Hands-up who remembers Francis Ford Coppola preferring the GH2

[IronFilm]

That camera shoot out was one of the factors which pushed me towards buying the Panasonic GH1 (because I was too broke as a film school student to buy the new GH2). 

 

8 hours ago, noone said:

Great idea but I just spent my last "spare*" money on a new flash and an old 60-120 2.8 lens a few hours before.

Is that the Tokina? Interesting, I hadn't heard of it before, the 60-120mm focal range is an unusual one for a f2.8 zoom!

http://www.rokkorfiles.com/60-120mm.htm

  

22 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

 Passion, hunger, creativity and a $700 camera.

It is a pity that the flagship GH series no longer costs $700, instead it was released at 3x that price!
  

4 hours ago, MurtlandPhoto said:

Thus emphasizing that the other aspects of filmmaking like lighting, audio, blocking, and story are things to focus on.

Yes, please spend more on audio than on new camera bodies 😉

[noone]

2 hours ago, IronFilm said:

 

Is that the Tokina? Interesting, I hadn't heard of it before, the 60-120mm focal range is an unusual one for a f2.8 zoom!

http://www.rokkorfiles.com/60-120mm.htm

  

I

Yes.

Years ago when i used Pentax DSLRs I was after a manual focus 2.8 mid range zoom but they were always beyond me.     When i could afford one, this was one of the lenses i was looking at but they are rare and the ones that were available to me were pretty much all from Japan and had issues (EG fungus).      The best I could do was the Tamron 70-210 3.5 (model 19ah) a lovely lens but big as well as a heap of slower manual focus zooms (mostly not worth much).

I have been broke for the last few years and got rid of many of my old lenses but can MAYBE afford a new AF portrait lens for my A7s soonish  (either that or a Canon RP) so was looking for one but then kept going and came across this and it sat there for a week or more in near mint condition for $150 Australian FD mount.     The few photos i have seen from it have wonderful bokeh and it seems it MIGHT be a fantastic portrait lens but pretty poor for some other uses (IE can have a lot of fringing and does not tolerate bright light sources in front flare wise).

I any event, I think it is worth it to FINALLY see what i was after for so long.     Should turn up in a few days,

If someone made an auto focus  version of this I would KILL for it.

 

 

[majoraxis]

My start was with a hacked GH1.  The bummer was that the pictures it took looked like they came from  a movie camera, but when you recorded to 1080p it lost the high dynamic range look of the photos.

I’m glad the days of the Panasonic hacks and 8 bit recording are over.  Give me a GH5 in internal 10bit 4:2:2 and I can get a good image in a studio environment.

Give me a Pocket 6k with 12 bit BRAW and I can get a good image out doors in day light and night time in low light as well.

 All. hail Tester 13 and his GH1 hack... that was when we were living the Indy film making dream. Just add some Loma Anamorphic lenses to the GH1 and you get this:

 

[Andrew Reid]

6 hours ago, majoraxis said:

My start was with a hacked GH1.  The bummer was that the pictures it took looked like they came from  a movie camera, but when you recorded to 1080p it lost the high dynamic range look of the photos.

I’m glad the days of the Panasonic hacks and 8 bit recording are over.  Give me a GH5 in internal 10bit 4:2:2 and I can get a good image in a studio environment.

Give me a Pocket 6k with 12 bit BRAW and I can get a good image out doors in day light and night time in low light as well.

 All. hail Tester 13 and his GH1 hack... that was when we were living the Indy film making dream. Just add some Loma Anamorphic lenses to the GH1 and you get this:

Looking back on some of my oldest GH1 footage before the hack, the compression is horrific. Looks like a webcam! After the hack it looks much better, but still softer than the GH2. The GH2 really stepped things up, and out of the box before the hack looked much better. I disagree that you can't get nice results outside in natural light with both of the cameras, though.... Dynamic range is not up to V-LOG on the S1 today of course, but dynamic range is not always the answer to cinematic looking composition. It's not the magic bullet. I like a high contrast look very often.

The Pocket 6K image is nice, sure but the V-LOG 10bit on the S1 goes toe to toe with it codec-wise... yet the overall look is much nicer, thanks to the much larger sensor, better low light and the more pleasant shooting experience.

