DSLR for Videos? Old-time Dilema, Again.

[MidEastGal]

Question: Is $1200 a reasonable price for the GH2 body and 14-140 lens? (just asking to prepare for all my options)

That's about right - and about $300 less than I paid for a new one from The Camera Store in Calgary 2 years ago. They don't depreciate very much.

Good luck!

Bill

Thanks Brunerww. I think it is a good price, yes. I just checked amazon [video]http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-DMC-GH2KK-Interchangeable-Free-Angle-Black/dp/B0043VE27Y[/video] and it is around 1400 for body and same lens (14-140), but they have the option of getting it with the 14-42 for about 700. At my local store they only have it with the 14-140 at $1200, around 200 cheaper than amazon.

 

[MidEastGal]

Ok, here is a link to the A57 video below. I just created this account for tests and it is private for public search. Here is the temporary password: Tests1984. The reason is that I don't think I did a fair test and I don't want people to judge camera is good or bad based on this. for you guys I can explain. First, I used only "auto settings", so lazy! Second, I was with a surgery wound (which went very well, thanks for the wishes up). Third, some of the shoots in the ocean are from behind the dirty glass of the sea bus and some night shoots are with high zoom and still not even night mode, and night scene of homeless by "male essentials" is from behind my hotel window glass with zoom-bad quality but nice moments). Fourth, I didn't include native audio or auto focus moments! I am kind of embarrassed from this video but anyways, could have been worse if I didn't try it at all after surgery. My thoughts briefly, I like the camera, has nice quality for color and low light, still and video. I didn't get to experiment a lot with settings. I liked the panorama (photo at beginning of video is an example). There are things I didn't like that I mentioned before: noise when zooming, not taking still while video, not compatible with flash lights or mics on upper shoe (will need adopter piece), not compatible with many common lenses (will need adopter), audio is not great (but same with many other cameras), and no touch screen (nicer to have the option). I will not comment further and wait your comments first. Mind you, I am still thinking whether I return it and exchange with the GH2 or not. Discussion is still on Video:

(again, not a very honest reflection of the camera at all but did the job for me of trying the feel of it and am still trying it).

Great travel piece - some very interesting, artistic shots - nice music and a fast paced edit. Makes me want to visit BC! You're right - auto modes are not fair to any camera - but I liked the quality of most of the images - especially the shots of the food and vegetables - very nice Sony color. And the panoramic stills are very very cool.

But there was aliasing too (power lines above the buses at 0:35). That wan't your shooting style or the auto mode - that was the camera's downscaling process.

I would have no problem shooting video with this camera, and people have produced some great work with it. Only you can decide whether you can live with its limitations (no standard cold shoe, no touch screen, etc.).

All the best,

Bill

Brunnerww, thank you for the detailed reply. I appreciate your balanced commentary. This will help me make a decision very soon to keep it or replace it. I am viewing more videos online done in both cameras and I have to admit people did do amazing things with both. As you said I have to decide whether I can live with the limitations I mentioned.

 

[sekhar]

Brunnerww, thank you for the detailed reply. I appreciate your balanced commentary. This will help me make a decision very soon to keep it or replace it. I am viewing more videos online done in both cameras and I have to admit people did do amazing things with both. As you said I have to decide whether I can live with the limitations I mentioned.

You had a lot of night shots (which looked good, IMO). If that's going to be the norm, make especially sure GH2 can handle night well enough.

 

[MidEastGal]

Brunnerww, thank you for the detailed reply. I appreciate your balanced commentary. This will help me make a decision very soon to keep it or replace it. I am viewing more videos online done in both cameras and I have to admit people did do amazing things with both. As you said I have to decide whether I can live with the limitations I mentioned.

You had a lot of night shots (which looked good, IMO). If that's going to be the norm, make especially sure GH2 can handle night well enough.

