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  • DSLR Video

    gh1

    Posted by Nathan Ross on March 26, 2010 at 8:16 pm

    Hi there, I’m pretty sure this has been answered to death, but I’ve got a few questions regarding DSLR Video. Im at uni at the moment and am looking to buy a new camera, in particular a HDSLR, mainly as I studied photography at 6th form so want to take pictures, but also would like to record video for my course, and for fun overall.

    I initially was looking at the 7D, and after going to a trade show and using it, found it amazingly cool, as the video was awesome and the pictures stunning. However I’ve also been looking at the GH1, which for some reason I find more alluring, although I’ve heard a few things bad about it (same with 7D), so I’ve got a few questions/observations that I would like to put forward to you guys & girls.

    1) In terms of Depth of field, would the GH1 be suffice? I’m not talking about 5D level stuff which tbh i find slightly excessive as all people seem to be doing is making the background blurry, simply because they can. Saying that, I would like to use DOF as it does look cool, in small doses.

    2) I’ve heard alot of stuff about the choice on the GH1 to use AVCHD as its format (container). Alot of people complain that 17mbps isnt enough, but i’ve heard some people say that due to its efficiency, its similar in quality to HDV at 35mbps (which we use at uni, with Z1’s) Realistically, I’m not going to be putting my film’s in the cinema anytime soon or sending them to James Cameron, so basically what I’m asking will the image quality take a noticeable hit due to the bit-rate, or are people making a mountain out of a molehill and would it be fine for filming? (I can’t say what type of filming that will be, as idea’s have to be thought up as in a group) i’ve also heard lack of b-frames could be important or something like that?

    3) Editing wise, i’ve heard AVCHD is a bit of a hassle to edit especially from the GH1, which wraps the 1080 24p in a 60i format which you have to transcode into an intermediate format then use a reverse telecine I believe. How hard & annoying is this process and image wise, does it hold up, as I’ve seen great videos on vimeo/youtube with the camera but they’re people that obviously know how to make films, which I do to a lesser degree. I’ve got a macbook pro (2.4ghz c2d, 2gb (soon to be 4gb)RAM and a 256mb 8600m gt) would that be enough to edit AVCHD on FCP7

    4) Last one….I think, I heard the lens that comes with a GH1 is supposed to be great for video, just a little slow (f4-f5.6) but you can buy loads of adaptors for basically anything, would it be worth getting say a canon FD to M4/3 adapter and getting a 1.4 50mm or something like that (good for DOF?) Are there any lens combo’s anyone recommends?

    5) turns out it wasnt the last, sorry. I was just wondering how this camera compares to the 7d/550d(rebel t2i) in terms of video? I know the 7d is really good and presume the 550d essentially being exactly the same interms of video wlll be good but for mostly video work, do the pro’s of the Gh1 (twisty screen, loads of lenses, silent video lens)make it better for video against the pro’s of the canon’s (higher bitrate (less efficient?) loads more native lenses, bigger sensor)

    Sorry that thread was longer than I though, but I would be eternally grateful if someone could answer it.

    Thanks

    Nathan

    Noah Kadner replied 16 years, 3 months ago 2 Members · 1 Reply
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