GH1 vs Canon MkII

[Pepster]

The CANON 5DMKII can be had for $2500
In fact, the 5D2 body + 3x cheap lenses + accessories can be had for $2579
http://cgi.ebay.com/CANON-EOS-5D-MA...trkparms=65:12|66:2|39:1|72:1234|293:1|294:50

Lenses are widely available new and second hand as Nikon can also be used with adapter.

The GH1 can also be had for $2500:
http://photography.shop.ebay.com/it..._fln=1&_ipg=&_sacat=625&_trksid=p3286.c0.m282

Acrespo asked the question, re the 5D2 vs the GH1, so he deserves an honest answer.

If price is the question, then there is not much between them. Expect to pay more for the Canon, but balance this with the money saved from the need for less lighting with the 5D2 due to superior low light performance.

Every clip I have seen shows the 5D2 to be clearly superior in low light. But - the 5D2 does not do 24fps.

There, that was easy, no need to shout then.

Group hugs all round.

 

[commanderspike]

GH1 $2500?

The US RRP is $1500 isn't it?

That's hardly an honest answer

 

[mhood]

If the OP bought a camera today, could he get a GH1 any other way? Panasonic sure seems to be disgracing the pooch with the GH1 rollout.

 

[commanderspike]

Yes but it's worth bearing in mind that the 5D MII was also unavailable for months before they got a regular supply going. So your point is?

It's a popular camera?

 

[John Caballero]

To me a lot of the 5D footage looks plastic. Way surreal. To use the estremely shallow too much is awful. If you look at most commercial movies and T.V. series 99% of them don't use this extreme stuff. All the image tweeking may be right for music videos but not seriuos narrative. That's my opinion. The footage from the GH1 looks more organic. Its more pleasant to the eye. Again my opinion. The "jello" on the 5D can get pretty bad for a camera costing as much as it does.

 

[yabyum]

So I'm confused as to how this 3.5FPS thing works and the camera still being able to do good video?

I'm really really confused. Is there some guide to this all? Doesn't 24p mean 24 progressive frams a second? How is it getting 24 frames a second if it only does 3.5? Also how does shutter speed affect things as well? Does a fast shutter mean sharper images? What's the threshold on that?

 

[commanderspike]

So I'm confused as to how this 3.5FPS thing works and the camera still being able to do good video?

I'm really really confused. Is there some guide to this all? Doesn't 24p mean 24 progressive frams a second? How is it getting 24 frames a second if it only does 3.5? Also how does shutter speed affect things as well? Does a fast shutter mean sharper images? What's the threshold on that?

Are you kidding me?

3.5fps is the continuous shooting rate of stills.

The GH1 does 60p HD video or 24p in full 1080 HD.

 

[mhood]

Yes but it's worth bearing in mind that the 5D MII was also unavailable for months before they got a regular supply going. So your point is?

It's a popular camera?

I guess my point is that this collective nightmare that GH1 buyers are going through, coupled with the confusing platform requirements of AVCHD, makes me feel better about being an early d90 buyer (from B&H...in stock...shipped immediately) who made the decision to ride it out until the dust settles.

rogar-BigGrin(DBG)

 

[John Caballero]

makes me feel better about being an early d90 buyer (from B&H...in stock...shipped immediately)

Oh boy....

Most of the real breakthrough cameras go thru delays and shortage at the beginning. That is nothing new. It happened recently when the HVX 200 first came out. All you have to do is wait. Use the time to gather as much info as you can about the camera and be ready for it when you get it, that's all.

 

[mhood]

Oh boy indeed! I'm so happy I didn't preorder a GH1. I'll take your advice about w8ing but I'll keep the CC cleared while I do it.

 

[Pepster]

To me a lot of the 5D footage looks plastic. Way surreal. To use the estremely shallow too much is awful. If you look at most commercial movies and T.V. series 99% of them don't use this extreme stuff. All the image tweeking may be right for music videos but not seriuos narrative. That's my opinion. The footage from the GH1 looks more organic. Its more pleasant to the eye. Again my opinion. The "jello" on the 5D can get pretty bad for a camera costing as much as it does.

