First documentary shot on GH2 on television

The first documentary shot on a GH2 is broadcast tonight in the Netherlands, on Nederland 2 at eleven pm. The excellent documentary slot Het Uur van de Wolf co-produced the film.
(I believe there are 2 scoops:  the first documentary shot on a GH2 in the Netherlands and the first filmer with the name Wolf making a film for Het Uur van de Wolf (The Hour of the Wolf).)

The film is actually not entirely shot on the Panasonic GH2 because shooting with a consumer camera proved extremely impractical in many instances, especially when doing camera, sound ánd interviews. About one third of the film was shot on the Sony EX1 and 3. 

Het Ritme van Elly de Waard is a film about Holland's first serious pop journalist back in the 70's and 80's who later became a poet and stock broker. Today, at 72, she lives with her wife and their Jack Russel in a beautiful home in the woods on the coast of Noord-Holland. Outspoken and uncomprimising, Elly de Waard has encountered much resistance to her persona and work, but she has stayed true to her beliefs and work, whatever the cost.

I made this film with my 74-year old mother, Deborah Campert, and I wish there had been a Making of... it would have been engaging viewing material..!

A dvd of the film is part of the book Vogelwater, for which my niece Frederique Masselink-van Rijn made the photographs.

Update: a compressed version of the film can be seen online.

'100' (from 0 to 100 years in 150 seconds)

In October 2011 I started documenting people in the city of Amsterdam, approaching them in the street and asking them to say their age in front of the camera. My aim was to 'collect' a group of 100 people, from age 0 to 100. At first my collection grew fast but slowed down when it got down to the very young and very old. The young because of sensivity around filming or photographing children and the very old because they don't get out of the house much. I found my very old 'models' in care homes and it was a privilege to document these -often vulnerable- people for this project. I had particular problems finding a 99 year-old. (Apparently 100 year-olds enjoy notoriety, but a 99 year-old is a rare species...) And when I finally did find one, she refused to state her age. She simply denied being 99 years old! But finally, some 4 months after I recorded my first 'age', I was able to capture the 'missing link' and conclude this project. Enjoy.

Sold my doc shot on GH2

Exciting news for the author of this blog: the documentary I'm shooting and co-directing (the other director is my mother) on poet/pop-journalist/feminist Elly de Waard is commissioned by Dutch Public Broadcasting for their renowned documentary series Uur van de Wolf. (The Hour of the Wolf) I'm sure this is the first time a filmmaker named 'Wolf' is making something for Het Uur van de Wolf. Feels like coming home ;-)
Mother and son Wolf have joined film-forces before in 2008, when they collaborated on a portrait of Dutch artist Willem van Malsen. That film was selected for the Netherlands Film Festival and was aired by public broadcaster AVRO.
The documentary on poet de Waard will be shot on a Panasonic GH2 with antique Canon FD lenses. The film is planned to be aired in December of this year, along with the publication of a new book of poetry by de Waard that includes photographs by photographer Frederique Masselink van Rijn (who happens to be my niece. yes, it's all in the family...).
Good times for the filmer behind Filmersblog but less time for the blog... I'm going to try to post more than I've done the past few months and keep you up to date on several exciting new projects and the gear that I use and plan to use. (would love to get my hands on some of that Black Magic...)

Riding the snow (and eating it)

This was the first time I skied in decades and the very first time my son Tommie went snowboarding. (and our first 'father and son vacation'!) The GoPro was a little disappointing this time: hard to get steady shots from my helmet. (I pasted one of the sticky holders on the side of my rented helmet) I think there is some chest-mount that will yield better results. Had a great time skiing and snowboarding with some great people! (There were many more shots I wanted to try but that would have been at the expense of precious skiing time...)

