Low Light Streaks - Is my camera faulty?

N

nathankw

Well-known member
Help!
Got my PAL GH1 a few days ago. Have been very happy with its performance outside in good light.
Last night I tried it indoors in low light and the image was horrible.
Here's a screen grab:
gh1%20low%20light%20streaking.jpg


This was at 400 asa (which I've read people saying is pretty good). It's also visible at 200asa in any underexposed areas. It was in creative movie mode with full manual control.

Any ideas? Is there some menu setting I'm missing or is this a faulty camera? Presumably no one else is seeing this?
 
I saw it at different ISO settings, but it was really randomly popping up. I think it's literally related to specific ISO settings. I'm also kinda confused at the 400 ISO setting being native. I really don't think it is.

Try it out at different ISO's and see what you get.
 
So you saw similar streaking?
Surely you should never see this kind of thing - it totally ruins the image.

I saw it at both 200 asa and 400 asa (though it was worse at 400). Also visible in both 1080 mode (worse) and 720 (more subtle). Just to clarify, the above still is a frame from a video (1080 FHD). I haven't seen the effect on stills.

I'm not sure what you mean by 400 asa being native? Could you clarify.
 
I saw it in EXTREME lowlight when I first started using the camera. And that was at high ISO's or the weird ISO's, like 400.

Oh, and it was also with a weird white balance setting when it came up. Like sub 3000K.

But again, I just didn't see it anymore later on unless I was at high ISO's or odd ones. I usually shot at 320 or 640 and was pretty much always balanced between 4500 and 5500K.

Just have to see where it vanishes.
 
ThomasS - The streaks on that shot look similar to what I'm getting, but I'm seeing worse and at 400 iso. I'd accept that going up to 1600 you'd get some degredation but it should be pretty slight at 400.

Kholi - The white balance was set to tungsten preset so that shouldn't be it. I'll try experimenting with different WBs. What do you mean by 400 being a "weird" ISO?
 
Strange, I got this when I first used the GH1, it seemed to go away over time.

I definitely do not see that at ISO 400 indoors, low light now.
 
capice said:
Yesterday there was a review in a quite famous forum in germany and they got the same result:
71712luxslcm12lux.jpg
Click to expand...

Yes - looks like the same effect. Doesn't say what ISO that is though.
As I say, I wouldn't be worried about seeing this kind of thing when using the maximum ISO, but 200-400 should be midrange and shouldn't be seeing anything like this.
 
Guys, I've seen this exact same effect with dedicated video camcorders! Many, under low-light conditions, will exhibit that vertical streaking.

I had it with a Canon HV20, HV10 and others. This is not unique to the Panasonic, trust me! As to what it is and why it's there...that's another question.

But the important point is it is not a defect, but rather a low-light weakness inherent in many video cameras.
 
You can add my name to the list of people that experienced this during my first day with the camera, but haven’t noticed it since. I don’t recall what ISO I was using (it would be really nice if it captured that meta-data) but I remember that it was the blue channel that seemed to be responsible for most of it (along with other messed-up noise).

Odd…

Have there ever been any other instances of a sensor that has needed time to ‘break-in’?
 
Blue_Food said:
You can add my name to the list of people that experienced this during my first day with the camera, but haven’t noticed it since. I don’t recall what ISO I was using (it would be really nice if it captured that meta-data) but I remember that it was the blue channel that seemed to be responsible for most of it (along with other messed-up noise).

Odd…

Have there ever been any other instances of a sensor that has needed time to ‘break-in’?
Click to expand...

Man, that's actually my theory for everything that's wrong with this camera. Just after a while of useage, and constantly playing with the camera, so many issues seemed to just vanish into thin-air. This is one of them.

Weird as hell but I just have no other explaination.
 
Ken7 said:
Guys, I've seen this exact same effect with dedicated video camcorders! Many, under low-light conditions, will exhibit that vertical streaking.

I had it with a Canon HV20, HV10 and others. This is not unique to the Panasonic, trust me! As to what it is and why it's there...that's another question.

But the important point is it is not a defect, but rather a low-light weakness inherent in many video cameras.
Click to expand...
Yep I bought an HF10 and returned it for this reason. Just wanted to wait for HF100 or Scarlet or something - turned out I was waiting fort he GH1.

I don't know if it has to do with ISO, I found it to have more to do with not enough light. Maybe there's some Auto Gain in the GH1?

Here's what I found with the GH1 and HF10.

Go to a low light room. Find a horizontal line like a picture rail or chair rail or top of cabinets. Flick your wrist. You will see the horizontal line ghost / trail.

Now turn on a 600w light. Leave everything the same in camera. Flick your wrist. No banding.
 
OK guys I was told by Panasonic reps at a trade show not to put the following pictures on the net because it was supposed to be a problem only found on pre-production models, but the fact that the problem seems to persist on release units is pissing me off so I'm posting them anyway! :Drogar-Mark-01(DBG)

One is ISO 800 and the one with extreme light streaks is ISO 1600

Good luck Panasonic -- I hope you release a firmware soon! Otherwise :kali:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/d9gXLSmmp9Tr8_AYIr0EHQ?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/JEVAdqG34K6LyXr1wkvCFg?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/-XX1YJYKmBQNrebw69jTBQ?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/kUJpQ2Q7tuM0oTrTFAFF7A?feat=directlink


EDIT: Just noticed that the streaks in my pics are horizontal, not vertical like others have reported
d9gXLSmmp9Tr8_AYIr0EHQ
 
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