GH3 GH3/GX7 CINE-Rig for Small Primes or CINE lenses
- Thread starter Grisnjam
- Start date
Sol M.
Veteran
Thanks for sharing your setup. Definitely a lot of vendors represented in that small space 
IMHO, the "lens shade" makes the setup look less serious because it's clearly plasticky and the gaps between the shade and the flags make me question its effectiveness.
How good of a stabilizing point of contact does the VF-4 loupe against your eye provide? Can it be held firmly enough against the face to eliminate micro jitters?
Also, how is the GH3 screen for focusing with the VF-4? Can you really get critical focus or does the pixel grid of the screen become distracting under magnification (as it did with the GH2)?
IMHO, the "lens shade" makes the setup look less serious because it's clearly plasticky and the gaps between the shade and the flags make me question its effectiveness.How good of a stabilizing point of contact does the VF-4 loupe against your eye provide? Can it be held firmly enough against the face to eliminate micro jitters?
Also, how is the GH3 screen for focusing with the VF-4? Can you really get critical focus or does the pixel grid of the screen become distracting under magnification (as it did with the GH2)?
Grisnjam
Well-known member
Yeah it is kinda of a stand-in for a real Matte box in the future. But its real role is to scream 'I'm not the Stills Photographer' at weddings
Yeah I find the VF-4 is great for that.
Better than the GH2 for sure. You can still see the pixels but less so. The GX7 seems even better.
Thanks,
Grisnjam
Well-known member
Links to all the pieces are in the Vimeo description.
Thomas Smet
Veteran
I have tried a few rubber belts but none of them seem to work great. They seem to slip a bit too much. Currently trying to find a rubber belt with teeth so it grips the gears much better and turns exactly when I need it to.
Grisnjam
Well-known member
Another thing that can help is to put a silicone band around the focus rig on the lens (and on the FF gear too) then use a belt to give it more friction.
Qatastrophe
Member
Thoughts on GH7 on stills and video?
Grisnjam
Well-known member
The GX7 is really a dream. I am in love with it. It is so small yet so powerful and with a handful of fast primes you can travel with a very impressive kit. Here it is with my main 4 primes:
The focus peaking, tiling EVF (I mainly use the EVF when I shoot), dedicated MF/AF toggle and the IBIS really make it shine. Not to mention the sliver version is a real looker and the silent mode makes for an amazing tool for stealth portraits. Here is a little short from my Thanksgiving footage (GX7 handheld, colored with Film Convert):
And here are my stills from the same week:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/griswell/sets/72157638351459764/
My GH3 is now my B cam (I use dual audio so lack of mic input is not a big deal, having focus peaking is though).
I am super excited the try the GM1 (same sensor as the GX7) once the price drops. It should make a great steady cam or locked off camera too.
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Qatastrophe
Member
Thanks Johnny.
I've always liked your videos on budget portable rigs. Keep it up.
Thanks for the thoughts about the GX7, how would you rate it against the BMPCC and new Olympus OMD-EM1? GX7 is the lowest price of the 3, definitely has better video quality than the Olympus, but for $150 more you could be recording much better video quality with the BMPCC with or without RAW that it can do.
Thinking of an A or B camera myself to my GH3 (depending on what I get GH3 would remain A or become B).
I've always liked your videos on budget portable rigs. Keep it up.
Thanks for the thoughts about the GX7, how would you rate it against the BMPCC and new Olympus OMD-EM1? GX7 is the lowest price of the 3, definitely has better video quality than the Olympus, but for $150 more you could be recording much better video quality with the BMPCC with or without RAW that it can do.
Thinking of an A or B camera myself to my GH3 (depending on what I get GH3 would remain A or become B).
Grisnjam
Well-known member
No experience with the EM1 but Olympus' codec implementation is poor in general. For still it looks amazing especially some of the C-AF tracking samples I have seen.
The BMPCC is kinda of a different beast. If you want stills and video clearly the GX7 or GH3 is the way to go. If you want a dedicated cinema camera and you can handle the increased file sizes of shooting raw of pro-res then the BMPCC is clearly going to give you better results. With the new Speedboosters designed for the Blackmagic cams the issue of finding wide lenses will be taken care of (EOSHD). The main downside of the BMPCC is that you pretty much have always have it rigged given its small battery life, fixed screen, and lack of EVF.
Qatastrophe
Member
Yeah, I'm going to be passing on thefirst version of the first BMPCC and wait until 2.0 is released.
Last question - how do you compare video quality between GX7 and GH3?
Grisnjam
Well-known member
I find it to be just as good, really. I don't tend to pixel peak or fuss perfect image quality, if I am able to create moving images with a camera I am happy.
Check out this review of the GM1 (same sensor as the GX7) including a comparison to the GH3:
http://www.eoshd.com/content/11643/panasonic-gm1-review-another-pocket-cinema-camera
It seem to actually beat the GH3 in high ISO quality.
@Jive @Grisnjam I have this matte box/lens shade, and was concerned about those gaps, but took some black felt and used gaffers tape to cover up those gaps. Not the most pro "looking" setup, but addresses that issue. For $15 on Amazon, this lens shade is a steal if you're okay with DIY approach and look.