The Panasonic G1HD | GH-1 Video Mode : A Real Video Mode

Considering there are much cheaper cameras with considerably higher data rates than the GH1 I would call it a con. This is a neat little camera but I would be a lot more interested if it had a better signal.
 
Using posted mts files in after effects...

Using posted mts files in after effects...

Hi there,

I've been following this thread for the last few days, and I'm surprised no-one has mentioned trying to work with these files in after effects. Everything i've seen so far has been about FCP.

I've taken the 1080p mts files, and AE recognizes them, which is great, but I can not get it to propery remove the interlacing to get a 24p file...

When I look at the raw file inside of AE, i'd expect the cadence of the interlacing to go: Frame, Frame, Frame, Fielded Frame, Fielded Frame, Frame, Frame, Frame, Fielded Frame, Fielded Frame, etc etc...

That's how you'd normally wrap 24p inside of 29.97fps.

If the pulldown removal is set to WWSSW every now and then, there's still a fielded frame in there! If you look at the file, every now and then, it goes Frame, Frame, Field Field, which screws up the cadence in AE.

Anyone know why this is the case, and how to fix it?

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks!
 
That's weird. I'm still on CS3 but I wasn't able to bring the mts files in, I had to convert them to quicktimes first. But then in AE I just clicked on "guess 3:2 pulldown" and that did the trick.
 
I think the scheme Panasonic used put some form noise reduction at the expense of higher spatial frequency detail that makes the DCT compression more effective. They aren't the only ones, Sanyo and many others are doing it.

It is a strange trade-off given that the image off the sensor is probably a match for the 5DM2 and any other camera in this general range. That still doesn't add detail. While there haven't been any back-to-back HF S10/GH1 tests, it is quite possible in good lighting the HF S10 has more definition and in some case more texture detail. However, subjectively most here would probably say the GH1 as a more pleasing image. And better (much better) manual controls. The HF S10 would have better audio controls, although neither have anything most would consider acceptable.

The same processing engine is under the ZS3 reviewed at http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Panasonic_Lumix_DMC_TZ7_ZS3/index.shtml with a sample video (with raw download) here: http://vimeo.com/3676507.
 
divide said:
17mbps isn't that bad (remember it's h264, not mpeg2) and handle most of the situation better than HDV; it only breaks with fast action, use 720p60 for that purpose.
Click to expand...

It's not just fast motion that the 1080/24 Breaks up on this camera. I've seen it crack just changing exposure on the fly. All in all the VBR really hurts this camera @ 1080/24.

If it were locked somewhere around 17 then I think it'd be all good, but it's dropping too far out of that range.

in 720/60P it seems to want to REMAIN in the 15 - 17 range.

Naturally, the Motion JPEG holds up even better at the expense of 60P and 24P, since it's only 720/30P. It also introduces some blockyness but it's not as dreaded as I though it would be.

In the end, unless Panasonic introduces a firmware update to tweak a few things, 1080/24P will be for work that doesn't need much motion, tripod etc, or anything that isn't taxing on the compression.

720/60P will be for everything else, converting to 23.98 in the end.

So, we're still in the Workaround territory with the GH-1.
 
mkeep said:
That's weird. I'm still on CS3 but I wasn't able to bring the mts files in, I had to convert them to quicktimes first. But then in AE I just clicked on "guess 3:2 pulldown" and that did the trick.
Click to expand...

I'm using CS4 and it brought them right in. I tried with CS3, and yeah, it doesn't want to recognize them. I can't get imovie, or FCP to import any of these files either to see if they can figure out the 3:2 pulldown cadence on these things.
 
Does anyone know what bitrate the GH1 uses for MJPEG?

It would be nice if Panasonic allowed a choice between MJPEG and AVCHD at the higher resolutions/framerates. Especially since the AVCHD spec maxes out at 24mbps. There's no such limit with MJPEG, and it seems like it would make for a much easier workflow for most of us. I'm guessing 1080/24p in MJPEG at 50mbps would look fantastic.

Yeah, I know I'm dreaming, but Panasonic worked so hard to make this camera good at shooting video. They fixed a lot of complaints/frustrations people had with the D90 & 5D mkII, so let's be optimistic and hope they're still listening.

But, if they're not, any firmware hackers out there? One of the Canon firmware hacks allows the bitrate the be increased or decreased from the default setting, and you can push it high enough (6+ megaBYTES per second) that the memory card becomes the bottleneck.
 
Codeloss that's not a bad idea, to be honest. I would welcome a 1080/24 MJPEG in a heartbeat just to have the option. Hell, even a 720/24 MJPEG would be cool.

