my lumix gh 3 body version 1.2 from factory says in image size full raw 12 not 16mbs why?

I believe you're mistaking the terminology for RAW images with mega pixel sensor size. 12 bit is the color depth (4096 possibilities) per pixel of the raw file and 16 megabits is the number of photo sites on the sensor. Two completely different things they are talking about.

Cheers,
Pete

the menu of the camera says 12 not 16
i have raw image from another gh3 and the image raw in properties says 16 the mine draws 13 -14 not 16mbyte.

Sorry can't speak to file sizes in RAW format between cams. I only have one night time milky way timelapse in RAW. Those are 19megs each and have an incredible amount of detail in the sky with all the stars.

It would be interesting to see what these things are doing if there is a difference in the RAW file sizes depending upon scene. Even more interesting if there is that much difference between different GH3's on the same scene with the same settings.

Cheers,
Pete

my lumix gh 3 body version 1.2 from factory says in image size full raw 12 not 16mbs why?

I would check what aspect ratio your camera is set to shoot stills in.

To get the full 16 MPixels, you need to be shooting in 4:3, the native aspect ratio of the sensor.

If you select 3:2 (35mm film aspect ratio), 16:9 (HDTV aspect ratio), or 1:1 (square), the camera is cropping into the sensor to get the desired aspect ratio. This also means it is not recording as many pixels as when shooting native 4:3.

thanks Bill solved