Ideal GH2 rig on a (very) tight budget

Daniel Krnac

Daniel Krnac

Active member
Hi,

At the moment, I do not own any serious equipement (no tripod, no camera...). Only the Lumix FZ7 (WVGA), Dogcam 520 (PAL) and a few suction mounts.

They have the GH2 in a store nearby and I´m going to buy it soon :D.
And since from january I have a new project to shoot on a regular basis, I could start with fresh equipement. :D

Now the question is: What lens combination should I buy? My budget is 0 after buying the camera with 14-140 lens :D (costs 1600 euro). So everything else has to wait until the project pays off.

1600,- euro

I´ll be shooting cars, 90 percent (video 95 percent of the time). So that means, wide angle is a must. Since the 7-14 Lumix lens costs more than GH2, that´s not an option for me.
But the Raynox 6600PRO (150 euro) looks like a good solution making the stock lens a sort of 9mm (19mm equiv.) in tehory.
Now can i zoom with it? How much does it show black corners on this lens? Can I pull focus without problems? Are there any serious edge softness problems?

150,- euro

The tripod. I´m affraid, I have to buy something cheap of ebay :( 50-70 euro, so there is not much to choose from in terms of quality (if a usable video tripod for that kind of money even exists). If I had money, my first choice would be a Manfrotto head and tripod (I don´t know exactly which one but we have it at work and it´s beautiful - folds to a tiny size, the head is very fluid when panning or tilting)

70,- euro

Second thing would be the Fader ND (I come from the video camera world where I got used to built in ND filters so this is a must).

70,- euro

The famous cheap shouldermount :D ( http://cgi.ebay.com/Hand-Free-Shoul...ltDomain_0&hash=item1c133884da#ht_2564wt_1092)

30,- euro

Flycam nano (when you count the cost of a homemade DIY solution, you probably end up with same amount of money spent and similar result)

110,- euro

The next lens would be the Lumix 20mm pancake. Reasons are obvious - it´s fast and cheap (relatively), sharp, good in low ligth...
Has anyone testet the EX tele crop mode on it yet?

350,- euro

There are a few other must have things - additional battery, a bag for all the equipement, cables, UV filters, cable microphone...

maybe 150,- euro

So that adds up to:

2530,- euro aprox. (3400 US dollars)

compared to the JVC GY-HM100 which is the best overall camera I´ve ever used (it´s small, it performs well in terms of image, uses cheap SD cards, has 2x XLR input... yes the GY HD250 is better but you do not want to carry that thing around for a week and the price difference is VAST...) and costs about 3200 euro, the GH2 + equipement is a bargain! Yes some things are cheap and maybe not the best quality, but still... you can have better results for less money!

So any comments are wellcome and wanted - what is not a good choice, what is... :D
Please add what I´ve forgot about.

Cheers to fellow GH2 users :D

EDIT: I forgot the camera slider, a must

100,- euro aprox. (DryLin DIY solution)

EDIT2:
Mattebox DIY

10,- euro

Remote shutter

10,- euro
 
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It be nice to keep this thread alive. I'm also investing in a GH2 rig, but on a budget.
I'm a 21 year old college student, so spending big bucks is tough.
 
GH2 with 14-42mm, Lumix 20mm pancake, Velbon DV-7000, Rode Boompole 3m, Marantz PMD661, NTG-3 Mic, Blimp.
 
Vitaliy Kiselev said:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?220875-Shooting-with-hack-on-a-very-tight-budget

I don't see any audio on your list.

And believe me, it is much better to buy few good items then bunch of crap.
Click to expand...

Oops, I read your thread and I forgot, so sory for duplicity :(
The sound: Yes I forgot to mention - I have an old portable Minidisc recorder which is very good in terms of sound quality/size.
I have quite a few microphones, unfortunately mostly condenser vintage studio ones like AKG C12. So I was considering something like cheap stereo Audiotechnica or so.

Also forgot to mention a laptop with USB TV card with svideo input for focusing (not ideal but I have it so why not use it).
 
I would leave off one or two of the cheap options and concentrate on getting a good quality tripod and a decent mic. With that and spare batteries & filters you already have a good kit and can add to it as needed.

If you're shooting cars, you could buy a couple of super clamps, which can be used various ways. There is also the Fat Gecko car mount.
 
Yep, the Fat Gecko is on the wishlist :D In fact, 2 of them. I plan to mount them on the back or front of the car and mount a bar between with servo head for the sony POV camera.
so far I have these:
This one is indestructable. It´s not the ebay plasticky one.
I can hold the FZ7 with no problem so it could hold the GH2 as well but I wouldn´t risk it.
Suction%20Mount%203%20-%201-01.jpg


I´ve allready broke a few of these :D
mount.jpg


This one is for the dogcam bullet camera and can withstand 155 miles per hour (and I believe that :D )
suctionmount.gif
 
Some good ol' OM lenses work well with the MFT adapter on a GH2 - and they're cheap in retrospect with Panasonic lenses see:

 
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