GH2 Taking a stroll in the city: Sigma 20mm 1.8 / graded
- Thread starter L1N3ARX
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Aki_Hartikainen
Carbonite Member
Excellent. I expected Bruce Willis to enter the frame at any moment.
lol, open invitation for Bruce Willis to take part in my next "test" video.. haha.
Yeah it definitely has some potential. Personally speaking, I think I'd almost use the gh2 over any other camera aside from a RED or Alexa. Not saying it's as good in every way as other high end camcorders, just that it seems to look the best for narrative type production.
Yes that was the intention... hehe. I graded it; it isn't raw footage. I guess I was going for more of a matrix-esque look.
Just poor man's anamorphic for me (added crop lines in post).
The sigma 20mm is a great wide lens. You have to ask yourself, what's my budget and what am I going to shoot? Do you not want to spend more than $400-600 for the time being? Wide lenses are great, but it's more of a specialty lens. I only got it to satisfy a particular need, which 20mm does perfectly.
So, if you are looking for an "all-around" really good lens to satisfy most conditions and situations... look no further than the Sigma 30mm 1.4. That is easily my favorite lens for many, many reasons.
The lumix 14-140 is a zoom lens covering a huge range. If you've never used a DSLR for video before, it might be okay to start out with, and you can always sell it for close to what you got it for. Good quality, but not really a low-light lens.
The lumix 20mm 1.7 is a very nice lens, but here's the deal. Some people like myself on this forum, get obsessive with achieving something resembling film. The lumix lenses, while very good, produce images which look overly sharp and slightly artificial. They exude a very strong "video" look verses a more "filmic" look. But if this isn't important to you at all and just want a lens with great iq, small / light, sharp, then yeah it's great!
My opinion: If you want to shoot cinematic / film like video, need to shoot in dark places or at night, and just want your footage to look plain awesome... then get the sigma 30mm. If you're more practical and wanting a decent lens to learn with covering a huge range then the 14-140 will suit you just fine.
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I'm an independent filmmaker (attending the Art Institute of New York), and I'm solely looking for a filmic image; however, I've only used a dslr once (on a fig-rig), so I'm a bit intimidated by a lens with no OIS. I intend on purchasing a dslr rig, so I assume that should provide adequate stabilization.
Is it not important to have a zoom lens in my arsenal?
Are Sigma glasses the best for a "cinematic look"? And when you say, "poor man's anamorphic: added crop lines in post". Are you saying you just cropped the bars in post, or are there prerequisites before that step?
I appreciate the information
Well, unless you're going 100% all handheld without stabilization, ois could come in handy. But realistically speaking, forget about it. There's only a few lumix lenses with ois and none of them are actually "GOOD" lenses, they're okay, but not amazing. If you're in this to make films, do it right and get your standard primes in first before thinking about a zoom. What's your lens budget? Because for one really good "modern" prime lens, you can get 6-8 really good vintage lenses that are actually better suited for DSLR video. Look at this video for me, I just posted it and it's with a cheap $70 vintage Minolta Lens.
If you think something like this is adequate then I can roll off a list of lenses for you in that price range, and you will be set for only a few hundred dollars.
If you think something like this is adequate then I can roll off a list of lenses for you in that price range, and you will be set for only a few hundred dollars.
Within the next few weeks, I'm expecting to have about $2,500 - $2700 for my dslr setup. Ideally, I'd like to hold out for a price drop (After a potential gh3 release).
$900 for a GH2 body
$300 for an Audio device (H4N Zoom)
$250 for a dslr rig (Ebay, Matte, Shoulder, Follow Focus)
Batteries
SD Cards
Filters
I'd say I have roughly around $1,000 for lenses.
Your Minolta Lens is pretty impressive, especially for $70.
Could I reproduce an image like this with that lens (with the driftwood hack)? I'm also interested in learning how to achieve an anamorphic look without the lens. Is it simple cropping in post, or is there more to that process?
Thank you
$900 for a GH2 body
$300 for an Audio device (H4N Zoom)
$250 for a dslr rig (Ebay, Matte, Shoulder, Follow Focus)
Batteries
SD Cards
Filters
I'd say I have roughly around $1,000 for lenses.
Your Minolta Lens is pretty impressive, especially for $70.
Could I reproduce an image like this with that lens (with the driftwood hack)? I'm also interested in learning how to achieve an anamorphic look without the lens. Is it simple cropping in post, or is there more to that process?
Thank you
My advice:
GH2 Body: Get it from eBay, no need to pay more than $700 for this camera!
Forget the H4N, the Tascam DR-100 is MUCH better for the same price. $299 from B&H
No mic?
DSLR rig: Quality shoulder rigs for that price are hard to come by, and is a pretty murky area in terms of quality. SOO many knock offs left and right from India and around the world that you really need to be careful here. Here's a cheap and quality rig that's been battle tested by the community and quite a few other gh2 users: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Aputure-MagicRig-/380325093649?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item588d246111; It's more of a barebones rig, but it's awesome! Look into the Flycam Nano, once you try it you might never want to use different stabilization haha.
2 extra genuine panasonic batteries off ebay: $50 each.
