GH4 GH4 on the DJI Ronin.
- Thread starter dustylense
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dustylense
Veteran
No problems hard wiring to the GH4 effecting the gimbals ? I just seen the Ronin at UK Film/TV Show it was very impressive piece of kit heavy but doable... wish it had a thumb joystick though instead of a transmitter i just cant decide now between the Ronin and the lighter Birdycam 2 .
I got a Ronin recently, been playing a while and just used it on a three day film shoot.
I'd intended to fly my RED, using a wireless picture feed and remote control system.
The RED was just too damn heavy for me to handle that way without some support for the Ronin. It felt OK in testing but the first time I had to hold it steady for the first two minutes of a long a take, around throat level, then be ready to move once the static part of the scene happened and get smooth tracking including high to low moves for another couple of minutes... it just killed me.
So I swapped to the GH4 on the Ronin and it totally saved my arse. Borderline too light for the Ronin as I had it rigged, but putting my Sennheiser receiver on the hot shoe should fix that (by raising the centre of gravity of the camera assembly- the problem was I was right at the top stop on that axis). It was the first time I'd used the GH4 as my A-cam and I was a bit nervous, so I grabbed a bunch of tripod mounted static shots with the RED too.
I need not have worried. The GH4 footage is lovely. Sure, it is a bit contrastier than the RED, but using the natural profile I can get a very close match to REDColor3/REDGamma3 and I knew I was going to grade to a very cold Scandinavian Noir look anyway. It also helped that the GH4 is a least somewhat weather sealed, as it was raining a lot on the shoot.
I monitored using Wifi and an iPad clamped to the Ronin. This was not ideal - the screen was too reflective for use outdoors in sunlight. But again it saved my arse having it as a possibility for low angle shots. For higher angles I used the Ronin inverted, which worked really well- the GH4 screen is impressively visible in daylight.
The main thing that ruined shots was missed focus, so I probably need to swap the iPad out for a decent monitor and play with various autofocus tracking options like face tracking; I had too many things on my mind to play with those settings as well.
All in all it was a tremendous first outing for the Ronin/GH4 combo, and I think that's going to be the GH4's permanent home from now on. At least until I can afford an Easyrig to take the weight of the Ronin Plus RED. I'm sure that'll help knock out some of the residual motion as well- I gather Ronin plus Easyrig plus Serene arm is the current best combo.
Given the price of the Ronin and the strength of its motors it's an amazing bit of kit.
And so is the GH4. Love it.
Cheers, Hywel.
I'd intended to fly my RED, using a wireless picture feed and remote control system.
The RED was just too damn heavy for me to handle that way without some support for the Ronin. It felt OK in testing but the first time I had to hold it steady for the first two minutes of a long a take, around throat level, then be ready to move once the static part of the scene happened and get smooth tracking including high to low moves for another couple of minutes... it just killed me.
So I swapped to the GH4 on the Ronin and it totally saved my arse. Borderline too light for the Ronin as I had it rigged, but putting my Sennheiser receiver on the hot shoe should fix that (by raising the centre of gravity of the camera assembly- the problem was I was right at the top stop on that axis). It was the first time I'd used the GH4 as my A-cam and I was a bit nervous, so I grabbed a bunch of tripod mounted static shots with the RED too.
I need not have worried. The GH4 footage is lovely. Sure, it is a bit contrastier than the RED, but using the natural profile I can get a very close match to REDColor3/REDGamma3 and I knew I was going to grade to a very cold Scandinavian Noir look anyway. It also helped that the GH4 is a least somewhat weather sealed, as it was raining a lot on the shoot.
I monitored using Wifi and an iPad clamped to the Ronin. This was not ideal - the screen was too reflective for use outdoors in sunlight. But again it saved my arse having it as a possibility for low angle shots. For higher angles I used the Ronin inverted, which worked really well- the GH4 screen is impressively visible in daylight.
The main thing that ruined shots was missed focus, so I probably need to swap the iPad out for a decent monitor and play with various autofocus tracking options like face tracking; I had too many things on my mind to play with those settings as well.
All in all it was a tremendous first outing for the Ronin/GH4 combo, and I think that's going to be the GH4's permanent home from now on. At least until I can afford an Easyrig to take the weight of the Ronin Plus RED. I'm sure that'll help knock out some of the residual motion as well- I gather Ronin plus Easyrig plus Serene arm is the current best combo.
Given the price of the Ronin and the strength of its motors it's an amazing bit of kit.
And so is the GH4. Love it.
Cheers, Hywel.
dustylense
Veteran
The reason I chose the Ronin over others is the ability to have flexibility in camera payload. I can fly a light Gh4 or A7s or fly a heavier camera like the Red. The other advantage of the Ronin is the ability to easily mount it to a crane, tripod, steadicam, cable wire due to its mounting solution. Takes all of 20 secs to do so.
