mattpitts74

35 minutes ago, PannySVHS said:

Jitter. Normal shake without stabilization looks different and so does IBIS. Seems like the lens would not play well with your camera.

So what your saying is it looks like the IBSIS isn't actually working? Do you know if there has been a firmware update for the 1st 12-23mm 2.8 lens? I'm sure I heard talk of it last year when they released the GH5? 

Hi Guys, 

I used my G85 yesterday for a short shoot for a charity at a school.  I shoot much of footage handheld and the IBIS was switched on as far as I'm aware, but when I got back to edit I found the footage seems more shakey than I was expecting.  As you can see from the video

Does this look normal or did I forget to switch the IBIS on?  No doubt the shake is magnified at the longer end of the lens. Also wondering if people use other stablizers with their Lumix cameras?

After watching this back I think I need more stabilization for this kind of work.  

I am using the 1st 12.35mm 2.8 lens 

Hi guys, 

Have have some indoor interviews to film after Christmas and I'd appreciate some advice on a suitable one light setup. 

I know there are thousands of videos on YouTube on this topic, but it's impossible to know if the people shooting these videos actually use the lights they are reviewing.  

I'm after a simple lighting setup, ideally something portable for soft lighting for my interview subjects

It seems are are lots of budget options and some very high end, but not much in between. 

I'd appreciate recommendations from people who actually use lights rather than vloggers just testing them. 

I was considering CFL's as a budget option or a LED Panal or aputure 120 Cob light at the higher end. 

Or maybe I'm better off just hireing something instead? 

On 18/01/2017 at 0:06 AM, IronFilm said:

 

ohhhh.....  reading further I see you already have a ME66, & you're rather budget constrained. Thus I think you should get yourself a ME64!! It is almost a no brainer decision. I picked up a ME64 capsule for only $99 on eBay last night! & they're only $150 to buy brand new.

I've looked at the ME64 and it looks like good value, I had to record some more interviews yesterday in a hotel, which also was nosiy and had air conditioning too :-(  Will the ME64 help in these situations or should I just save for one of the mics like the Audix SCX1-HC mentioned earlier in this thread? 

2 hours ago, joema said:

Was the ME66 shotgun mic boom operated or camera mounted? If camera mounted it may not help much since the main advantage of a shotgun mic is pointing the broad side toward unwanted sound. It is not like an "audio telescope".

If this is an interview, you may need to frame it tighter to get the mic closer. If it is simply voiceover dialog, you can get the mic as close as necessary. If this is a scripted narrative involving subject/actor movement, then you may need the mic further away which could be pretty hard. 

A high-quality lav like a Sennheiser G3 if place well usually does pretty good. Sennheiser also makes a cardioid mic for the G3 lavs called the ME-4N. This may have some advantages over the stock omni-pattern mic if placed correctly: http://a.co/dbDpkE4

If a boom operated shotgun, you have many options about placement. In a large "echoey" sports gym if you place the mic low and angled upward the speaker, it may pick up sounds bouncing off the reflective ceiling above him. OTOH if you place the mic above him and pointed down it might block some of that out. 

You said you have no real options to change the room, but simply letting the subject stand on a sound blanket (or even a small carpet) and aiming the shotgun mic down might help. That way the blanket attenuates reflections from the floor and the mic null pattern attenuates sound reflected from the ceiling and walls.

Monitoring the audio with good headphones and testing various mic angles and positions at the specific venue and position -- before shooting -- can help. If possible it's best to have a dedicated sound person.

@joema Thank you, this is very useful, the ME66 was off the camera on a mic stand as close as I could get it without being in the frame, but it was pointing up towards the ceiling, so I imagine thats where much of the echo came from.  It sounds like a hyercardiod mic boomed from above and a sound blanket on the floor would help reduce the echo a fair amount? Is it possible to get reasonably priced sound blankets? 

14 hours ago, Don Kotlos said:

Of course nothing beats using a very good mic for the job and trying to remove the noise before capture, but sometimes that is just not possible and "using" the background as Stanley suggested can be very effective in driving the focus away from the noise by expectation. 

Have you tried the noise filters from Adobe audition (instructions here). Sometimes they can give OKish results. 

thanks for the link, yes i have tried the dereverb and managed to improve the audio enough to use this time, cheers

Hi Guys,  thanks very much for your input and suggestions, my career in video production is very much in its early stages, but I'm very aware the poor audio can make a big difference to the overall quality of something.  I have sent quite a lot of time watching and learning how to remove echo, which is useful, but still not as good as having better audio in the firest place, so I would rather try and capture the best audio I can in the first place. The mic I was using is a  Sennheiser ME66.