[Emanuel]

WTH lack of love for that, c'mon, and yes, DR is nothing but just another tool, no more no less. They can surely offer much good looking outcome, for Christ's sake, take a look on these recent entries from your contest... Other than aliasing when not under control or a bit of moiré for water shots -- horses for courses... are they bad by any chance? : )

 

That Hills Green piece made my wish to watch the whole thing BTW : -)

[majoraxis]

2 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

Looking back on some of my oldest GH1 footage before the hack, the compression is horrific. Looks like a webcam! After the hack it looks much better, but still softer than the GH2. The GH2 really stepped things up, and out of the box before the hack looked much better. I disagree that you can't get nice results outside in natural light with both of the cameras, though.... Dynamic range is not up to V-LOG on the S1 today of course, but dynamic range is not always the answer to cinematic looking composition. It's not the magic bullet. I like a high contrast look very often.

The Pocket 6K image is nice, sure but the V-LOG 10bit on the S1 goes toe to toe with it codec-wise... yet the overall look is much nicer, thanks to the much larger sensor, better low light and the more pleasant shooting experience.

Agreed.  I even shot great outdoor footage on my NX1 and so did you ; )  (That’s actually why I purchased the NX1 based on your NX1 footage), so it is do able even in 8bit.

I prefer not to shoot vlog on my GH5,, but it sounds like vlog on the S1 is  preferred to standard shooting modes, which is great.

Given the choice, I prefer to shoot BRAW, but that is because that is what I do on my USRA Mini Pro so I am comfortable with the color correcting results.

So it is just a preference.  And again this speaks to the benefits knowing your camera and how you think you can get the best results out of it. 

l’m sure many would say vlog or HLG is the best way to shoot on the GH5, so to each their own.

[thebrothersthre3]

The GH2 definitely had a nice image. I may even prefer it to the GH5 as long as the lighting conditions are decent. Definitely had some of the best HD IQ of its time, at least at that price factor. 

[PannySVHS]

38 minutes ago, thebrothersthre3 said:

The GH2 definitely had a nice image. I may even prefer it to the GH5 as long as the lighting conditions are decent. Definitely had some of the best HD IQ of its time, at least at that price factor. 

Check out the G7. Besides the 4K it has beautiful HD. Much better than GX85, better than G6 and sorefore assumingly better than GH2. HD codecs of GH3 and GH4 are beefier though.

[Emanuel]

G7 is the best bang for the buck ever in that price range. I have four of them, still rolling : -)

[leslie]

On 5/16/2020 at 1:54 AM, noone said:

Great idea but I just spent my last "spare*" money on a new flash and an old 60-120 2.8 lens a few hours before.

 

 

* The electricity bill can wait a couple of weeks overdue.

I hear you, i really do. I have sworn off lenses, till i can save up for a single focus solution for the elmoscope.

 

[Inazuma]

Is there more info on this? What does he prefer it to? Why/who asked the quetion?

[BTM_Pix]

27 minutes ago, Inazuma said:

Is there more info on this? What does he prefer it to? Why/who asked the quetion?

Its the Zacuto Shootout 2012.

Its in 3 parts.

 

[sanveer]

At the beginning of the 2nd part, he mentions his choice of cameras, beginning with the GH2. 

[kye]

I highly recommend for anyone watching this for the first time that you actually write down your impressions before the cameras are revealed, and do it properly, because once they're revealed it's very difficult to remember what you really thought, rather than what you think you thought after all your biases are plastered all over your blind impressions.

Somewhat contrary to prevailing currents, I thought the cameras were in three tiers - best / middle / worst - and I put the GH2 in the worst tier.  I didn't like the colours or the noticeable compression issues.  Interestingly my three tiers were basically in price order, which surprised me as I had my doubts that I would be able to pick that out.  

From memory, the comments from the audience members who preferred the lower-budget cameras were around the colours and contrast, which is a creative choice.  One reason I prefer cameras with higher DR is that you can take a scene and create either a high-contrast or a low-contrast grade from it, but in a high-DR situation you can't create a low-contrast grade from a low-DR camera, so it's a matter of flexibility for me.  Plus I shoot primarily outdoors in available light, so flexibility is more valuable to me than getting the look I want straight out of camera, and I do also prefer a less contrasty more natural look, which also matters.

[Marcio Kabke Pinheiro]

On 5/15/2020 at 7:18 AM, BTM_Pix said:

To spare the expense of buying one, I think you could use a single GH2 if you wanted a video challenge with it.

Start with someone who doesn't mind being parted with it for a while, they make a film over two days with it and then they post it on to the next person who does the same over two days and then sends it on etc until it gets back to the original owner.

Even for people who don't own any MFT lenses there are plenty of adapters on eBay for under £10 so its not going to break the bank to take part.

