A while back I picked up a Tweet mentioning someone had hacked the Panasonic GH1 HD-SLR firmware to allow the camera to record at a higher bitrate, capture 4:2:2 color sampling, and a host of other enhancements. This camera was retailing (with a lens) for $1100, and EBAYing without a lens for $650! I managed to get ahold of two of these little cams (body only) a few months ago, and quickly installed the hack.
First impression - meh! The camera is a dinky little body with nothing special about it, even in the market it was intended for (que soccer mom). It has a 4/3rds sensor, but a Sloooow one, because this thing CANNOT be used off of a tripod without exhibiting some MAJOR rolling shutter wobble. My setup is a little funky as well. I am using an adapter (made in China) that allows my cheap but good Canon FD glass to mount to it. This effectvely nullifies ALL automatic control (which is a good thing). It's all manual everything, however... the viewfinder (even in Camera shooting mode) will auto gain/exposure until you hit record, then it locks... so it's a little difficult to lock in an exposure before you hit record. Solution is to get into position, set exposure, and do not move until you hit record.
I set my cams up identically with a low contrast, slightly desat, -2 sharpening, +2 noise reduction custom film profile. The hack is set to max out at 60Mbits/sec , avg 45MBit/sec. The 4:2:2 ONLY works on MPEG, not AVCHD mode. Here is the issue! I have to abandon the 4:2:2 because the MPEG 24fps hack literally discards every 4th frame, resulting in Saving private Ryan skippy as hell (with Motion Blur) footage. SO, I am back to leaving the cam in AVCHD 24p (23.98) wrapped in 60i, just like the HV20. This is not such a big deal, because Cineform can do all that reconverting to real 24p (23.98) on the fly when ingesting, and it does a great job of it, even resizing back to 720P in one click.
So, what does this bitrate enhancement get me? I am not really sure. I never tried the cam without it. The footage looks pretty nice @ ISO 100 in decent lighting. Low light and you get some really ugly "striping" noise, which looks like film scratches, but more "video" looking. This noise is not really that noticeable when displaying on a 42" flat panel TV, yet you can really see it on my 30" HP Desktop monitor. But the bitrate enhance does produce footage that does not have "mud" in the high detail/high contrast areas (like bushes and trees and grass), which is very cool.
My goal in getting these cameras was to be able to shoot at my leisure to produce backdrops or scenes for my CG projects (game cinematics), as well as get behind the cam and start getting "muscle memory" working for a real shoot that may come my way. There are so many things that work or don't work, depending on the situation, and the ONLY way to get good at working behind the camera is to go out and shoot in public. For now, my setup represents the bare minimum required to actually shoot and produce a professional result, even if I am cutting some major corners. I have put money into things that directly impact the image - tripod, mounts, lens, sensor,codec - but did it at the lowest cost possible. The idea is that producing professional looking material will lead to paid work, which funds equipment upgrades, which - step-by-step - starts to smooth out those corners I am cutting.
My Equip so far:
(2) Early model Panasonic GH1's - After April 2010/hack does not work!
Manfrotto 501HDV fluid head (mounted on Slider)
Manfrotto tripod - with older Manfrotto fluid head (lightweight)
Igus Slider (1000mm), mounted on two $40 tripods
IndiRails mount - mounted on my own CinéRods (14.5" 15mm rods)
H4n Recorder
Sony wireless Lav kit
Canon FD 135mm/f2.8 , 50mm/f1.4, & 28mm/f2.8 - $400 for all 3!
(2) Lightcraft Fader ND Variable Neutral Density filters- MUST HAVE!
Various accessories/reflectors/bags
Cineform Neo 4k - Ingest to perfect 24p, 16bit Color Correction in Metadata anywhere in the pipeline!
Singular Software DualEyes - OMG! Dual system sync in one click - MUST HAVE
Edit in Edius - realtime everything, great understanding/interpreting to proper online formats.
Sound mastering in Vegas - its just easier there and I can write 5.1 surround deliverables.
Want:
Next generation HD-SLR w/minimum rolling shutter artifacts
Leica Glass
LED lighting kit
Another wireless lav
Boom Mic and pole
Friday, October 8, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Filmmaking is embarassing.
