Wednesday, November 30, 2011

I Bought a GH2(or a DSLR), Now What?

I have been actively participating in an open discussion forum about what gear to grab once acquiring a camera on the GH2 user group.  And there's actually a lot of great information on there.  The guy driving the thread is completely clueless and asking basic questions that most of us researched elsewhere to find.  And as a result, a lot of great information has been compiled into one place.  I feel this information ought to be woven together and presented in a straightforward way to be easier to read.  So I'll give my own interpretation of it here.

Ground Zero
You have learned that shooting video with large sensor picture cameras is in.  You want to jump on and run with the new breed of backyard cinematographers.  You crave the depth of field.  You drool over the low light capabilities.  You want the amazing image quality.  But more than likely you're from the old school of videomaking.  You are spoiled by autofocus, and just about auto everything.  And you will quickly learn that this camera is a CAMERA.  Your new EVIL (or a DSLR if that's what you have) is designed first and foremost to take still photographs.  Video is a feature on these machines.  And where I was at this stage, I had no clue about exposure, and lacked any sort of photographic background.  So first things first.  Treat your camera like what it is, a camera.  You need to learn how to take pictures.  Without this knowledge you are out of your league.  I suggest going to a local photography group and signing up for a workshop or taking some sort of beginners photography class.  What you really need to do is acquaint yourself with your camera and learn it inside and out.  I feel the most important thing to become aware of initially is exposure and how that works.

Exposure
Exposure is a three tiered foundation of photography.  Without this knowledge you're blasting yourself in the foot.  You might as well send me the money you'll spend on your camera.
  1. Aperture - to me this is the key component.  This is what controls your depth of field.  The aperture is the opening of the iris of your lens.  This is the first portal for light to enter into your camera.  The wider your aperture, the more light enters your camera.  The smaller, the less light.  Yet aperture initially is tricky, it's numbered opposite what you would expect.  A wide aperture is a lower number, a small aperture is a higher number.  Let's say you have a 50mm 1.8 lens.  The first number is the focal length, which is indicated in millimeters (more on this later).  The second number indicates how fast your lens is, or the lowest possible aperture.  The faster your lens, the wider it opens, the more light it will let in to your camera.  This number determines two things:
    1. Low light capability
    2. Depth of field
      • Depth of field is how much of your frame is in focus.  Narrow or shallow depth of field means a small portion of the frame (hopefully your subject) is in focus and the rest is blurred out.  The wider your aperture, the more shallow your depth of field.  The smaller your aperture, the greater the depth of field.  This is akin to squinting to see things in the distance.  When you squint you are letting less light into your eyes and therefore make what you are seeing more sharp and in focus.
  2. Shutter Speed - This is indicative of the amount of light which enters the camera each second, as regulated by your shutter.  Shutter speed is, for the most part, measured in fractions of a second.  1/60 means your shutter is open for one sixtieth of a second.  The longer your shutter is open, the more light is allowed to hit the camera sensor.  The shorter it is open, the less light.  Fairly straight forward.  Now, what shutter speed regulates image wise is no longer depth of field, but blur.  We have all had experience with point and shoots at night time, the images tend to blur more easily.  The reason for this is that the shutter must remain open for a longer period of time to allow for a good exposure.  However, as the shutter remains open, the camera is recording information for this period.  Any movement will be picked up and thus creating blur in the image.  This same principle applies to video.  Video is nothing more than a sequence of consecutive images.  Therefore a longer shutter speed will create a blurry, almost dream like effect in your video.  A shorter shutter speed will do the opposite.  It will create choppy, crisp frames, creating an effect used in many war films like Saving Private Ryan.  As a general rule in video, your shutter speed needs to match your frame rate in order to create the best illusion for actual motion.  The rule is that the shutter speed is half your frame rate.  That means, if I am to shoot at 24 frames per second (or fps) then my shutter speed must be locked at 1/48th of a second.*  So it follows that if I shoot at 30fps or 60i my shutter speed is to be locked at 1/60, and if I am shooting at 60fps my shutter speed should be at 1/120.  When shooting video, shutter speed is the single aspect of exposure that has very little wiggle room.  Unless of course you want to create a certain visual effect such as more blur or choppy motion.
    • * On the GH2 you are unable to shoot at 1/48 shutter, the closest shutter speed is 1/50, so if you are to be shooting at 24fps, keep the shutter speed at 1/50 and you will be fine
  3. ISO - This is what I consider to be the last line of defense in exposure, and should be treated as such.  The reason being is that ISO is the rating of your camera sensor's sensitivity to light.  The lower the number, the less sensitive it is to light, the higher the number the more sensitive.  Meaning if I am shooting at 160 ISO less light will be picked up by my camera than if I were to shoot at 600.  Now, you may recognize a pattern developing that each factor of exposure affects a certain aspect of image quality.  And ISO affects the amount of grain in your shots.  Why?  Because at higher ISO's you are making your sensor strain to pick up light.  An easy thing to remember is: "The more strain the more grain."  Grain is also referred to as digital noise or artifacts.  Unless you have a software program to eliminate or reduce your grain, you're stuck with it.  Grain can make or break footage.  Extremely grainy footage is completely unusable, unless you make your images black and white, which doesn't eliminate it, but just hides it better.  Grain is bad.  Keep your ISO as low as you can when shooting.  Rely on it sparingly.  I generally don't shoot above 1600 ISO.  Even though the GH2 can shoot at 3200 unhacked and now at 12800 hacked, I still don't go above 1600 if I can help it.  It's just too much of a bother to deal with grainy footage.
Now that you have a better understanding of Exposure, start taking pictures with your camera.  Not video, pictures.  Take still images with it and familiarize yourself with the Exposure triad.  This will benefit you greatly in the long run.  Turn on your histogram and figure out how to use it.
  • To turn on the histogram go into the camera menu, look for the c with the wrench beside it (Custom).  "Histogram" is the third setting.  Set it to "ON" and keep it there.  I place mine at the top right hand corner of the LCD frame.  The histogram is a waveform that displays the light information in the scene.  On the right is your white, the left is black.  Expose your images so that the whites are touching the right, but not blown out.
  • Another great feature of the GH2 is the highlight peaking.  This allows you to tell what parts of your highlights are overexposed.  To turn this feature on, go down in the Custom menu and turn "Highlight" on.  Also, in Manual Movie Mode, enter the menu with the film camera icon.  This is the Motion Picture menu.  At the bottom of the third page there is the option to turn "Rec Highlight" on.  Turn that on as well.  Overexposed highlights will flash black.  Make sure only objects which are true white flash.  Or play it safe and avoid flashing.

