GH3 GH3 in Low shooting

The setting he is referencing is CONSTANT PREVUE set to ON, with this in Motion Picture (movie camera icon on the mode dial) if EXPOSURE MODE is set to "M" (for manual exposure) or for stills the dial on top is set to "M", any exposure changes you make will be reflected on the LCD or in the EVF viewfinder.

Thanks
I am already using that setting, picked it up in another thread somewhere
 
Gotcha. Then you're going to want something like the Voigtlander 17mm f/0.95 and SLR Magic 12mm f/1.6. The Voigtlander on a GH3 should give you the same field of view as a 35mm lens on a full frame camera, with the super low light performance you may need.

And I also agree with others here saying that if it's still too dark at ISO 1600 then you need to add more light somehow, either with external lights or with a faster lens.

Best of luck!

Thanks Jamie

Those two Lenses are on my shortlist
 
Thanks Bruce
I have the 20/1.7 which I am happy with but it tends to be a little long for me, I am swaying towards the 12 to 14 focal length, I would like to get a couple of extra stops over the 12/35 2.8 though.

It's great to have a fast lens, but keep in mind, if you open up to f/1.6 (the 12mm lens) or whatever, your depth of field compresses like crazy. Now, if you are on a tripod and photographing/filming non-moving people/objects, that's OK, but it gets trickier on moving stuff and event type work. Personally, I think the 12-35 f/2.8 on the GH3 is not the worst, as it has lens stabilization, so you're picking up a stop or two if you're mobile and not on a tripod, and that lens is sharp at 12mm, whereas some of these lenses may be theoretically faster, but sometimes may not be as sharp wide open, so you end up going to 2.8 anyway, so it ends up a wash. So really, there is no substitute for a sensor that can record clean footage at higher ISO. If ISO 1600 on the GH3 with the 12-35 f/2.8 is not good enough (that's about the limit I see), then it becomes a dilemma - it just might be that the GH3 is not good enough for those situations - a faster lens may or may not help at that point, given the realities of depth of field and having to handhold.
 
It's great to have a fast lens, but keep in mind, if you open up to f/1.6 (the 12mm lens) or whatever, your depth of field compresses like crazy. Now, if you are on a tripod and photographing/filming non-moving people/objects, that's OK, but it gets trickier on moving stuff and event type work. Personally, I think the 12-35 f/2.8 on the GH3 is not the worst, as it has lens stabilization, so you're picking up a stop or two if you're mobile and not on a tripod, and that lens is sharp at 12mm, whereas some of these lenses may be theoretically faster, but sometimes may not be as sharp wide open, so you end up going to 2.8 anyway, so it ends up a wash. So really, there is no substitute for a sensor that can record clean footage at higher ISO. If ISO 1600 on the GH3 with the 12-35 f/2.8 is not good enough (that's about the limit I see), then it becomes a dilemma - it just might be that the GH3 is not good enough for those situations - a faster lens may or may not help at that point, given the realities of depth of field and having to handhold.

+1

Especially in live-event situations, you will most likely be going to F2.8 in order to compensate for subject movement. If you can't get enough light to make an image at F2.8 @ 1600ISO, the problem isn't the camera/aperture, it's the location. You can attempt dropping your shutter to 40 and allow slightly more light in (some even claim that a shutter of 40 gives a more "cinematic fluidity" to GH3 footage), however, you may or may not get stobbing from lights.

In my line of work, I will admit, I have shot a lot at F1.4 (on Canon DSLRs - mainly because I never liked going over 640ISO on my 7D/60D), but it definitely was not easy. I'm not too fond of very shallow DoF - one of the main reasons (other than resolution and codec) that I moved to mFT/GH3 was for its deeper DoF - it helps a lot in live-event situations, believe me.
 
Thanks Bruce
I have the 20/1.7 which I am happy with but it tends to be a little long for me, I am swaying towards the 12 to 14 focal length, I would like to get a couple of extra stops over the 12/35 2.8 though.

