Low Light Streaks - Is my camera faulty?

Yep i.Exposure, sorry for that confusion.

If you miss it's affect, you can always add it afterwards anyway. Shadow & Highlights in Premiere CS4 does a similar thing.
 
I've always had iExposure off (first thing I did when I got the camera!) and still got the low light streaks.

I'm getting the sense that the straking is getting less now - I'll try to do a repeat test in the same conditions.

From reading everything the RF radio interference explanation seems the most likely. It would explain why I got terrible results in my living room (surrounded by electronic equipment) whilst others are getting really clean results outside.
 
nathankw said:
I've always had iExposure off (first thing I did when I got the camera!) and still got the low light streaks.
....
From reading everything the RF radio interference explanation seems the most likely. It would explain why I got terrible results in my living room (surrounded by electronic equipment) whilst others are getting really clean results outside.
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Hmm... sounds bad. That would mean that there is no way to get rid of them in these situations, right?
 
From reading everything the RF radio interference explanation seems the most likely. It would explain why I got terrible results in my living room (surrounded by electronic equipment) whilst others are getting really clean results outside.
Click to expand...

Just reading through the manual this morning, while I'm waiting patiently for mine to arrive. On page 104, the second page covering movie recording, it clearly says :
"•The screen may be blacked out momentarily, or the unit may record noise due to static
electricity or electromagnetic waves etc. depending on the environment of the motion picture
recording. "
So it looks likely you're bang on, if Panasonic have decided to include this in the manual.
 
AdrianF said:
...
"•The screen may be blacked out momentarily, or the unit may record noise due to static electricity or electromagnetic waves etc. depending on the environment of the motion picture recording. "

....... Panasonic have decided to include this in the manual.
Click to expand...

Really great by panasonic - they´ve thought of everything => missing/skipping frames + lowlight streaks => all mentioned in the manual. What about heavy aliasing + codec breaking in 1080p? Maybe this would be too much of "good things" in the manual.
 
AdrianF said:
Just reading through the manual this morning, while I'm waiting patiently for mine to arrive. On page 104, the second page covering movie recording, it clearly says :
"•The screen may be blacked out momentarily, or the unit may record noise due to static
electricity or electromagnetic waves etc. depending on the environment of the motion picture
recording. "
So it looks likely you're bang on, if Panasonic have decided to include this in the manual.
Click to expand...

It would be useful if a GH1 owner could do some simple tests to confirm this further.

For example, if someone could find an environment/location in their home or office where this GH1 streaking issue occurs (e.g.: possibly holding the GH1 next to some powered-on electronic gear) and then testing to confirm whether or not -- just for experiments sake -- wrapping the GH1 up in one or more layers of aluminum foil (or "blackwrap") reduces or eliminates the streaks. Then remove the aluminum foil: Does the streaking reappear?

And if so, then please post some representative frame grabs here, together with the camera settings. It will be helpful to know if the problem tends to occur, for example, especially when the camera is "pushed" (high ISO, etc.)

If the streaks are caused by RF interference I wonder if a mesh fabric such as described in this article might be helpful when shooting in high-RF environments?:
http://robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-9991-10008

Anyway, my point is not to make a big deal about this issue, but rather I'd be interested in nailing it down a bit more so we can anticipate & deal with it accordingly.
 
And if the aluminum foil experiment fails take the camera still wrapped with it, pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees and put the camera inside for about 30 minutes, no more no less. If that doesn't take care of all the "problems" Panasonic decided to put into your brand new GH1 nothing ever will. LOL!
 
... adding to my previous post:

Is the streaking in any way affected by the use/orientation of the GH1's LCD screen? For example, do the streaks occur if the LCD is OFF and folded-up against the back of the GH1? Are the streaks different/worse if the LCD is open, ON, and flat up against the back of the GH1 ... or swung out to the side of the GH1?

I'm curious if the LCD screen can cause RF interference, or possibly acts as a (partial) RF shield for the image sensor when the LCD is OFF & flat against the back of the cam?

Again, not trying to wave a yellow flag here, just curious if we can narrow down (or reliably reproduce) this "issue".
 
John Caballero said:
And if the aluminum foil experiment fails take the camera still wrapped with it, pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees and put the camera inside for about 30 minutes, no more no less. If that doesn't take care of all the "problems" Panasonic decided to put into your brand new GH1 nothing ever will. LOL!
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LOL! My copy of the GH1 manual says 375F for 1 hour ... :-)
 
Streaking has nothing to do with the LCD on or off.

I believe the noise reduction is just not perfect.

Just after you've taken a pic, it'll preview in the VF/LCD with tons of streaks. You're wondering why the hell the picture's so ugly. Then just a second after, press the Play (view) button to see the same picture. Much better now.

That's because the noise reduction seems to be processed after the time the pic is previewed (usually around 3 sec).

Same thing when you turn off noise reduction for slow shutter, you see it instantly afterwards. Otherwise with noise reduction on, a 30sec shutter pic will take 30secs to process

To explain it another way:
1) The instant preview of your pic has tons of streaks, vertical and horizontal, (under certain cimcumstances)
2) Then the processed pic you see in the Play mode is much better
 
Peter J. DeCrescenzo said:
If the streaks are caused by RF interference I wonder if a mesh fabric such as described in this article might be helpful when shooting in high-RF environments?:
http://robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-9991-10008

A
Click to expand...

Another source of RF shielding fabric. I've used this to shield against cell phone radiation, and if you wrap your phone in one layer of it you lose your signal completely.

If RF interference is an issue, Panasonic should consider shielding the inner case of the GH1 in the vulnerable areas of the camera.
 
Has anyone already suggested in this thread that GH1 users should wear tinfoil hats while shooting? :-)

But, seriously, I guess the "real" solution to reducing image artifacts caused by RF interference is to use a faster (optional) lens instead of increasing ISO/gain, right?

(Although it would be good to know whether or not operating a GH1 while it's in a "bag" made of inexpensive see-thru RF shielding mesh fabric is a useful workaround for this issue. If it worked, it could be a simple quick-fix.)
 
capice said:
Any solution in sight for the "lowlight banding/streaks" indoors?
http://www.vimeo.com/5287454
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Have you done the f/w upgrade, maybe its my imgination but since the f/w 1.1 am not seeing much banding at all in video upto iso1250, iso1600 some minor banding is evident, and I tested this at full zoom with x2 digi invoked in a single 60w bulb dark corner of a room and was gob-smacked at the results, S mode 1/30. Also with/without lcd makes no difference, but is steadier at 560mm in evf mode-hand-held!

Same for stills, banding seems to be gone upto iso2000, iso3200 I dont use becuase by iso2000 most fine detail is getting destroyed. The detail at iso1600 though is Nikon/Canon territory and now banding issue seems solved well again, its imressive stuff.
 
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