GH4 Softness

[Skitrippin]

So I've had my gh4 since september and for some reason all the video I shoot on it looks too soft. I shoot mostly 1080p 60 at 200mbps, so I should end up with sharp video. I use a speedbooster and a 70-200 f/4 for most of my shots too. I shoot in Cine D with -5 contrast, -5 sharpness, and -5 saturation and then color grade it all in premiere.

Heres a video I shot and edited yesterday for example.

Any help or tips would be awesome!

 

[GrapeHunter]

Video isn't available..

Anyway, it could be a number of reasons.

1. Your glass is messed up. Could be scratched (internally or externally), fogged, growth, etc

2. Your sensor is dirty. Make sure its clean and has not film or growth on it.

3. You're not focused correctly. Mess around with that and make sure your autofocus isn't weird

4. Check your speed booster, may have problems like the lens could. Take it off and test out the same lens and see if it is in fact your booster.

5. Its possible that the internally of your camera is fuked up, but its highly unlikely.

or maybe you just need glasses haha

 

[Skitrippin]

Video isn't available..

Anyway, it could be a number of reasons.

1. Your glass is messed up. Could be scratched (internally or externally), fogged, growth, etc

2. Your sensor is dirty. Make sure its clean and has not film or growth on it.

3. You're not focused correctly. Mess around with that and make sure your autofocus isn't weird

4. Check your speed booster, may have problems like the lens could. Take it off and test out the same lens and see if it is in fact your booster.

5. Its possible that the internally of your camera is fuked up, but its highly unlikely.

or maybe you just need glasses haha

Sorry about that, this link should work.

All my glass is sharp cuz I use the same lenses on my 7D for stills.

Im thinking its my settings tho, I still havent had enough time to completely learn the camera and know what settings work for me. Ill clean my sensor and the speedbooster tho just incase

 

[Pataguccimane]

I've experienced this softness in the past as well. I know the glass is sharp as I'll shoot a still on the gh4 of the same subject that I will be filming shortly after and the detail is tack sharp. However, I recently switched up to shooting in Cinelike v with contrast and sharpness all the way down. and my video has been coming out fairly sharp so it might be a picture profile thing.

 

[Skitrippin]

I've experienced this softness in the past as well. I know the glass is sharp as I'll shoot a still on the gh4 of the same subject that I will be filming shortly after and the detail is tack sharp. However, I recently switched up to shooting in Cinelike v with contrast and sharpness all the way down. and my video has been coming out fairly sharp so it might be a picture profile thing.

Ill try Cine v later tonight and see how it turns out. Thanks for the help!

 

[GrapeHunter]

I don't know man, the vid you sent looks pretty sharp to me.. maybe I'm blind

 

[IanAvery-Leaf]

I don't know man, the vid you sent looks pretty sharp to me.. maybe I'm blind

yeah when you're video is uploaded and compressed onto youtube its not going to look nearly as good as when its pulled up in Premiere/Final Cut/etc.

From my quick glance at it it looked pretty similar to other GH4 footage I've seen online

 

[Skitrippin]

yeah when you're video is uploaded and compressed onto youtube its not going to look nearly as good as when its pulled up in Premiere/Final Cut/etc.

From my quick glance at it it looked pretty similar to other GH4 footage I've seen online

Oh, ok. Idk why but I don't think its as sharp as other GH4 footy. Maybe because most of the videos I've watched on it are pretty simple shots and not high speed action type stuff.

 

[eheath]

OP how were you shooting? frame rate, resolution, etc. Some shots look super flossy, some look muddy as fuck.

Also its good to note that stability of the camera will also effect your quality, shaky shots will look softer. You also seemed to be shooting at a pretty open f stop for most of it (to achieve shallow DOF) i would suggest shooting at least f8, even f11 for action stuff so that you can hold focus while a subject is moving. Hope that helps.

 

[Skitrippin]

OP how were you shooting? frame rate, resolution, etc. Some shots look super flossy, some look muddy as fuck.

Also its good to note that stability of the camera will also effect your quality, shaky shots will look softer. You also seemed to be shooting at a pretty open f stop for most of it (to achieve shallow DOF) i would suggest shooting at least f8, even f11 for action stuff so that you can hold focus while a subject is moving. Hope that helps.

Yeah, I was mostly trying to keep it at f/4 or at slowest f/5.6. My shutter speed was insane at up to 10,000 in some shots. I might invest in some good but cheap ND filters and a mattebox just so I can keep a fast f stop and still be able to use the 180 degree shutter speed trick, because 8,000-10,000 shutter speed is a little ridiculous. And for some of the super slo mo shots I was shooting at 96 fps and its notorious for looking like shit on the gh4 unless your lighting is perfect, and for some of the shots I was facing the sun. Next time I'll stop down a little bit and see how it turns out.

 

[eheath]

Yeah, I was mostly trying to keep it at f/4 or at slowest f/5.6. My shutter speed was insane at up to 10,000 in some shots. I might invest in some good but cheap ND filters and a mattebox just so I can keep a fast f stop and still be able to use the 180 degree shutter speed trick, because 8,000-10,000 shutter speed is a little ridiculous. And for some of the super slo mo shots I was shooting at 96 fps and its notorious for looking like shit on the gh4 unless your lighting is perfect, and for some of the shots I was facing the sun. Next time I'll stop down a little bit and see how it turns out.

Yeah man, buy yourself a 1.2ND filter and it will help you out in sunny conditions. You're likely seeing a pretty choppy image at 8000-10000. Stop that fstop down to 11 or 16 and run a slower shutter and I think you'll notice a big difference. Shooting with a lens wide open for action is just silly. Also, your lens will be less sharp when its wide open, just an FYI, every lens has a sweet spot for shaprness, usually f5.6-f11

 

[Skitrippin]

Yeah man, buy yourself a 1.2ND filter and it will help you out in sunny conditions. You're likely seeing a pretty choppy image at 8000-10000. Stop that fstop down to 11 or 16 and run a slower shutter and I think you'll notice a big difference. Shooting with a lens wide open for action is just silly. Also, your lens will be less sharp when its wide open, just an FYI, every lens has a sweet spot for shaprness, usually f5.6-f11

I'm going back this weekend to film a project for school and shoot more moto and ill stick to somewhere around f/8 and see how that goes. Thank you for the advice!

 

[Pataguccimane]

Yeah man, buy yourself a 1.2ND filter and it will help you out in sunny conditions. You're likely seeing a pretty choppy image at 8000-10000. Stop that fstop down to 11 or 16 and run a slower shutter and I think you'll notice a big difference. Shooting with a lens wide open for action is just silly. Also, your lens will be less sharp when its wide open, just an FYI, every lens has a sweet spot for shaprness, usually f5.6-f11

This

I had some videos that I shot with high frame rates because I didn't know how shutter speed affects video and once I transitioned and started trying to shoot at or around a 180 degree shutter (Think shutter speed doubling your frame rate i.e. 24 fps - 1/50 of a second or 60 fps 1/120 of a second shutter speed. In some recent videos of mine I've shot 60 fps at 1/(160/180) and its worked really well and came out fairly sharp. however I was not able to pull this off without an nd filter so get yourself a 1.2 and you'll find yourself really happy with your images