GH-1 cam-A / Canon Mark 5Dii cam-B

Jamison

Jamison

Well-known member
Hey I have about $4500 thousand to spend. I was thinking about buying a GH-1 AND a 5Dii. I was hoping I could use both these cameras together on my shoots because they seem like they would compliment each-other nicely. Here is going to be my set up:

2 Sennheiser MKE 400
1 GH-1
1 Canon 5D Mark ii
2 SanDisk Extreme III 32 GB - SDHC

Okay let me know what you all think about this. I will have a 2 man setup on my shoots preferablly.
 
Your da man.

Let me know where your getting the lenses, follow focus, rails, matteboxes, rigs, sound equip, etc. for free. I've already spent well over $4500 and I haven't even been charged for the f-dup pre-ordered GH1 yet....

I'm sorry. I'm bitter... the real question is. What on earth are you shooting? How one say that's the perfect setup or worse setup for any two man operation.
 
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My advice? Pick 1 of the cameras; your choice. The price point on the GH1 will give you extra coin to spend on all the items upshot mentioned. Trying to mix and match these 2 cams just doesn't seem like a good idea to me. From all I've read here(I don't own either yet) they both have 'issues' when it comes to both shooting and post production. A real headache in your future if you try. Just my 2 cents.
 
I would be shooting weddings, promos, Informercials for the majority of my work. I will also do some independent films and such. I just sold my HVX200 because P2 cards were way to expensive and I did not like the quality of the HD image that it produced even though the HVX has many good features. For now I am not going to buy a matte box, follow focus, or rails. I just really don't need all of that, for one, all of that is just way to much money and 2, I just don't think it will do me any good unless I am working on a high end prduction.

I thought maybe if I could throw my 5Dii footage into compressor and change it to 24p I could mix it with the GH-1 24p footage. But then again I could settle with 2 GH-1's instead of 2 different cameras. I am still deciding.
 
tackleqb said:
I did not like the quality of the HD image that it produced
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Odd.

tackleqb said:
I just don't think it will do me any good unless I am working on a high end prduction.
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Uber-odd.

I'm going to lay my bets on... neither the GH1 or the 5dii are going to be a panacea after blood-letting a HVX200!! I'd take that cam over both for versatility sake...

Nighthawk is right though. Mixing two cams might result in quality of the HD image that you do not like.
 
I hope you know that the 5D MkII uses Compact Flash cards, not SDHC. You'll have to include that in your budget, especially since the camera doesn't come with a card.
 
If I were you I would buy a GH1 and and spend the money you were gonna spend on the MKII on a Panasonic HMC150 or similar. This new video-DSLRs all seem to have different issues with video (codec breakup when panning on high detail shots, jello, no 24p, or something) and none have good built in audio options. A camera with a more reliable codec, true 24p and good audio could solve all this and could be good to work together with a GH1.
In my case, I am planning on keeping my cheap HV30 and buying a GH1 to do some weddings and, hopefully, some fictional stuff, but I would love to have the money to trade my HV30 for a Sony EX1 o HMC150.
 
upshot, If you actually have used a HVX you might know what I was talking about. The camera does not even have a full HD resolution, it's a 960x540 pixel CCD. It has way to much noise and low light is terrible. However it is extremely versatile but I need a camera that is going to be good in low-light and shoots full HD resolution. And Why would I spend 2,000 dollars on a Zacuto setup when it is more expensive then the actual camera. Def Ubber-Odd to me.
 
If I was buying a camera, Say a EX3 then a Zacuto set-up would seem necessary but to buy a matte box, follow focus, and the whole works would cost more then a GH-1 to begin with. Unless of course you have the money to buy such a thing. But then again if you did I would just pend the extra money to buy a better camera.
 
Pick one and buy two. Don't make things difficult on yourself.

Doesn't matter if it's the MKii or GH-1, but tryin to mix the two and going through all of those post headaches to conform or change framerates etc etc may not be worth your time OR money.

Just get two of one and be safe.
 
Yeah I think that's what I am going to do thanks for the advice. 2 GH-1's will do me just fine! :)
 
Remember to add extra batteries to your order. Two will do, one for each camera.

They charge so fast and last so long. Wish MKii batteries I could say the same about. But it's battery grip expense here... oi.

GH-1 batteries last an effective 2 Horus of CONTINUOUS rolling. Take an hour to charge.

MKii about an hour. and takes more than an hour to charge. Weak.
 
yeah I always add batteries to my order. Stock batteries are pooh pooh. Would you recommend the Sennheiser MKE 400? I saw a test online and it sounds pretty good to me.
 
Some friends have those booms. Question is what are you going to use it with? Zoom H4N?

I think they'll do regardless for the work you're trying to do. I use the Zoom H4N with an audio technica boom and it's nothing short of amazing, especially considering what it is. Clear sound all the way.
 
You're forgetting about lens compatibility. 5Dmkii is FF, but then you could get two GH-1's with good lenses and just be under the cost of 1 5Dmkii anyways.
 
tackleqb said:
upshot, If you actually have used a HVX you might know what I was talking about. The camera does not even have a full HD resolution, it's a 960x540 pixel CCD. It has way to much noise and low light is terrible. However it is extremely versatile but I need a camera that is going to be good in low-light and shoots full HD resolution. And Why would I spend 2,000 dollars on a Zacuto setup when it is more expensive then the actual camera. Def Ubber-Odd to me.
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Point taken. It's out of my price range for what I want to do... but for everything but low light shooting the vircitility factor may very well may out perform both cameras. That's all I'm saying.

In response to the Zacuto hyperbole all I can say is... what about lenses?? what about rigs?? It's easy to spend more than your camera body on both individually and YES it will improve your results. That's why I think it's odd to say aww that lens and rig doesn't help at all. It's just high priced BS. I shoot by hand with stock lenses and it makes no difference at all... wha?

A lens alone can dwarf the cost of the GH1. Why should you spend $1500 on a lens when it is just expensive then the actual camera? I dunno. T1.4 maybe? Low light maybe? Uber-odd.
 
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Yeah well I never said that it wouldn't improve my image, of course it would but for what I am doing, I most likely won't need a big rig like that. I am sure that your situation is different however. For what I am doing I think I am going to get 2 GH-1's and settle for the stock lenses (for now). When shooting a wedding, having 2 cameras (which are very small and easy to carry around AND has 35mm capable image) is much better then using a "Zacuto" type rig only because it would be hard to shoot gorilla with a big rig (even though it would improve my image substantially). So do you see where I am coming from?
 
Think about this though. The jury may still be out on shooting dark churches with the stock lens it is F4 after all... You may find that you need to fall back on some fast glass. Which actually bolsters the 5dii argument.

I completely understand. One of the super attractive features of the GH1 is the stealth factor. I've already enjoyed shooting still with the G1 immensely. People think I'm just fiddling with the camera. Little do they know!
 
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