Question about video quality...?

[hotzeug]

So I just got my GH1 and took some videos and imported them through Final Cut Pro (Suite 2) under the Apple ProRes 422 setting. A lot of the stuff looks great, but there are some that don't. I was trying to shoot some video of the sky and lighting, but the all the grays in the sky didn't blend well together. I don't know what the word is that I'm looking for, but it just wasn't a smooth transition of colors from gray to dark gray. I have a picture posted here so hopefully you can understand better of what I'm talking about: michael-means.com/gh1video.jpg
I'm shooting in the 1920x1080 mode as well, at 100 iso. So I guess my main question is: is this the way the video is compressed in the camera, or does this have something to do when I transfer the files to the computer via Final Cut? Can I do something to make the video look better?
I hope I have given you as much information as needed to answer. Thanks for any help.

 

[dvbrother]

What were your "Film Mode" settings? Smooth setting with the contrast dialed down to -2 might help that situation. What you're seeing is banding caused by the AVCHD codec. The settings mentioned above will help a little, then you can add back some contrast in Final Cut using Color Corrector 3-Way. Also, you could maybe have exposed it 1/3 to 2/3 stop brighter, which may help a little because that banding and artifacts are worst in the deep shadows. So making things a bit brighter (without overexposing) helps. Again, you can then bring the brightness down a little in post.