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GH1 low light - best settings
  • m_cm_c

    hi, hope you can suggest best patch for shooting with gh1 in indoors low-light situations with only available light using gh13 with FD 50/1.8 finding no matter what i try, i'm getting some undesirable noise in the images the test shots so far are ok, i'd just like to get as best possible shooting a no-budget short very soon THANKS

  • 8 Replies sorted by
  • zigizigizigizigi

    GH1 is a weak low light camera. The sensor is ok, but the fixed-pattern noise is what deteriorates its low light performance greatly.

    The quickest way to circumvent it is to lock exposure with AE-lock button before hitting rec (works for P, A or S mode). You lose a bit of exposure but have less intrusive noise. There were some sophisticated techniques involving custom styles programming posted on divxuser - but all these techniques essentially do the same - they limit ISO. You get less noise at the cost of underexposure. That's all equal to simply dialing ISO down if working in M mode.

    No fancy patch will help you to combat FPN. F/1.8 certainly will.

  • m_cm_c

    thanks zigi, i hadn't tried locking the exposure - i'll give that a shot to see if it helps

  • sammysammy

    to me the key with low light and the gh13 was to keep your iso under 800 ,while keeping correct exposure

  • m_cm_c

    the main couple of rooms i'm shooting in inside a house are fairly dark (worse on cloudy days). i've been shooting F1.8 but with the shutter speed, is there supposed to be much difference between 1080 with 1/30 and 720 with 1/25 ? and even though hacks don't matter that much in this situation, is there a particular one anyone can recommend?

  • CRFilmsCRFilms

    If you don't mind shooting black n white, you can go max iso 3200 in the Smooth B&W settings and it virtually eliminates FPN. It's still noisy, but it's stock digital noise more circular than blocky and you can then do standard denoising much easier than color FPN footage or keep the noise for a old school grainy look.

    Also try shooting a bit more overexposed than looks right, then darken it in post. Turning down contrast, brightness will also hide some noise. Finally this is the only video I've seen that talks about how to try and get as little FPN as possible. I find it helps. Even on no budget you should have some stock lights at the location that you can move around.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @m_c

    Use following topic for such questions

    http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/2759/beginners-help-me-find-specific-settings-topic#Item_30

  • m_cm_c

    thanks for the help guys

  • gh1banditgh1bandit

    yes,,light is key,,any low light situation you need some light,,even with 1.2 f stop,,you cant film in total darkness,,you need some light on subject,,even a small flashlight will give you the light you need to expose enough to rid of noise,,,

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