Panasonic

How do you shoot photos and videos in same event with Panasonic camera?

Vesku — Tue, 31 Dec 2013 07:01:39 +0000

Lets say there is a sunny day and you want to capture event with photos and videos. There are lots of things happening and you dont want to loose any moment. How do you work?

What modes for video and photo? How do you change modes rapidly? Which settings (A,S,iso), auto/manual, ND maybe.

I use A-mode for photos because I want to optimize best objective sharpness (about 5.6-8).

I use S-mode for video because I want to optimize motion handling (shutter 1/100-1/120 50P)

I cant use M-mode for either (though I want) because photo and video uses so different settings that I have no time to change them all the time. I have gh3.

I think that my way is the only option if I want rapidly change from photo to video and maintain some control over quality. What do you think?

GH3 50 fps which shutter speed?

Alexauwa — Sat, 28 Dec 2013 15:51:45 +0000

Which shutter speed are you shooting on when mode is 50p? Does mov or avchd make a difference?

Thanks

GF3 - another example of time waste

Vitaliy_Kiselev — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 01:42:51 +0000

First we had G3.
Primer of brilliant technology wasted by marketing department.

Now we have GF3.
Wanted NEX with m43 mount and touchscreen with much lower resolution?
Panasonic copied all the flaws from NEX for you. So you we'll be right at home since your purchase.
Pass your pink NEX to your doggy and spend other $700 on this.
You don't want to spend such money on such thing?
You must be fucking moron.
It's cool and dandy. Some think that it is only cool. But I'll tell ya - it is fucking dandy.
It is slick and dandy, no fucking controls that can screw you mind.
Just click on that shiny button and "masterpiece guaranteed" (tm)

See details about GF3 at:
http://www.43rumors.com/continually-updated-panasonic-gf3-and-leica-lens-announced/

GH2 battery life powering on/off vs using stand by mode

Riker — Fri, 20 Dec 2013 09:53:17 +0000

Quick question - does anyone know how does powering GH2 on and off affect the battery life in comparison with using the stand by mode? I have somewhat old school mindset, I don't like powering electronic devices on and off too often...but then again I don' know if leaving the camera in stand by mode drains the battery?

GH3 WLAN Live Recording

Alexauwa — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 13:13:44 +0000

Hi,

Is the GH3 capable of streaming live Video Recording via WLAN, possibly within the app?

Right now i can Only shoot photos, but video will Not be transmitted.

Thank you in advance.

mixing footage from GH2 and GH3?

olli66 — Tue, 17 Dec 2013 15:23:10 +0000

Hi guys, I am totally new to photo cameras. I am a video editor and I always filmed with HD cameras. Now I got myself a GH3 and on different shoots it outperformed my HD cameras by far. For the last concert I shot I took my GH3 and for a friend of mine (first time operating such a camera) I borrowed another GH3 from a store (55 Euro a day plus insurance and taxes) and we recorded what I think GREAT looking footage:

I really love my GH3. For future shoots I plan on buying another GH3 before I spend money each time on the rent but I need at least one more camera besides my own GH3, the additional one I am going to buy and the Gopro3 I use for some different looks and angles (it actually mixes in quite nicely - it gives a different view / picture but it looks cool and gives you some variety). I am tight on budget so I was thinking of buying a used GH2. How will this one mix in with the GH3? Which firmware should I feed that baby (I heard there are a lot of different firmware hacks)? And what lenses do you recommend? I have the 12-35 and 35-100 lenses. Have to get one more and was thinking of getting one for filming from close range (also for music videos where I can stand very close to the artist and have some nice bokeh). I thought of the Magic SLR 0,95 25mm lense but that dreamy look...would it fit the look from the other lenses if we do a multicamera shoot? I always film in 1080p/50 and create for myself the videos in 1080p/50. For blu-ray video I convert to 1080i/30. How would the GH2 footage fit in a mix that has the other cameras set at 1080p/50?

A lot of questions...I will be thankful for any answers on any of my questions.

Thanks guys.

