GH2 GH-2 Best Accessories Recommendations

OK. I think you're referring to the "masks". They're just cut out plates that you attach on front of the matte box to crop 4:3 or 16:9 frame depending on what sensor you're using. It's more prevalent if say u had a 4:3 camera but want your video cropped to 16:9. But who the hell does that anymore?? I remember cos my first ProAim matte box had them. In fact I think only they still supply these with their matte boxes? They're cheap but do the job. The screws were a bit flimsy. u don't need to buy a "16:9 matte box" to shoot 16:9 on GH2. The sensor already is 16:9. Matte box is just a giant hood and has no relevance on what aspect ratio u output to.
 
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Thank you for the heads up! So, a simple lens shade with filters should suffice for economical purposes? Is the mask necessary with a GH-2? Does the matte box need to be for wide angle? I really appreciate your feedback!
 
hollyburgh said:
Thank you for the heads up! So, a simple lens shade with filters should suffice for economical purposes? Is the mask necessary with a GH-2? Does the matte box need to be for wide angle? I really appreciate your feedback!
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Oh absolutely. A matte box is just not necessary sometimes, depending on the level of your shoot. Sure it makes you look good but I don't give a ****.
NO, mask is not necessary.
I don't get your question about wide angle?? Maybe you should watch some demo or tutorial videos on YouTube about matte boxes so you see how it's actually used... good luck
 
I am still relatively new to DSLR. Got my GH2 about 2 months ago. I have realized quite some things about it, and here are my toughts about gear that I can't do without:


- Lenses, I use some nice vintage Nikon Lenses. 28mm 2.8, 50mm 1.8, 100mm 2.8. that covers most of my needs, and with EXT on I get some really nice close ups if needed. I use a M 4/3 to Nikon adapter that can adjust any Nikon lens apperture, all of a sudden a world of lenses open up, not only the old ones. Did I mention that I got for 25 dollars and that it works really good!

- Fast and good SDHC cards. With all the hacks coming out, there's nothing worse than wanting to test out the latest hack but you get errors in recording because you went cheap in order to save 20 dollars. Get at least Sandisk Extreme class 10 30 mb/s. 16 and 32gb, 64 if you can afford it. Found 32gb version on ebay for 62 dollars with free shipping to Sweden.

- Rods system. I got this one: http://tinyurl.com/7mcrb76 . It is extremely solid, much better than expected. I don't use the shouldersupport, I have transformed it to a run n gun "Captain Stubling" system, looks really nice, is stable, and gives the camera extra protection on the sides.

- This one is probably one of the most important ones: VARI ND FILTER! So I went out the first day to shoot some testfootage and to se how well the DOF compared to my old setup (HMC151 and sgblade). I quickly realised that in order to expose correctly I had to be at F22 or F16, sometimes even that wasn't enough. So, all the shallow DOF was simply lost. So I started to google it, some use matteboxes, I am not a fan of those because of the extra bulk and weight, and the fuss with carrying arround ND's. I could get individual ND's to screw on but that's also fussy (yea some might call me lazy..). Then heaven opened up when I found variable ND fitlers. As everything else you get what you pay for. Belive me, most of them will be worthless 100mm above or when set to maximum effect. I took the plunge and got mysef the Heliopan Vari ND 77mm (using a stepring from 77mm to 52mm). Now I get the nice DOF I want, and the heliopan gives minimum color change and softness. Actually, I find the Gh2 being extremely sharp, too much for my taste. So the minimum softening is welcome!

- HDMI monitor. I have the Ruige monitor (TLS500HD). Wonderfull little thing, works great, extremely sharp, worth the money and much better than the Lilliput monitors. Check out CoolLcd.com.
 
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Some class lenses for GH2:
1) the 25mm Voigt...
2) 50mm pentax asahi f1.4 (cheap and amazing clarity, on ebay all the time), then get a $7 pentax to M43 ring and just leave it on.
3) SLR Magic 12mm, however these dont always give a tight fit into the GH2's for some reason try one first, if it fits, buy it. Super lens, another fast one.
4) Lens Baby 3G agaon, not expensive super cool , for nice arty and atmospheric shots.
5) The Panny 14-140mm zoom. Super useful. Its the Panny equivalent to the Canon L-series 24-105mm (but maybe not quite that good).
After that I would use converter rings for other narrow angle lenses you might have like nikons or canons too.
Buy some GOOD quality XDHC cards (at least 45mb speed or more) to deal with the high bit-rate hacks that are out there.
Cheapo spare batteries and chargers from china so you can charge several batteries at the same time when on the job.
ND filter is not as essential as people make out, just bump up the shutter speed instead. (not cinematic? boo hoo hoo).
A nice pelicase or storm case that you can fit your GH2 and a heap of lenses and things into. (Use a hot knife to burn out the shapes of the things you need to fit in it)
A nice glide cam like the wondlan (youll find them on ebay)
OR a full body carbon fiber steadicam very reasonable here is a link:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-7kg-Carbo...840?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19d91752f8
Lemme see, what else..hmmm...
G-Tech mini 500 or 750 gig drives for on the job backing up, small, USB powered, huge capacity=:thumbsup:
Premiere Pro editing suite so you dont have to convert your AVCHD files like you do on Final Cut=>:thumbdown
Now THAT is a list of must have accessories for a GH2.......
 
Admir said:
- Fast and good SDHC cards. With all the hacks coming out, there's nothing worse than wanting to test out the latest hack but you get errors in recording because you went cheap in order to save 20 dollars. Get at least Sandisk Extreme class 10 30 mb/s. 16 and 32gb, 64 if you can afford it. Found 32gb version on ebay for 62 dollars with free shipping to Sweden.
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I would not risk ordering SanDisk media on ebay. SanDisk is the most counterfeited media brand out there and ebay accounts for the biggest part of those.
 
Bruce Foreman said:
I would not risk ordering SanDisk media on ebay. SanDisk is the most counterfeited media brand out there and ebay accounts for the biggest part of those.
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There are also a lot of Amazon reviews with complaints of Sandisk fakes.

B&H is a safer buy for cards.
 
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