Composition
Owning a great camera does not make you a great cameraman.  I'm sorry if this is new information.  You are not guaranteed to make great video content just because you have the best camera you can afford.  What you need to learn is what makes great shots, and that requires a study of shot composition.  Thousands of books have been written on this subject and so I'm not going to go into detail here.  I feel it's extremely important to have a good understanding of composition and why certain images have an appeal to you over others.  Aside from what you may believe or have heard, beauty is NOT in the eye of the beholder.  Beauty is a mathematical truth.  And there's a proportional formula which makes certain images awesome and others shit.  Luckily for us we don't need to figure this out because people before us already have AND have put it into our camera for us.
  • In the GH2 there is an option to turn on the rule of thirds guide lines.  Go into the same "Custom" menu (C with wrench).  "Guide line" is the fourth option down.  Select it and choose the grid just beneath "OFF."  Now when composing your shots, never place your subject in the middle of the frame.  Always frame your subject at the intersection points of the lines.  Like I said earlier, read up on composition and practice with it.
Gear Acquisition
You have your camera and are antsy to become a pro.  I had developed a sickness.  This sickness is the idea that if I have all the right gear then I will make awesome films.  This is a sickness, a mental disease that will run your pockets dry and have you purchasing unnecessary equipment.  Just because I look the part of a Hollywood cinematographer with a mattebox and a follow focus and a DSLR rig and a rail system... doesn't mean I can play the part.  It just means I have spent a lot of money and look like an idiot.  Most of the equipment out there isn't necessary to start shooting great video.  What's necessary is the know how of exposure and composition and a solid, bare bones no hassle equipment foundation.  There are certain things you need and things you can do without.  So I'm just going to cover what I need to shoot.  And that's what I regularly grab.  I made the mistake of doing too much at once, and as a result a lot of my gear is collecting dust.

