Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH3K 16.05 MP Digital Single Lens Mirrorless Digital Camera with 3-Inch OLED - Body Only (Black)

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH3K 16.05 MP Digital Single Lens Mirrorless Digital Camera with 3-Inch OLED - Body Only (Black)

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• 16MP Micro Four Thirds-format CMOS sensor
• Contrast-detection AF system with claimed 0.07-second speed
• ISO 100-12800, extendable to ISO 25600
• 6 frames per second continuous shooting
• 1080/60p video with maximum bit rate of 72Mbps
• 3\" OLED display with 614,000 dots
• Built-in 1.7m-dot OLED viewfinder

Buy Now : Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH3K 16.05 MP Digital Single Lens Mirrorless Digital Camera with 3-Inch OLED - Body Only (Black)

Brand : Panasonic
Category : Electronics,Camera & Photo,Digital Cameras,Mirrorless Cameras
Rating : 4.1
Review Count : 117

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH3K 16.05 MP Digital Single Lens Mirrorless Digital Camera with 3-Inch OLED - Body Only (Black)

• Professional image quality testing has been done, and the verdict is in. This camera beats the Olympus OM-D EM-5... just barely. Image quality off both camera sensors is fantastic and nearly identical, but the GH3 edges out the EM-5 by just a little bit of dynamic range. The EM-5 is a little cheaper, though. Right now, the GH3 is fairly expensive, but what you pay for is the best camera in this format money can buy, and I\'m not just talking about image quality.Other reviews cover a lot of things about image quality and technical specifications, far more in depth than I\'ll go here. What I want to talk about is handling, video, and the general advantages of the Micro Four Thirds format.Chances are, if you are considering the GH3 at all, you fall under one of three categories. You are either a serious enthusiast, a professional photographer, or you want to make movies. This is probably not going to be your very first system camera, and it\'s definitely not a point-and-shoot camera for amateurs. That\'s not to say the GH3 is overly complicated or unapproachable if you\'re new to photography, but I should think a cheaper camera would fit your needs fine.The GH3 is a very special camera, with lots to love for those who love cameras. If you\'re a serious enthusiast, you should consider the EM-5 as well as the GH3. There are pros and cons for both cameras. I\'ll let you go read up on the EM-5 on your own, but for the GH3, it has a lot in its favor. Top of the list is handling. The GH3 is the largest camera in the format, this is true, but what you gain in bulk and weight, you also gain in ergonomics. There are lots and lots of physical buttons, five of them customizable, and nearly all of them usable one-handed without any awkwardness. The software is fantastic, too, giving you additional programable buttons on the touch screen, as well as Panasonic\'s fully configurable Quick Menu. There are tons and tons of options to set to get your camera working just the way you want it to. Everything is very well laid out and fairly intuitive. The dials and control wheels feel solid and work great. Even the largest of lenses balance very well on the GH3, thanks to its weight and best-in-format grip. Don\'t let its size fool you though, it\'s only a little heavier than the EM-5. Along with that size comes a very large battery. Technical specs I think are conservative on the lifespan of a charge, too. This is the best camera battery I\'ve ever encountered, letting me shoot far longer than I am used to. All-in-all, the GH3 fits wonderfully in the hand, is very easy to shoot with, and gives you a huge amount of control. If you\'re an enthusiast photographer or serious prosumer, the GH3 will not disappoint. As an enthusiast, though, you\'ve got plenty of options in the format and you should look carefully at many other models that may be cheaper but still quite satisfying.If you are a professional, I think you\'ll appreciate much of the same things enthusiasts do, like what I mentioned above. But there\'s more in this camera that seems intended just for you. The Wi-Fi \"Lumix Link\" will let you upload images directly from the camera as you shoot, letting your customers see immediately what you\'re doing. You can also use it to trigger the shutter remotely or change settings. If wireless isn\'t your thing, there\'s an HDMI port and AV port. I have to believe the fully articulated touch screen will let you make difficult shots easy, such as doing macro on a product at a weird angle. The DSLR-type