Getting out there, just do it, trying is better than discussing... these are inherent truths. In the arena of "potential filmmaking" there is a lot of apprehension. I cannot stress enough how important it is to just get out there and start capturing footage, testing your methods, getting your feet wet, honing skills. One of the first things I have noticed when out doing "guerilla" shooting, is how quick things move. You really do not have time to sit around setting gear up, breaking down, and getting the perfect shot. Add to that all camera checks and settings before you hit record, and it can quickly become mind boggling... chances are very high that you will forget to turn on something or set something that is required to get the properly exposed shot. To remedy this confusion, you really have to get out there as much as possible, and develop muscle memory for the camera settings and methods that suit your style of shooting. This is hugely important! You have to devlop a routine, much like a professional golfer. The pros have a very detailed regimen they use for EVERY shot, and they follow the same pattern to the letter, for EVERY shot. This breeds consistency, and fewer mistakes are the result.
There are a lot of distractions. For one thing, this kind of unscripted, run and gun filmmaking, is kind of embarrassing. People passing by, if they acknowledge you at all, give you a puzzled " What are you doing?" look. The "Potential filmmaker" by nature, is not a professional (ie. not getting paid to be on location), which means your gear probably looks a little strange, like a cobbled together jumble of parts that, at a glance, look like a professional rig, but with a second or two to process the situation, quickly reveal the oddity into which you are gazing. "Is that an HV20?" - "What are you doing?"
But here is the trick - keep going, be relentless. Behave as though you have done this thousands of times, like you know EXACTLY what you are doing. Believe in your rig, after all, this is the NEW way of filmmaking. The footage is bound for a 800pixel wide online audience.. so your rig is actually overkill and definitely "good enough". The goal is for you to get good enough to create well composed shots amongst the confusion of run and gun shooting. B-Roll can be an art. There are some shots that can unexpectedly MAKE a short film or concept, so take every shot seriously, and try anything and everything. Don't let a little embarassment get in the way. :)
4.8hrs from Matt Moses on Vimeo.
There are a lot of distractions. For one thing, this kind of unscripted, run and gun filmmaking, is kind of embarrassing. People passing by, if they acknowledge you at all, give you a puzzled " What are you doing?" look. The "Potential filmmaker" by nature, is not a professional (ie. not getting paid to be on location), which means your gear probably looks a little strange, like a cobbled together jumble of parts that, at a glance, look like a professional rig, but with a second or two to process the situation, quickly reveal the oddity into which you are gazing. "Is that an HV20?" - "What are you doing?"
But here is the trick - keep going, be relentless. Behave as though you have done this thousands of times, like you know EXACTLY what you are doing. Believe in your rig, after all, this is the NEW way of filmmaking. The footage is bound for a 800pixel wide online audience.. so your rig is actually overkill and definitely "good enough". The goal is for you to get good enough to create well composed shots amongst the confusion of run and gun shooting. B-Roll can be an art. There are some shots that can unexpectedly MAKE a short film or concept, so take every shot seriously, and try anything and everything. Don't let a little embarassment get in the way. :)
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
And in other News....
Another series of significant events:
The Canon 1D Mark IV looks like a still camera - It is a Stills camera. and if you bring some talent out on the streets with you and some cool camera dollies and tripods, you can also make movies.
But I left something out.... oh wait you need to bring a truck with your lighting setup... you'll have to rent a few thousand dollars worth of lights... oh yeah.. and when you turn them on, you need generators... oh yeah, and you'll need probably need to get permits because of all the noise and attention you'll be getting with all those lights. If your are renting a crew for the lights, and committing to a location (because it takes a long time to setup lights), you'll need food, and security gaurds, and probably police to shut down a street or two. If you rent all that stuff, then you should probably rent the cheapest part of the production, a RED One camera or Sony setup and some prime lenses. And do not forget the insurance! Now you are filmmaking! Hope your script is good, and hope you have fun shooting because it's very likely (like most filmmakers) you will NEVER recover the cost of this production.
Small Game Changer: Canon 1D MKIV
Now consider this. You pick up a nice new camera capable of taking pro photography stills, you know, so you can get some great shots of the family on vacation. Between your colleagues, friends, and their friends and colleagues, together you already own basically a movie set's worth of gear. And between the rest of the people you know, you can probably get a few "favor" loaners of some high quality camera mounts/setups. This new camera you bought is also capable of filming 1080P/24fps in almost ANY lighting conditions, yet looks just as innocent hanging around your neck in the shopping mall. With this new clandestine filmmaking rig, a walk thru the mall, downtown suburbs, or busy city streets can yield limitless possibilities - car chases, foot chases, romantic comedies, restaurant dialogues, walking shots in the park... at night!
