JazzBox

I slowly started thinking to record the audio on set: I have no problems for medium/close up indoor (I own some pics from my recording studio and the Rode micro boom). But how to achieve a decent sound when you record the establishing shot, the wide one? When the mic is far away from the actors the sound dramatically changes and it is... far and thin. And also outdoor, with a shotgun everyone will notice we are filming and we want to be as fast and as invisible as we can. I started to think to Lavalier: I own a Rode SmartLav+, it's ok for interview, but I don't know if it's good for narrative works. Also: my Zoom H5 will be unusable since it is too big to hide near a Lavalier. My other problem is that one of the characters it is not human, so we have to ADR it anyway and I don't want the sound is too different from its voice (made in studio like a voice over) and the sound of other actors in the room. I have no budget, I can spend no more then 300 €: what do you suggest? A Rode NTG4 (or 4+) shotgun, 2 lavaliers? ADR everything? Thank you!

Thank you very much Andy! I'm doing some test and it works wonder! I can't thank you enough for suggesting me the G7!

The G7 just arrived! It's a tiny camera, it remember me my beloved G6, I just love it! The only things "strange" is that the "Ex. Tele Conv" does not seems to work. Am I doing something wrong? p.s.: which metering is better to use? Multi metering, Center Weighted or Spot?

Thank you! You're right about lights!!

As long as you track by the side you have no problems, it's easy to remain at the same distance from the subject.

I shot the MCU with the Olympus 12-40 at 25mm f/2.8 on a gimbal: more then that, if you precede or follow the actor you loose the sense of movement and the parallax effect, while it is great if you follow him/her on the side. After that video I made other shot with the gimbal and the sweet spot was between 12mm and 18mm. I made this part at 14mm f/2.8 and I think it is more dynamic then at 25mm. Of course no focus pulling during the shot, I just had to remain at the same distance from the subjects. Hope that helps

I have a couple of SmartLav+ for interview, they sounds okish, not bad for interviews, but not great for narrative... I probably have to use some pencils indoor and ADR for outdoor, since I cannot afford to buy more things now, I've just bought a G7 + batteries etc...

I'm tempted with shotgun outdoor... But I also think that it could slow down the work... I have to think about it...

I wrote here, since it is something that could be helpful for 99.9% of the people here: "Dear Andy" is because I think he's the best one to talk about Panasonic cameras and all the users should be happy to read what he has to say about. I work with those cameras and I have some great results, but I mostly shot music videos. He use them for features, where the look is less stilized then in a 3 minutes music video. Maybe his experience and his answers are something everyone could benefit. But of course, it is my opinion. And of course, everyone has other answers is more then welcome. No "private chat" here, just the right recognition of authority to the people that boost my way of working. Remember that if it not was for him and Andrew I (and all the EOSHD users) would still shot videos with Canon 7D, complaining that Canon should give us a better codec, 4K, slow motion...

Thank you very much for your precious tips! I have to do that! 30 degrees rule for framing mid and head? I was worried I had not a Metabones for larger shot (so planning to use the Olympus 12-40 for that kind of work), but a mid at 35 is certainly something I can easily achieve How to light the set for f/2? It means having the "right" exposure (white on the histogram) at f/2 and then underexposing 2 or 3 stops? Sorry for the dumb question, but I always try to shoot at the lowest ISO with 1/50 Tiffen for ND on the mattebox is ok? Huge huge huge thanks Andy!! We are going to shoot in Naples, a city full of noises. I have a little recording studio full of mics, preamps etc... so I can do that at no costs apart my time. I also have a "travel kit" with a Mac, an Apollo Twin soundcard, a nice mic an a reflexion filter, so I can go directly to actor's places to record them after the editing (I live 400 km from Naples). Of course It could sound "fake"... but I'm scared of recording on the set, because all I have is a Zoom H5 and a couple of cheap pencil microphones. The Rode NTG4 (or NTG 2, the two mics I could afford) is ok for outdoor but not for indoor recording. The Zoom H5 preamp is quite noisy... so I think I could have a better chance with ADR: all actors are professionals, I think that they could do that.... Especially because one of the characters is an "object", not an human, so I have to ADR anyway for this character.

Thank you very much Andy, your advices are incredibly valuable! Have I to set 16-235 or 0-255? Tomorrow or on monday I should receive the G7. Do you think it's worth to use both G7 and GH4 or is better to go with just G7 and to leave GH4 for 50p slow motion?

