GH2 Spring Equinox, my first GH2 video

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digitalhippie

Member
Here is my first video with the GH2. It’s been a wee labor of love the last month or so. I guess it’s about the Spring wildflowers, magpies and mountain biking in Australia… or it could be about a mid 40′s guy having yet another immensely enjoyable mid life crisis :Drogar-Happy(DBG):

Was a great learning experience, and having come from years of photography and selling all my EOS 1 gear to 'downsize' to the little GH2, to explore video more, I've gotta say I am very happy with it.

 
Thanks DPStewart,

I like some of the shots and continuity, other parts are so-so but I think overall there's the feeling of freedom and happiness you get when you're out riding around.

If it makes you feel like going for a ride, can't ask for more than that!
 
Fabulous footage. Very nice framing. Certainly shows off what the GH2 is capable of.

Could be shorter though... the shots, even though interesting... start to look similar.

Would be nice if the time of day changed (allowing for color changes) ... ends with him riding into the sunset or something...
 
Agree berylium re the time of day changes. I had hoped to try a sunrise to sunset kind of thing, but I wanted the project to shot and finished within September - for the whole Spring equinox thing and for my father's birthday. The month however turned out to be mainly windy and overcast with very few sunny days and so I just made the most of what days and time I had.

Some of the shots are similar for sure, in some cases I like that. I would have liked to get more shots though but mainly limited by time available. Plus I had no overall plan, just shot a lot of random stuff really of things I liked and then tried to piece it together like a free form puzzle. I've learned a bunch though, even just about making sure you get a variety of shots at a given location - too late when you're sitting at the editor that night and are missing the one shot you should've got.

Length-wise I couldn't go any shorter as I really wanted to use that song and it builds in such a way I don't think it would work that well truncated.

As a first effort though, the main thing for me is it really demonstrates the GH2 is a great little gadget for video. I just need to work on my end of the deal :)
 
nice vid, I think you neeed some camera movement, the ststic shots make me feel like you set up the cam, then ride by, move the cam, then ride by. Needs an operator to pan and dolly to and from the action. but overall I like it.
 
yeah that is exactly what I did maranfilms, lots of setting up, riding past, moving on, repeat over and over. I agree it would be great to include camera movement but I was out there by myself (apart from dragging my young daughter out one day to hit the record button) so yeah no other practical option really this time around but to use static shots (on a very small crappy tripod). I am making my own little steadycam as I'd really like to video other riders etc including camera movement... I was kinda the guinea pig testing the camera in this one.

I was concerned about the static shot thing though, so tried to match shots so the bike would flow from one to the next... A few work well I think but because I was shooting a lot of random stuff, especially earlier on and really didn't have much of an idea of what I was doing apart from having fun, quite often there weren't always 'matching' shots. I kinda got better at it as time went on or at least was more aware of taking a wider range of shots at each spot so I had more options available when editing.
 
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cool. an impressive feat that you were shooter, performer, AND rider and got good results. that's dedication. not many could do that.
 
Sam Mallery said:
Some point-of-view helmet cam shots would really bring the ride to life too.... one of my favorite vimeo's of all time: http://vimeo.com/9970489
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Thanks for the link Sam. I thought about including some POV shots - for variation (and an easier way to fill gaps sort of) but TBH all I've had up until now is a GoPro HD and I need a break from the POV look - I just don't find it inspiring ATM. Was happy to explore the world through the GH2 this time, though I wouldn't mind collecting more footage including some GoPro and trying different edits later on.

Here's my favorite POV video I made, riding a 36" unicycle on some of the same trails actually! it makes me laugh, it's nuts :)

 
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VMT said:
cool. an impressive feat that you were shooter, performer, AND rider and got good results. that's dedication. not many could do that.
Click to expand...

I thought it was dedication too. My wife had other words to describe it, especially as the month wore on :kali:
 
stoneinapond said:
If your daughter doesn't want to go next time, you could try this. You just need to add a Panasonic cable if you want to use it wired (around $8). Works well for both photos and for triggering video.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/749294-REG/Vello_RCW_N2_Wireless_ShutterBoss_Timer_Remote.html
Click to expand...

Thanks that looks great.

Apart from the one time I bribed my daughter to come out and help for an hour or so all the other times for each shot I'd just started recording, take off down the track, turn around, ride past, stop, ride past the other way etc. I'm usually out by myself and too far out of the way to take the kids anyway. I ended up with about 180 clips around 2 minutes long with only a couple of seconds in the middle of each of something useful - unnecessary battery drain out on the trail, and unnecessarily larger files to deal with later on... so yeah that gadget looks pretty sweet!
 
I enjoyed your video, beautiful scenery and I just enjoy watch biking videos. Makes me wish I would've documented my favorite ride outside of Vegas when I lived there. What a labor of love doing all that by yourself! What lens were you using?
 
Thanks Karl.

DSE, the government department responsible for a lot of the bush shown in the video plan to burn it before November as part of a fuel reduction program... which is a major bummer... so it was another reason to get out there and document some of the trails. We've had a drought here for many years that ended with good rain early this year - the bush hasn't looked this good for a long time. Never know though, a few good storms and it will be too wet to burn before Summer.

I just used the 14-140 which goes against the whole prime lens vibe photographers are into, but I was happy to trade some quality and performance for simplicity and convenience, and keep the overall kit compact. TBH I was really quite surprised in a good way with the performance of the 14-140.
 
Oh man how sad to lose all that great riding! The places I used to ride at outside of vegas are not as far outside as they used to be - developers are slowly encroaching on the land.

14-140 looks great
 
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