GH3 - the 2nd coming! How'z your EVF look?

I got my GH3 from this batch also, this week, and my experience completely parallels yours. The first GH3 I tried had a bit of smearing on the EVF, but it was minimal, and this one seems to have virtually none unless you REALLY move your eye way off to the side. I don't know if Panasonic has changed their manufacturing process, but I think if the cameras that came out in the first batch were as good as this one, there would have been only a rare complaint in the first place.

I am quite happy with the one I have...in terms of IQ, it improved all of the things that I found to be needing improvement on the GH2.  Primarily DR and color rendition have been significantly improved, plus its higher ISO color retention is greatly improved. In addition, the sensor noise pattern, in both chroma and luminance, is a small, fine, and well distributed grain pattern, so when you do have noise, it is easier to remove and inoffensive when you leave it.

Panasonic also has continued to improve what I thought was one of the GH2's strong points, and that is to capture and render fine tonal gradations accurately. The better a camera does this, the more dimensional the elements of an image appear on screen and in print, and while the GH2 was very good, the GH3 is truly excellent in this respect. Images have a dimensionality that just pops in a way that no other M43 camera that I have used has had. For me, this was the single most important reason to upgrade, and so far I have been quite impressed with what the GH3 does in this area.

I do think Panasonic went overboard a bit in its native JPG NR. I had to turn the NR down to its lowest level (-5) to eliminate some JPG smearing in higher ISO/low light shots. It's fine once you do that, though, but for those using JPGs, you might want to experiment a bit and find the NR level that works best for your uses....

One other thing, also...I find the RAWs on the GH3 seem to adjust up much more easily than the GH2. They almost make a total RAW workflow (I usually use both RAW + JPG) seem as easy as a JPG one. I think the better native color balance of the GH3 really makes a difference for ease of PP here...

Oh, and the battery life is excellent. I don't have a second battery yet, but have been snapping away at various things around the house for three days (around 400 shots so far includeing a number with flash, and lots of chimping, plus spending about a half hour with the wifi on trying to figure out how to get my router to see the camera) and I still have charge left in the battery. That is quite an improvement over all of the M43s I have used before.)

The rear screen also, as the OP mentioned, is absolutely terrific. I never used the one on the GH2 since it was so hard to see outside, but this one is bright, clear, and the touch implementation on it is truly excellent (and I am not normally a fan of touch screens on cameras). It appears to be also visible outside in daylight (have not tried it in bright sunlight as there has not been any here in the past few days ), but with bright snow on the ground and filtered light it was quite clear.

Anyway, I am really pleased with this camera so far. I think Panasonic really paid attention to what their consumers were looking for in terms of performance, did a great job with this camera as a result. It's really an excellent product for the flagship item for their line, and it really feels like a quality product in use.

I wish I had a couple of inspirational shots to post here, but I only have high ISO cat photos (and lots of stills of household items) to show since it has been REALLY COLD out here for the past week (daytime highs about 12, nights -4ish....and that is F not C ). This week it is supposed to get up above freezing, so I will go out then and give it more of a workout.

So, here are the obligatory new camera cat shots, in case you just had to see them .

(Top two taken at ISO 800, bottom at ISO 3200)

-J