gh4 shooters: how do you use your camera?

[Rob Katz]

gh4 shooters: how do you use your camera?

those who are using the gh4, what are you shooting?

docs? corp promo? event? music vids? interviews?

do you shoot 4k and down-rez internally to 1080?

what do you do for sound?

sound person or you handle your own double system?

do you rig up your gh4 or are you primarily on sticks?

biggest drawback using the gh4?

greatest asset of the gh4?

thanks in advance for any and all info.

(and i ask as a sony fs100 shooter of mostly indoor interviews)

be well.

rob
smalltalk productions/nyc

[Noa Put]

those who are using the gh4, what are you shooting?

Weddings, small companyvideos which including doing interviews.

do you shoot 4k and down-rez internally to 1080?

I only shoot 1080p if I need 50p for slowmotion, otherwise I shoot 4k, then downscale.

what do you do for sound?

I have a Tascam TM-2X for ambient sound and I rely on external audio recorders for all my other audio.

do you rig up your gh4 or are you primarily on sticks?

I use it on a monopod, tripod, slider, steadicam and handheld.

biggest drawback using the gh4?

Low light is not that great, I do shoot at 6400 iso when needed without having to clean up with neatvideo, eventhough there is noise visible it's a very fine grain. Wish the camera could shoot clean video at 12800 iso allthough 6400iso with a fast lens gets me through even the darkest weddings.

Cropfactor when shooting 4K, 12mm f1.6 is about the widest fast lens you can get for m4/3. 12mm is ok to use but I sometimes wish I could go wider while retaining the same f-stop.


greatest asset of the gh4?

Small, light (take a 5dIII and a 70-200 and compare that with a gh4 and the 35-100), fast autofocus, relatively cheap m4/3 high end lenses (compared to canon or nikon alternatives), very detailed image, will take about any lens with a adapter, several bitrates/resolutions/framerates to choose from.

Dof is more manageable, you can get very shallow dof but need very fast lenses (like f0.95), if I would put a gh4 with a 12mm f2.0 on a steadicam I wouldn't have much issue to maintain focus, try that with a full frame.

[Bill Grant]

I would say ditto to Noa except 2 things.
1. I generally run sound directly into the gh4 through a sen G3 if there's only one source. I will run audio recorders if there's more.
2. My favorite thing is the accuracy and flexibility of the image. Usually when I see it in post, it is what I thought it would be. If not, I can adjust it to fit.

[Dave Partington]

Originally Posted by Rob Katz

those who are using the gh4, what are you shooting?
docs? corp promo? event? music vids? interviews?

Typically corporate videos but also some live shows and events.

Originally Posted by Rob Katz

do you shoot 4k and down-rez internally to 1080?

Shoot 4K for everything unless I need slo-mo which I then use with 60 or 96fps 1080.

Originally Posted by Rob Katz

what do you do for sound?

Typically I'll use a Tascam DR-60 with a feed from the DR-60 in to the GH4 so that it records the same stuff. If the GH4 recording is good enough I'll use it, otherwise I'll sync in post (which is trivial since it's identical). The reason for using the DR60 is the dual recording more where I record a second copy 6db lower, just in case there are sound spikes.

Originally Posted by Rob Katz

sound person or you handle your own double system?

Double system.

Originally Posted by Rob Katz

do you rig up your gh4 or are you primarily on sticks?

Primarily tripod mounts, occasionally hand rig.

Originally Posted by Rob Katz

biggest drawback using the gh4?

Not dual cards, no XLR inputs (the XAGH is a joke - I'd buy it it it were $500, had internal batteries etc even without the SDI out - just an XLR input to the camera would be awesome).

Originally Posted by Rob Katz

greatest asset of the gh4?

Small, light, 4K, slo-mo, swivel LCD focus peaking, histograms etc. I'd love vector scopes and waveform monitors too, but here hoping the GH5 has that when ever it arrives.

Since getting the GH4 my C100 has sat in the bag more than it's been used, which is sad.

[Gary Huff]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Cropfactor when shooting 4K, 12mm f1.6 is about the widest fast lens you can get for m4/3.

Currently. The Voigtlander 10mm f/0.95 is coming soon, along with the Olympus 7-14mm f/2.8 early next year.

[Noa Put]

I expect that the 7-14 f2.8 to be very expensive considering the current f4.0 is already as expensive as the 42,5 nocticron which I think is too expensive (yes, I said expensive 3 times, thats how much it costs:)), I find f2.8 too limited for the gh3/4 at dark receptions, my current olympus 12mm f2.0 is my favourite lens on my steadicam and that Voigtlander 10mm f/0.95 would be a great lens as well, especially considering the extra cropfactor in 4k on the gh4.

