Philip's point is correct.

All this aside, I'm willing to bet other camera forums (canon, Sony etc..) are ranting about how their camera could of been better if.....

Hopefully, Philip will have more.
It's entertainment. It's obvious Philip is having a great time! Thank you for sharing!

Well put danyyyel

@danyyyel I definitely understand you about harsh lighting conditions. In Los Angeles the sun's always shining, so contrast can be a bit annoying outdoors! And, alot of the times when I'm working on low budget stuff I've only got reflectors at my disposal, and small bits of diffusion.

Try lighting three people at once with a Cali Sunbounce, one 4x4 Floppy, and a 4x4 Opal... then try lighting an entire funeral scene with that; I've done it, it's not fun. But it forces you to learn how to shoot other ways.

As much as I've shot with higher end formats, I have no trouble with turning to the hacked GH2 for serious work. I am very interested in the C300 and you can bet I'm gonna get my hands on it soon, but the GH2 + Driftwood combo, along with some PL lenses, is a dreamy setup. Right down to post.

Also, thanks for checking out the blog and referring it. I've just soft launched it, going to do an official launch once the first post of the $10K Feature Film section goes up. IN the meantime, Facebook follow for updates until I've got the subscription widget up. The blog's coming from the perspective of a working set of filmmaker shooting commercials, features, shorts on large and small budgets. It won't always be about gear, and you will see narratives, commercials, and actual lit material showing up.

Oh, and DO try the ISO thing! I'd love to see more examples from everyone. Encourage the community to share the knowledge, that's how we all learn more.

@DrDave What the hell is a Chip Buttie? LOL Sorry! I'm lost on that one.

As much as the idea of comparing cameras has its detractors, it is an attempt to address *the most common question* - Which Camera?
In a technologically-complicated world some manufacturers may actually manage to generate sales to a befuddled public. I prefer clarity.

@kavadni, if Vitaliy can access the controls for the film modes (and that sounds like a big "if") then at least a flatter gamma curve that didn't crush any existing detail is about the best we can hope for, I think. Which would still be great, of course.

@danyyyel

I've been afraid of the iContrast setting, could you link to that thread? I would love to see it.

It sounds like it would help out with interior shots more than anything?

I got the right answers as well. The way i figured it out was by pairing the looks of each pic. The Sonys, Canons, Nikon and Panasonics all matched each other. So this confirms what we should expect as far as 'look' from each company. I'm glad the Panasonic did the best (imo). Very impressed.

For those interested in the Nikon D7000, I recently posted downloadable comparison shots of the GH1, GH2 and D5100 (which has the same image sensor and quality as the D7000):

http://www.personal-view.com./talks/discussion/1195/nikon-d5100-compared-to-panasonic-gh2

@Elenion
Thanks for the samples on page 4. Cineform SiLog sure did convert a rather harsh image to something more balanced and smoothed out, ready for the next stage of post. I am relatively new to GH2. I have Cineform Prospect HD/2K, and now talking with Jake at Cineform, I should do the cross/upgrade to Neo, so that I can import AVCHD and be compiant with Win7 system, my recently rebuilt edit box. @Vitaliy_Kiselev has been suggesting in a few threads that there are already some P-V topics on GH2 DR.
I searched and found this gem: http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1062/dynamic-range-latitude-patches/p1

@Elenion, et al, if anyone has more to add to the above thread, I should be pleased if we could expand further on the many ways we can setup and record GH2 footage maximising DR, in a way to manipulate the gamma curve. Cineform, applying SiLog via FirstLight looks great, however, I am also looking at changing the curve, to some degree, at the record stage on the GH2, beyond the, say, -2 -2 -2 -2 and existing curve options. @kholi talks about ND and ISO settings which I would like to know more about, the sweet spot. Perhaps a Low Con filter may be useful in certain situations, etc. I hope to explore further and have the knowledge base herein expand on the "Dynamic Range / Latitude / Patches" thread. Thank you.

@Mimirsan, if I did not understand what you meant, my bad, I am sorry. But my point on the comparison stand for me. Lets take resolution for example. Until this shootout there was all type of post about the gh2 resolving power. Some where comparing it to RED (at 2k), others to Af-100 (see thread on the Af100) and there was even one guy (I personally think a troll) saying that it did not resolve more than 600 line about the same or less than a Canon 7d. Now with this test (if you download the 1080p version of the images embedded in his page) that the gh2 is a tie with the 1000 line C300. The guy/troll was saying that the gh2 would not be able to be projected on a big screen. If the C300 was projected on Paramount screen in LA then the gh2 is as good at least in terms of resolution.

This is where such a test is important. Now we can leave this subject, we know!!! What the gh2 is capable of in therm of resolution/detail. It is not just some collective belief or self persuasion but quantifiable result that can be seen and judge. Unfortunately I cannot have access to all these camera and cannot know how they compare. Yes compare as the example above, if the FS100 or Af100 was No 4 (C300) I would have looked closely at them as a purchase. Why because I am no blind Fanboy (even if I am big fan of the hack and Vitaliy work and dedication of the community with Dritfwood in particular), if you could get such an image (DR seems very good but lot of banding in the background, could be jpeg compression) compared to the gh2, perhaps the $ 5000 investment would be wort it. But the test showed that it is not the case.

I am not the biggest fan of P Bloom, because in some ways, he is one of the proponent of the video gear centric world. I prefer a thousand times someone like Vesubio who shot Musgo on a shoe string. But the gh2 is surely the least tested camera (in video). Everybody who has said they would do so, got very busy, got ill and just disappeared. Now as with everything I buy, I try to get some reviews to know if it is good and compare it to its competition and the gh2 is the same. I already did it by faith and seeing example, but even with all the flaws in the PB shootout, I can see now how it compares to its competitors. Now I know (we will have to see more of the shootout) that I can't get better result until I have $ 15000 in my pocket. But lets see another senario, should the Fs100/Af100 been much better like the No 4 image (DR mostly) the outcome of this shootout would have perhaps made me think seriously about buying a $ 5000 camera.

I think of it like this: does Panasonic want that you read that the $600 GH2 is as good as the $6000 AF-100? I don't think so and I think that is one of the reasons there isn't so much talk about it on professional sites.

@danyyyel who is Vesubio?