Wedding and Event Videographers, need some advice

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itsdonny

Member
I'm planning on getting a couple of GH2's when they come out. I wanted to get some feedback on how the GH1's have been working out for those who shoots weddings and events. My main concerns are focus and low light capability. Can you use the 14-140 at night in a reception hall? It's a really slow lens. I would love to see some photos of your setups too. What are you doing for audio as well.

Thanks!

Don
 
Hey man. I've just started getting back into event videography as well. I just did a live music show, and a wedding. I used a GH1 with a 50mm f/1.4 and a Canon HV30. Honestly, the HV30 had my back the entire time. My assistant was getting all the wider shots (with the HV30) so that way i could be kind of ninja with the GH1 and take all the risks involved, like dealing with focus. And yeah, focus was an issue. Especially when it got dark and i needed the aperture to stay at f/1.4. When it got dark, the GH1 performed better than the canon.

So of course, focusing would've been easier with the 14-140, but, woulda been too slow at night.

I'm so glad I still have the HV30 and I recommend against having 2 GH2's simply because I like having a camera I don't have to worry about as much. Like maybe the Panasonic TM700 paired with the GH2 as they may have more similar color profiles than my GH1 and HV30.

I'll have the wedding video up in a couple weeks (I have to so I can get paid!) so feel free to bug me if you'd like to look at the footage on vimeo or something.
 
Thanks d1, I was looking at the TM700. That thing looks really good! I'm hoping faster autofocus lenses come out for the 4/3. But who knows when that will be. At least 2.8's would be great. Yeah, please reply back or send a PM when you have it up on vimeo. I'd love to check it out. I do have the hv20 but have never used it in low light situations since it's supper noisy. My sony FX-1 is fine, but I'm ready to upgrade. I really like the look of progressive footage too.
 
the stock lens is way too dark for a dim reception but I love the ability to quickly change the framing so I add lights if I can. My Canon 50mm 1.4 is great in low light but it's focal lenght makes it difficult to work on a crowded dance floor. I got a 20mm 1.7 to solve that problem.
 
I should add that I just "upgraded" my gh1 to gh13 and shot at ISO 1000 unbelievably noise-free video with the stock lens. Still have problem with reliability of 50 Mbps Fast Action patch so probably wouldn't try it in an "event" scenario.
 
Is it not better for you to have a Panasonic Af-100 than two GH2 for doing weddings. For my experience of wedding with all the responsibility that comes with it, an AF-100 seems to be a much better tool. You would have color peaking for focus, no need of double system for sound etc, etc... I think it is a much better tool for the run & gun type of shooting for weddings.
 
You can't use stock lens in a resception. No way it's too dark. I use the pancake lens, on a DIY steadicam, and I get lots of closeups about 2 feet away from the subject speaking for nice shallow depth of field and in the worst of lights that lens pick up everything. For the reception or if the wedding is outside outside you can use the stock.

Then again I don't do weddings anymore they are a pain in the a$$ and unless I'm getting them to sign off on a $5000-$10,000 deluxe package I don't want to deal with it.
 
We've shot about 10 - 12 weddings using a pair of GH1's. We have a variety of rigs we use thorughout the evening. For the photo session & reception shots, I run my GH1 on a Blackbird Stabilizer flying on a Steadicam Pilot Arm & Vest. Then, for the ceremony I switch to a DVTEC Multi-Rig Pro (with the belt and springloaded support arm). For audio, we plug a Zoom H4n directly into the soundboard We also use a Rode Video Mic on camera to get soundbites from the guests. For the dancing, I stay on the DVTEC rig, and occassionally swap onto a Halo rig to get in a closer with the crowd. The 2nd camera, which is usually my wife, is on a Monopod, and and we just recently purchased a FloPod for her as well.

If I could only have one rig of all the above, it woudl definitely be the DVTEC. You can get rock solid lockdown shots, and then in a few seconds swing it off your shoulder and fly it in front of you on the spingloaded rod for near-stedicam tracking and moving shots. Most of the tracking and walking shots to the canopy are done using the DVTEC rig, because by then I am off the Steadicam (I'll post a link to samples below).

Focus and lowlight are the 2 major handicaps you will need to deal with. As most traditional Jewish Weddings have the ceremony outdoors and at sunset or later, low light is definitely an issue. Basically, once the sun begins to set, I swap to the Lumix 20mm 1.7, and stay with that that for the entire ceremony. My wife on the monopod, will also use a 20mm, and also occasionally some Nikon Primes like a 35mm or 50mm for tighter shots. Focusing at night is a challenge, and you will need to mostly use manual, as in low-contrast situations the autofocus on the GH1 will tend to hunt and drift out of foucs. Most of our lowlight stuff is shot at 1600 ASA. In dark or lowlight wedding halls, the 14-140mm will be pretty useless, and you'll need to use fast primes.

