Heads explode: GH2 film mode test charts! :-)

Peter J. DeCrescenzo

Peter J. DeCrescenzo

Veteran
EDIT: 12/27/10 - I uploaded new video clips which replace the original set. The new clips are more evenly lit, and the exposure is slightly increased so the whites are at or just slightly under 100 IRE @ the GH2's "REC HIGHLIGHT" feature. WB: These latest 10 clips were shot using the same manual white balance acquired only once while cam was in STANDARD Film Mode.

The replacement clips are numbered 20-29.


Warning: If your head explodes when you see test charts, please avert your gaze now! :cheesy:

Otherwise, here are very brief clips showing the GH2's 10 Film Modes. Just one of many possible ways to compare them. The camera-original files can be downloaded from, and the tech details are on, the Vimeo pages.

Standard:

Cinema:

Dynamic:

Smooth:

Nature:

Nostalgic:

Vibrant:

Standard B&W:

Dynamic B&W:

Smooth B&W:


* This is also a good test of your web browser, to see if _it_ explodes when confronted with 10 embedded Flash videos. :shocked:
 
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I am liking cinema the most...the others don't seem to actually have better dynamic range but rather seem to simply be brightening the darks.
 
Thanks for posting those.
I like Nostalgic myself I use it with my GH1 and it grades nicely everytime
 
Peter.... you saw the chart and then the vids, were any of them "dead on" ??? If there weren't, is there any setting where it is "dead on" ???
 
EDIT: 12/27/10 - I uploaded new video clips which replace the original set. The new clips are more evenly lit, and the exposure is slightly increased so the whites are at or just slightly under 100 IRE @ the GH2's "REC HIGHLIGHT" feature. WB: These latest 10 clips were shot using the same manual white balance acquired only once while cam was in STANDARD Film Mode.

The replacement clips are numbered 20-29.
 
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Peter J. DeCrescenzo said:
EDIT: I'm uploading new video clips which replace the original set. The new clips are more evenly lit, and the exposure is slightly increased so the whites are at or just slightly under 100 IRE @ the GH2's "REC HIGHLIGHT" feature. The replacement clips are numbered 10-19.

Please stand by while I finish uploading the new versions of all the clips ...
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Did you white balance this time? It doesn't look like you white balanced before and that could make a difference.
 
EDIT:

WB: The current versions of the 10 clips were shot using the same manual white balance acquired only once while cam was in STANDARD Film Mode.
 
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We can see what others think, but I've noticed a difference between the WB presets in the camera and manually white balance. I believe I notice more detail and better DR when properly white balanced. It would be interesting to see if there's some other difference between the film modes when there's a correct white balance. I mentioned it primarily because the grays in the color shots look orange-ish to my eyes than actual gray. Even the 100 IRE white doesn't look like white to me. I am viewing on a recently calibrated display too.
 
Peter J. DeCrescenzo said:
It's my hope that these clips are primarily useful as a way to compare _among_ the clips, rather than for making absolute judgements about any one of them. Since the same WB was used for all of them, any color shifts are solely the result of switching from one GH2 Film Mode category to another.

Does the above make sense, or have I taken a wrong (or less-than-desirable) approach?
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Makes perfect sense. Thanks so much for taking the trouble to do this. It is very helpful for me and I'm surprised at how much difference there is.

:thumbsup:
 
Mike@AF said:
We can see what others think, but I've noticed a difference between the WB presets in the camera and manually white balance. I believe I notice more detail and better DR when properly white balanced. It would be interesting to see if there's some other difference between the film modes when there's a correct white balance. I mentioned it primarily because the grays in the color shots look orange-ish to my eyes than actual gray. Even the 100 IRE white doesn't look like white to me. I am viewing on a recently calibrated display too.
Click to expand...

I agree: I think it makes sense for me to do a manual WB & reshoot the charts ... which I've just done ... won't take me too long to re-upload the manually white balanced versions of the files ... they'll be numbered 20-29 ... stay tuned ...
 
For the purposes of this test, do folks think I should only do 1 manual white balance (for example, while the cam is in Standard Film Mode only) and use it for all the Film Modes?

Or do a new, separate manual white balance for each Film Mode?

In terms of how I actually use manual white balance in the field, I usually do a manual WB after selecting a Film Mode (if I'm not using a preset WB).

But I'm not sure which is the most useful when creating a set of test files like this for comparing among several Film Modes.

Opinions?

EDIT: Now that I think about it, it shouldn't make any difference. A manual WB setting should be appropriate across Film Modes. It's just a single Kelvin value, such as 3200K or whatever it happens to be. Switching among Film Modes shouldn't change what color the cam's WB circuit thinks white is, I wouldn't think.
 
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Don't think you need to do a white balance more than once. The latest are looking much, much better than the originals which had some pretty strong color casts. Based on the newest clips, I prefer Cinema for looking the most natural out-of-camera.
 
I don't think you should need to do a manuel WB each time you change the film mode. At least you shouldn't need to, but it would be an interesting test to see if the camera performs differently if you do. Like WB in Standard, switch to Cinema, record. Then WB again in Cinema and record. Then compare the 2. I wish I had charts.

EDIT: If you wanted to do that test I think Nostalgic would be the best one to test with since it has the greatest skew for the white point.
 
Peter, thanks so much for WB and reshooting and reposting. This is an immense help. I still think Cinema is best for color. Before WB I thought Standard was the best B&W, but now with the WB I prefer Smooth for B&W. Very cool. Thanks!
 
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