I think changing the shutter speed might be the only way to compensate the ISO rise (aperture change might be to distracting). I even saw some tests with lens cap on (pitch black) i guess they apply a level correction above all to make it legible.
I already did an indoor test last night with SeAquake for my own use and I was planning on doing one tonight comparing the stock & upgraded firmware. I could post if anyone is interested though my knowledge of best subject for testing is limited (i just film my better half in front of the PC with dark background).
Is it OK to adjust shutter speed to compensate for brighter image, i.e. at ISO 640 start at 1/25 then gradually move up to 1/60 as the ISO increases (does the noise change at different shutter speeds for relatively static subject)?
@spacewig :) Yep judging the test on page one, the new 1.1 raw files seems the most ugly :) that's pretty amazing to me. Anyways GH2 video mode is not raw but rather similar to jpeg so raw file only matter for photos. We should make a complete ISO test from 160 to 3200, we may notice that the "bad ISO" have changed and the 6400 from the test may be one of them? (don't know if I'm right or it make sense)
Thanks for posting your test. The Video I was referring to that's on page one has a segment (between 1:23 & 1:30) specifically comparing the noise reduction at 2 different ISO settings between the stock and updated firmware. Judging from that alone I think anyone would come to the conclusion the update is for the worst (NR wise), though I am heartened to hear that some find it better as I can't see the harm in the camera having a better base NR to be further tweaked in post. I guess I will have to test moi-même.
@spacewig : As concern NR I find it much improved ! Footage shot à 2500 ISO seems useable (unlike before) (NR set to 0) I think we can't judge from footage posted on Youtube, Vimeo Video quality is much better/reliable.
Has anyone confirmed that the new & improved NR is actually worse than on FW 1.0? That's what the video in VK's post on the first page seems to show quite clearly.
@ Vitaliy A question: Once the porting ptools on the new firmware 1.1, we can still use the old one (1.0) or have to use an old version of ptools? I ask because some friends who have tried the new firmware are not happy, especially for the noise at high ISO.
@amateur: you can see the light flicker in the left one, it was clearly not a shutter which corresponded with the frequency the lights on the tower flickered at. in the right one it is. No flicker. So they were different shutter speeds. which of course can account for the brightness difference. :)
but will be interesting to find out if there is really more detail resolved in the high ISOs.
@amateur: Is it just me, or was there HORRIBLE compression on that last one? Firstly there was so much aliasing, almost at Canon level. Secondly the sky was extremely blocky from low bitrate. Doesn't look like in-camera compression, but rather the person who uploaded it.
I agree with balazer, its only lighter, no diffrent quality. And on the vectorscope you can see that the llights at the cone are allready clipping. Try to read the electronic signs in the light version on the right side, maybe for train, tram or something. Would be interesting to see if there is realy any difference with the same lightning impression. And how much aperture or ISO i will spare for the same impression with the same lens on the same scene. Seems like you have two GH2. So it would be graet if you could make such a test :-)