GH2 West Side Story

stoneinapond

stoneinapond

New member
No, not a remake. Who would do such a thing? Just a collection of clips I'd taken over the last several months as I tested out the GH2 and my selection of lenses to try and understand focal length, aperture, and all those other things (I'm relatively new to all of this). All the clips were shot around the west side of midtown Manhattan, hence the title thread.


Lenses used:


!4-42mm Panasonic kit lens
LOMO OKC 11-35-1 35mm T2.2
Canon FD 50mm f/1.4
Helios 44m-5 58mm f/2
Olympus 12mm f/2 (preproduction model, borrowed)
Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 58mm f/2 (borrowed)


For those interested in clips taken with the Olympus, here are the locations:


1.07 to 1.17 (ETC On)
1.32 to 1.35 (ETC On)
1.59 to 2.31
3.17 to 3.42
4.11 to 4.22
5.05 (ETC On)


Additionally, all the slo-mo clips were with the 12mm with ETC On. I now realize that just slowing down 24p footage doesn't deliver the real deal. But I like the effect achieved in FCP X, which is where this video was edited. I'm sure I'll use the dreamy, ethereal feel and hope the hack will give us 60p.

The HD file is available for download.

Enjoy. All comments welcome.




(By the way, I forgot to mention that some of the lyrics in the music track would be considered mature. So please be advised.)
 
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cool video.

I'm sure you did not use the lenses wide open a lot except for the couple shots where they look super bright. And a lot of things were in focus even when panning (like the motorcycle looked completely in focus).

Were the zoom shots w/ the Panasonic? No weird aperture changes while zooming.

The slow-mo looked weird on the girl in white.

Would be funny if you caught a dvx user in all those subway scenes.
 
sxm said:
cool video.

I'm sure you did not use the lenses wide open a lot except for the couple shots where they look super bright. And a lot of things were in focus even when panning (like the motorcycle looked completely in focus).

Were the zoom shots w/ the Panasonic? No weird aperture changes while zooming.

The slow-mo looked weird on the girl in white.

Would be funny if you caught a dvx user in all those subway scenes.
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Thanks for watching and your comments. Much appreciated.

The three head shots were all pretty wide. There were no zoom shots. All zoom type motion was done in post and if memory serves, only to clips shot with the primes.

As I mentioned, 24p doesn't return good slow motion. Hey, it's a learning experience and hopefully the Vitaliy hack will deliver 1080/60p capture. But I think the effect could work in a narrative where someone is experiencing blurred vision. Hallucinations anyone? :grin:

And so long as the guy watching the girl in a slightly too close fashion isn't a DVX users, no need to worry!
 
Peter J. DeCrescenzo said:
Cool stuff, Jurek.

I know what you mean about 24p and slow motion, but FYI: Uli Heckmann ("pilpop") is getting fantastic results with GH2 24p post-processed with Twixtor:
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Thanks for the kind words Peter. They mean a lot.

Yes, Twixtor would seem to be the answer but a), there's no support for FCP X as of yet and b), it's still a pricey solution. So next I'm going to experiment with 720 60p.
 
stoneinapond,


Nice work. I myself am new to this game as well, isn't it a nice adventure trying stuff out and seeing what works/doesn't work? I'm learning a lot from this community we have here. I miss New York - been living in Shanghai for several years now. Keep up the good work.
 
last_SHIFT said:
stoneinapond,


Nice work. I myself am new to this game as well, isn't it a nice adventure trying stuff out and seeing what works/doesn't work? I'm learning a lot from this community we have here. I miss New York - been living in Shanghai for several years now. Keep up the good work.
Click to expand...

last_SHIFT,

Yes, it's a wonderful journey. I try and shoot something every day even if it's just something on my desk (lots of those shots!). I was surprised how difficult it was at first and am still finding challenges, especially lighting. But yes, the community here is stellar and generous.

How is Shanghai these days? I spent a couple of days there last September and was blown away by it. I wish I'd had a GH2 back then, but I shot a lot of video using a small point and shoot which I re-view often with my partner. It was a special trip.

And I hope my video brought back some memories for you!

Be well and many thanks.
 
stoneinapond said:
last_SHIFT,

Yes, it's a wonderful journey. I try and shoot something every day even if it's just something on my desk (lots of those shots!). I was surprised how difficult it was at first and am still finding challenges, especially lighting. But yes, the community here is stellar and generous.

How is Shanghai these days? I spent a couple of days there last September and was blown away by it. I wish I'd had a GH2 back then, but I shot a lot of video using a small point and shoot which I re-view often with my partner. It was a special trip.

