GH1 Film Mode Settings

R

ralph789

Member
I am a casual GH1 user and won't be doing any post production enhancements to my video. I keep reading that many users on here set the film setting to "smooth" and set all of the settings to -2. I think I understand why you would do that for Noise Reduction, b/c more noise reduction means less detail. But for someone who is not doing any post production enhancement, why wouldn't I want to use vibrant or dynamic mode and set sharpness and color to +2?

I think the color and sharpness in standard mode at 0 for both video and particularly still photos results in a dull picture. I always photoshop my GH1 stills to increase the color saturation and sharpness, b/c they always seem dull to me. So wouldn't it be a good idea to just set the color and sharpness settings higher? Wouldn't that result in a sharper and more vibrant video?

And the contrast setting confuses me. When I turn it up to plus 2, the picture gets darker. At minus 2, the picture seems lighter. I would think it would be the opposite.
 
ralph789 said:
I think the color and sharpness in standard mode at 0 for both video and particularly still photos results in a dull picture. I always photoshop my GH1 stills to increase the color saturation and sharpness, b/c they always seem dull to me. So wouldn't it be a good idea to just set the color and sharpness settings higher? Wouldn't that result in a sharper and more vibrant video?
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You pretty much answered your own question there.

And the contrast setting confuses me. When I turn it up to plus 2, the picture gets darker. At minus 2, the picture seems lighter. I would think it would be the opposite.
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Adding contrast will make the darks darker so that is probably what you are noticing. It's the opposite when taking it away. Since the camera can't really make a clipped highlight even more clipped, it's just easier for you to see the darks getting darker or lighter.
 
If you do not plan on doing any post color-correcion, then it makes sense for you to find a setting that looks good to you and stick with that. If you're a fan af very saturated color (and not everyone is), then setting the saturation to +2 makes sense. The Dynamic and Vibrant settings seem to have the most saturation. Nature is a good setting for that, too. Contrast settings push the darks darker and the highlights brighter which lessens the GH1's dynamic range but gives you a punchier, less dull image. So I think you're on the right track.
 
dvbrother said:
If you do not plan on doing any post color-correcion, then it makes sense for you to find a setting that looks good to you and stick with that. If you're a fan af very saturated color (and not everyone is), then setting the saturation to +2 makes sense. The Dynamic and Vibrant settings seem to have the most saturation. Nature is a good setting for that, too. Contrast settings push the darks darker and the highlights brighter which lessens the GH1's dynamic range but gives you a punchier, less dull image. So I think you're on the right track.
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What if you do plan on doing post color-correction? Keep it on 'Smooth Gamma' with all settings at -2? Or at neutral?
 
dvbrother said:
If you do not plan on doing any post color-correcion, then it makes sense for you to find a setting that looks good to you and stick with that. If you're a fan af very saturated color (and not everyone is), then setting the saturation to +2 makes sense. The Dynamic and Vibrant settings seem to have the most saturation. Nature is a good setting for that, too. Contrast settings push the darks darker and the highlights brighter which lessens the GH1's dynamic range but gives you a punchier, less dull image. So I think you're on the right track.
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Yes, it really depends on what you intend doing with your raw footage. If it is going to be graded by a professional production house (about a grand an hour) then you want pretty neutral footage with good dynamic range - this also is needed if you are matching multiple cameras on a PSC shoot. If you are just shooting with a single camera and plan on editing the footage yourself then I find it's best to get the "look" right in camera. This means correct white balance / exposure and filtering from the get go. Also it depends on the weather - bright sun will have a much higher contrast than overcast days, I find that crushing the blacks and whites on dull days helps give the image more punch and lets it cut better with "sunny" material in the edit.
 
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