Is GH1 or GH2 really the right camera for the people who own one?

IMO, and I am a total newb, this place is the be all to end all for many of us. The breath and depth of knowledge that is available here, just can't easily be duplicated on the web.

Along with being a total newb, I am NOT and most likely NEVER WILL be a filmmaker. I am an event shooter and I enjoy it, but have all the admiration for those with the creative gift that I don't have, to shoot and create a film.

I came here after buying my DVXs last year and when those went away, I stayed for the GH1s and now GH2s that I went to.

Because of the longevity and value of this site, I think you will find what was created here has snowballed. Those test videos although after boring as heck, do serve a purpose to some of us. A full movie, for me, not so much. I come to learn the gear and appreciate an explanation of what was used and how.
 
Speaking personally, if I put up test videos (which I haven't!), it would be because I'm learning video from a complete zero base.
I have no education on the subject, and no friends/contacts who can help me. It's a massive learning curve, and many of the threads here very quickly move into language I simply don't understand.
I'm learning the GH camera, the norms and tips of actual video shooting, then I have to learn the video editing practices, new software like FCS, then figure out how to upload anything to the web.
So why am I even bothering?
Well 1) it's fun to challenge yourself and learn new disciplines, 2) I'm in the music industry and video is becoming an important tool to market yourself. Marketing yourself was never a big deal before, but widespread pirating has reduced incomes dramatically and music industry personnel have figured out that only the strong will survive, and that 'the strong' are often very diversified, and doing things for themselves, like making their own recordings, building their own websites, and producing their own promo films.
So, I am working on a specific film. However, already I found the filming stage challenging due to poor ambient lighting and my lack of experience. Also, on the subject of audio, it's just another area that would compound my problems, so I had someone take care of the audio for me, but I'm still waiting for them to deliver it to me. Going forward, sound is going to be a big issue for me as has been mentioned. Controlling the images is hard enough, without lugging around a sound rig, and keeping an eye on it all the time etc...
 
Not everyone here uses their cameras to make films. I shoot and edit live on water sports events for a living (approx one per week) that require me to tell the story of how the event unfolded. This forum has helped me include film type shots in my work and the techniques learned here i try to use so i don't just frame the shot and run the cam in auto. Owning a GH1 / Gh13 has allowed me carry it in a waterproof backpack with me on a jetski (my shooting platform) while i shoot with my real video camera and bring the GH13 out when i need interviews, beauty shots, etc. to compliment the action footage. Everything fits into carry-on luggage and i couldn't be happier thanks to all i have learned here.

You learn quick when you have to shoot an event and have it edited and online within 48hrs after the event. Good fun but..!!!!

R
 
Many documentary filmmakers are female, because seem to listen better than their male counterparts and are able to show more empathy. Same with journalists. I don't care, I work with both when needed.
 
Could it be "narrative shorts and features" are not what most of us purchase our equipment for?

Could it be "narrative shorts and features" are of little interest to most of us?

I don't recall any of my HDSLR or video cameras being advertised as expressly for "narrative shorts and features".

Could it be most of us have come to the correct place to share information, but the original poster has not?
 
lots of people! lots of purposes! lots of fun! and none of them are wrong :smile:

dare i say "monkey see monkey do" in regards to the "test" clips.

in the hip-hop tradition graffiti writers, break dancers, rappers and djs all battle against one another, not to beat the person in a "i win" way but to put forward a challenge for anyone who can do better.

if somebody comes along and does a better bit of graffiti or dance the beaten person acknowledges it and in turn works to better it yet again, and so goes the "everyone works together to better each other"

***side note open
this has become lost in hip-hop and was only really present when hip-hop was classed as "bad".

hip-hop 1980's = progressive, light, happy, fun, good willed music (was vilified by the mainstream media)
hip-hop 2000's = guns, bitches, dark, murder, evil, regressing (loved and owned by the mainstream media)

theres always an element of bad in the older stuff and good in the newer stuff.
side note close***

back to GH1... when more GH1 short movies pop up... monkey see monkey do! i know for a fact this monkey will be pushed on to do better.
and i hope the 3 shorts i've got planned would provoke others to out do me and start a snowball effect.

