Is new GH1 sensor better than the earlier units with the older one?
- Thread starter Gordon Prince
- Start date
I find that in low light shooting at 1/30 can cut down on the streaks. It's more motion blur then you might like but most people would be hardpressed to tell the difference. It's worth it for keeping the streaking at bay.
Blackout
Veteran
1/30 is pure evil sir. Pure evil.
Every once in a while I slip up and forget to change my shutter to 60 or 120 from 50 when I was shooting in FHD 1080p and I go to 720 60p. The result is dreaded 30p and I cry a small tear of pain at the lost shot that is neither 24p nor 60p, but some horrid mutation in between.
Every once in a while I slip up and forget to change my shutter to 60 or 120 from 50 when I was shooting in FHD 1080p and I go to 720 60p. The result is dreaded 30p and I cry a small tear of pain at the lost shot that is neither 24p nor 60p, but some horrid mutation in between.
Blackout
Veteran
I don't have the 'bad' one anymore I sold it. It wasn't necessarily 'bad' I just found it had a tad more issues with certain things. It was one of the original models from June of when they first came out. I'm sure each chip has some slight variances and issues just like lcd screens and cpus... the variances are usually so slight that no one could spot them.
Pure evil in 720P, but kosher in 1080.
sammysammy
Well-known member
correct issac, in 10800 1/30 is still 24p, unlike 720p mode
Gordon Prince
Well-known member
PM sent.
Old vs new
Old vs new
I had a Made-in-China, produced July 2009 version. It had terrible FPN and I've read a lot of these stories so I decided to see if they were true.
Bought a Made-in-Japan, produced December 2009 version. This is after the switch to the new sensor factory, apparently.
But unlike most people who post these anecdotal stories, I had both running side-by-side to do a comparison (until I sold the older one).
I put them through a torture test shooting RAW at ISO 3200, slow identical shutter speed, F16 aperture shooting a dark, blank cream-coloured wall. They produced IDENTICAL FPN, including the strongest vertical and horizontal bands in almost the exact same spots (about 1/4 way over from the right of the frame for the vertical, and 1/4 way up from the bottom for the horizontal band). The new one was absolutely, positively no better at all.
However - the new version DOES seem to offer significantly less hot pixel noise. This is tested with the lens caps on, 8 second exposures at ISO 3200. Way fewer "pink stars" in the dark field. No idea why.
I also have an idea as to what's going on with the supposed "burn-in" reducing FPN that a lot of people talk about. I think it is software learned correction. If you do this sort of torture test that I did, the same amount of really bad FPN / banding appears on the LCD screen before you start shooting. However, once you start shooting something (especially AVCHD), it magically dissapears.... and it seems to get better and better at this over time (the new Japan one I have doesn't have quite so marked a difference between preview and shooting noise as my older well-used one did, but I think this will change in time). You have to look harder on your computer monitor at larger size to see the FPN on the file than it appeared in the LCD before shooting.
Old vs new
I had a Made-in-China, produced July 2009 version. It had terrible FPN and I've read a lot of these stories so I decided to see if they were true.
Bought a Made-in-Japan, produced December 2009 version. This is after the switch to the new sensor factory, apparently.
But unlike most people who post these anecdotal stories, I had both running side-by-side to do a comparison (until I sold the older one).
I put them through a torture test shooting RAW at ISO 3200, slow identical shutter speed, F16 aperture shooting a dark, blank cream-coloured wall. They produced IDENTICAL FPN, including the strongest vertical and horizontal bands in almost the exact same spots (about 1/4 way over from the right of the frame for the vertical, and 1/4 way up from the bottom for the horizontal band). The new one was absolutely, positively no better at all.
However - the new version DOES seem to offer significantly less hot pixel noise. This is tested with the lens caps on, 8 second exposures at ISO 3200. Way fewer "pink stars" in the dark field. No idea why.
I also have an idea as to what's going on with the supposed "burn-in" reducing FPN that a lot of people talk about. I think it is software learned correction. If you do this sort of torture test that I did, the same amount of really bad FPN / banding appears on the LCD screen before you start shooting. However, once you start shooting something (especially AVCHD), it magically dissapears.... and it seems to get better and better at this over time (the new Japan one I have doesn't have quite so marked a difference between preview and shooting noise as my older well-used one did, but I think this will change in time). You have to look harder on your computer monitor at larger size to see the FPN on the file than it appeared in the LCD before shooting.
Last edited:
What's burn-in?
Barry_Green
Moderator
I tried to verify "burn-in" and found absolutely no difference before/after.
Camera Expert
Well-known member
It was bad enough buying a GH1 when I have a lot of college loans to pay off so the thought of wasting my camera's lifespan on nothing was never an option.
I didn't have the effects that I saw that people had in low ISO's and I bought mine in July of 2009 although you do see a little banding starting with an ISO of 500. With the f/1.7 lens, the ISO rarely needs to go any higher at night. I think perhaps some people got more used to using the camera as time went on. I immediately used auto from the very beginning while I was also practicing adjusting the settings. When I found the best low light settings, I saw an improvement.
I didn't have the effects that I saw that people had in low ISO's and I bought mine in July of 2009 although you do see a little banding starting with an ISO of 500. With the f/1.7 lens, the ISO rarely needs to go any higher at night. I think perhaps some people got more used to using the camera as time went on. I immediately used auto from the very beginning while I was also practicing adjusting the settings. When I found the best low light settings, I saw an improvement.