Taking Pictures with GH2.. need some advice shooting properly

T2iRebelvsGH2LOUIS

Thanks for sharing your experiences with using the GH2. I am a manual control freak and understand the flaws in iA on the GH2. Auto leaves one with no control of their picture making and I hate it. I've tried it and do not think it is intelligent. Shutter speed is so important for getting that sharp photo

T2iRebelvsGH2LOUIS

I will be changing my lens for My GH2 very soon. I will be doing some more experiments with this camera and post them on here with all the technical data. Thanks for sharing your advice

T2iRebelvsGH2LOUIS

Common Logic tells me that there is something wrong with my camera. There is nothing that I'm doing wrong. Take a look at these JPEG photos >> The 1st on was taken with a 14-42mm F3.5 kit lens at ISO 400, 40th sec, Manual Focus iA, AWB & the 2nd photo taken with 14-42MM f4.5 kit lens 250th sec ISO 3200 Manual everything Note despite the big changes in Gain and shutter speed there is still blurry crap in the photos. My camera was held dead still on a tripod and fired of the self timer to eliminate any possibilities of camera shake

T2iRebelvsGH2LOUIS

Take a look at this shot taken on a tripod at 1000th sec F3.5 Manual focus Manual setting ISO 3200, I HAVE ARRANGED TO HAVE THE CAMERA LOOKED AT BY PANASONIC REPAIR TECHNICIANS, I PURCHSED THE CAMERA FROM HARRODS LONDON UK & THEY SAY IT WILL TAKE UP 4 WEEKS TURN AROUND FOR THE REPAIR... DISASTROUS... THAT IS A LONG TIME TO WAIT... NOW I'M COMPLAINING

John_Farragut

@T2iRebelvsGH2LOUIS What is the blurry crap you are referring to?

I do see bad JPEG compression with heavy noise reduction at high ISO -- not the GH2 strong point. Also GH2 doesn't define shadows well. GH2 for photography is best up to ISO 1600 with noise reduction turned down. In RAW results would be much better and you can go up a little higher and use Lightroom noise reduction and still get sharp pictures, although with a little bit grain to it -- which I'm fine with.

JOFO

Yea, it seem to me like heavy noise reduction jpegs.. Definitely advice to start making your phostos yorself from RAW.. IQ of the internal conversion of GH2 is bad in most of cases except good light. Take a look at one of my test shots at ISO6400 taken at low light. Shot RAW then converted & denoised by myself.. It's a lot better than JPAG which camera spit from itself..

John_Farragut

@T2iRebelvsGH2LOUIS I saw a previous entry in which you stated you used a picture profile smooth -2 -2 -2 +2 NR and complained the picture was blurry.

Well, yeah, with those settings it would be logical. Those setting might work for video, but not for stills. Smooth profile is already a bit softer. You set sharpness at -2. You also set noise reduction at +2. All these settings together will create soft blurry JPEGs. Also shooting at F8 or higher might cause the lens to go softer because of diffraction.

T2iRebelvsGH2LOUIS

Thanks for your valuable advice John_Farragut I will do some more tests tomorrow

T2iRebelvsGH2LOUIS

What profile would you recommend using for photos instead of the SMOOTH SETTING?

John_Farragut

I'm also disappointed by Panasonic JPEGs. Olympus does a splendid job at in-camera-JPEGs. With GH2 you have to accept noise if you want sharpness. Why don't you start with standard profile? Contrast Sharpness Color at 0. Noise Reduction -2. I usually shoot B & W and even up the sharpness to +1. Note that you'll notice quite some noise at even low ISO on GH2. If you need smooth results, use RAW. I wish Panasonic had the JPEG engine of Olympus, but we just have to make do.

Maybe you could post a RAW + JPEG file for comparison?

Also, yes, you need a good sharp lens for picture to really pop. I use the 20mm Panasonic. The 14mm F2.5 is not too shabby either, but I sold it -- regretfully. I once had the 14-42 kit and remember it was soft. The Olympus 45mm is quite nice, but it's not really my focal length. I have bought the new Panasonic 14-42II, which I'm trying out now.

John_Farragut

Also auto white balance is not always that good on GH2. I usually manually put in white balance. Makes a lot of difference to the color -- and feel -- of the picture.

