@bart F2.8 on mFT is not a fast lens. If you are photographing still or dead subjects there is always some kind of solution that enables the use of slower shutter speeds. Including, bracing against walls, or other supports { trees,street furniture etc}, mini tripods, mono-pods, gorilla pods, bean bags and so on. When shooting moving subjects in low light {indoor sport etc} IS of any kind is absolutely worthless. That’s why they have fast lenses.
@Fegre,
F2.8 is F2.8 is F2.8, for BRIGHTNESS (which is light/area, the ONLY thing that matters for exposure).
FAST lens has to do with being able to achieve FAST shutter speeds, and has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with shallow DOF.
So yes, a F2.8 lens is a fast lens for ANY system because FAST depends on brightness, and brightness depends on relative aperture and transmission.
The primes are in the order of 1 1/3 stop faster (except for the PL25/1.4 which is 2 stops faster). When looking at 35mm, the 12-35/2.8 is still at F2.8, whereas most zooms will be at least at around F5, which makes the 12-35/2.8 in the order of 1.5 stops faster at the long end.
Beyond that, I have been taking pictures for the last 35 years, I do totally understand, probably much better then you, why IS is useful, and why it isn’t, depending on the situation.
See, most people don’t shoot sports, actually, most people shoot scenery, and for that it absolutely helps, a lot.
There isn’t always a support available, it takes too much time to setup a tripod, it is not allowed to setup a tripod, it is not allowed to lean on that cabinet at a museum etc etc etc etc. Your approach is ignoring many very common situations.
That you can come up with situations where it isn’t useful does absolutely nothing to take away from the situations in which it is useful.
I’m not an Oly fanboy as I have GF3, but recording video handheld with 25/1.4 (without OIS) in indoors is quite a challenge. Stabilizing video in post-processing does not look that good (thanks to motion blur) and you must do crop.
I’m not an Oly fanboy as I have GF3, but recording video handheld with 25/1.4 (without OIS) in indoors is quite a challenge. Stabilizing video in post-processing does not look that good (thanks to motion blur) and you must do crop.
It makes a difference if your subject isn’t moving…. if your subject is moving then at the shutter speeds you would need ibis at, you are going to get motion blur.
Somebody always asks this and it always seems to get ignored…
Is the sensor multi-aspect? One thing I love about the GH2 is that you can shoot 3:2 without it simply chopping the top and bottom off of the image rectangle.
@admin is it a global electronic shutter?
what is time code?
time code or SMPTE / LTC timecode is a synchronization signal that is used on the majority of professional film sets, where multiple cameras have to be synchronized or most importantly, to be synchronized to the sound mixer’s recorder… as it is very rare for cameras to actually record production sound.
gonna laugh if d600 comes out and gh3 is more expensive. out loud.
I really hope the GH3 with 12-35mm f/2.8 kit will be $2,000 or less. Must at least stay price competitive with a D600 sensor that is FOUR TIMES BIGGER!!!
I agree- price this and the 12-35 under $2,000 and it’s somewhat attractive. But this camera will appeal to such a niche audience (filmmakers) that I think they might price it higher initially. And I think it will fare far better against the D600 than the high end APS cameras- the D600 should wipe the floor with the APS cameras that are priced similarly to it. Because they won’t be offering anything all that extraordinary- they’ll be rather run of the mill. But the GH3, the video specs really make it standout from the crowd.
If you actually want to get some sharp pictures with that rumored 24mp 135 format sensor, you’ll have to get yourself some higher quality and more expensive lenses. If a.ll you care for is more impressive numbers (your capitalized 4 times somewhat suggests you are) then please go buy a d600 and goto nikonrumors. If you actually care about results and understand this concept called marketing, you’d be waiting for actual results, both from the gh3 and d600.
There are no shortage of lenses, which are more than capable of taking advantage of high mp sensors as for 24mp. That is a fraction of the pixel density of mFT sensors to match the pixel density of the E-M5 a FF would have to be at 54mp.
There have been 24mp FF sensors for almost four years the D3x came out in 2008, as I am sure you know. The simple and dirt cheap 50mm F1.8G on the D3X can give resolution figures simply unachievable with any mFT lens and any mFT camera. Though some find it hard to swallow higher MP sensors will improve the results achievable from every lens you own.
http://www.photozone.de/nikon_ff/631-nikkorafs5018ff?start=1
> gonna laugh if d600 comes out and gh3 is more expensive. out loud.
I might too. But only if D600 has the same dimensions and weight as the GH3. AND along D600 also compact primes and zooms are released too.
Otherwise, whatever price, I’m not really interested in the D600. It is primarily for people with legacy lenses – most users own only DX lenses anyway.
I’m sure it is top. Also the price is.
Seems like a nice camera! Hope it’s not priced too far above the OM-D. But looking to replace my mirrorless camera. Currently in both the NEX and GH2 systems. Thus far NEX better for stills and GH2 better for video. Hoping this GH3 or NEX6 shine, so I can commit to a set a lenses.
What happened to the earlier rumor of the 2 million dot EVF and 1 million dot LCD?
Now the LCD is only 600k? Where’s the update to its viewfinders to keep it in the game with the NEX-7?
If the OLED EVF and monitor are implemented well, I’d gladly trade higher contrast, and more-accurate color for higher resolution. OLED can be very very good. Whether the “GH3” includes it, and if it’s any good, remains to be seen
Still no IBIS, for the rest it looks very promising, even considering I’m not at all into video. I now own a GH2 and did not switch to E-M5 because of the GH2’s articulating display and multi-aspect sensor. If the GH3 sensor is indeed significantly better I’ll probably buy it, also because an electronic shutter prevents vibration, which can be a problem for some lenses like the X 14-42mm and X 45-175mm.
Anything else than µ4/3? No, too heavily involved in µ4/3 lenses…
Troll
You are so troll… D600 is crap for serious photographers (with collection of manual lenses) as it even does not have peaking.
He, he. Yeah, right. Crap without peaking and can not be used for serious work.
Serious photographers are doing serious photography for years with manual lenses and without focus peaking…D600 has OVF which helps a lot for manual focusing…
No 120p means no buy.
Anonimous
“Serious photographers are doing serious photography for years with manual lenses and without focus peaking…D600 has OVF which helps a lot for manual focusing…”
It is time for the “serious photographers” to update: it’s XXI century an there is no reason for the masochistic work with the legacy ergonomics. And, b.t.w., OVF is useless if one shoots from e.g. hands: that’s why many of the traditional DSLR shots are so boring.
In the quiet words of the Virgin Mary… come again?
Glad to hear about all of this. Though I do hope it can also shoot 1080p/60fps
I think it’s interesting that it says audio out instead of headphone out. Same thing?
I just really hope they fixed things like FPN and improved the image overall. Everything else sounds great, like they are moving in the right direction.
audio output / headphone is likely the same thing. On professional shoots, if this product is aimed at getting more exposure in that market, camera operators rarely wear headphones and leave that for the sound mixer to monitor, via a confidence return feed (normally fed by the headphone output). I’d be surprised if it was line only.