Sekhar, Thank you so much for raising this point. I have no clue about the GH2's ability for night shoots. I will have to look into this before doing anything. I do like night but I will be using my future camera equally for day and night. I particularly liked the filming of the homeless and drunken and drug exchanges in allies at night (not all included in this video). My hotel room had a view. Anyone knows about this point with the GH2?

 

[brunerww]

Brunnerww, thank you for the detailed reply. I appreciate your balanced commentary. This will help me make a decision very soon to keep it or replace it. I am viewing more videos online done in both cameras and I have to admit people did do amazing things with both. As you said I have to decide whether I can live with the limitations I mentioned.

You had a lot of night shots (which looked good, IMO). If that's going to be the norm, make especially sure GH2 can handle night well enough.

Sekhar, Thank you so much for raising this point. I have no clue about the GH2's ability for night shoots. I will have to look into this before doing anything. I do like night but I will be using my future camera equally for day and night. I particularly liked the filming of the homeless and drunken and drug exchanges in allies at night (not all included in this video). My hotel room had a view. Anyone knows about this point with the GH2?

With a fast lens, you can get very good results.

Andrew Reid of eoshd.com shot this with the Olympus 12mm f2:

[video=vimeo;32520456]http://vimeo.com/32520456[/video]

 

[brunerww]

With the ultrafast (and ultraexpensive ) Nokton 25mm f0.95 at ISO160:

[video=vimeo;17294099]http://vimeo.com/17294099[/video]

 

[MidEastGal]

You had a lot of night shots (which looked good, IMO). If that's going to be the norm, make especially sure GH2 can handle night well enough.

Sekhar, Thank you so much for raising this point. I have no clue about the GH2's ability for night shoots. I will have to look into this before doing anything. I do like night but I will be using my future camera equally for day and night. I particularly liked the filming of the homeless and drunken and drug exchanges in allies at night (not all included in this video). My hotel room had a view. Anyone knows about this point with the GH2?

With a fast lens, you can get very good results.

Andrew Reid of eoshd.com shot this with the Olympus 12mm f2:

[video=vimeo;32520456]http://vimeo.com/32520456[/video]

Thanks Brunnerww, these were amazing! What about on the lens 14-140 in camera settings. I mean not the so fast lenses? I just want to know is it at least not problematic?

 

[brunerww]

Thanks Brunnerww, these were amazing! What about on the lens 14-140 in camera settings. I mean not the so fast lenses? I just want to know is it at least not problematic?

It can be done. This was shot at dusk with the 14-140, ISO1600 (the stock camera does not perform well above ISO1600):

[video=vimeo;17852769]http://vimeo.com/17852769[/video]

 

[MidEastGal]

Brunnerww, this looks good. I checked his other videos. He is experimenting with the GH2 but still thinks a dedicated camcorder is easier to use. Naturally. I just thought what he says in the commentary here is interesting:
[video=vimeo;17732726]https://vimeo.com/17732726[/video].
Of course, in the future I will/might need a dedicated pro camcorder.

 

[skyy38]

You had a lot of night shots (which looked good, IMO). If that's going to be the norm, make especially sure GH2 can handle night well enough.

Sekhar, Thank you so much for raising this point. I have no clue about the GH2's ability for night shoots. I will have to look into this before doing anything. I do like night but I will be using my future camera equally for day and night. I particularly liked the filming of the homeless and drunken and drug exchanges in allies at night (not all included in this video). My hotel room had a view. Anyone knows about this point with the GH2?

With a fast lens, you can get very good results.

Andrew Reid of eoshd.com shot this with the Olympus 12mm f2:

[video=vimeo;32520456]http://vimeo.com/32520456[/video]

WOW! Superior detail, everything balanced, color saturation etc! I mean WOW!

What camera did you shoot this with? Was this 720, 1080, or 1980p?

Was the lens JUST a 12mm or did it have a nice zoom ratio? I noticed the blurry background but maybe that was because you had your aperture wide open, which also blurs the background? Nice foreground blur at the start too.

"Bladerunner" music also appreciated!