Dear Andy, since I learned 90% of what I know about Lumix mirrorless from you and Andrew, I write you asking some tips for an incoming web series I'm going to shoot in September. I have also a BlackMagic Micro Cinema Camera, but we have to shoot 6 episodes of 5 minutes in 6 days, so the Director asked me to be as quick as possible and I opted to use the GH4 with which I'm more confident. As you suggested me I ordered a G7 (it should be here in a couple of days), since we will shoot a lot of underexposed indoor scenes with minimal LED lights (2 x 600 LED, 1 x 150 LED and a couple of panels and gels). -Do you think is it best to use the GH4 or the G7 as main camera? -Does it worth to shoot multicam (one for the master shot and one for another angle) and which setting would you use on both? 4k or 1080? Natural? Contrast and saturation? For 4k they seems similar, for slow motion the GH4 codec seems more solid, but maybe it's just math -Is it safe enough to shoot everything with only audio from the cameras for reference and at the end of the editing to ADR all the episodes? -Does it worth to record externally with BM VideoAssist I own or the internal codec of G7 and GH4 is good enough? - Is the peaking of G7 reliable as the one on the GH4? - The lenses I own are the Olympus 12-40 f/2.8 and some CY Zeiss (25 f/2.8, 28 f/2.8, 35 f/2.8, 50 f/1.7 and 28-70 f/3.5-4.5) I'm going to rig at least one with a cage/follow focus/handle similar to yours. What would you use as A cam (and lenses) in order to have the best quality in less time? Thank you very much for your patience, Simo

Great! I really like your video! G6 + Canon FD was also my first step in mirrorless world (thanks to Andrew and Andy) and I started to have far better results than with Canon DSLR. All the best!

The problem with my GH4 is that I shot this video at 500 iso. Honestly it was the first time I had problems with noise in the mids. The histogram was "nice" (no black crushed out and enough highlights). Probably I had to check better the middle area, measuring the light on his face etc... In the past I shot a lot of video at 800 and some at 1600 with the GH4, never had problems, for that I asked if my GH4 was faulty

You're right! When I have time to set up the camera I prefer the ProRes 10 bit from the BlackMagic Micro Cinema, I love the BlackMagic codec, but normally for quick gig I use the GH4 that is far more easy for my taste: changing WB, ISO, Shutter Speed etc.. it's super fast, while on the BM it's quite slow. With GH4 I started with Cine-D, but after some times I went for the Natural profile. I'd like to buy the G7 in order to have a nice little camera that could become the B camera when GH5 will arrive. Probably I never noticed that noise because normally I use a lots of light. I'll put more attention to lights next time! I tried it and I loved it! A friend of mine has it and it is a great camera, even in 1080p!

Thank you! Thank you! Yes, the lights was just what we have in that room plus a mini-Led... normally I tend to shoot with far more light... Luckily that was not a paid gig, but just a favor for a friend... but I think I have to buy the G7, that (Andy Lee says and I'm sure of that seeing the results) it is far better in low light.

Dear all, some days ago I shot a little promo for a friend with my GH4, a practical light and a mini-LED to have a sort of "chiaroscuro" on his face. I shot with "natural" (with contrast -3 and saturation -5), 25 fps, 1/50, 500 ISO, 3400° K and 1080 - 100mbps. The lens was a CY Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 (at 2.8). I exposed with the blacks "kissing" on the left but not crushed out. I see some bad "grain" on the curtain (I noticed it before in other videos I shot, but just when underxposing seriously) and a lot of moire on the guitar' strings near the soundhole. I'm going to buy a G7 as soon as possible, but in the meantime I'd like to shoot as underexposed and low-key as much as I can: I'd like to have a look similar to Andy Lee's Pandora, with great chiaroscuro but not grain in the middle. It's the first time in 2 years I have this bad grain at so low ISO in the middle. Also the moire never was so severe: maybe I used not enough light (and not the same lights I always use), maybe my GH4 is faulty... I don't know. I post the test here: the first 20 seconds are the clip straight from the camera, the second 20 are the same clip with a little color test for a "vintage" look: the password is "gh4" Thank you in advance for your kind advices!

Thank you Andy! It is something I'm considering for a web series: maybe it is far more easy to ADR six episodes of 5 minutes each then having perfect audio on the set

Andy, did you record the dialogues on set with shotgun etc or will you go with ADR? If you recorded sounds on set which setup did you use?

As I told you on Vimeo I love it! Great organic "mood"!

Andy, that's awesome!

Great solution!! I'll try it!

That's a great news! You really deserve it! Congratulations Andy! I'm sure that with people like you they can be closer to real needs of filmmakers, because you really squeeze their cameras and you know every pro and cons

Andy, thank you very much for your precious advices! Really, I hope you'll write a book about filmmaking and I'll be the first to buy it!

Thank you Andy!