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!

Create a time lapse with Olympus cameras. Easy Peasy.

Time lapse videos are all over the interwebs. And why not? They are very effective - usually quite short - video clips that cleverly show the passage of a long period of time in a short space. Sometimes they can be very long periods of time. You know the ones - time lapses of seeds germinating into flowers, or healthy fruit decaying into fungi (just do a Goggle search).

Canon TC80-N3. 'Only' $320 NZ!

In the 'good-old-days', you needed some fairly special kit to create time lapses. This usually consisted of an 'Intervalometer' that you would plug into the camera so that the shutter could be timed and controlled remotely. Not surprisingly, these specialist bits of kit weren't cheap.

For example, the Canon TC80 Intervalometer that would work for my previous Canon gear is 'only' $320.00NZ! Crikey! No wonder time lapse photography was quite a niche area. Although with the proliferation of Chinese products flooding the camera market nowadays, these have come down considerably in price and are still a viable option if required.

My last Canon camera, the 50D, was also able to be 'hacked' so that it could do time lapse shooting from the menu. By downloading and installing some extra software onto a memory card, you could add extra features to the 50D (even video) which included a built-in intervalometer. These firmware 'upgrades' are made by a company called Magic Lantern, and can be used to 'unlock' all sorts of features and upgrades to existing cameras. But beware. They are, of course, not recommended by the manufacturer, and if anything were to go wrong with your camera with this 'upgrade' installed, it would void any existing warranty.

My first time lapse was achieved through using the Magic Lantern upgrade on my 50D, but it still felt a bit clunky in operation, and I was never really comfortable with hacking a camera - even an old one well out of warranty. So my foray into time lapse never went very far. If you are interested, I documented the occasion on my Youtube channel - here. 

Soon after shooting that video and time lapse, I sold the 50D and eventually made the move back to micro four thirds and the Olympus OM-D's (via Fujifilm). The Canon 50D was released in 2008 - the Olympus OM-D E-M10 in 2014. A lot had moved on in the intervening 6 years between models (mirrorless technology not withstanding), and this saw manufacturers adding a lot of features that had traditionally been left out of cameras. And yes, this included a built-in intervalometer mode. 

Olympus included a Time Lapse setting with the OM-D EM-1, and all subsequent OM-D's have this feature (among others) built-in. On the right you can see the relevant screens that allow you to access the Time Lapse mode on the OM-D E-M10 - but it should be very similar (or identical) for other models.

Shooting Menu 2 is where you turn the Time Lapse function 'On' (it is set to OFF by default). Turning it On will then allow you to access the Time Lapse settings screen, where you can change Frame (how many images you want the camera to shoot), Start Waiting Time (when you want the camera to start), Interval Time (the time between each shot), and Time Lapse Movie (whether you want the camera to automatically create an AVI movie from the shots taken - or not).

The E-M10 only has the one Time Lapse video setting: HD 1280x720 @ 10fps. The E-M1 and subsequent models lets you choose the video quality of the camera-generated movie from 4k down to HD, at various frames-per-second.

I think this is a fantastic option, and really lets you create a Time lapse movie with the absolute minimum of fuss and effort. You can create a video with all of the files you've shot later on in Photoshop, or video editing software - but it's a whole lot simpler to let the camera do it for you on-the-spot. It does a great job of it too - as long as you follow a few simple time lapse 'rules'.

The Greymouth 'Barber'. OM-D E-M1 with Zuiko 12-50mm EZ. f/5.6 @ 1/2500th, ISO 200 

Firstly, set the camera up on a tripod. Yeah, I know - duh! Pretty obvious if you're going to take hundreds of images and you want them all to have the same composition. Although you can do a moving time lapse with a video slider - on a tripod. But I digress. For now, let's just stick to a single composition. And remember, if the camera is on a stable tripod, you can turn IS (image stabilising) off.

Then you should set the camera into full manual - and this includes choosing a white balance. Don't leave anything on auto if you want image number 1 to be consistent with image number 600! Set the exposure, white balance, and focus all manually. That way the camera won't get fooled into making automatic changes in colour, focus or exposure throughout the series of images. 10 seconds of time lapse video can take 10 minutes of shooting in 'real time', and a lot can change over ten minutes. So full manual control is the answer to consistent colour and focus throughout your time lapse video.

