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Hacked GH2 Dynamic Range
  • Does anyone know how many stops of dynamic range the hacked GH2 has? I've read many conflicting articles online. Some say 7.5, 10, 11.5. Any help would be great! Thanks!

  • 13 Replies sorted by
  • Use search. It is same as unhacked :-)

  • Ok thanks!

  • As I know it's somewhere around 11.3 by Dxomark... hacked or unhacked, doesn't matter

  • @JOFO, the Dynamic Range listed by DXO Mark are for RAW Sensor but in video mode most DSLR's don't actually achieve that high DR. The Nikons have as much as 14 stops DR in photo mode but in video mode the most that seems to have been achieved is 11 stops or so with those cameras. I think the GH2 is about 9.5 stops.

    http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/4924/question-on-how-to-expose-for-greatest-dynamic-range-on-gh2/p1

  • ah.. i thought you are talking about photos, you didn't mention video mode anywhere.. so that's the reason i found your question a bit weird :) I dont know how's DR in video mode, but my bet is around 9-10 too

  • Yes for video not photo. My bad

  • The thing about the high quality hacks is that you can actually use more of the captured image information: in vanilla, the footage has obvious artifacting and can't be pushed very far - conversely, some hacks allow for a surprising leap in image flexibility (Flow Motion, Moon, Intravenous, etc). Of course, no hack actually changes the DR of the camera, but more of the dynamic range of hack capture material is effectively usable due to the higher quality image. Whether or not it changes the actual DR is inconsequential - all that really matters is the usable DR - and in my experience, I can dig another stop+ into my darks with Moon T7 if necessary (note: IR cut is super important here).

  • @T1000 Under 7 stops at ISO 200 from the tests I did using Sekonic's meter calibration process. SHIAN, one of this forum's members, made an excellent video tutorial on how to get the most of the GH2 sensor. A crude summary would be to keep everything important in your shot within +/- 3 stops of the scene's incident reading. You really should watch his video, though, it's very informative.

  • With what was it, 5 stops you really want to keep it in for best results.

  • @spacewig Yes I've seen the video. Just wanted to ask the forum members about the DR since I was reading so many conflicting answers. Thanks everyone!

  • But those videos are where most of the forum users got their information. Soooooo........

  • I didn't use anything but my eye to gauge, it looks to me like 9

  • With my Nikon AIS I rarely get clipped blacks when exposing to the right. So practical I have little problems with limited DR. But I recently bought a Lumix 12-35 and the contrast pushes tonality to both black and white clipping points. Though very sharp I think the 12-35 + gh2 combo isn't ideal.