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GH2 impressions

biglouis

Well-known member
OK, had a bit more time this week to play with the GH-2. Actually, I was forced into using it because I wanted to capture an old victorian London Underground station, Whitechapel, before major rennovation works begin on the 31st January.

I've always been disappointed with my M8 in low light and I was getting rather tired of the almost good but not quite good enough high iso settings in the GF-1. I can report that shooting at iso1600 I think is perfectly good enough on the GH-2 and I would even go so far as to say the iso3200 is very usable.

For these shots I used my 7-14 for the first time on the GH-2. I also extensively used the touch controls because... ahem... photographing on tube stations is probably not allowed. Holding the camera at my side it was a lot less obvious what I was doing.

I can report the touch controls are worth using. In fact, using them reminded me a lot of using the optical viewfinder in my M8. You are able to look at the whole scene and then glance down and see how the segment in the LCD screen fits in, rather like a rangefinder viewfinder. I also like being able to touch the area you want to focus on. I can foresee that as you become more fluent with the touch controls they can be more than just a gimmick and a valuable addition to the camera. The LCD is also beautifully bright in daylight (although I've not tried it in bright sunlight as I haven't seen any sunlight for about 4 weeks).

Once again, while using the camera I was very impressed by the ergonomics. I've stopped using my strap and started using my wrist strap because this camera wants to be held by your side. The grip has a nice, comfortable rubberised covering which is very easy on the finger tips.

I'm really beginning to like this camera. Mind you, I really liked my GF-1. I could even be persauded to keep my GF-1 (currently up for sale) but I know deep down that with the advantages in sensitivity, performance and ergonomics of the GH-2 I probably won't use it much again.

This first shot was in very low light conditions, at iso1600, f4, 1/25, 12mm


This shot shows the virtues of using the touch screen. Very discrete, no sudden movement of the camera going to your eye and hunting out the subject. Just a subtle press of your finger on the part of the frame you want to focus on. Also iso1600, f4, 1/30, 14mm
 

Jonas

Active member
(...)
For these shots I used my 7-14 for the first time on the GH-2. I also extensively used the touch controls because... ahem... photographing on tube stations is probably not allowed. Holding the camera at my side it was a lot less obvious what I was doing.
I like the B&W work. Those dark but high contrast places aren't easy. I hope they don't renovate the station into something plastic and totally common.

Off topic but I have to ask; Are you still there in the UK with a general feeling you aren't allowed to take images inside a tube station, at a railway station, of a public building? Is it really forbidden?

I can report the touch controls are worth using. In fact, using them reminded me a lot of using the optical viewfinder in my M8.
Hmm. I thought these two ways of operating a camera were anti-poles. How can tapping a touch control be remotely reminding about a rangefinder viewfinder? I tried a G2 (again... and waiting for a GH2 to arrive) in a shop close to me. I like the touch control and don't understand those making jokes about it at all - but "classic Leica style" didn't cross my mind while operating the G2 that way.

regards,

/Jonas
 

Terry

New member
From using the G2, I too really like the touch screen. Being able to touch for the focus point is really nice and once using that for a bit you graduate into using (trusting) the touch to both focus and take the shot. It is much faster than moving the focus point on the previous generation of cameras.
 

Diane B

New member
From using the G2, I too really like the touch screen. Being able to touch for the focus point is really nice and once using that for a bit you graduate into using (trusting) the touch to both focus and take the shot. It is much faster than moving the focus point on the previous generation of cameras.
I can see how this would be better in a lot of cases than focus and recompose, (or manually moving the focus point) even with AFL. The more I read about the GH2 in real life shooting the more interested I am.

Louis, i'm guessing I'll keep my GF1 as a second body as I do now for both a backup and for those times I can mount different lenses on the 2 bodies and not have to remount. Not always practical and if I see enough difference in the files, maybe not even wanted. I do actually prefer shooting with my G1 with grip, tilt screen and good EVF so I'm guessing I will shoot primarily if not all the time with the GH2 if I buy it so this may all be moot :)
 

biglouis

Well-known member
I like the B&W work. Those dark but high contrast places aren't easy. I hope they don't renovate the station into something plastic and totally common.

Off topic but I have to ask; Are you still there in the UK with a general feeling you aren't allowed to take images inside a tube station, at a railway station, of a public building? Is it really forbidden?



