GH2 official discussion thread

skiandbike · Nov 17, 2010

Murph100 said:
Well from the clips I've seen on my calibrated Eizo, the GH2 seems to have amazing dynamic range, especially on this clip as linked by Hunter http://vimeo.com/16464227

I do hope you are right. Is the appearance of great DR possibly due to the postproduction that was applied to that clip versus presumably the ungraded rest of the GH2 clips out there? http://vimeo.com/16549714

Murph100 · Nov 17, 2010

Aaaaaah .... Ok THAT explains a LOT !! Thats some amount of highlight "recovery", bloody hell, talk about filling in the hot spots !! My Hassys are now being taken out of the 'Bold' corner

I'd love to see some straight unprocessed footage from the HDMI to see what the chip is actually capturing.

Sage · Nov 17, 2010

The key with that clip is to look at the final section, around 2:30 I think.
Thats when he discarded the 'cinema' film mode and went with nostalgic.
Turns out 'Cinema mode' is just 'Silly mode'.

Danielvilliers · Nov 17, 2010

Murph100 said:
Aaaaaah .... Ok THAT explains a LOT !! Thats some amount of highlight "recovery", bloody hell, talk about filling in the hot spots !! My Hassys are now being taken out of the 'Bold' corner

I'd love to see some straight unprocessed footage from the HDMI to see what the chip is actually capturing.

It is no highlight recovery in the white t-shirt, only a tint. There is no detail that has come back, only the things that where at 255 are now 250 or 240 rgb (just guessing these numbers for you to get an idea)

Murph100 · Nov 17, 2010

Hence the " " around recovery :thumbsup:

Have to say though, its far less noticeable as a tint in video than it would be on a still image.

Danielvilliers said:
It is no highlight recovery in the white t-shirt, only a tint. There is no detail that has come back, only the things that where at 255 are now 250 or 240 rgb (just guessing these numbers for you to get an idea)

Sage · Nov 17, 2010

Murph100 said:
Hence the " " around recovery :thumbsup:

The post prod video he put up may be misleading... He shot in the poor DR mode called 'cinema' for the majority of the video -
but didn't have to play any games with the white level at the end because it was shot in nostalgic for that section.

To quote the shooter, Jean-B:

"I tried "Cinema" Film Mode for half of the film then I switch back to Nostalgic Mode.
I yet don't know if "Cinema" image style was final but I was really disapointed regarding its lack of latitude !
Shadows seemed crunched to me like in Standard mode.
I don't get why it is called "Cinema".
I hope this image mode will be improved or changed later on."

roei z · Nov 17, 2010

Sage said:
The key with that clip is to look at the final section, around 2:30 I think.
Thats when he discarded the 'cinema' film mode and went with nostalgic.
Turns out 'Cinema mode' is just 'Silly mode'.

what's wrong with cinema mode? looks ok.
but if you feel like there's a "Best" mode for neutral settings please, i wanna know.

Sage · Nov 17, 2010

roei z said:
what's wrong with cinema mode? looks ok.
but if you feel like there's a "Best" mode for neutral settings please, i wanna know.

Apparently it was just a marketing gimmick...
It basically blows out highlights, crushes blacks, and gives a purple(?) hue to skin.

*this may be the most misleading factor for those of us who were interested in early footage for actual cinema purposes... people who would actually do good footage would set this thinking it would do better. Panasonic basically sabotages their own reputation w/ 'cinema mode'!

roei z · Nov 17, 2010

Sage said:
Apparently it was just a marketing gimmick...
It basically blows out highlights, crushes blacks, and gives a purple(?) hue to skin.

*this may be the most misleading factor for those of us who were interested in early footage for actual cinema purposes... people who would actually do good footage would set this thinking it would do better. Panasonic basically sabotages their own reputation w/ 'cinema mode'!

ok, well - so we're left with nostalgic or smooth?
which one?

Sage · Nov 17, 2010

roei z said:
ok, well - so we're left with nostalgic or smooth?
which one?

