craigbuckley

This forum has been very good to me in the past few years. I appreciate everything very much ... To be able to continue to shoot video and make movies with your help..
I do have a problem right now regarding my GH2s...
I shot an event recently that required 2 hours of non stop recording on both of my hacked Gh2's (Flowmotion hacks on both). I use two 64 GB SanDisk Extreme PRO 95 SD Cards with this hack.  I shot the event on tripods and everything went smoothly, both cameras recorded a couple hour takes and everything seemed fine. I then got home and put in my SD card into my macbook and  opened up FCPX and only 3 files showed up- the last few clips of the event... I didn't panic because I have had this happen before so I knew to look under my private folder and then AVCHD > BDMV> STREAM  to find .mts files that were my footage.. I then converted them but still lost some footage from the whole mess..
Why does this happen? The hack has been working fine other than this but with this long event shoot, I figured its why my SD card acted funny. It happened on both cameras and it seemed to have happened when I changed batteries during the shoot.
Is there a new hack you recommend? I know the gh2 is old news but are there any new hacks or solid ones?
Thanks again for all the help. This old community.

Probably indeed a problem with the hack.
 
 
 
So it looks the camera was perhaps put off after a longer clip at a high data rate, and the index was not finished.
 
After a long recording, make a very short recording (just 1 or 2 seconds).
 
Probably QT will not open the file. I once had such a clip (with FCP 7 then). Premiere also didn't recognize the clip. But Toast did. Open Toast in the media conversion window (or so, I have a german version). Drag & drop your clip into it, export as QT, ProRes (gear icon lets you set export codecs). My problem was, I could only export the audio as an extra clip (make it Aiff) and had to synchronize both in the NLE. 
 
If this doesn't work, either upgrade to 10.8 (AVCHD is played back by QT without conversion, the upgrade is safe) - but I bet it won't work either, because still OSX doesn't like .mts without or with wrong metadata.
 
Or take your card to a windows computer, where you export both clips with highest quality settings of H.264.

So I remembered I had a 2 channel mixer at my house. It has XLR in and I am using the CD/TAPE out (red and white cables) to 3.5mm with adapter on for 2.55mm in my GH2.

It works fine and I can hear myself through the headphones on my mixer, and it records fine, but there is this loud hiss going on or some feedback when the mic is on. On my other camera I would just turn down the volume and it would take care of the hiss, but this seems way more loud than usual. Any suggestions?

so I ordered a nice external monitor from eBay and it's great but I didn't realize it had to be plugged in to be used. It uses a 12 volt plug but I didn't know if there was a wayto use a portable battery so I don't have to plug it in.

it's a Manhattan 8.9 1080 p

Hi Craig,
 
Yes I have had problems with the aperture ring on an SLR magic lens.
I received one brand new from Hong Kong. I was really pleased but as soon as I tried it out I realised it was defective.
I closed the iris down and it sprung back open a bit.
I think I only closed it down twice saw it move back open then looked into the lens and could see all the coating shredding off the aperture blades.
 
I sent it back and got a replacement.
 
Craig you should take the lens off the camera and look inside the lens in a well lit room to see if you can see the aperture blades move when you rotate the iris ring. If the iris blades don't move, the aperture doesn't get bigger or smaller, when you turn the aperture ring something is very wrong and you should send it back.

Rent each and test em out.

http://www.borrowlenses.com/AdvancedSearch.do?searchString=glidecam

I use the Glidecam HD4000 with my GH2 (the top had additional counterweights). The HD2000 is probably better suited for this particular camera, but there's a good possibility that my next camera will be larger than the GH2. The arm brace helps a lot. Even with the arm brace, I can only fly the thing for two or three minutes at a time before my arm is ready to fall off.
 
All that being said, if I had back and/or neck problems I would go for the lightest setup possible.

The Glidecam HD series is a tried-and-true steadicam system. I run it with my 5D all the time. Deadly steady shots.

Got a response back!
 
"Small amount of movement is normal.  When the lens is very very smooth, there is the most movement that you are talking about.  When there is no movement, the lens would be so hard to turn that you need a very strong tripod mount to ensure no camera movement while focusing.  Something in between, not too loose and not too tight, is what we try to achieve.
 
If you wish, we can exchange another lens for you, but we cannot guarantee that the exchange lens would be looser or the same or tighter than the lens you have now.  Usually, if image does not jump up and down while changing direction of focus, we consider that normal."
 
My image doesn't jump up and down. So I'm not sending it back.
 
-Ben

For the GH3, Blanches viewfinder solution is okay, but imho not for the GH2, because it's display is not good enough to find focus. You'd just collect more useless gadgets (like your toy mattebox, which even doesn't seem to take filters). Yesterday I read a review in a german cinematographers magazine of a bunch of the 'best' DSLR rigs (Chrosziel DV Studio, 2200 €, Vocas DSLR pro, 3500 €, Redrock eyespy deluxe, 1400 €, Kinomatik Movietube, 4000 €), and the verdict was, they all had to be rebuilt to work ergonomically with the particular DSLR and for the camera operator. Only the Movietube had the counterweight right. Even the pro admitted that he would rather buy parts and build an own rig according to his needs.

I promised to post a DIY big comfortable eyepiece, and I will. I've been testing materials and improving my prototypes, and in a few days I will present a photo tutorial with detailed instructions.
 