Hmm. I thought these two ways of operating a camera were anti-poles. How can tapping a touch control be remotely reminding about a rangefinder viewfinder? I tried a G2 (again... and waiting for a GH2 to arrive) in a shop close to me. I like the touch control and don't understand those making jokes about it at all - but "classic Leica style" didn't cross my mind while operating the G2 that way.

regards,

/Jonas
Jonas

Thanks for the comments.

Just to clarify there are no restrictions on taking any photographs in a public place in the UK. There are circumstances where the police may want to ask you what you are doing if you are acting suspiciously. What I was referring to is that any London Underground station is private property and therefore the requirement to ask permission probably exists.

I was trying to communicate the different feeling of shooting using the LCD rather than a viewfinder. The closest analogy I could think of is the way you can see round your frame lines in a rangefinder.

LouisB
 

Jonas

Active member
Thanks for the comments.
(...)
I was trying to communicate the different feeling of shooting using the LCD rather than a viewfinder. The closest analogy I could think of is the way you can see round your frame lines in a rangefinder.
Hi Louis,

OK, then I understand. I share your positive feeling about the G2/GH2 touch screens. But as I said, I couldn't figure out what to think after reading your comment on the screen.

Thanks,

Jonas
 

DHart

New member
Still getting to know my new GH2, but so far, I'm really liking this camera!

Some observations:

• My camera tends to underexpose by about 1 stop when using the internal meter in a wide variety of settings.

• I can't seem to make good use of the histogram... seems wonky. Perhaps I need to study the manual more?

• The GH2 sensor has a much more limited dynamic range than the sensor I am accustomed to (5DMkII). I can adjust a 1-stop underexposed RAW image from the 5DMkII with no noticible loss of quality. But with the GH2, adjusting a 1 stop underexposed RAW image results in noticibly degraded image quality.

• Give the GH2 sensor enough light and the results are wonderful, even at ISO 2500. But under expose it even 1 stop and there is a real price to be paid in IQ.

• Huge thumbs up on the flip screen, touch controls, and video.

• 1080i video is unfortunate in that the camera throws away half of the frames... needs to be 1080p next time around!

• Use with legacy lenses is really nice... I love this camera!!!

• The 20/1.7 is staggeringly sharp... amazing lens!
 

ptomsu

Workshop Member
@DHart

glad to hear you love the GH2! I shoot it now for almost 4 weeks and became really friend with it. It got the everyday no brainer camera for me. Just take it out switch it on and shoot - and the results are stunning!

Keep enjoying this wonderful tool,

Peter
 

DHart

New member
• I can't seem to make good use of the histogram... seems wonky. Perhaps I need to study the manual more?

• The GH2 sensor has a much more limited dynamic range than the sensor I am accustomed to (5DMkII). I can adjust a 1-stop underexposed RAW image from the 5DMkII with no noticible loss of quality. But with the GH2, adjusting a 1 stop underexposed RAW image results in noticibly degraded image quality.
I wanted to clarify these comments a bit in my post above, but was unable to edit the post.

I have found that when using in-camera metering, with legacy lenses, shooting aperture priority, that I typically need to increase exposure about +1 EV when editing the images in LR3.

This didn't seem right to me so as a test, I made some images at meter indication and also some adjusted to +1 EV from meter indication to see how things looked in LR3. Again this is A priority with legacy lenses.

I found that not only did the +1 EV exposure compensation bring the images where they needed to be exposure-wise, but that IQ was noticibly better on the +1 EV images than those shot at meter indication. On the images which were shot at meter indication, there was a bit of a texture (noise, it would seem) visible at 100%. With the +1 EV images, this texture went away. I have found that with a variety of subjects and settings, that dialing in an extra +1 EV gives a much better result than not doing so... even when using a grey card as a target for the camera's meter to read.

Use of an external incident meter with the camera on Manual settings yields proper results, without any EV compensation needed.

Has anyone else experienced this or does it seem that I have a defective camera?

Also, when trying to use the histogram to determine proper exposure while adjusting EV comp, the histogram doesn't seem to respond as one might expect... it seems a bit erratic and as such, is not very useful as a guide to exposure adjustments. Again, can anyone else comment on their experience with this?

I do need to do more varied and exhaustive testing (also with native lenses) to try to figure out if this is only with legacy lenses, or a setting I am overlooking, or something I'm doing wrong, but wanted to ask if others have experienced this.
 

