Extended Sensitivity Mode

Panasonic HC-X1 Extra Sensitivity For Negative Gain

If you are into cameras then you already know the negative side of adding gain or ISO to your photos and video. However, did you know that Gain can go into the negatives? Well it can, and the Panasonic HC-X1 expert Barry Green suggests that you always keep the Extended Sensitivity setting on. The video will show you how to turn this on.

Negative gain gives you a clearer picture and more access to light which is always good for video. However, after making the video I learned some new info.

To create the video, I trusted all the Panasonic HC-X1 guides, which did not mention any negative side effects of negative gain. However, a YouTube subscriber commented about some loss of dynamic range that occurs when the gain goes negative. I still trust that having it on, but I found the chart in this article useful talking about loss of dynamic range.

When the extended sensitivity setting is turned on (found in the SYSTEM MODE menu) you can then set the lowest gain from 0 to -3. You can do this with the view screen gain adjustment, but what I did was use the SW SETUP menu to set the default LOW GAIN setting to -3 instead of 0.

I feel comfortable having the gain between -3 and 0 but really hate going above 0. The situation I faced was a well lit studio, and when I moved gain from -3 to 0, it gave me the additional brightness I needed for the best lighting. So I have used 0 gain after learning about -3.

Please let me know in the comments if you have used negative gain or if you have any questions!