Some questions to GH3 owners

ghill — Mon, 16 Dec 2013 12:07:46 +0000

Hello, I'd be very thankful if existing GH3 owners could help a potential owner with a couple of answers, either from their experience or by running some tests. 1) Is the HDMI output in non-recording mode different than in recording mode (i. e., shift in colours, frame rate, power zoom speed)? I've read reports about stuttering, which disappears as soon as recording is started. If the problem exists, is it limited to a particular recording format? 2) As far as I understand, the European PAL models start recording a new file every 30 minutes. Does this transition cause some glitch or other artifact in the HDMI output image? Thank you in advance.

Sanity 5.1 GH2 Short Hiking Film

TATZU — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 17:27:34 +0000

Hey Guys Let Me Know What You Think About This Little Film I Made. I Was Also Wondering If Sanity 5.1 Is The Best Patch For THose With Only A Class 10 Sandisk ultra card 30mbps

GH2 & Focussing - Auto Focus & Manual Focus Tips

driftwood — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 10:32:15 +0000

What are your best tips and methods for AF/Focus tracking on AF lenses? The Panasonic 14-140 and 20mm pancake lenses employ the GH2's AF feature set but they have a tendency to go off and hunt for focus on their own. Here are some methods that can be employed to harness back control of focus without having to go manual / or by going manual.

Methods:
1. Start in AFS (Auto Focus Single) mode and turn off facial recognition & auto tracking in menus.
2. Switch to AFS and in menu turn off Continuous Auto Focus. You can now change focus only when you depress the shutter button half-way down. It will keep this focus setup unti you hold down the shutter button half-way down again. This works whilst recording.
3. Configure Custom Menu Settings AF/AE Lock to AF/AE & AF/AE Lock Hold to 'On'. When you now press the AF/AE Lock on the camera it will focus and lock both AF and AE until pressed again.
4. Whist in AFS recording, lock your focus then switch to Manual Focus and continue your own focussing.
5. Aiding focus: Toggle between Normal View and Magnified View by switching to Manual Focus mode and press & hold the Q Menu button then press 'Set' to assign a fn button for the switching.

Please, by all means, discuss your best methods below.

Nick

"The Gift of Magioli" - A Christmas Short shot on the GH2

mattodowd — Tue, 10 Dec 2013 13:11:18 +0000

Hey all -

Figured I'd share this with the GH2 interested community. Inspired by a post-holiday party hangover brunch, a friend and I called a few actor friends and shot this short in a single day. With one camera, one lens, a monopod, and no lighting except for the final night scene.

A warped retelling of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, in which a scumbag loan-shark learns the true meaning of Christmas. Barely.

Specs:

GH3 vs 5D MKIII for stills?

acuriousman — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 22:19:09 +0000

I know the 5D3 beats the GH3 for depth of field, but what about actual still image quality? I'll be doing food photography for which I won't be making large prints, just for the web.

Has anybody here used both the GH3 and the 5D3 who can post their experiences/examples?

Thank you.:)

GH3 mov -poor mans raw

Vesku — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 10:58:29 +0000

Here are sample frames from of GH3 video. GH3 mov has more color information than almost all other h.264 4:2:0 cameras because it records levels 0-255, not standard 16-235. So I call it "poor mans raw". I have edited colors and sharpness in photoshop. It holds very well when digging shadows and optimizing dynamic range. Shooted with Natural: cont-5, sat 0, sh-5, nr-5

What do you think. Are these close to "blackmagic level"?

iDynamic - how to keep it enabled all the time.

apefos — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 14:04:52 +0000

Maybe many people already know this, but I found it today doing some tests.

iDynamic - how to keep it enabled all the time: (for movies)

Keep ISO in manual and select the desired ISO.

For native lenses, set exposure mode in movie menu to S (shutter priority) or to A (aperture priority) or to P (program mode).

For legacy lenses, set exposure mode in movie menu to S (shutter priority) or to A (aperture priority) or to P (program mode).

Set the iDynamic to High to get one fstop lifting in shadows.

Frame the subject in a way you make the camera turn iDynamic on. If you need, frame another thing to make iDynamic turn on (a contrasty scene). With the iDynamic enabled, press the AE LOCK button. The camera will hold the iDynamic on, no matter the light changes going into the sensor. To do this you need to enable AE LOCK "HOLD" in the camera menu, so you press AE LOCK and it keeps on until you press again.

