Yeah, LightRoom is easy to use and very good with the noise.

@T2iRebelvsGH2LOUIS Have a blast with that cam. I'd note that when we first started with digital cameras back in about 2003, for professional use ... you really HAD to have lenses designed for specifically digital-sensor use, so that the light-rays from the lenses went straight back to the sensor rather than at an angle. But along the way, sensors picture-element sites (pixels) have improved so much you can use older lenses that got mush on the first digital cams ... and get wonderful images/video.

So yea, a lot of fine quality but slightly older glass is really cheap and works really well. Though ... you get those Noktons, you're probably going to love them ... I want 'em too ... :-)

Never pay attention to shoot stills before, but reading this thread and tried it out
(Gh2 _45mm Olympus Raw with some adobe lightroom adjust)

The GH2 produces great results with the standard kit lens on video and now proven on still photos, but quality will be much higher with the Voightlander Nokton Lens. The GH2 deserves this lens. I've been doing some research on the Sigma Lenses. They are incredible for the money.... One don't even need Voigtlander lenses to get quality results but if it's a faster quality lens with wider maximum aperture and good construction the Voigtlander is hard to beat.

This sight has made me pay attention to stills and I'm amazed at the quality of stills that I get with the 14-42mm kit lens take a look at this JPEG of the daffodils. There is no post, this is straight out of the camera and downsized to fit on this sight. I set my GH2 to shoot RAW & JPEG at the same time and viewed a RAW file on my computer and it blew me away. RAW is definitely the way to go. I noticed that the RAW files were much larger E.G. 30mb RAW as opposed to the 4.5mb JPEG. My conclusion is the Panasonic Kit lens is damn good and a lens like Voigtlander is pure Magic.... No Vitally Keslev is pure Magic lol GH2 video!!! OH!! yes to the Hacks LOL

In case no-one's mentioned it, you can play with RAW using Silkypix (google for it) and they may still do a free version (I'm not near my PC at the moment but I have a free version they made available to GH2 owners and it's certainly OK).

I've got it and using it now thanks.... What a sight this is they got a donation coming their way

Because of diffraction, the sharpest pictures on the 14-42 kit will probably be in the range of F5.6-F8. Going with smaller aperture might actually decrease sharpness. But please correct me if I'm wrong about this.

I only use apertures past F8 because I haven't got a neutral density filter yet, so I have to stop down to get correct exposure on a bright day. I will find a good ND filter and therefore not need to use anything past F8. Click less aperture... That sounds good.... Which version is easier to focus the old or new version? Thanks for the info

I could just Imagine the real excitement of using this GH2 camera when I get into the Vitally Keslev & Nick Driftwood Hacks... This camera and the Hackers are awesome

The canon lens are excellent, my partner uses them on her T2i Rebel. Wow you have used many Panasonic cameras

The quality is frightening LOL Those eyes are coming to get me for real LOL. Voigtlander lens are expensive but the reason for me getting them apart from their excellent optical quality is their speed and now I've heard click less adjustable F stops F/0.95 is awesome & my GH2 will give the Canon 5 DMKIII users a run for their money lol

Hello lovely community,

I just read the entire thread and I learned a lot, thank you very much!!!
Here is my story: I'm a semi professional filmmaker who decided to go more into photography for now to built up a business (easier with pictures, imho) and once I have some money coming in (stock photography) I want to focus more on video. I've worked with the GH3 making videos for about 2 years but I didnt own it - so I go a fair amount of experience on the film making part.
Now I bought myself a GH2 Body about a month ago, trying to get good quality stills (and in the future videos). Then I got myself the Sigma 30mm f2.8 lens since it has great reviews and fits my price range. I also got and old Canon 50mm f1.8 FD lens with adapter.
After one month with this setup I had the same feeling as "T2iRebelvsGH2LOUIS" had a the beginning of the thread: GH2 is not good for stills. I never had perfect sharp picture results (following all the rules of aperture, ISO and shutter - all in RAW). With the manual 50mm f1.8 i thought its because of my lack of manual focusing skills, its quite hard with f1.8 because of the shallow DOF. But also with the Sigma 30mm f2.8 in Auto Focus I had never sharp pictures. Now I realized that I had my "Film Mode" set to -2 -2 -2 -2 as i would have for good video results. I will try some shots later today with 0 0 0 0 (as I've learned here in the thread) and check if the result is better. The Sigma 30mm should bring sharp results as I've seen on the web.

Now I have some further questions, thank you already in advance for your help:

• Which "film Mode" setting would you recommend for best still results?
• I'm running the original firmware on the GH2, would you recommend a hack also for better still quality?
• any tips on increasing the quality when I do manual focus? Should I stop down my lens to have a bigger DOF?
• I noticed the Canon FD 50mm f1.8 is very soft with wide aperture, what f stop would you recommend?
• Obviously the lens makes the biggest difference, I cant effort lenses like "Pana Leica 25mm f1.4" or "Voigtlander 17.5mm f0.95" - For now it seems old FD or M42 lenses can be a great deal for great results: Which one would you recommend?
• Which budget solution would work for macro shots?

again, thank you already!