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Taking Pictures with GH2.. need some advice shooting properly
  • 178 Replies sorted by
  • Maybe better lighting or a faster lens will allow for higher shutter speeds....I use the GH2 95% of the time for video. I have taken some great stills with it, but honestly I think my old Canon Powershot S400 took better photos...of course the GH2 lenses allow more creativity.

  • I am a owner of a GH2 and am very happy with it's video capabilities, which was what I bought the camera for but find the photo quality terrible. Even a Sony sure shot takes better pictures than my GH2. It's quite shocking the picture quality of this camera. I'm a ex professional photographer previously using Hasselblad's, Mamiya RB67's and Nikon F3's. I use the correct shutter speed and set all the camera's parameters correctly, yet the pictures are still crappy. I'm using the basic kit lens 14-42mm F/3.5. I've performed test after test and even at the highest quality out of the tests the result is still sub standard. To confirm my point I purchased a Canon T2i Rebel Last week for my partner and took a few shots with and without flash and the results were crystal clear and vibrant pictures with depth. THE GH2 for Photos is awful and should be only used for scrap book photos. I am quite disappointed because I wanted to carry one system and not 2 different camera systems. I got the video quality so at least I got one of them. For Photos the GH2 is a NO!!! GO!!!! Yes I can change the lens to a Voigtlander 17.5mm F/0.95 but should be able to get reasonable results out of a kit lens. Canon produces reasonable results with it's 18-55mm kit lens so why don't Panasonic with the GH2?

  • This statement calls for some comparison material...

  • Funny to read.. I own GH2s and I'm very happy with the results.. Don't think that this is blurry or soft :)

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  • I really like the pictures i take with this camera, you really need to know how it works!

  • JOFO that picture is incredible. What lens are you using and is this JPEG converted from Raw ps is there any post production work involved?

  • I understand all the fundamental of a camera well 35mm film LOL but do understand E.G. High ISO Gives more noise/Grain, wide aperture more light & narrower depth of field, faster shutter speed to freeze subject and get a sharp picture, The importance of setting the GH2 correct which I have done. Poor light camera harder to focus on AFS or AFC. I use manual focus 90% of the time. I have set the camera up correctly. Video is no problem but photos awful. Why aren't I getting all this crap quality on my partner's Canon rebel T2i? I just focus and shoot after setting up my parameters for taking a picture and the results are top quality.

  • The GH2 is not a low light camera and needs quality light

  • I will do some comparison tests and post them on here

  • @t2irebelvsgh2louis your statements read like a teenager who has been paid 10 bucks to trounce the GH2 on various different forums. The name is a bit of a give away

  • Mr. T2i is a bit ... obvious ... isn't "he/she/it" ?

    The GH2 isn't as good a stills cam as my D3, but then, even my GH3 isn't quite there and it was another iteration later. That said, I've seen way too many decent shots from GH2's to accept it as other than a very capable imaging tool for both video & stills. If he's getting mush from a cam he insists is in good enough shape to shoot good video, well ... there's something odd going on.

  • This portrait shot was taken with Sigma 60mm f2.8 lens. it's superior lens for its cheap price. I can't believe that it's so darn cheap and so sharp. I shot only raw since my first camera capable of raw shooting. It gives me much more space for creativity if needed. This was taken at ISO 320 with aperture priority then converted in ACR. It's only resized jpeg, original full resolution image is more detailed.

  • I'm happy with the stills capability of the GH2 even though it could be better in high ISO and dynamic range. Sharpness is never a problem with me as long as you know how to control the settings. I had a Canon 7D briefly and though the colors were pleasing, I wasn't impressed - could've been a lemon lens. Look at the dynamic range of Canon's lineup - it's not much higher than m43's and some current m43s match or beat it. I even pulled some decent shots out of an older senor GF2, so I'm not sure what the fuss is about.

