Dearborn

I was in a budget crunch and went with the Panasonic 12-35 lens cause it was 200 off bundled with the gh4, but I'm shooting at really high isos inside. This leads me to think about returning it for the sigma f1.8 18-35 +xl metabones speedbooster. Problem with that I've considered getting a handled stabilizer which wouldn't support the weight of the sigma. So I'm hesitant to return the lens cause it was 200 off plus I could use it with a stabilizer not to mention it has ois and the sigma doesn't. That makes me think maybe I should get lighting instead. I don't know. Would it be completely redundant to have both lenses for practical use? What would you recommend? What value minded light setups are there that you'd recommend? Thanks

What line to mic cable do you recommend? I looked at the h6 but got got a video mic pro (original) thrown in instead and find it has a lot of noise especially at 20+, so I'm going to hook up my zoom r16 instead (not for mobile). I saw most cables have -25db attenuation and one that's -35db. Which would be better for the gh4 recording music? Thanks

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/904990-REG/sescom_ln2mic_tas_mon_tascam_dr_100_3_5mm.html http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/906960-REG/kopul_ach4_25mon_line_to_mic_attenuator_cable_with.html

http://www.vision-color.com/lutplugin/ is for the plugin And http://www.technicolor.com/en/solutions-services/cinestyle Is for the cinestyle lut Arri has one too but for a lot of formats and I know this plugin can use .mga files, that's why I was trying to figure out what format it is. Hope that helps

I want to record some music videos using the headphone out of a zoom r16 to the mic in of the gh4. Recommendations are welcome. I found line to mic cables that are -25db and one -35db. Anyone know which would be more appropriate? Thank you for your help.

I just found out there's a free LUT plugin from "vision color" that works with Sony vegas and movie studio platinum 13 and also that Technicolor has a free lut for Cinesytle that I'm trying out with the EOSHD GH4 Flat profile, and having some good some bad results. Are there any more LUTs out there worth checking out? And what format or program is .mga associated with? I did a search but couldn't find it. Thanks

The pilotfly h1+ looks really impressive. Wish it had replaceable batteries. The Came Single is suppose to get 10 hours per battery set vs the 1.75hr of the pilotfly. Not great for long hikes or camping trips. Anyone know how the external power is suppose to work? On the pilotfly site it looks like another internal battery.

I think it's just happening to clips shot at 24p, but the project is set to that or the 23.9... setting. Does this happen to anyone else? I mean where the audio will be the correct length and the video displays in the timeline as 3 or 4 times the clip length. I'm trying Premiere CC and that imports it correctly, all three other programs though do not.

This has happened in premiere elements 13, and the trial of sony movie studio 13 platinum as well as the trial of Vegas Pro 13. I'm still trying to setup the trial of premiere pro CC so I can't say on that one. Still just testing things out, but two clips I recorded in UHD 4k mp4, when placed in the timeline of these editors, stretch the video out way passed the audio length by several times the clip length. I've just been dragging the end of the video back to the end point of the audio, and it seems to be fine then, but it's annoying. This doesn't happen for 50/mb mp4 1080p test clips I've tried. Why is this happening? The projects have all been set to use the clip media for project settings when worked on. I'm doing pretty basic stuff right now. Any ideas? Thanks

Does anyone know if you can use luts in Sony movie studio 13 platinum? They have one effect called color match but I'm not sure if that's the same thing or not. So far I'm having better luck editing with movie studio then premiere elements 13 on my pc.

I would take a look at the Olympus em1 or em5 ii for the inbody image stabilization. It could take a lot of work out of post if you have any movement shots or even just following people around doing still hand held or shoulder rig shots. I thought the video quality was fine, but I'm new to 1080 video recording. If I didn't get a gh4 I would have gone with one of those most likely. 1080p is a lot easier to edit than 4k too unless you have a high end system built probably in the last year or two. Take a look at Sony movie studio 13 platinum. I'm using the trial and own premiere elements 13, but movie studio uses graphics acceleration if your card is supported plus has external monitor support for a second display. I can color correct and adjust lighting in movie studio with relativity smooth play back on a 4 year old machine, even 4k without proxies, but premeire elements 13 gets choppy right away and doesn't have graphics acceleration.