I assume the XLR connection is there for that.
The XLR is an accessory- and will probably cost a lot (Sony will be charging $800 for theirs). XLR inputs are not built into the camera.
Almost perfect: at this level of technology and user’s feedback.
The only one essential thing remains is RAW via HDMI (or. perhaps other interface (via battery grip with embedded SSD (?)).
Panasonic, please give it us (it costs almost nothing) – and you will be a winner!
> – 16 Megapixel “Wide dynamic range” CMOS Sensor.
CMOS?!
Does that mean a Sony sensor inside?
No. Almost every serious camera this side of a Leica has a CMOS sensor now.
If all this is true, GH3 is certainly on my wish list now. Happy they will deliver OLED (in my case normal LCD irritates eyes due to the blinking – can’t work long with it). Still OM-D could be a good second camera with few unique selling points (DR, IBIS).
Dummy
It could be the sensor with white pixels, which Panasonic patented earlier.
Admin
Hope you just forgot 24p ?
I am considering GH3 only if it will be bundled with 12-35 lense for 2000$ only…
no 1080p60 is a deal breaker for me. Sad panda.
See the 200% overcrank feature… that is likely your 60p mode.
Base on the current survey bar , it suggested GH3 is a nice camera but almost everyone will not buy it . The reason is simple , we want a true rangefinder style camera similiar with L style .
It looks like we are not far from the truth now ( after GH3 ) if Pana is going to include a very highend camera as rumour suggested or it just a GX2 .
No, I think it’s because a lot of readers have already E-M5…
Only some people want a true rangefinder style camera. Many of us are perfectly content with a centrally located viewfinder. Others seem to think a P&S styled camera with a clip-on EVF is a good thing.
Choice is key!
The success of the E-M5 shows that rangefinder cameras aren’t really needed.
I don’t think E-M5’s success has so much to do with retro design. In fact that design just copies bad points of analog mechanical era.
First of all E-M5’s sensor is finally modern and competitive with APS-C after all those PENs with that old mediocre already in 2008 sensor.
Also it offers easily remembered and differentiated feature set after all those “Try to remember what this model has and what it lacks” dozenware PENs. Heck, I’m that tech geek who easily remembers technical details of various devices and I have hard time remembering any differences between PENs.
I certainly agree. However, a lot of people, who claimed that they could only work with a rangefinder style camera (I.e EVF on the left), bought the E-M5, and you don’t hear a lot of complaint from them any more.
1740k?? 1,74 k? 1,74 Megapixel?
For the Strobist shooter where is the iTTL flash trigger? Phottix???? Pixel King??? PW???? PW probably not in my lifetime!
The very moment we have a hack to remove the 30minute video limit in Europe I’ll get one!!!
XLR!
Headphone!
Wireless remote!
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!
It’s an external xlr accessory, something Sony will also be offering for the A99. Sony will be charging $800 for theirs. If Panasonic charges a similar amount, will you still be as enthusiastic about it? I think it’s very cool. But that price is ridiculous IMO.
+1 to all those
But one thing I’m still nervous about – the rumor that they were doing away with the fully-swiveling LCD. Surely not?!
What’s XLR?
XLR is proffesional sound output/input.
but it,s not only for sound output.
It’s a type of audio connector used with professional microphones and mixers.
And uses a balanced line (+ & -) with shield to cancel out any external induced noise (from stray magnetic fields etc), hence the professional use for it.
Plus XLR is a locking-type connector, so it won’t become accidentally disconnected in use. XLR & BNC are still the 2 best connectors ever designed, IMHO. 🙂
“1740k OLED LVF”
Do you mean EVF?
Admin, when are they going to officialy announce it? Probably some days before Photokina??
Important caveat: I said in the survey that I would want to buy a camera like the GH3 (finances permitting) BUT only if it’s not ridiculously large. DSLR-grade features are nice, but if the body is the same size as a DSLR I would have to think twice.
I got out of DSLRs and into Micro 4/3 because I was tired of having my mobility impaired by lugging big cases full of big camera bodies and lenses. I’m not going back to that.
Video is not my thing, but I have to agree with Ranger 9. Panasonic have to be careful, not to throw out the major plus of M43 that justifies the other compromises – size & weight.
Exactly the same for me… I really wanted to buy it to have the perfect camera for BOTH stills and video professional working, as I already sold all my professional Canon gear to go lighter.
DSLRs are too bulky, I’m done with it, and the GH3 appealed me for the size…
But as soon as I saww that Panasonic claim it to be larger than GH2, I bought an Olympus OM-D em5. That’s the perfect size I want for stills camera.
I don’t mind on a paid work to shoot with a bulkier camera, that’s why I will buy the GH3 for sure only for video purposes, but if I go out and just want to take stills, or even video just for fun, the smaller the better.
But, damn, I definitely will buy the GH3 for video work. Seems to be a monster of a camera !
There are a lot of small m4/3 cameras already. What is missing is the larger bulkier “pro” style cameras. If Panasonic can add that with the GH3, then we have more choice. But it sounds like it’s not the camera for you.
The next few weeks are going to be awesome if you’re looking for a new camera with all the big stuff coming from Sony, the GH3, the OMD pro model, possibly a higher EOS-M model and such. Thankfully I’m in the market for a new camera, exciting times.
6 fps does not sound all that professional. At east unless there is a bigger number with AFL/AEL on first frame.
“external XLR Adapter” ??? Would that be an 2 channel XLR (balanced) to 3.5mm Mini (balanced) adapter? That would be cool if it form-fits the camera somehow. Now if it’s a combo input like on the Zoom H4N that would be a Super indeed!
I’m going to take a guess and say that it will probably either be hot shoe mounted without a wire coming off or it will be built into the left side of a vertical grip.
Hopefully it’ll be either hot-shoe or otherwise “bolted” to the cam, so it’s a secure connect that won’t accidentally fall out during the middle of a recording!
I think most of the people who got GH2s were people who were interested in filmmaking. Yes, the specs of this camera are heavily weighted towards those who are interested in video. I’m impressed. Hopefully there will still be enough to turn the heads of photographers.
Good specs, but I’m enjoying my EM5 way too much to consider a switch/swap. Also, the GH3 sounds more video centric. I hope it doesn’t disappoint in stills area. Price is going to be a tricky factor to consider here. Also, I’m not too sure of GH3 being bigger than GH2 considering Canikon is focussing on reducing the body size and weight to compete performance wise to m43. If the rumours of D600 (720gms, FF and $1500) are true, GH3 and any m43 camera that is $1200+ will be a tough sell.
Lets see what Pana and Oly do to differentiate themselves.
I’m no longer interested in carrying the size and weight of FF no matter how cheap is might get.
In fact , what choice do we really have ? The gh3 aiming those who like hdslr muvees . In the micro43 world show me a better choice ! The canon 5d mark III is a double price /weight change ! Again I am talking about only if shot video ! For stills should be a lot of great options .
