Panasonic GH5 leak: will have full size HDMI! (also, a new XLR audio extension, & low light improvement over the GH4)

Posted on September 21, 2016 by David Peterson

Looks like the bastard awful days of micro HDMI might be over? I’ve heard from a Panasonic GH5 tester that it will have *full size* HDMI! (am very happy to hear that!) One stop better as well, and IBIS too.

In other news, we can see this on top of the GH5 body at Photokina:

Very pleased to see, as I have many times suggested, that Panasonic should go with a Sony XLR-K2M audio addition instead of doing another YAGH again!

While it is exciting reading about all the new features the Panasonic GH5 will bring (such as 4K 60fps or 4K 30fps 10bit 422), it is somewhat depressing reading on other places on the internet how quick the anti-MFT trolls are out, and of course their first red herring is “but it sucks at low light”.

This low light argument reminds me of the megapixel race, sure there was big benefits from going from 2 megapixels to 5 megapixels, then to 12 megapixels, but then at around 16 megapixels to 24 megapixels range… the arguments got a lot weaker. And for 99.9% of users we don’t need 50 megapixels!

Ditto low light, not being constrained by 50 ISO film is AWESOME, then getting to 200 ISO… great! And now we can do workable 800 and 1600 and even 3200 ISO!

The Panasonic GX85 is as good in lowlight as the new Canon 5Dmk4 (but the GX85 is a fraction of the cost! & has better detail):

Let’s assume GH5 carries on and is one stop better even than that? How is that not a very workable ability to handle?

Do we NEED to have clean 100,00 ISO?? Nah, that is over the top in nearly all cases. Like having a 100 megapixel camera (for some people they’ll *need* that, but for most of us it is serious overkill and a bad compromise to purchase a 100 megapixel camera).

Plus remember there is the Metabones Speed Booster XL that gives Micro Four Thirds an extra 1.3 stop gain with the lens you’re using, nothing else has that aside from MFT. And Micro Four Thirds mount has access to a uniquely wide range of very fast lenses (I love my SLR Magic 25mm T0.95!).

I’d rather pass on the unnecessary over the top extreme high ISO capabilities and have instead the well polished and extensive range of features that the GH5 will have (just like Panasonic had each time with the GH1/GH2/GH3/GH4, relative to the other cameras of their time). So while yes I agree, better lowlight would be nice, let’s keep some perspective about this (when do you ever hear anyone complaining about lowlight from a new Canon APS-C release?!).

Lens Options for 360 Degree Virtual Reality Camera Rigs? And other thoughts on cameras.

Posted on August 2, 2016 by David Peterson

I’m a long way from upgrading my multiple (from six to a dozen cameras at once!) action cameras 360 Degree Virtual Reality Rig (thus I don’t need to worry about interchangeable lens options on this rig), but when I do I am thinking to go with Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera. Even though high resolution is very important for 360VR.

If you do go with 4K cameras then the Panasonic GH4 is a very popular 4K option (such as these guys using GH4 cameras for 360VR: http://shinichi-works.info/project_gh4.html). Also there is the Sony a7R mk2 / a7S mk2 options (but costs skyrocket, after all you’re not buying just one camera but many!) or Sony A6300 (which has overheating issues, an especially troubling issue if you have six of these operating all cramped up close together to each other! As then they’ll overheat even faster). Also Blackmagic Design has their Micro Studio Camera, but that requires an external 4K recorder, which introduces significant size/power/cost issues. Samsung NX1 is also very much worth a look (& NX500, but in 4K it has a harsh crop factor), but it is a dying system and ever since the NX1 hack came out the secondhand prices of the NX1 have been staying high.

Thus in the end I’d prefer the BlackMagic Micro Cinema Camera (BMMCC), because I’d prefer the dynamic range, bit depth, and color space of the BMMCC. And while the Panasonic GH4 / G7 does a max of 30p @ 4K, you are gaining resolution but giving up frame rate and I’d rather keep it at 60fps (as arguably high frame rates are nearly just as important for Virtual Reality as resolution is. Least you give the viewer motion sickness. And you can get higher resolution by using more cameras!). Presumably the GH5 will give 4K 60fps, but that will probably cost US$2K or more per camera (and you need many multiple ones of them of course for complete 360 degree coverage!), and it hasn’t even been announced yet so who knows.