And I hope my video brought back some memories for you!

Be well and many thanks.
Click to expand...

stoneinapond,

Shanghai is amazing - so much love and hate about it ;-p I left NYC in August '04 and never looked back, but I'll always be a NY'er.

Here's link to the first HD vid I ever made -it's all Shanghai, hope you enjoy it and can get past my crappy technique, if I'm still making the same mistakes this time next year then by all means blast me - LOL

http://www.vimeo.com/25460691

Cheers & Enjoy!
 
last_SHIFT said:
stoneinapond,

Shanghai is amazing - so much love and hate about it ;-p I left NYC in August '04 and never looked back, but I'll always be a NY'er.

Here's link to the first HD vid I ever made -it's all Shanghai, hope you enjoy it and can get past my crappy technique, if I'm still making the same mistakes this time next year then by all means blast me - LOL

http://www.vimeo.com/25460691

Cheers & Enjoy!
Click to expand...

last_SHIFT,

Wow, that was great. It still amazes me how much serendipity there is on the Internet and particularly in this forum. Thanks so much.

I take it you are a TC practitioner? We stayed in the hotel across from the brown bridge and the last morning I got up a went over to the plaza with the memorial. And there they all were. A group doing sword form and in particular an old man who was trying to teach a middle aged businessman a particular form that he was not quite getting. After watching what was going on for a while, I found my spot and did another round of Yang style TC. The businessman and I both finished at the same time and as I was leaving, the old teacher made a very slight bow in my direction with a smile on his face, got on his bicycle, and rode away.

Also, I looked up Christopher Doyle, not quite knowing who that was. Half way down I noticed several of my favorite films, including Hero, Rabbit Proof Fence and Ondine. Your meeting with him must of been something.

Anyway, thanks for sharing. There is so much talent out there that may only have heart going for it (no big budgets) but I'll take that any day.

Peace.
 
stoneinapond,

Thanks for your compliments and insightful comments.

Actually I do not practice TC - I just thought it would be a perfect subject for my first piece. I plan to go back periodically to get to know them better and get a shorthand going so that I can get more deeper access to shooting them - then maybe I can really put together a proper piece.

I'm glad you looked up Chris Doyle - he is a total maverick - a reckless drunk with no formal training but he has revolutionized cinematography since the mid to late 90's. Check out 'Chungking Express' which may looked dated, only because it's been copied over and over again. And also 'In The Mood For Love' which is one of the most gorgeously shot movies I have ever seen. But even tough he shoots the most beautiful images and has a signature ' style' like any great artist, he never ever lets that over power the story, and you can see that by how his work differs between the different directors he works with.

Cheers and please post more work.
 
I really like this piece and liked your thoughts on Tai Chi. I do Ving Tsun and recently got into doing chen style tai chi. It's visually awesome and I'm seeing things differently.

Not to hijack the original thread.. but this was cool too.


last_SHIFT said:
stoneinapond,

Shanghai is amazing - so much love and hate about it ;-p I left NYC in August '04 and never looked back, but I'll always be a NY'er.

Here's link to the first HD vid I ever made -it's all Shanghai, hope you enjoy it and can get past my crappy technique, if I'm still making the same mistakes this time next year then by all means blast me - LOL

http://www.vimeo.com/25460691

Cheers & Enjoy!
Click to expand...
 
Jesse Brauning said:
Can you tell me anything about the AF performance of the 12mm olympus lens on the GH2?
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I just posted about the lens on a AF100 in that forum. It has constant auto focus and seems to do a contrast detect to achieve focus. You can also see the size of it compared to the camcorder. I warn you, you may laugh really hard at this one.
 
Jesse Brauning said:
Can you tell me anything about the AF performance of the 12mm olympus lens on the GH2?
Click to expand...

Greetings,

Not much I'm afraid. I only had the lens for about two hours and didn't really have the time to test or even pay much attention to set-up. I just wanted some video and to observe the look of ETC mode on the GH2. I didn't seem to have problems focusing although I lost focus assist in one ETC situation. The lens didn't seem as if it were focusing and the preview didn't look amazingly sharp, but the footage turned out fine. I think it was an error in set-up.

I wish I could tell you more. All I can say is that I want one. Period. I'll work out any incompatibilities once I get it, if there really are any. And it has a nice look in ETC mode. You still can see its wide angle DNA when panning but housed inside a 62mm field of view image. Interesting.
 
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