Advice: Is two cameras really better than one?

I teach high school broadcast and video production. Today was a tough day, and this thread was the comedy relief I needed to begin the weekend!
I think, if the money is there, that it's always better to have a second cam.
 
I had one hacked GH1 as main and one hacked Gf1 as b cam for some wedding shoots. unfortunatly although GF1 footage is great it did not match very well in terms of detail pickup in relation to the GH1 footage (im guessing this is due to GF1s slightly smaller sensor)...I could spot it a mile off. Both using 720p btw.

So I now have my GF1 as my hol camera and bought another 2nd GH1 for b cam...it removed a lot of headache. Match perfectly....and shoot 1080p with both GH's.

So what Im saying if you want seamless matching footage stick to the same cameras with same settings (WB etc).
 
Yeah I agree with mimi. if you already have a GH1 get another GH1 if you have a GH2 get another GH2... it's too much of a pain in the stinker to get the different cameras to match and while it can be done - why deal with all the trouble?
 
Blackout said:
If you are shooting a movie or short film, having two cameras helps a bit because you can cover two different angles of the same performance at the same time... line them up and sync them in a nle, and then edit and cut back and forth however you want and it is the SAME performance so continuity will be correct. It also can be a little overwhelming to some people to have to deal with the extra footage but I shoot with up to 3 cameras rolling at the same time (not always... many times only one) and I love it when I choose to do it because it gives me amazing flexibility in the editing room - but you do have to learn about choosing angles, not crossing the 180 degree line during cutting - only with actual camera movement... and ect.. and these things just take experience honestly and you playing with it and through trying to make some films and going to yourself.... "hmmmm.. well THAT cut works.... yet THIS cut does not and feels funky and just wrong...." the difference between really experienced filmmakers and audience is that BOTH of them will know bad cuts when they see it, but filmmakers will know exactly WHY it didn't work and be able to express and articulate why to you in clear terms, where the audience will just know it didn't feel right and they didn't like it and it threw off their groove.

Vimeo has a very excellent series up now on all this stuff that is very helpful to budding filmmakers:

Here is the 180 degree rule explained, and there are many more great tutorials:

http://vimeo.com/videoschool/lesson/52/180-degree-rule-explained
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Couldn't agree more, If your actors give an amazingperfofmance, your gonna have it in two angles, and sometimes there's that one print, that stands above the rest. I say two is much better than one if you have the crew to run a second unit.
 
I have set up three angles and ran back and forth adjusting them when in a real pinch with only one assistant! I learned how to do the Tom Cruise slide real fast.
 
You guys gave me some stuff to think about.... when I originally posted I was thinking of the GH! as my primary video camera and the GF1 for photogrpahy and backup video (due to be smaller and slighly less bulky), but as always I learn something new on DVXUSER and can now justify spending even more money... ghee thanks.
 
You can apparently still get brand new hackable GH1's on eBay, for dirt cheap.

I shoot weddings with two GH1 cams, by myself. I now "man" both of them during the ceremony, each on its own tripod right next to each other for most of the service. Before the ceremony and during the reception, I use the second GH1 to take a few pictures of stuff like the cake, flowers, etc, and keep a flash mounted to it. Then during the toasts/speeches, I once again shoot video with both cameras. That way I can get the speaker on one camera, and get a ton of different cutaway shots of guest, th B&G, etc, with the second cam. Pluraleyes software makes this a snap.

If you buy a matching camera in the first place, you'll save money in the long run. You won't have to waste time trying to match footage, and then just end up ebaying one camera at a loss to finally buy a matching one. ;)
 
swyzlstyx said:
You can apparently still get brand new hackable GH1's on eBay, for dirt cheap.
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As well as GF1's... ended up grabing a GF1 and 20mm lens for under $200.

I do appreciate all the advise and may take it into account and grab a second GH1 should I come across one at a reasonable price. But at this point, after hacking and playing with the GF1 for a day... I think my GH1 will do my video duty and the GF1 will be for a carry around photo camera and be my dedicated time-laspe rig. I have been doing more and more time lapse and since video inside the camera plays no part in that, I might just have the best combination for me.
 
Got the GF1 and kit on eBay... hate to say, I think the guy selling it had some issues.... I got a GF1, 20mm, 14-42mm, timer, battery, charger and the likes for under $200... I think it was mislisted or something in autoparts or vaccum cleaners (exaggerating) no one had bid more than $100 up to the last 20 minutes of the auction. I'd say I got lucky
 
That is a good price.

I for one would NEVEr shoot another feature, sketch comedy show or really anything with a single camera. You don't really see commercials shot single camera anymore and that way for narrative stuff. After I shot a sketch comedy show I realized how much I suffered from not having multiple cameras rollings... especially if something was improved or only done one way in one setup. I routinely shoot 7 or 8 cameras for concerts and now I try to have 2 or 3 going all the time...

now I'm pretty fortune to be able to shoot with 2 Gh2s, an AF100 and a couple of Go-pros. That's a sweet combination...
 
Personally, I would never shoot a commissioned job without a back up camera - especially in this digital age. Things were a bit different when I first started out 25 years ago on large format film (I'm a stills photogrpaher starting to get to grips with video). The worst that could happen would be a lens jam up in which case I could stick another one on. With 35 mm or medium format I've always had 2 bodies. Now with digital and electronic everything, it's even more important to have a back up body. The drawback to this in my case is being able to afford 2 PhaseOne backs. For video, I have 2 GH13's just in case. If a lens jams & you don't have an exact duplicate, you can laways reframe with the next nearest focal length.
 
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