I've been looking for a tripod and video head for the gh4 which is lighter than some other cameras and was thinking of getting the manfrotto mt055xpro3 aluminum legs with the manfrotto 128rc qr micro fluid head but see I can get the 502hd pro video head for basically the same price. Would the gh4 be too light for that head to be useful? What are your opinions on a good tripod setup for the gh4? I already have a gorillapod x. Thanks for the advice.

Thanks for the advice Jonpais. To give an update, I've found some but not full improvement by turning on graphics acceleration in vlc on my desktop. Also tried playing a bunch of files off the sd card on my surface pro 3 i5 256gb model and the video plays smoothly pretty much that way In vlc. Or I should say 100mbs 1080p mp4s would play smoothly but 4k footage would only play smoothly with additionally setting vlc to use graphics acceleration again. This leads me to think I'm having a harddrive speed issue on my desktop computer with the drive and motherboard stuck to 3gbs transfer speeds, newer wd caviler black drives use 6gbs speeds and I think usb3 is 5gbs. Solid state drives would be faster I think, but I'm thinking a new HDD used externally via usb3 enclosure connected to a pci-e USB 3 card might do the trick giving play back at 5gbs on an older system. That and also using vlcs graphics acceleration on the 4k footage should play the videos smoothly I hope. What handheld gimble stabilizers do you recommend looking at? Idealy it would be able to carry the sigma lens too if I do get it, cause it would need it. I saw the mdi comparison of the came 7800h? Moza light? And ronin. Cause of the shake on the came and quick setup with remote on the moza and lack of joystick/heavyness on the ronin/m I'm leaning to the moza light which I think could carry the sigma f1.8 zoom gh4 and metabones. Not completely sure of that. And I don't even know if I want to get one yet. Like computers it seems like these are going to get better and less expensive. Cause of the video playback woes I wonder about the em1 and if that wouldn't be better for general use and some professional work with video. Not needing a stabilizer seems like a big plus. But I'll just keep testing stuff for now and hope I can get the playback issues worked out.

Hi, I've been learning and setting up my GH4 with some help from the EOSHD shooters guide. And just had some general questions. 1) The shutter button feels wobbly, I was wondering if this is suppose to be this way or if I should be concerned about it. Some of the top buttons like ISO are this way too a little but not as much as the shutter button 2) I was hoping that the Extra Teleconverter mode was a one button switch, but it seems you have to assign it to a function button and when you press it, even though the photo option are greyed out, you then have to push yes/no and then set. making a total of three pushes to switch back and forth, four really if you use a virtual function button. Is there a way to set it up to just be one push of a button, or two at most, using the virtual button? It doesn't even make sense, cause in creative movie mode turning it on is the only option. 3) Due to funds I went with the panasonic 12-35mm f2.8 vario x over my first thought of picking up the recommended sigma 18-35 f1.8 & Metabones Speedbooster XL canon EF mount. This was also because the panasonic lens was 200 off with the bundle, I was concerned about having no image stabilization, and figured the weather sealing would make the lens have it's own uses. Really I'm might return it, cause I'm shooting ISO 1600 indoors, higher with EOSHD's Cinematic profile, and reviews have said 1600 should be the max before heavy noise. I have 30 days to decide anyway. I'll learn more when I can test the lens image stabilization on/off more, and if I don't think it's a big deal I might send it back. Any thoughts or comments you can share about these lenses would be much appreciated, and also with regards to the power O.I.S. . It would be 700 more, 800 really, because the 72mm Heliopan ND filter is 100 more than the 52mm, and I've realized I have to stop it way down outside during the day loosing whatever depth of field f2.8 might have. 4) I'm using Premiere Elements 13, anyone know if it automatically stabilizes it's renders or do you have to tell it to do so? Some shots in my test edit just seemed more stable and I was trying to judge if it was the lens or not doing the work. 5) My computer is playing back the 4k video's back really choppy. I am assuming it would do this with 100/mbsec 1080p as well. VLC plays it back the smoothest so far but it's still way to choppy. My rig is about 4 years old, self built, and has Windows 7 Professional 64bit, a MSI P55-GD65 motherboard, Intel Core i7-860 (4 core, 8 threads) 2.8ghz, 16gb of Gskill DDR3-1600 (I think it runs slower than that), an AMD Radeon HD 5700 series 1gb graphics card (think it's the 5770, if not 5730), my display is just 1440x900 right now (may upgrade soon if I can get the rest worked out first), Hard drive is not raid, but Western Digital Cavilir Black 1TB that i've been editing or playing video's off of. I tried playing the video off of my SSD c:\ drive but the video was still choppy. I'll be installing a PCI-e USB3 card next week. Premiere Elements 13 doesn't use GPU acceleration, not sure if VLC does either, so I don't know if that's my issue. I thought it might be the motherboard that's sata is limited to 3/Gbits per sec as opposed to the new 6/Gbits boards but hope not cause that'd be a big change over, not to mention I'd need a new CPU. Never overclocked my computer but maybe that's an option, would rather not though. I should also note I've never updated Windows on this computer. I could try that. Any advice on how to smooth out the video with minimal upgrading? I'm just doing basic edits for now, and wanting smooth playback from VLC or another media player when not editing. Thank you for your time.

