Gh1's lowlight weakness is discouraging me and letting me lean towards the t2i

JoeJITSU said:
Um...No. There were rumors that the T2i overheated after 30 minutes. This was for 1 hour 18 minutes. For my purpose....DOF.....I won't be using it for that long. I will be using the HMC40 instead. Plus I'm basically going to sell the T2i and later buy the Gh2. Gh2 is going to have a "dual exposure" sensor which will leave the Gh1 and T2i in the dust. :)
Click to expand...

I live in Atlanta..... It get's 90 in the shade in the SPRING... Put the T2i outside and I bet it'll overheat in less than 30 minutes down here.

ANY overheating is a big negative for me.
 
Ben_B said:
Because there won't be much light hitting the sensor the camera?
Click to expand...

I didn't think the light itself was what overheated the camera. I know that with video cameras cranking up the gain caused more heat, thus raising ISO should do the same on a DSLR and a low light situation would make the sensor hotter.
 
ATL Media Group said:
I live in Atlanta..... It get's 90 in the shade in the SPRING... Put the T2i outside and I bet it'll overheat in less than 30 minutes down here.

ANY overheating is a big negative for me.
Click to expand...
I don't believe that is how it works. I've been paying some attention to those who have had overheating issues. I've noticed that they had them in moderate temperatures "mostly." Some of those same individuals went on to say that they had no problem in extreme temperatures. One guy some months back was worried about his trip to Africa when using his 7D. Onlly issue after shooting for two weeks was the indicator coming on once.

I'd say your theory about it happening more in low light shooting sounds more realistic especially where one is constantly cranking up the gain (all only a hunch). I like shooting the cleanest footage possible myself....so I stay away from cranking up the ISOs. With that said...I've had my 7D since December and have yet to see the overheating indicator.

EDIT: When I think about it some more I realize cheap cameras like these are owned by every type of shooter (inexperienced to the experienced). Just because of their lowlight ability a lot of the footage we see from inexperienced shooters are folks trying to "wow" themselves and otherswith their low light ability. But cameras like the Red One is known for having overheating issues also...right? But the deal there is that camera is mostly in the hands of professionals...who are not always trying to push that camera constantly in low light situations because....they are usually lighting their sets professionally. These CMOS cameras have huge sensors...so I expect them to heat up more than a typical small CMOS sensor cam. And when in the hands of a lot of amateurs ...your goiing to see allot more folks crying foul. JM2C
 
Last edited:
I've really been enjoying the low light capabilities of my GH1 fitted with a used Nikon 55mm f1.2 manual lens.

The attached image was shot in really dim light, dimmer than what I'd feel comfortable reading in. It's compressed from an in-cam "fine" 5.2MB JPEG still, full manual mode (all auto features off), shot at f1.2, 1/50th, ISO 200, Smooth Film Mode (-2, 0, 0, -2), tungsten WB preset, handheld. The JPEG was slightly sharpened in post, no color-correction, and compressed down to the 136K JPEG you see here. Video shot with the same settings looks very similar to this.

Get a fast lens. Be happy. :smile:

P1000361 cmp.jpg
 

Attachments

  • P1000361 cmp.jpg
    P1000361 cmp.jpg
    133.3 KB · Views: 0
Last edited:
Do you use an external monitor? I've heard that if you use an external monitor the Canon's don't overheat as much because the hot LCD is off when using external.
 
Peter J. DeCrescenzo said:
I've really been enjoying the low light capabilities of my GH1 fitted with a used Nikon 55mm f1.2 manual lens.

The attached image is compressed from an in-cam "fine" 5.2MB JPEG still, full manual mode (all auto features off), shot at f1.2, 1/50th, ISO 100, Smooth Film Mode (-2, 0, 0, -2), tungsten WB preset, handheld. The JPEG was slightly sharpened in post, and compressed down to the 136K JPEG you see here. Video shot with the same settings looks very similar to this.

Get a fast lens. Be happy. :smile:

P1000361 cmp.jpg
Click to expand...


That looks really good.
 
ATL Media Group said:
Do you use an external monitor? I've heard that if you use an external monitor the Canon's don't overheat as much because the hot LCD is off when using external.
Click to expand...
No. But I think what mostly helps me is when I'm not shooting I turn off the camera in between takes (I do this to save the battery). All settings stay the same when powered back on...which is a good thing.

I'm assuming some of those folks who had overheating issues had their cams mostly in a studio environment while plugged into an outlet and leaving the cam on contiuously. I know that doesn't explain them all...but I found what works for me.
 
Yeah, I'd say for event use...the GH-1 is perfect. This is where all of the Canons have issues.

Here's to hoping for a feature filled GH-2.
 
Heads up.... Just saw this tweet from Orange Wedding films (if you've heard of them, you know they do a lot of 7D and T2i video reviews on Vimeo):

" jj_orange
Overheating like freaking crazy all freaking day!! What's wrong with this camera?? http://tweetphoto.com/17977050
"



Ouch!

Oh, here's their Vimeo page:
http://vimeo.com/orangewedding

Edit to add: Just found out this was with his 7D.. The T2i actually overheated SOONER in his testing.
 
Last edited:
Wow. He also said:

"One of my 7D overheated every 5min during 50min ceremony while the other one was fine all the way. What gives??? "

It seems your mileage may vary between cameras.
 
I've found the moiré on the Canons (especially the 5D and I'd imagine the others are worse) renders them totally useless for most of the stuff I need to shoot. We shot a classroom scene today with some walls and chairs with a solid color pattern with sort of a carpet texture...the 5D couldn't get usable footage, the GH1, even after looking magnified on the computer and in camera at the recorded (not previewed) footage, exhibited no moiré in most situations, and non-noticeable moiré in a few of the most difficult shots.
 
Here are two frames from a music video (Tokyo Bullet). They are frame grabs from the original 720p AVCHD files exported as JPEGs from the ProRes 422 LT time line.

Lighting level for the scene was 3 footcandles or 30 lux.
I used Canon FD lenses: 24mm f2 and 50mm f 1.8 (at F2 - 2.5 for the closeup).

I employed the pretty well documented in this forum "shutter priority trick" - if I can call it this way...

The effective sensitivity for an equivalent film or digital camera is ISO 3200 !!!!

Do I see any significant noise? Not really. Not even on a 50" plasma.

I also used a Canon 1D4 for other scenes. If anybody is interested I could post few frames from that section too.

1270995310.jpg


1270995409.jpg


The first shot has a fair bit of motion blur (couldn't find a sharper frame - it is a dance piece, camera and dancers moving...).

No colour correction performed, these are original camera shots.
 
Last edited:
For comparison, I picked up a frame from a scene shot with a Canon 1D Mark 4 (3200 ISO, 1920x1080p, lens - Jupiter 9 80mm @ f2)

Please do not consider this image a resolution test. It comes from an edit with a lot of movement and a very different lighting set up: smoke and induced flares and reflections.

1270997882.jpeg
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top