Nostalgic and Smooth are about even... but nostalgic is said to have a tiny bit more DR, and messes with the colors by 'yellowing' the footage. Smooth looks to be best overall.

RobertKM · Nov 17, 2010

So what do you guys think about using Intelligent D-range Control re. dynamic range?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1lQs383Gck

mpgxsvcd · Nov 17, 2010

RobertKM said:
So what do you guys think about using Intelligent D-range Control re. dynamic range?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1lQs383Gck

I was all ready to say it is just a big gimmick. There shouldn’t be a way to affect the dynamic range without adjusting ISO, exposure, shutter speed, aperture, or some combination of those things. Then I saw the video and I honestly have to say I was impressed. The light parts didn’t seem to get any brighter but the dark parts suddenly had detail that was too dark to see before.

I wonder if it is some kind of post processing trick like localized exposure compensation. Anyway it actually looks good. I have tried the dynamic range control on my GF1 and I can honestly say I have never seen it really make any difference at all. Maybe that is because it doesn’t do the localized post processing like the GH2 is supposed to.

Anyway, that is just one of the features I can’t wait to try on the GH2 when I get mine. I am also looking forward to the intelligent sharpening. That will help in scenes with a lot of dynamic contrast where you want to avoid sharpening the noise in dark places.

Sage · Nov 17, 2010

RobertKM said:
So what do you guys think about using Intelligent D-range Control re. dynamic range?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1lQs383Gck

Its really quite valuable.
The sensor is capable of 11 stops... its the software that limits the usable stops in video.
By raising the lowest shadows, you can underexpose to keep highlights, and get all the shadow thats in the sensor's dr back.

mpgxsvcd · Nov 17, 2010

Sage said:
Nostalgic and Smooth are about even... but nostalgic is said to have a tiny bit more DR, and messes with the colors by 'yellowing' the footage. Smooth looks to be best overall.

What about the "Nature" mode. I have found that it gives a nice mix of good dynamic range and minimal noise reduction with my GF1. Anyone else us the Nature setting for video? I use -2 Contrast, +2 Sharpening, -2 Color, and -2 noise reduction. I only use it with ISO 100-200. I switch to something else with much higher noise reduction if I go over ISO 200.

Here is a video of the tests I have done so far.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbPRhq9kL0g&hd=1

Sage · Nov 17, 2010

http://vimeo.com/12626420
http://vimeo.com/13524883

Hunter has made use of the feature to great effect in the gh13, where it is called intelligent exposure I believe.

-----
*From what I've heard, nature isn't bad. I haven't tested it myself.

mpgxsvcd · Nov 17, 2010

Here is what Panasonic has to say about it.

Here is what Panasonic has to say about it.

I know they are just small images. However, compare the Cinema to the other samples. I think it looks most like smooth and it does appear to contain more dynamic range. I still prefer the Nature setting though. I think the colors are too muted in the smooth and Cinema modes.

http://www.panasonic.net/avc/lumix/systemcamera/gms/gh2/creative.html

roei z · Nov 17, 2010

just watched my tree codec stress footage and i think there's no brake of codec

Sage · Nov 17, 2010

That got me as well...
Here's the thing with the marketing pages they put up for new consumer cams - they are very misleading.
By that I mean, the sample images shown are often not taken from the cam itself (!), and are simulated by the graphics marketing artist to be more clear to the consumer. (they probably used Raw photos)

Going by that cinema vs. nostalgic video, the actual results of the cinema mode are almost worse than any prior mode. :/

RobertKM · Nov 17, 2010

Hunter Hampton · Nov 17, 2010

Sage said:
http://vimeo.com/12626420
http://vimeo.com/13524883

Hunter has made use of the feature to great effect in the gh13, where it is called intelligent exposure I believe.

-----
*From what I've heard, nature isn't bad. I haven't tested it myself.

I used Iexposure on that first gh1 hack test, but not on any videos after that- It adjusts on the fly and can vary exposure during recording. Im hopeful that the GH2 "locks in" and doesnt shift when using Iexposure.

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