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Panasonic GH1 - Film Mode Settings
  • 114 Replies sorted by
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev
    @producer

    I think that it is not best idea to illustrate your post about color with 7Mb JPEGs :-) Try to make smaller version.

    As I said, I moved this up in my priority list, but it requires many things to be done first.

    As for cinema look, I don't give a shit about it myself (so this is my personal view), so if some will make good interesting story with tiny sensor SD100 in 60i this is cinema look, and if some guy is shooting flowers on extra expensive dolly on Mark II with Zeiss glass and make heavy grading, I don't care if it is "film looking" or "cinema looking", because all this is useless crap. Good looking useless crap.
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev
    >Well, what would be great is to be able to record raw video out of the sensor. Doubt that's possible unfortunately. Vitaliy?

    You are few years ahead :-) May be even in 2013 we'll see something like that.
  • Mark_the_HarpMark_the_Harp
    Really? I was being tongue-in-cheek and thinking it was impossible at any time.

    There is one other solution, of course. If you had very good actors, you could get them to repeat the action exactly for a second shot at a different exposure and get HDR video that way:-)
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev
    > If you had very good actors, you could get them to repeat the action exactly for a second shot at a different exposure and get HDR video that way:-)

    Any why do you need HDR video.
    Looking at stills field I don't see anyone who improved his shots just by going HDR :-)
    In fact, most HDR stills look awful.
  • producerproducer
    Of course, such a picture from this sensor is really hard to say it will be possible. I even don't mean something like that. But, as I wrote in PTool topic, for example the color mode "RETRO" is the closest possible to what the "cinestyle" flat image, but the lack of any correction parameters is what makes impossible to tune this mode.
    P.S.: About HDR I'm totally agree with Vitaliy...
  • Mark_the_HarpMark_the_Harp
    @Vitaliy - good point about HDR. When I discovered RAW I was amazed at what you could do with images.
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev
    >When I discovered RAW I was amazed at what you could do with images.

    First thing to remember - always do everything good on set, do not count on postproduction.
    I do not know why individuals with such hobby want to mimic big budget films with many professionals in pipeline. In fact, they must mimic workflow of cheap serials (few takes, cheap lighting, no or very small post processing, almost no cuts, etc). :-)
  • producerproducer
    If you search in internet, forums, etc., Vitaliy, you will see that millions of people want to produce a look like in the big budget movies.
    Meanwhile, when I say "RAW IMAGE" I don't mean raw format, but raw as no any modes/colors/contrasts/sharps/etc. applied. And I always mean video shooting, not snapshot.
  • Mark_the_HarpMark_the_Harp
    @Vitaly. I hear you! I just did a shoot where the client liked a move down to an object on a windowsill. Unfortunately it was just a shot I'd gathered as part of a recce before the shoot, so the movement was a bit rough. I spent so long trying to make it work that it would have been easier to drive over there and just shoot it again! The shot was never good enough to use and we abandoned it.

    One of the things I love about card-based cameras: it's so easy to check the shot afterwards. The time taken to do this is well worth it if it gets you to re-shoot and do it better. Just wish I'd done that in that particular case!
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev
    @producer
    >Vitaliy, you will see that millions of people want to produce a look like in the big budget movies.

    My best advise is to start learning composition, lighting and writing scripts in this case, not dreaming about flat picture :-) This is for millions. But flat picture profile with changed gamma could be useful sometimes if people understand that they are doing.

    @Mark_the_Harp
    >One of the things I love about card-based cameras: it's so easy to check the shot afterwards.

    You really hit a nerve here, as next gen cameras must advice you about problems, show realtime new generation sharpness overlay (being closer to you on their 3D screen), they must have ability to find problems with alignment, etc. Flat profiles? Could be in top cameras, may be. This is not consumer thing in HDSLR.
  • CRFilmsCRFilms
    Required viewing if you want to be a filmmaker.


    That's not to say I would do everything he does. The jello cam effect means I would rarely shoot handheld as much as he did, but tripods are light these days. The important thing for me is how he shoots and edits in cam.

    One thing I'll disagree with you @Vitaliy , is "almost no cuts". Rodriquez cut literally on EVERY LINE of dialogue. He did it because of technical problems, he recorded audio separate and it didn't sync up, but when you see the film, the cutting creates an energy and movement, even in the dialogue scenes.

    EVERY movie Rodriquez has made, while all not the best, most are must owns for the commentary tracks where he tells you how he did things and for the other 10 min film schools. His biggest weakness though, is he's not that good a writer, so his own scripts suffer from the quick pace he creates.
  • MrAnthonyMrAnthony
    @ Producer: Your latest post contradicts your earlier posts, as you now admit that the look you want can only be done by post-processing the image, not in-camera.

