What do you think?

Watch in HD:

Cheers,

D.

Everything was interlaced 480i or at most Telecined 480p in a 480i container. MiniDV was all the rage and HD was a figment of our imagination.

I started with a Canon mini-DV camcorder in late 2003 that shot 480i(720x480). It looked great on my 480i Tube TV. However, it was absolute garbage once you deinterlaced it for computer use with Progressive displays. I sold it almost immediately swearing that I would never buy another interlaced camera again.

So I waited and waited. Everything new was 480i. Even when HD TVs came about the HD consumer cameras were still interlaced 1080i. Then finally the Canon S1-IS came out in 2004. It was a little known jewel. It shot wonderful 480p @ 30 FPS for up to 1 Gigabyte. The nice thing was that it supported the MicroDrive compact flash cards that at the time went up to 4 GB for about $200.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons1is/

That camera revolutionized video for me. At the time everyone asked why I was getting a still camera for video. They all said “Why don’t you get a proper camcorder for the job”? I said “The camcorders are all interlaced and this is progressive”. They looked at me like I was speaking Japanese.

I loved that S1-IS and used it for several years as my main camera. Sure it was only 480p but it was good solid 480p @ 30 FPS and it used a decent bit rate(For that time period). The S1-IS also had a really bright F2.8-F3.1 lens on it. With a 10x optical zoom it did everything I wanted it to do until I saw what the 1080p of the 5D MKII looked like in September of 2008.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos5dmarkii

Reverie, blew my mind. I couldn’t believe that you could get such cinematic shallow depth of field and dynamic range in digital video. In addition the resolution seemed astounding. At the time I couldn’t imagine ever needing more resolution than that.

http://www.learn.usa.canon.com/galleries/galleries/sample_videos/reverie.shtml

I came as close as you could get to buying into the 5D MKII with a complete set of lenses. I saved and saved until I was finally ready to pull the trigger by the fall of 2009. Then something caught my attention.

A little known camera maker (At the time) called Panasonic had developed a 720p camera that was actually really small. It was called the GF1 and looked too good to be true. It could use any lens ever made with adapters. It wasn’t super expensive and all the manual focus lenses for video were super cheap on ebay.

They also had the mighty GH1 but it was hard to find without the super small aperture 14-140mm lens. By that time I had come to realize what I loved so much about the Canon S1-IS was that its lens was relatively bright. Just like I had with interlaced video I swore off super slow mega zooms.

However, I simply couldn’t resist the GF1 with the 20mm F1.7 lens. I bought the GF1 on day one and never looked back. I bought every large aperture MF lens I could get my hands on and loved them all. However, those lenses were heavy when it was all said and done. I realized why full frame wasn’t really considered to be portable back then. 5 or 6 lenses added up to a lot of weight in a backpack even though the camera body was so light.

By that time 720p had become old hat and M4/3s had more than just a few native lenses. They had some fast primes like the new 14mm F2.5, 25mm F1.4, and the 45mm F1.8. Auto Focus was improving in their newer cameras and I found myself wishing for more.

I finally broke down when the GH2 was announced in September of 2010. It was finally the camera that seemed like it could do it all. 1080p video, ETC mode for endless reach, and it was hackable. Those were the good old days. We ALL spent countless hours eeking out every last ounce of bit rate and reliability that we could.

http://www.dpreview.com/products/panasonic/slrs/panasonic_dmcgh2/review

I even gave up on the MF lenses. I had all of the fast primes at that time and MF wasn’t as cool as I once thought it was. I was much more content to just let the camera do the focusing for me. After the firmware update for the GH2 added 1080p at 30 FPS and much improved AF I sold all of my MF lenses for a nice telescope.

Honestly, the GH2 was probably the camera that I could have stopped at and lived with for quite a while. It did everything I needed it to do and did it quite well. However, the hacking had sparked something in me that made me always look for that little bit extra. I went on to buy the GH3, GH4, LX100, and the 35-100mm F2.8 all on the day that they came out. Each one offered a little something extra that I thought made it justify the extra cost. I finally have 4K @ 30 FPS and 1080p @ 96 FPS and the 4K photo from video mode. I couldn’t have ever possibly imagined those things when I first bought the S1-IS.

Well actually I did predict the photo from video mode way back in 2009. It wasn’t an acceptable thing back then to predict that video could one day replace stills. In fact I still don’t think it is acceptable today either.

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/31728454

So we have come a long way in video cameras. I wonder what is next. How much farther can we go? Will it be as big a leap forward as it has in the past? Will I still want to spend my money on upgrades in the future or will I finally be satisfied with what I have now? Who knows? Only time will tell.

Please post your stories with how you got started into video and where you are with it today.

highest possible careful tweaked settings for very high image quality with enough stability for short takes up to 5 - 8 minutes.

