Gh1 720 vs 7D 720

G

Gene Sung

Veteran
So sorry to keep bringing up the Gh1 vs. 7D thing. But I just want to make sure I do all my research before plunking down the cash.

I know that the 7D is better for it's 1080 while the GH1 is more noted for it's 720. For the current project I'm working on, I'm going to be using the 720 mode a lot more.

1) From what I understand the 720 60p on the GH1 has less artifacting and is a bit smoother and more crisp. But what about the colors? Does the GH1's color range improve when shot in 720 vs. 1080?, and how do the colors compare between the GH1 and 7D when shot in the 720 mode?

2) How do the 2 cameras compared when shoot in 720 30p mode? Are they in the same ballpark or does one have better IQ and colors then the other?

3) Everyone seems to be harsh on the AVCHD verses the h264 of the 7D. How does the Motion Jpeg of the GH1 shot on 720 30p mode compared to the H264 codec? Are they a bit closer in terms of IQ?

Thanks for the info and all the helpful posts that everyone has left.
 
1) Color doesn't change based on the resolution you're shooting at. The colors in 720 mode are going to be identical to those in 1080 mode, etc. The knock against the 7D in 720 mode is the aliasing and moire that happens, which is reported to be quite bad. I'll be able to answer in more detail in a few days when I have both a 7D and a GH1.

2) The same aliasing issue will show up. The GH1 gets a little noisier in 720/30 mode because 720/30 uses the MJPG compression mode.

3) The AVCHD of the GH1 and h264 of the 7D are actually identical in all ways except one, bandwidth. The 7D has about 2.5x as much bandwidth, so it can cope better with compressing the data.

For comparison testing, I don't have firsthand answers for you but should have in a few days.
 
Note that the GH1 also has moire and aliasing in 720p, more so than 1080p. Otherwise, 720p mode on the GH1 is really nice and has less moire than on the 7D.

In the GH1's MPJEG mode I have found noise in shadow areas to be much higher than in AVCHD mode, as if the noise reduction is turned off.
 
Barry_Green said:
The AVCHD of the GH1 and h264 of the 7D are actually identical in all ways except one, bandwidth.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't say "identical in all ways." At most, maybe I'd say "identical in all specs." Codec quality can vary from implementation to implementation even when the specs are the same.
 
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