craigbuckley

I think that the simple answer is no.  The HDMI connection of a PC graphics card doesn't accept incoming signals.  You could use the HDMI out on the GH2 to connect directly to a monitor or the AV out/digital to connect to a monitor/TV using the yellow/white/red connectors using the cable supplied with the GH2. 

Ok so I have been searching the web and forum for some time lapse settings for my gh2. I know there is a hack for it but I was wondering, for a simple, cinematic time lapse (shot with video not stills- for now), what settings would you use on your gh2?
 
I know keep everything manual (focus, exposure) with a tripod. But as far as shutter speed? 1/2fps? I am just trying to find the correct settings for my gh2 to use it in a  time lapse. The time lapse is of people in  party by the way. 
 
if anyone has a tutorial on shooting time lapses with the gh2, that would be great. Couldn't find anything like it on the web.
 

The torchLED works great on stands. It comes with a ball head with hotshoe and 1/4 20. B&h sells one that also comes with a high capacity battery and charger for free. From what you said earlier, I gathered this would be a good tool for you - just a little something extra to add some fill, a background light, or hair light... It is also very small and can fit in your bag with little fuss.

You should be thinking of this light as something to either augment existing light, or be aided by it.

http://vimeo.com/44308566
I'm just gonna mention the Bolt one more time since it sounds like you need portability and ease of use.
You could buy that plus a reverse light stand, an umbrella mountable head and an umbrella for under $500.

Well, the two studio banks you linked above, the ones with the stands, they went right into my Amazon wishlist so that I had, quick handy reference to investigate them more.  I liked the looks of them and the price seemed very reasonable for the amount of light they put out...though it didn't seem clear to me if their specs were combined for the two of them, which would be disappointing, or if they represented the individual lights.  
 
Honestly I don't get the comment on spending thousands.  LEDs themselves, individually, cost what little they do because they have to cost something.  The money you'd be paying would inevitably be related to the construction of the case and associated hardware for dimming, etc.  I mean, maybe if every one of those little guys was hand wired in someone could justify a tall sum but, even then, that hand wiring would likely have been done by someone in a far off land who might have been paid a dollar that day.   The high cost is all mark-up and branding.
 
Take one of those 160 LED lights...that's less than $2 worth of actual light-giving-device and the rest of the cost is due to wiring, dimming and the materials + manufacturing of the case, and then mark-up.   I've been looking at replacing all of my signals and blinkers on my car with LED bulbs and if you go to a major automotive retailer they're asking upwards of $20 or even way more for a pair of bulbs I've been able to find for about $6 at a lighting-oriented site that's not specialized in automotive products but is more closely related to the actual manufacturer who produces all manner of LED lights.  

Is there a way that I can turn my laptop into an external monitor? I can go from my pc to the tv but I'm wondering if I go can from my gh2 to INTO my PC- So I can view from my pc? Any other suggestions on something like this? I know the nexus 7 won't work for gh2. (I have an asus windows vista laptop and a macbook pro)

[quote name='Matt' timestamp='1352560254' post='21449']
I have a Nexus 7 and hunted all over the web to see if there was a way to use it as an external moniter for the GH2 but there doesn't presently seem anyway to do it.
[/quote]

I wrote in, to them, requesting them to make an app, for the Panasonic GH2. I guess, if more people write in, they may be tempted, to make it compatible, with the GH2 (and later, perhaps, the GH3), as well.

this is the url, to write in, to them:

http://dslrcontroller.com/contact.php

Found this link the other day & it totally revolutionised the way i went about colour grading in FCPX!
http://www.colorgradingcentral.com/final-cut-pro-x-color-grading-table-of-contents
 
This was also useful (explained a bit about histograms/waveforms as well):
http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2012/01/7-tips-for-hd-color-correction-and-dslr-color-correction/
 
And the LAPUG is an amazing resource:
http://www.lafcpug.org/
 
And this is all things FCPX:
http://www.fcp.co/?view=featured
 
Also found these free plug-ins for FCPX by Alex4D (i'd used his old ones for FCP6/7):
http://alex4d.wordpress.com/fcpx/
 
The first link is great to route around in, lots of stuff there.
As far as white balance is concerned, go Manual & try using a grey card or just go with what looks natural/neutral to you.

I like the look of Samyang, yes. They make good lenses for the cash. 
 
I'm not a big fan of L-glass anyway. It wins resolution tests and other such anal things against Zeiss and Leica, but the resulting image is lifeless in comparison, IMO.

For 2-megapixel (1080p) you don't need L-glass for the best quality. Samyang is pretty good. Cheap because it lacks AF, but the glass is very good.

+1 on the Roki.

