GH2 as second camera with HMC 151?

X

Xoomtell

Well-known member
Hi

I know the GH2 is still very new and also very hyped - but I have been studying the reviews and tests and it looks pretty awesome in many ways. So I wonder if the GH2 could be a second camera with HMC 151? There is one obviuos issue - I will likely be shooting in 1080 25P and that is not possible yet on GH2...?
Is the GH2 OK for broadcasting? The clips I have seen so far looks great and sometimes even better than the HMC 151 but that is - I guess - mostly because of great and expensive lenses with1.4 or 2.8 and lot of DOF etc. At the same time there is a lot of rumours about new smart cameras from Panasonic showing up in january/february 2011....using the G lenses and maybee even better video- and photoperformance?

Anyway - is it possible to make descent video in broadcast quality with sharp, crisp and no artefact video from the GH2 and is it possible to use this camera without any problems in with the HMC 150 series? Oris it just a low-end semipro or even highend consumer camera with no real professional potential? It lacks vectorscope etc. I guess...

:)
 
I own both cameras. You can shoot in 1080 24p on both cameras (set the HMC 151 to 60Hz setting). I have been trying to match the outputs so that I can use then interchangeably. In a nutshell, even in the GH2 'cinema' mode and 'cinema film' setting, with the exposure set for the highlights, the GH2 has more contrast, blocked in shadows, more saturation and abundance of resolution. Even in 720p mode, the GH2 resolution is a class beyond my HMC. The HMC wins on smoothness of tone, smoothness of colour and operational ease. In FCP, if I lift the GH2 shadows a touch and lower the saturation a tad, it is more or less similar to the HMC output with the Norm1 preset. The HMC cine D setting, is similarish to a 'nature' film GH2 setting with post 93% sat and 91 mid. The one thing that stands out however is the better dynamic range of the HMC, especially in Cine D mode (the intelligent dynamic range feature of the GH2 did very little for the output) and the fantastic resolution of the GH2 output. Unless I blur the GH2 output considerably, I'll never get the two to match. (The internal GH2 tweaks of saturation, sharpness and contrast have very minor effects). I took special footage of stepwedges, colour charts and outdoor scenes with twiggy trees.

With regard to operation - the highlight blinking feature of the GH2 seems to come in at about 90% on the vectoscope. It is difficult to be precise as I don't think the exposure is stepless. It errs on the safe side, which is good. So far, I think the obvious issue to obtaining good footage with the GH2 (which is very clearly dependent upon lighting) is extended the shadow detail.
 
more testing on GH2 in comparison with HMC151

more testing on GH2 in comparison with HMC151

I did some more tests - on dynamic range specifically.

In Log terms - image range between 10 and 90% on videoscope
HMC HD norm - 1.7, HMC CIN - 1.8

GH2 - Cin film setting 1.65, standard, Dynamic, 1.75, Nature, Smooth, Nostalga 1.7, Vibrant 1.6

Varying the contrast setting on Smooth altered range from 1.6 to 1.8

HOWEVER - you cannot match the gamma slope in camera as far as I can tell. The HMC tonality always has high separation in highlights and gentle shadow roll-off. The GH2 mostly has the opposite, from a linear response (Standard) to curves that compress highlights, have high midband contrast and a short toe into obscurity. As I posted yesterday, the nearest curve shape in the Cinema film mode on the GH2. A few tweaks on the saturation and contrast will improve things a little further.

I also did some experimentation with a manual lens to set the very threshold of the blinking highlights on the GH2. With full control over the aperture I think the threshold is about 97%.

Anyway, I'm being antisocial to my folks on Xmas eve. Happy holidays to one and all
 
I did some further comparisons whilst the worst of the TV shows were on. So I had plenty of time :)

On the resolution front : Camera / Mode/ Vert / Horiz lines / picture height from ISO 12233 chart. (Shot at optimum aperture)
GH2 / Cin24 / 780 / 800
GH2 / 1080i / 550 / 800
GH2 / 720p / 600 / 650
HMC / 1080p24 / 600 / 650
HMC / 720p24 / 550 / 550

GH2 pictures were taken with Summicron M 50mm f/2 at F/4 and showed no colour aberrations. HMC images showed quite a bit (200x 360 target). To interpret accurate resolutions is quite difficult since the aliasing can fool one into over performance. What is clear and corresponds to Barry's and other's observations, is that the HMC doesn't really give proportional resolution improvement with the vertical resolution setting. In fact, if the object of the exercise is to match both together, my findings suggests it makes sense to abandon the superb GH2 24P mode and choose 720p on both cameras.
 
Hi

Thx for all the testing - and in the christmas hollidays -That is far more than I expected ;-)

Allright - it seems that it would be possible to get the two cameras to work together with a little post work and shooting in 720P mode on both cams?

My major concern is the lack of 25P, but is it not possible to shoot in 720 50P with the GH2? I actually shoot a lot in 720 50P on my HMC 151E. So it might be the way to go?

I think I will start a new thread about wich camera would be the best as second cam with HMC 151E? I know the topic has been discussed from time to time, but with all the new models coming up, there might be new cameras that fits better into this than others?

Merry christmas and happy new year!!!

:)
Morten
 
I'm going to be shooting some stuff with this next week and I'm interested to see how things will go. I too think that the 720p might be a great option.... but I plan on using them in concert and to their strenghts... Use the 150 on the wide shots and for things that require a deep depth of field and then use the GH2 for closeups and things that showcase s it's strenghts...

One things for sure, the GH2 is pretty darn clean. I shot a concert today at 1600 iso and it really looked good. The kit lens is a nice option for a soup to nuts 14-140 and then other lenses can fill in...

The major things to the Gh2 is that there's ergonomics to overcome and it's not quite as elegant in it's layout and design... much more menu driven and a bit quirky. Another thing I discovered is that even though you can shoot stills at the same time, you'll loose the video so it's not a good idea... I'm now learning to just switch it to the cinema mode where stills are not an option.. and finally, I do think that a set of Fader NDs would be a good option for allowing for a few of the benefits of image adjustment under very bright circumstances....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top