Panasonic Lumix GH1
Time for the first ever guest post on Jules.tv. Freelance Director Joe Shaw shares his experience of using the new HD Video shooting Panasonic GH1.
Cut to Joe:
“I had my first opportunity to test the Panasonic GH1 out recently and took the camera out to the Thames Barrier Park in London. The park has 22 acres of lawns, trees and a fantastic formal garden that echoes the unique architecture of the Barrier.
The first enjoyment of using this rig for me was the sheer portability of it. I’m used to lugging a Panasonic HVX200 around and with a 35mm lens adapter attached plus a heavy duty tripod… Since this was the hottest day of the year so far, I felt a sense of relief every time I looked down at my lightweight backpack.
Another benefit of shooting with such a small camera is that it allows you to be more inconspicuous. I was paid little attention – and this allowed me to capture some nice candid moments of people relaxing in the sunshine.
The camera was great to use. The viewfinder is bright and detailed and has a dioptric adjustment for glasses wearers such as myself. Under normal conditions, the LCD screen is very good – I particularly like the fact that it can articulate into different positions, allowing you to see the screen clearly whilst shooting at all sorts of angles. But in bright sunlight it is hard to see properly – particularly as it is highly reflective. I’m considering the particularly funky Sock Loupe to deal with this issue.
Another consideration in the bright light is getting a decent exposure. I wanted to achieve shallow depth of field and in order to do that you need to open up the aperture. However, as the camera has no ND (Neutral Density) filters built into it – as a video camera might – there is no way of restricting the light coming into the camera.
I bought the Cokin P series filter mount which holds up to 4 filters and was suddenly transported back to my days of stills photography. The camera is extremely sensitive to light and I will need to buy more ND filters for future use.
One of the beauties of the GH1 s how adaptable it is. There are a large number of adapters available online to allow you to mount lenses from different camera systems to the body of the GH1. I’ve picked up a few Canon FD primes on Ebay – (28mm 2.8, 50mm 1.4, 100mm 2.8) for use with my SGPro 35mm adapter, but with an adapter they worked great on the GH1. I used the Jinfinance, which is a well made adapter that screws neatly and simply onto the lens and then onto the GH1 body.
One thing to bear in mind is that the Panasonic uses the micro Four Thirds system, which means that when you mount a 35mm still lens on the camera it will have an equivalent focal length of 2x. This means that a 50mm lens will have the look of a 100mm lens in 35mm terms.
I shot most of the Thames Barrier Park film in FHD mode – this is the camera’s full HD 1080/25 AVCHD mode. There has been a lot written about the quality of the codec in this mode. I would say best on my brief experimentation so far that the codec in this mode can cause you problems. The picture can break up if you move the camera too quickly – but this can be planned for and avoided. However, I did notice some artifacting even in static shots – high detail scenes such as foliage seem to be particularly problematic.
That said, the camera does have a fantastic 720/50 mode. All of the slow motion shots in the film were done in this mode. The codec appears to be much more robust in 720 and anything fast moving or that required quick camera movement should be shot in this mode for best results. As a bonus, since it is 720/50 – dropping the footage onto a 25p timeline allows for very simple and effective slow motion. This is achieved differently in various NLE’s, but in Edius – my editing setup – I simply dropped the footage onto a 25p timeline and changed the speed to 50%.
I’m already looking forward to my next outing with the camera and can see this being an extremely useful part of my kit. For lowlight work, or where I need to be compact and portable, the camera is perfect. Using a DSLR to shoot video also has the added benefit of being able to deliver high quality to stills to clients as well – all from the same unit.
For audio, I’m about to invest in a Zoom H4N recorder. This is an extremely popular option for recording sound with a DSLR. Compact and able to record on 4 channels simultaneously, the H4N can also provide phantom power via XLR – which means the mics I have for the HVX200 will work great with it.
In September I’m off to Hong Kong to start work on a long-term documentary following new students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The fact that this setup is so portable means it will be my first choice for kit for the shoot – which is remarkable considering the cost of the camera. My HVX200 is going to have to sit this trip out …”
To find out more about Joe Shaw please visit his website.
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