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Birdemic!!!

Received my GX85 last week in time for a Friday wedding and just wanted to share my initial thoughts on the camera (being a GH4 and GX7 owner) and a short teaser film I made for the couple I filmed with the camera on Friday. Heads up: this is the same post I put on personal-view to avoid any duplicate reading time ;-) Firstly, operationally, this camera with its stabilisation is a gem. For a number of years now, every time I've wanted to go handheld at a wedding I've had to remove my baseplate and attach my Zacuto target shooter and z-finder (I don't keep the Zacuto baseplate on permanently as I value the GH4s flippy screen way too much). Weddings being as they are, this meant I only used my mini rig at strategic times of the day when the switchover meant I wouldn't miss anything. So having it built in meant I could go handheld whenever I wanted; and I did. I had it slung around my neck most of the day, operating my GH4 on tripod and mono as my A Cam and then choosing certain moments to use the GX85. As the day progressed I began using the GX85 more and more and it gave me a photography-like framing freedom to the height and angles I could get to without having to hoist up my beloved monopod or put my tripod down into low leg move. I can see the pitfalls of a device making shooting so easy... you get lazy... but on Friday I felt a freedom and creativity I haven't felt in a long time. I started looking with my eyes more knowing that my gear wouldn't stop me getting into position (and quickly at that). And the quality of the stabilisation? Well, you can probably already tell from the videos that it's incredible. And where I wouldn't normally go handheld with anything over 25mm on my Zacuto, by the end of the day I had my Nikon 105mm and speedbooster (making it 75mm) and it was fantastic, allowing me to grab shots that normally I'd have to set a tripod up for. And with some practise I felt quite comfortable panning gently with it too, it doesn't come to a hard stop like the Olympus stabilisation seem to, it tapers off nicely. I won't comment too much on image quality at this stage as I haven't had time to pore over the footage. My initial feeling is that in terms of DR, detail and colour it is on par with the GH4 with a slightly different colour signature. I feel it is definitely less noisy than the GH4 at high ISO (which is a boon for my work, although I'm really not afraid of noise as much as some people) but detail and DR like normal still seem to struggle once you hit 1600. Also, I don't think the slow-mo (50p/100 shutter on a 25p timeline) is as good as the GH4, doesn't seem as fluid. The GH4 has fantastic 50p. Again, please take this with a pinch of salt as I've scanned my footage for all of an hour and never have time or inclination to pixel peep (too busy editing bloody weddings!). It's just my feel. Now the cons to the camera.... instantly the moment I took it out of the box and put it up to my face I was disappointed. I love the left-side EVF, it means guests can see more of my face and I can smile to put them at ease and more easily talk to the bride and groom if doing any direction. However, that damned left strap lug just sticks into my nose. The GX7 has the correct placement of this lug and I cannot believe Panasonic engineers changed it and then didn't think about the consequences. Anyone else notice this? I want to hold the camera to my nose for additional stabilisation and can't do it comfortably now. I can live with it, but found myself pushing the viewfinder upwards into my eye socket so I didn't have red marks on my nose all day. It's workable, but the GX7 lug placement was perfect. Secondly, no battery charger included. You have to charge the battery in camera which is less handy when you want to have your second battery on charge while using the first. I do this a lot. Obviously it's a real shame it doesn't have mic input, but I understand this isn't a pro model. I just have to choose wisely when I use it for my work until the GH5 comes out as audio clips are so important to the way I edit (I use natural, candid audio whenever I can, especially in my longer edits). However, I really will have so much pleasure using it for my work in the meantime, and it is now the perfect personal camera for me too. So here is a mini teaser video I put together for my bride and groom from Friday. Shots 1, 2 and 4 at 50mm, shots 3 and 5 (cliff ones) at 75mm. Yes, I have slowed them down, but I would be more than happy (and will) use them at normal speed too. The 75mm on the cliff was a bit of a wow moment for me. With the wind the way it was, there is no way I would have been able to get the shot on a monopod that steady, and I would have never been able to get the variety of shots I did if I were using a tripod (there was no time for a tripod anyway). The GX85 is opening my mind up to new possibilities. All shots straight out of camera, natural w/ -2 contrast, -4 sharpness, -3 NR:

Don't suppose you're interested in a 1970s 35mm one are you? Complete with EF adapter!