Lenses
I mean, this is why you got the camera in the first place, the perk of changing out your lenses.  Coming from a video background this was foreign territory.  I am used to everything in one package.  Which is why I feel many people making the jump to EVIL/DSLR video possess an everything now mentality.  Building up a solid lens collection will take time and money.  It doesn't happen over night.  As you learn lenses you develop preferences for image quality.  You'll find you gravitate more towards a certain focal length, desire certain apertures, want a particular bokeh (the blurred out portion of the shot).. etc.  The best advice I can give, is that if you are clueless at this point, just get a kit lens and start there.  You'll have a slow zoom, but it will give you an idea while you familiarize yourself with your camera of what you will want in the future.  Plus a zoom is more familiar to someone from a video background.

Surprise, lenses are expensive.  Get used to it.  This does not go away.  If you want a great lens you'll need a great deal of money.  You have invested your money, not necessarily into a camera, but into an interchangeable lens system.  It's all about glass, now.  But how awesome your lens is, again, won't make you an awesome cinematographer.  It's what you do with the lens that matters.  And there are ways of saving money on glass.  Read my post on buying vintage lenses.
  • Primes - Get them, love them, make them your friend.  It's time to move away from the old ways of shooting video and thinking like a videographer and enter the new land of shooting video like a cinematographer.  Primes are fixed focal length lenses.  Meaning your stuck at a certain distance.  Why is that awesome?  Because they are faster than zooms.
    • Focal length refers to the optical range of your frame.  A wide lens will have a smaller measurement, anywhere from 6-35mm.  This gives you what the name indicates: a wide field of view.  A standard focal length is anywhere around 40-60mm.  This provides a 'normal' field of view, meaning it recreates perspective closer to what our eyes see.  A telephoto lens is any focal length from 60mm and above and they magnify things in the distance, allowing you to get closer to your subject.
    • Crop factor refers to the affect of your camera's sensor on a lens' focal length.  This is important and should not be overlooked.  The GH2 has a crop factor of x2.  This means that a 14mm lens on the GH2 acts the same way a 28mm lens would on a full frame camera.  This is important to note when selecting lenses.  Always multiply by two.  Unless you have a DSLR with an APSC censor, then the crop factor is about 1.5x.
Research focal lengths and how it affects the look of your subject.  For portraits you want to use a short telephoto.  I advise getting a standard focal length prime first.  Then add a wide angle and telephoto.  Then experiment with different focal lengths to see which you prefer most.

Two things to keep in mind when selecting lenses are aperture speed and focus distance.  If you're crazy about shallow dof and love bokeh, you want to get as fast a lens as your money will allow.  Focus distance determines how close you can get to your subject and this is measured in meters.  If you enjoy getting close to your subjects, then get a lens that allows you to get under a meter.  Macro lenses are lenses which provide this, but there are non macro lenses that allow you to get about a foot away from your subject no problem.

A great way to learn what lens you want to use is to research that particular lens.  Watch test videos taken with it.  Pay attention to sharpness and clarity of images, color rendition and contrast.  Pick a lens that jumps out at you.  If that lens is out of your budget, start saving or look elsewhere.  Now, if a lens made for a different camera catches your fancy, you're going to need an adapter to mount it to your camera.
  • Adapters - Adapters are listed in certain ways: 'what lens this is' - to fit - 'what camera body I have'.  To fit my Minolta MC Rokkor 58mm on my camera I need an adapter that fits Minolta MC/MD lenses to my GH2.  The GH2 is a micro four thirds camera.  So what I need to look for is a Minolta MC/MD to MFT adapter.  Say I have a canon EOS lens.  I will need to find an EOS to M43 adapter.
I've found the most cost effective way to experiment with lenses is to purchase vintage glass from Ebay,  KEH.com, or even craigslist.  For just a couple hundred dollars you can build up a solid prime lens collection at varying focal lengths.  And, these lenses are still great lenses if you do proper research and buy smart.

Audio
Your on board camera mic sucks.  Even with an external mic attached, your audio will be sub par.  This camera is a picture camera and audio is not one of its strong points.  To solve this issue, you need to invest in a digital audio recorder.  I found a refurbished Tascam dr07mkii.  It has served me very well and haven't had a need to upgrade yet.

To get more range in recording I also picked up a shotgun microphone.  I picked up the Rode video mic.  Occasionally I'll attach this to my Tascam.  Often I am attaching it to my GH2 for secondary/backup sound recording.
  • To make your camera more like a video camera turn the audio monitor on.  Navigate through the Motion Picture menu to the bottom of the second page.  Turn Mic Level Disp. 'ON'.  I've found that the GH2 audio peaks easily.  So I also turn the sensitivity to the lowest possible level.  At the top of the third page is the 'Mic Level Adj.', turn this to level 1.
Camera Stabilization
You can forget about hand held shooting.  It doesn't happen any more.  Your camera is so small and is not outfitted with image stabilization, so it will pick up every shake of your hand.  Invest in a monopod immediately and make it your friend.  Either grab one with a fluid head or buy a $30 one and purchase a separate fluid head.  I am going very quickly over this, but don't overlook the importance of a monopod/fluid head combo.  You need it.  Get it.

