GH2 12mm Olympus+Glidecam! Wedding Short Film GH2

Sweet! Another Philly GH2 shooter. Was that Bartram's Garden? I know I shot a wedding in that location - but they all blur together. :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)
 
Nice video. Great, smooth glide cam work! Good vibe on the overall package too. Shame about the camera flashes, but nothing you could do about that. Have you considered tweaking / correcting the white balance of some of the affected shots? Might make it a little less jarring.
 
Lovely-jobly.
You seem to be the expert on this so, a few hundred questions, if I may...
I don't have a GH2 yet, planning to get one and a merlin but now I'm not sure, about the merlin with the price.

1: So with continuous autofocus engaged this means you didn't have to stop to 4.0-5.6 for deep focus?

2: How light was it in the reception? It seemed as if this reception was a bit lighter than most receptions I've been to.
This was definitely not nightclub or restaurant dark was it? It was almost as if they didn't turn the lights down low.

3: I was thinking about the Merlin for low mode shots. Can low-mode shots be executed with the Hd 1000?

4: Heard of anyone using the 12mm on a AF100 with equal success?

5: Ever had to sync sound with an AF100? Encounter any problems, and if any how did you solve them?

6: You shoot with 3 GH2s and you're doing a good job, apparently. How long can you shoot for before the sensor heats up
or is that a Canon 5D issue?

7: I'm assuming the record times are the same as a AF100 to SD cards?

Beautiful, appreciate the sharing. So glad I didn't fork out for the 7-14mm. I used the 20mm and boy it was turrible, just tUrrible!!
 
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Psynema said:
Yes, C-AF. Performed VERY WELL - telepathic even. Only has trouble with backlit subjects, which is to be expected, but honestly, wasn't a big deal at all and very minor and few instances of backlit confusion...other than that, PERFECT w/ face detection. 1000 times better than the 20mm 1.7 which I won't use again on a glidecam
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Well shoot, you just sold me on it. Time to buy!
 
dtzfilms said:
Lovely-jobly.
You seem to be the expert on this so, a few hundred questions, if I may...
I don't have a GH2 yet, planning to get one and a merlin but now I'm not sure, about the merlin with the price.

1: So with continuous autofocus engaged this means you didn't have to stop to 4.0-5.6 for deep focus?
Click to expand...

Nope wide open a lot of the time. 12mm is wide enough to have enough DOF to move around and the AF was quick/smooth enough. For really wide lenses you don't get really shallow DOF unless your right in front of the lens anyway so there's plenty of leeway to move around.

dtzfilms said:
2: How light was it in the reception? It seemed as if this reception was a bit lighter than most receptions I've been to.
This was definitely not nightclub or restaurant dark was it? It was almost as if they didn't turn the lights down low.
Click to expand...

Fairly decent light, highest ISO was 1600 when it got nighttime. But a few outdoor shots were 3200. 12mm was wide open however the whole time except outside during bridal prep/limo shots/daytime outdoor shots.


dtzfilms said:
3: I was thinking about the Merlin for low mode shots. Can low-mode shots be executed with the Hd 1000?
Click to expand...

Yes just crouch down if your back can take it. The glidecam has an extra gymbal so you can move the handle to the side and hold it horizontally instead of vertically which you can't really do with the merlin since it only balances left/right/front back motion, and NOT up and down motion like the glidecam does since it has a full gymbal.

dtzfilms said:
4: Heard of anyone using the 12mm on a AF100 with equal success?
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I have not, but don't see why the Af100 would pose a problem. The GH2 worked fine, even though Olympus built it for their E Pens in mind, but don't see why the Af would be worse focus wise.

dtzfilms said:
5: Ever had to sync sound with an AF100? Encounter any problems, and if any how did you solve them?
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I synch sound via pluraleyes in Final Cut Pro - no problems.

dtzfilms said:
6: You shoot with 3 GH2s and you're doing a good job, apparently. How long can you shoot for before the sensor heats up
or is that a Canon 5D issue?
Click to expand...
Only the canon's overheat, and I've had issues with Canon's failing on me for a company I contract for that uses Canons. GH2s are built for video and can go whenever. It's electronic and not mechanical like the Canon's mirror, so less friction.


dtzfilms said:
7: I'm assuming the record times are the same as a AF100 to SD cards?
Click to expand...

