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GH4 in Low Light
  • RRRogerRRRoger

    What settings do you use in low light?

    Is higher frame rate or faster shutter better for action? I seem to have maxed out my camera at 1600 ISO as the detail becomes obscure above that. I shoot unattended in a poorly lit Bowling Alley for 1-3 hours at a time. My 12-35 is set for f/2.8 I've tried 4k but usually go for 1080P60 at 120s with better results. Would shooting 4k 30P with a 120s shutter work better yet?

  • 6 Replies sorted by
  • aldolegaaldolega

    1/120th of a second is going to look the same no matter what the frame rate is. Video is just a series of photos with audio, and those photos are not going to magically be more exposed just because you take more of them per second.

    1080 mode is giving you better performance because the sensor is effectively larger than in 4K mode. The image processor doing a downscale from the ~4.6K full sensor width to 1080p will also get rid of some of the noise in the final image. The 4K mode is pixel-to-pixel and thus does not benefit from this. You could experiment with shooting 4K and de-noising with Neat Video before downscaling to 1080p in your NLE. This probably won't look much if any better than just shooting 1080p in-cam, though.

    What would probably be best for you would be an A7s, with a fairly wide but fast lens, for deeper DOF without sacrificing light (a wider lens has deeper DOF than a longer lens at the same aperture).

  • jjj_ri_usajjj_ri_usa

    @RRRoger. I don't understand why you would use shutter speed=1/120 if you opt to shoot at 30 fps instead of 60 fps. If you are OK with 30 fps then you can use a SS=1/60th and effectively have twice the exposure. So, if you are properly exposed at 60 fps and SS=1/120 with ISO=1600, you would be able to lower your ISO to 800 by using SS=1/60th instead of 1/120.

  • RRRogerRRRoger

    The main reason for using higher shutter speed (1/120s instead of 1/60s) is to help freeze the action. I want to zoom in on the hand release when I record Bowling. 4k P30 at 120s lets in as more light than 1080P60 at 120s so I might also try 4k 240s if the resulting ISO is not too high. Generally what I see in the GH4 LCD is what I record. I can also zoom in on my higher resolution MustHD 7" monitor for better focus.

  • joetheprojoethepro
    4k P30 at 120s lets in as more light than 1080P60 at 120s

    Where are you getting this logic? 1/120 sec exposure is 1/120 sec exposure. Only thing that would let in more light in one case is a larger aperture.

  • RRRogerRRRoger

    Sorry joethepro, Senior moment? 120s does = 120s

  • detlef_shrimpdetlef_shrimp

    Yeah changing your frame rate won't affect exposure, but it will have an affect on motion blur. I think what you're really asking is how to maintain minimal motion blur without pushing the ISO too high. Shooting at 30p with 120 shutter will give you a smaller shutter angle (less motion blur) but it won't make a difference on exposure. Theoretically, freezing a frame at 30p at 60s would give you the same look as 60p at 120s with twice the exposure. It just won't look as smooth during playback.

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