Though given the likely length of time until I’ll be upgrading, we’ll surely see a Panasonic G7 sale by then which might make that option too cheap to resist vs going with BlackMagic Micro Cinema Cameras.

Anyway, I have still been putting a lot of thought & research this year into the various options for the future, and I decided I’d at last put the metaphorical pen to paper and share a few of my thoughts on this particular aspect of lens choices. We can broadly speaking split it into three groups:

a) native mount (i.e. MFT lens, or E mount lenses if a person was using A6300/A7 series instead), but then this can severely limit a person a couple of years down the track if they change bodies. It would be a lot smoother / cheaper if only the bodies need to be swapped out and not lenses as well. I’d like to have some degree of versatility with this rig.
b) full frame UWA lenses (in Nikon F mount of course, as I’ve explained in other blog posts), but not an option as you can’t then go truly wide if using them on APS-C or smaller bodies. And A7r mk2 / A7s mk2 are the only truly interesting options to consider here for use that are full frame. Maybe with the one exception of the Rokinon 14mm f2.8 lens, which does almost hit the sweet spot for price & focal length even when used on APS-C. Or the Rokinon 12mm F2.8, but then you have to deal with fisheye distortion.
c) APS-C UWA lens, this appears to hit the sweet spot of maximum versatility plus maximum FoV.

APS-C lens options:

Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6, max FoV but I’d be concerned about the slow f-stop, as then you’d start to be losing one of the key gains of ditching GoPros with their poor lowlight ability.
Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 (or the newer Tokina 11-20mm f/2.8, but that costs more so no), this is the lens I own myself and is in my eyes the “best” UWA lens for normal filmmaking, but does that mean it is for 360VR too?? Hmm
Rokinon 10mm f/2.8, is lighter/cheaper/wider (all 3 keys points for a 360VR rig) than the Tokina but is a fixed focal length (probably not a disadvantage though at all! As you absolutely don’t want that focal length to change once you’ve set it, thus why people will tape down zoom lenses if using them on a 360VR rig). However the Rokinon 10mm f/2.8 isn’t cheaper than Tokina when you consider the older Tokina models can easily be picked up secondhand, but the Rokinon can’t be so easily found at all secondhand as it is a newer lens.
Rokinon 16mm f/2, the fastest option but by this point at 16mm it is only barely UWA at all.

Outside these options listed, I can’t think of any good UWA lenses, or am I missing something? Everything else that comes to mind seems that they’d all be a worse compromise somewhere in price/FoV/speed/etc than these four that I listed.

Keen to hear in the comments your views on my thought process and each of the options I reached at!

Set of camera gear for a school to use for teaching filmmaking to young teenage students?

Posted on March 16, 2016 by David Peterson

Is basically exactly a year since I wrote my newbie guide to filmmaking gear based around the GH2, so now is a timely time to write a short update?
It is a tribute to the GH2 and Panasonic’s range of cameras as a whole, that they still line up as a very competitive choice even today in early 2016!

Lots more interesting cameras have since come along, such as Sony A6300/RX10mk2, Nikon D5500/D500, & Panasonic G7. But if you want to keep costs down and the max bang for buck then my guide from a year ago still holds relevant the bonus that a year later you can find these secondhand even cheaper than before!

Here is a post I wrote in response to a request about gear for Highschool for their young filmmaking students. Naturally with a limited school budget, and the need to buy multiple gear kits for several student groups to be able to use at once (and not to mention the risk of youth breaking gear!), costs need to be kept under tight control, so my GH2 gear guide still holds very relevant:

A few secondhand Panasonic GH2 is my vote. Dirt dirt cheap, and you get top notch quality from it! Waaaaay better than any Canon APS-C DSLR (heck, people rated a hacked GH2 above a 5Dmk3 even!).

Another thought is several GH1 bodies (nearly as good as GH2, but lacks live HDMI), plus one or two GH2 bodies for when they want to use it with an external monitor (Aputure FineHD VS-2, a quality 1920×1080 screen for dirt cheap!! 😮 Amazing), plus one G6 (or even G7, which some people even prefer over a Gh4! It is better than a GH4 at low light) for when they want 60fps FHD slow motion on a production (or 4K).