Just got my SLR Magic 25mm T/0.95 and I was wondering if anyone has had any issues with focus play on the focus ring? I mounted my 77mm Heliopan variable ND filter to the front of the lens and it seems that there is a good amount of focus play with the added weight to the front of the lens.

haven't opened it yet but I'll let you know how it is, very excited

I'm having trouble uploading a picture but it's the SLR magic 25 millimeter .95

An early self portrait of the young Stanley Kubrick, photographer - Image source: British Journal of Photography

In a 77 minute interview recorded over chess between takes on 2001: A Space Odyssey in the mid 1960's Kubrick describes selling his first photograph, his first short and making his first feature.

You'll normally get 20% VAT, occassionally packages from Hong Kong get through without but I'd always price in VAT as the vast majority of goods do correctly get tax added.
 
I looked at the c mount lens but that definately wouldn't do as an alternative for me, I want to use a follow focus and ideally without using a third party focus ring, I wouldn't want to increase the scale of the footage either to deal with vignetting.

Wow I'm sorry about it, SLR surely replace it. Mine works fine.

Perfect.
 
In a couple of days I will post the *DIY* soft eyepiece for the GH2. In another thread of course. 

It really is very easy. It takes fifteen minutes. The link you provided still has no counter weight, and I think it's too expensive for such a plastic. Besides that, you won't find a shoulder pad for one rod, which is a weak point of your rig anyway.
Do what you like.

Did you actually watch the Zacuto film?


Now remember: This is the GH3. It doesn't have this very good EVF like the GH2. The position of the left hand here would be much more natural and relaxed with the GH2.

How can a follow focus help you here? Also, I doubt if your rig is built well enough to provide the said sturdyness. Much more expansive follow focuses add problems, I bet a lot of shakes you wrote about are caused by the bad quality of the construction.

Make it simple.

If, for example, you have such a cheap rig:

that otherwise has some usable features like the very important option to change the height (the viewfinder has to be ab-so-lu-tely exactly in front of your right eye), you can resell follow focus and useless mattebox and add these items: 

 
If you buy everything new, it costs you under 10 bucks, even if you have the aluminum bar in black (tip: before putting it in the vice, cover it with tape, otherwise you will have ugly scratches).

It's called 3-point-stabilization, and it's valid for classic SLRs (with grip on the side) as well as classic Super 8 cameras (with pistol grip).
 
1. Right hand takes the grip 
2. Right eye is pressed to eyepiece (hurts with the small and flat eyepiece of the GH2, I admit)
3. Bottom of camera body (in case of a pistol grip the lens itself) rests on left palm underneath. Left thumb and forefinger operate focus.
 

 
 
In the Star Trek series they often lament about the "structural integrity" of their spaceship. This is the first thing your shoulder rig must be: As tightly screwed together (with camera and everything) as if milled out of one solid block of metal ...
 
And move your feet? Well, you can practice to walk like for 'the ministry of silly walks'. You can absorb quite a lot of instability by keeping your gluteus maximus under tension. No joke.
 
But generally neither a pistol grip nor a shoulder rig are meant to walk with them.
 
Use a glidecam or s.th. like that for stabilized handheld shots. If they are to look like dolly shots, you have to exercise A LOT.

One rig for all tasks?

It's rather various rigs, and in different variations too:

Pistol grip.
Monopod (can serve as a prolonged grip)
Gorillapod (can serve as a simple shoulder rig)
Tripod. In many variations.
Lightweight stabilyzer.
Stabilyzer with vest.
Basic shoulder rig.
Terminator style shoulder rig (with follow focus, monitor, mattebox).
Picodolly.
Slider.
Jib(s).
To be continued.

i've used my glidecam hd2000 and gh2 multiple times and it works fine.  you just have to get the weight right, even if you have to make some modifications.

Sounds like a rehearsal or practice room. I think, no matter how diminutive that room is, just one LED torch will not get you to make it look interesting. You can as well make it look like a makeshift 'studio' by blatantly putting some lights into the room, in full sight of the camera. Let blacks be blacks, let light sources flare into the lens. Work with reflectors. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZfDbEQAfOY
(three lights, one of them a cheap fluorescent light, and a big reflector)
 
I don't say, do it this way. It's just done quite often and often works well. You can't 'paint' too much with just one LED, that's right.

just found a great shootout on frank glencairns blog
 
http://frankglencairn.wordpress.com/2011/01/02/the-cheap-video-led-light-shootout/

Check out Shian Storm's sight for his new color grading tools, ColorGHear.  He has loads of helpful video tutorials on the site for everything from lighting to grading, some of them free without purchase of the CG toolkit.
 
http://www.colorghear.com/

I have been looking for some LED lights to invest in for my camera shoots. I am pretty mobile, mainly shooting bands but also screenplays/short films. Through some research I have found these portable ones
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/4X-96-LED-Video-Light-for-DV-Camcorder-HDV-Z96-F135-/300546751509?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45f9fb7c15
 
But I was wondering your thoughts if it was better to invest in something less portable and more stable like these,
 
http://www.amazon.com/ePhoto-Photography-Lighting-Balanced-ePhotoINC/dp/B003QRBAIA/ref=sr_1_33?ie=UTF8&qid=1360461706&sr=8-33&keywords=LED+500+with+stand