New Firmware Available!

[Jeff Hinson]

Thanks so much for your advice
I read your earlier post on using the Pmode so I'm practicing with that now

[Jeff Harper]

Excellent, Jeff. I am not a skilled shooter, and when got my first GH2s I jumped into doing weddings with them almost immediately, and it was not fun, by any stretch of the imagination.

If I had know about P mode, my first few weddings would have gone SO much better, and would have turned out nicer. Once I started using it, I was able to focus on the lenses and other things. Even in P mode you will still be forced to use features of the camera to overcome backlighting, etc. You can use the dial on the front right hand side of the camera to brighten up the image, or reduce exposure. You watch the graph at the bottom of the screen, push/depress the dial in front, and then rotate it to change exposure compensation, and then you can deal with pretty much anything. If you can master that dial, which is pretty simple, you can shoot anything without a need to leave P mode.

Of course, any experienced photographer will tell us that we need to learn the basics of adjusting shutter speed and exposure for conditions to achieve best results, and they are absolutely correct, but for the beginning I think P mode is fine.

Ideally, I like to shoot manually or in S mode, and set my shutter speed where I want it, but for run and gun work it's not often practical for me to do so, and I often end up in P mode, as I am usually tending to four cameras at once. For receptions I run in S mode a lot and set them all to a good shutter speed, but honestly, I often can't tell the difference from shooting in P mode. Outdoors I really l like manual for artistic stuff.

[Jeff Hinson]

Yes Jeff we are on the same page
The only business that pays anything for me right now are
weddings.
I need to get that going first and the P mode seems like the solution

Music videos my first love will have to wait until I master the manual mode.
Please keep me informed on your wedding set ups

[Jeff Harper]

Sure thing. If you need suggestions let me know. I moved away from using 4 GH cameras, to three and one video camera, but will be adding another XA10 or something for spring.

Last wedding I attached a GH2 with the 20mm F/1.7 to a magic arm type device, attached it to the side of a pew in the rear, and got pretty cool shot of the processional, and did something similar from the front of the church at the same time using the 12mm F/2.0. I got some stunning shots.

The 12mm F/2.0 is priceless for the processional, and can be used in so many ways. When used in the rear as a static cam pointed at the door, it's fantastic, but it also captures a mean image from the front, so it's always tough to choose where I'm going to use that lens. Attached to the side of a pew down front, you get a nice shot of the entire "stage" and a guaranteed great shot for the duration of the ceremony. Because of the deeper depth of field with that lens, focus is very good on most players, and is an invaluable shot for me.

[Jeff Hinson]

Jeff
You have a lot of guts or you're really crazy
My kind of guy. Ha

Thanks for the input

[Jeff Harper]

Well Jeff, anyone that will shoot 30+ weddings or more in a season using 4 cameras by him/herself can only be insane. If you aren't crazy to begin with, you will be crazy when the editing starts.

[Jeff Hinson]

Wow Jeff....
That's great. Id like to have that much business. Encouraging to say the least.
Well, Id better get busy and learn how to use my equipment..
Stay tuned...for question.

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Jeff Harper

For a beginner, if you haven't already been told, put the dial on the movie icon. Choose your record mode in the menu. Choose Manual Movie mode unless you want 24p.

With the new V1.1 firmware if you choose High Bit Rate (HBR) in Creative Movie Mode you will be using 30p(NTSC) or 25p(PAL).

[Jeff Hinson]

Nigel,
thanks for confirming the HBR is 30P

Jeff

[Jeff Harper]

Jeff, just so you know, I've been doing wedding stuff since the 80s, so having 30 weddings during the summer/fall is not impressive to me, but I understand if your relatively new it can sound like a lot. I have friends that shoot eight weddings in a weekend, and they do a couple hundred a year, so I'm really small fish. I also have acquaintances that charge $5k or more for weddings, and they book more than I do. The one guy is considered among the best U.S. depending on who you ask. He's won a lot of awards at WEVA, so against this backdrop I look somewhat insignificant from where I sit.

So I'm not only small, but I'm definitely in the low-end of the market. It's easy to get the business, the hard part is handling it. Since spring I probably shot maybe 35, but I truthfully have no firm idea, I haven't counted it up, plus corporate stuff, and it's a lot to handle. In other words, be careful what you wish for!

[Dennis Vogel]

Originally Posted by Jeff Harper

For a beginner, if you haven't already been told, put the dial on the movie icon. Choose your record mode in the menu. Choose Manual Movie mode unless you want 24p.

To get shooting immediately, you can use the Q menu button to navigate sideways to the S -P-M-A modes, and choose program mode, (I'm not referring to the dial on top of the camera) it will allow you to set white balance, but will do the rest for you, shutter speed, aperture, etc. You can record a wedding or anything in P mode, and you'll be fine. It's not ideal to shoot in P mode, but pretty darn close, and is a good way to start out. Some people recommend starting out in M mode, or S mode, etc, but I don't agree, because you also have to learn how to handle focusing the camera on your subject, and that in itself is a whole other thing.

So by starting in the P mode, you can shoot as if you're using a video camera, and then you only have to concentrate on focusing, which is another lesson for another day.

Thanks. This is really great stuff. Far easier to grasp than the &$*@# manual.

For many years I shot full manual 35 mm stills. Then I had a few pocket, fully auto cams. Eventually I went to a tape-based DV cam. I've forgotten a lot of my old photo techniques so having this kind of hint for us GH2 newbies is really great. Next time I go out to shoot, I'll try the P mode and see how it goes.

Feel free to throw out any more tips for us newbies.

D

[Roy Feldman]

Actually the new Firmware is not 30p or 25p but is wrapped in a interlaced package

[Jeff Hinson]

Roy.............oh no.

Just when I think Im beginning to get a handle on things...here you come along. haha

I shoot an Canon XHA1 at 30 p....so I guess the closest to the Canons 30P is the G2 HBR...right?
Im trying to get as close as possible to editing both cams in CS5

I think Im gonna start a NEWBIE thread...Ive got a zillion questions and dont want to bore the pros.

Look for me......I need all the help I can get. The manual leaves me frustrated...who wrote that thing. Ha

Jeff Hinson

[Andrew Rowe]

I think the XHA1 only does "30F" not 30p. Canon's "30F" is none other than... 30p in a 60i wrapper, so it is hopefully identical to the GH2's HBR mode, and the two should work perfectly together on the same timeline [different codecs allowing]. In theory.

Am I right in thinking that the GH2's NTSC HBR mode is actually 29.97fps as the 60i wrapper suggests? I know the 24p mode is 23.98fps even on the PAL models - a consideration if intercutting with true 24p cameras. Why can't Panasonic call a spade a spade?

[Jeff Hinson]

@ Andrew...

Yes...mixed footage from both GH2 and XHA1 today on the same timeline. Works perfectly.
Im glad the firmware update gave me 30P HD...easy to work with and video looks great.

Thanks for the comment Andrew...

Jeff H.