GH2 LCD colour reproduction very bad

Matthew P

Matthew P

Well-known member
I've had my GH2 for a while now, and I've discovered that to get accurate colour reproduction on the GH2's screen (so images look the same as when they're viewed elsewhere), I need to go into the menu and set the "monitor" to -1 saturation (doesn't adjust colours at all, but stops highlights from clipping, oddly), +2 brightness, and then +2 towards yellow, and +2 toward green.

Unfortunately, although it gets fairly accurate colours, it looks very "muddy" in darker areas of the screen. I'm VERY surprised that the GH2's screen needs to be altered at all. For me, without adjustment, the colour balance on the LCD tends to be quite severely towards red, making people look very rosy indeed. When I balance the whitebalance to get accurate skintones, just going by the default LCD screen, the pictures come out way too green when viewed on a PC.

My old Panasonic FZ7's LCD reproduces colours very accurately, despite having a resolution that even a mobile would laugh at. How come the GH2, which costs 7x more, fails so badly at something so essential in IMAGE acquisition?!

I can't imagine this being an issue that only my GH2 suffers from, as it doesn't seem like a hardware fault. I'm interested to know if anyone else has this issue though, as it's pretty weird really. Maybe it's software? Or badly calibrated at the factory? Or a bad batch?
 
I'm not seeing it but maybe you're more color critical than I am. it seems at least as good as my GH1 screen. Seems fairly accurate right out of the box.
 
The LCD on the back of my GH2 is quite possibly the nastiest looking screen I've seen on any device in years. I don't trust it for color or exposure, and it never ceases to be amazing just how bad it looks. Not to mention the significant visual change when hitting record. The EVF seems much closer to reality, so I've learned to either rely on an external monitor or just use the EVF.
 
Here are some photos of the issue I'm having...

02-GH2's screen.jpg02-monitor.jpg01-GH2's screen.jpg01-monitor.jpg

The white balance and exposure settings are identical between these photos of the different screens, and they accurately represent the red tint I'm seeing with my eyes. Is this just a characteristic of the GH2, or is mine at fault? The photos when viewed on other devices (laptops, PCs, TVs etc) always look like the ones on the right (more green).
 
That's a different issue. I'm talking about a permanent red tint on the GH2's LCD, rather than the sensor going into HQ recording mode.
 
I have a similar issue, but not sure if this is due to wrong settings. As soon i press the record button the LCD monitor produces much more intensified colors ( could be also a shift in white balance ?? - just using the presets without manual white balance)

Sometimes the exposure changes aswell but i guess thats just due to the settings of the LCD brightness/contrast.


By the way why does the GH2 has no custom "picture styles" like Canon has ? The availaible picture styles in combination with custom styles are just so great and offer so much variety in comparison to the panasonic ones. Not everyone want to sit hours on the pc doing a "colorista job".


Isnt it possible to make this possible with a hack, this is really a bit a disadvantage in comparison to the canons.
 
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I haver the same color difference with my DP6 monitor.
1- color is different -> you can fine tune your GH2's monitor to your liking in the settings menu.
2- color changes when recording. do a record test. or know the difference and work accordingly (I have to say this is the biggest issue for me as it is also percent on the HDMI output)

@moxrox You can customize the settings. I know they are not as profound as the canons or the HPX ones, but they are already here. Plus once you have your presets in your NLE, you are good to go IMHO
 
Like most things on the GH2 you can adjust the LCD's color how you want (settings>monitor>color adjust). I first adjust the white balance to suit lighting, set color mode to Standard, then adjust lcd colors making the colors I see of the scenery I'm looking at (not through camera) to match the camera's lcd. The colors out of the camera and on the lcd then both look real-life.
 
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this doesn´t work at all. every color of lcd you change is changed after recording too. i mean on display. then you have no idea how footage looks. this is totally screwed issue
 
i use evf as well and no difference. only a slightly cleaner image but still unusable for more serious work
 
enfee said:
older gh2s are ok?
Click to expand...

Older GH2s are awesome, but.......

.....still exhibit the issue.

I never judge color balance from the LCD. Always set it via the evf and then frame with the LCD if required.

Look, it's not a perfect camera by any means. It's a consumer photo camera that happens to take frikkin amazing video. You just have to learn to work around the shortcomings, or find something else.
 
You should not simply compare the GH2 screen to a television screen, your television is not properly color calibrated and neither is the GH2. I use a Samsung HD tv for my work station and i did its color calibration with Sypder 3 Elite. I do have the same issue of the GH2 screen going greenish tint compared to before recording but that's not really a problem if its just present for viewing at the time of filming. The color of the files seem accurate when im in post. Do you bother to white balance or even better with a card? or color calibrate what you edit on?

You are leaving way to many factors unchecked to start complaining about any sort of color performance. You would not edit a photo on an uncalibrated monitor and then expect the print to look the same as what was on screen. Using a gray/white card to white balance rather than auto will be of tremendous help. It is very possible your tv is set to a cooler color temperature making the gh2 looke even warmer than it is. The gh2 in general i would not say is as warm looking with its colors as cannons, i would say it seems more neutral, not perfect but certainly not as warm.

For me at least when i get to my editing station i don't feel like anything is off color wise, the files seem to have accurate color even if the lcd is iffy at times. You have to invest a little and color calibrate your monitor professionally AND white balance when you shoot if you want to start complaining about color performance and the image on both screens not matching.. Keep in mind if you want the gh2 to fit your particular uncalibrated tv fine but then its going to look even worse when you show the image elsewhere. I recommend like stoneinapond before me, the evf is also a better choice to judge what its really recording than the LCD screen. EvF + bother to white balance not auto it + calibrated monitor = you much happier about color.
 
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