On Set Equipment

Illya Friedman

Illya Friedman

Well-known member
So I was on a set last night with that was using a GH1 and Hot Rod PL. Other than the lens case, the attached photo includes all the equipment the camera department had on set (shooting was all handheld last night).

cameraset2.jpg


Shooting professionally with a larger camera generally means one cart (or more), several cases, bags, batteries, chargers, tapes/drives/film..etc.

With the GH1, the 1st AC had all equipment close at hand- Camera/Hot Rod PL, 4x5 mattebox w/eyebrow, follow focus, 9x Filters, Iris Rods, all necessary tools and expendables.

I found it very funny when the AD would yell out "Camera Re-loads" and 5-seconds later would say "Picture's up!"
 
Great stuff.

Just out of curiosity - why is there tape over the view finder? You know you can turn the proximity sensor in the menus which blanks out the main LCD, right?
 
That looks like the Rehoused 17-35/2.8 Nikon Zoom. Should be pretty damned effective as a single lens application, especially considering you can also double your crop in camera.

So you've got the 17-35 (in S35 FOV Terms) and a 34-70 in one.

Although it may not be it, and they may have gotten more glass as well.

Looks bad-ass though. I miss the GH-1 so much. =( MKii is just nowhere near as fun and insipiring.
 
commanderspike said:
Great stuff.

Just out of curiosity - why is there tape over the view finder? You know you can turn the proximity sensor in the menus which blanks out the main LCD, right?
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This is another Japanese GH1, and I wasn't around to help the camera crew decipher menus most of the day. Tape works just fine. Next time they do a shoot like this, I'll show the AC how to do it.

Something else very funny- after the each set up, the 1st AD would say, "check the gate-gate's good-moving on" all in one breath.
 
John Caballero said:
Illya, we are eagerly waitng. You mentioned no mud footage on 1080p. And camera native ISO info. Please!
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John, I would love to post something- but I'm not the copyright holder of the material, so I could be in trouble if I posted anything.

I did steal the camera and ran around for a minute "body cam" style I've already sent the editor an email to try to get the shot cleared- I don't think it'll be a problem.

This is my first real day off after 3x night shoots in a row. So I'm still trying to get in some R&R.
 
Sorry to push but everybody is eagerly awaiting your report! But go get a couple of hours rest! If you can't show footage its Ok, we know how it works but tell us about the settings and the ISO please, etc. Thanks.
 
Isaac_Brody said:
Ilya, how about those special mud settings? That's all we really care about. :)
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I don't think there's anything "special." I haven't been experiencing the "mud" that others reported in normal situations. I've already posted a couple times what settings I'm recommending for the GH1... I even blogged about it (twice) on Hotrodcameras.com. I wouldn't expect anyone shooting anything professional, that is 'someone else is paying the bill' to stray too far from what I've laid out. As always, your mileage may vary.

Okay... to go on a small rant....Test, test, test. Not only what I say, but whatever anyone claims. It's the only way to find out the truth for yourself. That's how I determined everything camera related. It's standard operating proceedure for serious camera folk. There are some "DPs", "editors" or hyphenate "gurus" who blog, podcast, have websites, or are even featured/interviewed in print publications who say things that are OFTEN or USUALLY totally incorrect! If you rely on others exclusively for information without testing, you will get burned. The only way to know for certain is to do it yourself.

Would I love Panasonic to release a firmware update, or even another camera with a better codec? Absolutely!! I vote AVC-Intra. Will that happen? I don't know- somehow I doubt it, but I would love to be proven wrong on that point. Is it possible to make really good looking images with the GH1? Yes! Is it possible to make really horrible images with the GH1? Yes! But the same is true of every digital/film format, including HDV, HD, 2K, 4K and 35mm. Do you need to be careful with the GH1? Yes! Yes! This camera is not forgiving. Which will certainly scare off a few, but for those who know how to work with what they've got, they're going to get a hell of a good image from what is likely the smallest & lightest (untethered) camera capable of using professional lenses on the planet.

ok rant over...

The job in the photo is shooting FHD (1920/24p), manual everything (Creative Motion Picture Mode) using manual PL lenses, no major clipping/over exposure (rating 100 iso as 640 on meter). iExposure set to off, manual kelvin tempreture WB 5500 for most scenes (no AWB), there's no crazy whip pans so far, although almost everything has been shot handheld. Using an IR filter to help the red channel.

The only hiccup I'm aware of caused a small heart attack- during playback the camera crew saw a shot and it looked like there was a single dropped frame. Everyone went "wtf!" hit stop, played back 2-more times, it turns out it was a glitch on playback- second and third time played fine. Haven't seen that bug again, and we've been looking for it.

On set monitoring courtesy of a Dell LCD and a Filmtools 100mm VESA 5/8" pin- perfect combination for playback.

Here's the real kicker, many of the scenes we've been shooting are lit either partly (or entirely) with Rosco Litepads running on AA batteries- yes, you read that correctly.

Really, you did read that correctly. AA batteries as the power source for lighting the scene!
 
Illya Friedman said:
I don't think there's anything "special." I haven't been experiencing the "mud" that others reported in normal situations. I've already posted a couple times what settings I'm recommending for the GH1... I even blogged about it (twice) on Hotrodcameras.com.
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Thanks for those blog posts, BTW. I think most of the footage posted thus far looks very overexposed, especially the mud stuff - overexposure plus too high shutter speeds.

Your blog confirms actual number from what I've been surmised - underexpose for best results.
 
I have also found underexposure never seems to produce mud.

Mud only seems to come out in bright shots that the GH1 considers well exposed.
 
Thanks Illya. You are so right. You have to test yourself but you have to do it the right way. That is key. Although I don't have a camera yet for some unknown reason I got the idea that iExposure might do something to the image trying to get the right exposure for the front and back at the same time in a moving image. And you say in your post it is turned to off. Interesting. Have you done any crane shots or tracking shots with the cam? Thank you for posting.
 
Illya Friedman said:
As a matter of fact, I'm scheduled to visit a set next week that will be doing a crane/tracking shot. I'll definitely get BTS photos of that!
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did you use the external monitor for framing as well as playback? i know once you hit record the monitor goes blank, but it'd still be good to have to check for noise, focus and framing rather than the on board LCD.
 
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