Mailbox: Canon FD 20mm 2.8

CANON FD 20MM F2.8

I really needed a wide angle lens to cover the wide end of my Canon FD lens collection.An obvious choice was the Canon FD 20mm 2.8 because it is generally considered a very good lens and it's fairly fast. But I had my mind set on the Tokina RMC 17mm f3.5.  (more on that one soon!)
Little did I know that I was going to run into my former brother in law who -as it turned out after many years- is really big on prime lenses and has been building an impressive collection over the last 3 to 4 years. I visited him in his home and was delighted to see that the whole house seemed to 'breathe lenses'. The computerscreen showed the familar eBay-page with a big lens on it, there were lenses standing in every corner and cupboard and the livingroom table was turned into a little showcase of special interest lenses. It goes beyond the scope of this entry to delve into the various exquisite pieces of glass he showed me, but you can imagine there were some real rare beauties to be admired.

LIKE MOST LENSES FROM THE CANON FD SERIES: A VERY SOLID LENS

 The talk turned to Canon FD lenses and my brother in law disappeared into a closet and returned with 2 copies of the Canon FD 20mm 2.8. One of them looked like new and the other used, but very good. He had bought the 'like new' one for a very good price and said I could have the other for a good price. How could I resist? So... welcome to the family, Canon FD 20mm f2.8.
First thing I noticed with a big, wideangle piece of glass like this: you need a lens hood to resist flare and low contrast images. I can't wait to go into town to do some testing with this lens and compare it to my other prime 20mm: the Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 20mm f4!

FD 20MM INCLUDING THE FD TO MICRO 43 ADAPTER FOR USE ON GH2

Candid Camera (or how I learned to love my Canon FD200mm)

Mailbox: Canon FD 200mm F4

CANON FD 200MM F4: GREAT DOCUMENTARY VIDEO LENS

I found this addition to my -still expanding- Canon FD collection for €45,- and I was very curious to see how this lens would function on my Panasonic GH2 because of the crop sensor- this is a 400mm - serious tele-lensing! I was afraid that it would have a very limited use as a video lens because of the long focal distance. Every little jitter would be visible and I'd have to use a tripod 100% of the time!
But this lens really surpised me in a positive way and it has proven to be an absolute joy! First of all, it is very light, much lighter than it's more light-sensitive brothers and sisters... So that's a definite plus because you don't have to carry a rock around. It is a relatively inobtrusive lens and for street-shoots this is wonderful because no one notices you filming them! You are 50-100 feet away! And focusing is so creamy smooth that there is no jitter whatsoever. (although you have to use a tripod, of course)

Everyone's drooling over fast lenses but who needs a fast lens outside? This lens is sharp, has good color rendition, nice bokeh and a really nice feel about it. I shot a lot of iceskating with it the last few days and this lens shines! Never thought a telelens could be so much fun. For the money it's a no-brainer. A great video-lens for documentary shots where you like to observe people -or animals- in their natural habitat, unaware of camera's pointing at them. Highly recommended!

LOOKS HEAVY BUT IS VERY LIGHT AND PORTABLE

NICE WIDE GRIP FOR EASY FOCUSING

I spent christmas at the bottom of a lake

If you want to know where I spent christmas and newyear's: at the bottom of a lake. Well, much of the time. The other time I spent in a large, comfortable kitchen drinking wine and eating great food prepared by one of my oldest and best friends. Or I was playing with fire, another favorite pastime.

I stayed at an old farmhouse in the Bourgogne, France, on the edge of Lac de Panneciere. The lake was empty and I spent almost every day walking in or around this eerie landscape. My dog and I, two cityslickers getting down and dirty in the mud & rain, feeling very much at home in these surroundings. Our senses on alert, eyes and ears pricked...
Of course I took the opportunity to shoot some footage, if and when the rain allowed for it. My new acquisition, the Manfrotto BHDV-1 monopod, was a godsend. It served double-duty as a stabilizer and walking cane!

Shooting Black & White

B/W straight out of camera

desaturated color image

I'm considering shooting part of a new documentary in black&white and am weighing the cons and pros of shooting black and white or shooting color and making it B/W in postproduction.