Memory
You will need a memory card with a write speed of at least class 6.  If you hack your GH2, as I have, you will need to invest in class 10 memory cards.  I have only ever used Transcend or PNY cards.  The only reason I bought a PNY card was that it was on sale at Staples that day.  Otherwise all my cards are Transcend.  You can find them on Amazon.  There really isn't a better deal out there on memory.  I've had no problems.  I get by fine using 8gb and 16gb cards.  I have never had a reason to purchase anything larger than that.  You don't want your footage sitting on your card.  First thing you do when you get back to your studio is upload the footage.  Get it off your card because they can crash.  Hasn't happened to me yet but you hear about it.  It's a possibility.  For that reason I don't have any cards over 16gb.  There's just no need really.

Packing Your Stuff
For some odd reason camera bags are mad expensive.  So I purchased a really inexpensive Amazon basics DSLR bag.  I think it was $30?  Whatever, it's inexpensive and works.  Roomy enough for two GH2 bodies, 6 lenses, LED light, Rode videomic, Tascam Dr07mkii, L-bracket, batteries, cleaning supplies, and Liliput monitor.

Lighting
I just reminded myself when listing the gear in my bag.  Get a LED camera light.  I got one from Cowboy studio that dims for about $40.  Yeah, it's cheap, but it's a start and is extremely helpful, especially when the bride decides she wants to dim the lights for the reception... people...

But I also use it as a fill light when doing interviews.  Works great for that as well.  Yes, eventually I will upgrade and get field lights with umbrellas or softboxes, but to start out all I really needed was a single on camera light that I was able to dim.

Rigging it All Together
You DO NOT need a $1000+ dollar DSLR rail rig system.  Stay away from them until absolutely necessary.  I am able to mount my light, rode mic and tascam on my camera using my camera's hotshoe and a flash L-bracket.  The L-bracket cost about $20 and sees continuous use.

Camera Care
You just spent well over a grand on your camera and lenses.  You need to take care of it.  Get a cleaning kit with a lens cloth and lens solution.  Get a lens brush.  Get a rocket blower to clear your sensor.  Clean your camera often.  Clean your lenses before each shoot.

That's a Wrap
That's it.  Get out there and shoot.  You stop being a noob when you learn your camera.  You learn your camera by making videos.  Go make videos.  Go fuck up and learn.  Stay hungry.


Please comment below if you have any questions or found this post helpful.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

ColsenKeane Promotional Video

Finished the video.  Thanks to Scott for giving me the opportunity to produce this piece.  For that I am quite grateful.



Shot on my GH2(Vader and Gandalf).

Lenses:
Rokkor 58mm 1.4
Rokkor 35mm 2.8
Vivitar Series 1 Macro 28-90 2.8/3.5
Pentax 25mm 1.4
SLR Magic 35mm 1.7
Lumix 14mm 2.5

Music
Steve Gunn - "The Lurker"
Live at Cafe OTO (Tusk Weekend)

Edited in FCPX

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Industar 61-L/D 53mm f2.8

I grabbed this lens because it is Russian, extremely inexpensive, and a M39 mount, which is pretty much flush with the GH2.

  • Pros
    • Price - This lens goes for about $16 before shipping, since it's from Russia the shipping charges are usually around $20.
    • M39 mount adapts nicely to the MFT mount
    • Size and weight - small and light
    • Build quality - it's pretty solid
    • Renders colors nicely
  • Cons
    • Focal distance - closest focus distance is 1 meter.  You can forget intimacy with subjects
    • Sharpness - it really lacks here.  Very soft even stopped down, which makes it somewhat difficult to focus.
    • Prone to lens flare.  You'll need a lens hood.  Though stopping down to 5.6 cuts down most of it.
    • May just be my lens, but the focus ring slips a bit.
    • The bokeh is interesting and circular, but it doesn't throw much out of focus.
Yeah, overall it's not worth it.  Unless it's the first 50ishmm you are investing in and just getting started then go for it.  Otherwise this is at best use a street lens.  I may keep it for that purpose.  It does look pretty, it's foreign and it does fit my GH2 nicely.  I'll hold on to it for a while longer still but wouldn't recommend it to anyone.




