Jon de Zwaan

Here is the narrative music video 'Don't Stop' that I have directed & shot with my lovely BMCC :
 

 
+ few DNGs to play with : https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...tStop_DNGs.zip

Lenses used : 21 & 35mm Zeiss CP.2 - Tokina 11-16 + Mikkro Nikkor 55mm AI-S
Softwares used : Resolve 9 - FCPX - After Effect and Mocha Pro

I would love to get some feedback

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Produced & directed by MARC LINNHOFF - marclinnhoff.com
Music by BROAD RUSH get the full version here : hook-up.fr/broad-rush-dont-stop/
Backstage photos from P-mod : flickriver.com/photos/p-mod/sets/72157633312056426/

Starring : Joffrey Schmidt - Clarisse Hagenmuller - Denis Jelly - Nina Schouler - Pierre Riff

Camera & post-production : Marc Linnhoff
Lighting : Ludovic Haas - Dom Pichard/P-mod
Make up : Anne-K Lejeal - Elsa Parmentier

Special thanks to Yoko Tsuji, Jacques Roth, Tsaki, Arnaud Masson, Jessi & Michel..
 

Andrew, please excuse my curiosity, but why did you delete the previous post which contained some criticism? If he was talking nonsense, you could have easily responded with some facts. Now it feels like he did have a point and you acted like the Russian dictator on that other forum.
 
Not that I doubt your integrity or honesty and I haven't bought the book, but if it contains a lot of research done by the Magic Lantern team, maybe you could consider donating a small part of the profit to them.
 
Nonetheless thanks for making our lifes easy with your website and books!

I guess we all assumed stuff. The OP was talking about a non-IS lens being usable even on a tripod. We respond supporting ourselves in personal experience, I believe. Then the thread starts drifting and we end up discussing whatever it is drove our attention away. For the last 20 posts I was thinking the OP wanted to shoot handheld with the 200mm! haha

But to summarize, I'll add my list of 2 cents.

1. It's hard to discuss stuff when we don't share the same language, and I'm talking about mere technical terms (or not so technical). I assumed "handheld" was about literally holding a camera with your bare hands, no support whatsoever. IS does help, using a non-IS lens is jittery as hell. And that's talking about a 200mm on a full frame camera. 'Cause it becomes around 300 on a super35 sensor or an APS-C sensor. Then 400mm on a MFT sensor! So unless we agree on the camera, it's hard to say how bad or good it will look.
There's definitely a "handheld look" as opposed to using a camera "handheld" or shooting with a "handycam". If I shoot with a shoulder support I wouldn't say I'm shooting handheld, but I'm definitely getting a handheld shot. So there's that, if it means anything to you.

2. I shot a documentary last monday with just my 28mm, 50mm and 135mm (and sadly, my 14-42mm kit) on my GH2. 50mm is as far as I'd go when shooting handheld (that is, using my bare hands). I like to think I've pretty steady hands. But 135mm (270mm on 35mm equivalent) is crappy footage altoghether, of course. But when I put on my shoulder rig, things start to look sweeter (although I really really miss IS). In other instances, some kind of support like a monopod or a tripod acting as one (of course, the ultimate weapon is a proper tripod, with which I've managed to get awesome pictures using EX Tele on the 135mm). I could put together a private popurri if you want to see those shots.

3. About IS not working handheld on a 200mm lens, markm... I used the HV series (HV20, 30 and 40) for a couple of years almost daily. I loved it, and still do. They all have image stabilization AND rolling shutter and shooting at their maximum 10x zoom was the equivalent to 430mm in 35mm terms. I'm not gonna say it was the best footage out there, but it was certainly useable. So I can say tele shots with IS do work. And of course, on the other hand, I would've never achieved them without it.
Here's a promo video I made to sell my cam with many shots I made through the years, and there you can see many long tele shots (like the little Beagle's ass, the two Jehova Witnesses on the building, the road/plane shot which reads "CON MUCHO ZOOM...", the crowd shot of Fito Paez's scenario...)

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmgWXuQLQgM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmgWXuQLQgM[/url]

Great, thanks! You got it right at last, we're talking about the difference between the look of 'handheld' footage and the way you're holding a cam. Don't mess those things up. When you're shooting shoulder or chestmounted you get (most of the times) the look of handheld footage, so that's why it's called handheld.
 
