GH3 takes lower resolution stills using shutter release cable.

[Benjamin Kenobi]

Hi all,

I've been testing a GH3 on my Zen today. All working great except stills. When I take a still with the camera button I get a full resolution 19mb pic in raw. When I take an exposure with the shutter release cable I get a 14mb still.

What am I doing wrong?

 

[kloner]

I know the rapid fire modes decrease the resolution, anything like that on?

 

[stevemaller]

I will tell you that when the HDMI cable is in, stills are set to 16:9 mode (vs. 4:3 mode normally) and there's no way to change that. Maybe you're seeing something similar.
Unfortunately the GH4 has the same behavior. Kind of a show-stopper for stills on my copters.

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

Thanks chaps.

Tried changing rapid fire mode. No change.

Steve: Damn it! My GH2 takes full res photos with HDMI plugged in. The GH3 doesn't? Bugger! Glad someone gave me a GH3 and I didn't buy it then! Stills are still a large part of what I do as there is quite a demand for them and they pay well.

Well, at least the video on the GH3 is awesome!

 

[Av8Chuck]

Thanks chaps.

Tried changing rapid fire mode. No change.

Steve: Damn it! My GH2 takes full res photos with HDMI plugged in. The GH3 doesn't? Bugger! Glad someone gave me a GH3 and I didn't buy it then! Stills are still a large part of what I do as there is quite a demand for them and they pay well.

Well, at least the video on the GH3 is awesome!

Do you need the HDMI plugged in to take stills? Is there a composite out that you can use for composition or is the HDMI the only way?

 

[stevemaller]

Do you need the HDMI plugged in to take stills? Is there a composite out that you can use for composition or is the HDMI the only way?

There's a composite out, but it doesn't do live view; it's for video and stills playback only. Pretty useless.

 

[stevemaller]

Steve: Damn it! My GH2 takes full res photos with HDMI plugged in. The GH3 doesn't? Bugger! Glad someone gave me a GH3 and I didn't buy it then! Stills are still a large part of what I do as there is quite a demand for them and they pay well.

That's why I need to be able to switch between the GH4 (video awesomeness) and 5D Mark III (stills awesomeness).
I just got a remote release for the 5D Mark III and now I can trigger it on the MōVI M5. And the 5D Mark III has composite video out.

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

Well, I tested it to make sure and....HDMI plugged in means lower resolution stills. Pooh bear!

And yes, I need HDMI as it's on a Zenmuse.

 

[flitelab]

Interesting. We ran into this on a shoot and didn't realize what was causing it.

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

Yeah, just been reading a few blogs about it. One reads "sadly the sensor is no longer multi-aspect as on the previous GH2, so the 3:2 and 16:9 format images are achieved by cropping down from a 4:3 aspect ratio picture, thereby reducing the overall resolution."

So somehow this is affected by the HDMI. Real shame that my old GH2 takes better stills (with an HDMI plugged-in) than the newer GH3.

 

[flitelab]

Ya this is too bad. There seems to be no perfect one camera solution for photo and video, everyone has a gotcha.
At this stage we will just live with the 16:9 photos I think, it will meet our needs although a bit disappointing.

 

[kloner]

isn't there a setting to choose 4:3 or 16:9 video mode? does that change anything still wise?

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

Hey mate,

I tried that also. All I could find was a video out setting.

Cheers for the advice though.

 

[Quinton]

Strange I was taking pictures earlier this week, and had a few 3:2 in there but maybe I took those when HDMI was not connected.
I just tried with loads of different settings and you are correct even on the GH4, as soon as the HDMI cable goes in it automatically reverts to 12 MP 16:9 for pictures, no matter what settings you change.

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

Its a shame really. I'm glad I noticed this in the testing phase and not on a job!

 

[kloner]

does it do the same thing with an hdmi in time lapse mode instead of triggering?

 

[Quinton]

does it do the same thing with an hdmi in time lapse mode instead of triggering?

The second you put an HDMI cable in and turn on, it will only do 16:9 and the option to change it greys out.
Doesn't matter if you are triggering or even doing it by hand.
Have tried it with camera on before adding HDMI but then you don't get an FPV picture.

Have tried every change I can see, as soon as it gets a signal that somethings plugged into HDMI it reverts to 16:9
You can of course still trigger in 4:3/3:2 but you can not see what you are shooting through the camera.

Actually there is a thought, what would happen if you plugged into the AV out port (but I don't have a cable) the one that comes with the GH4 just seems to be a USB connection to let you access pictures.

 

[stevemaller]

does it do the same thing with an hdmi in time lapse mode instead of triggering?

Yup, no joy.

 

[Av8Chuck]

Actually there is a thought, what would happen if you plugged into the AV out port (but I don't have a cable) the one that comes with the GH4 just seems to be a USB connection to let you access pictures.

That's what I asked in Post #5 and the answer came in Post #6 --

There's a composite out, but it doesn't do live view; it's for video and stills playback only. Pretty useless.

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

does it do the same thing with an hdmi in time lapse mode instead of triggering?

Good call! :nevreness: Didn't work :upset:

I need live view as this is a commercial rig. I also have no choice but an HDMI out as I have an inflexible Zenmuse.

Hey ho. I wish I had a MOVI or another gimbal that took a variety of cameras and was still under 7kg. Alas I've made my bed and have to sleep in it...better stills than a Gopro at least!