Taking advantage of two camera bodies (using a B-camera)

S

shishdim

New member
Hello everyone,

A newbie is here with some basic questions!

After GH2 body dropped to $499 I decided that now I can afford a second one. One reason is quite obvious and I do not think I am being very original here: people get second bodies to avoid switching lenses. With my love for fast primes (I mostly use 25mm and 12 mm for my videos) this solution seems to make perfect sense to me.

Another reason is to have what I believe is called a B-camera. Just yesterday I was trying to make a quick video of me and my wife starting a fire at the fire place and I realized that switching lenses and putting the camera on and off the tripod takes too much time and I ended up losing some good shots. Same thing is happening when I am shooting opening Christmas presents, gatherings near a campfire, etc.

I think having a second camera with my 12mm lens on a tripod should help quite a bit in these situations. I wonder if anyone used this kind of setting and could share some tips and tricks on how to get the most out of it?

Many thanks,
Dmitry
 
shishdim said:
I think having a second camera with my 12mm lens on a tripod should help quite a bit in these situations. I wonder if anyone used this kind of setting and could share some tips and tricks on how to get the most out of it?
Click to expand...

Take the time to ensure beforehand that both cameras are set exactly the same (white balance, hacks, ISO, ect.) Trying to match two cameras can be a pain if you don't make them identical. Lenses can also cause a problem if they don't match, but I would worry about that less than the other.

With the GH2 being such a steal right now, it's a very good idea.
 
Thanks for these good points, Gary. Keeping these two cameras in "sync" probably would be quite a bit of work. But in the end I hope it will be worth it. Probably I would have to get an external mic for my second camera as well to match sound.
 
I got an extra GH2 for exactly those reasons... in my bag one is almost invariably setup with my beloved Zuiko 11-22mm, and the other with a Konica AR 40mm/1.8 with a variable ND ready mounted. When shooting music stuff (my wife and son are musicians) I use both, and often a GF2 as well to get syncronized takes from more than one angle....
 
Troels: Three cameras?? Now we are talking! :) Nice to hear from someone from Sweden: originally I am from Saint-Petersburg, Russia and from here (Georgia, US) these two places look almost next door..
 
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