Advice for GH1/DSLR beginner!

asteele10 said:
Ha I guess not. I understand the big deal with 24p. When I shoot a cinematic piece with actors I usually use 24p. But I like to shoot documentary/verite style so I usually use 30p so it feels more real.
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I understand now.

Thanks for the lighting tips. The film goes through an entire day so we need all hours of lighting. And I guess some days start sunny and end a little cloudy which would be fine.
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Please take a look at this short that I recently finished: http://exposureroom.com/summerlove (password is twinpeaks)

Every scene in the movie takes places in a different time of day: dawn, sunrise, morning, noon, afternoon, sunset, dusk, and night. It was shot mostly in two days. Like I said, you just need to plan your shoot properly.

Would you suggest getting a basic filter kit? I don't have one yet. Thanks!
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The only filters that you need are a polarizer and a set of neutral density. If you get two linear polarizers, or a linear polarizer and a circular polarizer, then you can make a variable neutral density filter, eliminating the need for a set.

Also, I was thinking of shooting 16x9 any reason why this is a bad idea?
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Why would it be a bad idea? I don't know of any filmmaker who prefers 4:3 over 16:9 in general these days. Some filmmakers even prefer 2.35:1. Widescreen is an obsession and a deal-breaker.

The camera only shoots 16:9 anyway. Please do more reading about the camera to get basic information such as this so that you won't need to ask us about it.
 
asteele10 said:
I hate being the guy who posts questions that I can find myself but I just got the camera Wednesday and was planning to shoot Friday and needed some basic info fast.
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If you were directed to links that gave you the same information that we're giving you now, then why would you take the additional time to post the questions again and then wait for other people to provide answers? It would seem to take more time to me.

In response to Ben, is it appropriate to combine 720p footage with 1080 in the same video. Assuming that I convert the 720 60p footage to 24p?
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Yes. Why wouldn't it be? Just scale the 1080p footage down to 720p, or scale the 720p footage up to 1080p.

Also, by disabling the sound record function on the camera will I use less space on my SD card?
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No. You can't do that anyway.
 
ydgmdlu said:
No, the numbers don't mean very much. Barry Green has shot resolution charts in 1080p and has shown that the effective resolution is only about 700 lines or less. The 720p mode is NOT half of that. If it were, then it would be worse than standard definition. But the GH1's 720p is clearly better than standard definition. So the comment about "visual resolution" is simply not true at all. If we're talking about nominal resolution, then yes, it's absolutely true.
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Yeah that's what I meant, I was just talking about pixels, plain and simple. I used the phrase Visual Resolution to differentiate from Temporal Resolution...which I was gonna talk about but decided not to.
 
Great thread, thanks from a new user

Great thread, thanks from a new user

Hi,

I've been lurking for several weeks, reading-- this is one of my first posts. Just received my GH1 and have found this thread, and many, many others on this site to be of great value in understanding the capabilities, best practices, needed extra hardware, software etc.

I'm struck by the generous spirit of many here, especially Ben's lucid explanation and comments from others on this thread. Your replies help many more people than just the initial poster, including me.

Thanks
 
Great links thanks guys.

For some reason when in manual mode I can't get the picture to look like it does in auto (iA) mode. I've tried adjusting all of the settings in the quick menu. What else am I missing? I've tried the auto white balance too and I still can't get it to look like the iA mode.

Is there something that the auto setting controls that you can't control manually? Or am I just doing something wrong?

Thanks!
 
For some reason when in manual mode I can't get the picture to look like it does in auto (iA) mode.
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Different in what way? It's hard to comment without some more description of what you are seeing (or not seeing!).
 
Also, here is a great link for people who are new to the GH1/DSLRs with lots of videos that explain about every function.
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Except nothing related to video. For instance, a beginner watching the specific link might then think that he/she could then press the video button on the back of the GH1 and get shutter priority video - which is not the case, it would still be in full auto. Beware!
 
Except nothing related to video. For instance, a beginner watching the specific link might then think that he/she could then press the video button on the back of the GH1 and get shutter priority video - which is not the case, it would still be in full auto. Beware!
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Good point. Guess I was interpreting it wrong myself. Whats the best mode to shoot at when shooting video? Are the A,P,S,M modes not good for video?
 
asteele10 said:
Good point. Guess I was interpreting it wrong myself. Whats the best mode to shoot at when shooting video? Are the A,P,S,M modes not good for video?
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Those modes are intended for still photography and won't work very well for video, particularly the A, P, and S modes. In Creative Movie mode (the one on the dial with the movie camera icon), you actually do have the option to use A, P, S, and M. You can select the "sub-mode" via a menu.

Only "M" is fully manual. If you want precise control over your exposure and image, then you must stick with "M." Otherwise, you might encounter some unpleasant surprises.

A is "aperture priority." You select the aperture, and the camera selects a shutter speed and ISO value.

S is "shutter priority." You select the shutter speed, and the camera selects an aperture and ISO value.

P is "Program Auto." It's a fully automatic mode, so avoid it like the plague.
 
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