Got my GH1, first impressions

Interesting, so when you say that 640 is like 1200 are you talking about the amount of light it lets in or noise or both?
And are you comparing the ISO settings to any particular camera?
 
Light levels in camera vs. my light meter. It could be just this one camera, we didn't have a second handy at the time, so no way to tell if it's a fluke or all the cameras are like this.

Lower ISO settings (100-400) seem to track pretty accurately.

I.

Illya Friedman
Hot Rod Cameras
 
The ISOs are indeed underrated on the G1. dxomark.com did a test based on RAW data and bypassing the camera shutter to calculate the effective ISO. What they found (for stills)

Nominal >< Effective

100 = 129
200 = 266
400 = 540
800 = 1117
1600 = 2083
3200 = 4055

Seems like the GH1 is carrying on this 'tradition'.
 
At ISO 1600 I get a vertical line pattern in the green channel. It strongly depends on the lighting. Worst case seems to be green underexposed uniform areas. Highlights and blacks are clean.
I wonder if it's possible to slightly blur the green channel horizontally only in the lower midtones?
Any cmos experts here? Why is the pattern vertical?


That said - awesome camera. Manual control rocks. There's no way back.
Low light is good. Size and weight is unbelievable.
http://www.vimeo.com/4922177
 
Spent a full day with my GH1 today (and reluctant girlfriend), shooting in daylight the goings on in a market town in Taiwan, shot mostly in full HD 24p at ISO 100 in manual mode, and in ISO 800 at night.

Don't want to be too negative, but there are some flies in the ointment.

The codec turning to mud, corrupting any detail on fast pans is well documented previously but it's a lot worse than I thought. My Canon HF100 records AVCHD at 17mbps too and doesn't do it. Why does my GH1?

Documentary style handheld work is a no-no with this camera.

Samples to come.
 
commanderspike said:
Spent a full day with my GH1 today (and reluctant girlfriend), shooting in daylight the goings on in a market town in Taiwan, shot mostly in full HD 24p at ISO 100 in manual mode, and in ISO 800 at night.

Don't want to be too negative, but there are some flies in the ointment.

The codec turning to mud, corrupting any detail on fast pans is well documented previously but it's a lot worse than I thought. My Canon HF100 records AVCHD at 17mbps too and doesn't do it. Why does my GH1?

Documentary style handheld work is a no-no with this camera.

Samples to come.
Click to expand...

Hmmm I am interested to see this.
 
Indeed.

Firmware update should fix it.

In the mean time I'll do a comparison between the GH1, 5DM2 and HF100 to show how the problem compares to the competition.

It's pretty bad really... otherwise got some great footage from it. Just processing it and deinterlacing it, then I'll upload.
 
commanderspike said:
Indeed.

Firmware update should fix it.

In the mean time I'll do a comparison between the GH1, 5DM2 and HF100 to show how the problem compares to the competition.

It's pretty bad really... otherwise got some great footage from it. Just processing it and deinterlacing it, then I'll upload.
Click to expand...

are you referring to these issues in 1080/24p or 720/60p? or both?
from what iv seen so far it seems 720 works well for hand held and motion
 
Documentary style handheld work is a no-no with this camera.
Click to expand...

Its obvious. You have to stabilize properly like any other camera.

Two very important points on the list of what to do: Stabilize your camera properly and do slow, well planned pans. That part is simple.
 
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That sucks big time if it's true.
Click to expand...

Take a look around at some of the samples already out.It is very obvious that it can be done. I don't know why people's statements after a few hours with the camera are taken so seriously. It has nothing to do with your opinion as it is with sample work. THE NUMBER ONE RULE IS DON'T START CRAZILY PANNING WITH THIS CAMERA OR ANY OTHER CAMERA TO PROVE A POINT. We don't need to be reminded constantly about its shortcomings because all cameras, including the Red One, have then. We need to work hard and come out with information that help everybody make it look better thru intelligent solutions. Don't ever take anybody's conclusions as a final verdict. If you are seriously working in this business, pro or amateur, you have to take the camera in your hands, test it yourself and come to your very own conclusions.
 
What John said ^^! It's pretty common sense really, if you look around at some of the footage already out there that has been shot by people who know what they are doing, it looks perfectly usable ( with some minor caveats ) for documentary use, one of a few things I think this camera will be particularly suited to.
 
What good is a MOTION camera if you can't MOVE it? Heh. That being said, it's a lot like the HV20, you can get a LOT out of it if you work within it's limitations.
 
Of course you can move it. It is how well you are able to move it. It will take extra skill to get the best movement out of it and I am sure it is doable.
 
My point was that it's sort of ironic that lots of motion is ultimately the down fall of a motion picture camera. Yeah, I know it's a hybrid, but you get my point.

So, it comes down to this. Either get the GH1 and be handicapped by it's 24P mode; spend an extra $1200 or so and get a 5Dii (caveat: if it gets a 24P upgrade); or wait for something else like the Nikon D400 or Canon 60D. Decisions decisions...
 
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