ANAMORPHIC ON A BUDGET - ISCOMORPHOT 8/1.5X http://tferradans.com/blog/?p=8997 ANAMORPHIC CHOP SHOP - ANAMORFAKING THE PENTACON 29mm http://tferradans.com/blog/?p=9042 ANAMORPHIC CHOP SHOP - EL-NIKKOR 63mm f/2.8 http://tferradans.com/blog/?p=9100 ANAMORPHIC ON A BUDGET - HELIOS 44-2 CAT EYE MOD http://tferradans.com/blog/?p=9166 ANAMORPHIC CHOP SHOP - FLIPPING THE CENTURY OPTICS http://tferradans.com/blog/?p=9160 plus the amazing story of... HOW I FELL FOR A LOMO ANAMORPHIC SCAM http://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=9173

Any chance to add at least variable ND like this in it to make it even more usable and versitile?

Or some other vintage anamorphic you're particularly fond of. What would it entail? Could you legally produce it? Also, how did the Baby Hypergonar manage to be so tiny while something like the SLR Magic 2x is enormous in comparison.

Even worse better than Birdemic and The Room....

Cojocaru: It is very simple really, it is an EF adapter, then you can adapt to other mounts with cheap dumb adapters (or more expensive ones of course, I just do not see the point buying expensive ones). One adapter to rule them all. You still need to buy the other mount adapter you need (e.g from ebay). You then can have the FF look, but still you won't have any electronic control and/or aperture control, which in my opinion (and needs) is more important than the FF look, which If I needed I would have bought from the begining (A7ii is not that bad in that sense, ofcourse NX1 is much better, but the Sony can be found for cheap used, and have all the active metabines/speedboosters).

Plus the F5 gets compressed raw now: http://nofilmschool.com/2016/08/sony-releases-r3d-competitor-x-ocn

Birdemic is a classic and an American treasure. Right alongside Troll 2 and The Room.

Now all they need to do is make a Cine Zoom lens and they'll have a perfect line-up of manual cine lenses.

I stumbled across this interesting article and thought I'd share it, something non-gear related for an odd change! ;-) http://www.screenplayology.com/content-sections/screenplay-style-use/1-1/

Maybe so. Yet... they did jeopardize the A6300's reliability. Even if you're doing some small production, there's going to be a time and patience/willingness constraint. If you're working with people at some point they're going to be sick of your 'ow, wait, there goes the camera again, great performance you guys, but we'll have to reshoot this'. And some moments are exactly that: 'moments', and you might not get a 2nd chance to relive it. That's why you probably can't have your camera fail on you all of a sudden, prompting warnings or just shut down. Add the rolling shutter and Sony colors you'll have to struggle with... even with the solid 4K and respectable lowlight performance, are you really so easy to forgive it? Are you going out of your way, by flipping out the screen, opening the battery compartment and even mounting a fan to make it work for you? Why would you do that to yourself? That borders masochism. Does the end justify the means? For me, I like to be in control. I like to shoot at my chosen focal length, focus distance, f-stop, shutterspeed, ISO and white balance. I certainly don't let the camera decide when to start and when to call it a day. When it's critical to get the shot, you gotta be able to trust your camera to handle it. If it can quit on you at any given time, that's just no bueno. But that's just my two cents. I wanted to love and get the A6300, but ultimately I just couldn't.

But just look at that dynamic range and skin tone! Totes on point. What more do you need? That's what it's all about, right?

