It's my understanding that the GH2 uses per-channel gain to create a white-balanced image. This means if you are shooting with something that needs to be corrected a fair amount, you'll see some additional noise in the gained color channels. I notice it a lot more when using CFLs that green spike, because the other channels are gained up to compensate, than I do with shooting in daylight, for what that's worth.

A useful question might be: is it better to do this in-camera with manual white balance or to do it in post?

I haven't tried dialing a temperature manually, so I'm not sure if this would be any different. My guess is that if I changed the color settings and color temperature to match the 'white balanced set' function, it would look very similar in terms of noise.

For what it's worth, I also tested using the "Daylight" preset, which seemed to have just as much noise as using the white balance set function. If I have the time tonight, I'll try to run through all of the white balance settings. I wouldn't be surprised though if the behavior is a little bit erratic. That is, it probably depends a lot on the specific lighting setup that you're using and the ISO you're shooting. I don't know the specifics on how color channel gain is applied with the GH2, but it's certainly possible that, just like setting ISO, it depends less on how much gain is applied and more on the initial settings to which it is applied.

(sorry if this is a little bit obtuse)

@csync

I will actually be making a test shortly myself and post results. Perhaps if we pool our results/observation we can get a better understanding of this issue. I certainly thank you for any contribution you can make towards this end.

@etb

I have not used the color jog mode as I infrequently use the GH2 as a camera. But thanks for sharing the information. Perhaps someone has additional insight on whether or not this has any bearing on WB'ing in film mode.

In all the images posted above you can see yellow stripes running horizontally across the wall, moving down to up (see attached picture). I believe they were caused by the fluorescent lighting which I did not correct for as I only noticed flickering in the dark part of the image (doorway of pictures on top row).

Would changing shutter speeds correct this? I was shooting at 1/50, I am in North America.