[Malcolm Hamilton]

Noa, would you need a steadicam to use the new Voigtlander 10mm f/0.95 for video?
Also—do you think the new Voigtlander would allow for a nice shallow depth of field? For interviews, would it be challenging to keep focus? (is it really, really exact in that sense)
Regards, Malcolm

[Noa Put]

Ofcourse not, it's just a wide lens, you can use that handheld, on a tripod or slider as well and you can get avery shallow dof with such a lens but only if your subject is not too far away from the lens. I would not use this lens for interviews, it depends a bit I guess, normally I"d use a 25 or 45mm for interviews but if I would be doing handheld and run and gun interviews and needed a very fast lens, then that 10mm would be great on the gh4 if you shoot in 4k. Only focussing will be challenging at f0,95 if your subject is up close.

[Gary Huff]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

I expect that the 7-14 f2.8 to be very expensive considering the current f4.0 is already as expensive as the 42,5 nocticron which I think is too expensive (yes, I said expensive 3 times, thats how much it costs:)),

Good, fast, cheap. Pick two.

[Pete Carney]

For me 1080-60p ETC mode at 100mbps. No camera ever made at any price that can compare for long range wildlife motion.

Hahahaha Gary !!! Pick two is so true

That Voigtlander 10.5mm f/0.95 is going to be a very expensive lens at over $1600 USD if I'm not mistaken.

I also think that the crop factor of 2.49x in UHD 4k mode makes even the widest fast primes a bit too long to shoot hand held with the GH4. Putting them on a stabilizer just makes it so much easier to deal with.

Cheers,
Pete

[Noa Put]

I also think that the crop factor of 2.49x in UHD 4k mode makes even the widest fast primes a bit too long to shoot hand held with the GH4. Putting them on a stabilizer just makes it so much easier to deal with.

I shoot handheld with my 12mm olympus lens without having to stabilise in post, I also shoot handheld with my 25mm but that one often needs to be stabilised in post

[Rob Katz]

i have spent the past 2 weeks lurking/looking at various blog & forum posts extolling the virtues of the gh4.

i had the camera in my hands briefly while i was at the b&h booth during this week's ccw and liked the feel but did little else.

i am still worried about finding an adequate audio solution even though i own and use both the tascam dr60 and the sound devices mix pre-d.

from what i have seen on the web, i'm impressed.

i have seen footage that leans more towards "video" and footage that screams "film".

i shoot mostly for the web, public presentation venues (museums/hotels) and occasionally, broadcast.

i shoot lots of talking head footage, often working with smallish crews. most of the interviews are lit even though the lighting often mirrors the look and feel of "natural" or "ambient" light.

i cut in fcp7 on a mac pro running 10.6.8. this is the year i want to leap into mavericks os and finally decide between fcp x or premiere cc.

i'm getting closer to buying but feel no time pressure. i am much busier in the spring/summer/fall than in winter. i would like to be fully adapted to a new rig by the end of the march 2015.

i very much appreciate those who have shared their thoughts.

be well.

rob
smalltalk productions/nyc

[Dave Sperling]

One thing that I haven't noticed in too many mentions is the use of the GH4 as a second (unmanned) camera angle for interviews. I've done some 2-camera interviews - two angles on the same subject - using the A7s and the GH4 (both owned by the producer,) The less shallow DOF of the MFT sensor allows it to remain in focus through some minor movement by the interview subject when the GH4 has the wider framing. The editor can adjust framing in post if necessary because we record in 4K. Meanwhile the really shallow DOF of the A7s gives us the dramatic soft backgrounds, but requires constant monitoring and operator adjustment. Low light b-roll always goes to the A7s, while brightly lit most often goes to the GH4. Surprisingly enough the two cameras seem to intercut nicely with only a bit of post color adjustment. Yagh unit gives us XLR inputs for audio, so the GH4 becomes the audio master.

[Dave Partington]

Originally Posted by Dave Sperling

One thing that I haven't noticed in too many mentions is the use of the GH4 as a second (unmanned) camera angle for interviews. I've done some 2-camera interviews - two angles on the same subject .....

Actually the GH4 replaced my C100 as my main interview camera so I can punch in to the same shot, same eye line etc from the main shot without needing a second angle, but if I do want that then the C100 replaced my 5D3.

So now it's GH4 as main cam and C100 as second cam instead of C100 being 1st and 5D3 the second.

To be fair we in Europe have the disadvantage that the GH4 is still limited to 29m59s, so having it as the unattended camera is still problematic. I suppose if the Atomos Shogun gets around the problem then things could change. Either that or I'll have to nip across the pond and buy a US version of the GH4.

Having said that, I just had to return my GH4 under warranty because the EVF dies (it went 100%magenta - with no visible picture - the LCD was unaffected). Panasonic were made aware it was bing used professionally and turned it around in 2 days. So much for all the cries about Panasonic not having professional services, since they were as good a you can expect from CPS/NPS, of which I've had cause to use in the past. If I bought a US model I'm not sure what I would have had to do for repair.

[Kevin McRoberts]

Very true Dave. I've shot more than a few 2-camera interviews now using the GH4 with various cameras (AF100, C100, GH2). Even at ~f1.4, the subject stays in focus on a wide unless they really get to roving about.

While I haven't used it this way on a paid job, I have tested the 'eye tracking' autofocus on a MCU shot with the 12-35 @35 wide open, subject rocking back and forth. It did a very good job holding subject in focus.