All you need to decide now is what duration you want between images, how many shots you want for the time lapse, and what that will mean for the length of the resulting video. Once again the Olympus OM-D cameras make this super simple for you. If you have chosen to let the camera create a video for you afterwards (why wouldn't you), then a handy time-stamp indicator appears at the bottom right of the screen to let you know how long the resulting video file will be. If, however, you decide to create a video yourself later on (and you still can, even if the camera creates one for you), then it's pretty easy to calculate.

For example; if you choose to shoot 300 images, every 2 seconds, it will take 10 minutes to shoot. 300 x 2 seconds = 600 seconds. 600 seconds divided by 60 (60 seconds per minute) = 10 minutes of shooting time. To halve the time it takes to shoot, simply take an image every second (rather than every 2 seconds), and it will now take 5 minutes to shoot 300 frames.

Then, if your final video frame rate is 15fps, divide the total number of shots taken (300 in our case), by the frames per second rate, to come up with the eventual video time. So, 300 divided by 15 = 20. Hence, your final time lapse video will be 20 seconds long. 

As I said earlier, if all this math is a bit too much, don't worry. The Olympus OM-D E-M1 camera (and subsequent OM-D's) does all the calculations for you.

Above is the final time lapse, shot with all the numbers described above. 300 images, taken at 2 second intervals, with a final camera-generated 15fps FHD video.

One final word about shooting time lapses. If you are going to let the camera create the video file for you, and you don't want/need the resulting 300 images, then shoot in jpeg and simply dump the images later and keep the video file. If, however, you want ultimate control and will be creating your own video afterwards, then shoot in RAW. You will then be able to process one of the RAW files in Lightroom, and sync the edit across all the other 299 images for consistency. I've done this before, but now I keep it as simple as possible, shoot jpeg, and let the camera create the video for me. Up to you...

Whichever way you choose to go about it, there's no doubt that the process got a whole lot easier when cameras like the OM-D E-M1 (and others from different manufacturer's) included a time lapse feature built-into the software. It really is easy-peasy. 

A new Vlogging setup

As well as writing about photography on this blog, I also happen to have a Youtube channel (Lorimer Photography).  It hasn’t been updated for a while, for a couple of reasons.

First, this whole worldwide pandemic quarantine thing has kind of put a halt to travel of any kind, so it’s been a bit difficult to actually get out and shoot some content. I’ve also been very busy working from home through the lockdown here in New Zealand. So while others may have been able to take the opportunity to slow-down and explore some creative pursuits, that hasn’t been my experience.

Second, and perhaps even more importantly, my iPhone 6 that I use to create and edit all my videos on has tragically died! It had been struggling for a while to be honest – losing battery power at an alarming rate until it was virtually unusable for video. I did replace the battery in it, which revived the phone and gave me some hope that it could last me another couple of years. But then, out of the blue, it just stopped working altogether. Nothing – nada – dead.

I’m now limping along with my wife’s old iPhone 5s (which has its own battery issues), until the end of the year when I will probably ‘inherit’ my sons iPhone 7 when he upgrades to the new iPhone 12?

All of which had made me a: frustrated, and b: realise that I actually needed a dedicated vlogging camera instead of using my phone. Sounds simple enough, right? Just buy a vlogging camera – for cheap – on a small budget. Let the fun begin…

In my previous post I mentioned that I had sold a few items I had been testing. So I did have a little money in the kitty. And in terms of a dedicated vlogging camera, I didn’t want (or need) a state-of-the-art Sony A7 RIII or Canon 90D system. In fact, I wanted something that was as small and light as possible. Something as similar to the iPhone shooting experience as I could get, yet in a compact camera format. But even so, it would have to be cheap. Very cheap.

My other list of ‘wants’ wasn’t very long either. It had to have a flip-out screen so I could see myself when vlogging, shoot at 1080p 30fps (I don’t want or need 4k), and image stabilisation. And really, that was it.

