GH2 Judging exposure in camera?

D

dishan

Well-known member
Ok, maybe this is a dumb question, but I searched around and was not able to find much information.

When in non-video modes (M, aperture priority, etc), I'm finding that the viewfinder is always being artificially brightened up compared to the exposure of the actual shot. I'm not talking about the color shift when you hit record, I know that's a bug we just have to deal with. I mean that I can adjust the shutter speed and/or aperture, and the live image doesn't get brighter or darker until I snap the shot. Am I just supposed to rely on the meters for exposure? Because sometimes I'm trying to isolate something specific in the shot and expose for that, and I can't tell if I'm hitting it from that meter.

I recently was trying to get a clear still picture of a blemish inside of glass, and it requires some very delicate lighting angles- It became a very tedious trial-and-error taking shots and seeing if I got it right, because the LCD lied to me. Is there a setting or something to turn that thing off?!
 
Are you talking about a GH1 or a GH2? On the GH2, go in the Menu and set Constant Preview to "On". This is what you want. In the GH1, you have to hit the Trash button then the Display bitton to get an appropriate preview.
 
dvbrother said:
Are you talking about a GH1 or a GH2? On the GH2, go in the Menu and set Constant Preview to "On". This is what you want. In the GH1, you have to hit the Trash button then the Display bitton to get an appropriate preview.
Click to expand...

GH2 (as implied by the thread prefix), and yes that did it THANK YOU!
 
dvbrother said:
Are you talking about a GH1 or a GH2? On the GH2, go in the Menu and set Constant Preview to "On". This is what you want. In the GH1, you have to hit the Trash button then the Display bitton to get an appropriate preview.
Click to expand...

Hitting the Trash, then Display, for the GH-1... what mavin thought that one up???
 
j1clark@ucsd.edu said:
Hitting the Trash, then Display, for the GH-1... what mavin thought that one up???
Click to expand...
I know! Just saying that combo out loud sounds ridiculous. "I want to display my trash!" However, with the limited number of buttons on the back of the camera, it was a reasonable solution to get an appropriate preview "on the fly". In order for the GH1's Autofocus (or any camera's autofocus) to work in Still Photo mode, the aperture needs to be wide open. If there's not enough light, the GH1 slows the shutter down to get more light in. This is why, in low light, the image on the LCD can look much brighter than the photo you actually take. Hiitng Trash and Display overrides the shutter and iris control of the autofocus to give you an actual display of your exposure.
 
Heartfelt said:
It works with a panny lens but not with a canon FD via adaptor.
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It works on My GH2. I have a Canon FD 50mm and 35mm. It works with them. Are you on "M" on the dial? Let me know your settings. We can figure this out, because Constant Preview should work with any lens.

P.S. I have a hunch what the issue may be, because this happened to me when I had my GH1. It has to do with your lens and not the camera. I think your lens might have a switch for Auto Iris. If it is set to Auto or "A", adjusting the aperture ring won't actually adjust the aperture. Check to see if your lens is on "M" for manual. Sometimes this can be caused by the adapter not engaging the manual iris pin on the lens. I bet that's your problem. The easiest way to check is to actually look into your lens, adjust the aperture and see if it's opening or closing. If it's not moving, that's your problem.
 
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ok, I was using a custom program on C1 but when I go to Manual, yes it does work. Interesting and thank you!

The aperture is/was working perfectly.
 
dvbrother said:
I know! Just saying that combo out loud sounds ridiculous. "I want to display my trash!" However, with the limited number of buttons on the back of the camera, it was a reasonable solution to get an appropriate preview "on the fly". In order for the GH1's Autofocus (or any camera's autofocus) to work in Still Photo mode, the aperture needs to be wide open. If there's not enough light, the GH1 slows the shutter down to get more light in. This is why, in low light, the image on the LCD can look much brighter than the photo you actually take. Hiitng Trash and Display overrides the shutter and iris control of the autofocus to give you an actual display of your exposure.
Click to expand...

Yes, in the olden days, there was a button on the camera body, a least with Nikons, on the front( or in the even older olden days, on the shutter body), which stopped the iris down to allow one to look at things, DoF mostly.

I would have imagined that in this 'modern' age it would have been a simple 'make the LCD as best as possible, represent the 'shot' values... and perhaps an 'override' the otherway... and who cars about DoF anyway...

I'll have to test this procedure at lunch, as this was a painintheass to get a quick idea if the exposure was way over or under.
 
The Auto/Manual switch isn't exactly the same as DOF preview (which is what you are describing). Though they are there for the same reason.

My Mamiya 645 has DOF preview where you push a lever that stops down the Iris so you can see the DOF you'll get. The Auto/Manual switch lets you choos to either (Manual) stop down the iris now as I turn the ring or (Auto) wait and don't stop it down until the shutter fires. It's there because it's easier to focus and frame with the Iris all the way open in a lot of situations. When you adapt these lenses they have to be on manual because the lens can't talk to the camera to know when to stop down.
 
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