The 5D image quality (ie look) is close to the RedOne. View comparison here:
http://www.vimeo.com/5160288

5D2 jello @ 2:14 would have been be about the same as the RedOne @ 2:04 had they been shaken with the same intensity (the 5D2 is lighter and easier to shake).

Big difference between the 5D2 and the Redone is that the 5D2 out performs the Red in low light: http://www.vimeo.com/5179976

So there you go. For $2500 you can go and get yourself a RedOne challenger.

BTW, I havn't seen a GH1 vs RedOne comparison test yet. Anyone ?

 

[yabyum]

Are you kidding me?

3.5fps is the continuous shooting rate of stills.

The GH1 does 60p HD video or 24p in full 1080 HD.

nope wasn't kidding...

just a bit clueless on this. might be stupid questions, but i'll ask anyways...

so how does upping shutter speed affect shooting? very fast shutters = less "mud" in capturing fast moving objects? i dunno, i wish there was some resource that explained the technology of DSLR capturing video. i mean you set your shutter to something like 1/10 sec which is very slow, and you have your video set to 24p, whcih is capturing every 1/24 sec. so what is the first frame? the shutter speed is capturing 10 frames a second or 1 frame per 0.1 second... but the video is 24 frames a second or 1 frame per ~0.42 second.... so the two frames are black?

 

[Pepster]

nope wasn't kidding...

just a bit clueless on this. might be stupid questions, but i'll ask anyways...

so how does upping shutter speed affect shooting? very fast shutters = less "mud" in capturing fast moving objects? i dunno, i wish there was some resource that explained the technology of DSLR capturing video. i mean you set your shutter to something like 1/10 sec which is very slow, and you have your video set to 24p, whcih is capturing every 1/24 sec. so what is the first frame? the shutter speed is capturing 10 frames a second or 1 frame per 0.1 second... but the video is 24 frames a second or 1 frame per ~0.42 second.... so the two frames are black?

5D2 shutter speed = 1/30th to 1/2000th sec. The 'shutter' is an electronic wipe (refresh) of the image sensor after the read is complete. ie, is not mechanical during video.

 

[Ozpeter]

so what is the first frame? the shutter speed is capturing 10 frames a second or 1 frame per 0.1 second... but the video is 24 frames a second or 1 frame per ~0.42 second.... so the two frames are black?

You get duplication of frames, according to other recent posts, if the shutter speed is slower than the frame rate.

 

[Barry_Green]

so how does upping shutter speed affect shooting?

By "upping" I am going to assume you mean using a shorter shutter speed... shorter shutters = less motion blur and less light reaching the sensor. So when you use shorter shutter speeds you get darker footage and more "stuttery" footage.

I really don't get why so many folks are shooting with crazy high shutter speeds. I mean, just -- don't. Please. glue the shutter on 1/60 (for USA shooters, 1/50 for PAL shooters) and leave it there. Don't go using the shutter speed to change exposure; use neutral density filters instead. Changing the shutter speed makes the motion more "staccato" and renders motion unnaturally.

The one exception for general use is if you're going to use 720/60p for slow-mo; in that case you'd want to use 1/120 (USA) or 1/100 (for 720/50P PAL users).

i mean you set your shutter to something like 1/10 sec which is very slow, and you have your video set to 24p, whcih is capturing every 1/24 sec. so what is the first frame? the shutter speed is capturing 10 frames a second or 1 frame per 0.1 second... but the video is 24 frames a second or 1 frame per ~0.42 second.... so the two frames are black?

If you set your shutter speed to 1/10, you would get effectively two and a half frames per second. Each frame will be "held" for a tenth of a second, and if you're recording 24fps then it will duplicate the last frame repeatedly until the next frame is "ready". Shooting with a shutter speed slower than the frame rate will always result in duplicated frames.

