How good is a GH1 Filmout?

Indyreel

Well-known member
How would a GH1 filmout compare to, say, an HPX500 filmout?

I'm looking to start production on my first feature film soon and (decision wise) this Gh1 is turning out to be more than a bump in the road.

I would hate to shell out $20K for a camera and find out that a little 2K DSLR can deliver comparable footage.
 
Do you mean 'printed' to film after post production?

The gh1 does not 'output' anything (except maybe to the onboard lcd?)... The stream goes to the card only. We can only pray that they enable the HDMI output for monitoring and external capture.
 
How would a GH1 filmout compare to, say, an HPX500 filmout?

I'm looking to start production on my first feature film soon and (decision wise) this Gh1 is turning out to be more than a bump in the road.

I would hate to shell out $20K for a camera and find out that a little 2K DSLR can deliver comparable footage.

I believe Illya Friedman did a film-out test. I'm not 100%, however I recall something related to a GH1 film-out test. I tried to go the the Camera shoot out at B&S in LA yesterday that Illya Friedman was doing; I didn't make it!
 
I would hate to shell out $20K for a camera and find out that a little 2K DSLR can deliver comparable footage.

The GH1 is not 2K. I'm strictly speaking from my observations of footage that's been posted, but I don't think the GH1 footage would be ideal for a filmout. This is just speculation on my part as I haven't had a chance to work with the camera or footage from it yet.

Personally, If I was shooting a feature film with the intention of filmout I would shoot Red. If you're looking at purchasing the camera and don't want to spend $20K or more, you may want to consider one of the Scarlet 2/3" models when they become available. This is just my personal opinion and preference.
 
...ok....that's not even close to being accurate. No disrespect. I have an HV20...it's kissing cousin the HF10 (whose image is not quite as good) just finished making a blockbuster movie a few months back in the form of "Crank 2." The GH-1 IMO stomps on the HV20 in terms of IQ. Nuff said.

Oh and by the way....Crank 2 looked dang good.

The HF10 by the way shoots AVCHD at the same exact data rate of the GH-1.
 
I believe Illya Friedman did a film-out test. I'm not 100%, however I recall something related to a GH1 film-out test. I tried to go the the Camera shoot out at B&S in LA yesterday that Illya Friedman was doing; I didn't make it!

There was a shootout? I would have been all over that. :(
 
...ok....that's not even close to being accurate. No disrespect. I have an HV20...it's kissing cousin the HF10 (whose image is not quite as good) just finished making a blockbuster movie a few months back in the form of "Crank 2." The GH-1 IMO stomps on the HV20 in terms of IQ. Nuff said.

Oh and by the way....Crank 2 looked dang good.

The HF10 by the way shoots AVCHD at the same exact data rate of the GH-1.

What I was giving was my opinion from my observations thusfar. No disrespect taken, however, I was being accurate in my statement from what I've seen. It's a personal decision. Could you do a filmout from GH1? Sure. Hell, they did a filmout from MiniDV with The Blair Witch Project. It's all up to you as the maker of your film.
 
I think he meant $2k to buy the GH1.

As far as transferring, we've transferred Standard definition footage that looks great so the GH1 should make a pretty good transfer. I know there are some image problems right now with 'mud' etc though I don't know it in too much detail.

We do 1 min silent test filmouts for cost so if you want to shoot a test we'd be happy to help out.

Best,
Andy
 
If you can afford a real camera it will give you plenty of advantages for most types of work. The only reasons the GH1 would have any advantage over real HD camera (with lenses) are price and stealth. It's not worth the difference if you can budget for something else (rented especially).
 
I have zero doubt that with proper cinematography and post handling a film-out from GH1 will look great. Probably better than say any 16 mm blowup I've done in the past. But you have to decide on a look beforehand and shoot for it, there's not much room to make bigger changes in post-production. You'd might actually want to add some film grain since todays print stocks are virtually grainless and up to 500 ISO GH1 is rather clean and smooth.

Why not get one and test for yourself? If it doesn't live up to your expectations for moving images you still have a very decent still cam / B-cam for same price as a 35mm adapter rig for the HPX500. And it will probably be better than such a combo in low light. Let me demonstrate that by once again flaunt my own little clip: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=175134
 
Yup, but bear in mind I said "in the past". I haven't shot any 16mm since the beginning of 90s so I guess the quality demands have risen in conjunction with film stock improvements. Back then we flung some pretty crappy images onto the screen and it was accepted by clients and audience. Despite the film stock improvements I wonder if even today 16mm will do low light as good as the GH1. I remember grain the size of ping-pong balls from push processing 16mm when shooting streets at night and then we had added our own lighting unlike my little clip.
 
In a few years there won't be any filmouts to talk about. Digital projection will take over. There is no going back.

BTW: Anything is better than 16mm.
 
HEY HEY HEY DONT BASH 8MM!!!

Jes joshin whicha.

Coming from a film nut who still opts to go digital for so many reasons, I believe digital acquisition will take over. Just like mp3's did over tapes. After all, our brains behave digitally, just more zaps than on and off, 0/1.

Still, if vinyls are still the key to testing and putting out a record, then film will stay in process. The technology in film will advance. It's expensive already, it can still go up a bit more. I still think it's the gold standard. I doubt film will disappear.

Makes sense that filmouts could disappear. Yeah.

Martti - Didn't think about low light. I shoot reversal a lot, its mostly low ISOs, and from developing in a bathroom, i still get grain, I been digital for like a year now, forgot about lowlight at 64T 200T etc.

I haven't shot as much 16mm as I have 8mm and 35mm. These days the VDSLRs are doing it for me.

Reminds me of makin music with ACID 2.0 on a p3 with a 5 dollar pc mic and a tiled room.

The tracks sounded like ass but the tunes were good. I like working with non-versatile stuff. Keeps you on your feet. I like a paper and notepad on me.

Still, GH1 for a filmout would be fun to try. I have a D90, even if handled well I wouldn't trust any interior scenes for anything that scrutinous.

Cheers mates.

T
 
How would a GH1 filmout compare to, say, an HPX500 filmout?


I asked Illya Friedman; and pointed him to this thread to answer questions on a GH1 film out. Hopefully that might shed some light on yours and others curiosity about this topic.

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