jnorman34

I used a GH4 for about 2 years and really loved the quality.  however, hauling around a DSLR system with tripod, head and slider was just too much for travel purposes.  so, when I took a trip to phoenix to shoot a short doc about Taliesin West, I picked up a gopro hero 4 and a handheld 3-axis gimbal (zhiyun Z1 Pround).  while the gopro has no zoom capability, using this setup completely changed my approach to short doc videos, from the static tripod approach to POV with a moving camera.  the gimbal still allows nice smooth pans and tilts, and also allows smooth moving footage.  shooting in 4K allows good cropping and zooming in post to bring in details.  yes, I miss having some zoom capability but overall, the portability of the gopro and handheld gimbal (easily fits in a small messenger type bag and weighs almost nothing) for travel purposes has completely replaced my DSLR/tripod system.  you can see some of my vids on youtube if you are interested in what kind of results this little system can give - here is one I did about Depoe Bay, Oregon -

thanks for the excellent comments.

here is a short doc video I did for the state historical society where I used a GH4 on a tripod for some of it, and a Gopro 4 with a Zhiyun Z1 3-axis handheld gimbal to add some moving shots.  It was a bit tricky getting the correct balance between the GH4 footage and the "protune" color from the Gopro.   Does it work okay in your opinion, or are there things I should be doing to better balance the footage from the two cameras?  thanks for any comments.

mark - are you talking about shooting at 60fps and playing back at 30fps?

thanks chris - I am pretty new at using the gimbal, and it is a bit difficult to make it perfectly smooth...

I have supplemented my normal GH4/tripod/fluid head/slider setup with a Gopro Hero 4 and a Zhiyun handheld 3-axis gimbal to add moving shots.  This video was shot completely with the Gopro.  I would appreciate any comments.  Thanks for looking.

I am supplementing my normal GH4 setup with a gopro 4 and a zhiyu 3 axis gimbal for POV work.  I saw a rig for the gopro and gimbal on a youtube video by cheesycam that looks good, but I could use some help identifying the parts needed.  can you please take a look at about 11:38 onwards in this video and tell me what he has going on with his rig?  also, he is using a Z1 rider version of the gimbal - I have the Z1 Pround version - can I make a similar rig setup like mrcheesycam has?  thanks.

hmmm - I just realized I do not have an option to render at 2.7k.  it is either 4k or 1080p.  so, is it better to render at 4k and let the software upres the 2.7k footage, or should I downscale the entire thing to 1080? 

I will be doing some work with a gopro 4 shooting street scenes.  some of it will be 4k (30fps) and some will be 2.7k (60fps slowed by 50% in post).  when I render, should render at 4k and let the software upscale the 2.7k footage, or should I render at 2.7k and downres the 4k footage?  thanks.

can anyone recommend a really good stabilizer plugin for powerdirector 13?  if I could find a way to effectively stabilize still shots from the gopro/feiyu setup, it would solve most of my problems.  as an example of the problem, please look at the shot of the statue at the 5:00 mark in the Taliesin video linked above.  thanks.

Mark- I shot it all with no display.  Shooting blind :-)

mark - the feiyu G4 will accommodate the display mounted on the back of the Gopro Hero 4.

for some reason, my original post is showing a video of the union street bridge (also done with the gopro/feiyu), when it should be showing the Taliesin west video.  here is the link to the Taliesin video:

thanks for the comments mark - the rendered bitrate is 60mbps.  and yes, most of what I am seeing seems to be due to youtube compression.  still shots are a major problem with the feiyu gimbal, and stabilization in post does not seem to be able to correct it. 

I am noticing some blocking and artifacts in the greenery during moving shots.

just took a trip to phoenix, az, and visited Taliesin West. I purchased a Gopro hero 4 the day before the visit, and ordered a Feiyu G4 3-axis gimbal which arrived about 1 hour before I left for Scottsdale to visit frank Lloyd wright's home there. so I was charging the batteries in the car on the way there, and literally turned it on for the first time when we arrived at Taliesin. I had no experience with a handheld gimbal before and did not know what to expect from 4K from the Gopro, compared to my GH4.

I had problems getting smooth walking footage with the gimbal, and the gopro needed calibration, but I had no opportunity to reshoot anything, so it is what it is.

I would appreciate any comments, feedback and advice on how to get the best results from the Feiyu and how to get the best quality footage from the Gopro. Thanks.

hmmm - video not showing up in my post above.  what did I do wrong?

I do short doc style videos for the Oregon historical society.  no budget for much post processing, so most of it needs to be SOOC.  always looking for feedback on how to get best image SOOC - so all comments are welcome.  thanks.

I am shooting short documentary videos of architectural subject matter in daylight situations - in UHD from the GH4.  sample here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuIV4QXeHSk

the budget does not allow for extensive post processing, so I need to be able to get the best useable footage straight out of the camera.  I am currently using the STD setting.  almost all the info on settings for GH4 concern cine-d and cine-v with extensive grading during post - there is not much out there on how to get good footage straight from the camera.  what settings would you recommend?  thanks.

super nice work.  looks like much of it was handheld, right?

I agree with Inazuma - buy a nice pro cage to sit on top of your tripod, and mount lights, mics, and/or large external monitoring display. buy a really large "Cine" lens. but use the camera body that gives you the results you want and that you are familiar with.  I have used the GH4 for a while, I doubt you can find a camera that is sharper - it is simply amazing to my eye.

i'd like a pro version of a 9-18mm.  something large and heavy that does not look like a toy.

Devon - I am using power director 12. I switched from Adobe premiere.

I am regularly editing 4K video from the GH4 on a 2 core haswell I7 with 8 gb ram and integrated intel graphics with no problems. The key for me is editing software that supports smart rendering.

All I know is that it would not trade my GH4 for any of them.

I don't understand spending $1700 on a cam to do 4k work and then thinking of the lens as some kind of afterthought. Buy a quality lens if you want to do serious work.