A few tricks for the GH1 everyone should try

commanderspike

commanderspike

Carbonite Member
The Contrast Slider

Press film mode, slide contrast all the way up to +2. You will see bright coloured areas of the image washout and go pale, whilst shadow detail goes darker and gets lost. Not a nice effect. Slide it all the way to -2... ahh much nicer. Shadow detail returns and colour saturation increases. Yes the blacks are no longer quite black, but look at the nice detail in the shadows.

The ISO 3200 Trick

Enable ISO 3200 in video mode on the GH1 by turning the dial to S (shutter priority). It doesn't matter what your ISO speed is, but put shutter to 1/30. Now use the thumbwheel to slide the exposure compensation all the way to the max. Press record and ISO 3200 is activated after a few seconds.

:laugh:

Still comparing GH1 to 5D and both are great cameras, but contrast and colour on the 5D is much stronger. GH1 puts up a good fight for noise and detail though - very impressive, even at ISO 1600 the image is nice and smooth / low noise.
 
Yes, contrast -2!

And remember, if you want a more contrasty look you can just do it in post...it will look better because you actually recorded more detail that you are then tweaking, and you have more control in post (and can do things like darken blacks but not touch highlights, etc.)
 
Ben_B said:
Yes, contrast -2!

And remember, if you want a more contrasty look you can just do it in post...it will look better because you actually recorded more detail that you are then tweaking, and you have more control in post (and can do things like darken blacks but not touch highlights, etc.)
Click to expand...

yup, I prefer doing everything in post... but thats probably because its my strongest area of expertise. Those who are intimidated by FCP or after Effects should still give it a try though. Post is obviously no substitute however, and am delighted to see the DOF that my very simple Canon FD 50mm 1.4 and 20mm 2.8 are creating... Used to use very complicated masks to create very limited bokeh in After effects... tedious!!!
 
commanderspike said:
The ISO 3200 Trick

Enable ISO 3200 in video mode on the GH1 by turning the dial to S (shutter priority). It doesn't matter what your ISO speed is, but put shutter to 1/30. Now use the thumbwheel to slide the exposure compensation all the way to the max. Press record and ISO 3200 is activated after a few seconds.

:laugh:

.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this! Did not know this trick! Very helpful for my work ;-)
 
what's the advantage of using 3200 iso? Wouldn't the picture full of grain ?
 
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The advantage of using ISO 3200 is to boost the scene's brightness where the lens cannot do it for you. If you only have the kit lens it comes in handy, but I don't recommend it where light is very scarce. So in that sense, as a night vision mode it is rather noisy. But for boosting exposure indoors with a lens stuck at F4, it's handy. It also reveals detail in live view mode that you wouldn't usually see if the image was underexposed - just so you're more aware of what's in the shadows.
 
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