Since I am a happy gh13 owner the gh3 purchase is a easy go movie…I mean , move he he
The poll lacks a key choice: Interested, but waiting to see.
There just aren’t enough details known yet for me to say I will, or will not, buy one.
“And very likely the first camera that can be considered as “pro” level camera.”
What makes this a ‘pro’ level camera and the OM-D not?
“Bigger than the GH2”. Damn, GH2 was already the biggest and heaviest m43 camera. m43 standard was developped to make lighter and smaller cameras and lenses, so what’s the point?
The Oly OM-D proves that a camera doesn’t need to be that big to have a good handling.
Sorry, but IMHO the OM-D proves no such thing. For me, it proves the exact opposite. The controls on the OM-D are way too cramped, and heavily compromised by Oly’s prioritizing size over usability. The ergos on the GH2 are simply much better than on the OM-D. And the GH3 can be bigger than the GH2 while still being way, way smaller than APS-C DSLRs. A kit of a GH2 or GH3 and 3 or 4 lenses will still be very small compared to the equivalent kit for APS.
+1
Come on guys, stop complaining about size. A bit bigger is not bad at all. There are lots of options for smaller and still excellent bodies. The OM-D is bigger and heavier than any previous Olympus m4/3 camera, and we will see a PRO OM-D next year probably, that will be bigger and heavier also, probably. All in all it’s still a camera without a mirrorbox and the lenses will be the same small ones we know very well… 😉
The OMD is currently the heaviest m43 camera. And since it is only comparable with the GH2 if you include the HDL-6 grip, it is only fractionally smaller than the GH2 and even heavier.
The GH2 also has better build quality, because the E-M5 looses paint and eye cups and is thus less robust.
And the GH2 ergonomics are in many aspects superior.
People should also try to realize that m43 is not only about camera body size. It is also about live view and all it’s potential.
The main Achilles heel of the GH3 is that it probably won’t have in body stabilization. Other than that, the GH3 seems to be superior over the E-M5, provided the body retains the user interface of the GH2. Especially the fully tiltable screen, where the E-M5 fails completely.
I own both cameras, so I know what ai write about.
Geez, people. Stop whining. These are rumors, not facts, and that’s clearly NOT a complete spec list. All this whining about what the camera doesn’t offer is way, way premature.
The real questions for me, as a stills shooter, is what does “fastest AF” really mean, and how much better is the EVF. If the AF is another few microseconds faster in S-AF mode, I don’t care. If it actually has usable C-AF on moving subjects, I’m very interested.
And 6 fps is plenty fast enough is AF actually works at that speed. 9 fps without AF doesn’t do much for me.
what about 1080P native sensor that supports 60 fps with enabled auto focus!
What is the point in makeing a m43 camera as big as a nikon d7000? Wasn’t dslr iq in a smaller package the strong point of m43?
>as big as a nikon d7000… where did you read this??
In the previous rumors
No you didn’t read any such thing. You read some idiots on this forum interpreting “larger” as “as big as a D7000.” Not one rumor has said anything but “bigger than a GH2.” There’s a whole lot of room between a GH2 and a D7000.
Read more carefully from now on.
What’s wrong with having options? I didn’t buy a GH1 because it was smaller. I bought it because it had the best video for the price and was hackable. I really don’t care about or want small cameras and lenses. So I say “Please make it the size of a D7000, that would be great!”
Not sure how big the gh3 wil really be but all those dials, buttons, in/outputs, etc. will take up more space thus requiring the bigger body.
That said, lenses are still small. How much bigger (and more expensive) is the Nikon 17-55/2.8 than the Panasonic 12-35/2.8? How about the DX/FX equivalents of other m4/3 lenses like the 20/1.7, 7-14/4, 35-100/2.8, etc?
Ya.. they said the same thing about GH2… “It’s a nice camera, but I won’t buy it.”
Uh huh…. get some results out and many more that now say won’t buy it will own one.
i voted WONT BUY
mainly because i love my ibis, and oly styling
i just cant get into the pretend dslr black roundy blob style
has some nice specs tho! i cant wait to see some panny fan bois post up first pics with theirs!
I would want to see actual pictures of the new GH3 before making any conclusions. For years I thought Oly and Pany should produce metal bodied DSLRs much like the SLR OMs and FMs to compete with APSC and FF cameras and now Oly has delivered with the EM5 and we await the GH3. The rumor that it will be magnesium body is good and if it is to have addon camera grip then that side cannot be rounded as the G5? Still Pany does seem to mirror a rounder shape in recent FZ200 and G5. I think the GH3 will be wider than G5 for more controls but similar height ie less than EM5 hump. For me I admire the EM5 very much but would like better AF and electronic shutter for those IBIS problematic speeds around 1/100 and higher.
Styling ,seriously you think a miniature mock up of a 30yr old film camera is styling lol
And style is really more important than performance and usability? Maybe you should be frequenting a men’s fasion web site.
@admin,
Sorry, these rumors seems to be really crap.
Even the G5 has 920K LCD (instead of the rumored 610K) and 60p (instead of 30p rumored). Something is wrong here.
The EVF resolution also seems to small – just increasing 1740K vs. 1440K? Don’t think so…
To me the important spec is both the EVF and rear screen will be OLED which appears to look sharper and more contrast. More importantly it requires less real estate for the EVF body to enable the smaller internal EVFs as seen in the NEX7 etc, so look for one in the next GX2? Also the question is battery drain which higher rez OLED screens experience. The one item left out is whether or not the screen is swivel or only tilting since different from that in the G5?
I think the reason for the incremental change in resolution for the EVF has to do with the fact its viewing size is much larger than that of the EM5 ie 0.7″ vrs 0.5″?
LCD or OLED doesn’t make any real difference to viewfinder size.
NEX-7 has viewfinder in such small size because its optics are small which causes small eye relief/image size needing cramming eye closer to it.
Exactly same OLED modules gives lot different experience in A77 with bigger viewfinder optics.
waiting for review (but i mean likes benchmark 555)
The new LCD and EVF are listed as OLED which is a better newer technology, Oly fans think that the E-M5 EVF { the same old Epson model} was “awesome” because it had a better refesh rate some fool even claimed it was an epoch making option
What’s wrong here is people paying this much attention to rumors.
Its hard to believe gh3 wont have at least 120 fps in 720p ! If g5 does why not the flagship ?
120 fps?! *drool*
I work for a ski resort, and I could only imagine the possibilities if you shot at that the conformed it back to 24fps…..
Exposure zebras are missing from this list and would be expected if this is to be a serious video cam.
If I were more videographing then photographing, i could get tempted into buying the GH3, but as it is for now (75% modelsessions & 25% gravure/video pictorials), the OM-D will be ok for doing both.
won’t buy because need IBIS for 7-14mm & 20mm f/1.7
Can wait when all the whistle and bell of GH3 frenzy subdued what kind of critics will fly toward it. I see a few already. The same thing happen when OM-D fever goes down. I just wish in my country the Panasonic will have as much enthusiast as Olympus marketer but seeing the trend both don’t have the will to goes all out in marketing m4/3 format.