Get a few RJ Lens Turbos, and Nikon F mount lenses.

http://ironfilm.co.nz/a-priced-out-gear-kit-for-a-newbie-to-filmmaking-using-the-panasonic-gh2/
http://www.eoshd.com/2013/07/panasonic-g6-review-the-gh2-redux/

Nikon D5200 is also a solid choice! I own one myself (plus lots of Micro Four Thirds cameras). Again, maybe if you go with Nikon instead consider a mix with several D5200 plus one D5300 for when you want 60fps FHD slow motion on a project.

http://www.eoshd.com/2013/02/nikon-d5200-review/
http://www.eoshd.com/2013/02/nikon-d5200-vs-canon-5d-mark-iii/

For audio I’d avoid a Zoom H4n like the plague. (Ditto Canon for a camera body) An H4n or a Canon both “kinda” (but not really) made sense in the very very early days of the HDSLR Revolution (years ago), when there were very few other options. But it makes no sense to buy either today at all.

I’d go instead with a Tascam DR-60D mk2, paired with a cheap Xiaomi USB battery bank (Xiaomi is like the Apple of China!) which I Velcro to the back plus a camera strap around the handles of the Tascam. No need then for a mixing bag! And you’ll be able to run for a looooong time with that set up! (vs the internal AA batteries which get eaten up if you run only on them, but with a USB battery pack you never need to worry about that)

That there is my set up before I upgraded to a Sound Devices 552 (waaaaaaaaay more expensive! But worth it, for me as a semi pro soundie). A Tascam DR-60D mk1 is also worth getting if you find a very cheap deal on it, but improvements in the DR-60D mk2 I feel is worth it. (Tascam DR-70D is also worth a look, but for your school needs is not really worth it the extra XLR inputs)

For microphone, get perhaps one Sennheiser MKE 600? (I have a NTG2 at the moment, which is a solid microphone and I got a good deal on it! But I might suggest going with a MKE600 or perhaps a NTG3 instead) And the rest be HTDZ HT-81 microphones (which is what I started out with years ago, recording into a Zoom H1). Again following my suggestion of having the bulk of the gear being cheap while still decent (HTDZ HT-81) but get one or two nicer pieces (which are still frugal) for use on more important projects which deserve it (or/and for when they’re under closer supervision by you, so they’ll be looking after the equipment). This means they’ll also learn to appreciate the quality difference which can be output from lower end equipment vs better equipment (and also how it can *not* matter… how a HTDZ HT-81 in skilled hands will sound better than somebody clueless on a project using a MKE600).

So that is for outdoor recordings, for indoor you’ll want something else (due to reflective surfaces which will bounce the sound back, not ideal for using a shotgun in). I’m using a Takstar CM-60 at the moment, until I can afford an Oktava MK012. So I suggest you get a few CM-60 for indoor audio dialogue.

For a boom pole I got this:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping-Miloboo-carbon-fiber-4-sections-microphone-Handheld-Grip-Rig-Support-Rod-Flash-Light-LED/32278111738.html

But I mainly got this because of the FREE SHIPPING, as I live in the middle of nowhere in a small island nation called New Zealand. Sometimes shipping of big bulky items from the USA can be painfully expensive! But if you’re in the USA then there are well priced boom poles with free shipping for you to choose from at B&H / Adorama or Amazon.com

Where is Fujifilm’s fast standard zoom??

Posted on May 19, 2015 by David Peterson

Partially because of the release of the newly announced Fujifilm X-T10, I went and checked out the range of Fujifilm lenses out of curiosity. (because hey, they suck for video now, but maybe one day they’ll catch up? Always good to keep informed in advance)

To my surprise they appear to be lacking the most essential of pro lenses, a fast standard range zoom! The closest to it is the Fujinon XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4, but that slows down to f/4 at the long end.

Which is strange, as I have kept on hearing that the lenses are Fujifilm’s strong point for going with their system over the others. Yet it appears Panasonic, Olympus, and Samsung are the only mirrorless systems which have the basics covered (wide angle, fast standard zoom, fast tele zoom, wide prime, standard prime, portrait prime). Sony is still lacking with their refusal to make f/2.8 zooms because they want to keep size down (so your only left with f/4 from their zooms).

