Does the lack of video monitoring on the gh1(3) DRIVE YOU MAD???!!!

Futchibon

Futchibon

Well-known member
Have 3 gh13s and I'm thinking of selling two to get a 7D, since it actually has proper HDMI out (or very close to it).

How do you guys find the lack of being able to monitor your footage as you shoot it?

It's driving me up the wall....:crybaby:
 
The film makers of days past echoed your frustration. "I can't see a goddamn frame of footage we're shooting until later when we watch the dailies!!" Kubrick used to bellow at his DP. "How am I supposed to work under these conditions?!"

It's for this reason -- not being able to monitor in real-time -- Kubrick never shot a decent roll of film.
 
I hold down the trash button and get a very bad signal (SD) that I can only use for general framing. But nothing with judgment. I still wouldn't go 7D, I would definitely invest in a GH2. It is cheaper, does everything (almost) the 7D does, and HDMI out is cleaner as I've seen and read on the discussion thread.

I remember seeing some small camera you would attach to the lcd and it would have hdmi out on it. A bit jump thru hoops but I do recall something.

Still, 950 bucks gets you a body only gh2, with proper hdmi out.

No hdmi on gh13 is a nightmare if I ahve a lot of crew. If it's just me and the guys, we kinda don't mind (bout 3-4 of us max)
 
John Caballero said:
Brilliant. Why do we have so many crippled filmmakers nowadays? Oh, I can't monitor, is terrifying! My goodness.
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I'm not sure the complaint is that we can't monitor, it's that we can't reliably check focus with the EVF or LCD. The Kubrick example is funny, but if I'm not mistaken, film cameras use optical viewfinders that allow the operators the ability to tell if the image is in focus. All that being said, I've learned how to focus the image well enough without an external monitor.
Still, the GH2 with its higher resolution LCD and HDMI output for monitoring is going to be sweet!
 
shaveblog said:
The film makers of days past echoed your frustration. "I can't see a goddamn frame of footage we're shooting until later when we watch the dailies!!" Kubrick used to bellow at his DP. "How am I supposed to work under these conditions?!"

It's for this reason -- not being able to monitor in real-time -- Kubrick never shot a decent roll of film.
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Who is this Kubrick, is he a member of the forum?

I was watching THE RETURN OF THE KING EXTENDED DVD the other day, and Elijah told of how he and the other hobbits shot one of the climatic, emotional scenes of the film, and then the next day when they were watching the rushes, and emotionally drained from the day before, were upset to see the whole scene had been shot OUT OF FOCUS and had to be redone! And this was the biggest film project in history...

Fincher and Rodriguez have said they were willing to live with the lesser resolution of digital just so they could "go to bed every night knowing we got the shot".

Every video camera has monitoring ability, from the DVX to Red, while all the canon DSLRs have it too, even if its SD.

Being able to have live monitoring is one of the essential requirements of any pro shoot, and it dissapoints me that the great looking gh13 can't do this.

As for the gh2, I'll wait and see. The footage doesn't look that great to me, it only shoots 25P at 17mbps, and it still looks like it has mud. If Vitaliy can hack it, sure, but if not, the 7D is looking like an option.
 
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Don't tell anyone else, but the back panel that says lumix on it can secretly flip out and around on the other side there is a monitor that you can see the picture on from any angle.....
 
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dvbrother said:
I'm not sure the complaint is that we can't monitor, it's that we can't reliably check focus with the EVF or LCD. The Kubrick example is funny, but if I'm not mistaken, film cameras use optical viewfinders that allow the operators the ability to tell if the image is in focus. All that being said, I've learned how to focus the image well enough without an external monitor.
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Film cameras do have optical viewfinders, and sometimes they can look magical, but they're not so great for telling exact focus on a wide-angle shot. Which is why film cameras have precisely-calibrated lenses and precisely-calibrated mounts, so you can use a tape measure to get the true focus.

To answer the OP -- lack of monitoring is a profound annoyance to me, and one reason why my GH1 will hit the market and will be replaced by a GH2.
 
Blackout said:
Don't tell anyone else, but the back panel that says lumix on it can secretly flip out and around on the other side there is a monitor that you can see the picture on from any angle.....
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that was the initial dealmaker for me in the pre hack days. nifty. i too, promised to tell no one.
 
Barry_Green said:
To answer the OP -- lack of monitoring is a profound annoyance to me, and one reason why my GH1 will hit the market and will be replaced by a GH2.
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Thanks Barry, but do you think the gh2 will be as good as the gh13? Mud, only 17Mbps for 25P, etc?
 
Futchibon said:
Thanks Barry, but do you think the gh2 will be as good as the gh13? Mud, only 17Mbps for 25P, etc?
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I don't know, all I know is I've had the GH13 choke up on me too many times so I don't even bother using it. The GH2 will be reliable, and for me that's far more important than whether it has an extra megabit here or there.
 
Barry, just read your review about the 7d vs. the gh1. It's a bit old now, and I was wondering if you'd changed any of your opinions since the hack?

Also, could you please tell me how to get the SD preview with the gh1 that you mention? Thanks!
 
Futchibon said:
Barry, just read your review about the 7d vs. the gh1. It's a bit old now, and I was wondering if you'd changed any of your opinions since the hack?
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The whole world's turned upside down since then. Between the hack and the announcement of the forthcoming AF100, I got rid of my 7D. The hack made an amazing difference to the GH1, it totally outclasses the 7D in sharpness now. But, the unpredictability of it has me looking to move my GH13 on to a new home, once the GH2 is out. With the AF100, for those who can afford it, I just don't see the point in struggling along with a 7D anymore. And for those who want a small cheap camcorder, the GH2 looks like it's going to answer most all the issues the 7D has. It'll still have moire, but it should have 100% reliability and no hack issues, so... yeah, back in the time I did that comparison review I said "I can't sell either of these off." Now, just a year later, I've already sold one and am looking to get rid of the other. :)
 
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