I'd also say the Canon FD looks great. I like the 50 1.4 better though. Keep in mind, you're using a hacked GH2 & it can cut glass like cold diamond nipples with the right lens. (See recent Zacuto shootout with the $20,000 Fuji on the front of one running a Driftwood patch..lol.. Surgery.) A lot of people will say aim for the vintage stuff to roll the edges off a little bit. I use old AIS's. i bought a whole set on KEH in ex+ cond. for less than $700 & i'll probably never get rid of them... Lest i stumble upon the aftermath of a gunfight with no survivors involving a Masterprime exchange.

Carl Zeiss Flektogon 35mm f2.4  - no contest at all !
this is my favourite Carl Zeiss lens I use it alot its great very very sharp !
plus it has close focus for macro that the other dont have
so you can film stuff about 5 inches from the lens

I had the same thing with the GH2 once with a fast non-MFT-lens, a Nikon 50mm f1.4. Every light produced a glow, and the whole image was too soft (not seen on the Sony Monitor I had attached via HDMI). My mistake: I didn't make night-testshots in advance. I did later and found, that the lens was only usable @f2.0 and further. You should have closed the aperture one stop and increase the iso instead.

Very fast lenses tend to produce softer images at wide open. The best sharpness for MFT seems to be 3.5 or 4. At f8, the DOF gets deeper, of course, but details may be lost. It depends, as you say, on the lens. Tests are needed to know for sure.

I can't think of the technical term for the problem you're having with the white paper but it is to do with both your lens (some lenses have a "glare" when dealing with strong light and using a wide aperture) but it also could have just been that you were blowing it out (making that specific part of the image over exposed) as you were exposing for the band. Blowing out highlights is just something everyone has to deal with when dealing high contrast situations (like if it's a very very bright day and you are trying to film/photograph someone in dark shade you might blow out the sky making it white instead of blue). With practice you will learn how to better deal with these situations better but sometimes there is no way around it. This comes down to "Dynamic Range" if a camera has better Dynamic range it will handle high contrast situations.. This is one area where film is still superior to digital.
 
The peak performance of a lens is usually around f/5.6 or f/8.. When a lens is "wide open" shooting at its widest aperture (f/1.8, f/1.4 f/1.2 etc) unless it's extremely good will usually be slightly softer than when it's at f/5.6 or f/8.. However, stopping all the way down to f/22 doesn't make your pictures any sharper it actually makes them worse due to lens diffraction (look it up) lens diffraction will appear at different apertures (dependent on sensor size).
 
I'm honestly not sure how noticeable lens diffraction is for video but any good photographer will avoid shooting at such apertures as it will make your images softer. Good luck.

If you needed to start shooting quality macro footage for a short film, which would you choose...
 
1. Hoya or Marumi macro lens filter ($50)
2. Extension tube from amazon ($10)
3. Tamron SP 2.5 macro lens ($200) (or something of this quality.. budget is $200 max.)
 
I know the tamron would be the best choice out those but is it worth trying or using the macro filters or extension tubes? If so, can you recommend a good brand and/or method?
 
Thanks for the help.

Why not rent some and find out? Since you shoot GH2 you can adapt anything to it. They have macro lenses as well.
 
 
http://www.borrowlenses.com/

I have the Vivitar 55mm 2.8 it is ok
not as good as flektogon 35mm carl zeiss of the sigma 24mm

wesley 24mm
http://vimeo.com/44332481

C MOUNT TO MICRO 4/3 ADAPTOR
 
Craig just keep looking on ebay they do appear!!

what kind of adapters do you need for the pentax, fujian or wesley? cheers

EBAY !! $30
ITS A VERY GOOD LENS
 
http://www.mu-43.com/f81/wesley-24mm-f-1-4-cctv-image-thread-20953/

yes that is correct! increasing the iso will make it brighter!!!
 
get the Pentax 25mm f1.4

there is really nothing in it
Both are very sharp lenses
Sigma is also a close focus lens and you can get down to 10cm!!
which is very useful too
Sigma is half the price of the Canon
buy the Sigma!!

thanks a ton guys. I am going to go with the SLR... 
 
I have 2 other questions I was wondering if anyone could help with: 
 
1. I'm going to get a "standard" lens as well and I think I am going to get the canon FD 24mm or the canon FD 28mm (I am going with the canon FD's because I already have that adapter for the gh2) - are these decent lenses? Of the two, which would be better? (should i just spend more and get that C mount pentax cosmicar 25mm?)
 
2. And my second is kind of unrelated but I still can't find an answer. Can someone recommend a good viewfinder for the gh2 that will help block the sun? I use the EVF thats built in but I can't see what I am shooting when its really sunny out so I need SOMETHING to help me shoot outside and see what I'm shooting. 

I think there is nothing to justify. One needs at least the three classical lenses to choose from in a given situation. Wide angle ranges between 7 and 17,5 for MFT, standard between 20 and 25, 35-50 can be labelled portrait lenses, and 50 and above tele. From the good and fast wide lenses suitable for MFT, the SLR magic is still the least expensive.