body will be very familiar to you, as well, though this is a mirrorless camera which means it\'s a much lighter camera than you\'re probably used to (more on this later). If you work with video at all for hybrid products, the live electronic viewfinder during movie recording will be a welcome change from optical viewfinders. As I mentioned before, the battery is quite large, but if you need more juice and don\'t want to switch batteries, there\'s a (sold-seperately) battery grip that will improve handling with portrait shots and give you even more endurance on a shoot. You will probably get some use out of the flash synchro socket and/or hot shoe. The buffer seems to be quite huge, and with a fast card shooting RAW in burst mode, it\'s very difficult to slow the camera down. There aren\'t more than a handful of weatherproof lenses for Micro Four Thirds so far, but if you have any the GH3 is weatherproof and will give you a seal to protect your system while you\'re shooting in wet environments. The camera is built with high quality, solid materials. All-in-all, the GH3 is perhaps the first Micro Four Thirds camera aimed squarely at the professional market, whether or not you\'ve been tempted by the format before. It gives you enormous control, but gets out of your way when you\'re working. If you are a professional photographer, you are sure to appreciate the design considerations Panasonic made to make this a camera you can get serious work done with.If you are a videographer, why are you even reading this review? There is simply no better camera for the movie-maker in this price range, and the video quality you\'ll get off of this camera will surpass hybrid or video-only cameras that cost considerably more. That said, video was one of my primary reasons for getting this camera, so I\'ll give you the most important details. Of all the codecs you\'re most likely to use, the six big ones are 1080p 24fps 50Mbps, 1080p 30fps 50Mbps, 1080p 60fps 50Mbps, 1080p 24fps 72Mbps (ALL-INTRA), 1080p 30fps 72Mbps (ALL-INTRA), or 720p 60fps 72Mbps (ALL-INTRA). You have a full-sized 3.5mm (1/8\") microphone port, no need for an adapter like with the GH2, and a 3.5mm (1/8\") headphone port for sound out while shooting. Of course, the GH3 has a stereo mic build-in. You can set mic levels right on the camera. There\'s all kinds of options for time code. As a videographer, you may still want to consider the GH2. Video quality is better on the GH3 in testing, even compared to the hacked GH2, but the GH2 is considerably cheaper and the difference in quality may not be enough. If you\'re a small budget indie filmmaker, choose carefully. All-in-all, if you can afford one, the GH3 out of the box is truly a fantastic video camera and competes at a much higher level for the price. It really puts other cameras to shame, even dedicated video cameras. If you are a videographer, or even a professional filmmaker, this camera has pretty much everything you want.Which brings me to an important point. This is a hybrid camera, not merely an excellent still camera. For the price of one professional-quality camera, you\'re really getting two. If you happen to like taking still pictures AND video, the GH3 offers tremendous value. If you\'re creating hybrid products as a professional, there\'s really no other single camera that can do as well as this. If you\'re a hobbyist with interest in both pictures and video, this can save you a lot of money. The GH2 was good, this is better. Micro Four Thirds has finally arrived at the next level, not for stills-only, but for stills and video. If the EM-5 made Micro Four Thirds a serious format for still photography, the GH3 ups the ante and makes the format a viable platform for a whole new market.Micro Four Thirds is the only truly mature mirrorless camera system. There are other mirrorless systems, to be sure, but Micro Four Thirds has a huge selection of first-party and third-party lenses, low end and high end, covering a huge range of focal lengths and apertures. The diversity of bodies from Panasonic and Olympus means there\'s probably a good camera for you no matter who you are. When you buy a system camera, it\'s reassuring to know that you\'re making a good investment. Micro Four Thirds is not going away any time soon. There\'s lots of great lenses available, and many more coming out. There\'s also adapters for many other lens formats, so there is almost limitless legacy glass available for any need, provided you don\'t mind manual focus. Mirrorless means thinner and lighter camera bodies, and Micro Four Thirds lenses need only half the focal