GH2 Am I going to notice a difference between GH1 and GH2 for indoor interviews?

J

jdd

Member
I recently sold my 7d and T2i, and need to pick up something quick and portable for some interviews I have to shoot in a little under a month. I am going to be shooting single person interviews shots, indoors in large offices and I have three LED lights which are a little over 400 lumens each for lighting.

So for those of you who have shot with both cameras am I going to notice a considerable difference between the two cameras in this situation?
 
I shot this with a GH1 and GH2, interior with 3 lights. It's about a 50/50 mix of the two cameras, they were easy to cut together.

 
They intercut pretty well, but if using them both in the same scene I've found the color profiles just different enough to make me work to match in post (don't trust the lcd). At the end of the day, another gh2 is barely more than a gh1 with current prices.
 
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Here's an example of a project I did with both cameras:

The video is actually the studio recording, so you can easily pick out the contrast between the 2 cams when the angles are switched (there are not multiple takes mixed in). I honestly didn't do the greatest job matching them and the exposure is off due to the ISO on the GH1 being a bit brighter than the GH2 (a known issue). This was one of the first projects I shot with both of them, and I was relying on trying to match them as much in-camera as possible using the LCD.

My best advice- DON'T TRUST THE LCD. Use an external monitor if you can, and want to match everything as much as possible before you shoot. Due to subtle differences in the way ISO and color profiles (film modes) are handled, setting everything to the same things won't yield the same image. Also, the LCD lies and isn't exactly the same contrast/color.
In the future, I will likely just shoot with the same camera body, as I suggested above. We're talking about a $150-200 difference in the price of the body these days.

Edit: ErikTande, that parody song is pretty cute. But I can tell when you switched cameras if I am looking for it.
 
Thanks! And I think I missed the intent of the jdd's original question. I don't think he was asking if they cut together well, he was just asking if they perform comparibly indoors. To that question, yes they do. Grab whatever cam you can pick up cheaply, they both work great.


I can tell when you switched cameras if I am looking for it.
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Yeah, me too, it bothered me at first, but I'm happy enough with it. There are quite a few places that didn't end up getting color matched correctly. We were in a rush to get it posted though, and neither of the two girls could tell (their only concern with image is how they look. Not color, resolution, detail, or lighting, just as long as they look pretty :P) so we rendered and posted.

That's a great cover! If you wouldn't have told me the two cams were different I wouldn't have suspected anything, good stuff.
 
So Thanks for the answers, you guys covered my concerns well and the videos helped me a lot as well. I jumped on a cheap GH2 on craigslist, and now am waiting for another one to come up (if anyone around Portland, OR has one for sale let me know).

My next question based on M. Gilden's suggestion of a monitor is, what works best on a budget? does the Small Dp4 play well, or do you have a better suggestion? and thanks again you folks helped out so much, I am super excited about the GH2 already over the canon systems I have worked with (they were great don't get me wrong). The next question that I am pondering is if hacking it is worth it for this interview project or should I wait till its over to get crazy?
 
MR Fanny said:
if its well lit no dramas. underlit and you will notice that darn green tint from the gh2.
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To my eyes, the GH1 has an even stronger green tint than the GH2.
Here's an in-camera match I came up with for daylight shooting:

GH1 Daylight Settings
ISO -1/3rd stop slower than GH2
Film Mode Smooth
Contrast -2
Sharpness -2
Saturation -1
Noise Reduce -2
WB Sunlight
A-2
M-5

GH2 Daylight Settings
Film Mode Smooth
Contrast -2
Sharpness -2
Saturation -1
Noise Reduce -2
WB Sunlight
A-3
M-2

Comparison footage here:

100 Mbps GH1 takes on GH2 in both 24H and HBR modes!
 
ErikTande said:
Yeah, me too, it bothered me at first, but I'm happy enough with it. There are quite a few places that didn't end up getting color matched correctly. We were in a rush to get it posted though, and neither of the two girls could tell (their only concern with image is how they look. Not color, resolution, detail, or lighting, just as long as they look pretty :P) so we rendered and posted.
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Exactly, I've had tons of those kinds of projects as well. I often don't have time to fix them and the client isn't willing to pay for my time to either. But with the GH2 coming down in price so quickly, I would still recommend sticking with the same cam twice and avoid much of the problem!

That's a great cover! If you wouldn't have told me the two cams were different I wouldn't have suspected anything, good stuff.
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Ha, thanks! That drummer, btw, is Derrick Write from Adele's band. We ended up doing a bunch of other covers with him, lots of fun.


jdd said:
So Thanks for the answers, you guys covered my concerns well and the videos helped me a lot as well. I jumped on a cheap GH2 on craigslist, and now am waiting for another one to come up (if anyone around Portland, OR has one for sale let me know).

My next question based on M. Gilden's suggestion of a monitor is, what works best on a budget? does the Small Dp4 play well, or do you have a better suggestion? and thanks again you folks helped out so much, I am super excited about the GH2 already over the canon systems I have worked with (they were great don't get me wrong). The next question that I am pondering is if hacking it is worth it for this interview project or should I wait till its over to get crazy?
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GH1 definitely needs a hack, but the GH2 unhacked is respectable in its own right (especially coming from Canon resolution). I prefer the detail and color from hacks (Ipowell is a treasure trove in that regard), but if you want to play it safe for the first few projects, I would even recommend you get used to the stock functionality of the camera before you start changing things around and wonder if this is how it is supposed to work.
 
lpowell said:
To my eyes, the GH1 has an even stronger green tint than the GH2.
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yep i can see what your saying about daylight with them side by side. my comment was more about indoor low light situations where the gh2 colour shifts with that green tint when recording.
 
Thanks for all the information again guys, I have been playing around with the camera for about a week now and its great, I couldn't be happier so far. I have a monitor and a follow focus on the way to use with my manual lenses. I am also grateful for the advice to not hack it right off the bat as it has been great to learn the camera as is. (although I will be doing it soon)

I will get some sample up soon.
 
Alright another quick question for you guys more on the audio side, I have a Rode shotgun mic, and I thought the GH2 used a 1/8 jack, and I ordered a XLR to 1/8 adaptor, and then I found out the obvious, its a mini jack. Can I just get a 1/8 to mini adaptor and hook the whole thing up or will that not work. I have a Zoom H4n but sometimes I dont want to carry all that extra bulk around with me.
 
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