GH2 Using the GH2 professionally...

J

Jordan Cadby

Active member
Hey,

This post is about using a GH2 in a real world situation... Mainly about being prepared for a shoot by knowing your camera... And whilst it relates to my specific questions... Hopefully the post will flourish into some interesting knowledge sharing.



So anyways I'm involved in a shoot next week, and I intend to use my GH2 as a support camera to the main camera on location.

I've had my camera for a year now and I've played around with it a bit - and I am quite familiar with it.

However this is really the first time I have put it into a real world situation and basically I don't want to let anyone one down.

So I was hoping for some help/clarification on set up and specific problems I am aware of...

First up... Hack, I have been playing with the hacks since they camera was hacked.
Recently I have started looking at the flow motion hack v2.02, which I believe is the best at capturing motion detail..

The shoot is going to be all hand held and "action" and I would really like to supply the editor with the best quality stuff... What's is the best hack for these requirements?
FYI I would prioritise quality over file size.

As a job I create 3D animation for tv... So I'm used to noise free 32bit images... So when I'm looking at my camera footage... I see the problems... But really I just want to know what the highest quality I can provide is...


Second is... I will have to supply my footage at 29.97p... So no 24p ;(

So as far as I can see... I can shoot at 80% variable speed or HBR..

Both have their little annoying parts...

I will have to either remove the field info of the HBR stuff or supply the 24p stuff at the "correct" speed...

I know I'm guna get a better bit rate from the variable speed footage but I'm not sure of how to supply the footage to the editor... I really don't want to supply terabytes of footage thats been converted to pro- res or something.. I would prefer to give them the native footage... Or a similar sized file that has the format tweaks.

Note: when I use clip wrap it seems to do something odd with the colour.

Would converting in 5D-RGB to pro-res LT be the best way to keep the file sizes small and the quality the same... I should also be able to output the files at 29.97 on 5D- RGB as part of the conversion process shouldn't I? Also, I'm sure this can't be don't as a batch? Or can it?

Penultimate question...
From my observations I have concluded that smooth with negative 2 on all is the flattest image... Anyone disagree? I found an interesting video about utilising the I-dynamic option... But I find it incredibly temperamental, and enjoyed turning itself off when you don't want it to etc... Has anyone got any useful tricks to flatten the image?

Finally, I desperately need to get my head around the ISO bug on GH2. Having done a few tests I have definatly observed it... The problem I find most frustrating is the fact it's there from power up...

Anyways... What exactly is the solve? My research seems to suggest you should simply approach the ISO you want from higher numbers going down... But always missing 640 and 1250... Is that right?

Is there an ISO you can power up into that isn't super noisy?

Absolutely Finally.... I'm making the assumption that the rolling shutter is globally the same throughout all the various frame rates and settings... It this the case or are there any loop holes to limit its appearance?

Few!!!!! That's it's... Thank you for your patience...
Hopefully you can see that I have done some research and I'm not just offloading my learning curve on to you guys

Kind Regards
 
Jordan Cadby said:
Hey,

The shoot is going to be all hand held and "action" and I would really like to supply the editor with the best quality stuff... What's is the best hack for these requirements?
FYI I would prioritise quality over file size.
Click to expand...
I would go with Flow Motion, but the hack you choose is mostly inconsequential, they'll all provide good images. If you're going handheld, the most important thing you can do is get a good, stable shoulder rig and then practice a lot with it. The rolling shutter has the potential wreak havok with your footage if you're not moving the camera in a manner that will avoid exacerbating the jello / wobbly effect of the rolling shutter.
 
Um .... HBR is 29.97p isn't it? Not interlaced ...

Edit: just saw your final question: rolling shutter definitely varies with the mode you are in. It is much less noticeable with 720p60
 
Hey

Thankyou for your feed back, yea I have a pretty sturdy rig.... I shot some stuff with it... It definitely cleaned up the micro jitter.

There is definitely a concern that the jelly will be noticeable... But then again.. The other cameras on shoot all suffer from this so. I'll keep my pans down to a minimum!

Any advice on moving the camera properly?

Cheers
 
Hey, HBR is 29.97p, but it comes in an interlaced AVC-HD file, which you have to instruct the software to ignore. Which isn't really that annoying for the editor to worry about.. but Its a level of work that isn't required for the footage that comes of the other cameras..

also the bit-rate is not as high as the variable 80% mode.. I think.

At the moment im leaning towards shooting at the variable speed, just for the quality, as long as there is some kind of work around for supplying it as 29.97..
 
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Hey Gundar

Thanks for the response, yea they are pretty useful questions which should hopefully lead to a few decent nuggets of information

Cheers

jc
 
29.97psf is pretty trivial to convert to 29.97p I think. Most modern systems seem to handle pairs of interlaced frames as one progressive frame anyway in my (fortunately) limited experience with interlaced footage. 24fps@60i with pulldown is another story.
 
Hey NYVZ

your correct, I imagine pretty much all systems can hand the ignore field thing... my concern is mainly with the fact the editor wont be doing that with the rest of the footage, a mistake may happen... maybe not... its all getting pro-resed so maybe there is something you can do in the conversion stage that will eliminate any room for error..

also on a side note... has anyone else noticed after fx brings the HBR footage in at a very weird frame rate? 29.85? I haven't noticed this before...

also

24@60i isnt what I would be suggesting, I would suggest that I shoot at the 24p 80% slow down, (which is actually the camera shooting at 29.97, and playing at 24p) then "speeding" it back up again to 29.97.

this would mainly be for quality reasons 24 @80% being higher in bit rate than HBR... which given its name is HIGH BIT RATE... is a little weird ;)

CHeers

JC
 
Jordan, make sure you are shooting with high performance memory cards, the hacked GH2 needs reliable memory to perform properly. Last March a bought a pair of the Sandisk SDXC 64GB 95MB/sec cards specifically to obtain high quality images from my hacked GH2. LPowell's FlowMotion v2.02 patch can require up to 130 Mbit/sec card performance when recording in variable speed mode.
 
I think the bit rate difference between HBR and 80% mode is inconsequential. At most it is 20% more for the 80% mode, right? You can increase your bit rates by 2X over flow motion if that is really your only concern(Although I would not recommend doing that).

Honestly, I really think that you are over thinking this. Go out and shoot some really incredible and compelling shots with 1080p @ 30 FPS or even 720p @ 60 FPS(For slow motion) and the editor won’t care about what format they are in. He will make it work because the footage is so great.
 
Hey Dingo

Cheers... I have a couple of Class 10 32 gig cards... But I guess all class tens are not made equal... I think the are 30 and 45... It till now they seem to have been pretty good... I'll run some tests...
 
Yea, the biggest problem your gonna have is your card speed. Almost all the high end patches require you to use the higher speeds. My camera lags and sometimes wont start recording right away with class 10 cards, and thats when im using a middle weight patch on my camera.
I bought 2 - 32G SanDisk Extremes (45/Mbit) and couldn't be happier!
I think HBR is the way to go, since your gonna have to speed that 80% footage up anyhow in post. HBR is almost the same data rate and your also getting audio.
There are tons of patches that are optimised for HBR over the others, so you can find yourself a nice stable high bitrate patch easily.
I agree with @mpgxsvcd, spend less time worry about bitrates and shutter speed, and focus more on getting amazing shots. (With tried and tested - Medium patches, as they are more stable in the field)
 
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