GH1 on the way, where should I start?

J

jbcon

Active member
I am expecting delivery of a GH1 late this week, hopefully before the weekend.

I have been shooting video with a variety of 3CCD standard Def cameras for a while and do all my editing on a PC in Vegas Pro. I also do a lot of photography as well using an older Pentax point & shoot 7MP. I bought the GH1 for both the photo and video capability.

Obviously my first step is to get use to the form-factor, but any suggestions as to exercises I should use to familiarize myself with the basic functions of the GH1 in both video and photo?

I am currently pouring over the manual I downloaded, and am getting familiar with the features. But are there things I should watch out for before I just go out and start taking pictures or shooting video? I would hate to develop bad habits or miss out on some functionality b/c I was too stubborn to take my time.

My plan initially is to story-boarding a couple different scenarios using the photo functions, then go out and shoot my ideas with the video. For comparison purposes doing the exact same thing with my old GL2 and the Pentax so I can have a direct comparison of the then and now, beyond that I will probably be like kid on xmas morning and go nuts with it......
 
For $10 bucks... I could give you the secrets you desire...

Bring your camera and follow me down these steps into the back room around the corner into the DVX/GH1 basement / dungeon... tell NO ONE!

I kid I kid I joke I joke. Welcome to the club.

Like a kid at Christmas, you just have to get your toy and play around with it before you get any good at it. If you're coming from the Gl2 it will certainly be different. Best thing for starters is put it on a tripod.... manual camera setting (creative movie mode) 50 or 60 shutter FHD, smooth film setting seems to be the best natural 'neutral' look to use but again.. have fun, toy around with it... it's a pretty dense camera for the little tiny thing it is.

There are standard workflow and setup faqs floating around that you can poke through of all the various settings and candies.

Enjoy!
 
I have been shooting video with a variety of 3CCD standard Def cameras for a while and do all my editing on a PC in Vegas Pro.
Click to expand...

First thing you have to do is throw away your old computer and buy the fastest you can afford, if not borrow the money. 'Cause you are going to need it.

My plan initially is to story-boarding a couple different scenarios using the photo functions, then go out and shoot my ideas with the video.
Click to expand...

Please, please, please, no more shots of trees, flowers, bushes, cats, dogs! Storyboard that shoot with other stuff!

Remember to hack the camera as soon as the battery is charged. Make it oficially a GH13.

And have fun with your new tool!
 
Welcome. I would become familiar and ready to do the hack. It's quite easy if you simply follow the directions. I just got my gh1 last week. You just need to play with it and reference the manual.
 
John Caballero said:
First thing you have to do is throw away your old computer and buy the fastest you can afford, if not borrow the money. 'Cause you are going to need it.


Please, please, please, no more shots of trees, flowers, bushes, cats, dogs! Storyboard that shoot with other stuff!

Remember to hack the camera as soon as the battery is charged. Make it oficially a GH13.

And have fun with your new tool!
Click to expand...


Is a Vista Quad core running at 3.06Ghz, with 8 GB Ram and a dual GPU (SLI) 9800 nvidia not enough on the pc side.

On the story boarding, we do have a new puppy and kitten in the house.... but I was thinking of doing a short car spot or something using a not so glamourous car, but using it as a subject of a short.
 
Yeah I am waiting to upgrade to Win 7 when I replace my VGA card. I am a bit of a geek and build my own systems. I just finished redoing my rig due to cooling issues with the old VGA card getting to hot, now all works great. Win 7 will come in a few months when I upgrade HDD and VGA card, I actually will probably go back to 32-bit as well since I have had some issues with 64bit Vegas.

I use my system for two things, gaming and video/audio editing so it has to be pretty heavy duty.

Here is my new build.... brag, brag, brag. Yeah I am proud of it... was my first really custom build. Wish I had a video camera to have documented the build better.

IMGP0153.jpg


Here is my build log:
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?p=2320568#post2320568
 
jbcon said:
Yeah I am waiting to upgrade to Win 7 when I replace my VGA card. I am a bit of a geek and build my own systems. I just finished redoing my rig due to cooling issues with the old VGA card getting to hot, now all works great. Win 7 will come in a few months when I upgrade HDD and VGA card, I actually will probably go back to 32-bit as well since I have had some issues with 64bit Vegas.
Click to expand...
VGA? I haven't hear that word since the early 90's ...
 
John Caballero said:
Please, please, please, no more shots of trees, flowers, bushes, cats, dogs!
Click to expand...

I would start by shooting trees, flowers, bushes, cats and dogs- this way you really, really know just how much bitrate your getting out of your gh13, because we all know the importance of bitrate measurement and its relevance to our masterpieces we call "films"....and if our films flop....we can blame it on the wrong "settings" and/or lack of bitrate:evil::evil:

I'm joking of course...I'm really poking fun at myself as well.....I ADMIT IT.. I'm A PIXEL PEEPER.....there I said it..phew, that feels better.

but in all seriousness-- WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE, the place that we call home....the land of the GH-13!!

Have fun my friend

Z:beer::beer::beer:
 
Well, I haven't started posting my shots yet, but have been shooting for about a week and a half now.... I hate to say it, with a kitten and puppy running around the house, they make great subjects for learning the camera.

That being said, the family is at the beach this week and hopefully I can get down after work a couple nights and shoot some stuff before and at sunset.

I am almost liking the film camera or digital stills as much as the video.... this thing is great, albeit a lot harder to get steady shots than a traditional camcorder, but I am hooked. Now if I can get my computer right so I can modify my work-flow to do some serious post-production stuff
 
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