Low Light Streaks - Is my camera faulty?

tipota said:
yep. seems to be even funnier - iso 100 must not be the "native". could be 200 or even 400. any way to find out about the gh1?
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On which ISO you have smallest noice in GH1?
There you have your answer. And pls, do not tell it is ISO 200 or 400 :)
 
Sounds about right.....not sure about the very last thing.

I have noticed that the meter seems to want you to blow things out...I've been tweaking a shot going, oh man, it's dark in here, and then realizing that the knob is set to video and the image on the liveview is actually what I'll be getting and going "wait a minute...this is fine."
 
Same here -- have been relying more and more on the way things look in LiveView and only using the meter to ballpark things. Took me awhile to learn I could trust the LCD image in most cases.

The thing about underexposing that much is I'm thinking it may be an invitation to banding and streaks. That said, the LiveView almost always looks more like what I'm actually seeing when the camera tells me I'm underexposing.
 
i, like keller42 , have read through all the posts and my head is in melt down! too much info!

as a summary is it ok to say that this kind of banding doesn't generally appear with fast prime lenses, especially when set to 720p?
is that correct?
thanks!
 
It would seem that everybody has different experiences - which is not surprising, since everybody shoots different material and shoots in a different way.

Having shot quite a bit with the GH1, I would say that with fast prime lenses and in 720p the banding is reduced/less likely to occur. But it can still be present even under those circumstances.
 
From my experience, it doesn't matter what kind of lens you put on it, if what you're shooting is exposed three stops under, the potential for banding will be there.
 
Is this normal?

I've received my GH1 a few days ago.
And I was wondering if this was normal, this is a normally lit room, not too bright but it REALLY isn't THAT dark. This is the kit lens at f4.0 1/50 ISO 800

 
Oetam said:
Is this normal?

I've received my GH1 a few days ago.
And I was wondering if this was normal, this is a normally lit room, not too bright but it REALLY isn't THAT dark. This is the kit lens at f4.0 1/50 ISO 800

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Well if what you mean "not too bright" is to say a 60W lightbulb in a lamp shade across the room then yes that is normal. You have to use light kits with the stock lens. A simple household light is not going to do.
 
That's kind of awkward, the image on the camera's LCD on playback mode looked much brighter but also grainier. Like the LCD itself had gain....

But yeah... I really need some faster primes. I just expected a bit too much of the kit lens.
 
it probably did. that was a common mistake on the d90 people were running into. they'd adjust the brightness on the lcd thinking it was affecting the video. there's a button or trick to show you exactly what you're getting when using the lcd on the gh1. i think it's trashcan for ten seconds or shutter button....someone here knows.
 
In 'proper' video mode, (Creative Motion Picture mode) what's on the LCD or viewfinder is what you get, before or during the shot.

In any other mode, you're in photo mode until you run video, and then the video is largely or completely automatic, ignoring almost all settings.

In those not-proper-video modes, what you see is not what you get. You have to press the dustbin button to preview depth of field (still at full brightness) then press the display button to preview shutter speed, which will darken the image (depending on the shutter speed) and also it will display motion blur if the shutter speed is slow. But once you run the video, then the set aperture and shutter speed will go out the window anyway, so....

For proper video use the proper video mode. For "I'll let the GH1 decide what's best" video, use the other modes. Though that can have its place if a plane crashes in front of you and you're too shaken to set things up to grab the world-exclusive video shot.
 
yeah... but it looked like that AFTER i had taken the picture pressing the play button. And then it looked completely different on my computer.
 
Oetam said:
yeah... but it looked like that AFTER i had taken the picture pressing the play button. And then it looked completely different on my computer.
Click to expand...
Pls check LCD MODE - power LCD, auto power LCD.
You will find details in instruction.
 
So what's the conclusion? All gh1's get these streaks in certain situation or some have it worse than others?
 
ok, here is a question, has anyone here had the GH1 sent back and serviced for this streaking and banding issue ? and if yes, was the issue resolved or at least became less of an issue because of the service or repair? or is it just a waste of time sending in your gh1 for "repair" for this issue? thanks for any input regarding this matter...
 
In my opinion it's a waste of time to return it under warranty, because all GH1's are about the same with regards to the issue. It's also a well documented 'feature' of the technology (CMOS). Other CMOS based cameras have it too but to lesser amounts. It's not one of the GH1's strong points but shouldn't be a major creativity or deal breaker. Just avoid underexposing your shots in dim lighting.
 
Oetam said:
yeah... but it looked like that AFTER i had taken the picture pressing the play button. And then it looked completely different on my computer.
Click to expand...

The nature of banding changes between the live view on the camera's LCD and what gets recorded.

When you hit record, the noise reduction kicks in and so does the AVCHD compression, which makes banding more like solid bands of discolouration rather than vertically aligned noise.

You can remove banding in software afterwards I believe, in a similar way that rolling shutter can also be made less severe by software tricks.
 
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