GH2 How to look 'impressive' with a small DSLR on a professional shoot...

S

Stab

Well-known member
Hi,

I'm a current 60D / 5D MII shooter and will probably make the jump to th GH3 soon, because the image quality is awesome and its not too expensive.

With any DSLR, but especially with the GH camera's there is no doubt that it doesn't look professional / impressive when you're shooting with it. Is that important? Maybe not for everyone. When you're on a paid shoot and the client walks in to see how it goes, he wants to see a process going on that he will never be able to do himself. Yea sure, the end result can look impressive with any DSLR at the moment, but I actually don't want to 'defend' my camera anymore. 'I know it looks shitty, but the image quality is actually really nice!' ... Or, as someone else on this forum put it, 'it looks like something they just saw on bestbuy / any other shop and could buy them selves'. Actually, it looks like a stills camera. Or worse, it looks like you're shooting with something small because you couldnt afford the 'big camera's yet'.
That's how it is. In the eyes of a n00b, the bigger the camera the better. Showing up with a plastic GH2 on a set with a pancake lens just looks like you're an amateur. Especially in outdoor shoots when not many lights are needed and there is a small crew.

Now, the GH3 / 5d M3 shoot brilliant images and thats why I want to stick with DSLR's for the time being. I cannot afford a C100 at the moment and the GH3 seems a viable alternative, especially with the 60p / 1080p mode.

How do you make it look impressive? A mattebox will definately bring some improvement, but you still see the mini-body. Is there no way to 'make the body bigger?' Add some black plastic? Any other customizations that can be done to make it look more professional?


*This is of course not my opinion, I know what the actually images will end up like. But unfortunately you are 1-0 behind when showing up with a small camera when surrounded by clients who have no idea about camera's.
 
There are cages available. Once in a rig with a follow focus, monitor and a decent mattebox it will look 'Pro' enough for them.
 
To look impressive with the GH2 I turn up in a Ferrari with a blonde model on each arm. :cheesy: :shocked:

The main issue I encounter is unhappiness at hacked GH2s as you can’t play back footage to review takes, so it needs a laptop or tablet with a card reader to play back scenes.

If you’ve got a GH3 with a battery grip I’m sure that’d look the part as well as doing the job, and you avoid the problem of hacks too.

TBH I think more than the gear it’s your own confidence and the way that comes across, if you’re clearly confident in what you’re doing I can’t imagine your gear would even be questioned.
 
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It does though.
Every time I turn up for an interview I am asked by the talent "You're filming it on THAT?".

I've thought about buying a crappy £20 mattebox from Amazon that does nothing, but will look more 'pro'.
But it's a ridiculous thing to do.
 
P13 said:
The main issue I encounter is unhappiness at hacked GH2’s as you can’t play back footage to review takes, so it needs a laptop or tablet with a card reader to play back scenes.
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I only run into this with certain hacks, and most of them just require to reboot the camera in order to play. Really been a non-issue for anything other than spanned takes (if that's what you're referring to, then I do feel your pain with that).
 
Gary Huff said:
I only run into this with certain hacks, and most of them just require to reboot the camera in order to play. Really been a non-issue for anything other than spanned takes (if that's what you're referring to, then I do feel your pain with that).
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I've worked around the issue anyway with an Alienware M11x laptop as it's small and powerful enough for decent video playback, plus it gives me the opportunity to backup footage to the laptop, it's also an icebreaker before discussing the takes as the fact the laptop looks funky usually gets some banter going.

I'm hoping the wifi app on the GH3 works well with an iPad, I've not tried it yet but I'm hoping in future I can use that to review shots.
 
Fresno Bob said:
It does though.
Every time I turn up for an interview I am asked by the talent "You're filming it on THAT?".

I've thought about buying a crappy £20 mattebox from Amazon that does nothing, but will look more 'pro'.
But it's a ridiculous thing to do.
Click to expand...
I have a follow focus and loupe on mine, I hadn't really thought about it before but maybe those additions (the loupe especially) have made it look more pro than I realised.

I've got a few rigs I sometimes use it on (without a matte box), my plan in future is to use an Edelkrone pocket rig as I have the Focus One Pro already and I'm very happy with that.

http://www.edelkrone.com/the-pocket-rig/
 
Take a look at this thread courtesy of imdjay. I bought this mattebox solely based on his recommendation, and while its usefulness is limited, it's great for just this purpose. Really helps "balance" out the look of my GH2 rig and makes it far more intimidating when staring down the barrel.
 
Gary Huff said:
Take a look at this thread courtesy of imdjay. I bought this mattebox solely based on his recommendation, and while its usefulness is limited, it's great for just this purpose. Really helps "balance" out the look of my GH2 rig and makes it far more intimidating when staring down the barrel.
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Yeah, that's the one I was talking about from Amazon.
 
