Help with GH2 Setup

[mgrmgr]

Just took delivery of a GH2 with 14-140mm, 7mm-14mm, and 14mm pancake. I whipped out the Panasonic manual, opened up the various Settings menus...and just about started to cry. Are they kidding? Really? Someone is supposed to figure out what some of those setting do or how they're supposed to be set for specific preferences from looking at these menus and looking at that manual? Yes, some were obvious, but some were insultingly obtuse.

Okay, yes, it's partly my fault. I have serious attention and reading problems, but I spent four hours trying to understand just the basic settings I need...and finally decided to call here for help with some of the basics (and I'm not even into the deep stuff yet).

1a> For the life of me, I cannot figure out how to disable the "shutter click" noise. I tried SETUP/BEEP/E-SHUTTER VOL set to the top choice with the "x" in it, and it still blasts the room.

1b> What is the difference between BEEP VOLUME and the next choice down called VOLUME?

2> Can the sound level meters be set so they work only in Video? When turned on under MOTION PICTURE/MIC LEVEL DISP, they display all the time.

3> SETUP/CALIBRATION says to set the points with the supplied Pick. I did it with my fingers instead (as that's what I'll use daily). Does using my fingers during calibration mess anything up?

4> Which COLOR SPACE is best? Some of the pictures will be taken by a gallery for both print and monitor display. Some will eventually go for commercial sale. I have Adobe Photoshop CS5 but that doesn't mean I shouldn't us the standard sRGB space, right?

5> Can I set a default still picture name? Something like 20110517_gh2_ followed by a four digit number beginning with 0001 every day? I can rename the images after, but having them come out of the camera already named would be great.

6> I will be connecting two XLR microphones (Shure SM57s) into the GH2 through a BeachTek DXA-SLR microphone adapter. I need to defeat the camera's internal Automatic Gain Control (AGC). It looks like this might be done under MOTION PICTURE/MIC LEVEL ADJ with a setting of Level 1. Is that what this setting does? If so, is there an even better way to defeat AGC?

(This is being posted on several m43 and GH2 forums, apologies to those who see it more than once.)

Thanks, Michael{R}

 

[MegaPixelTravel]

For number 4

From my understanding if your not going to do pot processing of your images you want to use sRGB, if however your going to do PP on your images (especially with a adobe products) you should set it to aRGB. That said it's not a huge difference but the best choice is to take a few pictures in each setting and pick the one you like the best.

 

[sprinke]

1a) The GH2 has a mechanical shutter. It's always going to make a noise, and you can't turn it off. I think that e-shutter noise is only electronically generated when you are burst shooting at the highest setting.

1b) The beep is sounded typically when the camera achieves focus. The volume setting is for the in-camera speaker, as when you are playing back a movie on the camera's LCD screen.

5) No.

Sorry, that's all I can help you with.

 

[mgrmgr]

For number 4

From my understanding if your not going to do pot processing of your images you want to use sRGB, if however your going to do PP on your images (especially with a adobe products) you should set it to aRGB. That said it's not a huge difference but the best choice is to take a few pictures in each setting and pick the one you like the best.

Oops, I'm an old film photographer who's previously never had more than a wonderful little shirt-pocket Canon SD870 point'n'shoot and never learned the terminology for what I do in Photoshop with digitized images.

What are "pot" and "PP"???

 

[mgrmgr]

1a) The GH2 has a mechanical shutter. It's always going to make a noise, and you can't turn it off. I think that e-shutter noise is only electronically generated when you are burst shooting at the highest setting.

1b) The beep is sounded typically when the camera achieves focus. The volume setting is for the in-camera speaker, as when you are playing back a movie on the camera's LCD screen.

5) No.

Sorry, that's all I can help you with.

AHHH! Mechanical shutter! Because it is mirrorless, I expected the shutter to work silently, the way it does on my little point'n'shoot. Strange that it needs a mechanical shutter. After all, the censor isn't closed off to the lens or there'd be no live view. Any idea exactly what the mechanical shutter is doing?

In any case, I guess I'm just going to have to take a hammer to it to make it go quiet.

Thanks for the explanation of the difference on 1b.

Damn shame we can't set a personal default name for pictures, but thanks for letting me know.

Much appreciated, Michael{R}

 

[sprinke]

What are "pot" and "PP"???

I think he meant "post" not "pot." And PP is post-processing. Which is all the fun stuff you do to your images in Photoshop (or any number of other software programs).

 

[MegaPixelTravel]

I think he meant "post" not "pot." And PP is post-processing. Which is all the fun stuff you do to your images in Photoshop (or any number of other software programs).