I´m really looking forward to this nice camera! Seems to be the perfect film tool for me. Thumbs up!
Sounds like a REALLY great camera……and adds to the thunder of MFT!…..too much video for me. (stills only)….why pay for tech I will never use…my OMD is still…um…pretty perfect for my needs!!!!!…but you goooooooooo Panasonic!!!!
interval shooting – Yes, ISO 100 Yes.. Hopefully superb Image quality, 120fps video!! Hopefully its not too much bigger than GH2, but happy its not SMALLER!! Focus peaking looks good 2.. Hope they bump the bracketing up from +/- 1 though, canon will do +/- 3 I think..
Agreed. I do a lot of HDR so 2 EV steps work great for me. I miss my D200 with 5 shots at +/- 2EV.
Interval shooting sounds pretty interesting. I assume it is something like time lapse? I wonder how long the intervals will be. LX7 has timelaps shooting in it and I m astonished why we do not hve this on G5. FP is nice, in body HDR is nice. G5 has sweep panorama. I assume GH3 wil have it too (?).
100 ISO if done correctly would be very nice (I mean: better DR). Also, somewhat less trouble with those sunny days you need to go down to f8 in order not to overexpose.
I just hope they do not consider the cam to be Wide DR because of its in built HDR capability…
30p, how gay (in the artsy sense).
No FHD p60, no 4k, low bit rate, if they go with that dual mode stills video form factor design it will make it look like a toy. If you are going radical, you need to back it up with Black Magic Cinema camera crushing video. How long are they going to play this game, if they want us to buy the more expensive cameras, people might as well buy a Black Magic camera or a Red Scarlet. If these specs are the limit of it, it is time they gamed up.
FHD p60 came years ago in the Sanyo HD2000 consumer camera, it’s day is gone, now is 4k.
Sorry, disappointed, been waiting for Panasonic to even go 60p fhd for years.
It bothers me that 1080 60P is not mentioned. The G5 has it!
The GH3 has the potential to be a great combo cam – both stills and video. And to be semi-pro camera if it has the right basics. However…
1080 30P is no longer a passing grade for video. If all they have is 30P and you want pro-quality video, a BlackMagic Cinema Camera (BMC) is a far better video camera – RAW video and pro-level features for $3K.
I sincerely hope this feature list is incomplete. If they have 1080 60P, then I’m interested. If not, it’s a fail (IMO). I’ll keep my GH2 and look at an OMD for stills and BMC for video.
Dan.
p.s. IMO, the Apple iPhone is a success because they focused on what’s important and not what’s bling. Hopefully Panasonic focused on what is important. For video, 1080 60P is important.
I guess the question bugging most people now is whether the electronic shutter is rolling or global…
Is this the first OLED EVF?
No the NEX7 has a OLED EVF but one on GH3 will be larger hence slightly lower resolution. Both the GH3 and EM5 have similar 610,000 dot resolution OLED rear screens.
Nope, Sony has had one in NEX-7 and A77 for year…
And still higher resolution one. (2400k)
RAW. My next camera will have video RAW.
Does it need a new battery?
That was one of the major disappointments from gh1 to gh2.
I always carry a back up camera, and bringing 2 chargers and two sets of batteries is wasteful.
@ snowflake
Hopefully the new “GH3” will require a new battery, otherwise it’s likely to have poor battery life from the too-small GH2 batteries.
Chances are the GH3, with its improved features, will require at least somewhat more power than the GH2. A new, bigger battery would be a good way to address that issue.
Alternatively, they may use the same batt. as GH2 (with less runtime per charge), and address that issue by offering an optional battery-grip. That would be a good solution, too.
Batteries are the least of our “problems”. Specs and performance are more important to me than battery life & cost. Batts are relatively low-tech and inexpensive compared to almost every other aspect of a modern camera.
Waiting on a pro OM-D. Will sell GH2 when it appears. GH-3 doesn’t appear to offer what I am looking for. I want something smaller than a small-bodied dslr. GH-2 size is just barely small enough.
I can’t wait until the reveal!
I hope either it’s a spec that’s missing from the list or something that can be added via a hack, but I need 24p. The $1200 price would be about what I would expect from these specs, so I hope that’s true.
I really doubt that 24p will be missing, you don’t even have to worry about that.
This is the EU specs. The US release will offer 24p
Assuming that GH3 still uses a multiaspect sensor, I wonder
if 16 MP is the total pixel count or the effect pixel count.
I don’t see how the GH3 can incorporate all these new features that users want without making the body larger. It’s probably a matter of physics, e.g., people wanted a 3.5mm jack instead of 2.5, XLR, better circuits, vertical grip, everything on the rumour list and moreso, etc. You can look at the US$3k BMCC and go bonkers, then realize it’s a 2.3x crop, comes with no glass or SSD, and requires EOS lenses which are designed for a 1.7x crop, e.g., how u gonna getta wide angle other than a fisheye?
Nobody is forcing GH2 users to forfeit the small DSLR, and if Panny discontinues the GH2 it’ll be dirtcheep until stock is depleted, and it can be hacked with Driftwood to 176mbps, which won this year’s Zacuto shootout. GH2 & GH3 will get you the best of both, Panny had to compromise size and weight to compete with the bigboyz. That’s an excellent business move, especially with a good crop of pro lenses which wasn’t there when GH2 was released, and a stellar technical move, now that Canon is faltering with its overpriced and not-so-popular C300, and even the much-anticipated 5DM3 seems to have fallen off the radar. Seems like GH3 is newskool. Don’t we all love newskool?
The GH2 did not WIN the Zacuto shootout. There was no winner. If you think that it did you missed the point of the shootout!
While I agree with your overall point about the size of the GH3 (if true). Just two corrections. As already stated by Zach, the GH2 did NOT win the Zacuto shootout. No camera won. It was just a comparison test to show that it really comes down to the talent behind the camera these days. That all these cameras can be used to tell compelling stories.
Second, the Canon C300 is a very popular camera that is backed up at rental houses because so many people want to rent them. That said, the C300 and the GH cameras are in entirely different classes. Even the 5Dmk3 and GH cameras are in different classes, but at least a little more comparable than a C300.
I’ll be happy if the GH3 sticks to a similar price point as the GH2 while gaining a larger (D7000 sized) body. As a GH1 user, it’s about time for an upgrade come early next year and I would prefer a larger body. I didn’t buy the GH1 because of its size, I bought it because of the video features. So I’m not at all one of those shooters who would complain about it going bigger.
I hardly think that a larger m4/3 body will be anything close to a D7000, it’s impossible. The distance between the sensor and the lens alone already make the GH3 a lot smaller, it’s just a little bigger than the GH2, it’s not anything SO significant, it won’t even be close to the T4i. It’s just a bit more bulky body, instead of 125mm [W] it will be 130mm tops. Instead of 444g, it will weight a bit more, like 470~500g tops, the T4i weights almost 600g. So, I don’t think it will be 25~50% larger, it would be very odd.
resolution of monitor is very low.