An obvious advantage of shooting color is the fact that you can decide later to go color or B/W. But I would think that shooting B/W would produce a better image for 2 reasons:

1. hardware and software work together to produce the same image
2. it's always better to shoot with final output in mind

On the other hand, I've read that the sensor is a color sensor and the processor turns it into B/W. In that case, you might as well shoot color. If you had a 'dedicated B/W sensor' it would be a different thing...

Here's a guy who's produced an interesting B/W image. The only drawback is that it requires you to shoot in EX Tele mode (100% zoom) on the GH2. With the APS-C crop-factor you need a wildly wide lens to be able to shoot indoors... But it's an interesting experiment:

A 'documentary lens' for the GH2

THE LUMIX 14-140: THE MISSING LINK..UHH, LENS?

I'll be starting filming for a new documentary pretty soon and I am researching what lens would best complement some lenses I intend to use. My Panasonic Lumix 20 mm 1.7 is the one for wide shots, establishing, the Canon FD 50mm 1.4 for interviews and then I want a zoomlens for run 'n gun. I'm thinking the Panasonic 14-140 because it has received positive reviews (especially for video purposes), it's a versatile lens and with the new firmware (touch-)focus is supposedly even faster. It's not a fast lens at 4.0 but with the Pannie 20mm at 1.7 and the Canon at 1.4 I should have that base covered.
I'm primarily looking for a lens that will get me out of a tight situation, whereby I can reframe without moving and that will focus fast and accurately without external monitors. Another reason to buy Pannie lenses is because I think the 20mm 1.7 is a lovely lens. I love the 'velvety' yet sharp look.
The Panasonic 14-140 not what you'd call an affordable lens at €680,- but I should be able to get a better deal on a used copy on eBay. Or I can buy a body plus 14-140 lens because they are cheaper as a set and then sell the body...

If anyone has suggestions for a good zoomlens that meets above requirements, let me know!

25P for the Panasonic GH2!

 

The firmware upgrade is here! 25P at 24Mbps. Now I can shoot broadcast material with my little GH2, cut it with other 25P material. Higher standard bitrate, too! And a bunch of other improvements:

1. Added a video mode [HIGH BIT RATE] which is suitable for editing video recorded at high bit rate(24Mbps).
2. Added a function [POWER ZOOM LENS] when using power zoom lens.
   ([DISP FOCAL LENGTH], [STEP ZOOM], [ZOOM RESUME], [ZOOM SPEED], [ZOOM RING]*)
3. Full area enlargement of AF area setting.
4. Improved in the speed of consecutive shooting when shot with auto bracket.
5. Increased number of recordable images in consecutive shooting.
6. [EX.TELE CONV. (Extra Tele Conversion)] can be set ON/OFF separately in photo or video recording.
7. More accurate light adjustment of built-in flash.
8. Improved in the AF performance in video recording.
9. Synchronization of alarm volume for low battery with [BEEP VOLUME].
10. Added a function [HALF PRESS RELEASE].
11. Improved NR (Noise Reduction) in high sensitivity shooting.
12. Added a function [TOUCH SCREEN] which is ON/OFF control of touch-screen.

* Available with LUMIX G X VARIO PZ 45-175mm / F4.0-5.6 ASPH. / POWER O.I.S. only.

Click here to notice page about firmware update.

What do RED M-X, Phantom, GH2, 5D, and HVX-200 have in common?

... a man called Shian Storm, who put together a demo-reel with footage from all these camera's. Guess what... most of it is shot on a GH2!

Panasonic GH2 hack showreel

Here's a 'showreel' of GH2 hack patches: footage that was shot with all sorts of different experimental hack settings by Nick Driftwood. It will tell you nothing unless you download the original file and compare that to your own, stock GH2 footage. But Driftwood posted a download link on Vimeo to the original, uncompressed footage for us to scrutinize.

These are considered experimental patches and I would not suggest using these on a paid job. You need extremely fast SD cards and they fill up in no time.