That's the primary reason I bought a Ronin too: the ability to fly either my RED or my GH4. It cost a bit less than the M5 which would only have allowed me to fly the GH4. Significantly cheaper than the M10 or M15. The money saved will let me buy an Easyrig to help support it- its major downside compared with the competition is its weight.
Just used it again today for a little shoot at my house with GH4. Still need to figure out a better monitoring solution- iPad monitoring isn't good enough to judge critical focus. Annoyingly, the GH4 doesn't do peaking when Autofocus is on, which would help as touch-to-focus AF on the iPad is a cool feature.
Cheers, Hywel.
I didnt get a reply before whether the GH4 can be hard wired with micro hdmi from the camera without effecting the Ronin ? I want to mount the Shogun when its released and just wanted to know if i could bypass going wireless.
Also...what are everyone's thoughts on the Olympus 5 axis sensor stabilization system ? could this possibly make hand held gimbal systems obsolete in the near future ?
Cheers !
Also...what are everyone's thoughts on the Olympus 5 axis sensor stabilization system ? could this possibly make hand held gimbal systems obsolete in the near future ?
Cheers !
I'd say yes. I've run my RED from a battery clip V mount battery on a belt pack, plus RED monitor clamped to Ronin arm, plus Sennhesier radio receiver on Ronin arm all with cables going to the RED mounted on the Ronin. The motors seem strong enough to cope so long as you don't get a real cable jam.
So I think one lightweight HDMI cable should be fine. Make sure you select one that's light, flexible and more than long enough to accommodate all the camera motion.
5-axis stablization will not make gimbals obsolete. The problem is that all these optical image stabilisation systems are really for stills shooting. Throw them a steady smooth pan or tracking shot and they try to counteract the motion, reach the end of their correction ability, and jump back to centre and start again. So they are great for stabilizing what should be a static angle- handheld or on a monopod instead of a tripod. But they are counterproductive if you have a decent tripod or are on a dolly, or on a gimbal rig.
The critical thing with a gimbal rig is that it fixes the direction the camera points in space whilst allowing translation, so you can get smooth tracking moves like on a dolly, and allows control over the pointing axis as well, so you can get smooth motorised pan and tilt as well. You just can't do that optically because the camera brain is too dumb to know you want smooth motion rather than static shot. And even if it did know, it only has a few mm at most to play with so it will inevitably jump when it reaches the end of its corrective ability. They might help with locking out the angular effects (which is good) but they're always going to be trying to interfere with pan and tilt and tracking, which is not what one wants for video.
I think the real future is in ergonomics- gimbal rigs are really not designed for human beings to carry, they are derived from aerial photography tech and it shows. Holding the rig at shoulder height a good 40 cm from your body is no way to hold anything. Some people have experimented with putting gimbal rigs on steadicam arms- nice for the pros but ups the cost beyond anything mere mortals are likely to be able to handle. And the weight is still all in the wrong place. That's why I think an Easyrig plus serene arm is the way to go, or possibly some of the lens-axis designs coming out.
They aren't a panacea. It's still possible to get crap shots and awful movement if you bounce up and down especially. But they are GREAT at locking out the wrist wobble big angular swings that telegraph lightweight cheap DV camcorder footage and they definitely have their place in our armoury.
Cheers, Hywel.
So I think one lightweight HDMI cable should be fine. Make sure you select one that's light, flexible and more than long enough to accommodate all the camera motion.
5-axis stablization will not make gimbals obsolete. The problem is that all these optical image stabilisation systems are really for stills shooting. Throw them a steady smooth pan or tracking shot and they try to counteract the motion, reach the end of their correction ability, and jump back to centre and start again. So they are great for stabilizing what should be a static angle- handheld or on a monopod instead of a tripod. But they are counterproductive if you have a decent tripod or are on a dolly, or on a gimbal rig.
The critical thing with a gimbal rig is that it fixes the direction the camera points in space whilst allowing translation, so you can get smooth tracking moves like on a dolly, and allows control over the pointing axis as well, so you can get smooth motorised pan and tilt as well. You just can't do that optically because the camera brain is too dumb to know you want smooth motion rather than static shot. And even if it did know, it only has a few mm at most to play with so it will inevitably jump when it reaches the end of its corrective ability. They might help with locking out the angular effects (which is good) but they're always going to be trying to interfere with pan and tilt and tracking, which is not what one wants for video.
I think the real future is in ergonomics- gimbal rigs are really not designed for human beings to carry, they are derived from aerial photography tech and it shows. Holding the rig at shoulder height a good 40 cm from your body is no way to hold anything. Some people have experimented with putting gimbal rigs on steadicam arms- nice for the pros but ups the cost beyond anything mere mortals are likely to be able to handle. And the weight is still all in the wrong place. That's why I think an Easyrig plus serene arm is the way to go, or possibly some of the lens-axis designs coming out.
They aren't a panacea. It's still possible to get crap shots and awful movement if you bounce up and down especially. But they are GREAT at locking out the wrist wobble big angular swings that telegraph lightweight cheap DV camcorder footage and they definitely have their place in our armoury.
Cheers, Hywel.