GH 6 Users - Settings Causing OverExposure

[Doug Jensen]

I never said AF was good on all cameras and all situations, so I'm not sure what your point is. In fact, for 95% of all video cameras/lenses AF is not good enough. And even on cameras where it does work well, it still depends on having the right settings and techniques. Focus is definitely a skill that must be learned and practiced. But it is a viable alternative now and getting better all the time.

But exposure is completely different because there are no video cameras that can perform better than manual. If you don't get my point by now, there is nothing I can say that will get through to you, so you are welcome to have the final word. Please, go ahead and tell newbies they are too stupid, lazy, or ignorant to learn something. I guess only those people who "spend their life running cameras" are capable of setting exposure.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Ron Evans

There is no reason that one could not shoot manual for important situations and full auto in others.

As you know I mainly shoot weddings, 17 years already and counting :) and I always have managed my camera's manually. Multicam ceremonies consist out of 4 to sometimes 5 camera's that I operate alone, every camera gets whitebalanced, has a fixed focus, shutter and exposure.

Most ceremonies are under controlled light and then having all camera's in manual is crucial to prevent extra work in post, shooting outside on a windy and partially cloudy day however is as bad as it gets, the sun appearing and disappearing all the time gives huge exposure differences, the way I have dealt with these situations in the past is to slightly overexpose all my camera's when the sun is out and deal with the under exposure in post. Only the camera I operate myself gets adjusted accordingly, the other 3 or 4 run unmanned once they have been set up.

This year however I tried a wedding with my unmanned camera's set to autoexposure and with the ev button adjusted so shots did not overexpose when the sun was out and the results turned out much better then I expected, not only did the camera's smoothly adjusted the exposure to sometimes wildly different fluctuations in light, I could also use such a shot when the sun came out of went to hide in post without having to make any adjustment.

Is it perfect? No, but neither is a unmanned camera that has been set up with a fixed exposure in such a situation, I will continue to run my camera's fully manual when I can but there certainly is a time for auto-exposure, you just need to know when to use it.

[Ron Evans]

Yes Noa very similar to how I shoot in the theatre. I then have the choice for particular scene and very often the auto camera is quicker to adjust as expected. Like you said it is not perfect but most of the time great. But you do need to set up correctly with fixed gain limit, fixed shutter speed, AE shift, exposure sensing range etc so it is certainly not switch on and shoot. Using the highlight exposure setting on the GH6 or GH5S will stop the over overexposure as it will set exposure based on the peak. In my case it will ensure faces of actors are not washed out when on a black stage in spotlight. It is very impressive. The camera is controlling lens and gain really in my implementation and of course the camera has finer gain control than can be achieved manually. The GH6 has lots of controls for doing this. Essentially constraining the auto operation to a range. Even autofocus range if you need to use that.


For Doug " Please, go ahead and tell newbies they are too stupid, lazy, or ignorant to learn something. I guess only those people who "spend their life running cameras" are capable of setting exposure. " your words not mine. How to use a tool is up to the owner of the tool.

My comment about cars was real as I have friends who think the same way as you about people who drive automatic trans cars. So most people in North America fall into this category. Also, I think in the world at the moment, most video is shot full auto, from smart phones. There is a big difference between people who want to record an event for their own use and someone who shoots to sell the output. As technology improves it becomes harder to tell the difference.

[Christopher Young]

Originally Posted by Russ Gutshall

Greetings -- so somehow my video is getting overexposed big time. I'm shooting 5.8K - with Atomos Ninja 5+ -- when I hit the shutter initially on GH-6 - for a "split second" -- I get good exposure - but within like a tenth-of-a-second -- the exposure is totally blown out - histogram shows way right side exposure - and recorded clip shows way overexposed when played back.

I guess you are referring to the clips recorded on the Ninja being over exposed? You don't say if you are shooting V-LOG OR 709? Are you viewing your video in an NLE? It sounds like you might be. If so, make sure you aren't falling into the following problem. The Ninja recorders have no idea what levels are coming in, VIDEO or FULL as there is no metadata in the video stream coming into the Ninja regarding levels.

I do a fair bit of post for various clients, and the problems outlined in these following video are something I am seeing again and again when people bring me footage recorded on Ninja 5 recorders, well all Atomos recorders. Whether it has been recorded off a Sony, Panasonic or Nikon camera makes no difference as the problem lies within the Ninja based on how the Ninja is interpreting the incoming video stream and recording it. Hope this may be the reason for your problems because if it is, the problem is easily resolved. The old adage of "If you understand the problem, you know the answer." is so true if this is your problem.

A quick way to find out is to record a wide dynamic range scene, white highlights to black shadows on the camera card and the Ninja simultaneously and then compare the Waveform levels on both clips in your NLE using its scopes. If the levels are different between the supposedly identical clips, then the levels interpretation by the Ninja of the stream from your camera is the issue. In which case, the NLE has to be set to interpret your footage correctly.

Chris Young

UPDATE Your Atomos Ninja V RIGHT NOW! - YouTube

How to SET UP Your NINJA V the RIGHT WAY (Atomos Setup Guide) - YouTube

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Is it perfect? No, but neither is a unmanned camera that has been set up with a fixed exposure in such a situation, I will continue to run my camera's fully manual when I can but there certainly is a time for auto-exposure, you just need to know when to use it.

Oh, come on. Now you're comparing apples and oranges. Nobody is talking about unmanned cameras. I have no doubt that putting your unmanned cameras on auto would provide better results then just setting them on manual and walking away. Duh! I find it surprising you even tried manual in that situation.