Hacking the GH2: a friendly tutorial

For all those who -just like me- have held off hacking their GH2's because you were insecure about it and/or didn't feel like spending days on geek-forums trying to get some straight answers from this enormous pool of information, there is now an EZ guide to hacking your GH2. Well done, Sam Mallery! (and why didn't you do this BEFORE I spent 2 days and nights roaming the forums...;-)

GH2 shoot with compact rig

Compact GH2 rig 'on the job'

Did my first official shoot with my GH2 today and built this compact rig to suit today's needs. Was shooting with kids at a school and running about in the woods so I need something small and light. I took along my Pentax 6mm 1.2, my Panasonic Lumix 20mm 1.7 and my Canon FD 50mm 1.4. I wound up using the Panasonic most of the time because it is wide and will easily tell me at what aperture I'm shooting at. The Canon is too tele for handheld work and the Pentax aperture ring was too hard to see...
Audio was recorded on a Zoom H4n in combo with the Sennheiser G2 wireless series. My partner was doing the audio.
I planned to use my SmallHD DP4 but I was moving so fast I skipped mounting it most of the time. Can't wait to look at the (hacked GH2) footage.

Mailbox: $4 of Chinese stuff

It's nothing mindboggling (to understate it...) but very nice to finally have: an ultra-minijack (2.5mm) to (3.5mm) female jack cable so I can use a decent microphone on my Panasonic GH2. 99 cents shipped- and it even works! ;-)

2.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable for GH2

And for $2,99 I received 2 rear lens caps for micro 4/3 lenses. I didn't need the body caps (Unfortunately I only have one body ;-) and asked the eBay-seller I could get 2 rear caps instead of 1 rear and one body cap. No problem- and now they just sent me 2 sets and charged for one... Now I can leave all my lens adapters on my c-mount lenses (like my Pentax 6mm 1.2) and store them safely. 

M43 lens caps for C-mount lenses

I finally hacked my GH2- did I?

HACK INTERFACE: LOOKS MORE COMPLICATED THAN IT IS

I don't know why, but there was a huge mental barrier to hack my GH2... which I overcame today. There were a few reasons: I wondered whether or not I needed the hack, if I was jeopardizing the stability of my camera and last but not least: I really didn't feel like having to figure out how to do it...
The question whether or not "I really needed" the hack can be answered by a simple "no". Who needs the hack, really? On the other hand, who really needs a new camera? As far as the stability of my camera is concerned, you can always revert to the original firmware. And as far as my resentment for figuring out how to do the hack: it was quite simple. (even though I felt very insecure while doing it)
So now I am presumably shooting 24P with this patch: Driftwood_176M_GOP1_NOAQ_(QuantMeBaby v3) Presumably, because I have no idea whether or not anything has changed in-camera?! The firmware version stays the same and the little footage I've shot looks great. But so did the footage before... I cannot honestly say I see any difference... And I just noticed I used a Sandisk Ultra II, 15mb/s Class 2 card. I thought these are way too slow for these outrageous hack-datarate-numbers..? I guess this story isn't over yet...

Panasonic, Pentax, Park

'P' was on the menu today. I should add 'Painter's Palette...'. 'Plant Poetry' perhaps ;-) ? Pardon this presumptuous proposition...

It's just a collection of colors, lightrays and shades I framed in the park today...

Fun with the 15,- Pentax 6mm 1.2

Took my GH2 with Pentax 6mm lens to the voetbal/football/soccer tournament at my son's club. 10 year old boys (plus the occasional girl) playing some incredible voetbal. But with this lens it was much more fun shooting the emotion around the game than shooting the action itself... Some of these kids are so concentrated on the game you can literally stick a camera in their face and they won't notice...
Here's my very short impression of the day.

15,- Pentax 6mm 1.2 (succes at last!)

I finally made myself a working Pentax 6mm! It took a lot of time, research, careful scrutiny and frustration and, most recently, the purchase of a Dremel but alas, I have a fast, wide lens that has infinity focus- and beyond! I also finally received my stepup ring so I could use my LCD variable ND-filter and shoot happily outside.