GH2 Best hack/settings for extreme low light (haunted house)

A

Arch Stanton

Member
I need to shoot in extreme low light (haunted house) tomorrow night and need to know the best hack and settings to accomplish this. I've been playing around with the ISO limit removal (12800), but there's probably more needed than that. Such as bitrate, GOP, quantizer, film mode settings, etc. I would do more research/testing, but I'm pressed for time.
 
It depends on your lens too, I've recorded at ISO 400 at night using a Voigtländer, never had to go much higher than ISO 800.
 
Arch Stanton said:
I need to shoot in extreme low light (haunted house) tomorrow night and need to know the best hack and settings to accomplish this. I've been playing around with the ISO limit removal (12800), but there's probably more needed than that. Such as bitrate, GOP, quantizer, film mode settings, etc. I would do more research/testing, but I'm pressed for time.
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...unfortunately, the GH2 is not exactly the best choice for super-low light. It's the sort of situation that the 5D Mk. III or D800 would probably excel, but the GH2 sensor is just a bit too small.

As for maximizing your shoot, keep in mind that black and white will probably look better at 12,800 than color, which would probably be a godawful mess. High bitrate hack (at least 60mbps) is a good idea, too. And shoot 24p so you can drop shutter to 1/50 (or even a notch slower). And it goes without saying use the widest aperture lens you can get your hands on and hope for the best with pulling focus...I think the 20mm 1.7 would be better than the 14mm 2.5 b/c of those extra stops, even if you lose ~ 12mm in range.
 
I'd see if I could at least rent a voigtlander or SLR Magic (they have a 16mm F/1.6)- you definitely want to stop lower than 2.5.

Heck, if you could rent gear, I'd agree with ras815 that there are better cameras for this (Sony F3 for example).
 
M. Gilden said:
I'd see if I could at least rent a voigtlander or SLR Magic (they have a 16mm F/1.6)- you definitely want to stop lower than 2.5.

Heck, if you could rent gear, I'd agree with ras815 that there are better cameras for this (Sony F3 for example).
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That might be a tad overkill. I'm not sure anyone could talk me into walking around an extremely dark haunted house with an F3...that's like going off-roading in your friend's Ferrari.
 
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