It’s not that low. Sony NEX’s monitor have higher dots count BUT a big part of it is used for UI purposes.
The 3.0″ 921K 16:9 on a NEX camera is actually a 2.6″ 760K 3:2, the rest is used for UI purposes, so in the end it’s a 15% bigger monitor with 20+% less dots. Of course it would be nice to have more resolution, but it’s not as low as it may look.
it’s definitely low and it could be bigger to help with focusing. If you ever shot with those legacy lenses or any other non m43 lenses you will have to really squint and zoom in to focus. The hardest is with wide angle lenses. ON the NEX 5 I do not have so much problems with focus.
Specs sound great. The GH line is getting more pro and that is fantastic news. For the non-pros Panasonic has a great line of cameras for you. The success of the GH1/2 among independent filmmakers called for a bigger and better GH3. And we are going to get it! Panasonic IS listening!
Hi John!
I pray that Panasonic makes the new “GH3” available for sale by authorized US dealers ______soon_______ after its announcement, unlike the several months of delay that happened with the GH1 & GH2! Here’s hoping!
Hello Peter!
I hope we don’t go through a miserable waiting period once again! I hope Panasonic has its act together this time!
1080p 60fps? it’s perfect otherwise!
They do mention “Slow Movie extension (40%, 50%, 80%)”, which to me sounds like added frame rates to the existing options available for GH2 in 1080p24; which would be 60p, 48p, 30p respectively.
The specs listed above only mention 30p, but I’d bet they offer at least the standard AVCHD modes (1080p60 is in AVCHD 2). It’s confusing switching video modes on the GH2, it would be nice to see a single menu spell it out more like this:
File Format: AVCHD / MP4/ MOV
Resolution/Framerate: 1080p60 / 1080i60 / 1080p24/ 720p60
Bitrate: 50mb/s, 24mb/s, 17mb/s, 13mp/s
Variable Rate: 40%, 50%, 80%, 100%, 200%, 300%
No word yet on 120fps+ slow mo at reduced resolutions. They offer 480fps on one of their toy camcorders, so would be bummed if 60fps is the highest capture rate here.
Interval shooting sounds fun. Even better if it has custom settings instead of a short list of presets.
i’m probably just being paranoid after all the canon crap. 60fps is there somewhere for sure – i just hope it’s at 1080 and not 720. 120fps at reduced res would be fun but 60fps full HD is all i ask for.
EVF res looks good but just behind nex,
screens are both OLED (sharp bright) – good
will lower res OLED display be better than g5 LCD??
EVF resolution is not everything. Whenever I tried the NEX 7 finder, it showed a lot of moire and flicker in areas of fine detail. The E-M5 finder is much more eye friendly has better color, more dynamic range and no flicker or moire. If the GH3 finder matches the E-M5 finder in viewing experience, that would be fine.
The NEX 7 EVF is totally overrated.
Every damn thing about the E-M5 is overrated lol all those pro review sites singing the praises of the Nex 7 EVF were obviously talking BS and you are right save the fanboy BS there is already way too much here
EVF, be it LCD or OLED, shows only what it’s told to show. (though field sequential display shows colour tearing/flicker)
So obviously Sony has problems with live view image processing.
Also because of no backlight it’s OLED which has better dynamic range (contrast) than LCD. Question is again about image processing which has to take display device’s characteristics into account to show proper picture. (just like colour management in computers)
Where is 60/50p & 24p?
F2.8 is F2.8 is F2.8, for BRIGHTNESS (which is light/area, the ONLY thing that matters for exposure).
Nope it isn’t otherwise the effect of F2.8 would be the same in all formats from P&S to MF and it clearly is not.
FAST lens has to do with being able to achieve FAST shutter speeds, and has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with shallow DOF.
The fast refers to the aperture only it has nothing to do with shutter speed and with regards to total light and DOF control F2.8 is not fast on mFT. It is funny how your type of poster seems to have no problem accepting the limitations of aperture as it effects smaller systems ie Nikon 1 system,yet cannot manage to do this when mFT is the little sensor.
Nope an F2.8 on FF will put far more light on the sensor than an F2.8 lens on mFT which in turn will put more than an F2.8 on a smaller format it really is easy
Beyond that, I have been taking pictures for the last 35 years, I do totally understand, probably much better then you, why IS is useful, and why it isn’t, depending on the situation.
Rather obviously you do not understand. IS is useful if you are shooting at a very slow shutter speed with no possibility of any external support and vitally your subject is totally static.
As long as you are shooting “scenery” that is static {I hope there is no wind, or birds etc moving in the frame} in low light with no chance of camera support
There isn’t always a support available, it takes too much time to setup a tripod, it is not allowed to setup a tripod, it is not allowed to lean on that cabinet at a museum etc etc etc etc. Your approach is ignoring many very common situations.
The only scenario where it is useful is low light static subjects where there is no possibility of camera support. It is that simple I have repeated it now a couple of times to let it sink in your example exactly fits the type of shot where IS helps.
That you can come up with situations where it isn’t useful does absolutely nothing to take away from the situations in which it is useful.
The situations where it isn’t useful encompasses vastly more shooting scenarios than the low light static subject that benefits from IS. Every system including FF has a very wide selection of IS lenses for those who desire it.In FF you have a 16mm to 800mm range , in mFT you have from 12mm to 300mm {24-600mm equiv}so hardly an issue .
Taking pictures for 35 years and you’re leaving enraged comments on a rumour website… obviously you have had a very successful photographic career.
Why do we always argue semantics and try to confuse. F2.8 is just that. Also the mm of the lens is always what it is. The sensor size is the wildcard. a Xmm lens at X f-stop throws the exact same amount of light on each square mm of any sensor some sensors just have more real estate to cover and that is where the confusion comes in. So yes by adding the surface area up more light has hit the total area on a larger sensor but who cares! Oh and by the way use the reply to when replying to another poster to maintain continuity.
Focal ratio, or relative aperture, is defined as focal length/entrance pupil diameter and this is totally unrelated to sensor siz, sensor size doesn’t appear anywhere in the simple formula that determines f numbers, that is really optics 101. As long as you do not realize this, your entire view on this subject is based on wrong assumptions.
But it does something different? No, not at all, at identical focal length, distance, aperture and focus distance, the resulting circle of confusion will be identical, as will image brightness.
Total amount of light is totally irrelevant for exposure, brightness (fotons/area/time) is the only relevant metric. Required gain depends on pixel (photo site) size and NOT on sensor size, but gain does not determine iso levels, if it did then iso 200 on a d700 and d800 would mean something totally different since pixel size on the d800 is 1/3 of those o the 700,and it needs 3x the amount of gain.
Oh, and one more thing, the use for IS.