Improved for best low light noise and textures in all modes, perfect for high iso, and excelent image texture in good light.

Arri Alexa image quality inside the GH2, (just missing the Alexa dynamic range of course)

default version:

*SH and H slots are better for good light in low iso and for more detailed scenes in good light

*SH slot is higher quality and more stable with manual focus legacy lenses

*H slot more stable with native lenses with electronic contacts

*H slot also better for use with image stabilization

*hbr is better in good light than in low light

*default version is more stable in SH and H 720p and in HBR than the boson version

*24p 24H and 24L are the same of boson

*great quality in all modes

boson version:

*SH slot improved for low light textures and noise

*H slot better for good light in low iso, better for more complex details scenes in good light

*H slot is more stable for native lenses

*HBR does the low light / good light balance automaticaly for better noise in low light or better detail in good light

*24p has same noise quality in both good light or low light for constant image texture this keeps same random noise in all light conditions, good for intercut with SH

*a little less stable in 720p and HBR than the default version

*best quality in all modes

seta = workhorse default

setb = workhorse boson

setc = workhorse default lower datarate in SH and H for more stability in 720p and hbr

setd = workhorse boson lower datarate in SH and H for more stability in 720p and hbr

sete = same as seta, but the 24H and 24L are optimized to deliver sharpest image for steady complex detail scenes, it does the automatic adaptation in 24p for low light noise or good light steady complex detail scenes

setf = same as setc, but the 24H and 24L are optimized to deliver sharpest image for steady complex detail scenes, it does the automatic adaptation in 24p for low light noise or good light steady complex detail scenes

all tests performed in NTSC with the Sandisk 32GB SDHC Class 10 U1 45Mbps card.

transcode the original mts files to Apple ProRes 422 full range using the 5DtoRGB free software before editing to avoid the diagonal pattern rain problem. Try the ProRes HQ, normal and LT versions to perceive the best balance between quality/file size.

as of september 05 2014 all versions are modified flowmotion 2.02 with extensive careful tweaking

please donate to www.personal-view.com

I did some research in the forum about PTools settings but I did not find the answers I need...

What happens is:

Only GOP which works good for 720p 60p are GOP 30 and GOP 3, all other GOP gives diagonal pattern (rain) in computer monitor. But the GOP 3 in 720p always stops recording and it seems the card is not the problem, I am using Sandisk 45mbps and other people says the Sandisk 95mbps also stops recording in 720p hacks... The GOP 6, 12 and 15 works for some shoots, but they are unstable (sometimes stops recording) and gives diagonal pattern (rain) in computer monitor. GOP 3 stops recording all the time, no matter the bitrate (I tested GOP 3 from 40 to 200mbps). So GOP 30 is the only option.

Problem is: when using the GOP 30 the camera encoder always keeps the bitrate very low when the camera is quiet, when there is no motion in the image, and this gives lots of macroblocking and texture lost in low light. Even when I set the bitrate to 48mbps or 64mbps in PTools the camera does not record 48mbps or 64mbps, StreamParser shows only around 23mbps... (for static low light shoots)

The auto quantizer all to motion or all to details did not make any difference. So I did some try to change settings in TESTER options of PTools. I fount the TOP and BOTTOM bitrate limits and I enabled it with 48000 and 42000 for top and bottom 720p, but this makes no effects in encoding, bitrate is still very low for static shots no matter the bitrate I type in PTools...

Only thing I found to make the bitrate encoding keep high is the GOP 3, but camera stops recording in all 720p shoots, the GOP 3 just works for 1080p.

So I am wondering if there is a way to keep the bitrate high using GOP 30 in 720p...

Any suggestion welcome, thanks.

Greetings from Vienna Lars

Does this problem still exist with the GH3 ?

Greetings from Austria Lars

No replies has nobody any idea?

Perhaps the solution?! I found in the menu of the gh2 the hdmi output setting auto, 1080i and 720p It was on auto..... could changing the mode to 720p solve the problem perhaps.... Answer from "onlocation" There is no way to use the GH2 at 720p while using HDMI monitor. The way we solve the issue is to get a small cheap camera and aim it at the view finder. You can focus the lens on the small camera and focus the view finder, plus use a sun shade (gaffers tape all around) and you can get an ok picture, but it's not great. The best solution is to buy the GH3, one week after we got our we sold our GH2. GH3 is simply another level, if you are doing this seriously then don't even think twice, sell your GH2 while it is still worth something and buy the 3. Good luck.

All I need is the cleanest rendition of human movement, and only at 720p. I have GH2, second system sound, Panny 25/1.4, CV 12/5.6 on adapter, and Lumix 14/2.5, ancillary gear.

