techstyled

Axel: I don't think it's a matter of bargaining. It's a matter of priorities, at least for me. I'm not a professional photographer, this is just a hobby. Granted a hobby that lets me capture our family memories, but still. In my case, it's not about the $23 dollars for a filter, it's the $849 for the GH2, $800 worth of lenses, $300 for tri-pods, etc. etc. So when I started looking at needing an ND filter _in addition to_ all my other expenditures, I decided to go the cheap route until I could convince _myself_ of the value. I mentioned WAF a bit tongue-in-cheekishly. However, a good variable ND filter is going to run you in the $150 range and I make it a habit to at least mention anything over $100 to my wife as a matter of respect.

I wanted a cheap introduction to ND filters before I took the plunge to the more expensive variable ND filters. I purchased a 52mm Marumi ND8 for $23 and a 52mm Marumi ND4 for $16. My largest lens is 52mm so I also bought step down rings for approx. $5. I'm a complete noob too but the concept of "sunglasses for your camera" made sense to me and I've used these both for the past 2-3 weeks with great results. Mainly mid-morning soccer game pictures where, prior to having the ND filters, I was getting "glowing" grass and also any white clothing. Using these filters over the past weeks has convinced me of two things: 1. ND filters are vital to maintain flexibility. For basically the same reason you wanted to buy a camera that had manual adjustments, you want to be able to have more range in your lighting (don't know if that's the right way to put it but that's the way I think of it). Maybe a more apt comparison is why you care that your camera has good low light capabilities. 2. Francisco has the right of it (as well as others that have said the same thing). If you haven't already exhausted your WAF (Wife Acceptability Factor) like I did, which is another reason why I went the cheap first, you're much better off buying a decent variable ND filter. I've used my ND4 about 80% of the time because it just hasn't been that bright here yet. However, this past weekend was the brightest day I've shot so far and when I switched to video, I _really_ needed the ND8. The ND8 was overkill for photos (no idea why the difference but I assume shutter speed). It was the first time I tried to juggle ND4, ND8, ND4, etc. I missed at least 2 great shots (1 goal and 1 awesome ball handling) that I'm sure I wouldn't have missed if I hadn't been doing the filter dance. My next purchase will be a decent variable ND filter. HTH

At least I know this isn't a common problem. I'm going to try flashing to factory firmware.

Sorry, posting on my iPhone. Video works great. Was taking pictures just great this afternoon. Now, no matter what lens, what mode, what options, flash open, flash closed, I get nothing but black and long shutter. Any ideas? I have no idea what I could even have done to cause the if I wanted to.

I think it only works in photo mode if you are shooting smaller than the full sensor like with Medium and such. You're always using less than the full sensor in video mode.

Awesome, awesome information. And surprisingly, I understood at least half of it.  ;D  I'm kidding, I think I at least understand most of the concepts here. You did a good job of anticipating the depth of explanation I'd need. Hopefully that's because I did a good job explaining where I was at with my limited knowledge. The bit about you'd rather underexpose than overexpose makes sense and is a good point. I've never graded video (or photos) before but I think I have the right software. I have Adobe's Production Premium Suite 5.5 and Edius Neo3 (which I'm more familiar with). I'm a programmer and this is a hobby so I've never yet tried to understand histograms and such. The good thing is that right now, the weak spot is what I'm using behind the camera (me) and I can work on improving that.  :)

I just got my GH2 yesterday and I've applied the 44 Vanilla hack, enabled High ISO, set camera to recommended settings on the GH2 Hack Vault page, purchased and read Andrew's EOSHD Shooter's Guide. I've setup my Creative Movie Mode settings as per recommended in the Shooter's guide. In the guide, in the beginner's boot camp section, he details that Exposure should be set to Manual which leaves 3 ways to control Exposure; Shutter Speed (which should usually be at 1/50 or 1/60 anyway), Aperture, and ISO. First of all, from a _complete_ beginner's standpoint, I have to say the guide (though GH2 specific), never mentions HOW to change any of these. I learned by basically pushing everything (I know, RTFM), the Shutter Speed and the Aperture are both set by the "Thumb Wheel" (which, to be explicit, is the wheel most available to your thumb) and you toggle between the two by depressing the Thumb Wheel. The ISO is o/c accessible via the ISO button (the UP button on the D-Pad). I think it's weird that the recommendation in the book and repeated almost everywhere is to set the Shutter Speed according to the 180 rule but then in the guide Andrew says that "for beginners the shutter speed is the main way to control the exposure". I would think the main way to control the exposure would be the Aperture and the ISO because when it comes to Shutter Speed, "ideally it should be kept at 1/50 or 1/60". I understand that both Aperture and ISO have other ways they impact the video other than exposure and, according to the guide, "1st priority of the aperture setting is to control [b]depth of field[/b]". So, that leaves us with ISO which can also impact noise. However, it would seem to me that [b]the main way to control exposure would be ISO[/b]. Playing around with ISO, I'm starting to think that ISO 160 is only going to work well outdoors and I seem to consistently have to set ISO up to 640 minimum for indoor shooting. Now, granted that's with my 14-42 which has a minimum aperture of 3.5 so with a "faster"? lens, ISO 160 might be fine for most indoors. I started out with a particular question in mind but I think now I'm just down to, am I right about all this???