The Olympus 12mm f2.0 gets good reports from users, very sharp and being a wide angle (24mm equiv) shallow depth of field is not the problem it might be with longer lenses. Spatial relationships are rendered with less magnification than with longer lenses.

I don't have that one (yet) but I do have the Lumix 14mm f2.5 and find that one very usable for me.
 
I think it is also important that 1600 iso should not be an arbitrary cutoff for the GH3 in low light. I'm sure you and everyone else here recognizes that the look is entirely contingent upon the project itself. I agree with Bruce that noise at 2500 and above actually doesn't look too bad with good glass.

I routinely shoot 2500 iso with 1.4 and .95 glass.

Here is an example I just posted this morning. All of the reception shots are shot using the Voightlander .95 at 2500 iso. In fact, I deliberately added grain to the cake cutting shot.

http://vimeo.com/80457378
 
I think it is also important that 1600 iso should not be an arbitrary cutoff for the GH3 in low light. I'm sure you and everyone else here recognizes that the look is entirely contingent upon the project itself. I agree with Bruce that noise at 2500 and above actually doesn't look too bad with good glass.

I routinely shoot 2500 iso with 1.4 and .95 glass.

Here is an example I just posted this morning. All of the reception shots are shot using the Voightlander .95 at 2500 iso. In fact, I deliberately added grain to the cake cutting shot.

http://vimeo.com/80457378

that was pretty good. but you have to admit, the noise that can be seen in the grooms suit during when they were both cutting the cake was very present
 
Keep in mind that, when shooting 24p, you can set your shutter speed to 1/30 or even 1/25 to get basically an extra stop of exposure. Some folks can't stand the "open shutter" look but I think much of that is yielding to dogma. I was persuaded against my better judgment to shoot a project at 1/30 shutter and it really looks just fine.

Now if you are shooting 60p, you'll have to at least have a 1/60 shutter of course so low-light is a bigger hurdle in those situations.
 
And strange motion artifacts and flickering from lights, dependent on where you are.

I shot a live show in a club and didn't see flickering in the footage until later viewing on PC.

How are you supposed to know, calculate and/or avoid this?
 
that was pretty good. but you have to admit, the noise that can be seen in the grooms suit during when they were both cutting the cake was very present


That at is precisely why I mentioned I deliberately added grain to that shot. I like the 'home video' look to that event. You don't see the grain in the suit when he is throwing the garter or dancing and those were all ISO 2500.
 
And strange motion artifacts and flickering from lights, dependent on where you are.

In the United States, a 1/30th setting is just as flicker free as 1/60th. What kills me is cheap LED lighting on many music stages. No matter what shutter speed you're at, you can't get rid of the flicker. And the skin tones are usually horrid.
 
In the United States, a 1/30th setting is just as flicker free as 1/60th. What kills me is cheap LED lighting on many music stages. No matter what shutter speed you're at, you can't get rid of the flicker. And the skin tones are usually horrid.


I generally stick with a 1/50th shutter when shooting 24p. I thought I had read that this would be the best shutter speed to avoid the LED flicker effect, but I still run into it.

You are so right about the skin tones. You can't even color correct that mess.
 
I shot a live show in a club and didn't see flickering in the footage until later viewing on PC.

How are you supposed to know, calculate and/or avoid this?

If in a club or on a fairground lightsources do run on very old ballasts, you may get problems whch are not resolvable.

If you use very high shutter speed - above 1/200 - also phase-shifting may set in (crawling shadows).

Under normal condition, this one is helpful:

http://www.davidsatz.com/flickercalculator_en.html
http://www.davidsatz.com/aboutflicker_en.html

 
fast penses GH#

fast penses GH#

Thanks Jamie
I am would be looking for 35mm equivalent of of around 24 to 35 mm, the Sigma 18/35 is appealing in particular if it was used in conduction with a speed booster


Your best bet is the Voigtlander line of M43 lenses

1- 17,5mm 0.95
2- 25mm 0.95
3- 42mm 0.95
4- 35mm 1.2
5- 50mm 1.1
 
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