Can someone please help explain the Shutter Speed settings on the GH1

A

asteele10

Active member
Why do the settings in video mode go from 30-4000? Everything I've read says they should be fractions 1/2, 1/1000, etc. Can some explain this? I read that for most situations, shutter on the GH1 should be 50 which is what I've kept it at.

Also, for time lapsing is there a way to tell the camera to only record 1 frame every second?

Thanks!
 
Per the manual, the camera displays "30" for 1/30 second shutter, "50" for 1/50 second shutter, etc..
 
The shutter speeds are fractions but the increments go in 1/3 stops, which I admit can be confusing up front. Think of it this way: the shutter speeds 1/30th and 1/60th (1/60th being 1/2 the time of 1/30th) are one stop difference. But between those two, the GH1 gives you 1/40th and 1/50th. Those are in increments of 1/3rd stop. Make sense?

1/50th is the shutter speed most closely associated with the speed of a Hollywood movie camera, and that's why that setting is recommended as you get film-like motion blur. However, if you're in the U.S. which runs on 60Hz electricity, sometimes 1/60th is a better choice. When you're shooting under fluorescent lights, or HMI lights in a professional situation, you can get ugly flicker if you shoot on 1/50th (or any shutter speed that isn't a multiple of 1/60th.)


As far as time lapse, you'll need an external intervalometer that plugs into the GH1's audio port to control the camera. You can find these on eBay. I have one and it works great.
 
Also keep in mind to go as low as 1/2 you need to be in the SH mode which is 720p.

For the NTSC GH1 you should consider these two shutter speeds for the different modes.
FHD (1080p) - 1/50
SH (720p) - 1/60

If you are going to slow down your video by using the SH and conforming to 24p then I would set it to 1/125

As far as time lapse goes you need a remote switch for taking photos.
And another effect is just to set your GH1 stills to S (small) and hold down the shutter release to take a series of photos. You get an effect like this -
 
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I have 1.2 and can't get my shutter to go below 1/30th on 720 p mode and when importing 720 p footage it's like it's recording at 30p and doubling the frames. :2vrolijk_08:
 
I don't understand why sometimes I can get below 1/30 in movie mode in 720p, and sometimes its blocked at 1/30.
 
To go below 1/30 - have to be using 720p 60, in CMM (set at M), AND Manual Focus.

adys, maybe sometimes you are inadvertently not using all of the above settings.

EDIT: Like Martti just said.
 
Got it :)

Thanks.


BTW, I just found the way to bring the MF assist in older lens, I will share just in case that it can help someone:

You have to go to focus selection, choose spot, , press menu button.
This will bring the MF assist.
 
Psynema said:
Ah ok now I just need to figure out the 60P vs. 30p with duped frames thingy
Click to expand...
Simple: you cannot ever shoot 60p with a shutter slower than 1/60th. It's impossible. If the shutter is slower than the reciprocal of the frame rate, then duplicated frames will always be introduced. Which means: never under any circumstances ever try to shoot 720/60p at any slower than 1/60th, or 720/50p at any speed slower than 1/50th, unless you want duplicated frames.
 
i was recently shooting with 720p and i forgot about going below 1/60th...luckily the scene(s) were only seconds long and it wasn't noticeable. i'll have to find a way to remind myself each time i shoot.
 
dvbrother said:
As far as time lapse, you'll need an external intervalometer that plugs into the GH1's audio port to control the camera. You can find these on eBay. I have one and it works great.
Click to expand...

I have one too, but I can only get it to work properly on pictures.
The shortest sequence for video I could do was something like 3 seconds.
Can you make the camera in videomode take only one picture at a time?
if Yes, how do you do it?
 
AKED said:
Can you make the camera in videomode take only one picture at a time?
Click to expand...

Well, then it couldn't properly be called video, could it? :)

Seriously, not sure why you would want to do that anyway.

The intervalometers are meant for stills.
 
So, I have read so many times to shoot 720/60p at 120fps. Is there any best way - 60fps or 120fps?

Thanks.
 
AKED said:
I have one too, but I can only get it to work properly on pictures.
The shortest sequence for video I could do was something like 3 seconds.
Can you make the camera in videomode take only one picture at a time?
if Yes, how do you do it?
Click to expand...

The intervalometer is designed to take a series of STILL pictures at a desired shutter speed at a desired interval. You can use Quicktime to create an image sequence from these stills which effectively turns them into a video. The cool thing about this is that it is a 12 megapixel still vs. a 1080p AVCHD still. The size and resolution is huge so the quality is amazing. Bring this image sequence into your editing software and scale it down to size...voila! You've got a timelapse movie! And since the image size is huge, you can zoom and crop the image without losing perceivable image quality.
 
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