T2iRebelvsGH2LOUIS

Thanks I always set white balance manually. I hate AWB shifts especially during video work so I avoid AWB

T2iRebelvsGH2LOUIS

I really appreciate your advice and will practice tomorrow with these settings. The +2 noise reduction maybe adding to my problem because I took a photo at F3.5 ISO 3200 1/1000th sec and my pic was still blurry (well I thought) and was told that it is noise reduction compression). My Partner's Canon rebel eats the GH2 alive for JPEGS as far as my experience with both cameras goes. And the GH2 eats the Canon alive for video work, but I do like the narrow depth of field of the rebel. I have never used RAW need to practice working with that larger file

T2iRebelvsGH2LOUIS

Thanks for all the positive advice you have given me. You are right, even if the camera has a fault which has not been confirmed yet, I did not like my approach in dealing with the results I got from my GH2. The most positive thing I did was "subscribing to this sight and sharing my experiences taking photos, with other knowledgeable members". I'm annoyed with my negative attitude in dealing with unsatisfactory JPEG photos from My GH2 without even sourcing out info from more experienced GH2 users like yourself and others and just giving up on the GH2 writing it off in the photo department with negative comments. This isn't me and I don't know why I took this approach. I've adopted a positive approach now and will be learning about this camera and how it handles DIGITAL JPEGS & RAW FILES. It's after re reading your comment and others that it jogged my mind in the positive direction... I Thank you and all others on this sight..... Tony

T2iRebelvsGH2LOUIS

JPEGS 1 & 2 was taken with 18-42mm kit lens F3.5 15th sec ISO 1600, Manual Focus, Manual WB, SMOOTH set to 0, 0, 0, 0 NR, iDynamic & iR off. JPEG 3 The same as JPEGS 1 & 2 but the SMOOTH profile set to 0, +2, 0, 0

rNeil

@T2iRebelvsGH2LOUIS ... Tony ... welcome aboard. Give the camera a bit of work ... and after sharing and working some of the things folks here have to offer, if ... then ... the thing still isn't up to spec, well ... some cams are defective. However ... these last jpegs you've posted look quite a bit better to me ...

John_Farragut

ISO 3200 JPEG on GH2 is not that good with whatever profile settings you'll use. Even in RAW it needs some work. But remember GH2 is an old camera now. And maybe Panasonic has learned a thing or two about JPEGs since. The sensors have progressed a lot, for sure.

Rivo_Kikkul

When taking pictures on tripod you should turn off stabilizer also...

John_Farragut

ISO 3200 14-42II Standard 0 +1 0 -2 JPEG vs RAW

RAW is Lightroom with a tad noise reduction. You see, there's much sharpness there, but the JPEG out of camera is simply not so good -- though keeping Noise Reduction @ -2 for JPEG does keep the picture sharp, as you can notice in the contours of the text. RAW is simply much better. I don't think it's a bad stills camera if you just have one for video and pictures combined; you just have to know the limits.

John_Farragut

And we are talking about high ISO here. If you do such low light photography, it's better to use a fast lens.

In film days, the fastest color film I used was ISO 800. I also used Ilford XP2 @ ISO800.

oscillian

@T2iRebelvsGH2LOUIS Voldemort had this a couple of years ago to get more Canon-colours into the GH2.

http://www.eoshd.com/content/599/tips-and-tricks-for-making-panasonic-look-more-like-canon

T2iRebelvsGH2LOUIS

Thanks for the info I will keep my NR setting at - 2 for JPEG. I'm getting better results now. The subscribers to this sight has really helped me. I will send a donation to this sight when I next get paid. I can see better pictures coming out of my GH2 now and will post them on here later. All I wanted was to see reasonably good JPEGS and I'm getting there and will start experimenting with RAW

T2iRebelvsGH2LOUIS

Thanks... I had forgotten to do that. I read it in a manual. It shows how unfocused I am. Once I get my thinking cap back on everything will fall in place

T2iRebelvsGH2LOUIS

I can see the GH2 can take reasonable photos. Thanks for the info

T2iRebelvsGH2LOUIS

I am getting a faster lens soon. The Voigtlander 17.5mm & 25mm F/0.95 Lens

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