thanks for the info. Adorama is giving the shotgun mic with both the 14-42 and 14-140. The 140mm is 300 more, any opinions to if its worth it? How is the quality compared to the 42mm? The 14-140 kit with the g7, shotgun mic, 128gb SD & reader, lens cloth, an extra generic battery, 58mm uv filter and premiere & Photoshop elements 13 comes in at 1,210. That would give me a camera to work with and I could still use the 140mm lens for telephoto shots after getting the sigma/metabones 18-35 for low light, and the g7 could be an alright backup camera after Olympus or Panasonic come out with a better video ibis camera in the future. What do you think? Any votes to go with an em1, em5ii, or gh4 instead if they're all missing something in the mix right now? How quickly do you think I'll have to pick up the sigma/metabones, or will f3.5 on the 140mm with the g7 work alright for indoor filming? Thanks

I'm looking at a camera body, main lens, audio solution, quality tripod and head, 128gb SD card, batteries if needed or charger, filter set, maybe a backpack. And in my highest estimate was about 3,500 minus the backpack for a gh4 with sigma 18-35 f1.8 and metabones xl, a rode video mic pro. B&h gives you about 150 in credits to go towards a tripod/head. Under 3,000 is more on budget but either way I lose stabilization, video quality, or fstops. On the low end 1,300 gets me a g7, 14-140 which is stabilized with a rode video mic pro, plus a 14mm f 2.5, but I don't know how good theses lenses will be in the long run. The sigma would be great with a ibis body but then it's a video quality issue now or a waiting game for the next model of camera to come out. And the Olympus ibis might be great for general use. I guess I want what ever camera I choose to be fun to use now and a good b camera in a year or two, cause I figure 5axis ibis will be more common or Olympus will fix their video with the em1ii or something. How difficult is it to shoot video and stills without any stabilization in the mean time? Is premiere elements any good with its stabilization software or is it weaker version of warp? Would you think it better to get a g7 & zoom h6 kit with the shotgun or just a rode video mic and put the difference to a gh4?

I've followed this blog for awhile since the gh2, stopped, and now I'm back thinking of buying into a camera system. Body's I was thinking about where the G7, gh4, em1, em5. Lenses are Panasonic's 12-35 x f2.8 or sigma f1.8 18-35 with canon metabones xl, or b&h have a deal for Panasonic's 14-140 and 14mm f2.5 with a rode video mic pro bundled with the g7, it's 500 more than the starter kit though. I would like image stabilization but I know it's been recommended to go with the sigma lens over the Panasonic even with losing the stabilization. Cametv has a mini gimble for 1,100 but it won't work with the weight of sigma lens, so it seems like stabilization is really out with out going to Olympus (can't justify spending 5,000 for a a7rii setup) and Andrew wrote the em5 video was worse then the em1. Which is it better to have? The fluid stabilization footage or the better video quality with no stabilization? Is it that much better? So I'm trying to figure out what would be a good investment, and maybe upgrade the camera body in a year or two while being able to do video now for recreation, some possible pro work and creative works. I also need to decide on the best audio option. 250 for a rode video mic or up to 630 for a zoom h6 package with stereo shotgun mic. Or I could put that extra bit to go from a g7 to gh4. I will be using premeire and photo shop elements because I don't want to go creative cloud right now and don't know if you can color grade in it, so I would be able to utilize vlog. I have a gorilla pod x and read it can work as a decent shoulder rig having 4 points of contact, but am concerned about the lack of stabilization in a g7/gh4 sigma rig cause I haven't seen alot of video on it, been looking. But in a year or two maybe there will be more ibis cameras to choose from. What do you recommend for an entry setup that has the most usefulness later on with the fewest pieces that would need upgrading? Thanks