SD card: Get 2 x Sandisk Extreme 32GB 30mb/s (these cards will perform perfectly with all the high bit rate patches once you've hacked your gh2 (don't skimp out here for cheaper cards, you'll regret it
http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Extreme-SDHC-Memory-SDSDX3-032G-A21/dp/B004P1V8TM
ND filters: Many might tell you to do otherwise, but I would get a couple ND Faders, which work amazing for the price. I use Neewer brand ND Faders which are about $15-$20. I seriously couldn't do a single video without them, I use them constantly. People say that these filters soften up the image and produce a slight yellow color cast, but I haven't really noticed it. The faders in a small way add a bit of image blur contributing to the "film look"; Check below for some of my work which I've used these filters on almost all my videos!
Lenses:
Minolta MD Rokkor 28mm 2.8
Takumar 50mm 1.4 / Nikkor 50mm 1.4 / Minolta Rokkor 50mm 1.4 (there are so many amazing cheap 50mm lenses to choose from!)
C-mount lenses: you can use old vintage CCTV lenses with an adapter (very cool looking!) They're around $15-$40 a pop depending on the brand.
Here are some videos that I did with my Sigma 30mm 1.4 and the Neewer ND Fader
http://vimeo.com/35999739
http://vimeo.com/36182092
http://vimeo.com/32697135
Also: creating the anamorphic look / crop lines, is just a photoshop file that I drop in as a "layer" on the video track, it simply blacks out the area you don't want video to show. But by doing this you have to always be careful that what you shoot will fit into a 2.35 aspect ratio. You can always move the video up and down in case something doesn't quite fit perfectly. Here is a simple guide: http://whoismatt.com/cinemascopetutorial/
GH2 Body: Get it from eBay, no need to pay more than $700 for this camera!
Forget the H4N, the Tascam DR-100 is MUCH better for the same price. $299 from B&H
No mic?
DSLR rig: Quality shoulder rigs for that price are hard to come by, and is a pretty murky area in terms of quality. SOO many knock offs left and right from India and around the world that you really need to be careful here. Here's a cheap and quality rig that's been battle tested by the community and quite a few other gh2 users: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Aputure-MagicRig-/380325093649?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item588d246111; It's more of a barebones rig, but it's awesome! Look into the Flycam Nano, once you try it you might never want to use different stabilization haha.
2 extra genuine panasonic batteries off ebay: $50 each.
SD card: Get 2 x Sandisk Extreme 32GB 30mb/s (these cards will perform perfectly with all the high bit rate patches once you've hacked your gh2 (don't skimp out here for cheaper cards, you'll regret it
http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Extreme-SDHC-Memory-SDSDX3-032G-A21/dp/B004P1V8TMND filters: Many might tell you to do otherwise, but I would get a couple ND Faders, which work amazing for the price. I use Neewer brand ND Faders which are about $15-$20. I seriously couldn't do a single video without them, I use them constantly. People say that these filters soften up the image and produce a slight yellow color cast, but I haven't really noticed it. The faders in a small way add a bit of image blur contributing to the "film look"; Check below for some of my work which I've used these filters on almost all my videos!
Lenses:
Minolta MD Rokkor 28mm 2.8
Takumar 50mm 1.4 / Nikkor 50mm 1.4 / Minolta Rokkor 50mm 1.4 (there are so many amazing cheap 50mm lenses to choose from!)
C-mount lenses: you can use old vintage CCTV lenses with an adapter (very cool looking!) They're around $15-$40 a pop depending on the brand.
Here are some videos that I did with my Sigma 30mm 1.4 and the Neewer ND Fader
http://vimeo.com/35999739
http://vimeo.com/36182092
http://vimeo.com/32697135
Also: creating the anamorphic look / crop lines, is just a photoshop file that I drop in as a "layer" on the video track, it simply blacks out the area you don't want video to show. But by doing this you have to always be careful that what you shoot will fit into a 2.35 aspect ratio. You can always move the video up and down in case something doesn't quite fit perfectly. Here is a simple guide: http://whoismatt.com/cinemascopetutorial/
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HansSteinert
Well-known member
Please give me list
looking for something fast in the 20-25mm range. Manual focus, vintage. Was thinking about the Samyang 24mm f1.4, but there aren't many reviews yet and it's slightly pricey.
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Ideally, I'd like to replicate the same look from these two films; you were able to achieve a stunning quality film look. I'll definitely look into buying some of those inexpensive primes, but your work has sold me on the Sigma 30mm 1.4. (can I achieve a similar look to your "Mr Cool Guy -Sigma 20mm" with the 30mm after grading?) Passingly, I did some research on the Flycam Nano; I'll definitely look into purchasing it. I was also unaware you could use the high end (176mb) bit rate hacks on a 30mb card: you just saved me a couple hundred bucks.
You've been a godsend.
The sigma 30mm in all honesty would have had more clarity and would have looked better in every way, if I had shot with it. I only used the 20mm as a test and to familiarize myself with the lens and to see how it performed. Normally, for this kind of footage I would have chosen the 30mm any day of the week. You'll end up at some point needing a wide lens and a few different focal lengths to diversify, but for the mean time, the 30mm 1.4 is a fantastic go-to lens for most any situation.