Best camera setup for interviews? DSLR's or something else?

The must have card is the Sandisk 95MBps Extreme Pro card in 64GB. Must be the 64GB because this card is built faster than the 32GB card so it is more likely to span with the higher bit rate settings. You can find the cheap AC adapter around, this gives you the dummy battery and cable to connect to another large battery. I haven't done any real battery tests yet, so not sure what to tell you there. I'm building my system around FD lenses, if you want AF then you'll need to look for system lenses and I can't help much there either.

In order to get 90 minutes on a card, you might need to go with a slightly lower bit rate, I think the Flowmotion hack has one around the 50mbps rate in the low rate modes, but I can't remember exactly. Things like Sanity X also offer some lower bit rates, but still way better than the stock settings. In the end you'll probably end up with a bunch of small cards with different firmware hacks on them to load as the situation requires. One hack per card (one firmware update per card).

Would it be prudent to buy a single camera and lens to make sure it does what you need it to do?

Also of note, if you connect an HDMI device, it will lock the camera into 1080 PsF mode (progressive segmented frame), so just make sure you can deal with this if using external monitors or recorders.
 
One more thing, GH2 records very compressed audio, you'll want an external audio recorder, even after the hacks boost the audio bit rate.
 
Thanks Greg!

ive been researching the GH2 and GH4R quite a lot.

so you wouldn't recommend me running a lav directly into the GH2 then? Would the sound be pretty compressed/ poor?

Any idea if the GH4 is better with audio direct into the camera?

I do have one H4N and a rode lav - I'd just need one more rode lav to run both host and guest audio into the XLRs on it,

Direct into camera would be great as i'd not have to sync in post.

Ive looked at some native MFT lenses and the Olympus 45mm f1.8 seems pretty cool for the single shots I'd need. I just need something wider for the wide. Having AF lenses would be nice as I don't have field monitors.

ideally, I just bag 3 GH4R's and be done with it, but I can get 3 used GH2's for two thirds the cost of ONE GH4R!

If the hacks are rock solid, I think the GH2 is the way forward for now.

Does anyone have any footage of indoor interviews shot on the GH2?
 
Hacks like Flowmotion are solid if you buy decent SD cards. The hack all have a bit rate increase for the audio, but I haven't played with it because it is still AC3 so still a perceptual compression that is lossy. Might be OK but I'd prefer to handle audio at wave (PCM) in camera or from an external recorder like a Tascam dr-60d or better, h4n should be fine too. A clap slate will be required for audio sync.

AF will allow you to have facial based tracking, I think that can still keep up with some of the hacks, might need to step down to "Sanity" at around 50mpbs.

Indoor image will be what you make of it, if there isn't enough light and it isn't properly sculpted to look good, your result will not be good. GH4 will give better results in these conditions but I'm not sure how much better. Can't think of a cheaper choice except maybe Canon T2i or T3i and those are probably the same prices and would really need Magic Lantern to make them shine. Kind of depends on the supply of used cameras and the local prices.

The Black Magic pocket cam or their new action cam would be decent $1000 solutions if you decide to step up that far, but now you are back into GH4 territory. Just trying not to over sell the GH2, it's good but not magical and far from the most modern.
 
Thanks again Greg! Much appreciated.

i like the look of the BM Pocket Cinema Cam, but I don't know what that would be like for interviews - I'd need to grade all the footage wouldn't I?

every time, I keep coming back to the GH4R - purely for simplicity and ease.

I wish they were a bit cheaper, but there's not much I can do about that, unless the GH5 is imminent and loads a folks want to sell?

if only Canon's could shoot unlimited footage. I'd simply pick up another 2 t3i's - I already have one.

If you can think of anything else, please shout up!

thanks so much for your patience too!
 
Doesn't the Magic Lantern hack unlock the recording time, or is it a hard heat limit? Pretty sure there is an ML hack to allow raw cinema DNG output on those cameras too.
 
Thanks Greg - Magic Lantern will allow for 'automatic restart' of recording - but you miss seconds inbetween and run the risk of overheating.

I've decided that I'm biting the bullet and buying 3 x GH4's.

