Doc Shot With GM1 and GX7

[fuzzynormal]

 

[Nathanael McKinley Myton]

Awesome, I saw your trailer a while back and it looked great. Excited to watch the whole thing.

 

Edit: Just finished. Loved it. really.

[jase]

very nice! Started watching it before I went to work, will continue afterwards  I always like being reminded how great those cameras are.

[fuzzynormal]

1 hour ago, Nathanael McKinley Myton said:

Loved it. really.

Thanks. I think it illustrates how warm and engaging personalities are the more fundamental aspects of a doc. 

Craft is good and appreciated, but if you have a "Mark Borchardt" type, that's more than half the battle. 

As for the camera(s).  I think ultimately I probably could've shot this on a GH1 (hacked) and got the same results.  Which is to say that cameras have been suitable enough for me for quite awhile. 

Btw, the Oly 45mm 1.8, the pany 20mm 1.8, a Nikon 24mm 2.8, and a Nikon 50mm 1.4. Preferred the Nikons. 

[Nathanael McKinley Myton]

On 11/18/2016 at 11:50 PM, fuzzynormal said:

Thanks. I think it illustrates how warm and engaging personalities are the more fundamental aspects of a doc. 

Craft is good and appreciated, but if you have a "Mark Borchardt" type, that's more than half the battle. 

As for the camera(s).  I think ultimately I probably could've shot this on a GH1 (hacked) and got the same results.  Which is to say that cameras have been suitable enough for me for quite awhile. 

Btw, the Oly 45mm 1.8, the pany 20mm 1.8, a Nikon 24mm 2.8, and a Nikon 50mm 1.4. Preferred the Nikons. 

With thoughtfully explored characters like you presented in this, you could shoot it on an iphone and I'd still be fully engaged.

[Davey]

I'll have to watch this when at my computer - won't load on my phone.

[jonpais]

Wonderful work, thoroughly enjoyed watching this.

[fuzzynormal]

On 12/15/2016 at 8:24 AM, jonpais said:

Wonderful work, thoroughly enjoyed watching this.

Thanks.  Always good to hear as these folks are personal friends of ours and it's not easy to tell sometimes if the things we find charming and interesting about them exactly translate effectively for an uninvolved viewer.

[John Matthews]

I really appreciated watching this documentary. Just got a GM1 the other day for super cheap (thank goodness the deals are coming back). After all these years and experience, what would you recommend in terms of lenses for this small camera?

[John Matthews]

@fuzzynormal I really appreciated watching this documentary. Just got a GM1 the other day for super cheap (thank goodness the deals are coming back). After all these years and experience, what would you recommend in terms of lenses for this small camera?

(Double post because I think you might not see it unless I tag you.)

[fuzzynormal]

On 8/7/2021 at 7:50 AM, John Matthews said:

@fuzzynormal I really appreciated watching this documentary. Just got a GM1 the other day for super cheap (thank goodness the deals are coming back). After all these years and experience, what would you recommend in terms of lenses for this small camera?

(Double post because I think you might not see it unless I tag you.)

Oh man, I take a GM1 again. Just to play with it.

So...depends on what you're doing, but, honestly, I had an old 24mm on my GM1 most of the time.  (Pentax auto110 24mm f2.8 prime) If you read my posts here, you know I'm a vintage and manual lens guy.  I just can't abide AF, feels wrong to me for docs shot Cinéma Vérité style.

For this particular documentary we were using Nikkor prime lenses with and without speed booster adapters.

My wife did a bunch of b-cam work with the GM1 on this doc, and she put the modern Pany20mm 1.7 on there as well.  I've shot a bunch of stuff with newer cameras and lenses since this doc, but I still think the way this one looks is better than most stuff I've done in the years since.  

I blame my lazy-over-reliance on IBIS and slow-mo for me losing some shooting mojo.  

