Help in choosing the right camera

[Emy Nachimovskey]

Hello,

I'm a student for film making, and i'm looking to buy a new camera that will serve me during my studies.

I read lot's of reviews and watched lot's video's on the web, all of them narrowed my options to two cameras that fit my badget and answer my requirements.

1. Sony Nex-5n

2. Panasonic GH2.

I undersatnd that the GH2 can be hacked in order to get better resaults, and the sony not yet.

i'm Swtiching to one of them from a Canon HV30, because i want better quality, DOF and low light shooting.

 

Which Of the two do you recommend generally and also specificly for film studies?

 

Thank you in advance

Emy

[Axel]

Many fell in love with the GH2 and keep it with them wherever they go. It has it's flaws, but very few, even those with highest expectations, were disappointed. Now a lot of owners have ordered the GH3, and it could very well be that the market will be flooded with second-hand GH2s soon, and the prices will drop a hundred bucks or so.

 

As with all DSLR-videography, the charm is provided by the manual lenses (which also is the main difference to your HDV-camcorder). The sensor has a good resolution and almost no visible aliasing, but that's the extent of it. You should choose the right lenses from the start!

 

This is especially important for lowlight. You probably learned already, that the GH2 has an 'ISO bug'. This makes fast lenses best for your purposes. I recommend the SLR magic 12mm f1.6 and the Voigtlander Nokton 25mm f.95. Watch examples on youtube. You seldom need to worry about enough light. The right light of course is what makes the difference to those test shots.

[richg101]

It's a coin toss IMO.  GH2 is more expensive, can be hacked, but lens choice is more limited due to smaller sensor.  Nex5n and a set of olympus zuikos from 28, 35, 50, 85, is gonna be half the price of a gh2 and having to go slightly wider and faster in the lens dept due to smaller sensor and less sensitivity and the superb flat profiles available in the nex5n. 

 

Give a nex5n and a gh2 good light (which will be a main factor of your course) and there will be little difference in quality.  the nex5n might have the edge in smaller confined spaces due to allowing wider field of view.

[andy lee]

a hacked GH2 produces stunning images and if you run a 150mb/s hack like

Nick Driftwoods Quantum 9b etc etc

you are shooting video at 1gb per minuite

which gives files with alot of infomation in them for grading

A large latitude to work with

[haarec]

Today there is still no better option then hacked GH2 with Vanilla or Canis Majoris settings. Price for the camera and image quality. Nothing else matters. Look at [url="http://vimeo.com/32520456"]this[/url] and [url="http://vimeo.com/42365628"]this[/url] for example.

[ScreensPro]

+1 for a GH2.... It's a sweet camera, if you can't make something great with that, you can't make something great, full stop. For the money paid, it still surprises me every time I check out my footage.

[galenb]

Nex5n and a set of olympus zuikos from 28, 35, 50, 85, is gonna be half the price of a gh2 

 

I don't understand this statement? Maybe I'm just reading it wrong though. The price of a NEX 5n body averages about $500 which is about the same for the GH2 (deals for even less can be had in either camp).  So, if the price of a GH2 is about $500 then It sounds like you're saying you can buy a NEX 5n body and four Zuiko primes for $250?! If this is true I would love to know where.

[Emy Nachimovskey]

Thank you very much for all the answers, it helped me alot.

axel, can you please tell me more about the 'iso bug' that the gh2 has?

[url="http://www.eoshd.com/comments/user/20711-galenb/"]galenb[/url] where can i find a gh2 for 500$ i can only find it for 699$ with the kit lens.

does the price of the gh2 is expected to drop with the launch of the gh3?

 

thank you again for all the information

 

 

[andy lee]

gh2 iso

 

[url="http://www.eoshd.com/comments/topic/1299-gh2-iso-tests-rethinking-the-iso-bug-iso-320-cleaner-than-iso-160/"]http://www.eoshd.com/comments/topic/1299-gh2-iso-tests-rethinking-the-iso-bug-iso-320-cleaner-than-iso-160/[/url]

[Axel]

does the price of the gh2 is expected to drop with the launch of the gh3?

Sure thing. I ordered the GH3 also, but will probably keep the GH2. As it turned out recently, the reported moire issues of the GH3 were due to the use of oversharp system lenses (avoid them, and you won't see moire). Direct comparisons often showed, that the GH3 has actually less moire problems.