The projects I use these on should pay for them after a few months, so I think it's gonna make things easier overall.

I just need to choose the best lenses for interviews and I'm getting my head around focal lengths on the MFT's cameras.

I'm going to need 2 lenses that will be great for the talking head style singles and one lens to establish the wide.

Olympus do some pretty fast lenses for MFT at 25mm and 45mm f1.8.

My only issue is I can't guarantee that I'll be shooting these interviews with loads of space available, they may be in pretty standard sized rooms, with not too much space available.

I'd love to have as much DOF as possible and blur the backgrounds behind my subjects.

I'm totally new to focal lengths, but what i can gather is the shorter the length, the wider the shot?

So would the 25mm Olympus lenses be better for the singles and the 45mm better for the wide of the 2 people talking?

I'm guessing I'd get more DOF with the 45mm though if I could get enough space between the camera and the subject.

Is there any kind of chart to figure out focal lengths and distance from camera needed?

If anyone has experience of shooting talking heads on MFT cameras and has a general rule of thumb on a couple of essential lenses for very normal setups, that would be great!

Thanks YET AGAIN!
 
rossagrant said:
The projects I use these on should pay for them after a few months, so I think it's gonna make things easier overall.
Click to expand...

And that is the magic formula. If the project has income and can pay off the investment, you have more choices than if you're simply spending the money on gear with no income to justify it.

rossagrant said:
I'm going to need 2 lenses that will be great for the talking head style singles and one lens to establish the wide.

...

My only issue is I can't guarantee that I'll be shooting these interviews with loads of space available, they may be in pretty standard sized rooms, with not too much space available.

I'd love to have as much DOF as possible and blur the backgrounds behind my subjects.

I'm totally new to focal lengths, but what i can gather is the shorter the length, the wider the shot?

So would the 25mm Olympus lenses be better for the singles and the 45mm better for the wide of the 2 people talking?

I'm guessing I'd get more DOF with the 45mm though if I could get enough space between the camera and the subject.
Click to expand...

The lower the number, the wider the shot. 16mm is a very wide shot frame. 85mm is a very tight frame. The wider the lens, the less you'll be able to blur the background. Wide-angle lenses have almost infinite DOF.

Which lenses do you need? Well, there's no absolute and consistent "chart" to determine that for you. If you're in a large space and you have room to move the camera back, 24mm could be your wide if that focal length fits the look that you want. If you're in cramped quarters, you might have to go super-wide to get everything in your wide shot... 16mm, give or take. Once you get into focal lengths below 18mm, you may start seeing barrel distortion/fisheye around the edges, more and more as you go wider and wider.

For what you are doing, I would honestly avoid primes and go with zooms. Primes hem you in with little latitude to adjust things on the fly. They're great for narrative work where you have control over each and every shot, but multi-cam interviews require more dynamic range of movement. Your closeup frames may need to change depending on the intimacy of the particular question/answer. Pick a zoom that covers the wider range, then oufit the other two cameras with mid-to-long lenses.

Whichever you get, make sure that they are constant aperture. In other words, a lens that is marked 18mm-55mm f/3.5-5.6 is not constant aperture. This means you actually lose light through the zoom range, so if you set your shot at f/3.5 at 18mm and you zoom into 55mm, your aperture will automatically drop to f/5.6 and the image will darken. This isn't simply solved by shooting at f/5.6, either, as you'll still notice a shift in exposure from wide to long.

Get a lens that has a single aperture given in the name. 18mm-55mm f/2.8 is going to stay at f/2.8 through the entire zoom range. This gives you freedom of movement without worrying about exposure changing just because you zoom. And remember that aperture also determines DOF. The lower the number, the wider open the iris, and he more you can blur the backound. Again, this can be counteracted by wider lenses, so it takes a combination of wider aperture and longer focal length to determine the blur in the background.
 
Thanks so much Alex.

I'm still a bit torn between zooms and primes for sure.

The fastest native MFT lenses (I don't really want to fiddle with adapters) seems to be f2.8.

Do you think that will perform well in interior scenes? We will have lots of lighting for each shoot.