Yeah, I write stuff on an iPad and whomever designed the weighting on autocorrect has a dirty mind.

 

[mgrmgr]

I think he meant "post" not "pot." And PP is post-processing. Which is all the fun stuff you do to your images in Photoshop (or any number of other software programs).

Yes, especially with the fumble-fingered way I type, I could have figured out "pot" and should also have been able to figure out PP.

As said in the opening message, words and I don't get along well...thus, probably, my preference for photography.

Thanks, Michael{R}

 

[mgrmgr]

Yeah, I write stuff on an iPad and whomever designed the weighting on autocorrect has a dirty mind.

Oh, don't make me laugh! While I seriously depend on spellcheckers to correct my %$#*&# lysdexia, the autocorrect feature has sometimes embarrassed me past any amount of apologizing.

In my next life I'm going to be a cat and live in a house where people forgive everything I do...and spend hours rubbing my tummy.

Well...nevermind.

 

[zuzullo]

AHHH! Mechanical shutter! Because it is mirrorless, I expected the shutter to work silently, the way it does on my little point'n'shoot. Strange that it needs a mechanical shutter. After all, the censor isn't closed off to the lens or there'd be no live view. Any idea exactly what the mechanical shutter is doing?

In any case, I guess I'm just going to have to take a hammer to it to make it go quiet.

Thanks for the explanation of the difference on 1b.

Damn shame we can't set a personal default name for pictures, but thanks for letting me know.

Much appreciated, Michael{R}

Totally with you on that!

WHY panasonic, WHY?!? The camera can actually shoot without shutter in BURST at 4mpx, so... WHY?
The camera actually shoots full size and resizes by software in real time, so... WHY panasonic, WHY a Mechanic shutter

 

[~tc~]

My understanding is because using a sensor shutter is what causes a lot of the shutter lag on point and shoots, and it would be worse because the sensor is physically bigger. That delay is unacceptable in this level of camera.

 

[Tom Swaman]

~tc~,

Your point is very important. In fact, the shutter delay is a detractor to serious photography in any camera, .....You imagine your photographing the clowning face of your favorite pooch, you trip the shutter release button, you say the alphabet ten times, you hear the shutter release and you get a blurred image of the butt of your dog. Now isn't this an incentive to try to take pictures?????

Food for thought,
Tom

 

[flash]

For number 4

From my understanding if your not going to do pot processing of your images you want to use sRGB, if however your going to do PP on your images (especially with a adobe products) you should set it to aRGB. That said it's not a huge difference but the best choice is to take a few pictures in each setting and pick the one you like the best.

Ooooh. Can I disagree on this one?

aRGB is a significantly larger colour space than sRGB. Almost 30% larger. aRGB will allow you to capture far more saturated colours, especially in the greens and reds. These are the guidelines I would use on colour space.

1. If you are shooting in RAW then it doesn't matter what you choose because you can change it later. For jpegs it's baked into the file, so choose wisely. But the wisest of all will shoot Raw+jpeg.
2. You can remap an aRGB jpeg file to a sRGB file in Photoshop but not the other way around. (You can make it aRGB but you wont get the extra colours back.)
3. Most domestic printers and computer monitors see only around the sRGB mark, so if your only outputting to small lab prints or for on screen use then aRGb is a waste.
4. Many newer home inkjet printers can print larger than aRGB. As can some, but not all "pro" labs.
5. Shooting video will ignore the aRGB or sRGB settings.

Gordon

 

[Van]

2> Can the sound level meters be set so they work only in Video? When turned on under MOTION PICTURE/MIC LEVEL DISP, they display all the time.

What I've done is turned them on in the C1/2/3 mode, which I use exclusively for video. This way, they don't show up when you're taking pictures in A/S mode.

 

[zuzullo]

My understanding is because using a sensor shutter is what causes a lot of the shutter lag on point and shoots, and it would be worse because the sensor is physically bigger. That delay is unacceptable in this level of camera.

What lag are we talking about, in a camera that is capable of 40fps?!? During which, it is resizing "on-the-fly" 16mpx to 4mpx.
A 40fps burst takes 12sec to flush completely. And you can still continue to shoot full 16mpx during the flushing process.
This means at least 3pic/sec with resize processing included. That resizing would not be needed while shooting in full 16pmx right?! Than it would be probably faster to shoot full 16mpx with electronic shutter. Or at least the same response time of 3fps, considering that the time used, previously, to resize, would now be used to process the extra megapixels.

Maybe I am missing some tech. knowledge here. Oh... I would love a lesson on this theme.
Compact cameras do use electronic shutters only, right?
If there is no mirror on our camera, what/where is the shutter?