Note the awful lens flare

Problem solved when stopped down




Had the focus distance been close this picture would have had potential

Wide open lacks a much needed blurred bokeh.  Things are still too busy. 



]

MD Rokkor-X 45mm f2








Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Photoshoot with Lauren Rosenau

 Sunday I was given the honor of having my picture taken by Lauren Rosenau.  These photos will be used on my future website that will be launched in the next couple months.  I'm still not sure what will happen to this blog when that occurs.  Perhaps I can integrate it into the site or begin a new blog on the site and toss this one in the virtual landfill.
"What the devil is this contraption??"

"Ugh, I can't even look at you"

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Promotional Video in the Works



I've been working on a promotional video recently.  Lauren Rosenau's brother in law, Scott Hofert, founder and owner of Colsen Keane Leather, contacted me recently about creating a video to promote his leathersmith business.  Scott is a very talented craftsman who makes beautiful leather bags.  Most of his products are designed to hold ipads and macbooks, but he's been branching out recenlty and making satchels and day trip bags.  I was able to shadow him in his workshop behind his house.  He puts a lot of care into his work and is very fond of what he does.

You can check out his website here: http://www.colsenkeane.com/

For the video I recorded it using Gandalf and Vader.  The interview was shot with Vader at 44mbps.  The footage in the shop were recorded with Vader and Gandalf (mainly G) both at 50mbps, GOP 6, 24p.  I have finally decided on my go-to lenses for projects, ha took several months but I finally did it!


Glass

  • Rokkor 58mm 1.4
  • Rokkor 35mm 2.8
  • Pentax 25mm 1.4
  • Vivitar Series 1 28-90mm 2.8/3.5
  • Panasonic 14mm 2.5
  • SLR Magic 35mm 1.7 (used for portrait shot shown above)
I used the vimeo music store to get a freesource song.  I love the vimeo music store.  It's extremely convenient and a really useful tool.  Plus the royalty free music is high quality.



FCPX v 10.02 Update Available

Just checked the appstore and the newest update for FCPX has been released.  So I'm downloading it now and blogging while I wait.  This newest update fixes a problem with titles reverting to default text upon restart, resolves an issue with video playback from certain 3rd party mobile devices, and addresses a stability issue caused when chaning the begining of a compound clip.

Gandalf is here!!

Well this is a late post.  It really came on Wednesday, but still, needed to share.  My new GH2 (which will now be my a camera) has arrived from Thailand.  It's the Japanese model so hacking it was essential in order to unlock the languages.  I went ahead and set the 24p and 60i bitrates at 50mbps and all secondary movie framerates at 35mbps.  Lowered the GOP to 9 and 6 for filmmodes.  Think I'm shooting at GOP 6, 50mbps at 24p.  I chose not to try 176mbps because... well that's just too much information.  I really doubt my computer will handle it.  It can barely handle running FCPX as it is.  Technology is moving so fast, it's only a 2008 iMac and has nearly seen its last days.

Back to the camera.  I'm a total geek/nerd so I've named my new camera Gandalf.  Because it's silver, but looks more gray than silver.  My first camera has now been named Vader due to it surviving molten coffee and coming out a little scarred.



Thursday, November 17, 2011

Buying Vintage Glass

Cost Effective Glass
I see a lot of questions on how to acquire lenses on the cheap at the GH2 user forum on Vimeo and thought I'd write up about what I've learned from acquiring great quality lenses on a low budget.  If you're like me then you may have exhausted most of your funds when purchasing the camera body.  I am still extremely new to interchangeable lens systems, and when I invested in the GH2 I was coming from the school of thought that the camera is the deal.  You get a great camera, you get great images right?  Wrong.  So having never purchased lenses before I wasn't ready to understand two things: 1) how expensive they are 2) how important they are to image quality.

Glass is expensive.  Having entered into the world of interchangeable lens systems you need to understand an important rule: INVEST IN GLASS.  Lenses are an investment.  They are the eye of your camera.  How the image looks through the lens is how it is going to look.  If you have a crap lens your footage will look like shit.  If you have a stellar lens your footage will be amazing.  So there's a reason why certain lenses are hundreds of dollars and others are thousands.  Yet there's a cost effective way to buy lenses.  With an adapter and the help of Ebay you can purchase a 50 year old lens for next to nothing and get great results.

