Can it live up to the family name?

The DMC- GH3 replaces the GH2 as the new flagship micro-four-thirds camera for Panasonic and continues the successful legacy of the DMC-GH1 series launched in 2009. Though the GH2 enjoyed unanticipated fame and favourable market response as a cine camera, Panasonic has refined its features and capabilities to the extent that the GH3 can present itself as a substantial upgrade.

The GH3 is an excellent hybrid compact system camera capable of shooting good stills and sensational video. It is noticeably bulkier than its predecessor, about the same size as an entry-level APS-C camera, which allows for a larger battery. This gives the camera an impressive battery life as well as extra real estate for more control dials and customisation buttons.

In terms of build quality, it features a weather-sealed magnesium alloy body and an OLED articulated screen, which is very handy for tripod work and when shooting at different angles.

To the still shooter, it offers an excellent and fast autofocus system, high level of customisation and a number of continuous shooting modes. It is capable of snapping at six frames per second. Panasonic decided not to join the megapixel race and has stuck to a 16-megapixel sensor, which helps improve the sensor’s low-light ability on higher ISOs. As a cine camera, it offers progressive HD video capture at 1080p resolution at 60 frames per second, at a high bit rate of 50Mbps.
It can also shoot at 24 frames per second
at 72Mbps.

The GH3 is the first micro-four-thirds camera to include a comprehensive builtin Wi-Fi capability. The LCD has a capacitive touch surface (like a smartphone) so it is much more responsive. It also features a headphone jack, a mic socket, an adaptable lens mount, slow- and fastmotion recording modes, the choice of
three different codecs, HDR and multiple exposure modes, interval shooting, timelapse,
and time code metadata in recordings, among other features. The GH3 is, in my opinion, the most versatile and highest-performing video-capable DSLRstyle camera currently available.

Its strength lies primarily in video, both
specs and performance. The GH3 matches and even surpasses some full-frame DSLR contenders in terms of image quality, affordability and other important parameters. Where it falls short is in low light and generating a shallow depth of field, when compared to cameras with larger sensors.