This is what Canon's new camera announcement is allowing you to do... for $5000! (body only)
Consider this: In 2004, Michael Mann directed Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx in the motion picture Collateral , shooting in and around the streets of Los Angeles, using mostly available light for many shots. He was an early adopter of HD fillmaking 5 years ago and used Sony HDW-F900's and Grass Valley Viper cameras - These are $200,000+ setups even today! Five years later and $5000 gets this capability in what looks like a consumer/prosumer camera package!
All hail competitve markets! Canon has announced 24P/25P solutions for their existing 5DMKII and their newest extreme low light 1D MKIV in the same breath. This comes strategically before RED Camera announces their latest "giant carrot" product development cycle and features list on OCT. 30th, 2009. Canon has been able to captialize on RED's quietness by delivering two cameras that can do a lot more than take pretty still pictures.
I believe that Canon has reached out to a broader market, where RED will continue to preach to its choir - A pretty big choir consisting of mostly professional filmmakers and up and coming industry pros. While RED will most likely not compromise with a few key quality features (RAW Capture), Canon is willing to make drastic compromises in quality (H.264) and in turn gain the attention of an ever increasing multitude of frustrated filmmaking enthusiasts. This is a big crowd of "potential filmakers", the people who want to try and make creative content, without the need for all that "pro" stuff. Canon may be getting this one right - "Good enough" usually wins.
But RED and Canon may be heading towards two different users ultimately, with occasional crossover users for both camps. Some pros use Canon DSLR's and some enthusiasts use RED's products (although not many). RED is not easy to use, and a Canon 1D MKIV does NOT make you a filmmaker. RED has never led its usrs to believe their camera was for everyone - it's a digital cinema product. Canon makes cameras (and other stuff) that are targeted at anyone with interest in capturing images - a lot of people indeed. So what would you expect? Only pro stuff from Canon - No. An inadequate lens and high compression capture from RED - No. RED has obviously pushed Canon to do better, however, and Canon has made RED re-evaluate its strategy - a very healthy and beneficial atmosphere for the consumer!
Remember, a free market will always take the path of least resistance.
Exciting times for creative people using technology for sure!
October 30th will bring a new insight on this discussion. :)
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Die Ende?
Check out:Shot On:
- Canon HV20 (with JAG35 flip hack) - $60 fliphack +$600 Ebay
- JAG35Pro DOF adapter - $300
- Canon FD 50mm f1.4 - $80 (f/JAG35.com)
- Canon FD135mm f2.5 - $198 Ebay
- Dfocus Follow Focus - $115
- IndiRails Pro 10" - $99
- Cokin Filter Adapter w/Graduated ND8 -$15 +$28
- Bogen Tripod Head -$75
- Cineform NEO HD - $499
- Misc Accessories - $200
So.. 24P HD.. that you can color correct in 4:4:4 color space (kinda), very film-like shallow Depth of Field ... a nearly complete rock bottom film rig for under $2300
No rolling shutter or wobbles, but lots of other tradeoffs... still useable.
Couple of other minor clips:
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
When True Art Aligns With Tech
This is absolutely beautiful. It is, in my opinion, the best cinematic released since Warhammer: Mark of Chaos two years ago. And guess what? It's from the same guys that did that one-DIGIC Pictures in Hungary.
The camera work is real world, and really feels like it was done on set, not in a computer. They are careful not to have speaking characters for more than a few seconds... so uncanny valley problems are minimized, which leads to another point. The scenes are full of human characters, and they all look fantastically real (minor exception to the females skin feeling a little plastic).
They did such an excellent job on shadow-to-light areas, bounce light, and highlights that blow out when they should. Beautiful cinematic Depth of field is present that feels very natural. The camera angles seem very artistically thought out, and the action flows like you would expect in any blockbuster movie made in the U.S.. I would pay to see a film of this caliber!
These guys have a serious talent for staging shots and creating extremely beautiful lighting in their scenes - Lighting that actually hides details.... that is what I love about their work. There is super realistic stuff in there and much of it gets hidden in the shadows or blurred out of focus. Our minds are left to fill in the details, which is so much more enjoyable and engaging to watch.
The camera work is real world, and really feels like it was done on set, not in a computer. They are careful not to have speaking characters for more than a few seconds... so uncanny valley problems are minimized, which leads to another point. The scenes are full of human characters, and they all look fantastically real (minor exception to the females skin feeling a little plastic). Thank you DIGIC for raising the bar - like it was not already high enough! I think you need to make features now - you could seriously compete with PIXAR I feel.