DHart

New member
For example, I photographed this target, camera on A priority, legacy lens.

Looking at the LR3 histogram on the right, the result should be with middle grey in middle of histogram and black and white levels about equally in from their respective sides. Obviously, this is a well used card which has gotten dirty, so one might expect a very slight shift to the left as a result, but not this much... it takes about +1 EV adjustment in LR3 to bring the image where it should be (see bottom image.)

I have found a similar result when photographing common subjects/scenes with the legacy lenses in "A" mode.



Here's a resulting image, with what I consider to be proper and accurate tonal representation - after the +1 EV compensation:



Understandably, a subject with a significant area of brighter than 50% grey tones would tend to cause the in camera meter to under expose somewhat, but this subject and the test card itself shouldn't be causing the meter to under expose by 1 stop.

I may just be that this meter or this sensor are a little more "off" standard than a typical camera and I need to understand where and when it causes this and compensate for it. I was just wondering if anyone else had experienced this.
 

biglouis

Well-known member
Of course, the one thing I like about using a camera with an EVF versus an optical viewfiend is being able to see the effect of adding exposure compensation...
 

Rich M

Member
I have found that when using in-camera metering, with legacy lenses, shooting aperture priority, that I typically need to increase exposure about +1 EV when editing the images in LR3.

Has anyone else experienced this or does it seem that I have a defective camera?

I do need to do more varied and exhaustive testing (also with native lenses) to try to figure out if this is only with legacy lense.
I have seen the same thing, so very much doubt you have a defective camera.

It is an interesting phenomena and I am sorry I don't have a detailed analysis Like yours to add. If the image is appealing, the LR EV adjustment works (but shadows still seem blocky due to the limitations of the sensor??). However, it is situational......it differs from lens to lens (the worst are some of my RF lenses....the best are my CZ's). The issue is also exacerbated by brightly lit/heavily shaded situations versus scenes with less contrast.

I just seem to pick the lens to fit the scene. I have never seen this happen with any of the modern AF lenses.

R
 

Terry

New member
I have seen the same thing, so very much doubt you have a defective camera.

It is an interesting phenomena and I am sorry I don't have a detailed analysis Like yours to add. If the image is appealing, the LR EV adjustment works (but shadows still seem blocky due to the limitations of the sensor??). However, it is situational......it differs from lens to lens (the worst are some of my RF lenses....the best are my CZ's). The issue is also exacerbated by brightly lit/heavily shaded situations versus scenes with less contrast.

I just seem to pick the lens to fit the scene. I have never seen this happen with any of the modern AF lenses.

R
Again, even if these are in RAW if you have a film mode chosen it can impact exposure.
 

DHart

New member
Terry... wow! Thank you for that link. I had no idea that film mode settings were influencing RAW captures like they do and that RAW files were being manipulated as much as they are "under the hood".

My GH2 has been set to Smooth mode, as I felt that was perhaps best for the video I was doing. Now I see it is also effecting my RAW stills when shooting in "A" priority. It seems that shooting in "M" prevents a Film Mode setting from influencing the RAW... is that right?

Beyond that, however, I agree with Amy that the GH2 RAWs at IOS 160 are noiser than one might expect and, under certain circumstances (e.g., 1 stop under-exposure with legacy lenses) there seems to be a bit of a texture of some sort (can't remember what Amy called that texture shape) added to the image. At least under certain circumstances, in camera metering tends to under expose by as much as 1 stop, with results that are not desireable.

I will continue to test settings and lens combinations and such to try to sort this out better.

High-tech photography gear is bringing a lot more technical complexity to the job of creating quality images.
 

DHart

New member
I have seen the same thing, so very much doubt you have a defective camera.

R
Rich... thanks for mentioning that. It is a bit of an odd phenomenon, but at least with awareness of it, one can do an EV shift in camera to achieve a well exposed, clean RAW.
 

Jonas

Active member
On the G1 and the GH1 cameras there is an option to set contrast, sharpening, saturation and so on within each film mode. On the G1 it has been showed that the noise setting affects the raw files. It is hardly noticeable in general use. On the GH1 the noise setting has a bigger impact.
All this is for stills. I don't know how it works when it comes to the GH1 and movies, and for the GH2 I have no idea about anything. Just mentioning...
 
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