which GH2 film mode for stills.

[DavidL]

Mainly for stills but may venture into the world of motion.

[MRfanny]

i find that when i shoot raw all that gets discarded. as for motion, if you plan to do colour correction go with smooth or more so nostalgic, they give flatter images that retains more detail in shadows. If your not fussed about colour corection, cinema is a safe bet or whatever really to get the desired look in camera....that doesnt really help much does it...ha.

[MRfanny]

Originally Posted by MRfanny

i find that when i shoot raw all that gets discarded.

well i think that's what happens

[Tesselator]

Yeah, "film modes" are just a set of predefined tone curves that get applied during the in-camera conversion to JPeg. They don't affect RAW images except maybe for the embedded tags that some RAW converters will read in and attempt to apply by default - like WB.

I'd rather design my own set of tone curves and apply them myself. That way I have full control and can even ditch the effects altogether if I like. Not to mention that most RAW converters kick butt on Panasonic's in-camera routines. For video too! Although decent video editors/processors can be expensive if you buy such things!

[DHart]

If you're going to craft your images in post (which is the best thing to do given the time, skills, and digital tools) forget jpg and capture everything in RAW. If you can't or won't, for whatever reason, process in post, then simply choose whatever rendition suits your desire with the style modes.

And it is also possible to capture RAW and JPG simultaneously, as well. Personally, I have shot nothing but RAW for years now and for me, that works. No JPG file can offer you the dynamic range and latitude for post processing adjustments that RAW can.