But that is totally different from running a camera on automatic exposure while you actually have your hands on it. Surely you must concede that in THAT situation the OP would be better off making a little effort to learn to shoot with manual. It ain't that hard. And you guys are doing a disservice to newbies my acting like using manual exposure is beyond their abilities. Send me that monkey.

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Ron Evans

For Doug " Please, go ahead and tell newbies they are too stupid, lazy, or ignorant to learn something. I guess only those people who "spend their life running cameras" are capable of setting exposure. " your words not mine.

Actually, it is my summation of your opinion, based on the things you have said. I just crystalized into a nice neat statement.

I feel just the opposite. Anyone can learn to shoot with manual exposure -- including the stupid, lazy, and ignorant.

[Russ Gutshall]

Thanks for all the input -- BUT -- I still can't understand -- or figure out why when the shutter is partly depressed to set focus or view the shot -- the view looks great - but instantaneously like a tenth of a second -- the lcd view is blown out and clip (if record button is pushed) clip is fully blown out. ISO is set to 800 - lowest I can get camera to go -

Prior to setting up/attaching Ninja 5+ -- this was not happening - the shutter/lcd blow out of image -- is something "stuck" ? Sorry I'm "brain ded" on this happening - just would like to get back to normal - even without the Ninja !

Walk me thru the settings somebody !?

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

And you guys are doing a disservice to newbies my acting like using manual exposure is beyond their abilities. Send me that monkey.

Calm down and take a chill pill Doug, how am I doing anyone a disservice when I replied to Ron what the rare occasions are when I use auto exposure, I didn't reply to you and I didn't suggest to Russ he might be better of using auto exposure or that using manual is beyond his abilities, that's something you are implying now, isn't it?

In my example I could even have my own camera that I operate deal with the exposure automatically as it could handle large and frequent light changes faster and better then I could manually, so here's another example when auto-exposure might be useful but I still prefer to do that manual though.

In any other situation I always control my exposure manually and I suggest Russ to start to learn to do the same, knowing how to control your camera manually is important for the best results, once you master that you still can decide when auto-anything could be useful for those rare occasions. (see what I did here Doug?), a quick tip, youtube is full of good and free tutorials how to set up and use your camera so you don't need to waste any money on a paid masterclass.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Russ Gutshall

Walk me thru the settings somebody !?

I would help if you would take a picture of your lcd screen to see how your camera has been set up currently. I don't have a gh6 but a gh5 and gh5s so there should be a few similarities, when you use the "disp" button you should be able to get to a screen that displays all your current settings. What settings have you changed on the camera right after you first used it?

[Noa Put]

Also, have you followed Christopher Young suggestion to see if that is the problem? If that's not it then maybe a short video taken with a phone to show what is happening is also useful to determine what the problem might be.

[Ron Evans]

Originally Posted by Russ Gutshall

Thanks for all the input -- BUT -- I still can't understand -- or figure out why when the shutter is partly depressed to set focus or view the shot -- the view looks great - but instantaneously like a tenth of a second -- the lcd view is blown out and clip (if record button is pushed) clip is fully blown out. ISO is set to 800 - lowest I can get camera to go -

Prior to setting up/attaching Ninja 5+ -- this was not happening - the shutter/lcd blow out of image -- is something "stuck" ? Sorry I'm "brain ded" on this happening - just would like to get back to normal - even without the Ninja !

Walk me thru the settings somebody !?

The GH series have a feature called Constant Preview. IF this is set to ON in the menu you get a view of how the settings are affecting the image. That way you can make adjustments and see the effect. So you can see the effects of manual or automatic exposure. IF this is OFF then you just get a reasonable image on the LCD. However in this case when you press the shutter the camera then shows how the camera is set up to take the image. That is what I think is happening in your case. This is on the monitor/display page of the cog menu. As I am sure Doug will tell you ISO is not the only thing to control. You need to set your frame rate, shutter speed and iris as well. If you set the dial to P the camera controls most of these.

Also on this same cog menu, further down you will see a page that has HDMI record control. Under this setting you can switch OFF HDMI record control and then get rid of the RED HDMI you see on the LCD. However if you want the NINJA V to record when you press record on the GH6 you will need this set to ON and set Ninja V to accept HDMI record trigger. That is why the RED HDMI indication is there to tell you that record control is setup.

The GH6 is a very adjustable camera but needs some work to understand. Not a simple point and shoot camera. It requires some effort to learn. There are lots of instructions on YOUTUBE both from Panasonic in the LUMIX channel and others one of which I referenced before.

[Noa Put]

Not sure how you do it Ron, providing a possible solution without insult, belittling or trying to sell your knowledge. I"m pretty sure with your patience you would manage to even teach a monkey how to operate this camera. It's always good to have people like you on board who are willing to help without asking anything in return.

[Christopher Young]

Originally Posted by Ron Evans

The GH6 is a very adjustable camera but needs some work to understand. Not a simple point and shoot camera. It requires some effort to learn. There are lots of instructions on YOUTUBE both from Panasonic in the LUMIX channel and others one of which I referenced before.

Good one! You might have nailed it.

Chris Young

[Russ Gutshall]

Wow -- didn't think I'd start so much controversy ! Even without the Ninja attached -- just shooting with camera - my video is still blown out - and it wasn't before. Clips/clips looked great thru LCD - and even when played back on computer. I just can't seem to grasp what setting I've "jimmied" that results in what I'm seeing ?

The only way a clip looks OK thru the LCD is when I hit the display button and shutter, aperture, ISO, etc, are shown and I tap the aperture from among all settings and get a decently exposed "view" of what was just recorded.

[Russ Gutshall]

Anybody in the U.S. good with sending a PM/email - and willing to talk me thru my set up via phone ??

All contact info would be kept private ! (phone number, etc)