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GH4 sky banding


Vesku
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When I watch TV programs with very low bitrate there is less banding in skies than in GH4 100 Mbs 4k files. I think 4:2:0 is not limiting color steps, it just reduces color resolution. If I render a photo slideshow in 8bit 4:2:0 video there is no banding.

Samples: http://***URL removed***/forums/post/57394235

Has the Panasonic codec less "colors" than others? Or is there a differences in color channels? Does the sharpen 0 cause banding? How about contrast setting?

I have heard that Panasonic cameras records green colors better than other cameras but has difficulties in skin tones (reds) and skies. GH4 renders nature greens beautifully and sharply. Also the red "spill" or spread over real details is minimal in GH4. A friend said that his Nikon makes less banding in sky than GH4.

It is impossible to know what camera makers do when they down scale their sensors and tries to get small enough data rate for video.

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6 hours ago, liork said:

Make sure that iResolution and iDynamic are set to off.

I dont think it is that easy. IDynamic or iResolution does not introduce banding in photos, why in video? They may increase noise but that is usually good for banding.

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I have tested Natural and Standard and contrasts between -5 to 0. Always banding in skies. I thought it is normal for 8bit videos but I have seen many "lower quality" videos without sky banding. In theory there is no reason why 8bit video should have more banding than 8bit photo, especially with high bitrate and static clip.

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Is it true that users can not see sky banding in GH4 4k videos and G7 is even better? I am not talking about V-log amount of banding but little more than normal banding. 

GH2 was horrible, GH3 better and GH4 quite good but I think that Canon and Nikon has still smoother sky colors.

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7 minutes ago, AaronChicago said:

Something is definitely wrong here b/c I use the GH4 all the time outside and never see banding in the sky (other than V Log).

Can you post a GH4 video capture frame without banding in sky gradient?

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4 hours ago, Vesku said:

Thanks, Aaron. Looks quite good. There is still some roughness in sky. GH4 codec adds dithering. It helps but the JPG photo is still better. How did you do that capture? Can you remember settings? Looks cineD to my eyes:

Yeah this was from 2014 so I'm 99% sure it's Cine D. I just opened the old project in Premiere and exported the frame from a timeline to JPEG and TIFF.

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6 hours ago, Vesku said:

Thanks, Aaron. Looks quite good. There is still some roughness in sky. GH4 codec adds dithering. It helps but the JPG photo is still better. How did you do that capture? Can you remember settings? Looks cineD to my eyes:

I saw your post few days ago and only today got around to look at the projects. I found only one instance, a pretty bad one. When I looked into it better, I realised it was pushed hard, hard.

Over the past few years I've been filming corporates for two agencies and almost raped the London skyline to the extent that I have it in some iteration up to three times in four, five minute finals. I don't have banding in these shots, no matter what profile I used. Even internal V log looks good, but it's always scaled down to 1080 and Juan Melara's luts (used it with red and wanted to try and keep consistent)

I would try and reset everything and start from the scratch.

P.S. To crush hopes of all those who might go on to think that downscale to 1080p and JM print luts are some magic way to correct all the faults of V log, they are not. While skies are great, (non-white) walls often look mushy.

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Also with all due respect, the G7 actually has a hair more moire than the GH4. 

"The composition includes many areas of fine horizontal lines, particularly on the various doors and shutters by the beach. As these approach the resolving power of a camera, there's inevitably issues with moire, and indeed when I played the footage back on the 4k TV, I noticed tell-tale shimmering in some of these areas. Interestingly the GH4 wasn't immune to this effect, and while it suffered a little less than the G7, it really was only by a small amount in this particular composition. I'd expected to recommend the GH4 in this situation, but was surprised to find them very close in quality. Of course this is just one example and in others greater differences may emerge. Equally there'll be other situations when the difference will reduce or even disappear. I think the bottom line is while the GH4 should still enjoy the edge in 4k quality, the G7 comes very close, and in some situations the footage will be almost indistinguishable."

http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Panasonic_Lumix_G7/

Looks similar to the NX1.

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