It often happens, especially for those of us doing things like news, event or concert photography, that you end up needing a somewhat longer focal length, say at around 100-150mm (so 200-300mm equiv). Proper timing makes it quite possible often to use shutter speeds of around 1/100-1/125 for stopping motion, but at those shutter speeds it is difficult to reliably handhold such a focal length. Additionally, using a tripod or monopod is a big hassle in such situations, and IS is a godsend, and makes a very big difference in keeper rate. So, thats not absolutely static subjects at all.
Lets assume you are on your way to some appointment, and see this very nice fountain on the way. You’d like to take a picture of it with a nice wide-angle, and would like to use a shutter speed of around 1/3 to nicely smooth out the water. Due to your appointment (or whatever) you don’t have time for setting up a tripod (if you have one with you to begin with), and there is nothing at the proper working distance to provide support. IS can allow you to do this, alternative is not having the picture.
Again, using IS to take a picture of a subject that moves.
There are many more examples of such things.
That this doesn’t occur often in your photography is perfectly fine, and means you have less of a need for it, also perfectly fine. That however says absolutely zero about the general case, rather, it says everything about how broad your photographic experiences are. Not that there is anything wrong with more limited, or more specific experience, as long as YOU realize that it is in fact rather limited.
Having the choice to use IS or not use IS depending on the situation, and totally regardless of whomever made the lens I’m using, is simply more flexible and better then having to use a specific lens, regardless of how much you keep trying to evade this.
Bart, if you were seriously doing things like news events or concerts for money you would not be using mFT , the fastest native mFT lens {at the moment} 100-150mm is F5.6. Lenses like the Nikon 70-200F2.8VR combined with the D3s or new D4 with the at least two stops better high ISO combined with the faster lens you could shoot at least 4 stops faster. That is why pro shooters in low light sports or event photography use Nikon or Canon.
“and would like to use a shutter speed of around 1/3 to nicely smooth out the water.”
You are not looking for a sharp shot as you just said you wanted to smooth out the water , thus it drops back into the low shutter speed , static shots which are the only scenario that IS helps with
However you want to juggle the bottom line is that IS only helps static shots, where the shutter speed is too low to handhold, and this is combined with not being able to use any kind of camera support. That is it no other scenario is aided by IS , if the subject is moving game over, if the light is bright enough up the shutter speed, if you can use any kind of support { tripod, monopod, bean bag , environmental ,gorilla pod ,mini tripod etc} .
If your wide experience entails mostly shooting static subjects, at low shutter speeds without any support then you are indeed a major winner from having IS . Though contrary to your claim it doesn’t look like a very “wide” range perhaps you should consider shooting in better light, or with faster lenses or with camera support
Beyond the one scenario {and that’s all there is } of low shutter speed, static shots without support there is no significant gain from IS for any other area of photography .
@tutuy I am not the biggest supporter of IS either built in or in-lens , however even I would concede that it has more utility than you are suggesting. Not so much at the shorter focal lengths but even in reasonable light. I find that shooting with the longer focal lengths say 300mm [600mm FF equiv} it can be beneficial especially if you want to stop the lens down to get better performance and incur the slower shutter speeds that follow.
Jim S
If I use m4/3 or something else doesn’t matter at all for the argument. But for your information, I do use a D700 with the Nikor 70-200/2.8 VR2 at times for such things, when appropriate. If needed I rent a D3, or would now rent a D4.
It doesn’t change at all what I said, rather, if you’d actually do such things yourself you’d know that at F2.8 with such a system, you are extremely DOF challanged for such applications, and that fast F2.8 isn’t going to help much of the time since you end up at around F4-5.6. A D4 is at best 2 stops better, in reality a bit less (with regards to high-iso performance). Not to mention, it doesn’t change at all what I am describing, a situation where for reason of perspective/composition you MUST use a long lens that requires a high shutter speed for reliable hand-holding, and also a faster shutter speed then required for motion stopping. If you are light challanged, you may end up too slow for reliable hand-holding, but still fast enough for motion stopping. You can encounter this situation with any camera system, and your comments regarding ‘pros’ and what they’d use is just totally irrelevant.
With regards to the fontain, you forget that there is more then that moving water that needed smoothing out, the ‘non water’ part of the picture should be sharp and not showing any kind of motion blur. If you ever tried making such a picture, you’d have realized this as totally obvious.
Not to mention, I may do those things for money (part-time), but that is also a totally irrelevant argument, as many people do such things for fun. Are you arguing that all that counts is if you make money with it, and that those doing it for fun should just not bother getting as good as possible results with the equipment they have?
BART If I use m4/3 or something else doesn’t matter at all for the argument. But for your information, I do use a D700 with the Nikor 70-200/2.8 VR2 at times for such things, when appropriate. If needed I rent a D3, or would now rent a D4.
Sure you do
It doesn’t change at all what I said, rather, if you’d actually do such things yourself you’d know that at F2.8 with such a system, you are extremely DOF challanged for such applications, and that fast F2.8 isn’t going to help much of the time since you end up at around F4-5.6. A D4 is at best 2 stops better, in reality a bit less (with regards to high-iso performance).
The F2.8 at typical concert shooting distances is going to give you 2-3 feet of DOF and if you look at RAW files with zero NR the E-M5 is at least two stops poorer than the D4 or D3s which unlike you I own.
Not to mention, it doesn’t change at all what I am describing, a situation where for reason of perspective/composition you MUST use a long lens that requires a high shutter speed for reliable hand-holding, and also a faster shutter speed then required for motion stopping. If you are light challanged, you may end up too slow for reliable hand-holding, but still fast enough for motion stopping. You can encounter this situation with any camera system, and your comments regarding ‘pros’ and what they’d use is just totally irrelevant.
I see now you are clitching at straws lol, you are trying to conjure a goldilocks zone that IS helps in as opposed to the far more numerous real life shooting scenarios where it does nothing. The availability of much faster lenses and far better high ISO resuces the need for IS in FF systems even more.
With regards to the fontain, you forget that there is more then that moving water that needed smoothing out, the ‘non water’ part of the picture should be sharp and not showing any kind of motion blur. If you ever tried making such a picture, you’d have realized this as totally obvious.
So now you want to smooth out the background and the foreground lol Pro shooter my ass
Not to mention, I may do those things for money (part-time), but that is also a totally irrelevant argument, as many people do such things for fun. Are you arguing that all that counts is if you make money with it, and that those doing it for fun should just not bother getting as good as possible results with the equipment they have?
You may do things for money photography just isnt one of them
It would really help if you’d at least make clear what in your post is quoted, and what is not, because right now you are just creating an unreadable mess.
Beyond that, you demonstrate total lack of ability to understannd what you are reading.
Point was ending up needing a shutter speed fast enough to stop the motion in a scene, but not fast enough to deal with camera shake. The actual equipment you useis totallyirrelevant for that, there is absolutely nothing the d4 can do to magically prevent this, the only thing it can do is change the light levels at which this becomes a problem.
You however failed to understand this and have to bring in the totally unrelated and stupid ‘pro argument’.