The problem for native lenses is: the AE Lock button will also lock the exposure, so the only way to get manual exposure will be using a variable nd filter.

But the great thing is: for legacy lenses the manual exposure works, because after pressing the AE Lock button it is possible to change fstop in the lens aperture ring, or using the variable nd also. And if using exposure mode S (shutter priority) it is possible to control the shutter speed, so it is complete manual exposure.

Observation 1: there are some situations when the contrast is not so high in the scene. This makes the iDynamic icon turns yellow, but there is no significant shadow lifting in the image. In this situations, when pressing the AE Lock button, the iDynamic icon will turn white. This behavior is for both native and legacy lenses. It seems that the AE Lock button keeps the iDynamic enabled (yellow icon) only when there is significant lifting in the shadows.

Observation 2: to make the camera enable the iDynamic with legacy lenses, you need to point the camera to a more contrasty and more overexposed scene than it would need for a native lens. But this is no poblem because using S exposure mode with legacy lenses you can do manual exposure after locking the iDynamic on. But there are moments that even with the camera pointed to a contrast scene the iDynamic does not get enabled. Maybe the Dandelion chip can be the solution to make the camera to "think" there is a native lens in the system to make iDynamic enable easy as it does with native lenses.

GH1 and GH3 - will it match???

FFrank — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 05:14:10 +0000

Hi, I am a long time reader - first poster. I use a hacked GH1 for jears now. Slowly I start to use it for filming in a more "professional" way - still lot to learn. I am thinking of getting a GH3 as a main camera and still use my GH1 together with it.

What is your experience in editing material from GH1 and GH3 together - will it blend ;-)

Is there a special hack? Or will I always have trouble to get the colours and the looks of the two cameras matched? Thanks for your hints, tipps and help.

Best. F.

PS: Not sure if this is the right place to post - please move if not.

Lumix G6 Japanese Version

homer9601 — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 12:48:03 +0000

Hi! I shot an G6 on E-Bay which unfortunately is a Japanese Version with Firmware 1.1 (go to hell seller!). Is there a way to switch it to english language?

GH2 useful noise threshold for stills?

Riker — Thu, 28 Nov 2013 12:58:44 +0000

Trying out some high iso (4 digits) shots and I have to say 80% of them look awful to me (I'm on GH2).

This summer I had an opportunity to talk with a Nikon D800 owner who told me he always goes high ISO and he said he can use basically 80% of cameras noise levels without any quality worries.

Why can't my GH2 shoot useful stills with ISO 1000 or more...

Not to mention that I can go all the way to 12000 but anything over 2000 in my opinion is trash, except maybe for shooting B&W night photos...

Proper use of Dynamic and I Resolution settings on GH3 for movies

greytail2013 — Mon, 18 Nov 2013 10:54:32 +0000

I am confused about how to use the Dynamic range and I resolution settings on the GH3. I have three of these cameras for shooting weddings and I have them matched pretty closely. Coupled with this is the fact that these cameras are used by shooters who may not know the camera that well. Most of the shots are in poor light, so I used AVCHD rather than Quicktime. I have Dynamic range set on standard and I Resolution turned off.

GH2 for wedding videographers.

brianluce — Sun, 27 May 2012 14:26:03 +0000

Every few years a friend asks me to cover their wedding. For free. I'm always happy to do it, but I'm no wedding guy and would never want to be one. Too much stress and too hard to control the environment/set. I think a GH2 is a less than ideal camera for weddings. Here are few reasons I feel that way:

lack of built ND. Wedding was outside, but had to bouce back and forth inside, constant removing and attaching ND filter. At one point I set the ND on a counter top and couldn't find it. 5 panicky minutes before I located it.
Dynamic range. Most people say GH2's DR is just "Okay", nothing exceptional, but good enough. I had wedding from hell, Shadows and bright sunlight dicing up the whole scene, dark skinned groom, lilly white/blonde bride. Everyone was either dressed in black or white. I had to pick my poison, decided to expose the bride since it's her day. She was shaded, dark skinned groom in bright light. So he ended up with a bunch of hot spots. Clipping. And it created a gliche I've never sceen, the clipped area on his forehead created a weird green tint on his skin. What's going on with this? Anyone familiar? background overexposed slightly. Anyway, a 5d might be a better wedding camera or something lelse, I dunno. I need more DR.
ergonomics. I used the $49 polariod gun stock grip. But I used it as a shoulder style mount. Maybe other rigs are fine, but 8 hours with the Polaroid becomes tiring. Also when fatigue sets in, the method of half pressing the shudder button to focus isn't good. Half the time it pauses the camera. Anyway, GH2 is awesome, but I don't think weddings play to its strenghs. ymmv.

Green Shift While Recording Issue GH2

Craig_R — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 07:14:00 +0000

I have searched and searched to see if there is an answer for this issue. I know all about the green gamma shift on the GH2 once you press the button and start recording but my issue is I get a random green gamma shift when recording sometimes its fine and other times its not. It happens over 1 frame so its not gradual it can stay or flick back. It can happen within 2 seconds or 5 mins or not at all AWB is off and set to Kelvin and everything is set to manual happens on all picture profiles. Tried Different Patches and factory firmware still the same reset the camera setting still no joy. I have attached 2 images sorry for the ugly mug and they are 1 frame apart. Its hard to see the difference just as still exports but in an edit package its very easy to see. If anyone one has any ideas I would be very grateful

Thanks. Craig R

gh1 strap lug problem

kurth — Sat, 26 Oct 2013 12:53:39 +0000

Ok my late production cycle gh1 just had a lug come out. Unbelievably the fall didn't (hopefully ) damage the camera other than a scuff mark. But I hear a little loose noise inside the body. Anyone have any experience ? Do I need to disassemble and remove the nut, or is it safe to let it jiggle ? thanks

GH3 LCD hinge cover fix

konjow — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 16:57:29 +0000

Upss.. Drop.. Looks like nothing is broken yet... seems to be easy to broke if I try to push in and probably easy fix if know how. There is a piece of magnet which hold this piece but i don't want to force it to break this plastic cover. Any advices what to do or more important what not to do....? Except sending to panasonic of course. I fill like little boy with injured, dying pet :) I know its a punishment for selling Gh2.

Gh3 doubled frames at 1080p60 Quicktime

georgewde — Thu, 31 Oct 2013 19:14:56 +0000

When I play back a clip recorded with Quicktime 1080P60 setting every frame is doubled. Only 30 frames are effectively recorded. I tried a number of different apps to play it back, even Panasonics own Photofunstudio, PC as well as Mac Quicktime player, no matter what it seems 60 frames don't exist in the recording, every frame is doubled up. What could be wrong? Has anybody tried to slomo a 108P60 clip and is it actually working?

GHx/Gx/GFx/GXx questions and suggestions

terry2 — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 12:03:32 +0000

Hello all, as, looking to a multiple number of posts, I haven't found an answer, I look for an answer.
Meaning, technically, what would take to have the gh2 encoding in AVCHDintra 10bit?
Does the camera lack of processor juice? Is it too complex programming wise? All of these combined? Developers need more supports?
And please no aswer like "Ask Santa for next Christmas" or similar.
Thank you all

GH2 strange behavior with 1080p 25fps

CNek — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 16:03:11 +0000

Hi All, I'm filming a music video this week-end, however I stumbled upon a veeeery strange behavior. Let me explain : I always shooted in HBR Pal mode (1080 25p wrapped into a 50i container). Usually I had to interpret my footage into adobe premiere in order to make them look right. (Premiere sees interlaced, I switch to progressive). Then all the mud disappear, and I got a clean image. (that's just a deep resolution gain, nothing to do with typical interlaced stripes artefacts)

However this time I have used my 45mm olympus and actually all footage filmed with this lens get WORSER when doing the interlaced to progressive switch. I got those horrible stripes typical from interlaced footage showing up ! (that's the reverse result as expected...) I don't understand, this is a unique behavior with that Oly lens...