Perhaps the Panasonic 12-35mm for the wide?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...Q764E7WBABWJTHF&ref_=as_li_ss_til&tag=6520-20

and the Panasonic 35-100mm for the singles?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...67XGFIW5EJJK&ref_=as_sl_pc_ss_til&tag=6520-20

Those lenses are a fair bit dearer than the primes, but I guess would give me much more flexibility?

Just need a bit of a lottery win!

Let me know your thoughts on those 2 and any cheaper equivalents!

Thanks!
 
16mm on a GH4 is not going to be very wide at all (considering normal camera to subject distance for an interview), it's a 2x crop so it will only be somewhat wide.

For the GH4 lenses would be something like this:

7.5mm "fisheye"
10 wide
14-15-16 slightly wide
20 almost normal (very slightly wide)
24 normal
.
35 short tele.
.
48mm medium tele
.
.
.
etc. on up to extreme telephoto at 400mm+


Speed boosters will change all this, but it gets more complex.

I think you'd be better off with several of the cheap 14-42 AF lenses so you have facial tracking, and buy a bunch of lights to make up for the "dark" 4.5 f stop. Work your way up from there as money comes in and don't worry about being "cinematic" with depth of field so small you could slice an apple with it.

Also make very certain that the GH4 you buy really has the unlimited recording length, I think this came with the Vlog purchase on the "older" version. Just something to watch out for so you don't end up with a 30 minute camera.

And another choice... Can you just rent the other cameras and lenses when needed? Or is this going to be so frequent that you'd be renting every week?

Stuff like this might be best handled by multiple cameras connected to a computer and some software to switch between them "live". Telestream has a decent software based product, just get an input card to handle your cameras and some kind of audio input card to handle the mics. (maybe an external mixer too)
 
Thanks for the input Greg - yeah these shoots will be twice a month, so renting kit soon adds up here in the UK. Decent lenses can be £100 for 2 days, and I'd need 3 per shoot, plus cameras etc.

It's the GH4R that has unlimited recording - I've made sure to look out for that.

It's lenses that just appear to be a minefield - I read so many conflicting articles - some say use primes, others zoom etc.

Zoom lenses without constant aperture are much cheaper, but obviously you sacrifice light and as I can't guarantee the same studio space each time it's hard to know what light I'll be playing with.

Just to be clear - when a MFT native lens is stated as 25mm - that's like me using a 50mm on a full frame camera?

If I did compensate for the darker 14-42 Panasonic lenses, would some reasonable DOF still be possible?
 
rossagrant said:
Thanks for the input Greg - yeah these shoots will be twice a month, so renting kit soon adds up here in the UK. Decent lenses can be £100 for 2 days, and I'd need 3 per shoot, plus cameras etc.

It's the GH4R that has unlimited recording - I've made sure to look out for that.

It's lenses that just appear to be a minefield - I read so many conflicting articles - some say use primes, others zoom etc.

Zoom lenses without constant aperture are much cheaper, but obviously you sacrifice light and as I can't guarantee the same studio space each time it's hard to know what light I'll be playing with.

Just to be clear - when a MFT native lens is stated as 25mm - that's like me using a 50mm on a full frame camera?

If I did compensate for the darker 14-42 Panasonic lenses, would some reasonable DOF still be possible?
Click to expand...

I find it hard to believe someone would recommend zooms over primes. Primes are always going to be better- there are compromises made to the elements in order to make a zoom possible, which will contribute to things like softness and distortion. The only reason people use zooms is the convenience of not having to switch to another prime when you need to change your framing in the field. But these are stationary cameras, as I understand it? What would be the benefit of a zoom in this scenario? There exists some zooms that are *almost* as good as primes, but they are often far more expensive than a set of primes in the same range.

That being said, micro 4/3 native does limit your selection. Its a shame, one of the biggest draws of m43 is the fact that you can adapt pretty much anything to it! Why the hang up over adapters? You could easily pick up some vintage primes that will be great in any light for next to nothing compared to a single native lens.
 
If you are insisting on native glass, don't bother with the kit variable aperture options. ONLY use the 2.8 zooms or primes. They aren't cheap, but it would be beyond silly to get a GH4 and kit lens rather than a set of GH2s and save the money towards better glass.

