GH1 vs. HV20

xbourque · Jun 28, 2009

Hey everyone,

Fellow dvxuser member PhilD graciously offered to swing by with his brand new GH1. Being an HV20 user myself, it was only natural to put them side by side on a tripod and pixel peep!

So there you go, a split-screen fest of GH1 vs. HV20:

http://www.vimeo.com/5353848

(Not sure why it's not showing as HD yet... anyways, you should download the full HD QuickTime movie from Vimeo.).

The HV20 was in Cinemode (except for that one shot in Av mode) and the GH1 was in FHD 1920x1080. Film mode was set to "smooth".

I'll everyone draw their own conclusions.

For now, I'll just say that for HV* owners, the GH1 isn't necessarily a slam dunk upgrade.

-- Xavier

rubberbandito · Jun 28, 2009

for once i look at a post not about shipping. waiting for mine so desperately. and i am surprised now. the little hv20 is amazing. i'd say it about a tie, since in some the images of the gh1 are much better, but in motion the mud of the gh1 is messy, not in the hv. but the still image ability in the gh1 make it much more versatile for a videographer/journalist/photographer. thanks for this post.

stav1606 · Jun 28, 2009

Not only the still images. The HV20 does not have interchangeable lenses, it does not have such a good low light, the DOF is much larger and it is not full HD anyway.

The only thing that makes the GH1 not entirely better is the mud, which I have no idea whether it is unfixable, or if it is fixable if they are willing to fix it...

Ken7 · Jun 28, 2009

That's the bottom line, the GH1 takes superb stills which the HV20 can't begin to match. In terms of video, the two are pretty close, but I'd probably give the nod to the HV20 since I'm not a fan of motion stutter and that leaves me to 720p. I like the HV20's 1080i video better than the GH1's 720p.

Now if they were able to get a 1920X1080 60i mode in the GH1, that would be an amazing video camera.

Ben_B · Jun 28, 2009

The GH1 takes the cake with better image quality and better DOF out of the box.

This reminds me of watching the 5D mkII next to the D5000....HV20 and D5000 are washed out and little detail, the GH1 and MKII being colorful, contrasty, and detailed.

xbourque · Jun 28, 2009

Ben_B said:
the GH1 and MKII being colorful, contrasty, and detailed.

Too much contrast in camera can be a problem (crushed blacks, clipped whites).
It's easy to shoot flat and to add contrast in post if you want it. It's much trickier to bring back shadow detail if it has been crushed, especially on heavily compressed footage.

- X

stephenvv · Jun 28, 2009

Thanks - much appreciated. Did you shoot any lowlight?

dmoreno · Jun 28, 2009

I believe the contrast on the GH1 can be dialed down to -2 in the contrast menu. Maybe it will help the black crushing.
I also think the HVs Cinemode is kind of soft (I set sharpness to +1 when I use it on my HV30).

reaktor · Jun 28, 2009

The GH1 seems to have a lower dynamic range. I wonder if it is still present with different film modes.

timbook2 · Jun 28, 2009

nice test ! :thumbup:

dacloo · Jun 28, 2009

great test. Panning "mud" is terrible on the GH1.
You made me decide not to buy the GH1!

PappasArts · Jun 28, 2009

sunburst · Jun 28, 2009

downloading it now.

first shot looks almost identical, except gh1 looks too much sharpening.

I have the hv20 - arent they super cheap now?

great camera, but experienced users will get a little tired of the manual
workarounds - lol. and the super DEPTH OF FIELD - you could shoot Citizen
Kane with the hv20.

I may have both cams soon.

Not sure what country I will buy it in though....... see my other post if
you want to give me tips where to safari for it .................

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=175414

Norbert · Jun 28, 2009

I would argue that the GH1 has about the same amount of detail in shadows and highlights as the HV20, and with even better looking roll offs. You just have to bring the detail back in post like I have done here. The HV20 image is untouched and the GH1 image is treated with curves and a little bit of upped saturation to match the HV20 better. Look at his arms and legs and compare with the originals in the first post.

stephenvv · Jun 28, 2009

Norbert said:
Look at his arms and legs and compare with the originals in the first post.

Yeah, it would be nice to see a much more controlled test as the Cinemode setting in the HV is very flat and GH1 clearly is using much more contrasty curve.

Ian-T · Jun 28, 2009

xbourque said:
Too much contrast in camera can be a problem (crushed blacks, clipped whites).
It's easy to shoot flat and to add contrast in post if you want it. It's much trickier to bring back shadow detail if it has been crushed, especially on heavily compressed footage.

- X

That's just it though, you can still bring back a lot more information from the blacks in post with the GH-1 compared to the HV20. I've had the HV20 from day one now and I can see a tremendous difference in the quality. I've played with dozens of GH-1 Vimeo downloads (even Phil Blooms) and was able to pull out much more detail in the shadows and re-render the footage with no serious repercussions.

stav1606 · Jun 28, 2009

Ian-T said:
I've played with dozens of GH-1 Vimeo downloads and was able to pull out much more detail in the shadows and re-render the footage with no serious repercussions.

That is good to hear because this test made me doubt my will to buy the GH1.

Ian-T · Jun 28, 2009

I made my mind up to get the 5D ll recently but my finaces took a hit so Imight end up getting the GH-1. But even if the GH-1's dynamic range was not better than the HV20 it sold me on its ability to put on just about any lens out there and of course beautiful bokeh. Those and its ability to do smooth slow motion are winners in my book.

stav1606 · Jun 28, 2009

Ian-T said:
I made my mind up to get the 5D ll recently

And why would you prefer the 5D?

pailes · Jun 28, 2009

Ian-T said:
That's just it though, you can still bring back a lot more information from the blacks in post with the GH-1 compared to the HV20.

My experience from filming AVCHD with the HMC150 for the past few months is that you can basically forget about bringing back information from dark areas. AVC compression will be very strong in those areas and if you try to bring back that information all you will see are compression artifacts all over the place. But feel free to prove me wrong and post some examples where you could restore the blacks without the AVC compression artifacts, maybe it's different with the GH1.

GH1 vs. HV20

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