How do you judge exposure for video on a GH3 without Zebras or False Colors?

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DigitalUser1

Member
I find the histogram only useful for stills. In video I need to know if specific areas of the shot are overexposed or not and the Histogram is useless for that. I don't always have the luxury of my DP 4 when shooting video in the field. I don't see a way to calibrate the monitor on the GH3. How do you all judge exposure without any of the normal assists? I have the Panny 12-35mm f2.8.
 
DigitalUser1 said:
I find the histogram only useful for stills. In video I need to know if specific areas of the shot are overexposed or not and the Histogram is useless for that. I don't always have the luxury of my DP 4 when shooting video in the field. I don't see a way to calibrate the monitor on the GH3. How do you all judge exposure without any of the normal assists? I have the Panny 12-35mm f2.8.
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DigitalUser1: I'm about to pick up the same camera/lens combo, and I've been searching the net for an answer to this myself. I think the only workaround is to pick up an external monitor with zebras... I find histograms to be pretty worthless too, at least by themselves, especially in backlit situations.
 
point the camera at the spot or use a light meter to get a reading, then compensate and balance exposure for the shot. Usually it's a judgement call anyway, even with zebras and such.
 
There's a "Highlight" alert that probably flashes when set to ON, I have it disabled on my GH3s.

You have 3 tools for judging exposure, with CONSTANT PREVUE set to ON, the image on the LCD and in the EVF lightens or darkens as you make exposure adjustments (must be in Manual mode). With EXPO.METER set to ON you have a meter readout at the bottom of the screen with under and over scale. And the histogram for those who understand how to interpret one (it's not an exposure meter but can be helpful).

I find the meter readout is pretty accurate but I'm not a slave to it, a good grounding in basic photographic exposure is a necessary skill and experience can help an experienced pro "eyeball" a scane and have an idea what's likely to over expose. I use the image in the EVF and adjust for desired effect and "look", being aware of what the meter is reading, and I check the histogram real quick just to see where the image tones fall over the range of it.
 
Bruce Foreman said:
There's a "Highlight" alert that probably flashes when set to ON, I have it disabled on my GH3s.

With EXPO.METER set to ON you have a meter readout at the bottom of the screen with under and over scale.
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That's a "gotta have turned on" for my GH2.
I can't imagine trying to function without it.
 
The GH's highlight indicates overexposure, but without something like spot metering, there is no good way to indicate a ratio between two or more overexposed areas, say a bright computer screen and a bright lamp. What do you want to expose for, the computer or the lamp? You make the decision and adjust the exposure, or adjust the lighting under controlled situations.
 
Bruce Foreman said:
There's a "Highlight" alert that probably flashes when set to ON, ... with CONSTANT PREVUE set to ON, the image on the LCD and in the EVF lightens or darkens as you make exposure adjustments (must be in Manual mode). With EXPO.METER set to ON you have a meter readout at the bottom of the screen with under and over scale. And the histogram for those who understand how to interpret one (it's not an exposure meter but can be helpful). ...
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Thanks. Some cameras have LCDs that cannot be trusted for exposure so if the GH3's can be trusted, that's good. Looks like the highlight feature equals Zebras set to 100% which is too high for detecting blown out skin (around 70%). On a proper camera for video, settable zebras and false colors let you see relative intensity on the image whereas a histogram is just an overall analysis not worth the screen space it consumes. If the camera can't handle the dynamic range of the scene, exposure assists like settable zebras and false colors let you trade off hilights and sometimes you just underexpose the scene to fix in post.

Looks like I have everything turned on that the camera has. Thanks for the help.
 
DigitalUser1 said:
Thanks. Some cameras have LCDs that cannot be trusted for exposure so if the GH3's can be trusted, that's good.
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I've found that with the GH2 and GH3 I've been able to judge exposure by the LCD (normal light levels indoors) or if outdoors in daylight by the EVF. Again a good grounding in photographic exposure works with this kind of judgement. The Canon series (7D, 60D, and Ti-) were almost there but ambient light levels could affect the eyes enough to be a bit problematic even with a viewfinder loupe.

DigitalUser1 said:
a histogram is just an overall analysis not worth the screen space it consumes.
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This depends on what you do with it. The histogram generally covers about a 5 stop range overall telling you where your tonal values fall within that area. Coupled with an experience developed visual sense that allows you to "eyeball" the scene and have some idea of how it's going to appear on the media (be it film or digital) it is a useful guide. If you don't like it or want to use it, just turn it off (I have my GH3s and GX1 set so a function button switches it in and out).

Although it probably seems "archaic" to you, I'm one of those who learned exposure before even simple "match needle" meters were common in cameras. I still have the first real good meter I bought myself on the way back from VietNam in 1970, kind of a "reward" for surviving a combat tour. It was a Sekonic L28c, Japanese copy of the Norwood Director, a long time Hollywood standby. It did incident or reflected light measurements and I found that incident readings were uncannily accurate in getting good exposure on color slide films where exposure was extremely critical.

DigitalUser1 said:
If the camera can't handle the dynamic range of the scene, exposure assists like settable zebras and false colors let you trade off hilights and sometimes you just underexpose the scene to fix in post.

Looks like I have everything turned on that the camera has. Thanks for the help.
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I can see where those assists are useful, I don't mean to "run them down". I had zebra's on the Canon HV20 I had and I did use them at 70% if I remember right. But I've always just made the best use of the "tools" I had and got the job done.
 