>Nope an F2.8 on FF will put far more light on the sensor than an F2.8 lens on mFT
F2.8 will put the same amount of light per mm^2 of sensor. The light “density” is the same.
Does cropping the full-frame F2.8 photo makes it less exposed? No. Neither does using an F2.8 lens on a m43 sensor.
hmm… I wanted 1080p120 but 720p120 would be OK as well.
About the Electronic Shutter, if the sensor has faster readouts and it has a very good processor it means it can have less rolling shutter even without global shutter, right? Is that what this Electronic Shutter feat means? Or is it the same old 40fps 4MP burst?
30p/25p why?
60P/60i????
What about the ETC? Will it have crop mode like GH2? The classic 2.6x or something similar…This feature is very nice, if it does not have this maybe a firmware update will include it…
I hope it has the crop feature I find it works very well for video
If the GH3 comes in with these specs, and especially with significantly improved dynamic range, I will be tempted. As it stands, I’m budgeting for a flagship m4/3 camera late this year/early next, and choosing between the GH3 and the EM5 is going to be a challenge. For me, it’s mostly going to come down to dynamic range, ergonomics, and the value of a true multi aspect ratio sensor vs. in body image stabilization.
I appreciate the presence of audio out on body (hope not in proprietary format) in addtion to mic. This feature is useful not for the planned films where one can use external audio recording, but rather for spontaneous ones, documentary, reports etc.; in the situations when the operator is limited in time/space/assistants for external recording, or does not want much attention.
For this kind of situations (plus dynamic scenes – animals, sport etc.), fast reliable AF in the video mode would be also extremely desirable: will open new dimensions for creativity. i do not agree that “pro” filmmakers should always use MF: it was so just because CD-AF on camcorders was far from perfect, let see if GH3 will change it.
In theory, camcorders that use a ‘real’ rotating shutter allow for both a reflex finder and phase detect AF. I suspect ‘real’ shutters on camcorders are hard to find tho, and they come with their own set of issues.
Every time I see the news about the GH3 I jizz in my pants.
It better have 60p or no more pants jizzing.
I switched from the 5d Mark II to the panasonic because I was so pissed off that the 5d mark III didn’t shoot as many frames as my low end piece of shiz camcorder. Yeah my low end piece of shiz camcorder was crap but I wasn’t going to spend 3000 on a micro step. So I bought a gh2 so i could atleast get a very clean 720p 60 fps video cam. If they don’t have the extra frames then scew em I won’t buy it. I’ll buy a marked down gh2. If it has the 60 and even the 120 720p mode then i’m in and why doesn’t it come with sound for the slowmo settings. It better or panasonic can suck my third leg.
Took so long to fill this out forgot my comment reply? Oh yeah, uh no camera records audio in slow mo. Not even big buck pro cameras.
Faster shutterspeed than 4000? Useful iso? 60 or 120fps ?
Size? Fps with working af?Thats what’s important for me when I will be chosing my next mft camera.
Aren’t 60i/50p/60p specs missing from the video specs listed? What about electronic level (aka the GX1)?
Other than those two mysteries, the camera sounds great. I hope the IQ exceeds expectations and the cost is less than I think it might be.
Readying credit card now. 🙂
Is there’s the same level of weather seal as OM-D (at least…) ?
I hope better. The Oly site makes it sound minimal. I’m sure there are liability reasons for that but it sure doesn’t inspire confidence.
Wonder what the flash sync speed will be? Hopefully higher than, 1/160 sec.
This along with a larger buffer and weather sealing are my biggest needs.
30P 25P, but no mention to the resolution,
it seems the possibility of higher spec than FULL-HD.
BTW, JVC alreadys showed the capability to record and split single 4K streams into 4x AVCHD FULL-HD STREAMs.
It’s extremely unlikely the new “GH3” will record video at a resolution higher than 1080p.
Higher resolutions are only useful if much, much higher data rates are recorded (>200 megabits/sec.) Otherwise, there’ll be too many compression artifacts.
Price is just too high!!!
E5weather sealing is only splash, and then if it is salt water you need to rinse it afterwards. I know from experience. Mine ended up corroded. It cost me only $100 to repair and get cleaned and they were very quick, so I was happy as it was nice and clean for my next overseas trip. I would presume the OM-D is the same.
It sounds like the perfect camera… for three years ago.
I hope they solve the battery issue in a grip that also contains an active aux sim card.
Panasonic batteries are not cheap $40 to 90 bucks. I carry 4 to 6 for a day’s shoot. That adds up.
Poor spec.and expensive, no need to upgrade from GH2….., GH3 is a very good camera (5 yrs ago)
Better sensor, better processing engine, better LCD , better EVF, better standard video bitrate, better build quality . What do you think is missing? There were no mFT cameras five years ago it’s better than the GH2 in every single area and the GH2 is just coming up on its second birthday
I’ve been waiting for this camera for two years! I can’t wait. After spending a fortune on all things M43, and mostly Panasonic, it was always going to be my upgrade path.
bring it on!
– electronic shutter
– Wifi with remote control through iOS and Android Applications
– Focus Peaking
– Interval shooting and slow motion. Slow Movie extension (40%, 50%, 80%) Fast 160/ 200 / 300%
Very fine!
Olympus, take note!
I hope the electronic shutter brings fast sync speeds. The main turn-offs of E-M5 for me are the lack of ISO 100, slow flash sync and oversized LCD (crammed controls).
GH3 might well be what Santa brings to me this Christmas 🙂
The E-M5 has 1/250s sync speed. That’s not slow. GH3 is 1/160s.
I was hoping for 2K 16:9 in the EVF if not the monitor to actually see if in FullHD the focus is off.
Peaking is of cause a great step already.
No word about the damn 30 minute limit. 🙁
admin, some people say that the GH3 will use a sony sensor, and it’s not a Multi-Aspect sensor, do you have any information about that?
Yes I am working on it. I heard it too!
i think wide dynamic range is not sony sensor
As a filmmaker, I’m all good for the following specs:
– 16 Megapixel “Wide dynamic range” CMOS Sensor.
– Video Bitrate 50Mbps (72Mbps ALL-I)
– 30p/25p in MP4, MOV and AVCHD (FOR SURE THERE IS A 60P)
– Audio out
– Time Code
– external battery grip
– external XLR accessory
– Focus Peaking
– Magnesium alloy body.
By the way, can anyone please explain what does “ALL-I” mean? I haven’t bothered knowing till now.
Hoping the external XLR accessory would cost less than [Sony’s] $800.
I wouldn’t want to keep my hopes up for IBIS, although that would be really great for filming with legacy lenses. 🙂
I’m a Canon DSLR user and I’m actually fine with bulky rigs.
I’m really happy Panasonic is listening. Very exciting times indeed!
Im still a bit skeptical as to the validity of the specs but as for I-frames that refers to Video compression picture types. There are I, P and B.
This passage in wikipedia sums it up pretty well.
