Times are changing and so is the equipment, this time last year I would not have dreamt of using a Lumix GH3 for second camera to a Canon C300 in fact one of the camera manufacturers at IBC 2013 was surprised at my choice of camera…a DSLR rather than a video camcorder.

This is the first time I have had a chance to use both cameras in anger and once again the Panasonic GH3 has surpassed itself but more about that later.

For the first time in a while I used a RODE lavalier mic to pick up Alastair, the owner of Glidetrack, it almost let me down but I discovered the lead that screws into the mic was faulty but with some gentle persuasion I got the mic working again.

I was on a sennheiser shotgun mic, both mic’s were fed into the C300 while the GH3 had the Lumix gun mic as a sound sync for multicam.

All the incidental shots were filmed with the Panasonic GH3 as this is such a versatile camera to run about with, the Canon C300 with rails etc. needs to be tripod mounted as its far too cumbersome to hand hold.

I was going to give you the spiel about the C300 being so much better than the GH3 but I am not going to kid anyone the GH3 is holding its own against the C300, I do hope the GH4 has the XLR attachment as this will convince me to run with GH cameras for most of my shooting. “Why not get rid of the C300” because it still produces very good, quiet cinematic pictures and is built for purpose…XLR’s, HD SDI, easier to pull focus and is the top rented camera of 2013, with so many plus features and bought outright I would be mad to get rid of it. The GH3 is very capable but as a serious sound tool still needs a Tascam DR60D to make it happen and makes the camera tall and bouncy in use.

 

The new Glidetrack carriage literally in the door that day is unbelievable…three weeks ago Alastair gave me an updated carriage to test and I thought it was the best yet but that soon changed when I tried this new carriage…smooth is not the word…it feels like the camera is riding on a pocket of air its a vast improvement on three weeks ago.

I will let you see our documentary when its done, one last bit of techno info, all the pictures in this blog were produced by my latest Lumix camera the DMC-GM1 this is a cracking wee snap and grab camera.

The camera has a micro 4/3 sensor with interchangeable Lumix lenses, all the pics were taken with the kit lens a 12-32 f3.5-5.6…it also has a very fast shutter allowing you to photograph children and dogs with ease…fantastic. My thanks to Scott for taking the behind the scenes pictures with the GM1 which I may add he had never used till I handed it to him that morning.

Just to let you see the quality of the picture from the Lumix GM1…the pic above is a 100% enlargement.

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3 comments on this post

1. Richard says:

   01/26/2014 at 10:05 pm

   Nice to see the GH3 and the c300 working together.

   I upgraded from a GH2 (hacked) and love the picture that the GH3 puts out (skin tones are nice) but it does have some annoying almost deal breaking limitations as you’re aware of I’m sure.

   No focus peaking – almost impossible to focus without an external monitor, EVF is worse than my GH2, and also why does the data on the display disappear after you hit recored, you keep on having to hit the display button, very very annoying. But this is now, at least here in the US it is a $900 camera (vs $13000 C300) so one has to live with its limitations and for run and gun it real is almost unusable in my opinion. I’d love a C300 for doc work but it’s never ever going to happen so I am learning to love the GH3 and will get a GH4 if they can put a bloody XLR interface on it and not charge $1000 extra like Sony does!

   Thanks for all your hard work with the site

   Cheers
   Richard in Colorado, USA.

2. Tom says:

   01/27/2014 at 3:09 pm

   Philip,

   Great website and information – thanks for all the hard work you put into it.

   You say the DR-60 ‘makes the camera tall and bouncy in use’. I’m upgrading and the DR-60 looks excellent for my needs but…with a rather large BUT…with a DSLR on top it surely will compromise stability?

   What are your thoughts generally (especially in a “run and gun” situation) for DR-60 vs the more traditionally designed Roland R26 or Tascam DR-100?

3. Tim says:

   01/27/2014 at 6:50 pm

   I agree with Richard from Colorado – the EVF is worse on the GH3 than the GH2.
   I haven’t pulled the trigger on a GH3 due to the viewfinder being so awful and instead have stayed with the GH2 and waiting for the GH4 with grown-up audio connectors.