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  • Message to tinyrobot ... What lens are you using on your camera? I have no problem with video Just the stills quality

  • Both cameras were set to flat

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  • Message to Sph1nxster.. No one pays me and I love my GH2 for video which is what I purchase it for. I got the idea for my user name when my partner placed her T2i Rebel next to my GH2, and as I was registering with this sight I just used that name. It is superb for video but notice this lack of quality on the Photo end of things. It is obvious that the GH2 can take good pics, but what I saying is the pics are not what I expected out of this camera. I'm use to very high quality that came out of my Nikon F3 35mm camera & Hassleblad medium format cameras. I've invested in my GH2 just like you and bought mine from new. Believe me I'm am no teenager and probably old enough to be your Dad at age 52. I fully understand cameras exposure and how to work in manual but find my GH2 don't come up with the goods when it comes to photos. I have bought this discussion to this website to get the opinions of others. There is definitely a big difference between The larger Canon sensor and the smaller crop sensor of the GH2. Narrow depth of field and low light sensitivity are definitely affected with the GH2's sensor. The GH2 uses a Fuji colour palette which is different than other cameras. To get a narrower depth of field & more light to the sensor I have to purchase a Voigtlander Nokton 17.5mm or 25mm F0.95 lens. The 14 to 42mm kit lens is ok but I don't like the results that come out of it for photos. The video is superb but photo NO NO!!! I'm going to experiment with this camera some more to see what I can get out of it. I'm not brainless and don't act like a teenager like you said and have a good head on me. Guess I'm a little shocked after getting such high video performance I was maybe expecting something similar from the photo end. There's a saying you have to make mistakes to learn. I'm new to digital but not to photography. Getting my GH2 to take quality pictures I will call the precise calibration of my camera. My partners T2i Rebel just throws out quality photos each time but my GH2 eats it alive for video. The video function is the saviour of this camera because I believe this is what it was intended for, and we have geniuses like Vitally Keslev and Nick Driftwood making this a incredible machine. I may have a fault with my camera but will exhaust all possibilities before I take it in for a check up. Notice the softness in this shot. The camera was set to smooth -2 -2 -2 +2 NR jpeg, F8 150th sec ISO160 smooth MF 14-42lens

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  • That sigma lens is good. This is the quality I'm after. Maybe my Lens is not good enough but I don't believe it. I will do some research on the sigma lens. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this subject

  • Panasonic kit lenses (14-42 & 45-200) aren't too sharp at details. Overall they're not so bad, but can't produce that sharp and high detail shots as e.g. this Sigma 60mm lens.. I've made some light test shots to compare Sigma 60mm with kit lens at 60mm and difference is marginal. But it's not completly unusable, however I rather use PanaLeica 25mm F1.4 and Sigma 60mm F2.8 for most of my shots. But I carry both kit lenses with me everywhere I go.. Just in case I would need them. :) I'm just following the rule of double - shutter is at least twice the focal length (e.g. at 60mm I'm tryying to keep shutter at 1/125 and less) and most of the shots are usable.. and of course almost always shooting raw and convert to jpeg in post... that saved a lot of shots

  • @T2iRebelvsGH2LOUIS I agree with JOFO. I had the 14-42mm but never used as I knew it was an inferior lens for stills. Panasonic lenses generally shoot clinically without any mojo. My go to lens is the 25mm Leica-Panny. I haven't tried any other premium lenses from Panny or Oly, but lenses do make a difference. I also have used the Voigt 25mm and it has a nice mojo, but lately I use the 25 f/1.4 for the auto focus.

    Also, Canon tweaks the colors for a more saturated pleasing look out of the camera. With the 7D I did very little post-processing, but with the Panasonic cameras I always put the RAW files through Lightroom and tweak them. You will need to if you want satisfying colors.

    Looking at your photo above, I think there is a problem with your lens. Get another lens and try. Shoot in Raw and test again. There is nothing wrong with m43 cameras for stills.

  • I already know the rule of double - shutter must be at least twice the focal length. All pro photographers or top amateurs know this. I do like the sigma, you get real value for money. How good is the 25mm Leica-Panny? I mainly use manual focus but sometimes use auto

  • I shot this with Pana-Leica 25mm F1.4 with my usual post done in ACR to get a bit artistic look image

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  • The Pana-Leica 25mm F1.4 would be the first lens I recommend for m43 users. The focal lens is very versatile. It is sharp enough wide open.

  • It's like a painting, nice shot. You may be right about the Canon adding a touch of colour to their picture. I done some test samples between the T2i Rebel and GH2 let us know what you think.

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  • I love the artistic look

  • It's just some HSL adjustments... There's quite room for adjustments on raws from gh2