The Lumix GH3 joins my Panasonic family

I have written recently about my mini-resurgence in photography, brought about by my getting involved in Real Estate photography. I've supplied photos and video for a few more properties since then - enough to formulate some ideas about how I can refine the process going forward.

Before going out on my last gig, it suddenly dawned on me that I was only going with one camera. That's something I would never do if I was shooting a wedding. And while taking photos of houses isn't exactly a one-off event, going back another day because your gear failed and you don't have a back-up is hardly a good look.

Also, as stated above, I have to supply both stills and video. So on each shoot I find myself juggling back and forth between video and photo settings on the one camera. It would, I decided, be better to have two cameras (back-up, back-up, back-up) - one for stills and one for video. 

Another S5 would be lovely - but even second hand it's out of my price range at the moment. So I started looking around for a good second body, video-centric camera. Enter the Panasonic Lumix GH3.

My 'new' Lumix GH3 with 12-60mm

Now before you say anything, let me explain. Yes, I know it's a twelve year old camera. Yes, I know it's micro four thirds and not full frame. And yes I know there will be a difference in image quality. But, as I've explained, this will be my video camera. And as a video camera, shooting 1920x1080p @ 50fps, it will be perfect for what I need (don't need 4k).

The lens I have with it is the Lumix 12-60mm f/3.5-5.6 Power OIS - a very good kit zoom with a decent range. At the wide end it gives me 24mm (full-frame equivalent) - not as wide as my S5's 20-60mm coverage, but again, this will be for video, not stills. And if all goes well with the Real Estate photography, then I could maybe add a 7-14mm f/4 in the future? But for now, for video, the 12-60mm should do just fine.

I also managed to find a brand new battery grip for the GH3 at a price I couldn't refuse. I'm a big battery grip fan, and may even end up getting one for the S5 - although the ergonomics on the S5 are already great, and the battery grip would add more weight. But on a 'smaller' camera like the GH3, the battery grip enhances the ergonomics, and a little more heft is a good thing when trying to keep things stable hand-held. Because that's one down-side of getting a twelve year old camera - the body doesn't have in-built stabilisation. Although as noted earlier, the 12-60mm lens does. Times have, however, moved on. And the stabilisation of the S5 is notably (or should that be substantially) better.

As for the GH3 camera body itself - well, lets just say I can't quite believe my luck. I got it for a very good price ($250 for the body and two batteries), and when it arrived it looked brand new. And I mean absolutely brand new! Not a scratch, mark, smudge, smear or fingerprint on it anywhere!! It's the newest looking twelve year old camera I've ever seen. 

A quick Google search showed me how to find the shutter actuations on a GH3, and when I had gone through the process, I could not believe the result. I still can't. But, as you can plainly see for yourself, the camera has only taken a grand total of 97 photos! 97!!!! Un-be-lievable! So even though it may have been released in 2012, my particular copy of the GH3 is basically brand-spanking-new!

I have avoided video for most of my career - although I did immerse myself in it somewhat when I was running my (brief ) YouTube Channel. How ironic is it, then, that I have specifically purchased a camera exclusively for video use! But this is also part of the reasoning behind getting an older camera like the GH3 (apart from the consideration of budget of course).

The Panasonic GH range is known as being video-centric, and the GH3 is still talked about by videographers as a good 'budget' film makers option. Yet because of its age, it isn't packed with too much technology as to be overwhelming for a newbie like me. The menus are simple to navigate, the options are reasonably straight forward (unlike those on my S5), and the actual process of shooting video on the GH3 is fairly straight forward. Even I should be able to manage it 😀

So I now have a micro-four-thirds camera in my arsenal again. And trust me, that's no bad thing. If Panasonic's iteration of the 16MP micro four thirds sensor and IQ is anything like Olympus's (and I have no doubt it will be), then the images (and video) that come out of the Lumix GH3 will be fantastic! Can't wait to take it out and clock up some more actuations on that shutter!