all progression... all good... all of us. :smile:
 
terra1 said:
lots of people! lots of purposes! lots of fun! and none of them are wrong :smile:

dare i say "monkey see monkey do" in regards to the "test" clips.

in the hip-hop tradition graffiti writers, break dancers, rappers and djs all battle against one another, not to beat the person in a "i win" way but to put forward a challenge for anyone who can do better.

if somebody comes along and does a better bit of graffiti or dance the beaten person acknowledges it and in turn works to better it yet again, and so goes the "everyone works together to better each other"

***side note open
this has become lost in hip-hop and was only really present when hip-hop was classed as "bad".

hip-hop 1980's = progressive, light, happy, fun, good willed music (was vilified by the mainstream media)
hip-hop 2000's = guns, bitches, dark, murder, evil, regressing (loved and owned by the mainstream media)

theres always an element of bad in the older stuff and good in the newer stuff.
side note close***

back to GH1... when more GH1 short movies pop up... monkey see monkey do! i know for a fact this monkey will be pushed on to do better.
and i hope the 3 shorts i've got planned would provoke others to out do me and start a snowball effect.

all progression... all good... all of us. :smile:
Click to expand...

I appreciate your hip hop comments. That's how I feel about it too. The whole pop music video scene stinks to high heaven like a bad series of commercials for the most part. I've seen exceptions of course.

Anyway, yes people use their cameras in many ways and for many things. I'm not against test vids - I've watched about a million of them - I've even showed them to my wife, to get permission to buy my GH1 - yes I need permission, or at least tacit agreement - or else I'll get it in the neck! She is now waiting for some work that looks like EOSHD's "Longshan Part II" but with an amazing script and acting! Doh!
 
dan.carter said:
Could it be "narrative shorts and features" are not what most of us purchase our equipment for?

Could it be "narrative shorts and features" are of little interest to most of us?

I don't recall any of my HDSLR or video cameras being advertised as expressly for "narrative shorts and features".

Could it be most of us have come to the correct place to share information, but the original poster has not?
Click to expand...

That is not his point. His point is that all of us are obsessed by new toys and gear and by the latest big thing and these cycles become shorter and shorter. Instead of focusing your energy on what is to come, you can better focus on what is now. Take Reduser for example, some people are passionately discussing the Scarlet there for over 3 years and it has changed so many times they could have made 10 movies while waiting. You need to buy gear and work it hard. Many people are still making great things on a DVX 100 while most of keep thinking that a better camera equals a better filmmaker. The opposite is true. I was at the IDFA (Documentary Festival) in Amsterdam and the winner of the festival shot with the following camera's: XH-A1, HV20 (or 30) and crashcams and the footage is absolutely stunning because of how he obtains his footage. And guess what, he is shooting full auto most of the time so he can focus on the movement and not on focusing. This really opened my eyes.

The old-school filmmakers used the bolex for decades and their work still holds because the narrative was there. With good narrative and sound, image quality is probably the least important element of a good production... yet it is the most discussed topic here. I think that is what the OP meant to say and I think he's right.

The GH1/GH2 can be such a tool. Yet we are complaining about recording limits, framerates, bitrates, focus tracking. Another great remark someone made at IBC was... you need to see these things as old movie camera's... they also had a recording limit as you had to change reels very often. Limitations are good and force you to be creative.

The movie that won IDFA 2010 is 'Stand van de Sterren' by Leonard Helmrich
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0u7noFBK6M (bad quality YouTube compression, but you get the point... go see it on a big screen)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIuPiIJOTs8 (trailer for the movie)
 
Perhaps the lack of long-form videos is due more to chosen methods of distribution than actual production. It may be an illusory correlation due to the fact that those who are making professional productions may not be posting them to sites like Vimeo, therefore creating the illusion of a concentration of "test videos" over actual productions. Test videos also take far less time to produce, so they're easier to throw onto the web. I know I've only owned my GH13 for a few months and I've done several professional productions (yes, with lights, sound, etc.) but only a few are on my Vimeo account. My other work has just gone to broadcast or DVD distribution.
 
