roxics
Veteran
Wow guys I go away for a night and get two more pages of replies. Thank you.
I should probably explain my situation better. By day I'm a pro video guy working salary at a web media company. I shoot mostly corporate talking heads video (real background and green screen.) But I've also shot some local TV commercials, hour and half long events and various other types of shoots. Our projects range anywhere from a few thousand dollars to over hundred thousand dollars. Most of them in $10-$15k range. Those shoots usually include myself, my audio guy and a project manager. Sometimes a director but usually I'm doing that job as well. I also do 90% of the post work and pretty much live in after effects. I've been doing this professionally for 5 years. Previous to this I was a hobbyist making indie films including many short films and one completed feature film under my directing belt.
So yes, video is my trade.
That said, photography has been one of my passions for the last 17 years. I even won a couple national awards. I've also done some photography professionally as my job calls for it. But all of this has been location photography, headshots and product photography. All of it using hot lights and available light. I don't know how to shoot flash photography. In the photography I've done both personally and professionally I've never had a need for it. But I really want to learn.
For two and half years at my current employer I worked with a guy a couple years younger than me who did most of our client photography. He used his own gear. About $15K worth of Canon equipment. He did weddings on the side and typically charges around $2500 for a package. He had very little interest in video at all. In fact I helped him test of the video features on his 5D2 and his 7D. He had been doing weddings for a couple years previous to working at my employer and he left us about 8 months ago to do weddings full time freelance. I'm still in contact with him and he's doing great. Getting a ton of referrals and as a result a ton of work.
He taught me a few things about flash photography using Alien Bee's and Speedlites. In fact nowadays he uses only a few speedlites for all his wedding shoots. He doesn't even pull out the alien bee's anymore. But only some of that stuck with me because at the time I didn't have an SLR or speedlites of my own.
I myself would never attempt to shoot both video and stills at a wedding. Unless I had a decent size crew with me and I was only directing the whole thing. In fact I'm really not all that interested in weddings to begin with. I have shot a couple wedding videos years ago for free and it was stressful. I'd rather stick with corporate work.
As a photographer I wouldn't charge $2500 for a wedding. I've never done a wedding photo shoot so I would probably do a couple for free and work my way up the ladder. I'm not against the idea of doing photography for weddings eventually when my strobe skills get to that point. But I don't really care much for wedding videos.
The only reason I asked the questions I asked about the GH2 is because I know weddings can be fast paced and the gear needs to be accessible and can't slow you down. Basically I was trying to ask "does the Gh2 have a fast enough workflow for a pro photographer?" Because I've noticed that the D7000 has plenty of buttons and knobs for changing settings quickly like pro video cameras do.
Basically I don't make a lot of money where I currently work. I do good work but they don't have much interest investing in our department so my future there is limited. I wanted to pick up a camera for my own personal photography and video pleasure as well as one I could use for side work to make some extra coin and hopefully one day go freelance myself. I don't want to limit myself to just video work or just photo work. I wanted to be able to take both kinds of work. Because I do both professionally right now as it is.
I should probably explain my situation better. By day I'm a pro video guy working salary at a web media company. I shoot mostly corporate talking heads video (real background and green screen.) But I've also shot some local TV commercials, hour and half long events and various other types of shoots. Our projects range anywhere from a few thousand dollars to over hundred thousand dollars. Most of them in $10-$15k range. Those shoots usually include myself, my audio guy and a project manager. Sometimes a director but usually I'm doing that job as well. I also do 90% of the post work and pretty much live in after effects. I've been doing this professionally for 5 years. Previous to this I was a hobbyist making indie films including many short films and one completed feature film under my directing belt.
So yes, video is my trade.
That said, photography has been one of my passions for the last 17 years. I even won a couple national awards. I've also done some photography professionally as my job calls for it. But all of this has been location photography, headshots and product photography. All of it using hot lights and available light. I don't know how to shoot flash photography. In the photography I've done both personally and professionally I've never had a need for it. But I really want to learn.
For two and half years at my current employer I worked with a guy a couple years younger than me who did most of our client photography. He used his own gear. About $15K worth of Canon equipment. He did weddings on the side and typically charges around $2500 for a package. He had very little interest in video at all. In fact I helped him test of the video features on his 5D2 and his 7D. He had been doing weddings for a couple years previous to working at my employer and he left us about 8 months ago to do weddings full time freelance. I'm still in contact with him and he's doing great. Getting a ton of referrals and as a result a ton of work.
He taught me a few things about flash photography using Alien Bee's and Speedlites. In fact nowadays he uses only a few speedlites for all his wedding shoots. He doesn't even pull out the alien bee's anymore. But only some of that stuck with me because at the time I didn't have an SLR or speedlites of my own.
I myself would never attempt to shoot both video and stills at a wedding. Unless I had a decent size crew with me and I was only directing the whole thing. In fact I'm really not all that interested in weddings to begin with. I have shot a couple wedding videos years ago for free and it was stressful. I'd rather stick with corporate work.
As a photographer I wouldn't charge $2500 for a wedding. I've never done a wedding photo shoot so I would probably do a couple for free and work my way up the ladder. I'm not against the idea of doing photography for weddings eventually when my strobe skills get to that point. But I don't really care much for wedding videos.
The only reason I asked the questions I asked about the GH2 is because I know weddings can be fast paced and the gear needs to be accessible and can't slow you down. Basically I was trying to ask "does the Gh2 have a fast enough workflow for a pro photographer?" Because I've noticed that the D7000 has plenty of buttons and knobs for changing settings quickly like pro video cameras do.
Basically I don't make a lot of money where I currently work. I do good work but they don't have much interest investing in our department so my future there is limited. I wanted to pick up a camera for my own personal photography and video pleasure as well as one I could use for side work to make some extra coin and hopefully one day go freelance myself. I don't want to limit myself to just video work or just photo work. I wanted to be able to take both kinds of work. Because I do both professionally right now as it is.
I have to sell some cameras before I get another one (not money....just the principle...GF1, GH1, T2i, S95, LX5, FZ35....gotta get rid of some before I get more)