length to achieve the same field of view as full frame cameras which means smaller and cheaper lenses for the same zoom factor. With two companies competing in the same format, there is a lot of innovation and a lot of options for users.We\'ll see what happens over the next year from Panasonic and Olympus. New models are due out from both companies, as is the endless march of progress. For the time being, at least, the GH3 is a fantastic camera, and depending on your needs, it may be the best camera in this format for you until the GH4 comes out. Certainly for the moment, it has the best image quality available, and is a great camera to actually use. If you don\'t need the best that Micro Four Thirds has to offer, there are a lot of other great cameras to choose from in the format.Happy shooting!
• I have been an avid user of the GH series since the GH1. I use these cameras mostly for video, because I shoot Canon DSLRs for most of my stills. The GH series cameras are optimized for video and produce crisper video than the Canon DSLRs, whereas the Canon DSLRs have more dynamic range and color depth and less noise at all ISOs. I have been following the GH13 firmware patches by Russian hacker Vitaly on Personal View since the beginning and have applied the hacks to the GH1 and GH2 with mixed results.The GH3 now has a more solid weatherproofed build and the buttons are laid out like a true DSLR. It\'s like the GH2 has grown up to compete head to head in the DSLR market. But can it really compete with the big boys? You can read about the improved build and other new features in many reviews, but I\'m going to focus here mostly on image quality.While the GH2 was an improvement over the GH1, the advertized gains in low light (noise) and dynamic range performance were a disappointment*. Still photography images were virtually the same, but the quality of motion video was improved considerably, particularly if the hack was applied.My first test of the GH3 was taking still photographs in controlled studio lighting. First impression of the JPEGs out of the camera is very good. Although at low ISO the difference from the GH2 is hard to see at first, upon examination there is significantly more detail in the shadow areas, the reds are richer, and the overall tint is more accurate. The GH2 images appear to have a green cast by comparison.Moving up into the higher ISOs, around ISO 3200 the differences are stark. Here the GH2 has blotchy noise, a muddy green cast in the shadows and the colors are muted. The GH3 retains finer grain all the way up to ISO 6400, the colors are bright and the images are actually usable. At 100% the GH3 has some mosquito JPEG artifacts evident as random pinpoints of noise vs. the GH2 which has dark blotches and smeared details.After upgrading ACR to handle the new RAW files, I took another look at the same set of photos in RAW. The RAW files reveal the fact that the JPEG engine in the GH3 is doing a heavy amount of noise reduction. Even at the base ISO of 200, quite a bit of noise is present in the RAW images, more than I would like to see. With an aggressive amount of noise reduction applied, the RAW files can be made to look as good and then a bit better than the JPEGs out of the camera. But the conclusion is that the JPEG engine has already been optimized to make the images look as good as possible, and RAW processing is not gaining a whole lot, except for the ability to fine tune and fix any white balance errors.The still photos are pretty significantly improved over the GH2, and those already heavily invested in Micro 4/3 lenses will be glad to know that the investment will be put to good use on this body. But what many are dying to know is how much improvement there is in the video. What videographers are looking for is more dynamic range and a reduction or elimination of macroblocking and pixelation in heavy motion scenes.There is good news here too: The GH3 pulls moderately more detail out of the shadow areas than the GH2. It\'s subtle but it\'s there: there is a bit more detail and less pixelated busyness in the grain. Again at high ISOs the difference is more drastic. The new All-I MOV codec is much more solid and easier to grade and edit without the image falling apart, without resorting to hacking the firmware. The other significant change is that the new menu allows for setting sharpness, contrast, and noise reduction in five steps up or down rather than three. Even with the sharpness turned to -3 on the GH2, the video looked unnaturally sharp with halos and aliasing. Now, with the sharpness turned all the way down to -5, the