yet another wedding

Thought I"d share this one as it turned out much better then expected, where I was ranting away a few weeks back because I had a wedding where nothing went as expected this time it all went well. When you shoot solo as I you need some very good planning and a set of eye's on your back to secure all that you need to cover that day.

I have followed for many years now what the trends are in weddingvideo and after trying a bit too hard I just decided to just follow my own path, I see too many weddingvideos that all look alike these days that it's hard to tell who has made it, you have the trendsetters that work with high end gear, have 2 or more operators and deliver outstanding work that many other try to copy and I have been one of them, that's a way to learn all the tricks of the trade. I only experienced that shooting solo has quite some limitations, you often have to take it as it comes and choose for cameraangles that are the safest and not necessarily the most creative, especially during live events like a ceremony.
I am still working to improve my workflow, make it easier, faster but try to cover the basics as good as I can and only when time allows, get creative.

I wish I could use my panasonic dslr's all day long, love the image they ouput but still don't have the guts to trade my sony cx730's for continuous recordings, better safe then sorry I guess. :)

Anyways, here's what I put together, if I can maintain that level throughout the season I"m happy.

Svetlana en Peter on Vimeo

[Peter Rush]

Nice work again Noa - do you use a rig for your DSLR? - It's nice and steady!

[Chris Harding]

Nice as usual Noa!

Pete? Noa has a very impressive rig for his Panny DSLR's Check it out on the Solo Shooters forum on DVInfo

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/spc-sing...ml#post1846142

Chris

[Noa Put]

Actually, the first 47 seconds where all done without the rig :) It was a combination of my gh3 and a 25mm f1.4 and my sony rx10 just handheld, then everything between 00:47and 02:03 was shot with my sony cx730 and for all handheld shots it was mounted on my mini shoulderrig, in church I had a second cx730 on a tripod.

For the prep shot I did use the Edius stabilizer to smooth any small shakes, works well on some clips but not all as sometimes you get some weird wobbly effect.

[Craig McKenna]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Actually, the first 47 seconds where all done without the rig :) It was a combination of my gh3 and a 25mm f1.4 and my sony rx10 just handheld, then everything between 00:47and 02:03 was shot with my sony cx730 and for all handheld shots it was mounted on my mini shoulderrig, in church I had a second cx730 on a tripod.

For the prep shot I did use the Edius stabilizer to smooth any small shakes, works well on some clips but not all as sometimes you get some weird wobbly effect.

Great as always Noa! Love the beginning: beautiful transitions and depth of field, which work together simultaneously.

Absolutely love your rig setup for the GH3 too - I have no idea how I would replicate that and have been looking at solutions from Zacuto - all in excess of £1000.

Ultimately though, a great wedding that you can add to your list - as a solo shooter myself - you give me encouragement that I can do this in the future with my own equipment.

Congratulations and I look forward to seeing more from your season - post every single one of them!!! :) I envy the part of the ceremony when they swing the white material around their heads - such an epic part of the weddings you shoot!

[Noa Put]

Thx :) The shoulder rig I have got is the same as the "DSL RIG-120 SHOULDER MOUNT" from proaim which sells for 157 dollar, only mine was without the counterwheight and about 60 dollar cheaper but can't find that one back again. I did cut off the extending part that was supposed to off set the camera and used it to attach the tripod plate on and as extra reinforcement, as I was planning to use the gh3 flipout screen to attach the viewfinder on I didn't need that part. That mini dslr rig is getting used a lot during the wedding day, it aint zacuto build quality but for 1000 dollar pricedifferences I"m willing to make sacrifices :)

The white material are napkins they take from the tables, it's a tradition with every wedding here, they play the "les lacs du Connemara" from Michel Sardou each time. Never knew where this came from but it always is used to get the party started.

[Richard Tatti]

Hey Noa, loved the video.
I'm interested in what tools in Edius you use to grade the footage from the GH3. I use a GH3 and Edius and I'm trying to work my way through all the tools to get the best image.

[Noa Put]

I don't grade my footage, what you see is straight out of the gh3 :)

For this wedding I used the standard preset with all values set to zero, last wedding I did however set the contrast to -3 as I found that my gh3 was a bit too contrasty compared to my sony cx730 and rx10. I don't have a wedding this weekend and plan to take some time to compare presets between cameras so they match a bit better.

[Craig McKenna]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Thx :) The shoulder rig I have got is the same as the "DSL RIG-120 SHOULDER MOUNT" from proaim which sells for 157 dollar, only mine was without the counterwheight and about 60 dollar cheaper but can't find that one back again. I did cut off the extending part that was supposed to off set the camera and used it to attach the tripod plate on and as extra reinforcement, as I was planning to use the gh3 flipout screen to attach the viewfinder on I didn't need that part. That mini dslr rig is getting used a lot during the wedding day, it aint zacuto build quality but for 1000 dollar pricedifferences I"m willing to make sacrifices :)

The white material are napkins they take from the tables, it's a tradition with every wedding here, they play the "les lacs du Connemara" from Michel Sardou each time. Never knew where this came from but it always is used to get the party started.