As forum members are spread out all over the world, it would be quite an interesting project even if the subject was just "one day where I live".

If no one fancies parting with their own GH2, it wouldn't exactly be difficult to throw £10 each into the PayPal account of someone trusted to group buy one off eBay.

I know of a cheap one for sale in Cairo.

Still have my GH2 here, even with the original packaging.

But since I've forgot to sell it when it was pricier, now will keep it, forever probably.

[Emanuel]

I still have three GH1 with us and never will sell them exactly for same reason, Márcio : ) Abraço (E : -)

[noone]

19 hours ago, kye said:

I highly recommend for anyone watching this for the first time that you actually write down your impressions before the cameras are revealed, and do it properly, because once they're revealed it's very difficult to remember what you really thought, rather than what you think you thought after all your biases are plastered all over your blind impressions.

Somewhat contrary to prevailing currents, I thought the cameras were in three tiers - best / middle / worst - and I put the GH2 in the worst tier.  I didn't like the colours or the noticeable compression issues.  Interestingly my three tiers were basically in price order, which surprised me as I had my doubts that I would be able to pick that out.  

From memory, the comments from the audience members who preferred the lower-budget cameras were around the colours and contrast, which is a creative choice.  One reason I prefer cameras with higher DR is that you can take a scene and create either a high-contrast or a low-contrast grade from it, but in a high-DR situation you can't create a low-contrast grade from a low-DR camera, so it's a matter of flexibility for me.  Plus I shoot primarily outdoors in available light, so flexibility is more valuable to me than getting the look I want straight out of camera, and I do also prefer a less contrasty more natural look, which also matters.

I do not think the early M43 cameras were all that great for available light beyond base ISO or just a little higher.

If you can use base ISO it is ok even now I think.

The Gh1 (actually scores a little better on DXO than the GH2) DR for instance is competitive with the Canon 1Dx at base ISO but by ISO 200 is about a stop behind already and by ISO 3200 is almost THREE AND A HALF stops behind (the 1DX is behind newer FF cameras at base but seems to have pretty much the same DR from base through to ISO 800).

My A7s has greater DR at ISO 102400 than the GH1 and the same DR as the GH2 at ISO 3200.

When I can find one cheap enough and have the money then and there I would love one to play with (Gh1 or 2).

[Marcio Kabke Pinheiro]

On 5/18/2020 at 7:13 PM, Emanuel said:

I still have three GH1 with us and never will sell them exactly for same reason, Márcio : ) Abraço (E : -)

Already have decided to leave Brazil after the unavoidable recession diminishes (impossible to live in a country where 30% of the population support inconditionally a genocide president that have ties with organized crime), probably someday we will arrange a meeting between these cameras.

[Emanuel]

2 hours ago, Márcio Kabke Pinheiro said:

Already have decided to leave Brazil after the unavoidable recession diminishes (impossible to live in a country where 30% of the population support inconditionally a genocide president that have ties with organized crime), probably someday we will arrange a meeting between these cameras.

You're really welcome : )

 

Education ties is a critical key unfortunately missed there... : ( Let's hope enlightenment will flourish.

I've heard Regina Duarte resigned today. A Minister drops every week... Two (!) Ministers of Health, the Minister of Justice Moro... just in a few weeks, WOW

Flávio Migliaccio, the Brazilian Jack Lemmon, has just committed suicide : (

Lima Duarte who I had the luck to personally meet and establish a very friendly connection with, when he shot with a former instructor of mine from film school, he looks like a fishbowl with no water in a different planet he did his best trying to educate, one of the richest promised lands worldwide.

The official Minister of Education of today and go figure the Foreign Affairs' guy (who almost had the President's son for Ambassador in Washington with US experience based on his gig background selling fast food and without having clue who Kissinger was, as he himself admitted LOL hilarious to say the least) they look like a pair of clowns in a circus straight down from the hell instead.

So pity all of this and sad to see the mass murder everyday in the news... : -( Mercy for Brazil!

[Inazuma]

On 5/17/2020 at 10:43 PM, BTM_Pix said:

Its the Zacuto Shootout 2012.

Its in 3 parts.

 

Thanks for the links. Like a lot of the audience, I also wrote down B and F as my favourites. I'm quite gob smacked to be honest because when I had the GH2 briefly I didn't love it. But to see the Alexa come second to it here is really quite something! This really makes me question all that time I used to spend comparing the colour and dynamic range of cameras. 

Do we know whether or not their GH2 was modded?

I was also suprised how much I disliked the Epic and high end Sony images.