“An I‑frame is an ‘Intra-coded picture’, in effect a fully specified picture, like a conventional static image file. P‑frames and B‑frames hold only part of the image information, so they need less space to store than an I‑frame, and thus improve video compression rates.”
I guess people dont like P and B frames because they not only compress but also decrease quality in the process.
Perhaps P and B frames, if done well, does not mean a loss of quality, or perhaps they always decrease it, so I am not sure how good it is having just I-frames 🙂
Awesome specs. I can’t wait to see how good the video is in terms of sharpness and dynamic range.
So… what’s the difference when you say that the “Video Bitrate is at 50Mbps” and it’s “72Mbps ALL-I”?
Thanks for replying. 🙂
Woops. I meant to send this^ to Doffer.
Perhaps someone else knows this better than me and i’m not 100% sure I know what you mean but if you say the bitrate is 50Mbps then you aren’t really giving much information about the quality. For example I heard that the new H265 is going to be twice as effective as H264 so if you had two video streams at 50Mbps then the one using H265 would be much better even at the same bitrate.
In the example you used the 50Mbps might refer to a stream using all three types of frames while the 72Mbps stream only uses I-frames. So you really need to look beyond pure bitrate to get a picture of the true quality.
I hope this is what you wanted to know 😉
AHHH! I get it! Thanks for clarifying that. 🙂
you know they can keep all specs just give …. xternal BNC connected 10 bit 422 1080 60p capable output and the add on xlrs …….use internal record for simul proxy
You know, cineform is making their wavelet video compression format an official standard. Better than Red I have been told, and perfect competition for video and stills. You can select good stills out of a high data rate version. I think the camera companies should get with it, do they want Red calling the shots? Cineform has had a concentrating on low processing overheads for many years. I suspect this is why go pro bought them, to add cinefom to a future product, then stand back
It is exciting news to know that a slightly improved model is around the corner [GH3] first of all let me say that I do shoot with a GH2 not hacked yet. This camera have been proven that it is a better camera than a 7D or even 5DMK II, if you do not believe me please check out Zacuto Camera shoot out 2012 and see for your self. Many people are asking for professional features on these cameras when they know it is not possible to have professional features when they are paying consumer prices. Panasonic,Canon, Sony but to name a few have broadcast or pro divisions. for example if you are looking for professional kit start with AF101, F3,C300 and above. What surprises me is that hobbists are the ones demanding a lot of features when they can not even use 45% of the features already in their equipment. I can’t wait to get my hands on GH3 and thanks for the info keep up the good job guys.
Joseph, most professional features and quality are not possible, relevant mainly to marketing for fools. If you don’t like them treating people this, get mad and tell them to stop it or stop buying, only way to teach them. What the old hacked gh2 is doing is only part of what it could do, but is stopped. The much newer gh3, especially if bigger and more expensive, should be able to do much more than the hacked gh2. Low quality 4k cinema recording for consumer, think similar to what the gh2 does for fullhd, is around 64 mbit/s, there is no credible reason not to have 4k video at this price, even the $100 dollar fhd camera chipset maker passed the ability to do post fhd resolution year before last. Around 2007, Casio had a sub $1000 stills camera that could record over 6mp frames at 60 frames a second off a Sony sensor, and JVC has a chipset that can do it on stills cameras, that they use on their 4k video camera. I fear it looks maybe possibly similar to all vehement control throughout industries, of the market, to get more for less, as has been normal across industries for years, to make people live poorer that they live in a even bigger mansion. Each company only needs two or three camera models to service the market with choice, but how come so many that true smaller competitors find it so hard to get shelf space. This talk just enslaves the consumer to third rate existence, and denies true level playing field competition. At these greatly exaggerated prices, there is little legal reason not to have 80% of the features of a professional camera.
As for use, there are many consumer features that are if not much use, but a smaller set of processional features to greatly increase quality, that can be made simple to setup. Some of these ‘professional’ features were explored and set up on cameras by the $100 camera makers, with some promoting. Simply put, one touch auto features to calibrate and setup to high quality, and release to hold, was one example. Setting frame rate and preferred shutter and exposure etc is another. You can aim at what you wasn’t to focus, press a button, let it focus in and if you want to, ride focus afterwards, or tap the screen to refocus where you want etc, get it to track focus on the area, do the same for color and exposure etc. For the vast majority of professional use that have to do things quickly and even on the run, these things easily raise quality, but are easy for the hobbyist consumer. You can set up a shot in seconds. Ten years ago not many people really knew how to design camera controls as easy as this, I know one of the people behind this move. Cameras can track people, there is no reason the gh2 can’t do this all, for crisp 4k images suitable for direct to blu-ray. If they hope to sell 4k tv’s cheap, they need something to use them for.
Unfortunately, I find the greatest thing driving these claims (apart from marketing attempts) is poor eyesight, both physically and mentally. Put simply, like my vision, many people have poor vision or failing vision, and some are just unobservant mentally. But even if they can’t pick the difference, people still subconsciously pickup and enjoy a higher quality image. My vision, with glasses on, is down to 4k, down from around 60k of the best human vision. It should be 16k+, for professional use. There seems to be a lot of people making unrealistic claims against better quality in self denial. For consumer, 4k is a minimum, like 720p used to be for HD. Sure some people are going to see pixels and want 8k, but it won’t matter so much, as it will look less, and much less of a difference past this.
4k will not really top out for the consumer sector until you get to 50 progressive frames a second (without 3d), 10 bit (maybe 12 bits, for tv contrast/brightness/color control adjustments) and 4:4:4 (color integration starts happening around 4k at a good field of view, so at 8k it will not really be needed). It is the new 720p and hopefully last. So, 25fps 4k 64mb/s, even at 144mb/s, 8 bit 4:2:0 is hardly professional.
To clarify, nobody mentioned here might be doing the wrong thing here, in that it might be an inadvertent result etc, but the wrong thing for the consumer still hapoens. The Chinese will shortly wake up to the fact they can put every top non Chinese camera manufacturer out of business, it is up to existing players to stop them by releasing better quality value for money devices for consumers. Cineform raw has it all over h264 in low processing overhead quality.
it ain’t happening
Don’t understand why the video frame rate would go down from 60p (GH2) to 30p (GH3) when it has a new Venus 7 engine?
No 1080p60 ? Why ?
They are referencing the 1080P framerates.
The GH2 supports 1080 60i or 720 60P but only supports 1080 30P, not 1080 60P. 1080 60i and 720 60P both have much lower resolution than 1080 60P.
What about wireless flash support?
Is it sure that will have only SD cards?
I bought an expresscard Sonnet UHS-I that reads and writes 104 MB/s and I am wondering maybe I do wrong before see the official announcement of Panasonic for the GH3?…
And judging from, Panasonic’s US delivery record on the GH2, the GH3 should be in store’s sometime in the next three or four years
So Panasonic gives us a GH3 that promises to make it worth the wait.
But the big question now is WILL IT BE AVAILABLE?
If past record of Panasonic is any indication, we may end up buying stock from grey-market Japan sellers again.