GH2: Howto best setup for Video?

aemonk

aemonk

Active member
It took me two weeks now to get a little comfortable with the GH2 menu and I'm still some times confused because things happen like - ISO switches to autoISO when i hit record while in M Photo mode - I just don't know if its a wrong setting some where deep down in a menu.

here are some settings I think are important:

CREATIVE MOVIE:
24P CINEMA (1080p24 24MBit)

MOTION PICTURE:
- FILM MODE: NOSTALGIC with everything set to -2 (maybe NR should stay at 0?) This seems to be the "super flat" setting of the GH2
- REC QUALITY: EX 24H
- EXPOSURE MODE: M
...
- I.DYNAMIC: OFF (off or ON? this is just to avoid dark objects against a bright background, no increase of latitude , right?)
...

any other settings that are changing the picture in manual mode?
 
If you're concerned with these settings, I assume you're not just using it for home video. If that is case, don't ever shoot video in anything but the movie mode on the dial. All other places on the dial are for taking pictures, more or less. At least on the GH1. ;)

Nostalgic mode adds an "effect" to your movie...it doesn't really give it anymore latitude to work with in post, IMHO. It's like saying "sepia" or "black and white" is the "best" mode to shoot movies in...it's a matter of personal taste...and once you shoot it in that mode, there's no getting back what you did to the footage. If I were color grading all my footage, personally I'd shoot everything in "standard" or "smooth" film mode with the settings dialed back. Nostalgic is my favorite film look on the GH1 (all settings at default/0)...but I only shoot that when I don't plan on screwing with the color in post (i.e. my full time job). I love the "look" of it just as it is. It doesn't color grade very well at all, in my opinion.

The "best" settings on this forum will change weekly, depending on what one or two people post (there's a whole sticky based on how other people feel the best settings for YOUR camera should be), so it's best to actually go out and shoot some (as in a LOT) of video to decide for yourself. Just get the basics of exposure and camera operation down first, then shoot however you need...for the look you want! Good luck!
 
swyzlstyx said:
It doesn't color grade very well at all, in my opinion.

The "best" settings on this forum will change weekly, depending on what one or two people post (there's a whole sticky based on how other people feel the best settings for YOUR camera should be), so it's best to actually go out and shoot some (as in a LOT) of video to decide for yourself. Just get the basics of exposure and camera operation down first, then shoot however you need...for the look you want! Good luck!
Click to expand...

I completely agree!
 
Got this camera few days ago and User guide and oncamera menus are mess...so trying to get best and fast info possible...while re-reading that user guide.
I am mainly after flat image and as i have Leica glass really depend on manual functions.
So whats the expirenice so far with colour temperature (skin tones) in setting picture profile...and how reliable is histogram on non Panny lens??
 
swyzlstyx said:
...but I only shoot that when I don't plan on screwing with the color in post (i.e. my full time job). I love the "look" of it just as it is.
Click to expand...

...just a brief hijack of this post to ask you a grading question. I'm trying to learn an efficient way to do it in CS5 Premiere with MB Looks. Anyway, if you have a project with many many clips, do you grade each one separtely or do you do the whole project, render somehow so it's lossless, and then grade the finished project as one big clip? I'm thinking in the later that you'd have to keyframe the grading(is that possible?)as some parts of the finished clip will need different grading. I guess I'm trying to have to avoid individually grading each and every clip in the timeline.
Thanks,

Ragnar
 
swyzlstyx said:
Nostalgic mode adds an "effect" to your movie...it doesn't really give it anymore latitude to work with in post, IMHO. It's like saying "sepia" or "black and white" is the "best" mode to shoot movies in...it's a matter of personal taste...and once you shoot it in that mode, there's no getting back what you did to the footage. If I were color grading all my footage, personally I'd shoot everything in "standard" or "smooth" film mode with the settings dialed back. Nostalgic is my favorite film look on the GH1 (all settings at default/0)...but I only shoot that when I don't plan on screwing with the color in post (i.e. my full time job). I love the "look" of it just as it is. It doesn't color grade very well at all, in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Nostalgic seems to add some gain to the lows. If it is done before AVCHD compression you will be better off shooting in "Nostalgic". If you try to pull detail out of the AVCHD lows you'll get with "Standard" you'll probably have to deal with some compression mud. Standard or smooth are also just gamma profiles and they also produce "damage" to the RAW data
 
I agree that the menus and manual are fractured. It's coming but slowly. I hate the manual. This is the first camera I've owned that id buy "how to" video.
 
Ivo Yurich said:
What about AWB and general white balance issue?...U keep it AWB or correct it on location?
Click to expand...

I always set color temperature manually. Usually something between 5200 and 5800 K for daylight. However white balance for artificial light on the GH2 is not that easy. Under some conditions there are green or magenta shifts I can't compensate that well.
 
Just another vote here for smooth. In my experience it has the best output for colour grading. I believe Barry did a really comprehensive test with the GH1 that proved that smooth had the best dynamic range.
 
Unless you are doing absolutely no post production, I would say that a good "digital negative" is the best for everyone. The more information to work with the better. It doesn't take much to toss on a little saturation and contrast in post.

But if you really don't want to be bothered at ALL, I am partial to standard and vibrant depending on the situation. But now we're talking about a matter of taste.
 
farfromsubtle said:
Unless you are doing absolutely no post production, I would say that a good "digital negative" is the best for everyone. The more information to work with the better. It doesn't take much to toss on a little saturation and contrast in post.

But if you really don't want to be bothered at ALL, I am partial to standard and vibrant depending on the situation. But now we're talking about a matter of taste.
Click to expand...

Since I just use my camera for home movies I do not do any grading (I don't know how to even if I wanted to) that is why I would like to have the best possible results straight out of the camera.
 
ajamils said:
Since I just use my camera for home movies I do not do any grading (I don't know how to even if I wanted to) that is why I would like to have the best possible results straight out of the camera.
Click to expand...

if you just need a good final image out off the camera-
the best possible results will be the best possible results IN YOUR EYES, no?
 
If you can't be bothered enough to do some simple post processing then I would be willing to bet that Vibrant would suite you best. Another way to judge what color profile you will like is by looking at what color setting you have your TV set to.

1. If you like the torch mode on your TV then you will probably like the Vibrant setting on your camera.

2. If you were too indifferent to change your TV off of the default setting then the GH2's Standard setting is probably what you are going to use.

3. If you were born before 1960 then Smooth B&W might tickle your Fancy.

4. If you had tested all of them yourself then you would have figured out that Smooth is the most accurate and flexible.
 
Thanks Guys, as a new GH2 owner, this thread has helped a bunch :). P.S. "Smooth" works well for me to color correct on, as a beginner
 
I just shot a color chart in order to compare those GH2 film modes.
My impression was, that 'Nostalgic' gives the most useful image for color grading. However, since Nostalgic adds gain to the image, its becoming very noisy. It also seems that Nostalgic brightens also the highlights what leads to clipping in the whites. The setting 'Smooth' dose preserve better highlights. The differences between 0 and -2 in contrast, saturation, and noise reduction are hardly noticeable. Sharpness however effects noise pretty much. A sharpness of -2 gives a "muddy, blurred, noise, 0 gives a much sharper and smaller but more aggressive noise. I actually like the sharp noise better by now.


those color bars are a 100% crop out of the original 1080p24 footage and put into a 720p comp in After Effects. I shot at a shutter speed of 50. The lens was a Pentax-A 2.8 20mm with a Fader ND filter to keep shutter and aperture the same for ISO 160 and 3200.
 
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