@bmcent1 Thanks for posting. That isn't the least bit subtle, is it? I haven't seen that on 5 yet but haven't taken anything with that dark a background either.

@bmcent1 When you say banding, I assume you're refering to the dark horizontal bands. This has nothing to do with Sanity. This is typical of the GH2. It does this under certain conditions. You'll even see it in the uncompressed HDMI output. BTW, that's a mean looking mother...

Yes @Ralph_B, that's what I was referring too. In a way, sorry to hear it's the GH2 and not the settings ;) I know the scene was darker due to my aperture, but I was outside, middle of the day, in shade. I guess the only way to avoid those darker horizontal likes is to make a better exposure then darken in post if desired?

Funny, it he is mean looking, but it's mega magnification with the 150mm and ETC crop ... he's actually smaller than the lead point of a pencil and easy to miss with the naked eye!

Thank you islander, I will stick to those then!

@peternap, yes to avoid ISO bug navigate with middle numbers from highest to lowest then go up to the top row. I just attended a workshop with DP for SNL and he explained the importance of using the increments of 160, 320, 640 etc. Kind of like using double the frame rate for shutter speed.

@blazer.. how is it not correct? Arent the ISO on the top row all clean if you avoid the bug?

" ISO 640 is a bit less noisy than ISO 500 if you're stepping down from 800 (avoiding the ISO bug), and a little bit noisier than 800 if you're stepping up from 500 (invoking the ISO bug). But ISO 640 is less noisy than 1000 and more noisy than 400, no matter what."

So you are saying that for some reason 400 is also a sweet spot? But that doesn't mean you want to avoid all the ISO on the top row as a short cut to avoid the bug, as this was the context I was responding to. In fact you want to use ones on the top row because they are all clean. I can't remember exactly why, and my source could be inacurate for GH2 as blazer claims, but as I recall it had something to do with the number of pixels that translates into an even distribution for these increments, which is why they are on the top row?

I would like to know why this doesn't apply to the GH2? If it is too complicated for someone to use the top row, how will they be able to remember exactly which other single ISO is ok while avoiding others on the same row? For me and my workflow it's easy to just use the top row and avoid the ISO bug.

I haven't noticed any banding issues after I got a fast lens and use double the correct framerate.

I notice lots of noise with a slow lens.

These are just my observations.

Well, film the same scene with the same settings first with Sanity 5 and then with the standard firmware and compare the clips. Then you know, if it is a Sanity or a GH2 problem.

@RalphB said: " I discovered a way to create monster size I frames, while still keeping the bitrate low."

Cool!!! So what's the trick? The scaling tables, Auto Quantizer or both?

@duartix I vouch for the monster size I frames (manipulating scaling tables for P&B frames I believe), however it is my opinion that this creates artifacts in darker areas of the image. I will have to test different scaling tables to confirm this.

I don't use shareware.. plus I'm in Ubuntu :) I wonder if the GOP size affects the details. 17 frames is a long way from I frame to I frame, particularly with movement.

delete my post, wrong settings.

@Ralph_B

I've quickly tested your new settings.

in HBR/25p mode I-frames hardly exceed 600K. Maybe just numbers... but infact the video looks compressed. Sanity 3 rocks in HBR/25 mode...

Your concept of using the fallback scaling tables for P- and B-frames is very interessting. It just doesn't work for personally me at 25p. But it have given me ideas for other settings. So many thanks for bringing this up!

Sanity 4.1, very impressed

Sanity 5 hack 35-85mm f2.8 zoom Vivitar Series I Lenses (of 1980) Vibrant -2 0 0 -2

the grain you see appeared after it was sharpened