(FWIW, I'm shooting a narrative short laster this month with the Pentax auto 100 prime lenses)

[John Matthews]

18 hours ago, fuzzynormal said:

Oh man, I take a GM1 again. Just to play with it.

So...depends on what you're doing, but, honestly, I had an old 24mm on my GM1 most of the time.  (Pentax auto110 24mm f2.8 prime) If you read my posts here, you know I'm a vintage and manual lens guy.  I just can't abide AF, feels wrong to me for docs shot Cinéma Vérité style.

For this particular documentary we were using Nikkor prime lenses with and without speed booster adapters.

My wife did a bunch of b-cam work with the GM1 on this doc, and she put the modern Pany20mm 1.7 on there as well.  I've shot a bunch of stuff with newer cameras and lenses since this doc, but I still think the way this one looks is better than most stuff I've done in the years since.  

I blame my lazy-over-reliance on IBIS and slow-mo for me losing some shooting mojo.  

(FWIW, I'm shooting a narrative short laster this month with the Pentax auto 100 prime lenses)

A lot of good points... especially about the virtues of a locked-down shot. In handheld no-ibis shooting, that's the best option if not shooting really wide.

I currently have many M43 lenses, but the best fits for this body right now are my SLR Magic 8mm f/4, Olympus 17 f/1.8, Panasonic 20 f/1.7, and a Olympus 45 f/1.8. I've also for the kit lens Panasonic 14-42 PZ version that seems super-sharp at the wide end and it has IS. I think I can use the SLR Magic and the Panasonic 14-42 PZ for hand-held stuff and the rest locked down. The Panasonic 20mm works great for a low-profile/low-light setup but lacks IS. I'm really debating on getting the 14 f/2.5 (which I had 2 years ago) because it's so stealthy on this body. At 259g on a M43 sensor, it's quite amazing. I also have some Pentax lenses: 50mm f/1.7, 50mm f/2.0, and a 135 f/3.5, all of which are great. Finally, I just got some Lomography Toy lenses which will fun to try out... why not?

I've never really cared about Slow-mo... it rarely helps me to tell the story better.

Again, a really interesting documentary. I'll be interested in seeing some of your newer stuff.

[fuzzynormal]

19 hours ago, John Matthews said:

Olympus 45 f/1.8

Out of all the modern lenses I've owned, this one was my favorite.  One of the best things about the M43 format is the native lens selection and the easy adaptability of old stuff.

Looks like you have plenty to play around with!  I would recommend trying the old Pentax Auto110 lenses for your GM1, as that was truly a lot of fun for me when I had it.  My avatar here is the GM1 with that 24mm lens on it.

Not sure if you've seen it, but here's a link to a doc my wife and I made after the Japan one, the main lenses for this film were the fast Voightlander manual primes:  

 

[mercer]

On 8/10/2021 at 8:31 PM, fuzzynormal said:

FWIW, I'm shooting a narrative short laster this month with the Pentax auto 100 prime lenses)

That's awesome. I love those lenses. They were such a perfect size when I used to shoot on the eos-m. I still have a NOS 50mm 2.8 in its box in my closet.

Are you shooting the short for someone else, or is this a personal project?

You're shooting with an E-M10ii now, right?

I started shooting stills on film recently and have a fondness for old rangefinders, especially the ones from the 70s with the built in lenses... Minolta Hi-Matic, Canonet, Olympus XA. Inevitably I'll want to move onto a hybrid stills/video camera. Size is more important to me than anything else, so I am looking at Olympus and Fuji.

My friend has an E-M10ii and a GH5, and he did a shoot a couple months ago using both cameras and I went back and forth between the two and surprisingly, or not, the Olympus just looked better.

So right now it's between the E-M5iii and the X-T4.

Anyway, the point is that there is something special about these small cameras. The GX85 was a ton of fun to shoot with. The Samyang 12mm t/2.2 balanced perfectly on that camera and due to the 4K crop I was able to use some of my c-mount lenses.