Remember, glass trumps camera bodies, nearly every time. For a webcast at 1080p, you aren't going to get noticeably better quality out of a GH4, spend the money where the difference will ACTUALLY be made- glass.
 
rossagrant said:
The fastest native MFT lenses (I don't really want to fiddle with adapters) seems to be f2.8.

Do you think that will perform well in interior scenes? We will have lots of lighting for each shoot.
Click to expand...

You should avoid shooting interviews at f/2.8. Everytime the talent shifts in his/her seat, the face will go out of focus. Do you have operators for all three cameras?

rossagrant said:
Perhaps the Panasonic 12-35mm for the wide?

and the Panasonic 35-100mm for the singles?

Those lenses are a fair bit dearer than the primes, but I guess would give me much more flexibility?!
Click to expand...

Glass is the first and most important thing that light passes through, so yes, lenses will be an investment. Those may work for you, though you may do two of the 12-35 instead, using the second one as the closeup on the interviewer, which would allow you to get medium shots OTS with the interviewee.
 
Alex H. said:
You should avoid shooting interviews at f/2.8. Everytime the talent shifts in his/her seat, the face will go out of focus. Do you have operators for all three cameras?
Click to expand...

I'd argue that on a 2x crop and 12-35mm, f/2.8 would be pretty useable. On FF using a portrait 85mm lens, wouldn't. But I think his DOF will be just fine. I still think he'd be better off with primes, but that's his choice.
 
According to the DOF calculator over at http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html, at 35mm (worst case scenario, most telephoto that lens can do) on a micro 4/3 sensor and f/2.8, if his subject is 10 feet away, the focus depth would be 2.11 feet. Unless you expect your talent to mime a seizure on a chair, I think you'd be ok for most scenarios.

That same FOV and DOF, for comparison purposes to a FF camera standing the same distance away, would require a 70mm lens at somewhere around F/6. I've personally shot interviews on an 85mm lens stopped down to 5.6, so I think 2.8 would be right on the money for him actually, if he ends up with that gear.
 
The cheap zoom vs. expensive prime is a little high-brow for this... Let's look at exactly what he needs:

multiple cameras that can record longer than 30 minutes

ability to keep the interviewee (not narrative work) in focus as they shift around in their chair with no operator

will need to have decent image quality but will be going on the web with some sort of high compression

will need to adapt to any room without having a huge selection of lenses (x3 or x4 for all cameras)

Now let's look at the downside of the cheap zooms, they are dark and they change depending on focal length. Yup this sucks but since he says nothing about zooming during the interview, may not be a huge problem. Spending money on lights that can be rigged to ceilings, walls, windows, or stands and with batteries that can last the duration of the interview would be worth so much more than a chest full of expensive primes (x3 or x4). If money was present, a constant aperture, AF, system zoom down in the f2 or f2.8 region would be ideal... But how much is that going to add to someone just starting out? Maybe a couple of zooms and a couple of primes (20mm and 24mm), with primes for the tighter shots that occupy the majority of the program.

This is industrial video, not Gone With the Wind. It would be great if all of us could have limitless coffers to buy the bestest and brightest of equipment, and buy it in quantities where every camera has a full dedicated set... But that's not reality is it.

Now all that said, since you have decided to use a GH4, you can record in 4k. Assuming your final product will be either 1920x1080 or 1280x720, you can use the resolution to push in on your subject in post (increases production time) which could give you a lot of flexibilty where you might be able to just go with a medium wide like a 14-16mm or 20mm, and crop in for a tighter shot. That would allow you to use prime lenses, and stay in a much more compact configuration (which might be very important).

