@proaudio4 Thanks. I still haven't had time to put together the full demonstration of what the cam's optimal DR is for skin tone and why, and how best to adjust the zone system to fit the cam (That's assuming one is using the zone system. If one is not, then one deserves to be frustrated by the results - regardless of which cam one shoots with.)

but the above results should be enough for the savy shooter to at least have a starting point... fit everything you want to retain detail on into those 4 stops, and you can't go wrong.

@Misterbink Yeah, I've noticed the TE mode is nosier. I guess it's because there's less sensor to work with.

I've been Vjing in the past. Don't get the max headroom style... what do you need?

@Bressonftw I prefer Smooth. When I do use Nostalgic, I compensate the yellow and red balance by dialing up more blue and a little more green.

Smooth gives the most natural skin tones. Vibrant, even dialed down to -2 all the way through, really does some weird chroma stretching in the midtones. And it's nothing that can't be duplicated easily in post with more powerful software, with more control. What led me to do these tests in the first place was a great many claiming Vibrant was the best overall setting. I see no use for it in any workflow that will have any sort of serious grading in post.

There is some really weird stuff going on in the highlights of Cinema and Vibrant, where skin tone turns green. The screen caps below show this.

These are all at 2 and 2/3 stops over to clearly show the green tinge, which you can see in the image, as well as the WFM

Cinema

Vibrant

Nostalgic

Smooth

thanks @shian

So here is the results of where the GH2 reads a gray card and skin tone when the in-cam meter (ICM) reads 0.

Vibrant

Nostalgic

Cinema

Smooth

My conclusion is that Standard (not shown) is as close to "RAW" as you can get with the GH2, but Smooth gives you a bit more flexibility in shadows, WITHOUT unduly compressing the MIDs and HIGHs like Nostalgic, and better shadow response than Vibrant (which does some funky stuff to the mids and Highlights as well).

And here is your 20% to 80% optimum exposure range.

More in depth analysis coming in the ColorGHear Film School.

Spot metering all the way through? Looks like a weird hysteresis issue with the GH2’s meter.

@Tommyboy That’s a very interesting find. Thanks! Good food for thought.

@Shian

Thank you and what should be the correct angle to get the correct reading? Also, I was under the impression 18% grey cards should fall at exactly at 46%. Does this mean I have to overexpose by +- 1/3 or +-2/3 depending on the situation.

Cinema film mode doesn't seem boosting the shadow.

...and here is one underexposed by one stop.

@shian Yeah, I noticed it, too. Not sure it started with Sedna or earlier. I kind of think GH2’s metering is a bit wonky (to put it mildly).

I try to get my skin tones (or subject areas) within EV0 to EV+1 1/3, and keep the highlights under EV+3 and shadows over EV-3.

If the shadows are under, I need to light, if the highlights are over, I need to block. If I can't light, or block, I choose which ever option is best; crush, blow or push, which depends on the scene.