Moreover, and unrelated from the previous problem, I got a serious aliasing issues with a pana 7-14 (NR set to -2). That's look digital, and straight lines and pattern looks a bit ugly... I had this with my 14-140 before but not as severe.

Any tips for getting a better image ?

Thanks guys.

GH2 Problems and Issues topic

maximus — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 18:39:30 +0000

Does anyone have any problems with their GH2 ? like excessive grain - banding - glitches.
I have my second GH2 and when i first got it I had problems with it Glitching badly crazy colors and lines etc. I applied the Hack 42mb standard to see if it would help it records but wont playback in camera.
The Glitching as gone not sure if it was because of the Hack ? as it still had glitches when first applied was next day on trying that they went away, but I see banding in plain surfaces quite bad really I have not experienced this in any other camera.
I convert to ProRes HQ through FCP not sure if this is helping to cause this effect ?
Also I am not able to apply any more patches even to revert back to original it just says no media to play.
This is strange as I have applied many different patches in the past ?
Any insight or recommendations would be great.

4K GH series coming soon?

PierreB — Sat, 26 Oct 2013 14:24:27 +0000

http://www.43rumors.com/ft4-full-panasonic-gh-4k-camera-specs/ My first post...not sure what's appropriate

GH3 fimware suggestions

Vitaliy_Kiselev — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 10:56:23 +0000

This topic is intended to collect firmware only suggestions. Not hardware ones!

We'll pass most popular suggestions to GH3 developers team, so, may be, you'll see them implemented.

GH3 Preliminary specs (really rumors and speculations, nothing official :-0 ):

Wheather sealed, metal body
Shutter button located similarly to G5, same power zoom rocker
920k or better capacitive touch screen
Improved EVF (like full 1080p)
1080p50/1080p60 at 28mp
1080p120/1080p100 special modes (limited time usage), 720p120/720p100 unlimited
WiFi direct with Android and iPhone applications with remote video capture
1/3.5" mic input and headphone output
Supplied with new wheather sealed kit
And optional battery grip, of course.

Mine suggestions:

Improve video encoder making it independent from bunch of fixed settings, improve it's performance
Make special dedicated expert screen for video settings, allowing to set any combination of encoder parameters, without any hacks
Make proper electronic follow focus with speed selection, ability to set predefined positions, etc, driven from mobile phone or using rocker

Panasonic GH4!

OBgene — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 07:01:50 +0000

specs. it's coming. http://www.43rumors.com/

F*#cked up GH2 or just the card??

Carnevali — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 04:22:44 +0000

Hello guys!! I’m new here and wanted to share my bad experience with my GH2 last days: I’ve been using DW quantum b2 patch since February this year, but now something happened that started to give me issues: 1- It won’t record continuously for more than 5min on 24H (154mbps) and less than 1min on 24L(40mbps) and 720p SH (80mbps) modes. I use a Sony SDHC 16gb card rated at 45mb/s write speed. 2- It won’t let me upload any new firmware on the camera, neither patched one nor original V1.1. And I’m pretty sure I’m doing things wright here. When I press play it will just prompt “no valid picture to play” Repeat, I’ve been using this patch and bitrates since February with not issues, just now that I tried some changes on audio settings… Filmed one day without problems and then… Sh*#t happened.

I will appreciate any opinions from someone who has had the same problem or knows how to solve it. Many thanks!!

GH1 Aperture Priority Mode with Manual lens

s_maurice — Sat, 19 Oct 2013 16:57:40 +0000

Hi Guys, Googled this but cant find much on it. Doing lots of live event multi cam shoots and keep getting caught with low light sections. Normally have GH cams set full manual and expose to the max light setting centre stage on a caucasian face. Problem is when lights go down ( which they can do for whole sections) it goes too dark to see performers. While quality is excellent with full manual, Im thinking I might be better served with a bit more latitude. So question, I tested out my GH1 with a Canon FD f1.4 on Aperture Priority mode in menu. It seems to work well, It brightens to a bit lighter than human eye in dark areas (at 25 shutter I presume) and controls bright areas well due to increasing the shutter speed. Only thing that worries me is with the faster shutter speeds when lights are bright will I get any strobing or other detrimental effects due to high shutter speeds? Any thoughts appreciated.