GH2 Video Shooting Basics Help!

T

Tim_

Member
Hi great DVX forum guys!

I have GH2 14-140 and I can't understand how to set 24p movie mode quality so that it even closely could be as good as auto mode (in terms of picture quality)...

No metter how I set my Aperture, SS and ISO, my picture looks either too overexposed (with "highlight alarm" always blinking on white-ish objects or my picture is too dark.

First I set A to 4-6, then set SS to 50-60. But my dynamic range sucks.

As a first step I want to be able to set my picture qulaity using manual controls over A, SS ans ISO so that it could be at least as good as iAuto mode.

Please give me some advice on some step-by-step manual settings, because I'm completely newbie with GH2 (I had Sony VX2100 for over 5 years, using it a lot and not consider much problems with settings).

I've read all user advices on this board so far but still don't get it.

For shooting I mostly using 3-point lightning (flourescent) indoor interview-like situations.

Thank you all in advance!

Tim.
 
This question can't really be answered without seeing your setup more closely. You need to be familiar with why shutter speeds are typically 1/50th or 1/60th and what affects your apperture has on your field of view, etc. To start, I would set the camera to auto and look at the settings it gives you. Then put those exact settings into manual mode and adjust from there until you get a usable picture. If that doesn't work then try experimenting with shutter priority mode (TV). Set your shutter to 1/60 and let the camera do the aperture and ISO. And finally of that doesn't work, then I would shoot on auto. If the image looks good and you are happy then what's wrong with auto?

I would recommend learning still photography before shooting video on these cameras. A basic understanding of settings is very very important!
 
Welcome Tim and ain't these dslrs fun ??? :-)

I am just maybe a bit ahead of you on this learning thing and the kid makes a good point. I would soften his advice some and go with "before trying to shoot tricky video, learn photography basics first".

I got my first GH1 9 months ago and have been on the learning curve since. I came from several years of shooting camcorders and thought I knew something about video. Well, I was wrong, at least wrong when it comes to shooting with dslrs. What has worked for me has been to shoot in auto everything when I need something to turn out. When it's not important, then I futz with just one setting at a time, trying out the variations and seeing what happens.

If I were you, the one I would play with first would be shooting with auto settings except for aperture. Play around with that until you get those overexposed areas down where they look nice to you. Here's where I show my lack of knowledge, but I think that would be shooting in Aperture Priority mode. I think that's where you get to pick the aperture and the camera adjusts the rest to match.

If you are like me, you need to take this one step at a time and wallow in the glory of how nice the footage looks when you get something right !!! :-)

Good luck !!!
 
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