Stunning Noa! I have checked out the rig! Can't believe you can manage that kind of quality with it... well done!!! I would have shrugged it off as cheap had I not seen your videos! Seriously tempted as I'm starting off... thanks for sharing.

Such a good way to get a party started... I just think that it's a moment to be shot in slow motion (as you always do). Perfect.

I just bought the GH4 Noa... I don't know if you're also going to spring for it - but I'll let you know how I get on with it! It's sold out, but should be here in ten working days (according to the business that I bought it from - CVP - who have always delivered with my tripod and other gear). I needed something that I understand perfectly - and the X800 was too 'auto' and I watched the video that I shot over a ceremony and the footage was too soft and just uncomparable to the GH4... it rendered the X800 worthless in indoor situations... and no amount of colour correction could fix it (might be my own limitations though!) Given that the GH3 is stunning, I just wanted to shoot with two GHs over that and my EM 5. Looking forward to my next wedding now - just need to purchase some audio equipment next!

[Noa Put]

Yeah, planning to get the gh4 as well, only it's still not available in BE and NL stores right now and they have no idea when it's going to be delivered, only option is for a pre-order but I"ll wait until it's in stock. I plan to sell the g6 and still not sure what to do with the rx10, I used the rx10 mainly at the photoshoot the last 3 weddings and did combine photo/video where the photos where only to be used for the dvdcover, I must say the images look very nice, I shot in raw and edited the photos in lightroom. If only it wasn't for that bloody slow zoom.

Last wedding I also used the rx10 during a act that friends of the groom did at the evening party, they did some silly games and I used the rx10 handheld to continuously cover it. I think it was about 20 minutes shooting without stopping and it worked out fine, only at a certain point they had to do some assignments and had to run into the venue. Normally I would have used the zoom to follow the action but that was virtually impossible now so was shooting wide almost all the time. I was afraid if I zoomed in too much and if something close to me would happen it would take way too long to reframe. If I sell it I"m getting a 35-100mm pana lens instead for my GH camera's and for any run and gun stuff I"ll continue to use my sony cx730's.

[Craig McKenna]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Yeah, planning to get the gh4 as well, only it's still not available in BE and NL stores right now and they have no idea when it's going to be delivered, only option is for a pre-order but I"ll wait until it's in stock. I plan to sell the g6 and still not sure what to do with the rx10, I used the rx10 mainly at the photoshoot the last 3 weddings and did combine photo/video where the photos where only to be used for the dvdcover, I must say the images look very nice, I shot in raw and edited the photos in lightroom. If only it wasn't for that bloody slow zoom.

Last wedding I also used the rx10 during a act that friends of the groom did at the evening party, they did some silly games and I used the rx10 handheld to continuously cover it. I think it was about 20 minutes shooting without stopping and it worked out fine, only at a certain point they had to do some assignments and had to run into the venue. Normally I would have used the zoom to follow the action but that was virtually impossible now so was shooting wide almost all the time. I was afraid if I zoomed in too much and if something close to me would happen it would take way too long to reframe. If I sell it I"m getting a 35-100mm pana lens instead for my GH camera's and for any run and gun stuff I"ll continue to use my sony cx730's.

Cool... look forward to hearing your choices of modes when it comes to the GH4 - it sounds incredibly comprehensive! Haha at the rx10! Out of interest, how many images do you shoot for the DVD cover? I managed to get six useable shots in two minutes of shooting with my GH3 at the wedding I did... love the 75mm for its sharpness and then just shot at 2.8 or something like that with continuous mode set.

Sounds good. I too long for the 35-100. I almost sprung for that a while back, but invested instead on some other equipment. Keep looking at it, and it keeps going up in price too - don't know why they aren't flooding the market with these and lowering the price... frustrating.

Either way, glad your wedding season is going well Noa!

[Roger Van Duyn]

Wow Noa! Great job!

[Noa Put]

Thx Roger, I just see now you commented, I like my latest video even better but it had a awesome location :) : http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/open-dv-...ml#post1848358

[Mark Whittle]

Excellent work, Noa.

I love the shot with the birds flying in the background. The way you framed these shots is brilliant.

The pressure of being a one man team and still getting the money shots without missing the must have shots. You make it work. I have resorted to taking my wife or an assistant along most of the time just to ease the stress on me, both mentally and physically. Those packages where they aren't paying for a second person, my wife sometimes still comes just to carry gear and do the driving.

Tell me, do you feel completely exhausted the next day?

[Chris Harding]

Hey Mark

I've know Noa for a while and I can assure you we have it really easy here. Noa often will start in the morning and be very lucky to finish in the early hours of the following morning. I told him once I finish after the first dance on almost all my packages so I'm home by 10:00pm ... he said his weddings can quite easily do their first dance after midnight!! I don't know how he manages to keep up!!

I'm actually doing a wedding in your neck of the woods in December this year in Dunsborough . For me that's a bit of hard work due to the extra driving but Noa often also drives fairly long distances as he lives out of the city.

Chris