Looking at those three which do have the basics covered:
1) Olympus and Panasonic, as the oldest system it isn’t surprising they’ve got all the core bases covered. And as they share the same mount, Micro Four Third users truly are spoilt for choice! Able to pick from either brand.
2) Samsung is the kinda surprising one here out of the three, as they’re a very new entrant and up until lately just made lower end cameras (NX3000/NX300/NX30) but with the completion of their core lens range and the amazing Samsung NX1 I reckon it shows Samsung is here to fight and how seriously they’re taking it. They’re the one to watch!

Update #1:
Well… a few minutes after I published this I discovered I got the main premise of this blog post wrong! Ah my bad… there is a Fujifilm 16-55mm f/2.8 But it appears the 16-55mm f/2.8 only just came out this year however (and even the 50-150mm f/2.8 didn’t come out until late last year), guess that is why I missed it. And also it didn’t come out until a year after Samsung’s 16-50mm f/2.8 (and 50-150mm f/2.8), thus meaning the broad point of my post remains the same (Olympus/Panasonic are first, Samsung second, in covering the basics for lenses).

Update #2:
While looking at the specs for the new Fujifilm X-T10 I see is a world camera with 25fps & 30fps! (and 24fps too of course) Gee, why can’t Panasonic do the same with their G7 which was just announced yesterday?? Such a disappointment.

How to pick a camera when buying more than one?

Posted on May 18, 2015 by David Peterson

When buying multiple cameras there are two key ways to look at it:

Complementary cameras or matching cameras.

In some cases you want your cameras to be “matching cameras”, such as when doing multi camera coverage of wedding ceremony or doing an interview. Such as 2x GH4 to cover the wide of the interview and the close up, or one to cover the interviewer himself and another on the person being interviewed.

But in most cases you want your cameras to be complementary instead. As you need to view each camera body as merely one kind of tool in your box of tricks. So when you go out on a shoot, you can pick the best tool for the job.

Thus for cameras to be complementary, you want one camera to cover the weaknesses of the other, and in the reverse too.

For instance GH4 + BMPCC:

96fps vs 30fps
Compressed vs raw
Photos vs n/a
4K vs 1080

Or A7s vs BMPCC:

FF vs S16
Amazing low light vs so so low light
Compress vs raw

You can see how in each case, one does well in covering some of the weaknesses of the other camera.

Thus you can see how for many people getting a BMCC and BMPCC makes no sense at all really, as they’re two very similar cameras.
So this BMCC + BMPCC combo only makes sense if you’re looking for two “matching cameras” rather than two “complementary cameras”, or if you already have a BMCC and you want the BMPCC to just cover for the big weakness of the BMCC: its bulky size.

I really wouldn’t recommend the BMPC4K at the moment, URSA Mini 4K is just around the corner for the same price and is better in every way.

What I’d suggest is getting a Samsung NX1 right now (or any one of the currently top three hybrid cameras: Samsung NX1 / Sony A7s / Panasonic GH4. But I reckon the NX1 is the best of the 3 at the moment) and a set of Nikon F mount lenses. Then when the USRA Mini ships (and “if” it gets the favorable reviews we’re all expecting) get that as well. You’ll have a killer combo of two cameras able to cover a wide range of needs. Don’t worry that the URSA Mini is still a few months away from shipping, as having the Samsung NX1 to start with is still a phenomenal camera, and when you’re just starting out your equipment really isn’t your limiting factor just yet. As gear has got so good and so affordable.

If you lean towards doing a lot more multi camera work (such as weddings) than single camera, then I’d suggest instead starting out with a Panasonic GH4 for you, plus Panasonic G7 for your second shooter (your second shooter might supply their own camera, but even if they do, it is best if their camera matches well with your own. Makes life easier in post), and 3x Panasonic GH1 bodies (which go for merely US$150 on eBay, and still are quite damn fine cameras! Does miles better than any Canon Rebel series DSLR shoots) to cover the multiple extra angles during the ceremony and speeches. Then once they ship, pick up a BMMCC and BMD VA for your single camera work (music videos / adverts / short films / etc). Or get a BMPCC if you simply can’t wait for that.

I wrote this post in response to this thread on bmcuser, and felt like sharing it as a blog post too because my response is length yet generic enough it might be helpful for others too looking at getting more than one camera.