Already talk to him last week and he's waiting on some more to come in.

same thing the Asian G7s or Japanese have no recording limit , Vitaliy at Personal View.com sells them via dealer in Hong Kong http://www.personal-view.com/deals/cameras/panasonic

20MM is definitely a focal length not needed or barely even used..... Especially not in APS-C and for FF disgustingly wide..... Now for M43 format then yes, but nothing larger. APS-C 18mm is plenty standard/wide and the next jump to 24mm and 35mm is perfect. There's a reason why Many FF shooters even shoot 35mm or 50mm and their wide lens is 24mm. Personally I don't like the 20mm focal length at all and can honestly say I would never use it, which is why you see very few prime lenses at this focal length. Even throughout all of that I still would prefer a nice zoom lens vs almost any prime.... Primes slow you down, having to switch lenses, etc and you can lose a shot. A nice Zoom lens whether photo or cinema would definitely be my #1 choice always.

Yeah, the AXS-R5 is $5,350.00, I imagine that the R7 will cost more. Add $3,600.00 for each TB of proprietary memory... yowza! With fun ways to make money like that, my guess is that we won't be seeing compressed raw in the mid-range/prosumer cams for aaaaaaawwwhile. Probably longer than it took for s-log to find its way into prosumer. I see that Sony is pushing that the R5 and R7 are weather-sealed, are the F55 and F5 weather-sealed too?

I just love how both movies have a random dance party scene.

A 24-105 T4 would be great.

omg ???? • i kind of liked that i think i wanna see the movie • it was also the longest 3 minutes of my life • is this ironic tho!!! cmon....... *google search* haaaaa ??????

buy a Hong Kong G7 they have no limit on them , I have 2 they work great

So you are actually producing the glass on your own, and its not a repurposed speed boster glass from other brands? What is the glass made of? I hope it doesnt include thorium, zirconium or similar isotopes that a lot of fast vintage lenses had to combat aberations?

That is great news for F5/55 owners although it is kind of a bummer that you need the pricey and kinda bulky recorder to get that. While the size doesn't matter in normal production environments, it's always a plus if you can strip a camera down for special applications without losing features like this. Anyway, it's good to see that Sony is getting in on the compressed raw formats so that they will be able to put it into their future cameras, hopefully to mid range/prosumer cams aswell.

Hello Pavel, thank you for your interest. These days I'm tightening commercial agreements with suppliers of parts and artisans. I would like to reach a selling price as those metabones 449.00 / $ 499.00 each. This is a great price considering it is built by hand in Italy and you can mount almost all the best full frame lenses on the market.

Enjoyment of trash films linked to high intelligence, study finds: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/enjoyment-of-trash-films-linked-to-high-intelligence-study-finds-a7171436.html Birdemic 2 was shot with a Sony FS100 with a kit lens I see (I could tell you to skip forward a couple of minutes to spot the camera's close up... but don't! Is all worth watching): Ha, jump to 3 minutes in and you see the classic camera operator usage of the mic pointing straight up into the sky! :P lol

No, Heck No...... RED simply has a stronger Codec which allows for a better negative. You can grade the "RAW" file pretty much anyway you want it, you just need to know how to light the image. Canon C300 is an excellent run n gun camera, documentary and for Tv Shows etc. It works perfectly, but the image is what I would say "different" vs something you would see in a film as the main camera. Personally though give me the Ursa Mini 4.6k or an FS5 with the RAW Upgrade and that would be my choice under 10k and probably all the way up to 15k. Ursa Mini 4.6k imo is simply the BEST looking video camera in it's current price range and all the way up to 15K+ area. Only placing Sony F55 above, Red Dragon, Alexa, etc.

OH HI MARK!

looooove birdemic! I thought i heard a sequel was coming out, does anyone know about that? I'm aware I could probably look it up, but where's the fun and camaraderie in that?! Back on topic though, I couldn't believe what I was watching the first time I saw Birdemic. The main actor is sooooo wooden and terrible. Everything about it is pretty terrible really though. Makes it a blast to watch! Even though there are so many great moments, the one that got me was the sex scene in the motel. It was so bad and the actors feet were ridiculously dirty! Gross.

I personally think what ever is happening is happening inside the HEVC encoder. Has anyone tested the ISO of MJPEG on the NX1 and compared it to HEVC?

Try enabling half stop ISO and see if you see a jump from 2000 to 2500. I believe the jump is there exactly. Seems completely software though... It seems like the jump also affects exposure.