MF Lens Systems and Adapters
Let's start with lens systems.  When you invest in a camera body you are really buying in to a certain lens system.  When looking for vintage lenses you need to look for outdated MF (meaning manual focus) lens systems.

  • Minolta MD/MC - Stick with the Rokkor line
  • Canon FD
  • Nikon Nikkor MF
  • Pentax M42 mount
    • Check out Super Takumar
  • Yashica
  • Konica
  • Olympus Zuiko MF

Go Russian!  Very inexpensive lenses can be found from old Russian lens manufacturers.  These are usually sold by people from the Ukraine, so shipping is going to be around $20.  They are either for the M42 or M39 (Leica) mounts.

  • Helios
  • Jupiter
  • Industar

I've never spent more than $30 on an adapter.  Don't see the point in dropping a lot of cash on a piece of metal.  Unless you have to purchase an adapter which requires a piece of glass, then I'd consider paying a bit extra.  Most of my adapters are from Fotodiox.  It's a solid brand.

Before you purchase a lens, research it.  There are great forums out there like forum.mflenses.com and flickr is a great resource as well.  Look at photos taken with the lens.  Pay attention to sharpness and detail, color rendition, flare, vignetting.

What to Look for?
Keep in mind you're buying vintage glass.  You aren't buying a new lens.  The lens will be used.  And it will have decades of wear.  And certain things can happen to the lens that you don't want.  However, we want to buy a lens that works like new.  So, when buying a lens on Ebay you want to make sure the seller checks for certain things.

  • Haze, fungus, scratches - these affect the glass and therefore image quality.  Even if the seller says they don't, they're lying.  Purchase a lens which does not have these.
  • Oil on aperture blades - Still don't know why, but I know it's bad.  You don't want this.  Avoid.
  • Aperture blades are snappy - You want to make sure your aperture ring actually works and that the blades are responsive and snap into place.  I've ran into trouble a few times where I have ordered a lens whose aperture ring doesn't move the blades.  If you haven't checked ahead of time you will not be able to return it.  So double check with the seller and make sure the lens actually works.
  • Smooth focusing ring - over time the focus ring can get dust or rust, or the grease can wear off and focusing becomes stiff and problematic.  Make sure the focusing is smooth.
  • Dent on filter ring - to me, this makes a lens useless if I can't put a ND filter on it or at least a UV filter for protection.  If you really want to save money, go ahead, but I don't want a busted lens.
Do not purchase a lens without a description that reviews these areas or asking the seller about them.  Don't purchase a lens where the seller only provides pictures and says "you get what you see".  You cannot judge a lens' functioning based upon a picture.  Do not buy a lens from a seller who says "I don't know much about these things but it seems to work".  This person has no idea what they're talking about and wants your money for junk.

How to Search on Ebay
As stated above, make sure the seller understands what they're selling and make sure your lens is in good condition.  That way if it arrives in a condition less than described you have a right to return it.  To search for vintage lenses on Ebay you can type in any of the lens systems previously stated or you can search for a focal length.  Go under Camera and Photo and select "Lenses" you want "Used" and "Manual Focus".  The best way to save money on ebay is to follow an auction until the last 30 seconds then make a bid.  Give yourself a $10 cushion as other people also take this same approach.  Or look for newly listed lenses and jump on a good "buy it now" deal. 

IMPORTANT: before bidding and buying familiarize yourself with the price range of the item you are considering.  Do not pay more money than you need to.  Many people over price vintage lenses.


Please comment below if you found this post helpful or have any questions.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

HDR Tests

Yeah this is how I spend my weekends.  I test approaches to color grading with my footage.  I came across a discussion on the GH2 user group blog on vimeo on how to create HDR video.  HDR stands for High Dynamic Range.  Basically it means retaining greater detail in you highlights and shadow areas.  They had found an approach wherein you duplicate the original video layer and stack it adding various blend modes and filters.

With the first video I attempted the process as they suggested.  I am using FCPX so my process is a bit different.
Duplicate the video layer.  Change the duplicate blend mode to overlay and invert the layer using a negative filter.  Desaturate the layer all the way down.  And to make the effect a bit subtle I changed the opacity to 53%.
Duplicate original layer again and stack.  Duplicate blend mode is Linear Burn, opacity at 85.5%.


