GH4 Low light musings

F

funkytwig

Active member
OK, so just before Christmas I filming in a church and ended up using the Lumix 14-140 f3.5-5.6 lens. The church did have a bunch of sodium lamps but from some initial tests I realised at 25fps I was going to be on the edge of what was possible so decided to go for 2000 ISO. The footage came out OK but I was wondering if I could go to a higher ISO.

Now here is the thing. I know high ISO is OK as long as there is enough light. I also am not shooting a feature film, this is videography for Youtube so don't need super clean footage.

So anyone got any good methods (apart from doing a test shoot) to work out how far I can push the ISO.

Ben
 
Do you intend to move the camera around much or will it be on sticks. Will you be filming a lot of rapid movement, or it is going to be mostly static scenes. If you don't move the camera much and the scenes are fairly static, you can probably compensate a bit more with slower shutter speed without everthing smearing. In that circumstance, for interiors you can get away with slower shutter speed.
 
funkytwig said:
OK, so just before Christmas I filming in a church and ended up using the Lumix 14-140 f3.5-5.6 lens. The church did have a bunch of sodium lamps but from some initial tests I realised at 25fps I was going to be on the edge of what was possible so decided to go for 2000 ISO. The footage came out OK but I was wondering if I could go to a higher ISO.

Now here is the thing. I know high ISO is OK as long as there is enough light. I also am not shooting a feature film, this is videography for Youtube so don't need super clean footage.

So anyone got any good methods (apart from doing a test shoot) to work out how far I can push the ISO.

Ben
Click to expand...

If your subject is static you can shoot down to 1/2 sec. SS with a litle trick I stumbled upon: in M mode, and focus mode lever to Man, 1/30 is no longer the slowest, and you can dial down to 1/2 sec. Playack is entirely seamless, with a hugh 4-EV light gain. This works in 4K as well AS 1080P - also with the GH3.
 
Hey, sorry Peter Berry, I accidently clicked the down vote, but was trying to click the up vote, and it won't let me change it. Nobody probably really even looks at those things, but if it was me, I might notice on my own post, and be curious what I did wrong. Anyway, cool tip! Thank you for sharing (and defninitely thumbs up!)
 
blazer003 said:
Hey, sorry Peter Berry, I accidently clicked the down vote, but was trying to click the up vote, and it won't let me change it. Nobody probably really even looks at those things, but if it was me, I might notice on my own post, and be curious what I did wrong. Anyway, cool tip! Thank you for sharing (and defninitely thumbs up!)
Click to expand...

You're welcomed, Blazer!

Where the heck is the up/down vote thingy? I see the little red tic-tac-toe grid on my post with the enigmatic "add to this user's reputation" when highlighted. So has it all come down to this? Going on 77 years with spotless reputation and only a few dozen enemies, my reputation is now ruined?? Egads!

Ol' ruined Pete
 
Even if you don't mind the noise...above 1600 ISO the color gets pretty bad and dynamic range plummets, even if well exposed. It's really up to you what's acceptable, though.
 
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