[url="http://vimeo.com/54863241"]http://vimeo.com/54863241[/url]

To make a long story short: The only real drawback of the GH3 is, that the new EVF doesn't have the good resolution of the GH2's viewfinder. It has 1,7 million pixels, but being OLED technology, this has to be divided by three, so less than 600.000 pixel remain, which isn't enough to judge critical focus without peaking. 

[richg101]

I don't understand this statement? Maybe I'm just reading it wrong though. The price of a NEX 5n body averages about $500 which is about the same for the GH2 (deals for even less can be had in either camp). So, if the price of a GH2 is about $500 then It sounds like you're saying you can buy a NEX 5n body and four Zuiko primes for $250?! If this is true I would love to know where.

28mmf2.8=£50
35mmf2.8=£60
50mmf1.8=£40
100mmf2.8=£70

GH2 is significantly more money than the nex5n on both used and new market from what I have seen New 'body only' nex's can be had for £300. The same GH2 offer is £500.

And lenses cost more for the gh2 because you not only need to go wider, but also brighter. you need a 21mm f2.8 on a gh2 to match the width as on a 28mm f2.8 on the nex. the 28mm f2.8 zuiko is about £50. try finding a 'wide angle' f2.8 (or faster ideally for the gh2) (to get the same width as a 28mm on the nex) for less than £150.

Maybe I was a bit over the top in saying it would be twice the price, but there is certainly going to be a £200 difference in total when you factor in a set of lenses which need to be wider, and the currently more expensive gh2.

People need to also consider than since this is a film course, the thread author will hopefully be learning how to light a scene, and set wb to obtain good results out of the camera, nullifying some way the reasons for needing higher bitrates. To me, the fact that the film course will likely have some tasty lighting such as kinos on tap, while the user is still likely to be working in tight spaces such as homes of his and his friends, in this instance the extra width from the larger sensor comes out on top and is more valuable than high bitrates IMO. If exposed well, the very flat 'portrait -3-3-3 profile' 24mbs avchd can be cranked in post to great effect.

[galenb]

Thank you very much for all the answers, it helped me alot.

axel, can you please tell me more about the 'iso bug' that the gh2 has?

[url="http://www.eoshd.com/comments/user/20711-galenb/"]galenb[/url] where can i find a gh2 for 500$ i can only find it for 699$ with the kit lens.

does the price of the gh2 is expected to drop with the launch of the gh3?

 

thank you again for all the information

 

Oh I see, No I was meaning $500 for body only like what was being suggested for the NEX 5n. But yea, with kit lens its actually a lot more expensive which now a days it not at all a good deal. Especially when you consider the kit lens goes for about $100.

 

28mmf2.8=£50
35mmf2.8=£60
50mmf1.8=£40
100mmf2.8=£70

GH2 is significantly more money than the nex5n on both used and new market from what I have seen New 'body only' nex's can be had for £300. The same GH2 offer is £500.

And lenses cost more for the gh2 because you not only need to go wider, but also brighter. you need a 21mm f2.8 on a gh2 to match the width as on a 28mm f2.8 on the nex. the 28mm f2.8 zuiko is about £50. try finding a 'wide angle' f2.8 (or faster ideally for the gh2) (to get the same width as a 28mm on the nex) for less than £150.

Maybe I was a bit over the top in saying it would be twice the price, but there is certainly going to be a £200 difference in total when you factor in a set of lenses which need to be wider, and the currently more expensive gh2.

People need to also consider than since this is a film course, the thread author will hopefully be learning how to light a scene, and set wb to obtain good results out of the camera, nullifying some way the reasons for needing higher bitrates. To me, the fact that the film course will likely have some tasty lighting such as kinos on tap, while the user is still likely to be working in tight spaces such as homes of his and his friends, in this instance the extra width from the larger sensor comes out on top and is more valuable than high bitrates IMO. If exposed well, the very flat 'portrait -3-3-3 profile' 24mbs avchd can be cranked in post to great effect.

 

Ahhh. I see. I wasn't able to find the NEX 5n for such a low price. But I see what you are saying. If you can fin it for $300 then yes, that would be a better deal.