Dear loyal blog readers- first of all thanks! I’ve had some really great emails over the past few days.
I’m happy to help with advice anywhere I can. Advice is always free.
I’ve been working with a very talented DP lately using the Hot Rod PL, testing the GH1 in a variety of settings. Some interesting things we’ve found.
- Setting the white balance manually is your friend. Using a WB of 5500K sees to produce the best skin tones (in camera)
- The “Smooth” Gamma mode, seems to offer the most pleasing “film like” images
- Even though the camera rating says 100 ISO, you get the best “to eye” image of of what you’re shooting if you actually rate you light meter at 640 (which I think it close to the native ASA of the camea. To repeate- set camera at ISO 100, and the base exposure of your meter to 640.
- Same thing works with a higher ISO, 400. Instead of placing the GH1 at 100, you’ll set it to 400 and your meter at 2500. The results of shooting like this have been stunningly good! I’ll post some images as soon as I can gain permission.
I.
Illya Friedman
Hot Rod Cameras
Hi Ilya,
Great tips, thanks! Please keep them coming.
I’m a little confused about the light meter stuff. I understand how to set the ISO on the camera, so then you rate your light meter at the settings you suggest, but then how does that help you? Does it help you choose the right settings for your aperture or something? Sorry if it’s a dumb question, I’ve not used a light meter before…
Looking forward to seeing some images
Cheers,
Ed.
Oops, misspelled your name, sorry Illya!
Hi Ed,
A light meter helps a DP set exposure because the camera is way, way faster than it’s actually rated. Selecting an ISO of 100 on the GH1 is really about ISO 640 in 35mm. If you rate the camera at ISO 100, there is some pretty serious “knee” (to use a video term) happening to try to shove down the highlight information into a useable range. You can avoid much of this by underexposing the camera what turns out to be about 2 & 2/3 stops, this is based on what the GH1 says is a proper 100 ISO exposure. The easiest way is to use a lightmeter set to 640, this is a professional tool available at better photography stores and websites. This device measures the amount of light in a particular area. For a beginner I recommend an “incident” light meter (which features a white dome) rather than a spot meter (also called reflective) which is a more advanced tool. Because the camera has so much dynamic range in underexposure, you can really, see a lot of detail and resolution. I can’t wait to post some pics. It should be before the end of the month.
“You can avoid much of this by underexposing the camera what turns out to be about 2 & 2/3 stops”
Do you use the histogram on the camera to underexpose or are you using the light meter?
I have used the histogram, but a light meter is always the better choice- certainly for consistency.