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GH2 Stills Problem
  • jondshankjondshank

    Recently I started taking stills with my gh2 in addition to using it for it's AMAZING video.

    When I manually focus, whether through the LCD or LVF just before the image is in focus to my eye it looks soft and dreamy more so than out of focus, and beyond the subject it will start to actually look out of focus.

    I took some when it actually looked IN FOCUS and I feel like it just doesn't look as sharp as my old Canon 60D (By quite a bit to be honest)

    I'll post a picture so you can see. I shot this in manual, f/2.8 at 70mm on a tripod with around 160 shutter speed and 200ISO. I'll post a before and after grade.

    Before: http://imgur.com/a/H3bPw

    After: http://imgur.com/JjxF8ZD

    Do you think this is an operator, lens, or camera problem?

    Also please do critique my grade, I'm relatively new to all this.

  • 10 Replies sorted by
  • DrDaveDrDave

    The photo is backlit, so it may appear out of focus.

  • jondshankjondshank

    Well they never did on my 60D.

    Also, here are some shots that are lit from the front and also in cloudy overcast that exhibit the same problem.

    overcast: http://imgur.com/a/GAFDH

    front-lit: http://imgur.com/a/89IPW

  • jondshankjondshank

    When I view the images at 100% size the fine hairs are not sharp. On my Canon they were perfectly sharp. I'm worried that there is a problem with the camera or lens but don't want to make any impulse decisions to buy/sell because I love the video quality so much.

  • jondshankjondshank

    I'm starting to think it's a lens problem, will test soon. Most gh2 shots I see online are super crisp. And my video looks super crisp so that's weird. But we'll see

  • htinlahtinla

    What lens did you use? Shooting wide open on some lenses may produce slightly soft focused images. If using an OIS lens, turn off stabilization when using a tripod. Also, shoot raw - the jpegs from the GH2 are noticeably less crisp than if you post-processed from raw files.

  • jondshankjondshank

    I shot RAW on a Tokina 28-70 f/2.8

    at 2.8 and 70mm.

    I have a friend who has the same lens and I got in touch with him and he said he also notices this problem on stills.

    So I'll wait until I can test out some other lenses before deciding I need a new dslr for stills

  • BrigBrig

    If I recall well, its either Tamron 28-75 or 24-70 that has backfocus problems which makes it to be moody performer from camera to camera....

  • AzoAzo

    That lens will not do to well with high key or backlit subjects especially shooting wide open. Also note that there are many variants of that lens and not all are created equal. I had the pleasure of owning the TOKINA AT-X PRO AF 28-70MM 1:2.6-2.8 Ø 77 JAPAN (PRO I WITH SCREW ON HOOD). This is IMO the better one out of the bunch. I purchased several of the other ones and they were all soft wide open. This one is still a little soft (no contrast) wide open but a lot better then the other lenses.

    The main reason why I sold this lens is because it performed miserably in any type of backlit or high key situation. I had a mint condition lens and I am a stickler for build quality of which the Tokina has in spades, but I could not get over the fact that it sucked in a high key/backlit situations. The newer lenses by Panasonic, Olympus, and Nikon G series lenses etc perform way better in that regard and do not have that problem.

    IMO this lens performs best at F/4 and above and even then you will have a milky image if shooting high key or backlit subjects. If you do not plan on shooting high key or backlit subjects it is a great lens if you do plan on shooting high key or backlit subjects use another lens or purchase another lens.

  • jondshankjondshank

    Thank you so much for reaffirming. I was really worried my gh2 had some random defect. I do plan on picking up some native panny lenses. Most of them seemed too wide but me being a beginner forgot to consider the massive crop factor on the gh2 that would make most of them perfect.

  • AzoAzo

    Your welcome... I am glad that I could share my experience with you. If you are on a budget and adamant about sticking to native glass the Panny 14-45 is actually a pretty good lens. It is not fast and has a variable aperture but it is pretty good on the GH series cameras. You should be able to get it for around $100-150 on Ebay. Get the Panny 42.5 1.7 along side the 14-45 and you should be good to go. The other benefit about native glass is that it will be sharp really sharp ;-).

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