Jumping back on Trade Me – NZ’s answer to ebay and my go-to site for buying camera gear – I narrowed it down to two choices that fit within my price range and specs. One was the Canon SW730 HS Powershot superzoom compact camera, and the other was the Sony a5000 mirrorless. Both ticked all my ‘wants’ in a vlogging camera, and both could be had for around my budget.

Canon SX730 HS vlogging camera

I was leaning more towards the Sony, with its interchangeable lens system and larger APS-C sensor, and I made a couple of enquiries to see if I could lower the ‘but now’ price on a couple of auctions. I started looking more into the Sony alpha mirrorless system, and the more I did, the more I went down the rabbit hole of lenses I could get, accessories available etc. I started thinking of it as a replacement for my Fuji mirrorless system – and that’s when I stopped myself! I love my Fujifilm X-E2, and have no intention of replacing it. So I re-focused (excuse the pun) and reminded myself what I actually wanted the camera for. A ‘dedicated’ vlogging camera.

That’s when an auction for a very lightly used Canon SW730 ended, didn’t sell at auction, and was offered to watchers at well under the initial reserve price. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse. I accepted the ‘buy now’, saved myself some money in the bargain, and am now the very excited owner of a Canon SW730 HS Powershot vlogging camera!

The reviews of the SW730 from vloggers on Youtube are glowing, with one caveat – audio. Not that the in-built stereo microphone is awful. It’s not. But it doesn’t have an input for an external microphone (neither does the Sony a5000), so you’re stuck with the on-board sound. Unless, you come up with another audio recording solution. Enter the lavalier microphone.

With my iPhone rig, I had a Rhode micro attached that I use to record the sound. It was ok, but even with a fluffy dead-cat attached, it still picked up a considerable amount of wind noise at times. On a couple of my vlogs the wind noise is so bad that I’ve had to apologise for the poor audio quality. I knew I could/should do better with my audio recording and had already been considering going to something like a lavalier microphone instead. Getting the Canon SW730 HS has made the decision for me.

I’m almost ashamed to admit that I’ve had an Olympus LS-14 external audio recorder for quite a while now, and have never used it to capture audio for my vlogs. It’s basically plain laziness, although I did think that by using the Rhode video micro I was at least capturing better audio. As I discovered on a few occasions using the Rhode micro though, better does not equal best. So with some of the money I ‘saved’ getting the Canon, I have re-invested it into picking up a (cheap) lavalier microphone that I can use to capture better audio. It can be plugged into either the Olympus recorder, or even my iPhone 5s, to record better sound than will come from the camera’s own in-built microphone. Hopefully that will help to elevate my videos to the ‘next’ level?

My final purchase for vlogging was a bit of an impulse buy. But I’m hoping it will actually work out to be worthwhile? I mentioned earlier that one of my criteria for a vlogging camera was IS (image stabilisation). And the Canon SW730 HS does have very good in-built optical IS. But…. when shooting HD video and using the ‘dynamic’ stabilisation, the camera will crop into the image for the stabilisation to take effect. This means your 24mm wide angle field of view will effectively become a 28 to 30mm fov when using image stabilisation in movie mode. I don’t want this! I, and most other vloggers, like to have as wide a field of view as possible, especially when doing walking and talking pieces to camera. I’ll have to test it out to see how bad the crop actually is, but in the meantime, I’ve gone ahead and brought a (cheap) camera stabilising rig that may get around the issue?

I’m a bit unsure about it for a couple of reasons – chief among them is that I will probably feel a bit of a geek using it!? I’m also not sure how effective it will be when used turned around 180 degrees to face me when talking and walking? A quick Q&A search about a similar product seemed to suggest that it was possible to use it that way, but I’ll have to try it out for myself and see. And finally, although relatively light, it does add some bulk to the whole setup. Maybe the positives of getting stable footage will be worth the trade-off of weight and bulk? I’ll see once it arrives and I’ve had a chance to test it out. But even if I end up not liking it, it really didn’t cost much in the first place.

This has ended up quite a long post, but it outlines quite a few big changes to my vlogging equipment. Hopefully it will also translate into better video all around? Head on over to my Youtube channel here and check out some of my latest videos. Eventually I’ll get some content up using the new gear, and then you can let me know if you notice a huge quality difference? Here’s hoping…Head o