 

[J Davis]

I really don't get why so many folks are shooting with crazy high shutter speeds. I mean, just -- don't. Please. glue the shutter on 1/60 (for USA shooters, 1/50 for PAL shooters) and leave it there.

Unless of course Jason Stathom is in the cast and you are shooting CRANK
rogar-BigGrin(DBG)
-my point being that in certain circumstances when you want your film to resemble a video game then go for it
- yes, I was a big fan of the first Crank

 

[Barry_Green]

Right, right, right, you are correct of course. But I guess the point is -- they had a very good reason for doing it. I would estimate, on a conservative estimate, that 90% or more of the footage shot for film and video purposes is normally shot with a shutter between 1/40th and 1/60th.

 

[yabyum]

so if I plan to do action and then want to slow motion it, why stop at 1/120? why not even higher? granted there is enough available light i would think the higher the shutter the better the slow motion (i am imagining bullet time from matrix sort of things)...

really appreciate the help btw.

 

[Kholi]

The 5D image quality (ie look) is close to the RedOne. View comparison here:
http://www.vimeo.com/5160288

5D2 jello @ 2:14 would have been be about the same as the RedOne @ 2:04 had they been shaken with the same intensity (the 5D2 is lighter and easier to shake).

Big difference between the 5D2 and the Redone is that the 5D2 out performs the Red in low light: http://www.vimeo.com/5179976

So there you go. For $2500 you can go and get yourself a RedOne challenger.

BTW, I havn't seen a GH1 vs RedOne comparison test yet. Anyone ?

1) RED and MKii footage are worlds apart when RED is processed properly. The MKii image is great as a B-Camera when it's dealing with close-ups and throw-away footage when shooting these two cameras together.

2) MKii Jello is nowhere near RED. No matter how hard people want to wish it is. Simply lock both cameras down and shoot some traffic, I guarantee you the results will not be the same. I wish people would stop propogating this false information.

3) The MKii does have a lowlight advantage over the RED. So does the GH-1. The difference is that if you're shooting narrative on the MKii the lowlight advantage vanishes because sensibility will tell you to shoot @ stops of 4 and slower.

4) There have been RED ONE and GH-1 Comparisons. They just haven't been released yet.


Those who can't tell false information from people who have little to no working knowledge of hardware won't benefit from these kinds of posts.

 

[Kholi]

The CANON 5DMKII can be had for $2500
In fact, the 5D2 body + 3x cheap lenses + accessories can be had for $2579
http://cgi.ebay.com/CANON-EOS-5D-MARK-II-28-80-3-LENS-4GB-HUGE-KIT-NEW-USA_W0QQitemZ390063479877QQcmdZViewItemQQptZDigital_Cameras?hash=item5ad1985c45&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12|66%3A2|39%3A1|72%3A1234|293%3A1|294%3A50

Lenses are widely available new and second hand as Nikon can also be used with adapter.

The GH1 can also be had for $2500:
http://photography.shop.ebay.com/it..._fln=1&_ipg=&_sacat=625&_trksid=p3286.c0.m282

Acrespo asked the question, re the 5D2 vs the GH1, so he deserves an honest answer.

If price is the question, then there is not much between them. Expect to pay more for the Canon, but balance this with the money saved from the need for less lighting with the 5D2 due to superior low light performance.

Every clip I have seen shows the 5D2 to be clearly superior in low light. But - the 5D2 does not do 24fps.

There, that was easy, no need to shout then.

Group hugs all round.

1. GH-1 MSRP is 1,499.99 US. When it's widely available, that's how much it will cost.

2. The MKii is a much more expensive investment than the GH-1. Again, if you're shooting narrative you aren't shooting at F1.4 outside of FX shots. You'll be shooting at F4 and slower, completely negating the lowlight advantage that the MKii has. Blame it on Full Frame sensor technology. To say that the two cameras are equal is a completely fallacy.

If you wish to help the OP by being honest, then be honest.