They did such an excellent job on shadow-to-light areas, bounce light, and highlights that blow out when they should. Beautiful cinematic Depth of field is present that feels very natural. The camera angles seem very artistically thought out, and the action flows like you would expect in any blockbuster movie made in the U.S.. I would pay to see a film of this caliber! My hat is off to the artists at DIGIC Pictures! What they are doing over there is unique to the industry, something special. I look forward to seeing more of this kind of work.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Try My Product
Steve Weiss from Zacuto said it plainly and simply: "You need to make something great" and "It needs to be tied to products". Yes. Put your best artistic visions towards exposing the benefits of a product, you can actually make a living and we'll actually watch the commercials. As long as there are only 4 of them per hour.
A Series of Significant Events - PART I
I mistakenly made a comment to someone that there should be a running chronology of events that account for how creative content - its creation, its creators, and its delivery to the masses - is rapidly changing. That person called me out and said, "What events do you mean?"
Assuming we start just 8 months ago...
I think I meant:
1. Stu Maschwitz' blog Prolost- Not really an event but as a resource it is significant. Stu brings a concise view on filmmaking, tools used in production, and insights that are being taken seriously by manufacturers and content producers alike. Like no other single Blogsite, Prolost is the definitive champion of do-it-yourself filmmaking... Stu is setting trends.
2. Sept, 2008 - Vincent Laforet shoots a "test" with a new Canon 5D MarkII - Marking the beginning of a shift in target markets that continues to ripple thru the major players product lines, and truly begins to redefine what is "filming/photography".
3. Nov. 2008 - RED Camera changes the game with announcements of an entirely new, modular cinema camera system AND open aknowledgement that they need to rethink their "entry level" camera systems - DSLR video catching on. RED Cameras being used more and more in digital productions.
4. NAB 2009 - Nothing shocking announced. But what was very interesting was the turn of events shortly afterward as freelance Director of Photography Philip Bloom takes Panasonic's new GH1 DLSR/24P Video camera on the road. He travels to a ghost town in Nevada, Austin TX, Kauai, and more shooting beautiful footage and reporting back to an anxious mass huddled around their computer screens. It seems he was one of only two professional DP's holding a GH1 in North America (Hunter Richards being the other), providing some of the best info and most anticipation for a new product since the 5dMKII - possibly more.
5. Spring 2009 - Neil BlomKamp's sci-fi epic District 9 is the culmination of years of tinkering around with consumer video cameras, picked up by Peter Jackson for a theatrical release. Alongside that, the most ambitious and well produced fan film, "The Hunt for Gollum", is released for FREE viewing. Both films show how good "no-budget" productions can be, using inexpensive cameras and a lot of effort. Avant Garde Director Steven Soderbergh releases his film, "The Girlfriend Experience" for online viewing 3 weeks before theatre release. Filmmaking - Its appreciation and its creation have never been so accessible.
Assuming we start just 8 months ago...
I think I meant:
1. Stu Maschwitz' blog Prolost- Not really an event but as a resource it is significant. Stu brings a concise view on filmmaking, tools used in production, and insights that are being taken seriously by manufacturers and content producers alike. Like no other single Blogsite, Prolost is the definitive champion of do-it-yourself filmmaking... Stu is setting trends.
2. Sept, 2008 - Vincent Laforet shoots a "test" with a new Canon 5D MarkII - Marking the beginning of a shift in target markets that continues to ripple thru the major players product lines, and truly begins to redefine what is "filming/photography".
3. Nov. 2008 - RED Camera changes the game with announcements of an entirely new, modular cinema camera system AND open aknowledgement that they need to rethink their "entry level" camera systems - DSLR video catching on. RED Cameras being used more and more in digital productions.
4. NAB 2009 - Nothing shocking announced. But what was very interesting was the turn of events shortly afterward as freelance Director of Photography Philip Bloom takes Panasonic's new GH1 DLSR/24P Video camera on the road. He travels to a ghost town in Nevada, Austin TX, Kauai, and more shooting beautiful footage and reporting back to an anxious mass huddled around their computer screens. It seems he was one of only two professional DP's holding a GH1 in North America (Hunter Richards being the other), providing some of the best info and most anticipation for a new product since the 5dMKII - possibly more.
5. Spring 2009 - Neil BlomKamp's sci-fi epic District 9 is the culmination of years of tinkering around with consumer video cameras, picked up by Peter Jackson for a theatrical release. Alongside that, the most ambitious and well produced fan film, "The Hunt for Gollum", is released for FREE viewing. Both films show how good "no-budget" productions can be, using inexpensive cameras and a lot of effort. Avant Garde Director Steven Soderbergh releases his film, "The Girlfriend Experience" for online viewing 3 weeks before theatre release. Filmmaking - Its appreciation and its creation have never been so accessible.
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