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GH3 Best Video Settings
  • 814 Replies sorted by
  • With "levels from hell" applied in photoshop

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  • @flablo cookies always appreciated!

    I was determined to use the MOV codec when I got the GH3 but I couldn't ignore the fact that AVCHD was just way cleaner and far more usable.

    In the right conditions the MOV codec can look awesome.... Really detailed and filmic IMO. But not for run and gun low light stuff IMO.

  • @Sph1nxster I guess using MOV with Panny lens in low light is suicide, but I too noticed that in other situations it does have a very nice film-like grain. I also found out that the jitter/strobe on pans happens at 1/50, while at 1/60 the problem is gone. Btw, do you always shoot at 1/100 with 50p, or just when you know you will make a slowmo?

  • @Flablo We film predominately in aperture priority mode which only goes as low as 1/60 when filming at 50p. Even at 1/60 we can still do some nice slowmos.

    However when filming in better light the camera will ramp up the shutter speed much higher so we don't normally worry about it.

    Sometimes we move to manual mode to dial in a 1/50 shutter for when the DJ turns on his weird lighting system. Even then, the footage still looks great. I know about the double shutter speed to fps rule but I have to say I am pleased with 50p at 1/60

  • Here's screen grabs from the GH2/GH3 Multi-cam test. Gotta get prime focus wide angle lens I know but this noise on the GH3's footage is pretty bad.

  • screen grabs

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  • @ flabo Is the MTS file the AVCHD 28Mb/s setting on the GH3? Looking at your files it's dawned on me that it's not just the noise...it's really the kind of noise. Only two weeks into owning a GH3 - to my eyes the GH3's noise tends to be "big and blotchy" as apposed to the GH2's small "grain" like noise. Is that an accurate description to you? (and anyone else)

  • @maddog15 That's pretty accurate. If you look hard at Driftwood's better settings, the noise is there but looks more like fine film grain.

  • @maddog15 yes, but on mine it's 24Mbps, not 28Mbps (I guess it's because I'm PAL 25 fps, not NTSC 30 fps). Yes hacked GH2 noise is finer and better (hacks usually push around at least 40Mbps), and 72Mbps All-I seems to be acknowledged as quite bad. From what I've seen AVCHD looks smoother and more GH2-like (but with less banding) while MOV looks harsher and more contrasty/punchy. I'd use AVCHD for low light and MOV for other situations. Until we have a hack, for me the only reasons to choose GH3 over GH2 are 50fps, dynamic range and added features (earphones, battery life, double jog wheel, ...)

  • @flablo and @peternap Well this just bites ass. I guess I had higher hopes for the GH3 with the "capability to shoot 72Mb/s all Intra" addition. The irony here is I/we have spent $1300 to shoot AVCHD at the same level of the stock "HBR" setting of the GH2. (Yes, I'd now like some cheese with my whine.)

    Don't get me wrong I do love all the other (well needed) features of the GH3. But when it comes down to it, "What does the image look like?" The gh3 has two very critical strikes against it in this regard. 1. The well known soft and blurry EVF. Makes critical focus frustrating to say the least. But the main point #2. The amature looking big blotchy noise in the final image at low light.

    I've aquired the Lumix 20mm that should be here Wednesday. Hopefully this will be the best settings adjustment I could try with lower light shooting.

  • @maddog15 I see your points. Anyway I have to say I'm quite happy with my GH3. The dynamic range improvement is crucial for me, and I really discovered the pleasure of using a "serious" lens when I bought the 35-100 2.8. Yes it costs as much as the GH3 (but consider that the two together cost as much as a Mark III body only) but it is so sharp and smooth. Did you ever try it or the 12-35 or the Leica 25 1.4? Wait for the 20 mm which afaik is also a good lens. I'm attaching a screenshot from the shoot I did 2 days ago (with the 35-100), which I'm working on. I think it looks pretty damn good. And guess what? After all this talk by mistake I left the record settings on MP4! Ah ah!