 

[brunerww]

Sekhar, Thank you so much for raising this point. I have no clue about the GH2's ability for night shoots. I will have to look into this before doing anything. I do like night but I will be using my future camera equally for day and night. I particularly liked the filming of the homeless and drunken and drug exchanges in allies at night (not all included in this video). My hotel room had a view. Anyone knows about this point with the GH2?

With a fast lens, you can get very good results.

Andrew Reid of eoshd.com shot this with the Olympus 12mm f2:

[video=vimeo;32520456]http://vimeo.com/32520456[/video]

WOW! Superior detail, everything balanced, color saturation etc! I mean WOW!

What camera did you shoot this with? Was this 720, 1080, or 1980p?

Was the lens JUST a 12mm or did it have a nice zoom ratio? I noticed the blurry background but maybe that was because you had your aperture wide open, which also blurs the background? Nice foreground blur at the start too.

"Bladerunner" music also appreciated!

Hi Skyy - To be clear, I wish I shot this, but I didn't. Andrew Reid the well-known blogger over at eoshd.com is the auteur. That said, to answer your questions, the Olympus 12mm is a fixed 12mm prime lens for micro 4/3 cameras, such as the Panasonic GH2 and GH3. This was shot at 1080p and 44mbps with a free 3rd party firmware upgrade of the GH2.

Here is Andrew's blog post on the shoot: Tokyo test footage ? attempting a Ridley Scott with the hacked GH2 and Olympus 12mm F2 | EOSHD.com

Cheers,

Bill

 

[TehYoyo]

I think it's unfair to say that the Sony A57 is incompatible with many common lenses - Nikon lenses don't fit Canon bodies (without an adapter), Canon lenses don't fit Nikon bodies (without an adapter), and neither of them fit Sony bodies (without an adapter). And vice versa.

 

[skyy38]

With a fast lens, you can get very good results.

Andrew Reid of eoshd.com shot this with the Olympus 12mm f2:

[video=vimeo;32520456]http://vimeo.com/32520456[/video]

WOW! Superior detail, everything balanced, color saturation etc! I mean WOW!

What camera did you shoot this with? Was this 720, 1080, or 1980p?

Was the lens JUST a 12mm or did it have a nice zoom ratio? I noticed the blurry background but maybe that was because you had your aperture wide open, which also blurs the background? Nice foreground blur at the start too.

"Bladerunner" music also appreciated!

Hi Skyy - To be clear, I wish I shot this, but I didn't. Andrew Reid the well-known blogger over at eoshd.com is the auteur. That said, to answer your questions, the Olympus 12mm is a fixed 12mm prime lens for micro 4/3 cameras, such as the Panasonic GH2 and GH3. This was shot at 1080p and 44mbps with a free 3rd party firmware upgrade of the GH2.

Here is Andrew's blog post on the shoot: Tokyo test footage ? attempting a Ridley Scott with the hacked GH2 and Olympus 12mm F2 | EOSHD.com

Cheers,

Bill

"Attempting a RIDLEY SCOTT"...well there HAD to be a reason for the music use, at any rate.....

Ridley directed BLADE RUNNER......

I just love how stuff fits together!

 

[MidEastGal]

I think it's unfair to say that the Sony A57 is incompatible with many common lenses - Nikon lenses don't fit Canon bodies (without an adapter), Canon lenses don't fit Nikon bodies (without an adapter), and neither of them fit Sony bodies (without an adapter). And vice versa.

TehYoyo, you are right. I actually was not very sure about the lenses point because I only read it somewhere online and did not really research how much (if at all) it is different from the other cameras incompatibilities. I read more about it and it seems this is not so different from others. But as to my other concerns like the length of the video and the moire, I think there is some validity there. It is a neat camera in general I have to say.

 

[MidEastGal]

In spite of my liking the Sony A57 and it's great colors and features, I am seriously thinking of exchanging it for the gh2 mainly for the reason I will be using it mostly for video and that is where the latter one excels and for the limitations I mentioned above. Hard decision. but feels right.