Bruce Forman is right on the money when it comes to working with the GH3. I use the light meter in the GH3 as a reference point, then adjust exposure by the way it looks in the viewfinder. I made this video for my niece yesterday , her face was in shadow but by adjusting exposure by the image I was seeing threw the viewfinder, I was able to lighten up her face without blowing out the clouds and sky behind her. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYLEINmwiQA I think the GH3 is a great camera. Fun and easy to use with great looking images both still and video.
 
+2 for Bruce's points (and glad you were able to get yourself that reward).
I've shot a ton of short TV and film projects with the GH3 the last few months, always looking for the right recipe for the best overall image.

Lot's of experiments shooting beside Canons w/L glass and working with them side by side in post.

For whatever reason, the setup that is now giving me the most pleasant, organic and natural footage is -5, -5, -2, -3
When I shoot there and use the exposure meter and zebra, and as Bruce points out, my professional eye, I'm just now getting the quality of footage that I hoped from the GH3.

So much that the 5Ds are only for photography shoots now.

Of course the other issue is the glass, and as much as I love small zooms, when you combine this approach with Zuiko, 12mm, 45mm, 75mm and the Lumix 20mm primes, I'm getting a very balanced exposure and skin tones with far better IQ than any of my L primes on anything less than a C100.
 
MBPRODUCTS said:
I made this video for my niece yesterday , her face was in shadow but by adjusting exposure by the image I was seeing threw the viewfinder, I was able to lighten up her face without blowing out the clouds and sky behind her.
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A neat young lady, and she "Glocks" too! Her pistol handling looks good but you might point out to her that the "overhand" method of racking the slide is more efficient, and more reliable under stress than the "slingshot" method she demonstrates. Many women don't have the hand strength your niece does and if she winds up teaching ladies she'll need to teach the "overhand" approach.

The support hand comes over the top at the rear of the slide, the slide is grasped between the base of the palm on one side and the four fingers on the the other (over the slide serrations). Instead of pulling the slide back, the frame of the pistol is pushed forward (with the strength of the shoulder behind the movement) until it hits the end of the slide travel and the support hand then releases slide and hits the front of the shoulder.

This is what they teach at the big name schools like Thunder Ranch in Oregon.

Very good exposure in that video, BTW.
 
Bruce Foreman said:
...Although it probably seems "archaic" to you, I'm one of those who learned exposure before even simple "match needle" meters were common in cameras....
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Having flashbacks to my Nikormat and it's match needle meter....

I think I can make the GH3 work. For me it's a B-Camera/POV to a proper video camera. One thing that's frustrating is that the overlays disappear randomly. How do you harmlessly get them back without triggering a function of a button press? Better yet, is there a setting so they stay on? I gave up looking for one.
 
DigitalUser1 said:
Having flashbacks to my Nikormat and it's match needle meter....
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I had one of those...Really decent camera and excellent alternative to those of us who couldn't afford the Nikon F at the time. Prior to that I had a series of rangefinder cameras and finally a Pentax H3v (no meter at all). So we've come a long way.

DigitalUser1 said:
I think I can make the GH3 work. For me it's a B-Camera/POV to a proper video camera. One thing that's frustrating is that the overlays disappear randomly. How do you harmlessly get them back without triggering a function of a button press? Better yet, is there a setting so they stay on? I gave up looking for one.
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It's not really random, it's a timeout thing. The word is the OLED is much more susceptible to "burn in" and that's a way to protect it. Two ways I use are:

1 - If tripod mounted I block the eye sensor briefly with one hand (without touching the camera) and when the LCD image comes back, the overlays do also.

2 - If handheld I gently "nudge" the rear dial a bit and the overlays come right back.
 
Pressing "display" usually does the trick. Though sometimes you have to press it a few times to cycle through the different display options.
 
jimagine said:
For whatever reason, the setup that is now giving me the most pleasant, organic and natural footage is -5, -5, -2, -3
When I shoot there and use the exposure meter and zebra, and as Bruce points out, my professional eye, I'm just now getting the quality of footage that I hoped from the GH3.
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Which picture style are you using those parametes with?
 
I always shoot with Natural Bruce and I should clarify that I've really been liking those settings for well lit, soft box usually, skin tones. I like the two steps of NR in that regard, again well lit scenes. On balance, outdoor, doc, run and gun, I stick with Natural -5 -5 -2 -5 for maximum detail.
 
Thanks for that info. With the limited testing I've been able to get done I've been liking Natural myself. If I remember correct you use some Lumix lenses (I remember your short on horses in the snow done with the Lumix 20mm - That was beautiful footage!). I use Lumix and Olympus lenses and have the sharpness dialed all the way down for use with those.

Thanks a lot!
 
Steve_Karl said:
That's a "gotta have turned on" for my GH2.
I can't imagine trying to function without it.
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Same here. I need to know what's blown out in my frame. They act like 100% zebras. I'm usually shooting interviews outside and on a sunny day I'll throw some diffusion over my subject and let the background sky blow out in order to get proper exposure for their face.
 
I've never had an issue judging exposure. The histogram, the highlight feature, some experience with the camera to know about what various levels of exposure are going to look like, and just using my eye to judge the display has worked just fine.
 
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