I love Full Frame and someone will have to pry my 5D3 from my cold, dead hands, but it is big and not particularly stealthy. So it's cool to see that some people are still shooting on small cameras.

[kye]

There is an argument to be made for using faster lenses with these older cameras, based on their lower bitrate codecs.

Simply put, the limited bitrate struggles then given too much motion and detail to try and replicate.  This is why video of snow-storms, waves, etc often descend into mush - the bitrate doesn't hold up when the frame has lots of detail and motion.

Placing the camera on a tripod is a great way to limit the motion - when the background doesn't move then the bitrate can focus on what is moving and give it a higher image quality.  

It's the same with having shallower Depth of Field, as it makes more of the frame out-of-focus and therefore much easier to describe, so the compression gives those parts less bitrate and is able to put more bitrate into the things that are in focus.

It might seem rather strange to pair these older cheaper cameras with super-fast super-expensive lenses, but that's how the math works out.

[fuzzynormal]

On 8/12/2021 at 12:08 PM, mercer said:

That's awesome. I love those lenses. They were such a perfect size when I used to shoot on the eos-m. I still have a NOS 50mm 2.8 in its box in my closet.

Are you shooting the short for someone else, or is this a personal project?

You're shooting with an E-M10ii now, right?

I started shooting stills on film recently and have a fondness for old rangefinders, especially the ones from the 70s with the built in lenses... Minolta Hi-Matic, Canonet, Olympus XA. Inevitably I'll want to move onto a hybrid stills/video camera. Size is more important to me than anything else, so I am looking at Olympus and Fuji.

My friend has an E-M10ii and a GH5, and he did a shoot a couple months ago using both cameras and I went back and forth between the two and surprisingly, or not, the Olympus just looked better.

So right now it's between the E-M5iii and the X-T4.

Anyway, the point is that there is something special about these small cameras. The GX85 was a ton of fun to shoot with. The Samyang 12mm t/2.2 balanced perfectly on that camera and due to the 4K crop I was able to use some of my c-mount lenses.

I love Full Frame and someone will have to pry my 5D3 from my cold, dead hands, but it is big and not particularly stealthy. So it's cool to see that some people are still shooting on small cameras.

It’s a “personal” project that my wife and I were hired for. The EP is friends with us and has let us take the creative reigns.  Wife is directing/writing. I’m writing/cinematographer. 
 

My main cam right now is a em10iii. 
 

However, will be using a GH5 for the film shoot because we can use a iPad as a wi-fi monitor with the GH5. 
 

If the wife didn’t want a monitor, I’d readily shoot it with the Em10iii. The IQ is actually pretty great on the cheap Oly. 

[mercer]

19 hours ago, fuzzynormal said:

It’s a “personal” project that my wife and I were hired for. The EP is friends with us and has let us take the creative reigns.  Wife is directing/writing. I’m writing/cinematographer. 
 

My main cam right now is a em10iii. 
 

However, will be using a GH5 for the film shoot because we can use a iPad as a wi-fi monitor with the GH5. 
 

If the wife didn’t want a monitor, I’d readily shoot it with the Em10iii. The IQ is actually pretty great on the cheap Oly. 

Good luck with the project. Please share your experience, and the film, when you're done.

My friend has the E-M10iii too... I don't know why I wrote mark ii. Either way it's a nice little camera to shoot from the hip. The focus peaking kinda sucks, but it's better through the EVF.

The GH5 is and will be a very good camera for years to come. I've been pretty obsessed with B&W lately and the Panny L-Monochrome is damn near perfect. The only "better" B&W is probably the Fuji Acros. 

[fuzzynormal]

6 hours ago, mercer said:

Please share your experience, and the film

My wife, the director, is going to maintain a social media page(s) for the film.  It's just started here, but I'll definitely share highlights along the way as well.  Thanks for asking.

https://www.facebook.com/AGiftForAllAgesFilm