Honestly I have no clue, never used the Af100. It depends on your data rate and will vary by how much you hack the Gh2's bitrate. I got about 90 mins per card if I remember correctly.

dtzfilms said:
Beautiful, appreciate the sharing. So glad I didn't fork out for the 7-14mm. I used the 20mm and boy it was turrible, just tUrrible!!
Click to expand...
Yes I agree, I'm never puttting the 20mm on a glidecam again, it's dead to me. It can be done if you move slowly, set an AF point on one of the upper thirds, and keep your subject their and limit z axis movement, rotating around the subject to maintain the distance. I have yet to try the 7-14mm, scared of the slow f stop speed. I'm sure it's gorgeous outside, but I have limited use for it for what I do, but hopefully one day I can swing it or have a shoot it's worth renting for.
 
Jesse Brauning said:
Well shoot, you just sold me on it. Time to buy!
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It's LITERALLY PERFECT for the glidecam. And I can't believe the price complaints (though those are mostly from photographers). I've used Canon's 24mm 1.4 on a glidecam and IMO, the Olympus BLOWS IT OUT OF THE WATER. Screw the extra stop of the Canon, the Oly has AF, the Canon does not for video. Olympus is sharp at 2.0, Canon is awful wide open IMO and doesn't sharpen up to Oly's until 2.8 to 4.0...Shallow DOF on a wide lens looks bad to me - just enough in focus to look soft, not like bokeh, which is why I really hate Canon's 24mm 1.4. Oly has it better since it's made for a smaller sensor so IMO, this is really THE LENS for steadicam DSLR work.

I hope I don't sound too fanboyish. Canon's are great, but the 12mm is definitely under rated. If you do steadicam work, this lens literally SELLS THE 4/3 system in my eyes. Canon doesn't have a lens that competes with this and it really is a flagship lens for steadicam users IMO. It's hard since it's a prime for events, but hell, I'll deal with it.
 
Obviously this is very well filmed and edited,like my GH2 the Greens are the big color weekness the GH cant seem to get them correct.
 
Its a fact and and who wants to adjust all greens in post,i live with the fact the GH2 is fine otherwise,the green problem is well known.
 
Some more questions for me, I had a Glidecam X10 in 2008 when I had a HPX170 but it was a pain to balance until I got a quick release to speed things up.
Is this HD1000 a pain to balance as well? I mean had the old type sled which was notoriously laborious to balance. How's this one? Do you have any
experience balancing the merlin, any preference apart from the astronomical price difference?
 
One of the things that I have found with all of these rigs is that the lighter the setup the harder it is cause the discrepancy between the top balance CG and the bottom is the most. Now when I fly my HD4000 and I add weights to the top and get it close to the weights on the bottom with a good 3 second drop time, the balancing is really easy. OTherwise a lighter camera has less room for error and hence the problems I've found with balancing.

I thought that also the HD2000 was a lot harder to balance than the HD4000 due to it's lighter mass and less inertia. It was greatly helped out when I added a lot more top weight and then did the same to the bottom, but if you are handhelding this then you have that to consider.

I'm also of the mindset in that more mass, equals more inertia and it just flies smoother and easier and now that I have the arm and vest the weight is not an issue at all. It just seems to balance easily and does not pendulum very much at all...
 
dtzfilms said:
Some more questions for me, I had a Glidecam X10 in 2008 when I had a HPX170 but it was a pain to balance until I got a quick release to speed things up.
Is this HD1000 a pain to balance as well? I mean had the old type sled which was notoriously laborious to balance. How's this one? Do you have any
experience balancing the merlin, any preference apart from the astronomical price difference?
Click to expand...

Sled is better and is knob/turning based and not screw locks and yes, I put a quick release plate atop. Barely used the Merlin but didn't see any advantage to spending $400 more. HD1000 is just as portable. The Merlin has no full gymbal to separate up and down motion so I never was interested in it.
 
Psynema said:
Sled is better and is knob/turning based and not screw locks and yes, I put a quick release plate atop. Barely used the Merlin but didn't see any advantage to spending $400 more. HD1000 is just as portable. The Merlin has no full gymbal to separate up and down motion so I never was interested in it.
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Excelllent. So what quick release plate did you use and what were your initial and subsequent balancing times?
 
dtzfilms said:
Excelllent. So what quick release plate did you use and what were your initial and subsequent balancing times?
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Manfrotto quick release plate - don't have the model number, but the rectangular one (Calumet also uses the same mount but sells for cheaper). Balance takes a few minutes, less so if I set up before hand - in which case a few seconds to a minute if I pre-set before a shoot.
 
ANyway to get the password for the vimeo site? This was one of the first vids I watched when joining this site a few months ago and has been one of my favorites. Would love to see it again.
 
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