GH3, GH2, and LX7 resolution test chart comparison

I haven’t been able to post much this weekend. However, I have been doing a ton of testing. Here are some resolution chart screen captures for the GH3, GH2, and LX7.

I have only included a few of the samples in this post. Honestly, some of them are just so close to others that it really isn’t necessary to post all of them here. For those of you who want to see all of them I have a link below that will allow you to download all of them at once in a .zip file. I will post the original video files to a downloadable Vimeo Account later today.

First off the GH2 and GH3 are very close in resolution and I haven’t been able to detect moire in either of them. They both can exhibit very slight aliasing but only with test charts and not in real world situations.

Whatever moire we saw in pre-production models is not existent in my NTSC GH3.

I included the GH2 1080p @ 24 FPS(Mildly hacked) image here because increasing the bit rate does nothing for resolution of a static image like this. I also included the 1080p @ 60 FPS, 1080p @ 24 FPS All I, 1080p @ 24 FPS regular, 1080i and 720p @ 60 FPS AVC-HD images here. In addition I have charts from -5 sharpness through +5 for the GH3. However, you have to download the .zip file to see those.

All of the GH3’s 1080p settings are very similar except for the ones that are derived from 1080i(ie: 1080i/60 and 1080p @ 30 FPS). The 1080i derived ones show much more aliasing.

Take a look at the GH3 1080p @ 24 FPS AVC-HD and compare it to the 1080p @ 24 FPS all I. The files are almost identical. Again for static scenes the bit rate does not matter and it won’t affect resolution.

I personally like the 1080p @ 60 FPS mode the best. It is absolutely wonderful to have the flexibility to record 1080p @ 60 FPS and play real time or switch to slow motion without having to make that decision beforehand.

I have settled on +2 sharpness for my liking. I am sure yours will vary from that depending on how much you want to edit it. It appears that -2 or -3 sharpness is closest to an unsharpened RAW image. Therefore, shooting with a -5 sharpness and applying in post might not actually be beneficial.

It was too much trouble to post all of those images here so you have to download the zip file if you want to see the sharpness settings. All of the test images are shot with Standard Color mode 0 Contrast, 0 Color, lowest Noise Reduction at ISO 200, with the 35-100mm lens @ 35mm F3.2.

What I found most interesting is how the LX7 did. Don’t get me wrong it isn’t even close to the GH2 or the GH3. However, this is a $300 camera (When I bought it) and it shoots VERY GOOD 1080p @ 60 FPS video. The 720p @ 120 FPS is not good because of severe aliasing. However, it is much better than the 720p @ 120 FPS of my GoPro 3 Black.