Using 3 totally different camera's on 1 project?

S

skerit

New member
I've got a few camera's: A Canon HV20, a Canon Legria HF M36 and a Panasonic GH2.

Needless to say: these are all totally different camera's.
In my eyes the HV20 produces a soft looking HDV image, the HF M36 is a bit sharper 25mbps AVCHD and then the GH2, well, you can't get much sharper than that. Especially with the 88mbps hack. The colors also totally pop on that one.

I've also used a Canon FD 50mm f1.4 lens with a DOF adapter on the HV20. The image it gives is very... special. Super soft.

I've also used that lens on the GH2. It produces nice images, but the small sensor size of the GH2 turns it into a 100mm zoom. And very shallow dof.

In your opinion: Do you think there is any way I could use these camera's on one and the same project?
I fear the differences in image quality would be distracting, but even without that: the colours are totally different, and I don't know if I could correct them.

Maybe someone has a few pointers on how to shoot a bit more flat on these camera's?

Here are a few screenshots:

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HV20 without DOF adapter

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HV20 with DOF adapter (Nikor EOS 50mm f1.8 lens)

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HV20 with DOF adapter (Canon FD 50mm f1.4 lens)

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Canon Legria HF M36

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Panasonic GH2 with supplied 14-42mm lens (f3.5-5.6)

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Panasonic GH2 with Canon FD 50mm f1.4 lens
 
Is there a real reason to shoot more than one camera? If not, you'll save your self a ton of post work trying to make those images play together. "Films" are virtually never shot on multiple cameras.

Edit:
I'm about to shoot two camera for some wide/tight and some conversation scenes for the first time ever. I'm only doing it because it's a TV pilot, not a film. I've never done it on a film.
 
People shoot on different cameras quite a bit more than you think, but it's not because that's all they have access to. Usually they'll choose formats and cameras for another look. So say most of the film is shot on 35mm, but they have all these flashbacks to the main characters childhood they want with a very nostalgic feel, they might shoot all that with 16mm on a different camera.

With that said, I wouldn't try too hard to mix them if you can't do it easily. If you do want to evoke different feelings with each camera and use them in that way, go for it.
 
RyanT said:
People shoot on different cameras quite a bit more than you think, but it's not because that's all they have access to. Usually they'll choose formats and cameras for another look. So say most of the film is shot on 35mm, but they have all these flashbacks to the main characters childhood they want with a very nostalgic feel, they might shoot all that with 16mm on a different camera.

With that said, I wouldn't try too hard to mix them if you can't do it easily. If you do want to evoke different feelings with each camera and use them in that way, go for it.
Click to expand...

Well yes, you can do anything for effect. You can shoot on your iphone or a panaflex if that's the look you want, but since he's talking about "mixing" them I assume he means he doesn't want them to look too different. Why hassle with all that, just shoot on the GH2. Single cam has been the standard method for 100 years.
 
Thank you all, that's very informative. I'll keep the older camera's for dream-like sequences and maybe use them to shoot things like school plays and such (those batteries last longer)I've actually just participated in a project where they really wanted to film with 2 camera's, and a lot of the time I felt like it was more of a problem than a solution.When a certain setup looked good on one camera, something was wrong with the other camera.They chose to film it this way because the movie was with kids, and they didn't think they could do a scene the same way over and over again.
 
"really wanted to film with 2 camera's, and a lot of the time I felt like it was more of a problem than a solution."

ding ding ding!

Most of the time this is the case. As I said I'm shooting a TV Pilot next weekend and we are going to do a little multi cam, but only in a few situations where it makes sense, because we have 3 X the same camera at our disposal, and because I want a bit of TV look and editing style.
 
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