@Stanley  Your right about over advice, especally when your starting out and trying to do everything yourself.  I think thats the trouble with the internet sometimes so many views!  and I'm sure people will appreciate the footage was shoot in a gym, so some echo is to be expected, but I still want to try and reduce it as much as possible. 

@Kisaha Thanks for your input too, I am always trying to improve the production value of what i do and learning from my mistakes all the time, which is good. But realising how much time it can take to improve bad audio and still end up with something which isn't that grea, t I would rather invest in better equipment and technique which should pay off in the long run.  But I'm sure as with everyone money is still and issue.  But it sounds like investing money in a good quailty mic would save lots of time in post production, but I have to be realistic as I don;t have 1000's to spend, but I can see the logic in higher quailty.  The sound blankets also sound like a good idea too.  Its just figuring out using all this stuff together.  

18 hours ago, jcs said:

The Schoeps CMC641 is one of the top indoor microphones if you want the best. The Audix SCX1-HC performs very similarly and is a great deal (we use both and they match well). Curtis Judd doesn't recommend the NT5 for indoor dialog (you can hear the NT5, Audix, and a few others tested here).

Thanks for these suggestions, Realistically the Audix is the one within my price range and I assume it is similar to the Audio Technica AT4053b, I have watched many of Curtis's videos and seem to rate the Audio Technica, I guess I just want to be sure that one of these mics would make a big enough difference in these situations to be worth investing in over the shotgun mic, but it sounds like it properly will. 

Thanks @sondreg yes I that's correct,

Any suggestions for a suitable Cardioid mic for this kind of situation?

Some people seem to suggest the Rode NT5 as its quite budget friendly.  

Hi, 

I would be grateful for some advice from more experienced sound people.  I have had to record some dialogue in a sports gym, which a large room with lots of hard surfaces.  There are no real options to change the room in any way. so I'm trying to work out how to get the best audio? 

I have already tried using a Lav and shotgun mic and both have still ended up with echo.  So I was wondering if there is a more suitable mic for these kinds of situations?

I have read that some people seem to suggest using cardioid mics.

Any advice which me much appreciated.  

Guys,  I need to hire a lens for an interview shoot this coming week, which will be indoors in available light, the two options I could hire would be either the 12-32mm 2.8 or the 25mm 1.4.  I have no experience with either of these two lens, so some feedback from users with a G85, would appreciated 

4 hours ago, jonpais said:

Here's a more fine-grained test, comparing reducing contrast to -2 versus lifting shadows +2. These were taken this morning shortly before and after a rainstorm, so the lighting conditions changed at times while I was shooting - so a couple of clips may be a bit too bright, others a bit too dark. Tell me what you think.

 

Jon just wondering what lens you are using for these tests?

Just now, josdr said:

stick to manual mate.. We would all love proper AF but we are probably quite some time away of it being dependable even in such a simple shot.. Nice colours though!! How do you find the G85 in use? Happy with it?

I will defiantly stick with manual, although I hear that Canon duel pixel is pretty impressive. shame there is no budget friendly 4k camera from them.  

The G85 is a really nice to use,  everything is easy and quick to find and the touch screen makes life easy, but just having a proper EVF is also great.  I'm used to shooting on a DSLR's so at first it did feel pretty small and very lightweight, but it feels pretty sturdy and I love how smooth handheld footage is, and that's without a stabilised lens.  My only real concern is the low light performance, because I'm normally shooting in available light, so I'm a little worried about that and the no headphone jack, again when your getting paid, you cannot afford to mess up the audio.    But compared to the Sony A6000 series the ergonomics of the camera , at least in my opinion feel much more comfortable to use.       

11 minutes ago, fuzzynormal said:

Hmmm.  The phrase "paid work" and "auto-focus" paired together.  No thanks.

Well I'm always surprised that there still seems to be an amount of professional snobbery around the use of auto focus.  But as you say I have not used it before in paid video projects.  but I was keen to see whether is would be suitable especially in run and gun type situations,  when people are moving around fast.  Needless to say the auto focus was not up to the job as seen in the video I posted.  it feels so close, yet so far.  I understand that the Sony A6300 has better auto focus and tracking and it sounds like the GH5 may also have too. 

Just thought I would share my experience using the G85 today for some paid work, luckily it was for a friend, so she was happy to let me test out the face tracking autofocus with the 14-42mm lens.  Initially I was pleased with the results, but you will notice the camera loses focus when she moves her head and then never really finds focus again.  Luckily I had some cut b-roll I was able to use to cover it up, but it looks like its not going to be realiable enough to paid shooting work :-( 

Does anyone have any advice about how to get the most from the auto focus or am I wasting my time and should just stick with manual?  