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  • With Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f/0.95 i never had a low light noise problem even shooting 50mbps/50p MOV ...

  • @flablo I like the image tone. Are those frame grabs from video?

  • @feha Yes I've read about that lens. Was wondering if you could post some screen grabs of footage shot with your GH3 and the Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f/0.95 lens? I for one would love to see how it shoots. Looks like an amazing lens to say the least.

  • @flablo I appreciate the inspiration. The grabs are nice indeed. Perhaps I've been over zealous in my 2 1/2 week judgements. I'm looking forward to the 20mm and I bought an old manual 50mm f2.0 on eBay. Both should be here Wednesday.

    One lens has my mouth watering as far as best possible settings or results... The Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f/0.95. Rightfully so, it's about $1000. I would assume the "science" of the camera is limited most by the poor light "physics" restriction that a particular lens places on that camera. To paraphrase Drew from DREWnet, "You don't buy lenses for you camera collection, you buy camera bodies for your lens collection."

    Ill post a few grabs once I get the lenses.

    Thanks for the reply.

  • @maddog15 , here is the video, ambient light:

    No processing ...

  • @feha Very nice. I like the music bed also. What color setting and sub-settings did you use? (Eg: standard -0 -0 -0 -0)

  • I don't remember but i think it was -2,0,0,0 (standard) these settings i used often with Nokton 25mm 50mbps/50p MOV

  • @Henry yes those are screen grabs, I'm working on the grade in Resolve which is a pleasure to use

  • @feha Yes. The 20mm f1.7 was key in low light to reduce the noise.

    Straight screen grabs with no Photoshop manipulation, color or tonal adjustment.

    Settings: f1.7 • S.S. 50 • ISO400 • 1080 24p • MOV 72Mb/s All Intra • Standard -5 -5 -2 0

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  • sorry if this has been discussed already, but has anybody else noticed nasty orange skin tones? It may have been happening because the saturation was at -5?

  • @GravitateMediaGroup

    So far skin tones are good on my end. With all the reasearch I've done (with the GH2, GH3 and DSLR's in general) I've kept my saturation setting at only -2. Contrast and sharpness -5. NR at -0. Most other pro shooters I've consulted with or read about use a close varition of the above settings. The consensus seems to be, "Kick the saturation (Chroma) down a bit but push sharpness and contrast (Luminance) as far down as the camera will allow." This advice goes for any DSLR not just Lumix. So far this "set" of settings seems to work well. I have plenty to pull and push with in post. My humble opinion - if I take too much saturation or chroma out via camera settings that doesn't leave me with enough "accurate" pixel information to work with in any grading software. Eg: if you try to saturate say a grey pixel in post, the software really doesn't know which direction to go in the color spectrum.

    BTW: on the GH3 I use Standard and Natural

    Probably too much information. Sorry for that but hope this helps.

  • Hi, I am from poor greece and I bought (a friend photographer bought it for me and I shoot weddings to pay it back) the gh3 pal version with the ultra noisy 14-140. Unfortunately the only way for me to shoot in low light with this lense is by using neat video in premiere or whatever and wait 10-15 times the length of the video to export. I also can have a soft porno effect :) by shooting in 25p with 25ss full of motion blur but it's ok if do not have a lot of action in your shots. One thing is for sure, if iso is higher than 1600 the video is useless. My next purchase will be g-vario f1.7 because it's not so expensive and then I will start having focus issues but, make "art" with anything you have

  • im still new to color grading and denoising etc... Can someone please explain to me what really are the benefits of trying to shoot it flat? Im finding my editing time horrid for rendering times because of having to Denoise footage 200% almost. Im using some friends settings and im not sure im getting back the detail by denoising things and sharpening them with Red software.

  • Using flat setting is about getting as much deatail as possible and have more options in post to create a look you like. Never had problems with noise using flat setting. Noise is probably from under exposing.