I have watched footage from Sanity, Driftwood, and others; I would very much like other's input on this. The camera will only be used for video; I shoot other gear for stills. TIA, KL

@rajamalik @thepalalias @Benibube thank you for the comments guys. @cjdincer

rajamalik, @coors thanks for testing the setting(s) guys; rajamalik Congratulations for your little b...

Releasing the setting, after very long time working on it, the name and some info see 1st alinea:

I know it was/is a challenge (AQ4 and Q8 in the same setting) for most detailed and lower compression setting and want everything constant bitrate-style and rajamalik asking for the most detailed one every time but here is the release of the "OBS AQ4-Q8 161M-setting exTReme-KAYSERI A-GraDetail" setting, the setting shows (due to using lower compression in the setting, but I believe so you see more), maybe say high ISO, a little bit more noise/maybe artifacts, I did not used 3rd party matrix, but the goal is to get every bit (in this situation pixel) what GH2 is seeing/recording, out of it and see everything yourself when playing back and in post too, and cbr-style bitrates too; (do the rest/editing in post).

Okay it's logical to say when you have an very detailed and low compression setting, on high ISO you see some more noise/artifact etc. but you get everyhing out of the gh2 I believe. But I believe, if an "matrix master" can make a matrix especially for this or similar setting then we get an setting with some reduced noise/artifacts directly on the sd-card itself. But matrix by the way is a subjective matter therefor it is up to you to judge or not judge things by matrix way but settings way. And I did not used third party matrix for the setting.

But, on the other hand: maybe there will be enthousiat users to get/shot/capture, you name it, this way and do rest in post, I think and believe it is maybe some personal taste and this setting is on paper very good for low detailed scenes or for someone always looking for it or exactly want details and seeing that little bit more.

The setting gives you constant bitrate-style bitrates and for example 720p50 give you around 100Mbit-range bitrates, this is high in comparison with some other gop-1 720p50 settings/ and some of the other gop-1 720p setting are not working reported earlier by others I though. Don't forget 1080iFSH(50) is available too and also to try for slow motion with deinterlacing in post for 1080p50, maybe this setting is better then other 1080i also, who knows. (This is for some of you as a fan of deinterlacing 1080i to 1080p50 in post, instead of 720p50 give a try too.)

Suggestion: Maybe, from scratch, a matrix master or a matrix maker can make a matrix to also temper some noise/artifacts, high ISO etc. especially for this setting, but also this setting is for people who get the most details out of gh2 and loves to do things in post...

Setting itself, "OBS AQ4-Q8 161M-setting exTReme-KAYSERI A-GraDetail":

(for me unbelievable to let the setting work with AQ4 and Q8 in the same setting at the same time, "All to detail and low compression" at a such high setting, especially when you know that settings for some mode influences the other mode, but I've got them work together for:)

• working (/or say, I tested) for the modes => 1080p24H, 720p50SH, HBR, 1080iFSH(50), 80%24L but, with such high bitrate setting it was not easy to get, all the modes above, working
• for all the modes I've written above, constant i-frames-style (+ b-frames for 720p50), cibf-style, except for 80%24L though it has high i-frames between around 360KB to max around 780KB, average around 600KB, and constant bitrate-style, cbr-style, for all the modes I've written above too, (including for 80%24L mode)
• tested with manual lens, (auto-lens check for yourself)
• there is a time-limit 3:45min but every mode is working for me with my setup (sd card and manual lens), so recording and also in cam playback available for, maybe including but not limited to (does mean other modes such as 720p60 needs testing, test for your country, I tested the PAL), the modes from above
• sandisk 8GB SDHC 95Mbits/s card

some bitrates I've got during testing, setting for 1080p24 is high to the 150M range, but see others very good ones: - 720p50 100M (for slo-mo see 1080i fsh(50) mode too, for using deinterlacing in post) - 1080i FSH (50i) 100M (especially for people who want 1080p slow motion with deinterlacing) - HBR 100M (I think very good one for hbr) - 80% 24L 100M

here is the setting as .zip file attached

Does the initial quantizer, video buffer, Top/Bottom settings, 720p IPB scaling/fallback, other modes top/bottom settings? Do any of these affect the 720p 30fps Motion Jpeg encoding? because it seems to me they are only meant for AVC modes.. but I could be wrong of course.

Therefore I sometimes use the fully auto video mode and it does everything for me. Sometimes i need to quickly grab the cam before I miss the action.

So my question is: What is the best mode to convert to match my 1080p24 footage?

1080i - I would need to deinterlace and then this would end up 540p right? Well, no way true 1080p

720p - ok this is 50p and I would be stretching the footage to become 1080p

I know I will be losing quality but sometimes it can't be helped for the odd few short shots here and there.

So my thoughts were to use 720p rather than 1080i... Any ideas? Thank in advanced.