Stabilisation is great through and I was able to get very steady shoots and even a handheld pan, which was great :-) 

I guys, can anyone suggest an SD card suitable for use with the G80?  There are so many variations these days, and I found the user manual really unclear too. thanks

14 hours ago, jonpais said:

Hi Matt, You've probably found it by now, but you can customize your Fn buttons in the Custom menu. I assign focus assist to fn1, since it's the one I use most often. I also find the clicky buttons on the wheel a bit awkward to use, maybe they could be a touch thicker/higher? Because the viewfinder is so great compared to what I've used before, I find I'm using it all the time. Now I just have to learn to use my nose to tap focus on the LCD while I'm composing in the EVF.  

Thanks I did find the custom menu, which is really help, so thanks, I assume that its not possible to use focus assist while recording? Also what do you use for audio?

Thanks guys for your input, I've gone ahead and ordered a G80 body only, which arrived this afternoon, so I haven't had much time with it yet but first impressions are good, it feels so light compared to my 5D.  Almost worryingly so, but I'm sure it's strong enough. 

I have a couple if old FD lens kicking around so been having a play with them.  I must say the IS seems pretty impressive, which will be great for hand held.  I did find the buttons on the back alittle cramped, especially where compared to the 5D.  Hopefully muscle memory will kick in after a while. 

One thing I'd forgotten was no headphone for monitoring audio, which is a bit of a pain!  I find doing duel sync audio on your own is quite a faff! 

Also trying to get to grips with quickest way to punch in to check focus? Seems a bit fiddly in default setup?

Does anyone know if it's possible to remap dials? I see it's possible to change function buttons.  

I'm still trying to decide between buying first native lens the 12-35mm or a speedbooster.  Does anyone have any experience with any other cheaper brands of speedboosters?

Thanks guys for your input, I tend to be always working on my own, trying to capture things quickly, at events or local businesses, sometimes for social media and Youtube, but there's never much time to setup shoots, so I'm always trying to capture someone doing something with minimum fuss, I plan to shoot in 4K and downscale to 1080 and like the idea of having the option to crop and get another shoot and being able to grade better than with my previous Canon camera's.  I still have full frame in case I need something for low light.  I'm guessing the panasonic will not match very well with a canon?  I used a GH2 several years ago and I have used some of the more recent GX camera's and they seem to have much more video centric features.  I have also used the Sony A6000 from time to time, but find it rather small and menus are fiddly. I also have a couple of old canon FD lens, but I'm wondering which would be the best general purpose video lens.  Many people seem to rate the 12-34mm? Any other suggestions would be much appreciated.     

I've just read the review post about the G85, which was very helpful and looks very promising, and I was considering either a GH4 or G80, as my budget will not stretch to the new GH5.  I have loads of Canon glass, so I'm wondering which speed booster I would need? I'm sure I read somewhere that there was a problem with it fitting?  Would I bet better off putting money into speedbooster rather than native Panasonic lens? Any advice much appreciated 

Hi All, 

I'm after some real world users experience of either the GH4 or G80 camera's?  it seems really hard to find that kind of info on YouTube etc. There are loads of review from people how seem to borrow the camera for a couple of weeks and then do a review!  

I have several video projects coming up in the next month and I'm considering my options for low budget camera's. I currently use a Canon 5D3, which is a great stills camera, but I find it hard work in a run and gun video situation, although I have used it many times.  So I'm considering the Panasonic options.   My budget could just about stretch to a GH4, but I'm looking at the IBIS and the weather sealing and thinking the G80 may be enough for me needs, but I wonder how either of these cameras will handle compared to the Canon?  I'm hoping easier to a lone shooter?

I'm aware of all the compromises between these camera's for me its more about ease of use and handling and I get the impression these cameras have many more video features which make using them more straight forward.  But I would appreciate some input from actual GH4/ G80 users. 

Hi Guys, 

This is my first post here, so please be gentle with me.  I have been using the 5D3 for several years now with Magic lantern for small cooperate video projects as my main camera.  I have so far resisted the temptation to upgrade, I now also have several canon lens and recently purchased a Sony A6000 as a second camera, as they were selling them off cheap just before the A6300 came out.  There is obviously quite a difference the the picture coming out of these two cameras, so not necessarily the best matched cameras :-( 

I would be interested to hear people's views about possible upgrade routes from the Canon.  Camera's I have pondered over the last few years are are follows: - 

• Sony A7S 
• GH4 
• Canon C100 Mk2 (really out of my price range)
• Canon XC10

All of the above camera's obviously have the positives and negatives.  but  I'm always shooting on my own, in the usual run and gun situation and want something which is quick to setup and handles well for a lone shooter, with minimum hassle and grades well, with the highest biterate.