    Digital-based video cameras produce video-like images. Period. It's up to you to process it further. Heck, even film is processed with internegatives and interpositives, before the final look.

    Just giving us 24P as an option has done more to produce a "film-like" look than any other adjustment.

    One of the most striking examples of this was watching Blu-Ray Transformers II on a 120 Hz digital television: the image looked like it was shot on a handheld video camera because....it was. It was the post-processing that gave it the film look, plus it was processed to be seen on televisions with much lower refresh rates.

    Instead of begging for a hack, learn lighting and composition. Learn your camera controls. Learn your post-processing controls. The "big-budget" picture look has more to do with the amount of talent behind the camera than the equipment itself. "Millions want it"...LOL, yeah, because they ignorantly think that it's the gear that does the work, not the brain.
  • stoneystoney
    I think Producer meant "flatter" video straight out of the camera to make it easy to create the cinematic look he wants during post-processing.

    GH13 forum consensus seems Smooth film mode w/ all -2 settings gives the most flat look out of GH1x. If someone wants more parameters to do more fine tweaking, well... good luck~!
  • producerproducer
    Yes, stonebat, actually you're the one who understood what I mean about cinestyle flat image!!! The budget camcorders like Sony XDCAM, Canon XH, Panasonic HVX, etc. they all produce fine flat image.
    So, MrAnthony, I don't contradict my earlier posts because the look is really what can be done in post, but if the source equipment can't give the base image with the right flat settings, then in post everything is doomed to failure...
    I use exactly Smooth mode with everything at "-2" before anyone has written that. And yes, this is flattest look G/GF/GH can produce, but it's far from what must be! Therefore, a "Technicolor CineStyle"-like patch for Panasonic DSLRs would be the most used by the users, no matter what some of them say now still not realising what possibilities it will open to all of us.
  • stoneystoney
    Well... I sorta understand what you want, but you complain too much. Just let it go.
  • producerproducer
    @johnnym "All settings in film mode (nature or nostalgic) at -2 (except maybe NR, because i have a GH1 :) Then shooting underexposed, monitoring the histogram, and converting the AVCHD files with 5D2RGB.":
    Yes, I always use this way of settings, and adjusting the exposure 2-3 lines down gives very close result of cine flat image. BUT: when pressing the button taking for picture or video, the image immediately changes to center exposure and becomes brighter. All other settings of WB, ISO, Nostalgic mode, etc. stay unchaged, but why the exposure changes back to center value?!? I tried in P, A, S - absolutely the same situation, even with other manual lens. Any ideas about how to keep the level of exposure as wished? Maybe something in the camera settings?
  • RamboRambo
    I also use smooth - everything for both kit and FD lenses but occasionally will return contrast to default for the FD lenses.

    This was Smooth - all with Canon FD 50mm f1.4 shot at f4.0 with Max Lat 100Mbps patch.

    Straight from the camera, no cc or transcoding. The original mts can be downloaded from Vimeo. This is a nice combination of lens and patch. Watch it full Screen at vimeo in 1080p HD

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev
    @Ramboo

    You can also try to use technique described here
    http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/10/sharing-your-hd-videos-on-this-forum.
    if you need to share MTS files with few people fast (without Vimeo).
  • producerproducer
    So, Rambo, you experience the same problem. Any ideas how to keep the custom image settings?
  • RamboRambo
    It's not a problem, just a work flow to achieve a desired look from a particular camera. Personally i try and shoot close to what i want the final product to look like, as i shoot lots of footage regular, and it reduces editing time.

    Custom settings are savable in the custom menu, there are 3 slots available. It's in the GH1 manual.
  • producerproducer
    Yes, but I really can't get why after adjusting the parameters, then when taking picture or video the camera returns its exposure from "-III" to "0". My G2 also has those custom 3 slots, so you think this is the key?!? I will try now.
  • RamboRambo
    Producer, AFAIK the change in monitor brightness is just the camera switching it's view internally and it doesn't affect the exposure that is recorded by the sensor. Are you in Creative Movie Mode (top dial) and using Exposure mode M (in Menu) and is iexposure off?
  • MrAnthonyMrAnthony
    RTFM
  • producerproducer
    Not sure if I understood the meaning of AFAIK and RTFM.
    All my settings IE, AE, etc. are OFF.
  • producerproducer
    Meanwhile, I made a short movie with my G2 and terrible post processing to achieve some kind of look. It could be much easier if CINE FLAT settings were possible.




    And again, as Rambo wrote, still can't get why the camera returns its contrast to default when taking picture or video. Please, buddies, try this and let us know if your cameras act the same wrong way.
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