Home from Mexico now. Two fast trips - first to scout and prep - then a day and a half home before returning to Mexico City to shoot.
The video has turned out well. We got quite a lot done on a short schedule and a tight budget. Protasio came across with a charismatic presence and the song moves the video along. At some point I'll have some images to post, but for now - only memories of a unique location, a wonderful crew, a limited budget and a great experience.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Panasonic GH-1 - HDSLR
So there seems to be a new SLR camera with HD capabilities every month. It's hard to keep up.
In the past few months I've had the opportunity to shoot on the Canon 5d Mark II, the 7d Mark II and the Panasonic Lumix GH-1. All work. I suppose to say that one is better than the others would have to be qualified according to the criteria used - the specific needs of the project being shot. All have their place, their strengths and shortcomings. But one thing is for sure. As long as there is a camera that will record motion video, it will be used to make a film. This seems even more true when that image is HD.
One thing that makes HDSLRs workable in a production environment is the growing list of third party accessories that are becoming available? There are brackets, and mounts, and mixers and a wide variety of quality accessories that add flexibility and reliability to these camera systems.
On this video for Swiss recording artist Patje - the accessories that most served us were the HOTRODS PL ADAPTER which allowed us to mount standard motion picture PL mount lenses on the camera. Of course, then the lenses themselves. A Novoflex Nikon to micro 4/3 adapter (Later this year HotRodCameras may have their own Nikon to micro 4/3s adapter out, but until then, the Novoflex is the best I have tried.) This allowed me to use a range of Nikon series E and series G still lenses. I also used the lens baby composer, and the two zoom lenses provided by Panasonic for their camera.
Another accessory that became invaluable was a second Panasonic Lumix camera - the DMC - LX2. When we mounted the GH1 on the steadicam, a limitation in the design became problematic - the camera does not output a video signal to an external monitor while recording. So the challenge became "how does one operate a steadicam without the monitor" By mounting the LX2 on a flex arm behind the GH -1 and using the manual macro focus function, we were able to shoot full frame, the LCD on the back of the GH1. Then using the video out from the LX2 - we sent that video signal to the steadicam monitor and were able to both shoot HD as well as record the SD video on the LX2 of the LCD - to give an alternative image for use in editing.
Admittedly it was a work around, but it worked and put our problem solving skills to the test.
In the end, the video turned out well. The images are for the most part quite good. There is some banding in non detailed backgrounds and also in atmospheric smoke effects - due to the large degree of compression. A 16gb class 6 SD card hold about 2 hours of HD video - If they reduced the compression - or offered a choice to a lesser degree of compression - I recommend 1 minute per gb - then perhaps some of the banding and compression artifacts that are present could be minimized considerably.
But even with these artifacts - the GH-1 is remarkable at the price of $1600 with 14-140mm zoom - and with consideration given to production design, lighting and the compression characteristics of the camera, many of the artifacts can be limited through careful shot design and execution.
In fairness I should say that compression always has challenges with smoke and dark uniform backgrounds with little detail. So this challenge and these shortcomings are not unique to the GH1.
In the past few months I've had the opportunity to shoot on the Canon 5d Mark II, the 7d Mark II and the Panasonic Lumix GH-1. All work. I suppose to say that one is better than the others would have to be qualified according to the criteria used - the specific needs of the project being shot. All have their place, their strengths and shortcomings. But one thing is for sure. As long as there is a camera that will record motion video, it will be used to make a film. This seems even more true when that image is HD.
One thing that makes HDSLRs workable in a production environment is the growing list of third party accessories that are becoming available? There are brackets, and mounts, and mixers and a wide variety of quality accessories that add flexibility and reliability to these camera systems.
On this video for Swiss recording artist Patje - the accessories that most served us were the HOTRODS PL ADAPTER which allowed us to mount standard motion picture PL mount lenses on the camera. Of course, then the lenses themselves. A Novoflex Nikon to micro 4/3 adapter (Later this year HotRodCameras may have their own Nikon to micro 4/3s adapter out, but until then, the Novoflex is the best I have tried.) This allowed me to use a range of Nikon series E and series G still lenses. I also used the lens baby composer, and the two zoom lenses provided by Panasonic for their camera.
Another accessory that became invaluable was a second Panasonic Lumix camera - the DMC - LX2. When we mounted the GH1 on the steadicam, a limitation in the design became problematic - the camera does not output a video signal to an external monitor while recording. So the challenge became "how does one operate a steadicam without the monitor" By mounting the LX2 on a flex arm behind the GH -1 and using the manual macro focus function, we were able to shoot full frame, the LCD on the back of the GH1. Then using the video out from the LX2 - we sent that video signal to the steadicam monitor and were able to both shoot HD as well as record the SD video on the LX2 of the LCD - to give an alternative image for use in editing.
Admittedly it was a work around, but it worked and put our problem solving skills to the test.
In the end, the video turned out well. The images are for the most part quite good. There is some banding in non detailed backgrounds and also in atmospheric smoke effects - due to the large degree of compression. A 16gb class 6 SD card hold about 2 hours of HD video - If they reduced the compression - or offered a choice to a lesser degree of compression - I recommend 1 minute per gb - then perhaps some of the banding and compression artifacts that are present could be minimized considerably.
But even with these artifacts - the GH-1 is remarkable at the price of $1600 with 14-140mm zoom - and with consideration given to production design, lighting and the compression characteristics of the camera, many of the artifacts can be limited through careful shot design and execution.
In fairness I should say that compression always has challenges with smoke and dark uniform backgrounds with little detail. So this challenge and these shortcomings are not unique to the GH1.
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