GH2 A Fashion Film shot on a GH2

nyvz

nyvz

Veteran
This is one of the only projects I've ever shot with my GH2 as A-Camera (It's almost always a B or C-camera) but it was a no budget project so the GH2 fit better than my more expensive cameras.

We Can Do Anything: a fashion film
https://vimeo.com/51033268

Shot entirely handheld on a Sigma 17-70 f2.8-4.5 zoom lens in Nikon mount with a cheap Nikon F to M43 adapter and no other support.
 
^^ Agreed. You've got good angles and composition going on and nice lighting, but the shakeyness makes it hard to watch.
 
ErikTande said:
^^ Agreed. You've got good angles and composition going on and nice lighting, but the shakeyness makes it hard to watch.
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That's surprising, it's hardly shakycam. I wanted the freedom and more immediate look. I mean there is slight high frequency shake in some shots that doesn't show up as much with my shoulder rig but its not more a couple pixels, in most cases seems to me like less shake than the registration error in 8mm or some older 16mm film cameras.

Is there a particular part or shot you think is too shaky that makes it hard watch? Some of it is pretty rock solid...

or is it just that you were looking for it because I said I didnt use a shoulder rig? Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that.
 
nyvz said:
That's surprising, it's hardly shakycam.
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...It's prett "wiggly" in places, thus I would say that parts of it look "shakycam" to me.

You might be able to fix some of this with proper stabilization in post.

This video is very impressive when it comes to what can be done with post production stabilization. I would never have guessed that this was all fixed-up in post. :-)
 
I certainly wouldn't call any of this project "shaky cam". It's just those micro jitters that really bug me, and there's in every single shot. Nothing organic feeling about them at all, and that's why they are immediately obvious to me. I liked everything else about it.
 
TheDingo said:
...It's prett "wiggly" in places, thus I would say that parts of it look "shakycam" to me.

You might be able to fix some of this with proper stabilization in post.

This video is very impressive when it comes to what can be done with post production stabilization. I would never have guessed that this was all fixed-up in post. :-)
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Yeah I'm aware of post stabilization options, though I didn't do the post on this video anyway, just shot it on the day. I don't think the director saw any need to do post stabilization. Post stabilization can be quite good for certain content, but as you can see in that video you referenced, it cannot fix changes in perspective, which is why those "hyperlapses" have some pretty strange looking motion and properties where clearly the distant objects appear stable but foreground objects still bounce around quite a bit which gives away effect a bit. Plus you sacrifice framing and resolution and can bring out skew artifacts in some cases, plus 2D camera stabilization will always fail at fixing changes in 3D movement and can cause some pretty odd effects when dealing with "normal" shutter speeds since it may reposition the frame in 2D to compensate for some movements, but it cannot compensate for the motion blur caused by that movement.

I also find that people who do not have the means to create smooth camera movements sometimes get overly obsessed with such movements, I certainly used to be that way a bit when I was starting out, forgetting that overly smooth cameras are not always the goal or appropriate for the content. There is a place for some camera shake to give the feeling of a particular viewpoint or style. Even with millions of dollars, many directors still prefer handheld over steadicam for a lot of content, even long lens handheld sometimes.

Shake != Bad

Then again if it made anyone throw up, I apologize and retract my previous statement :)
 
I will agree though that I don't normally operate other (Canon) DSLRs without handheld rigs because I don't like the shake, and the GH2 is quite a bit better in this regard because of the EVF and just within my threshold of what I will tolerate for high frequency operating shake. So yeah I agree that its toward the limit of what I'd normally accept and high frequency shake is a bit less natural feeling than what you get from a higher inertia rig. Still, I'm just surprised some seem to think it is really that bad that it would bother most unknowing viewers.
 
I've had good success handholding my GH2 by using a HaloRig Mini with the cheapo Panasonic 14-45mm OIS zoom. It still looks like a handheld shot, but all that micro-jitter junk is gone. High bitrate patches ( like LPowell's FlowMotion ver 2.02 ) can also help ensure a smoother looking image.
 
Footage looked great, a little jitters here and there but I thought it made sense within the piece. Still amazed how great the image quality of GH2 is. Truly amazing camera..... On a recent project I was editing the Dp shot on Red and most of the b-roll shots with Hacked Gh2 and it looked beautiful....
To the OP, nice work!
 
BobbyMurcerFan said:
Looks great! BTW, if you want to riff on the GH2 vs FS700 vs Scarlet, I'm all ears :)!

Thanks agin for the footage :).
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I am really always amazed with the GH2. Part of it is that for $650 I bought a camera over a year ago that I can still put a 20mm pancake lens and practically have a point and shoot size camera that create digital cinema quality images beyond any other camera <$5k, and with a good EVF, high quality recording and inexpensive/convenient media. I'm always tempted to try to shoot a short film when I'm on vacation with my GH2 just because I can :) . In some ways I prefer its ability to render natural colors and high resolution detail over just about any other 1080p video camera under $10k.

The FS700 creates great images with more DR and less noise and with some pretty amazing features but still lacks a bit in color rendering and has significant issues with bright primary colors like many Sony cameras and many less expensive cameras. Scarlet is also great for no-compromise image making, but where it does not compromise in IQ, it lacks a bit in cost and ease of use, since just a battery to power Scarlet for 1hr is bigger and weighs more than the entire GH2 body with a battery inside that powers for 2-3hrs. Obviously they are different tools for different budgets and needs, but its great to have options.

That said I think the BMCC is in an interesting position in comparison to these cameras which I consider to be best in their price class since in a way it offers a new price class for people who dont care about stills or an EVF but are willing to pay more than a GH2/GH3 for more DR and particularly codecs.
 
I agree it could have used a rig. You could have still gotten the shaky cam feel but for tight shots of the face, some type of rig where your hands aren't on the camera would have worked better.

Also, After Effect's motion stabilization is pretty limited. To post process a video like this in AE, it would not have worked as nicely as the wide angle tracking shots in the Paris examples.

What kind of grading was done?
 
I can see the shakiness that is being talked about, but it works great for the piece. Some of the shake on the wider stuff is a little noticeable, but the shake everywhere else fits well. Color looked great too. I don't see the shaking as being much of an issue at all.
 
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