Fresno Bob said:
Yeah, that's the one I was talking about from Amazon.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I bought one, and I really like it. The flags are somewhat useful for helping with flares, but it does look really nice on my setup, which I am terming "CineMini". It's really worth the $17-ish U.S. dollars I spent on it.
 
Usually all you have to do is so them the image on the lcd or work you've done previously and people shut right up and begin to ooh and aah.
 
A cage + mattebox will indeed look more impressive, but when you look closely you still see the mini stills camera. If you use 'short' primes, it still looks like **** to me.

Can't there be done any modification to the camera itself to make it bigger? I'm no electronic engineer so I have a hard time picturing what the options are, but I would like to increase the size of the camera body itself also...
 
Stab said:
re: GH2/GH3 : How do you make it look impressive?
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...Have you ever had a client comment or question your judgement based upon the equipment you carry?

I suspect that a good part of this might be in your head, but not in anyone else's.

When I first started working in professional photography 30 years ago, the answer for the question "What is a professional ?", has always been:

A professional gets the job done EVERY time, no matter what happens. Guaranteed. EVERY time. And THIS is why they hire you.

Nobody cares about the gear you use, unless your gear is incompatible or can't do a professional job.
 
TheDingo said:
...Have you ever had a client comment or question your judgement based upon the equipment you carry?

I suspect that a good part of this might be in your head, but not in anyone else's.

When I first started working in professional photography 30 years ago, the answer for the question "What is a professional ?", has always been:

A professional gets the job done EVERY time, no matter what happens. Guaranteed. EVERY time. And THIS is why they hire you.

Nobody cares about the gear you use, unless your gear is incompatible or can't do a professional job.
Click to expand...

I get the job done. Returning customers ask no questions.

But yes, sometimes I have had clients ask about the camera. "Isn't that a still camera?"

2 years ago I showed up on our first shoot with a rented Canon XH-A1 and the clients were saying stuff like 'whoa that looks professional'.

Of course it is about the end result. And of course, if everything turns out well, you can get returning clients with a mini GH2. But at first sight, you have to admit that it doesn't look convincing.

It's like hiring someone to do a speed race and he shows up with a Renault Twingo. It might carry a 500 HP engine, but it sure as hell doesn't look reassuring from the start. Is it the most important thing in life? No. But I would like to get a clients' trust from the moment I unpack my gear and get him to think 'nobody in our office could do this, because we can't afford gear like that'.
 
Stab said:
But yes, sometimes I have had clients ask about the camera. "Isn't that a still camera?"
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...I've had clients ask about my cage-less GH2 because they are curious, as they haven't seen anyone shoot with such a small camera. But it was never about my competence.

The one thing I do bring to the set to keep clients happy is a 22 inch 1080 HD monitor mounted to the top of a 20 inch tall C-stand. Clients love this as they can easily see what the camera sees, and for me it makes perfect focus a no brainer.

22" Class LED 5003 Series TV

Cinegadgets Flat Screen Monitor Mount in Black

This is by far my favorite piece of cheap gear. You can see it at the bottom of this set photo: Cheap but very useful 22" LED Monitor
 
this is a STUPID subject. but none the less a reality. i find that clients who think like this often turn out to not be worth having in the first place. but you never know who you'll come across...

ive been shooting for about 15 years using everything from big news-crew looking betacams, to xl2s, to dvx100 style "handycams" and now occasional DSLRs. and its funny, the camera that got me the most ooohs and ahhhs was the xl2. i guess because it looks wildly different than any other consumer-friendly camera.

but ive not come across any questioning about DSLRs. but i guess that's usually because the tripod, slick looking mics and headphones and a light or two usually still looks "pro" enough to statisfy most lay-folks.
 
Chroziel mattebox, 4X4 NDs, follow focus, plate/rails etc. But in my experience nothing shuts people up quite like a smart slate.
 
Stab said:
...and the clients were saying stuff like 'whoa that looks professional'
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Back in the pre-digital days ( i.e. film cameras only ), I would often see wealthy amateur photographers carrying $15,000+ worth of Hasselblad gear, but could not take a picture worth sh*t.

The worst were the gentlemen from Asia who would actually walk around with gold-plated Leicas and Hasselblads hanging from their necks, and they might shoot one or two rolls of film a year.

As pros, we used to call these cameras "male jewelery", because that's all they were being used for.
 
P13 said:
The main issue I encounter is unhappiness at hacked GH2s as you can’t play back footage to review takes, so it needs a laptop or tablet with a card reader to play back scenes.
Click to expand...

I get instant playback without rebooting or any trouble with Flowmotion V2.02. So this was never an issue for me.
 
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