GH2 Looking up!!! (??) - and Noise **Grainy footage** indoor. (14-42 Stock)

J

jcintron

Member
Hi guys - I just received my GH2 today. I quickly put the SD Card from GH1 into it and starting shooting around. (Couldn't wait to charge battery - which btw was pretty low).

Anyhow I tweaked some settings and started shooting. I played the footage on my computer - At first, I notice that while no banding - it seem really grainy (noise). I'm using the stock 14-42 lens. Then I noticed while navigating thru the menu it lock up on me - twice. To the point that not even turning off the power button would shut the camera off. I had to remove the battery on both occasions.

I checked the camera firmware - Both are at 1.00 (Lens and Body).
I'm headed out to watch Harry Potter so I'll leave the battery charging and will mess some more with it when I get back. I'll use the Pancake Lens 17mm 2.7 and will check the behavior and compare footage from the Gh1(3) and the Gh2.

Have any of you guys experienced these lock ups??? (I am little concern with this, and the grainy footage).
 
Mine didn´t lock up but when I put in (or out) my microphone the camera often starts recording...I don´t know

And mine is definitely broken because it changes colortemperatures whren changing ISOs and ISO 2500 and 3200 are unusable because of colored flickering
http://www.vimeo.com/18246626

I will use it for my New years eve filming and then send it to service
 
Felix,

The jack that you plug the mic into is the same one that is used to plug in a remote switch to take pictures. What is likely happening is that when the plug from the mic is plugged in, it temporarily shorts the connections, which is the same thing that happens when you push down the button on the remote switch. Therefore camera takes a picture, or in the case of movie mode, starts recording.
 
Jockomo said:
Felix,

The jack that you plug the mic into is the same one that is used to plug in a remote switch to take pictures. What is likely happening is that when the plug from the mic is plugged in, it temporarily shorts the connections, which is the same thing that happens when you push down the button on the remote switch. Therefore camera takes a picture, or in the case of movie mode, starts recording.
Click to expand...

ROFL! Thanks for the info!

I got rid of the adapter and bought a new one. It´s now working properly without losing connection when you touch the cable.
 
jcintron said:
GrimePotch - I'm using a MacBook Pro 15" and a external SyncMaster 2493HM Samsung monitor.
Click to expand...

So I notice with my Macbook Pro 17" when I use the external display it really amplifies noise in footage. Can you post the MTS file that shows the noise you are seeing. I'd like to analyze it on my Macbook to see how it looks here (as I am studying the noise on the GH2 to see what the problem is). My macbook REALLY exaggerates the gamma curve in the lower gray values and I am trying to determine what to tell people to do to avoid it. Almost every person that sees noise has told me they are on a Mac. The only people not seeing it are using professional output options to professionally calibrated displays. Hence, I think in MacOSX, there is something going on. (And, since Macs use hardware acceleration for video, I am checking all avenues).

Thanks!

PS you can also private message me the data if you want

PSS It is Grim Epoch :)
 
unibody - 2009. You guys are geniuses! Followed your advice to calibrate my monitor ensuring gamma is set to 2.2 --- Astronomical improvement to say the least!
I didn't know what I was missing out on! Even my GH1 Footage looks much, much better.... (Not as good as Gh2 Lowlights - but really good!)

Thanks Grimepoch.... You da' man!
 
I did some tests with the GH2 (PAL) and found it to be very 'grainy' in the shadows (especially with coloured objects). I also found a number of 'pink' stuck pixels. One of these pixels is quite prominent and persists even after using the 'pixel refresh' function.

The footage by Emmanuel Pampuri doesn't appear to exhibit the level of noise that I was seeing in my footage.

Incidentally I was running the camera with an ISO of 160, SMOOTH, 24p (1080) HQ , I.R OFF, I. Dynamic OFF, and in manual mode.

I have taken the camera in for service.
 
Do you guys see any noise here? He's playing around with a bunch of settings but doesn't elaborate. Gets pretty interesting at about 2:14. Certainly different from Emmanuel's footage, which really blew me away. But maybe, in some parts, the best GH2 footage of this type of shooting I've seen yet. Can't believe there aren't any comments yet. Maybe people got seasick in the beginning and didn't stick with it. In any event, it looks pretty noise-free to me.

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?233176-GH2-Footage-good-variety

EDIT: QT Player X - calibrated Cinema Display 2.2 gamma
 
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I do not see any noise in his shots that stands out, looks great. This was with QT7 gamma at 2.2. I'd certainly ask him what settings he is using because they look fantastic. I don't have or use the GH1/GH2 (I am an AF100 soon to be) but if there is a control for detail enhancement or sharpening, dial that down a bit and reshoot and see what you get.
 
jcintron said:
My bad... :-|

Here's the link to the grainy video footage - this was my first stab so I'm sure my setting were way off too. But it does show the grains. Try grabbing the .MTS file.
http://www.vimeo.com/18307101
Click to expand...

Especially for night shots, it is common to have a little bit of noise if you are cranking up the ISO, but that is really extreme. Sounds like your settings are off. I do not have a GH2 so I cannot tell you the settings, but, I've watched enough footage to know the GH2 can DEFINITELY do better than what you see, by ALOT. What I would recommend is finding someone who has done some night shots, and find out what they've done.

Also, at night, I don't shoot anything less than F2.8 (and even then, that is still really noisy because of the ISO setting I have to use) so I try and use my F1.4 lens as much as possible.
 
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