GH2 Best video settings for GH2 Real estate shooting

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fracker

New member
Hi guys, looking for some help!

So i'm slowly learning the GH2, and i want to get into shooting real estate.It's gonna be cut price stuff, so a 3/4 minute video at most, mostly small houses and small businesses (nothing like the mansions you see on real estate videographer websites). I've read a few threads on here about the subject and they've been very helpful. I've also done some tests, but i'm not really comfortable with making a final decision on what settings are best for what i'm trying to do;

  • So i'm basically looking for a bit of guidance on settings- ie, which movie mode to shoot in with slightly blown windows, changing light areas in the house etc.
  • From my initial efforts at practice, it seems to be 24p mode is best with manual focus, with maybe ISO around 600?
  • The idea is to upload these to a Website like Youtube, or maybe my own video host, so should i be even shooting in HD? (it is a selling point though)
  • The 14-140mm is all i have for now, but can anyone recommend a faster canon or nikon lens with adapter that's cheap and wide for this sort of thing?
  • Is everyone shooting these kind of things in 'smooth'?
  • One other thing- when i shoot in 24p with AFS, there's periodic flicker- especially as i zoom, almost like the aperture is moving or something- anyone know what this is about? (Maybe i shouldnt be zooming at all, nor using AFS?)

So, i have gh2, 14-140, with tripod, and soon to have steadicam. NO lighting (as , believe it or not, i won't always have a car available, so i'll be yomping it on foot to clients for the start of this little venture). So the light will be daylight and internal light from the house.

Thanks a million for any possible help you guys can give, really appreciate it.
 
- with highly dynamic lighting, it may be best to shoot in a flatter profile such as SMOOTH or NOSTALGIC with contrast at -2
- Try to keep ISO at 800 or below to reduce noise
- It may actually be better to shoot in FH mode (720p60) and slow the footage to smooth out movements. 24p is rather inflexible to speed changes.
- This camera only shoots in HD, so that makes up your mind easily enough. Delivery mode is up to you.
- Like the old Pontiac commercials used to say, "wider is better." You're going to want to make every space look as large as possible no matter how small it is. I'd recommend the Panasonic 7-14/4, 14/2.5, Olympus 12/2 and 14-35/2 for autofocus; Nikon-mount Tokina 11-16/2.8 if AF doesn't matter to you. None of those is especially cheap. On the super-cheap, a Tamron 4-12/1.2 C-mount does OK in ETC mode and is still very wide and fast.
- I'm sure some people are not shooting these in "smooth."
- If you zoom with the 14-140, the aperture is indeed moving in a stepwise, flickery fashion. Avoid zooming while wide-open.
- last, turn on all the lights in the house, close blinds on windows that blow out too much, and don't be afraid to invest in a large soft fill light to sometimes put in rooms are aren't sufficiently lit.


Practice by doing a video tour of your own house/apartment/earthen igloo/yurt with different settings and see what actually works best.
 
Hi McBob, thanks for getting back to me- fortunately i sold my igloo last year just before the market heated up :cheesy:

sorry if some of these questions below seem silly

-When you say contrast -2, do you mean exposure?
-When you say FH mode, which mode on the dial then, Aperture priority?
- Expensive lenses are indeed out of the question, as im on a shoestring, so the Tamron would be best- do i have to do any shaving down of that Tamron lens or anything like that?
-How come i'd use ETC mode with the Tamron , when i want it wide? (that's probably a really silly question! :cheesy:)
-I'll look into the large soft fill light, but as i wont have a car alot of the time, i wont be able to lug one around. How much do they cost roughly anyway?

-and i've been practicing in the house alright-the main thing i'm running into is when moving through rooms, the darker parts and the lighter parts take alot of time to adjust. I'm assuming this is due to the 14-140 not being very good in low light?

- Would you consider a wide angle attachment for the 14-140mm as a cheap alternative to make the rooms look more spacious?

-also (last one for now i promise!)- should i be leaving this in Manual focus, or using afs or afc.?

Mcbob- much appreciated, whenever you get the time. Cheers man.
 
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fracker

You need a faster (and wider) lens than the 14-140. The 20mm pancake 1.7 might be good, also perhaps the new Olympus 12mm F2.
As to GH2 settings, if you're just distributing online the 24H mode is probably overkill - it will have bigger files, slower uploads. FH (lower quality 1080i mode) is probably the best compromise, if you can deal with the interlacing on your moving shots.
As to film mode, "Smooth", contrast -2, saturation 0, sharpening -2, NR 0 will be good. "Smooth" handles blown highlights best of the film modes, imo.
 
Hi bdegazio,thanks for the reply,

was thinking about the 20 mm pancake alright, and that would just about be max budget, but if that's 20 mm, am i not better off with the 14mm of the kit lens for wider shots in smaller homes ?(despite the lower light capability?)

On the slower uploads- i dont mind the big files, as i wont have that many really. IF progressive is better than interlaced, then i'd rather stick with that i think.

I'm gonna have to search for the contrast adjustment on the menu, not sure where it is.
 
The 14 mm is quite a lot wider than 20mm, so you;re probably right there. You'll have to deal with the F4 of the 14-140, but you can probably do OK by pushing the ISO up.

Contrast and the other settings I mentioned are available in the "Film Mode" menu, individually settable for each of the film modes(Smooth, Nostalgic, Standard, etc). They also show up in the quickmenu, if you prefer using that.
 
bdegazio said:
fracker


As to film mode, "Smooth", contrast -2, saturation 0, sharpening -2, NR 0 will be good. "Smooth" handles blown highlights best of the film modes, imo.
Click to expand...

wow man, those setting made an immediate difference in the room i was doing! Thanks- it's now set as my film 1 on the camera.It Just looked so much better using manual in movie mode with manual exposure mode.
 
shooting setting isnt your biggest problem the 14-140 is just plain too slow for indoor shooting. unless you jack up the ISO (which can be cool looking)
this isnt the kind of thing you want to shoot in 24p unless you keep your pans sssssslllllllowwwwwww. the cadence jitter is something most "civilians" only tolerate in a narrative feature environment.

id get the 20mm or 14mm lumix lens to start. as focusing with an adapter+manual lenses can be hard without an external monitor.
 
wgzn said:
shooting setting isnt your biggest problem the 14-140 is just plain too slow for indoor shooting. unless you jack up the ISO (which can be cool looking)
this isnt the kind of thing you want to shoot in 24p unless you keep your pans sssssslllllllowwwwwww. the cadence jitter is something most "civilians" only tolerate in a narrative feature environment.

id get the 20mm or 14mm lumix lens to start. as focusing with an adapter+manual lenses can be hard without an external monitor.
Click to expand...

Hi Wgzn,

14 mm isnt an option, too expensive- i have about 100 to spend on a wide angle lens, i might be able to push to the 300 for the 20mm, but again, that's less wide than the 14mm, and the houses here are mostly small enough.

What are your/everyone's thoughts on a wide angle adapter?
 
Sorry if I highjack your thread a little. But maybe this might help you too fracker.

My question would be what people here are using as picture profiles. Is there such a thread where people share picture profiles?

Outdoor - sunny
Outdoor - cloudy
Outdoor - forest, water, mountains, nature
Indoor - fluorescent light
Indoor - good old light bulbs


Cheers
 
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