GH4 First day with my GH4 fail

bboyfasteddie

bboyfasteddie

Active member
So my GH4 that I preordered from B&H shipped to my house today while I was at work. I got this camera for video and video alone, this is my first DSLR/DSLM stills camera body, I don't know anything about stills, and the only still camera I ever bought before this was a pocket point and shoot.

So I've been watching videos on how to set up the camera, combing through the threads on picture settings learning as much as I can about the camera. I get home from work and man I am ready to go out shooting with this thing. I watch the video on settings one more time, set up my camera the way I want it, shadows -5 highlights 0 cine-d -5 -3 -5 -2 0, take my Olympus 12-40 and head out to the local open air movie theater/shopping center for some low light shooting. I barely have any battery life but who cares? I'm shooting at F2.8 ISO800 and the picture still looks fantastic at night! I take advantage of that bokeh for some cool rack focusing, and discover I can even do some pretty smooth slow zooms with the zoom ring. Awesome!

Footage is looking incredible and I am happy as a clam. All of a sudden, two stunningly gorgeous women show up and say "Hey we keep photo bombing you anyway, can you take our picture?" And I'm all, "Well, I got this for video, and I don't know anything about still, but sure."

So I'm thinking in my head, "Darn, I was planning on having that dial up top forever locked in video mode. How do I even take a still picture with this thing?" So I turn the dial to "P" because P for photo? lol The girls are smiling in front of a fountain while I hit the shutter. Click! Photo looks like a completely blurred out mess.

Girls: "Did you take it?"
Me: "It came out like crap. Let me take another one."
Click!
Blurry ugly mess, again!
Girls: "Did you take it?"
Me: "It came out like crap again. I actually got this for video and don't know anything about still.."

The looks on the girls faces goes from all smiles to bitter disappointment. Meanwhile, I over hear two guys telling the second girl they want a picture of everyone on their phone. Assuming that they're a group of friends that's all together, I say, "I'll take a photo of you guys with your camera."
The look on the girl's face goes from disappointment to confused. "Ok, we gotta go. We've gotta movie to catch." Meanwhile, the other two guys are hollaring, "Hey, we want a picture, what about our picture, cm'on!" Ohhhh, so that's how it was.

So I walk in the opposite direction intent on continuing my quest of recording awesome 4K footage. The other two guys are walking in the same direction as me and they ask me if I got a photo of the girls.
Me: "Naw, I got this camera for video. The photo didn't come out good."
Guys: "AWWWW CM'ON MAN! We just met them too! You didn't get a photo?"
Me: "No."
Guys: "AWWWW CM'ON MAN!"

We part ways. After about another 2 minutes of shooting my battery dies.

lol

What can I say? Professional videographer, flirting novice. Now, what does that manual say about shooting stills again?
 
Sucks to hear man, good news is that once you learn how your way around the camera its super fast to switch it up. But hey why shoot stills Im shooting 4K and pulling frames. That works fine.
 
Haha great story man.

You should have just recorded a small video clip of them smiling at the camera for 5 seconds, and take a still frame out of it. :P
Advise for next time when 2 hot chicks come along and you have no idea what you're doing.

Congrats on the purchase though.
 
I would have shot 4k and and paused the video to make it look like a picture :) but then again, im a photographer and would have shot in "M" mode. lol
 
You could have said its a stealth video camera. They obviously didn't want to have anything to do with the guido sounding guys. Unfortunately you were just a little too green all round in this situation. But two easy lessons learned. 1. learn how to take stills in auto mode. 2. Ask the women if the guys clinging around them are with them.
 
True North said:
Just put it in Auto mode...lol...how hard could that have been? Funny story though
Click to expand...

he did. He said he set the dial to "P" (Programmed Auto). Lighting conditions must have been so marginal a high enough shutter speed was not available.

bboyfasteddie: The auto modes (Programmed Auto, Aperture Priority, and Shutter Priority) are easy to use. I recommend you start using "A" (Aperture Priority) which makes you select two things: Aperture and ISO. In low light set aperture at maximum, wide open, f2.8 or faster if available on your lens. ISO to 1600, 3200, or even 6400. The camera will select shutter speed (which should read out at the bottom of the screen), you also have a meter readout at the center bottom (EXPO.METER should be set to ON for this to display).

Shoot stills around the house until you get the "hang" of "A" mode.

What mode are you shooting video in?
 
Moral of the story… Practice getting some stills… if this thing happens tomorrow night with some even prettier girls, and no guys around, you'll want to be prepared to make some women happy.
 
bboyfasteddie said:
So I'm thinking in my head, "Darn, I was planning on having that dial up top forever locked in video mode. How do I even take a still picture with this thing?" So I turn the dial to "P" because P for photo? lol The girls are smiling in front of a fountain while I hit the shutter. Click! Photo looks like a completely blurred out mess.
Click to expand...

That "P" setting is for "professional'... so don't use it unless you know what to do with it...

I actually never use the P setting on any camera, but use either M-manual, A-Aperture, or S-Speed. In the case of Manual one has to set aperture and speed, in the case of A, one sets the aperture, and the camera 'selects' the shutter speed, and in the case of S, one sets the speed, and the camera adjusts the aperture, all these 'auto' modes are based on the camera metering that is set up.

Should have recorded video and got the girls to state their name and phone numbers... why have a moving pictures camera if not for that very reason...
 
j1clark@ucsd.edu said:
That "P" setting is for "professional'... so don't use it unless you know what to do with it...

I actually never use the P setting on any camera, but use either M-manual, A-Aperture, or S-Speed. In the case of Manual one has to set aperture and speed, in the case of A, one sets the aperture, and the camera 'selects' the shutter speed, and in the case of S, one sets the speed, and the camera adjusts the aperture, all these 'auto' modes are based on the camera metering that is set up.

Should have recorded video and got the girls to state their name and phone numbers... why have a moving pictures camera if not for that very reason...
Click to expand...


This reminds me of a great story my friends Italian grandfather used to tell.

Back in the day, he had scrounged up enough money to get a decent car. He takes the car out for a spin only he wants more speed and power. He glances at his gear shifter while driving and see's P.....aaaahh there it is, P for Power! It was an expensive lesson in learning about the tolerance level of his tranny but hey it made for one heck of a great story.....lol!!
 
If you know how to do video you should be able to get decent images. If its blurry then you must need to turn up your shutter speed. As you will know if you turn up the shutter speed you will have to raise the ISO.

Too bad it came out blurry, ive yet to see any images from the GH4 and would love to see if its improved from the gh3.
 
Ha ha...good story. Dude..you got 4K. Just shoot video and pause it every now and then while it was in playback. Boom...everybody wins. lol
 
here are the photos. Behold the majesty of GH4 image quality lol

P1000015.jpg
with the other two guys. i have no idea who the 3rd girl is, don't even remember her being there lol.
P1000018.jpg
 
That is too funny

Just for future reference iA mode is your friend next time this happens....not P mode

iA mode won't give you Karsh like images but it MAY get you a phone number next time this happens

Thanks for sharing the story and the pics, this site can use a little more levity like this..lol
 
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