Very soon here, after I do my official write-up and "field guide" I'm gonna jot up a wishlist for GH-1 updates, MJPEG @ 24FPS was going to be one of those things.
 
i am sorry if this is stupid Q

but can you zoom when shooting using the camera servo zoom?

probably yes but i want to make sure


2- is there any?? way to see live view at external monitor(sd or hd)
when shooting? (for the director to have reference)

thanks
 
I'm not sure... but this is the second time I've seen someone ask about automatic zoom...

has there ever been a DSLR lens that had an automatic zoom function? Servo = Consumer/Prosumer video cameras, or am I missing something.

It's a still camera, so Zoom is always manual. The differences, If I remember right, have only been in barrell implementation: a drag and slide zoom or a rotating.

So, you can always zoom while shooting, you can change aperture and you can change shutter speeds. You can't adjust anything outside of that, then again not even the RED can do more than that so.

If I'm wrong, someone please correct me.

No monitoring once you hit record, only on the LCD or EVF.
 
thanks

i needed to make sure about the zoom

as for live viewing is big minus for me:)

because i am working with directors how must see monitor
 
ramdop said:
i am sorry if this is stupid Q
(...)
Click to expand...

Not at all...this thread is getting too long. Maybe it should be locked, and new threads for image quality, compression, operations etc.?

Anyway, yes you can zoom, no you can't monitor out during shooting. At least, that's how it seems to be so far.

I don't know how I feel abut the monitor issue. It's a problem on one level...but on the other hand there were no monitors on film sets until the 1970s, the director just looked in the lens or trust the cinematographer*. Between this and the necessity for using external audio to get good sound, I feel that cameras like the GH1 have a lot in common with some of the classic small film cameras.


* Pet peeve: Why do people want to be 'directors of photography' when it's so much cooler to be a 'cinematographer'? And if you must be a director of something, at least be a 'DP', which is the industry shorthand. 'DOP' sounds amateur and silly, same reason people living in the United States call it the USA, not the USOA.
 
isotropy said:
I'm using CS4 and it brought them right in. I tried with CS3, and yeah, it doesn't want to recognize them. I can't get imovie, or FCP to import any of these files either to see if they can figure out the 3:2 pulldown cadence on these things.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and works great in Premiere. The file properties say '29.97' due to the 60i wrapper, but when you drop it on a 24fps timeline then it plays back perfectly. I was single-frame-stepping through footage yesterday evening looking for digital artifacts and didn't notice any interlacing problems. I'll try AE later today.

By the way I did see artifacts, such as blockiness when there is sudden movement and the image blurs. But I was zoomed at 400% and stepping one frame at a time specifically in order to find that. When I put it at a normal resolution and hit play it's just fine. Not perfect or better than Your Favorite Camera, fine as in it meets my standards for price and quality given the sort of thing I like to shoot.

And yeah there's skew on fast moving stuff, like that footage shot through the train window. Again, I can live with that. I get spaced out when I I'm trying to focus on things like telephone poles on a fast moving train in real life so those kind of defects just seem like a property of the medium to me. Too much fast parallax, whip panning etc. will make people feel ill when projected even if you shot on 35mm.
 
50Mbps mjpeg looks pretty good but wouldn't look much different to 17Mpbs AVCD as AVCHD is intraframe and at least 3 or more times more efficient than an interframe codec like mjpeg. The only time mjpeg might look better would be during fast movement provided it's constant bit-rate.

I read somewhere that the mjpeg on the GH1 is 17Mbps too, but nobody has confirmed this or whether it is VBR or CBR. Kholi has said that it doesn't look as good as the AVCHD.
 
Having said that I'd much prefer a constant bit-rate 50Mbps mjpeg over AVCHD. I just trust mjpeg more, the workflow is much easier and you get 24 real frames per second none of this interlaced pulldown garbage.
 
Correction: AVCHD Can be implemented without pulldown being necessary. The reason this camera does not do it is unknown.

So you would prefer having MJPEG over the current 1080/24P implemention of AVCHD on the GH-1, but an actual 1080/24 (which AVCHD is capable of) on the GH-1 versus MJPEG, I don't think there'd be a real contest.

Even as it stands the 720/30P AVCHD vs MJPEG 720/30P, the AVCHD is much smoother while the Motion JPEG has that same blocky pattern all over it.

If the GH-1's next update was actual, factual 1080/24P without pullodown necessary and a fixed bitrate of 17mbps then it'll rock 2x as hard as it does now.

As it sits, I'm pretty much ready to confine my shooting to 720/60P with the occasional 1080/24P for locked down wides that need the extra detail.
 
Yeah the current AVCHD implementation on the GH1 is just nuts. Maybe they think there is more demand for 60i. Who knows what goes on inside the feeble brains of the marketing people.

Somebody made a good point that the 720p is 720 lines opposed to the 1080 which is only 540 lines of resolution.
 
Kholi can you clarify is it just older fluro's and sodium vapour giving you scrolling waves not CFLs?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top