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GH2 showing fixed darker band/stripe 20 pixels high across footage
  • 186 Replies sorted by
  • driftwooddriftwood
    Can anyone else confirm if this mainly happens within the first 10 seconds of a recording?
  • EtbEtb
    Thanks John_Farragut. GH2 can have at least one bug, no problem^^.

    Anybody that want to see it have just to rolling the shutter speeds with the lens cap in high iso.

    Tested on 3 different serial numbers base.
  • sam_sticklandsam_stickland
    @exhardy Try higher shutter speeds and you'll see the band move up the picture.
  • exhardyexhardy
    In fact, I've found the band visible in 24p mode but not in 50i and 50p on my PAL camera with 1/50 shutter...
    It's there when the shutter is 100 with the 50i/p mode.
    The same case for 24p mode, the band isn't there if the shutter is 1/25...
    So it turns out, but not quite sure:
    1 x shutter + 1 x fps = no band
    (anything else) x shutter + 1 x fps = band
  • John_FarragutJohn_Farragut
    Actually, good to know that it is more of a generic problem. I saw it, and I despaired. But now I know it is a more common problem, so everybody is in the same boat. Still bad of Panasonic. But you always have to live with these kind of things. Nothing ever is perfect.
  • EtbEtb
    Hi!
    Same issue for me.
    So, for be clear, it's a generic problem of GH2 on bad situation, or only few models are concerned? It's a hardware or software problem? If it's soft, maybe the update of december can resolve it..?

    I am under warrantly, so i need to know what i must do : replacement, or post-prod?
  • chefchef
    Same here using last patch Aquarius check out first couple of shots are iso 12800 at f2.8 ss50 last 2 shots are iso 5000 at f1.8.You can see clearly this band appearing on the lower part of the screen, as soon as I turned off an back on, changed lens and iso down to 5000 this band disappeared.

  • nomadnomad
    Yes, it does show for me with high ISO under the new hack.
  • sam_sticklandsam_stickland
    @RJH No, I've been working around it. When I first noticed it I was on the 14-42mm kit lens (3.5-5.6) using only available light, at ISO1600+. And still a bit under exposed at that. I've got lenses now that are all 1.4 - 1.7, and I typically light every scene so it's been a lot less of a problem for me.

    I haven't tried the new hack yet, but it would be interesting to see how under or over exposure affects it. I suspect it shows up more when it's 2 stops+ under exposed but I'll have to check.
  • nomadnomad
    Or a problem with balancing of processors? AFAIK, the GH2 has three of them.
    I remember a similar problem, only vertical, with an early HDTV cam from JVC a free years ago, which had two processors. They fixed it for lower ISOs with a firmware update but it never went away completely at higher ISOs.
    BTW, that camera was a about 10 times the price of a GH2…
  • 5thwall5thwall
    @John_Farragut I'm also noticing some moving horizontal interference at 1/50th. When I switch to 1/40th it goes away. 1/30th it comes back slightly. You can really see the horizontal movement when you speed the footage up. I will post some video footage of this at a later date.
  • John_FarragutJohn_Farragut
    I too have this at the exact same place. Don't think it's a sensor issue. I think it's a processing or interference issue, or bad programming. Even seen at EOSHD test at iso 12800 http://www.eoshd.com/content/5248/latest-gh2-hack-unlocks-stunning-iso-12800-with-film-like-grain So this lets me believe everybody is having it, but not everybody is noticing.

    I hope it is fixed in the next firmware update. Without the band, GH2 would be stunning. It's a conspiracy!

    On another note, I noticed a similar banding across the screen in the GF1, but lighter. It was more pronounced when recording with all UI elements visible on screen, like time left on card. But when I hid all visual elements, it became less pronounced. This weird behaviour let me believe there might be some high processing interference in the circuity. Maybe bad shielding?
  • 5thwall5thwall
    I checked it out across ISOs 160-2500 in a dark hallway. Brought it into FCP (after converting to Prores) and brightened the image up with 3-way color corrector. The band is still there at ISO 160. I feel like I'm late to the game on this. Why am I just noticing this now? It seems like a lot of people are getting this. Hoping it can be fixed with firmware. I've attached a screen cap of the brightened image in FCP.
    Band at ISO160 brightened.png
    1449 x 833 - 2M
  • RJHRJH
    @sam_stickland

    Did you return your camera or have you been working around the banding? Have you updated to the new PTools with the high ISO unlocked? If so do you still get the banding? I do...it sucks, I have to set it to 1/30 or 1/25th shutter to get rid of it, it's such a pain, all that extra low light potential ruined by that little band!
  • kanintesovakanintesova
    Yep, I have this too. Actually I noticed it pre any hack. Especially in EXT-telemode. It appears when underexposed and at high ISO. Below 800 it is barley noticable. It's in darker areas. Bugs me quite a bit. Don't think it's fixable. Most likely hardware related.

    Bummer. I have tried the kit-lens as well as Canon FD lenses. If everything is well exposed it is ok, you don't notice. It also appears without artificial lights.

    I have the PAL version WE1CA.

    Such a pity in a way. :'(

    But hey it's a consumer camera. I also notice these bands/stripes in still photography mode at high ISO's and underexposed. Even worse then.
  • sam_sticklandsam_stickland
    @No_SuRReNDeR I think your fluorescent lights don't have a very high frequency ballast and are flickering at 120Hz (60 x 2).

    Set your shutter speed to 1/60 and if your flickering isn't markedly reduced I'll eat my hat :)
  • No_SuRReNDeRNo_SuRReNDeR
    @sam_stickland Actually, I'm just following the 180 degree shutter rule....24p = 1/48th -->round up because you have no choice and your shutter is at 1/50...

  • sam_sticklandsam_stickland
    @No_SuRReNDeR Unless I'm very much mistaken, in the USA with 60Hz electric you should use 1/60 shutter speed under lighting. Either your frame rate or your shutter speed needs to be in sync with the electricity cycle.
  • No_SuRReNDeRNo_SuRReNDeR
    @sam_stickland Nope 60 I'm in the good old USA... weird huh?...
  • nomadnomad
    That's normal. Since Panasonic is doing much better downscaling than Canon's DSLRs (that's why we have less aliasing) they are obviously integrating pixels. This will automatically reduce noise too, even without any additional filtering. 1:1 pixel ratio will show the true noise of our GH2…
  • tinyrobottinyrobot
    Yes, the ExTele is only good for daylight shots, unless you're shooting a documentary of a scene you have to get.
  • sam_sticklandsam_stickland
    Some quick tests comparing normal with ExTele mode clearly showed the fixed band in normal mode, but I couldn't spot it in ExTele.

    The ExTele mode was clearly, much much noisier at 3200 ISO. I also tried at 800 and 1600. Subjectively I'd say that the 800 ISO ExTele has comparable to noise 3200 ISO normal! Put another way you could say that ExTele loses you two stops of light. Suddenly those old c-mount lenses aren't sounding nearly as good.
  • sam_sticklandsam_stickland
    @No_SuRReNDeR Are you in a 50Hz AC country?
  • No_SuRReNDeRNo_SuRReNDeR
    Ive also noticed lighting has an effect on it. Banding is much worse for me under fluorescent lights at 1/50.
  • tinyrobottinyrobot
    Andrew Reid says on his GH2, he can't see any banding. If you watch this video which he says was all shot at 1600iso and 3200iso, you can spot it on the wall at 1:37. Still most of the footage looks pretty good partly maybe because he is mixing his shutter speed between 1/25 and 1/50.

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