You can watch a few samples here:

http://exposureroom.com/members/972Media/videos/

The Maxine & Greg Wedding has a lot of low light, sometimes in near total darkness.

The AF-100 would definitely give you a few more useable features like focus peaking and onboard audio. however, lowlight will still be an issue a the zoom option I believe will be the same (or similar) 14-140 f4, so you will still need to use fast primes for low light shots.
 
So, exactly what settings are you using in the GH1 for weddings?

The 'C' settings at 720? 1080? MJPEG? I'm still struggling to find a good setting that seems reliable.
 
Just spring the extra money for the sandisk extreme cards they never freeze up...
I use transcend call 10 and have not had problem on jobless D settings so I have never changed them thats what I use on 2 - 3 cams.

I have had a freeze once or twice out of hours and hours and hours and hours of takes.... on a transcend, never on the overpriced sandisk extreme.
 
We're using stock stettings only. Shooting at SH 720 50P. We're using the GH13 hack only to make our US bought cameras shoot with PAL framerates.

We can not take the chance of getting a card write error, even if only once in many, many hours. We use only sandiscs which have never given us any issue, 4 class 4 15MB/s. a class 6, and also a couple of class 10's.
 
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Thanks Weisman, I'll be looking into these products. Your wedding video was really great quality! I'm guessing for the overhead shots you're just prefocusing?
 
itsdonny said:
Thanks d1, I was looking at the TM700. That thing looks really good! .
Click to expand...

I had a couple of TM700's for a little while before I got the GH13. For what they are intended, the TM700 is OK...but the GH13 blows it away in terms of color purity (the TM700 seem to have a greenish cast to the colors...no matter how well it's tweaked); resolution and what I call "dynamic noise" ...don't know the correct term. But it's a grain like activity at pixel level visible when the video is being played back...Absent on the GH13 video shot side-by-side with the TM700.

Even at 50p @ 28mbps "AVCHD"...H264...the TM700 doesn't mix well with the lovely, clean and well resolved output of the GH13 with "C" settings.
 
And on the other end of the spectrum, this guy shoots in the worst lighting conditions, all 1080/24p, all tripod, and dirt cheap. Around 50 weddings on a GH1 with factory firmware settings. The GH1 apparently sucks for indoor wedding ceremonies....no matter what lens you slap on it. But hey, it's a $650 camera that pays for itself in 3 hours:

www.houstonpallet.com










.
 
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Skeptikal said:
I had a couple of TM700's for a little while before I got the GH13. For what they are intended, the TM700 is OK...but the GH13 blows it away in terms of color purity (the TM700 seem to have a greenish cast to the colors...no matter how well it's tweaked); resolution and what I call "dynamic noise" ...don't know the correct term. But it's a grain like activity at pixel level visible when the video is being played back...Absent on the GH13 video shot side-by-side with the TM700.

Even at 50p @ 28mbps "AVCHD"...H264...the TM700 doesn't mix well with the lovely, clean and well resolved output of the GH13 with "C" settings.
Click to expand...

Good to know. But yeah the only reason I would have a TM700 is to have a real camcorder on board, plus the deeper dof so focus isn't an issue and neither is speed. TheTM700 is f/2.5 fully zoomed in, yeah?

I just don't think we have the right lenses to make m43 more suitable for events. Mainly, a faster zoom with AF and image stabilization. That's another thing, when you put the GH1(3) on a shoulder support for interviews or whatever like at a wedding, the lacking of IS on some lenses will also take a hit.
 
swyzlstyx you have a nice shooting style actually even with only using tripods. I like that there isn't a whole lot of movement. I think I'm going to implement this more into my shooting. :beer:
 
itsdonny said:
swyzlstyx you have a nice shooting style actually even with only using tripods. I like that there isn't a whole lot of movement. I think I'm going to implement this more into my shooting. :beer:
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Since shooting with the GH1, especially being limited to the 20mm f1.7 for the reception, I've been shooting wide and with no movement...letting the action take place in front of the camera...instead of adding dynamics with camera movement. Then again, I don't have cable TV...haven't been to a theatre in many, many, years...so most of the movies I humbly try to emulate are pre-steadicam era. :D Camera movement looks great on Vimeo and old small 4:3 TV's, but on today's big screen HDTV's it has to be done VERY well not to make me get seasick watching it. Rock solid Steadicam work just seems to be something very few (almost none) budget film-makers/wedding videographers can pull off. I can't...so I go without. I'd love to learn with a high-end steadicam kit one day, however, for the heck of it...for non-wedding work. The best thing about HD/Blu-Ray delivery is the ability to shoot wide and still have facial detail, unlike what we had with DV wedding videos with 1/3" cams...when you had to shoot tight shots to avoid everyone looking like the faceless zombies on The Wall. :D GH1+BluRay+Nostalgic Film Mode makes me a happy camper.
 
Yes. They're prefocused and then held up with the Monopod. The GH1 is so light that my wife has no trouble getting these shots.
 
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