GH2 Do I have a bad GH2 ?

C

ceezet

New member
Hi,

I recently bought the GH2. Having owned two GH1's before I was expecting the GH2 to be a step forward. In the first weeks I was not blown away by the footage. Even at lower ISO value's there was noise and going higher in the ISO range resulted in more of this fine noise.

I got the opportunity to buy a cheap GH1 and did some casual tests in a dimly lit room. Set the shutter at 50 on both and the results were not great for the GH2. The GH1 was practically noise free. Whereas the GH2 had the fine grain all over the image. Detail was better on the GH2 and on higher ISO value's color's was held better on the GH2.

The GH2 grain in itself is better than the GH1's banding in shadow's on high ISO shots but not being able to get a clean shot with the GH2 at night in normal lighting conditions is really not making me happy.

Is there anybody here who has tried both camera's ? Or anybody who has similar findings filming with the GH2 in relatively low light conditions?

I'm wondering if my GH2 is faulty.
 
I've noticed fine grain on Gh2 footage but I like it, like, a lot. It looks like the grain you get on the higher end digital cinema cameras. It mainly shows up in under-exposed areas though....so I'd say you're not using proper lighting or a fast enough lens.
 
Both shot with the 20mm pancake. At ISO 800. I wouldn't mind the grain so much if it was only at higher ISO, but not being able to get anything clean is not what I expected. It looks as if I applied a grain filter over the whole frame. Not only underexposed area's. Although it is less visible in properly exposed area's.
 
I think i have wavy noise on my gh2 iso at 645 24p 50 ss any body getting those noise you can see it if you look left and wright

 
dhardjono said:
I think i have wavy noise on my gh2 iso at 645 24p 50 ss any body getting those noise you can see it if you look left and wright

Click to expand...

That's a known issue with 8-bit color particularly in areas on the extremes of exposure. This looks a little under exposed.
 
I made similar obervations with my GH2. Because I work with a 5D MKII beside, I thought that I am probably to ambitious and should judge the GH2 with lower criteria, but the grain is even with 160 ISO
visible and thats disturbing me really. You can only improve it with 100% light, unless I overlooked something in the adjustments - that would be fine.
Benn
 
Exactly benn I have the same experience.

Ben_B, I have watched some of your vids and for instance Hallow Avenue on your vimeo page would be impossible for me to replicate on the GH2 because it would be fine grain all over the frame (great vid by the way). If you or anybody else has a different experience with the GH2 maybe I should let it get fixed by panasonic. Because so far the only improvements the GH2 has over the GH1 for me with direct comparison is resolution and high ISO color.

@ghosttv: Maybe I'll post a test later today.
 
Mine has no noise.. Maybe its your settings.. Phillip Bloom praises the GH2 for lower noise than even his Hack GH1.. Now he uses his GH2 a lot than his Hack GH1..
 
so please let's try to evaluate the settings that might cause it, and try to get to the bottom of this. this is weird.
 
I have similar problems in the shadows with my unit which is in the PAL format. The noise is clearly apparent even at ISO 160. I have tried a range of setting but the problem is still there (just more obvious when the shadows are accentuated due to gamma, etc). My unit also has a number of stuck pink pixels that do not completely disappear with the pixel refresh function.
 
Not sure if anyone can answer it for certain, but are these fine grains added to GH2 to improve their continuous autofocus in video? Shooting in all manual with other manual lenses help reduce these grains? What about increasing noise reduction? Does it help to remove these grains?
 
I use the pancake 20mm lense all in manual it get worse when i use 14-140mm, where is the noise reduction in the menu??
 
dhardjono said:
I use the pancake 20mm lense all in manual it get worse when i use 14-140mm, where is the noise reduction in the menu??
Click to expand...

Turning NR to -2 (it's in picture profiles) actually results in a cleaner image at some ISOs. With NR off ISO 320 is the cleanest on the GH2, with it on it's pretty dirty.

With NR to -2 here are the recommended ISO settings: 160, 200, 320, 400, 800, 1600, 3200. Using intermediate ISOs can cause more noise. Stick to these.
 
dhardjono said:
I use the pancake 20mm lense all in manual it get worse when i use 14-140mm, where is the noise reduction in the menu??
Click to expand...

The pancake at f/1.7 is a much faster lens than the 14-140mm. At the same ISO, the 20mm can achieve a cleaner image with less noise compared to the 14-140mm purely because the bigger aperture can let more light in.

I've had the same experience with my Nikon 50mm f/1.8 vs the 14-42mm on my GH2. At night on the kit lens it's pretty hard to get a nice shot unless I put it on a tripod and use a slowish shutter speed. Although even at relatively high ISOs the grain isn't so bad. Why don't you upload a video, let us know the settings you shot at and the conditions in the room, and a few of us can compare with footage from our GH2s?
 
Hi all thank for helping me
Here is the video i did today at 3 pm it has circular noise this happens evan with a video light i use iso 400 and 800 60 i 1080 the shutter i think open, look at those circular ring what can cause that . i also have more strange artifact on the video i just shot i will put up as soon as vimeo is ready.i use pancake 20mm 1.7 , The minus 2 work in getting rid of some of the noise but not these circle noise.



 
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Again, this is caused by the 8-bit color space in areas on the extremes of exposure. It also happens on areas that are flat and all the same color.
 
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