News from Spain about low light banding

A

ajbazalo

Member
Hi everyone:

I bought the GH1 last november and I suffering the banding problema. Technical support in Barcelona contacted with Panasonic Spain about this problem and the company answered me with this words:

'factory says the banding is normal. As the product is not a camcorder, but a photo camera, we are not consider this effect as a problem. Yes, we know some GH1 has banding and others don't, but that's life'.

I told them they must advice about that in the specifications, in the manual, and they say I'm right, but even that, they are not going to fix my problem.

In adittion, I tested my camera with a Canon FD f1.8 lens and ISO100 and the banding is still present.

In resume, Panasonic doesn't care about this problem at all.

Next days I will present a claim in consumer rights organizations.

Regards.
 
I would not consider the Spanish Technical support as the voice of panasonic. I mean come on you seriously think that Panasonic Japan would say "that's life"??

Do not assume that Panasonic does not care because the people in Barcelona technical support are rude.
 
What kind of bands are they? The colored bands: wide purple/blue/yellow streaks; or the black bands: thin black bands that may or may not blink?
 
stav1606: Panasonic's Technical Support in Barcelona was very friendly and admitted the problem with banding, but Panasonic Spain itself denied any resolution as, for example, to replace mi GH1 for a new one.

Svart: wide purple/blue/yellow streaks

Greetings.
 
I understand you were translating from Spanish to English, but did they actually say "that's life"? Because that's pretty rude. Maybe you were just paraphrasing?
 
My colored banding seems to have gone away with long term usage of the camera. I had a little bit left the other day but have been doing the "burn-in" suggested in another thread and it seems to be helping. Might be worth a try.

Burn-in: turn camera on, set to 1600iso, point at a dark area or put the lens cap on and then leave it on for a couple days.

I've been doing mine overnight for 2 days now and I'd say that the colored banding is pretty much gone now. just the thin black banding remains. I think that kind of banding is the CMOS banding everyone talks about.

Some swear it works, while others say it doesn't. I didn't believe it at first but it seems to do something since I can now take 1600ISO shots without the colored bands totally killing my picture.
 
DanDOF: 'That's life' is an ironic interpretation. I remember the real words were: 'I understand it's not fair some GH1 works fine and some others don't, but we are not going to do anything about that'.

Friendly words, pretty rude position.

I tried the burn-in process with no very great results, but I will try again follow your instructions.

Regards.
 
It's an issue with the camera, but the camera is functional, it's a known issue...and...I don't see how it's an issue for a consumer protection agency.
 
Kellar42: It's a known issue because I can see it in the screen and I know this forum, but it's not a issue recognized in the GH1 official specifications.
 
I've got the color banding/noise but I've never seen the thin black lines?? I would consider the 'burn in' procedure, but is it possible that the thin black lines are a result from the 'burn-in'??
 
i'd like to see what exactly you're shooting. share it with us. if it's a problem lets check it out and help you decide if it's a defect or something common. i've shot with a lens at 2.8 200-250 iso no banding. the lighting didn't light up the scene and still don't run across this problem most are seeing. or is it the problem people are having is that they don't quite understand what "limitations" means? the gh1 is an awesome video camera but it's not going to see in the dark nor is it going to be a flawless piece of equipment. i so far have found it be more than adequate.
 
Banding on the GH1 is not merely a video issue, it is also a known issue with stills at higher ISOs. If you go onto any m4/3 stills forum such as that on Dpreview and enter something like GH1 banding into the search function, you will soon understand that this is not confined to video.
 
which is expected. the ill informed members, which skip half the threads on banding, will see that the gh1's ISO ratings are a lot higher than they really are. 100-400 iso. that's it. don't go higher than that. get a faster lens. don't shoot with it under exposed. it's really simple but the newbies are always posting "got banding, how do I fix it" threads or comments every other month and the supposed burning seems a bit trite.
 
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SteB said:
Banding on the GH1 is not merely a video issue, it is also a known issue with stills at higher ISOs. If you go onto any m4/3 stills forum such as that on Dpreview and enter something like GH1 banding into the search function, you will soon understand that this is not confined to video.
Click to expand...

If you look closely enough a 100 ISO still has banding
 
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