GH2 Excessive colour noise / grain on GH2

F

Fresno Bob

Well-known member
  • Hi,

    I'm getting really bad colour noise / grain when using my GH2.
    It's terrible when shot at night in low light with High ISO, but is still really noticeable in daylight with 2.0 on a Pancake 20mm and the lowest ISO.

    It's like dancing colour noise in the dimmer parts of the picture, but is very clear to on lit areas like skin.
    And the higher the F-Stop the worse it gets.
    F-8 in a dimly lit room looks like a 3rd Generation VHS tape.

    I've tested it with the same settings on a kit lens 14-140mm and same result as the 20mm pancake.

    Any ideas what is causing this, it's driving me mad?

    This screenshot shows the problem. It was F1.7 on the pancake at a high ISO - 3200, but I just wanted to highlight the colour noise:
    http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/80/screenshotwj.jpg/




    Settings:

    Manual Movie Mode (everything set to manual).
    Smooth (-2, -2, 0, -2)
    Manual white balance (cloudy for cloudy outside etc, but have tried all settings)
    ISO: Outside daylight shots are on the lowest ISO but still exhibit grain.
    Shutter Speed: 1/50
    Hacks: Tried various, including Cbrandin 44 & 66, Seaquake, currently using bkmcwd: 3GOP Eco 1M/MaxFrame Patch
 
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Unfortunately, I've experienced the same sort of noise, particularly in low light environments and even at ISO's as low as 800. It isn't pretty noise, either. For B&W it is salvageable for a grainy effect, but I'm not terribly thrilled with the awful discoloration when shooting in standard or smooth modes.

I love the GH2 when there is plenty of light. But it just falls apart for me in low-light.
 
I have seen this nasty stuff too. People suggest the camera is actually better at 320 ISO than 160 ISO for some reason. Additionally, they suggest that there is a bug where the results look better moving from a high ISO downward towards your target ISO setting, rather than moving upwards. Go figure.
 
Got any raw video clips you can share?

I have the panasonic pancake lens too, and in dim conditions, 3200 iso looks like garbage. Heck, even in bright conditions it doesn't look great.

I recently shot some party footage at my friends on two different nights. One night was with Smooth -2 contrast, other night was with vibrant. Smooth -2 showed significantly more noise, especially in the dark. Not a lot of people like vibrant mode though, very saturated and contrasty.

lower isos outside look clean as can be, though.
 
Fresno Bob, can you list all of the specs for the sample image you posted ?

i.e. ISO, Lens, Aperture, Shutter speed, Image Mode, Stock or Hacked camera, etc...
 
TheDingo said:
Fresno Bob, can you list all of the specs for the sample image you posted ?

i.e. ISO, Lens, Aperture, Shutter speed, Image Mode, Stock or Hacked camera, etc...
Click to expand...

Sure

Lens:
Pancake 20mm
Aperture: 2.0
Manual Movie Mode (everything set to manual).
Smooth (-2, -2, 0, -2)
White balance: Indoor (bulb image)
ISO: 3200 (a bit over the top, but I wanted the problem to display clearly)
Shutter Speed: 1/50
Hack: bkmcwd: 3GOP Eco 1M/MaxFrame Patch
 
DBP said:
Got any raw video clips you can share?

I have the panasonic pancake lens too, and in dim conditions, 3200 iso looks like garbage. Heck, even in bright conditions it doesn't look great.

I recently shot some party footage at my friends on two different nights. One night was with Smooth -2 contrast, other night was with vibrant. Smooth -2 showed significantly more noise, especially in the dark. Not a lot of people like vibrant mode though, very saturated and contrasty.

lower isos outside look clean as can be, though.
Click to expand...

I'll get some sample footage up shortly - some shot in daylight at the lowest ISO. It still shows heavy dancing colour noise.
 
Your result doesn't surprise me at all for shooting in color at ISO 3200. Curious to see your other samples in better light/lower ISO.
 
Fresno Bob said:
I'll have a sample shot in daylight at 320 ISO up in 30 mins, once it loads up on Vimeo
Click to expand...

Hmm. I remember reading that there was a bug with certain ISOs.

200,400,800,1600,3200 were fine.... but the others like 1250, 640, 320.... with those ones, you first had to select an ISO higher, and then go back and select the one you wanted. So if you wanted 360, you had to select 800 first, then 360. Otherwise it would show way more noise than is ought to. Strange bug, but it was documented with examples.
 
Ok, here is the 320 ISO daylight footage.
http://vimeo.com/34869996

Be sure to download the 720p version to see the noise dancing around in the shadows.

These were the settings:

Lens: Pancake 20mm
Aperture: 2.0
Manual Movie Mode (everything set to manual).
Smooth (-2, -2, 0, -2)
White balance: Cloudy
ISO: 320
Shutter Speed: 1/50
Hack: bkmcwd: 3GOP Eco 1M/MaxFrame Patch
 
Hmmm. That does seem excessively noisy for iso320 in daylight.... even well shaded like you were.
 
Fresno Bob said:
Any ideas what may be causing it?
Click to expand...

Only thing I can think of is either ETC mode, or the iso bug. You said you weren't in ETC mode, and even then, the noise wouldn't be that bad. Can you first put it at iso 800, then put it to 360, and shoot outdoors again? Also, try one of the other modes? (vibrant, cinema)

I find smooth and nostalgia at -2 contrast to be noisier in general. I can almost always see noise in the shadows indoors w/ natural light.
 
It's a noisey camera with the hack. If you don't want noise, go back to stock firmware. It's a lot less noisier at the expensive of being a lot less awesome (at least to me).

If you've ever looked at Uncompressed footage from higher end systems, this is the kinda noise you'll see.

No solution other than to denoise afterward.
 
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