Handheld in the way you describe as holding the camera with just two hands only is only 'doable' with smaller cams for a short period of time. With the larger cams, like the pdw-700, holding it like that means you can't pull focus or zoom at the same time, even pulling focus alone will mean you have to support a 10/15 kilograms beast with just one hand, good luck in getting usable footage for longer than let's say 20 seconds. In my experience you're always looking for a third point of support, it might be a part of your body, a wall or the floor, it's just for keeping the cam steady, the motion in control and getting the shot right.
 
But let's end this discussion and agree that 200mm on crop and handheld isn't recommended to say the least.

Remember the GH2 has the EX tele conversion mode. It's very useful when shooting in decent light, so with one prime you actually have two focal lenghts available.

Otherwise I have to agree with the others, there are no cheap zoom lenses that offer the same iq as decent fast primes.

If you're able to spend a bit more money you could take a look at the Tokina 28-70mm f2.8. It's a bit long on the wide end, but it has constant aperture and is not that expensive.

Another option is to dig into c-mount lenses. There are plenty of dirt cheap fast tv-zooms, but most of the time you'll need to modify the mount and use the EX tele mode, because of the vignetting.

Good luck!

Remember the GH2 has the EX tele conversion mode. It's very useful when shooting in decent light, so with one prime you actually have two focal lenghts available.

Otherwise I have to agree with the others, there are no cheap zoom lenses that offer the same iq as decent fast primes.

If you're able to spend a bit more money you could take a look at the Tokina 28-70mm f2.8. It's a bit long on the wide end, but it has constant aperture and is not that expensive.

Another option is to dig into c-mount lenses. There are plenty of dirt cheap fast tv-zooms, but most of the time you'll need to modify the mount and use the EX tele mode, because of the vignetting.

Good luck!

Those MTS files are your footage. FCPX probably added some metadata to the files making them unreadable by the GH2.

You'd better convert them to an edit friendly format and back up your footage before you freakout again.

If footage is really important and money is involved, back up first! At least this is my experience working with different production company's.

Search both lenses on vimeo, like "Panasonic 14mm gh2" and "Rokinon 14mm gh2" (you can replace rokinon with samyang, if you don't find any matches). Look at the images and decide which one of the two you like best.
With the panny being faster, the Rokinon has an aperture ring (even clickless with the cine version), which could be an advantage over the panny with video. The rokinon is larger and you have to buy another adapter for it, Nikon or EF to m43. The rokinon also has no filter ring, only a mattebox will be an option for using filters.

My two cents; If you're looking for a cinematic like image, go for the rokinon or the SLR magic.
If you just want a cheap fast wideangle prime, buy the Panasonic.

A fast wide-angle prime is the SLR Magic Hyperprime 12mm f1.6. It's not that cheap, but very fast and wide.

I suppose you already have the kitlens? It starts at 14mm, so if that's wide enough for you and you just need a faster lens, the panny 14mm f2.5 will suit you fine.

Hello everyone,

I'm relatively new here considering my post count, but I've been reading these forums for quite a long time now and I'm at the brink of buying a Panasonic GH2.

So first of all, which kit to buy? I think I will use this camera mainly for run and gun docu/event shoots (low-light?!), but I like to do some pseudo-artistic hobby shoots from time to time as well.

I thought of these options;

1. GH2 with 14-140mm kit and a Voigtländer 25mm.

2. GH2 body (or with the 14-42mm, as there's not much of a difference in price) with a Rokinon/Samyang 24mm and 35mm cine lens. Or should I wait for a longer focal length cine lens as 24 and 35mm do not make such a huge difference for a starter kit, right?

Both kits end up being somewhat in the same price range, but I'm a little bit concerned with investing a lot of money in a M43 lens collection, that's why I added option 2. I also like the Cine-versions of the Rokinon lenses, as they've got click-less aperture and follow-focus gears (I already have a Gini rig with Follow Focus).

With the Voigtländer being a F0.95 lens and the Rokinon a T1.4, is it a night and day difference in lowlight? (If you'll pardon the pun and ignore the lowlight performance of the GH2 in general).

Second question, filters. Should I buy a 77mm variable ND (with step-up rings of course) or should I invest in a mattebox with 4x4 filters. Which of these two options will bring me longterm value for money and convenience? What are their pros and cons?

Well, thanks for reading.

Jon