That's good to know. Tho I have to admit, I am 100% happy with where things are at right now and even if no more improvements ever come out for the NX1 I would be completely fine. I was really happy with the NX1 w/o any hacks so that was just a bonus anyways.

its a totally different camera to the GH4 which is why I chose it to shoot the movie on - its a totally different sensor in the G7 , alot cleaner in low light and very usable at 800 iso

Personally, my main concern is EVF. I really like using a good EVF. When they work well it makes manual focusing a breeze and fun. And since I shoot manual glass, it makes sense to covet such a feature. Besides, I actually enjoy utilizing manual lens focus hunting in my edits. I don't really know how to articulate that bias. Maybe because it makes things feel more organic and connected to a human shooter? At any rate, Panasonic's GX series EVF's have been very frustrating. And, yeah, having on board audio recording is a blessing. I miss it now that I'm shooting with my GX85's. Still, it's a kick-butt little cam. One can't have every solution in a piece of kit that cost less than a good ND filter set!

It just makes for a great 2nd shooter camera. No need for it to replace the GH4 or anything. You shoot your main things with the GH4, then you'd like some B roll in between. A cam shooting an interview with dialog? Great, keep the dialog running and put some visuals on the screen. Wedding? Good chance you've got a music track underneath. You don't need sound all the time, continuous AF on M43 isn't going to be stellar anytime soon I suppose, so you'll use MF (or get a Canon with dualpixel AF)... It does have the BIS, it's smaller and less conspicuous. The GH4 might be the productivity tool here, but the GX85/80 is the fun one that opens up some new possibilities. It's priced attractively to serve as an addition to the GH4. And then you might replace the GH4 at a later stage, but it wouldn't really warrant to let go of the GX85/80. I'd say, keep it around! And for the budget conscious, if you manage to handle the audio externally, you still get a great deal with the GX85/80 even as a main cam. At that price, what's a better pick? Just need one camera to do it all, like the GH4 and you can wait? Sure, wait for the GH5. You just have to realize what it is and what it isn't. The GX85/80 is not a GH4 replacement. But it is a great deal and an overall interesting package altogether and for now there's nothing quite like it out there. For me personally it makes the ultimate addition to the GH4.

all the footage I shot for the movie is owned by the film production company , they have released some low res saved for web images to me so I can share them on EOSHD . Film companies dont relase any hi res stuff until after the film is released , So look at the lighting grade composition low light levels etc etc but remember these are lo res saved for web pictures you are seeing not UHD 4K uncompressed frame grabs. there is no micoblocking on the actual footage I shot . I shot most of the movie at 800 iso f2.5 I lit the sets for that stop and ISO , I did shoot some scenes at 640 and 400 maybe 20% of the movie but most was at 800 iso the G7 is very clean and usable at 800iso PS the entire film is shot at night there are no daylight scenes in the movie

I was actually checking the same thing (whether the PAL to NTSC hack also gets rid of the recording time limit). It appears, that, unfortunately, the 30 min time limit remains: (Check the answer to the first comment, on his video) Post Script: I saw another video, that says in the comments, that it Removes the Time Limit. If it really does, then its gr8 (I wonder if the buttons order, for pressing, switching off and switching on the are same?). And here is the Reddit discussion about the same thing, and they too claim the 30 min time limit is gone: https://www.reddit.com/r/PanasonicG7/comments/4t71h4/somehow_got_rid_of_my_30_min_record_limit/

Panasonic G7 superb in low light

Panasonic GX80. Screen Shot.

Is the lens really that close to the sensor? Is there any risk of damaging it? Do you make your own glass or is it repurposed from another speed booster? Thanks

H265 from nx1/nx500 can take a pretty substantial color grade. Not as much as raw from my bmcc, but a good deal more than most codecs, I grade straight with h265 in both resolve and premeire, although you can transcode to h264 or whatever before if you choose. It can be a very cinematic look if you know what you're doing. Never hurts to light a scene in a cinematic way or to use good lens either. But it is a more robust codec than people seem to assume.

Not boring at all, and probably very useful for many readers. Cool that you finally found a camera that ticks most of the boxes!