Can i get The canon "look" in a Gh2 ?

R

Reflex Films

Active member
I usually shoot on on an HVX

i have had the pleasure of using Canon 7ds and 5d mk II s in shoots - usually for product shots, and special wow shots where shallow DOF is required

i really liked the way the canons saw blues and greens - the footage had lots of pop - especially in lower / mid lit scenes

the HVX pops - but only under blazing sunshine.

I am very keen on the gh2 - but a lot of the footage seems to have a brown tinge to it. Right now i much prefer the tech specs and abilities on the gh2 (on paper) but prefer the look of the canons. And the look is what i am after.

Is there a way to tweak the colors in camera to bring the gh2's ability to see color more in line with the canon's way of seeing light ?
 
Reflex Films said:
I usually shoot on on an HVX

i have had the pleasure of using Canon 7ds and 5d mk II s in shoots - usually for product shots, and special wow shots where shallow DOF is required

i really liked the way the canons saw blues and greens - the footage had lots of pop - especially in lower / mid lit scenes

the HVX pops - but only under blazing sunshine.

I am very keen on the gh2 - but a lot of the footage seems to have a brown tinge to it. Right now i much prefer the tech specs and abilities on the gh2 (on paper) but prefer the look of the canons. And the look is what i am after.

Is there a way to tweak the colors in camera to bring the gh2's ability to see color more in line with the canon's way of seeing light ?
Click to expand...

I shoot with a Canon T2i and a GH2. I find that the "Nostalgic" color setting on the GH2 gives me the closest match right out of the camera.
 
There was a thread very similar to this a few days ago. If you correctly use your white balance and the film modes you should be able to achieve a lot of different looks, but of course in camera only I think it's going to be different as most cameras are. I really like the Nikon color for example, it just has it's own look. Someone posted a video in the other thread that showed he could match a Canon and Panny in post - and it worked well IMO. I think that's the way to go, shoot kind of neutral and adjust it in your NLE.
 
Philip Bloom posted a video in which he mixes timelapse footage from the 5Dmk2, the GH2, the Canon S95, and his Iphone. You cannot tell which shots are from which camera. However, he points them out in the how-to audio.

I know this isn't the same as what you're talking about, but it's pretty amazing how these cameras, ranging from $300 to $3000, can be used together.

The video is near the bottom of the post: http://philipbloom.net/2011/03/02/sydney/
 
no. thats why people still buy canons - in spite of their moire issues ; )

i joke. but seriously. you might have best luck doing it in post. with something like magic bullet looks
 
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The brown tinge your referring to in the gh2 footage is probably from nostalgic scene file that everyone seems to be using, it tends to add a slightly yellowish look to the image. As far as making the gh2 have a similar visual to the canons well I have never bothered to try. I feel that the gh2 footage looks more true to life which I find to be more pleasing.

However if you wanted to make your footage look like a canon's I would soften it up shift the WB a little to the magenta side and crush the blacks. Canon's tend to have a slightly warmer image which is good for skin tones and the crushed blacks should give it the pop you referred to. I am not sure if it can be done in camera though.
 
Why everyone like nostalgia so much? To me everything looks like hepatitis! Lol. I like cinema.
 
I have found that I can mix 60D and GH13 footage by simply increasing saturation in post on my GH13 footage.

On the GH13 I always shoot in Smooth mode, -2 for NR, -2 sharpening, -2 colour, -2 contrast, which makes it highly unlikely that any signal will peak out, making for a more post-correctable image. -2 colour and contrast don't look that dazzling straight out of camera though, and Canon colours tend to be very pop-whizz! so best bump them up in your editor, or set colour to +1 in camera for a quicker match up with Canon.
 
i wonder if the canon forums ask if they can have there 5D look like a GH1/2? :smile:

every canon users i know aren't even aware of the GH1/2, typical head in the cloud wallies!
 
The canon has a pumped kind of color mush. The colors are vividly over saturated, but the detail is lost. You can do this by simply dumping your footage
into any decent NLE and making the gamma curve, brightness and contrast, and color saturation over blown and pop...

I did this on a few projects for over saturated color junkies.
 
Reflex Films said:
I usually shoot on on an HVX

i have had the pleasure of using Canon 7ds and 5d mk II s in shoots - usually for product shots, and special wow shots where shallow DOF is required

i really liked the way the canons saw blues and greens - the footage had lots of pop - especially in lower / mid lit scenes

the HVX pops - but only under blazing sunshine.

I am very keen on the gh2 - but a lot of the footage seems to have a brown tinge to it. Right now i much prefer the tech specs and abilities on the gh2 (on paper) but prefer the look of the canons. And the look is what i am after.

Is there a way to tweak the colors in camera to bring the gh2's ability to see color more in line with the canon's way of seeing light ?
Click to expand...

 
what can i say. I like each setting. I'll stick with cinema, i think it'll match up best with my hpx170. Thanks for the test~!
 
Jester2138 said:
OP: Better question: why would you want to?

Cinema ftw!
Click to expand...

One reason would be clients like the Canon color and Matt so happens to like this look and so do i for outdoor footage in overcast conditions.

I like to use Magic bullets cool preset (the one with the upper and lower dual grad) to pop the colors and lift exposure to rescue gloomy shots where the ocean and sky are greyish.

Matty, i shot the Doctor Relay with a Gh13 and 45 - 200 lens on a crappy day, it's on my site.

How come i missed you in Perth?
 
Thanks for the feedback everyone - looks like a post solution is the go. Or maybe a quick boost in the in camera color.

I'd love to play with one of these in store but no one in Australia has any stock - and then all the retailers complain about people buying overseas for 70% of the price...i dont mind paying more but the product availability here in OZ is abysmal - lots of the shops done even know what it is - these are panasonic dealers who have never heard of a gh2 - its pretty sad.

There is definitely something very poppy in the Canon's colors that my clients like and ask for - thats why i want the look. I think with a quick promo you only have so long to keep the aidence's attention - and the poppy canon colors seem to do that very effectively. i hope thats a good enough reason - i also like the aesthetic of the look myself. In fact i could say i have lost a few jobs by not having the canon look...

some of the comments here reek of fanboyism - which is not generally the tone of this usually very professional forum. However i am a bit of a fanboy myself as i tend to lean towards panasonic products where possible.

Hi Rambo -Funnily enough i also use the multi grad cool setting from looks a lot myself - especially with the go pro on less than sunny days. I was shooting the Doctor race- i was in the water and then my jet ski got stuck on a rescue mission with one of the ladies so we missed the finish shot... loved the smooth edit you did - great job with the motion stabilisation considering you were shooting handheld off the back of a ski. Sorry we didnt catch up. any plans to get a gh2 ?
 
Definetly getting a GH2 soon, but just waiting delivery on my 2nd GH1 (hackable), i love these tiny performers, they have almost replaced my HMC152. However i just shot a 3 day event in NZ ( Takapuna Cup - editing now ) and the colors from the HMC152 with the clear blue sky and green ocean is fantastic, not even the GH1 can beat 3CCD in perfect conditions and zero jello.

So is that you in my water shot as Kenny Wallace rounds the channel marker 1k into the race and was you that picked up Kirsty Holmes (fell ill)? The finish was awesome.

Bloody GH1's. i've never bought some many lenses in my life.
 
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