I wasn't extremely pleased with my results so decided to give this some more thought.  The next test I was able to pull out the shadows and highlights yet the subject is still blown out and too soft.  The process isn't worth going over because it was not successful in creating the look I'm after.  However, with each new video I am learning more about the particular ways blend modes affect the overal image.


This last video I was able to create results very close to what I'm after.  Still not entirely there but I am on the right track now.  Here is the process:
Duplicate original layer.  Set blend mode to linear burn, opacity at 26%.  Then underexpose the image to -22%.
The purpose of underexposing was to get an even mid tone across the face.
Duplicate original layer again and stack. Set blend mode to Multiply, opacity at 34%.  I then completely desaturated the top layer.  Can't recall why I thought this was necessary, just did it.
Then you nest these clips into a single clip.  In FCP7 this was called a nested sequence and in FCPX it's called a compound clip.
I then color corrected the clip using the histogram and vectorscope as guides.  I saturated the image and crushed the blacks.  Then I added a sharpen filter.
NOTE: All levels are approximations that I eyed and are subject to change for specific footage being used.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

ISO 12800 Test Footage

Here's my first test run on my GH2 with the new ptool hack.  I am going to start calling this camera Vader since I have another in the mail.  Figured if I had two I might as well name them.  I'll call it Vader because it's black and survived being drenched in hot coffee.  Not necessarily molten lava or metal but dangerous nonetheless.  I am seeing some poor banding issues.  There's a distinct dark bar in my shots.  Definitely something internal in the camera, a problem with the processor or the sensor perhaps.  Hopefully my GH2v2 will not be afflicted with this same problem.  I don't notice this issue in other test videos I see from other users of this camera.  Good thing this will be my b camera from here on out.


Ptool v 3.63 Hack




Just installed the new hack on my GH2.  Upped the rec mode to 44mbps at 24H and FSH.  The rest of the rec modes are at 35mbps.  Modified the GOP settings slightly.  Only lowered the frame numbers to the next suggested increment.  For example went from 15 down to 9, from 30 down to 15, etc...  Probably won't produce quite noticeable results but I'm just warming up my camera before trying any further modification.  Also, removed the ISO limit.  I can now record video at ISO 12800.  Will do some tests tonight and post footage later.

Vitaly Releases ptool Version 3.63

The newest user ready hack has been released for the GH2.  The latest hack allows for higher bitrates (reported as being steady at 44mbps as opposed to the last hack which was 42mbps), GOP modification, and removes the ISO limit.  Some pretty impressive test footage has been posted showing the GH2's video performance at ISO 12800!  You can check out Andrew Reid's site here.  He gives an in depth review of performance as well as provides tests footage.  I am currently charging my battery and will install the new firmware this afternoon.  Will post test footage later tonight!

Friday, November 4, 2011

Resurrection

My camera lives!  It's a miracle.  For some reason I put the battery back in to try one last time to turn it on and success!  I have already filmed an interview on it today and had no problems recording over 18 minutes of footage.  The LCD doesn't even flicker, which it was doing after initially turning it on post coffee spill.  So by next week I will have two GH2's one silver and the other black.  This isn't an unwanted thing.  I needed a b camera anyway.  So I will use the coffee survivor as my b camera.  Only because I don't fully trust its capabilities yet.  Need to put it under more rigorous testing.  But I have my friend back and am very pleased to be able to shoot video today.

I'll post a lens test soon.  Last week I received a lot of russian lenses in the mail.  BRING OUT THE RUSSIANS!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Death of a Friend

I killed my GH2 yesterday.  Spilled an entire cup of coffee on it.  I am not extremely sad about it, but just disappointed at the situation.  I use that camera everyday and I am starting to feel lost without it within arms reach.  I really feel I built a relationship with this tool.  I hang out with it.  I appreciate its presence in my life.  I have ordered a new one.  It will arrive sometime next week.  It's coming from Taiwan.  It's the Japanese version, but with the ptool hack I can change the menu language to english.  Haven't found a tutorial on exactly how to do this yet so I figure it must be my responsibility to do this once I figure out how.  But this situation has given me an opportunity to really observe the effect of this loss on myself and understand a relationship that can be developed between the videographer and his camera.  Between the craftsman and the tool of his craft.  I am going to miss shooting with my black GH2.  The new model will be silver.  It really will feel like a different creature.  Silver and japanese.  I just hope it's not too difficult of a task to get the english language on the menu.