Focus Gh3

[Ian Thomas]

Hi Sorry if this has come up in old threads but iam struggling focusing on flying birds with the gh3, Last year I was shooting flying owls with the Nikon D7100 and the sigma 150 -500 and got some lovely sharp shots but this year iam using the gh3 with the 100 -300 lumix lens and seen to struggle to lock on the bird and get some sharp shots, Anybody know whats the best settings for this combo or is the Nikon sigma better.

[Ian Thomas]

surely someone can help?

[Ronald Jackson]

Might be that lens. Did you have it on AF? Friend who has one says it tends to "hunt" on moving subjects.

This with a GH3, 80-400 Nikkor (at or near 400) and of course in slo mo. Manual focus.

I always use a monitor to assist focus.

YouTube (Short URL)

Ron

[Ian Thomas]

Thanks Ron

How do you keep them in focus you will have to manually focus with that lens don't you? yes had AF on

[Ronald Jackson]

Because of the range I had some decent D.O.F. My monitor, a SWIT one, also has focus peaking which very useful.
I probably made minimal focus adjustments during the brief duration of the clips, about 40% of the YouTube vid's length.

Ron

[Ian Thomas]

I also have the sigma 150-500 and use a adapter but everything is manual I also have a monitor which has peaking will give it ago, How do you like the GH3 Ron?

[Ronald Jackson]

GH3 excellent but I've swapped for GH4s. 4K of course, otherwise why bother? 4K has its disadvantages not least the fact that to replace my 1080p only projector would cost rather a lot, at the moment anyway.

Another disadvantage is that the "Extra Tele Facility", which very handy for that extra reach in 1080p, and not at all bad along with "basic" 1080p with the GH3, does not work in 4K, and quite a contrast if attempted to mix in post with 4K.

I have bought a Sigma 800 to sort of compensate for the lack of 4K ETC. Heavy and ponderous lens though which somewhat defeats the object of having a light weight cam compared with my old XLH1 and EX3 nanoFlash combinations.

Occasionally I think I should have forgotten about 4K and stuck to my GH3s but a decent sequence on a 4K monitor is quite an improvement and easy enough to edit via an iMac and FCPX.

Ron

[Ian Thomas]

Funny that Ron I use to use the ex3 and the 320 with the nano combo the 320 was quite heavy for distant treks that's why I landed with the gh3's i have 2 of them I do both video and stills and that's what my 1st post was about stills, struggling to get sharp pic's of a barn owl which I did last year with the Nikon d7100 and sigma 150-500 and this year with the gh3 combo not so good.

[Bruce Foreman]

Focusing the GH3 (especially in a hurry) can be problematic. The EVF optical system can tend to be a bit "tight" for some, you have to get your eye positioned accurately "in the channel" or some report optical "smearing". I managed to work with mine pretty much OK but after cataract surgery with astigmatism correcting lens implants I was able to align my eye better with the EVF. From reports I've read, it seems eyeglass wearers may have had more trouble.

I sold one of my GH3's and the buyer flat could not adjust to it's EVF so I offered a refund and took it back. The GH4 is a HUGE improvement in both the EVF and LCD definition. I still use both GH3s, considered relisting it but the used price has dropped to the point where they're worth more to me as extra cameras in case I need to run a multi camera setup on a narrative project.

Some things to keep in mind when trying to shoot flying birds and wildlife. AF does not work as well on the telephoto end of many zooms, the telephoto effect tends to soften image tones more than closer perspective. And it may be harder to keep the AF target area still enough while trying to "follow" action so the system can "lock focus".

Hope some of this helps.

[Ian Thomas]

sorry for the late reply Bruce thanks for your info