GH4 in Low Light 2019

[kaylee]

*britney spears voice* hey yall!!!!

 

thinkin abt shooting something soon with my friend on his GH4

although it will be low light, at night, for sure, this isnt my first rodeo, so im planning on grading down in post

plenty of GH4 users/owners out there, any thoughts, guys...?

note: i am ~NOT~ worried about AF ~at all~ (in fact some manual focusing errors with a wide lens could look rlly kewl, *winky face*)

found this, random but its whatever

open to suggestions, big time~! ???????????

[newfoundmass]

The GH4 obviously isn't a great low light camera, but it's weakness there has always been overblown. If you're relying on only available light you'll run into problems, but anyone should be able to get fine results doing even minimal lighting. $7 dollar clamp lights with CFL bulbs or $25 LED lights from one of the many Chinese manufacturers will go a long ways in lighting a "low light" scene. Even in 2019 the GH4 is more than capable for that kind of work. My friend's production house still uses the GH4 for most of their work, opting to rent if necessary. I still occasionally work with one when helping him out. If the bulk of my work wasn't event related I'd have bought one, but ibis is a huge help for my work. 

What lenses do you have? The Panasonic 25mm f/1.7 is really cheap new or used. There's also a lot of fast vintage glass out there: you can get the Minolta Rokkor-X 50mm f/1.7 for well under $50, or the 50mm f/1.4 for around $50-75. I am just getting my feet wet in some narrative work and I love my Minolta primes; they have such great character. Just lovely glass.

Tl;dr: rock n roll with that GH4 girl! 

[kye]

Small LED lights like the Aputure AL-M9 aren't expensive and put out a high CRI light, so maybe a few of those might be good if you need to stay ultra-portable.  Obviously wall powered lights would be better though.

[thebrothersthre3]

I've shot with the GH2 at night as well as GH4 in low light. If you can light your scenes it doesn't matter. Its fine under 1000 iso

[Lux Shots]

If you have the V-Log upgrade, it may be a good idea to skip it. Shoot in Cine-D and it will be less noisy. Use an f/1.7 or faster lens if you have it. There are really cheap Canon FD-Mount 50mm f/1.4 lenses ($50 USD on eBay). 

Also, I second using the Aputure AL-F7 ($100 USD) as it's bi-color and gives off a ton of light. I also recommend the Aputure Space Light modifier. Although it is a bowens mount modifier, you can just drop the AL-F7 in the opening an secure it with some tape for an amazing lightweight, portable and cheap soft light.

[kaylee]

fantastic info guys, thank you SO much~! ill go over this at length tomorrow~!!!! ?????

[newfoundmass]

Not to knock Aputure, cause they clearly make incredible lights, but you can get Neewer or YONGNUO lights in the $25 range that have a CRI greater than 90. I think the YONGNUO YN-300 lights I have are in the 94 to 95 range? The options for affordable, decent lighting in the last 5 years have increased dramatically. Caleb Pike did a video covering like 10 lights under $50 and it's wild what you're able to get these days. 

Obviously if you're able to afford Aputure they're one of the best choices, but if you can't don't get discouraged, there's tons of options. 

 

[thebrothersthre3]

If you have plug in power you can also get Lowell lights pretty cheap. 500-1000 wat lights can really light up a place 

You get a certain magic look with old tungsten lights. I am not trying to say you can't get good results with LED's though. If they are more convenient and in the budget go for it. 

[IronFilm]

GH4? How about the ancient GH2 at 10,000 ISO....

 

 

[kaylee]

@IronFilm wellll thats rather astounding lol BUT it just so happens that my buddy/dp HAS a G4H......

 

 

the plot thickens ?

[kaylee]

On 9/13/2019 at 7:19 PM, newfoundmass said:

What lenses do you have? The Panasonic 25mm f/1.7 is really cheap new or used. There's also a lot of fast vintage glass out there: you can get the Minolta Rokkor-X 50mm f/1.7 for well under $50, or the 50mm f/1.4 for around $50-75. I am just getting my feet wet in some narrative work and I love my Minolta primes; they have such great character. Just lovely glass.

still waiting to hear what lenses my dp buddy has, hes on vacation and im tryin not to bother him lol

great suggestions, thank you @newfoundmass – id definitely like to shoot as wide as possible, and a fast realllly wide lens would be great too (like crazy wide). v open to old glass, the weirder the better for this shoot...!