Re: HF G40 question
 

Quite honestly, were it not for the laundry basket, I'd say 'Standard' (Normal) looks the best on balance. Yes, Wide DR gives some extra dynamic range, but it's at the expense of a softer image (lower local contrast) and increased noise levels - look at the black t shirt on the clothes line, and that's in open daylight. Cinema Mode also a bit softer and lacks contrast - needs to be added in post, IMHO.

Re: HF G40 question
 

Yes it does. It produces the flattest image, especially when Contrast and Color Depth are set to -2 and is much better for those like me who prefer to tweak in post. The result is more detail at both ends, but especially in the highlights and it does away with burnt out highlights at 100% zebra. Completed, it gives the appearance of a higher dynamic range.The alternative is to shoot Manual Mode and drop the exposure a bit from the zebra point, but even after post that gives an overall flatter look. Earlier in the year I did some side-by-side tests to see for myself what the differences are and which I prefer to use.

Personally I don't like Cinema Mode without work in post, I agree with you Bryan that it is a little too flat. The other thing to note is, CM restricts fps to 25 (presumably 24 your side of the pond), so over and undercrank and 35mbps can't be used.

Re: HF G40 question
 

It boils down to having a limited number of bits available for the image, and how you want to allocate them to the brightness range of the subject, how much you want to give to shadow and highlight detail.

Re: HF G40 question
 

Used wide dr past two weddings as a safety shot in church and held up nice and coloured well to c100 ii and 6d iis.

Re: HF G40 question
 

I'm sure wedding videography does benefit from the extra dynamic range that Wide DR brings - shooting interiors (churches, receptions) and exteriors (under pagodas and the like) where you having to cope with a lot of back-light, with little or no opportunity for staged supplementary lighting. Did you shoot the weddings with Wide DR on the C100 ii also ?

I was just saying that of the three frame shots you posted that were shot in broad daylight I thought, on balance, Standard Mode looked the best - better 'definition' ('clarity', local contrast) and less noise than Wide DR. Examining the histograms it looked to me also that those were not taken from the original clips straight out of the camera and that you had made some levels adjustments in post ? Normally, with 'Standard' mode it's possible to recover more detail from near-blown highlights in the 'super-white' domain using 'pull-down' techniques in post, but in those images the highlights were well and truly 'hard-clipped'. Also were the same camera exposure settings used in all three modes ?

Re: HF G40 question
 

No Dave, on the Vixia models the full range of frame rates available in Normal (Standard) mode are also available in Cinema Mode, namely:

AVCHD: 23.98p, 29.97PF, 59.94i, and 59.94p (when 28Mbps selected)

MP4: 23.98p, 29.97p and 59.94p (when 35Mbps selected)

I'm surprised you can't shoot Cinema Mode in 50p on the Legria HFG30/40's

Re: HF G40 question
 

Really? Not that I have tried, the manual is pretty clear.

Re: HF G40 question
 

Guess I should have double checked...'cos the Manual is right and I'm wrong.

If you select 59.94p (35Mbps) in mp4 format in Standard (Normal) mode and switch to Cinema Mode it changes to 29.97p.

If you select 59.94p (28Mbps) in AVCHD format in Standard (Normal) mode and switch to Cinema Mode it changes to 59.94i.

So no 59.94p in Cinema Mode but you do at least have the options of 23.98p and 29.97p in mp4 format and 23.98p, 29.97PF, 59.94i in AVCHD format.

Shows how much I use Cinema Mode.