Since you were thinking about GH2, obviously your budget is a great concern, the kit cheapo zoom was one way to work around this a little, but as mentioned it needs lighting. Lighting, when done properly, makes your product far more polished. I'm still not certain a GH2 is your answer, I'd need to sit down and try it with mine first. However you do have the recommendation with the G6 above from someone using it exactly the same way you need to work. With 3 GH4R and say 6 primes you are looking at well over $5000usd (14 and 25mm primes), can't cut that with the good f2.8 zoom because it is $800 each. Now if you shop around, the cheapo 14-42 zoom can be had from $50 to about $200 (used to new). Mostly it will be in the f4.5 to f5.6 range after you get it zoomed in a little and that's pretty dark. But at least for two shots (or wider cover shots) it should be just fine with some reasonable levels of lighting. I think your best case for this type of work would be the $800 zooms and a couple of primes for the really compact needs, but you can get a lot of work out of the cheap zoom under the correct conditions. Only you know how dark some of these places will be, and only you know how much time you have for post. And only you know how much money you can safely commit to this project. Spend as much as you can on good "stuff", but make sure to leave some room for lighting because it is VERY important.

And we haven't really even addressed the audio issues yet, there's a whole other word of financial hurt waiting in that half of the equation.
 
I think recording at 4k and cropping in on a 1080 timeline could be a great way to give more flexibility on these shoots.

I could shoot the singles as mids and crop in post to get real close-ups.

That would mean I could perhaps get away with 3 prime lenses for the time being.

Audio, thankfully is kind of under control.

Rode sponsor my website, so give me an allowance on gear.

I'm hoping to use 2 wireless filmmaker lav kits - direct into the GH4.

I'll knock the gain down to -12dB and boost the input from the Rode receiver to give a nice clean input at around -9dB and use the built in limiter too.

I'll record a scratch track via Rode video mic attached to the wide camera.

I've got a fair bit of experience editing audio in post via Adobe Audition too - hopefully audio will be quite straight forward.

Now... back to these lenses.

Let's say I have a £1000 budget for lenses - that's $1400 USD.

What primes - going down the cropping in post route - would be good bets?

I really do appreciate the amount of time people are giving me here by the way.

I hope to be able to do the same for some other noob in the future.
 
The thing with lenses always boils down to camera to subject distance, so how far away will you be? I'd be tempted to say a 20mm or 25mm if you are within about 5 to 10 feet (keeping the 4k to 1080 crop idea), but I could be wrong. I might err on the side of the 20mm but considering you have one or two tighter shots and at least one wide-ish cover it might be worth a 16, 20, 25 and maybe 35 or 4x lens. I'd look for used lenses if possible, more stuff for your money, you might get four of those for your allotment. If distances will be 10 to 20 feet, then slide up the scale and decide how many tighter shots you need so you can get more quantity of a longer lens. If at all possible, I'd still throw in one of the wide to short tele f2.8 zooms for versatility. Something that starts at around 12-14mm and ends around 35-45mm (just to be safe).

I'd also probably buy some cheap action cameras to add to the mix, JVC Adixxion work pretty well for me and will record for about 2 hours before the battery runs out. Small, wide, lightweight to stick almost anywhere. Just a good backup cover shot.
 
Greg_E said:
The thing with lenses always boils down to camera to subject distance, so how far away will you be? I'd be tempted to say a 20mm or 25mm if you are within about 5 to 10 feet (keeping the 4k to 1080 crop idea), but I could be wrong. I might err on the side of the 20mm but considering you have one or two tighter shots and at least one wide-ish cover it might be worth a 16, 20, 25 and maybe 35 or 4x lens. I'd look for used lenses if possible, more stuff for your money, you might get four of those for your allotment. If distances will be 10 to 20 feet, then slide up the scale and decide how many tighter shots you need so you can get more quantity of a longer lens. If at all possible, I'd still throw in one of the wide to short tele f2.8 zooms for versatility. Something that starts at around 12-14mm and ends around 35-45mm (just to be safe).

I'd also probably buy some cheap action cameras to add to the mix, JVC Adixxion work pretty well for me and will record for about 2 hours before the battery runs out. Small, wide, lightweight to stick almost anywhere. Just a good backup cover shot.
Click to expand...

Yeah I reckon I'm going to be restricted to perhaps 10ft from subject in most environments - so will maybe stick to 25mm MFT lenses - I'm tempted to get a zoom for the wide camera as DOF isn't a big deal on that shot.

Will certainly keep you guys posted.

Any great sites for used lenses or is it just an ebay job?
 
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