OP,

I shoot narrative with the GH13. Even when I get an AF100, I will still shoot the GH13. We have a number of shorts and a whole feature planned with it and I am about to use it on more than a few "serious" projects. I have also shot commercials with it, training videos with it, performances with it, and I have gotten paid for these jobs. I like it. It likes me.

I, however, do not post here specifically because I really don't feel like enduring the endless, hellish torture of pixel peepers deconstructing an image that my clients are more than satisfied with. I don't feel like hearing about what the 5d or 7d could have done, or justifying my decision to shoot on the GH13 rather than other DSLRs, or the RED, or hearing another person denigrating my decision while waiting for an invisible camera system like a war widow in a window. It becomes an exercise in tedium. Why would I spend the time learning the camera, getting past its limitations, adjusting my workflow, pursuing a professional production, creating a professional post production experience, working tirelessly on export just to come here and have the same insulting, inherently flawed discussion. Am I Sisyphus? No.

Others may feel the same, I don't know.
 
pharpsied said:
OP,

I shoot narrative with the GH13. Even when I get an AF100, I will still shoot the GH13. We have a number of shorts and a whole feature planned with it and I am about to use it on more than a few "serious" projects. I have also shot commercials with it, training videos with it, performances with it, and I have gotten paid for these jobs. I like it. It likes me.

I, however, do not post here specifically because I really don't feel like enduring the endless, hellish torture of pixel peepers deconstructing an image that my clients are more than satisfied with. I don't feel like hearing about what the 5d or 7d could have done, or justifying my decision to shoot on the GH13 rather than other DSLRs, or the RED, or hearing another person denigrating my decision while waiting for an invisible camera system like a war widow in a window. It becomes an exercise in tedium. Why would I spend the time learning the camera, getting past its limitations, adjusting my workflow, pursuing a professional production, creating a professional post production experience, working tirelessly on export just to come here and have the same insulting, inherently flawed discussion. Am I Sisyphus? No.

Others may feel the same, I don't know.
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more. Note that none of my work is posted here. I think the images produced by the GH13 are amazing and its limitations are well worth the price and image quality. All of my clients love the results they see, and I don't want my work torn apart here.
 
muroshi said:
I ordered a 550D, frankly GH2 doesn't deliver 2 times better images to justify double the costs.
Click to expand...

Well, actually the GH2 with the 14-42 lens costs only $300 more not considering the fact it already comes with the lens, if you subtract the $199 of the lens, it only costs $100 more than a T2i.
 
Pietro Impagliazzo said:
Well, actually the GH2 with the 14-42 lens costs only $300 more not considering the fact it already comes with the lens, if you subtract the $199 of the lens, it only costs $100 more than a T2i.
Click to expand...

It also doesn't overheat, has no recording time limit, can adapt to more lenses, and so on.
 
Sorry, I just remembered we were talking about the GH2, not the GH13, so you can't hack the time limit out. My bad!
 
I think you are looking in the wrong places if you can't find narrative films on DSLRS. I assure you, DSLRS have taken over my film school, and they are used in narrative projects all the time with great results. You can get deep depth of field on a DSLR, just as easily as shallow depth of field, they are great tools. Just this semester a 5D, 7D, GH2, and 60D were purchased by students in my film class, and put to work on narrative projects. I was hired by Fox College Sports to film pickups around Lawrence, and guess what they brought from LA for me to shoot on? A tricked out 7D. A couple weeks later I was shooting a corporate event on a 5D. I shot two short films in the past two months using an HPX and a T2i, one is online and was posted here in the forums where I got wonderful feedback from the community, the other is still going through post. I can't wait to hear the feedback, and if there is negative retarded stuff said, I'll delete it and look for the constructive criticism I thrive on to get better.

Make relationships with people, its a lot easier to take a project from start to finish if you have a crew behind you from the start. Establishing a good working rapport with a crew, then sticking together will help all of you build reels. Before I made relationships I never did narrative work, then I made a few connections with people who were strong where I was weak, now there's not even a question as to who my crew is going to consist of for upcoming festivals.

There are so many tools out there to meet people in your community, use them. Regarding the comments about posting work, perhaps what that section is missing is the constructive criticism and compliments from seasoned professionals who have abandoned the section to the "pixelpeepers."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top