video looks more natural and the halos and aliasing are gone. Sharpening can now be adjusted in post more tastefully. Unfortunately, Panasonic removed two of my favorite photo styles for shooting video: Smooth and Cinema. In fact, they renamed all of them except for Standard and now there are only five instead of seven. The new styles Natural and Portrait are good choices for video. There are also many scene and creative control styles that have major effects on the overall look.I have one main issue with this camera and that is the fact that the base ISO is 200. I didn\'t like it when they changed the base ISO from 100 to 160 on the GH2, and a base ISO of 200 is even worse. A base ISO of 200 on a micro 4/3 camera has about the same signal to noise ratio as ISO 800 on a full-frame DSLR**. That is hardly a very clean \'\'best\'\' setting. Smaller sensor cameras should be allowing us to begin at a LOWER base ISO, not a higher one, in order to have the finest grain and least amount of noise possible. And especially for video you really need to be able to shoot at lower ISOs in bright light, otherwise you are forced to have to use neutral density filters. The camera has an extended ISO that allows you to shoot at 125, but in manual movie mode it forces you back to ISO 200. Ideally I would like to be able to shoot at ISO 50 but at least all other digital cameras allow you to shoot at ISO 100. This is very frustrating and I don\'t understand why Panasonic doesn\'t allow this.My second problem with this camera is the cost. This Micro 4/3 camera now costs TWICE as much as a good consumer grade DSLR such as the Canon T41. Even after adding on a few standard lenses, the DSLR becomes a less expensive solution while producing superior still images.The loss of the multi-format sensor is a mixed bag. On the one hand, the 3x2 and 16x9 photos have lower resolution, and for video all your lenses are going to be slightly cropped compared to the GH2. On the other hand, this could be a positive if you are using legacy lenses such as B4 mount 2/3\" lenses which have soft corners; some of the offending corners are cropped off. In the end, the improved image quality of this sensor wins out over the loss of the multi-format oversized sensor.The new WiFi feature is the most sophisticated of any camera. It allows you to remotely control the camera\'s functions from your smartphone, immediately play back pictures on your phone or TV, immediately send pictures to your PC as you take them, and send stored pictures to your smartphone/pc/cloud service/web service/printer. I have not yet tested the WiFi features.Here are the pros and cons of the GH3:Pros:Excellent JPEG EngineIncreased dynamic rangeImproved low light/high ISO performanceMore accurate colorsWider control over contrast, sharpness, saturation, & noise reductionVideo quality exceeds most DSLRsSturdy buildBetter button layoutBetter, larger LCDLonger lasting batteryRobust video codec that does not require a hack for pro editingFast and very accurate auto-focusIn-camera HDR works wellSilent electronic shutter optionSophisticated WiFi featuresCons:Base ISO of 200 is restrictive & frustratingRAW files reveal that true levels of noise are high even at base ISOVery little gains to be had shooting in RAWNo Smooth or Cinema picture stylesConsiderably more expensive than many DSLRsStill photography still inferior to most DSLRsLoss of multi-format sensor could be a complaint for some.My overall impression of the camera is very good, and I will probably be getting rid of the GH2 and finally giving up on the frustrating exercise of trying to get the \'perfect\' hack settings out of it. The GH3 doesn\'t need the hack, with the robust 72 mbps MOV codec it\'s reliable and ready out of the box for professional cinematographers and hobbyists. The only thing that bothers me about it is not being able to shoot below ISO 200 in manual movie mode, but I will have to learn to live with that. The cost remains a big issue; for the same amount you could buy two GH2s and have some money left over to put towards the 12-35mm f/2.8 lens. GH2 hackers who already like what they have will probably want to wait until the cost comes down, and most photographers who don\'t shoot video will get more quality for their dollars with a DSLR.*DxOMark actually gave the GH2 sensor a lower rating than the GH1 in all three categories: Color Depth, Dynamic Range, and Low Light ISO.**I compared the RAW files. At ISO 200, the grain or noise from the GH3 is actually slightly WORSE than the Canon 5D Mark III at ISO 800.

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