Documentary Shooting with the Panasonic GH2

by Jared Flesher

Notes on Video readers might be interested in my experiences shooting with a Panasonic GH2. I’ve been using it for about a month now shooting the trailer for my new documentary Sourlands, with the GH2 and the stock 14-42mm lens. I know there’s already been a lot written about the camera, but here are my two cents based on the experience so far. [Jared's previous documentary, the Farmer and the Horse, was shot on a Canon Vixia HD camcorder.-Ed]


For a $1,000 camera, I couldn’t be happier. The image quality of the Panasonic GH2 is superb.

I spent a lot of time when I first got the Panasonic GH2 tinkering with the different scene settings – Cinema, Smooth and Nostalgic, trying to figure out which one looks the best and most film-like. I’ve come to settle on Cinema mode, usually with the exposure stepped up one click.

A knock against Cinema mode has been that it tends to underexpose scenes. But Nostalgic ended up being too yellow for me (you can see some scenes in the trailer that are probably a tad too yellow) and the colors in Smooth tend to look a little washed out.

I don’t like the ETC (Extra Teleconversion) crop mode, which gives your lenses twice the zoom without losing resolution. In my tests, I’ve found that everything looks noisier in the crop mode; even well-lit shots.

The stock 14-42mm lens is excellent for the price. It operates silently and focuses fast enough and accurately enough for my needs. I don’t use the continuous auto-focus function with video (it hunts too much) but I do use auto-focus mid-scene to reset focus when my subjects move. It works great and is easier than manual focusing.

One big limitation of this camera is that it doesn’t have a headphone jack for audio monitoring. For some people that’s a deal breaker. For me, I’m not happy about it, but I can live with it. I plug my Sennheiser ME66 shotgun mic into a BeachTek XLR adapter, the BeachTek into a 3.5mm to 2.5mm right angle adapter, and the right angle adapter into the camera.

I use the on-screen meters and the knobs on the BeachTek to set the right levels. The results sound good. One thing I’ve discovered about shooting a one-man documentary is that you don’t want to be wearing headphones all the time anyway. They seem to isolate you from your interviewees.




Jared's funding the documentary Sourlands through Kickstarter, and is already half way to the $5,000 goal. You can check out the trailer he's put together, and support the project, here: Sourlands: A Story of Land, Energy and a Life More Local

See Also:
NotesOnVideo: Filmmaker Jared Flesher - Sourlands
NotesOnVideo: Interview: Filmmaker Jared Flesher
The Farmer and the Horse

Comments

Kim HyunHwa said…
i like ur review . .a lot, thanks for sharing., what do u say about the image quality if gh2 compare wit canon 60d ? i usual rent with lens 100mm-is L series and 16-35 L., but i'm in consider to buy gh2., tq for ur opinion - zhediek
Apr 6, 2011, 3:27:00 PM
Michael Murie said…
I don't know if Jared has used any Canon DSLR's; I know he was using a Canon VIXIA camcorder for his previous project.

I've heard good things about the GH2 picture quality; particularly it doesn't suffer from the moire problems the Canon's can exhibit. Con's; the Micro four thirds lens choice isn't that great; but you can stick Nikon's on there with an adapter. Also, some people prefer the Canon color to Panasonic's but there are ways to tweak that.

The eoshd site has gone into the GH2 quite a bit: http://www.eoshd.com/content/459-First-look-Panasonic-GH2-versus-Canon-60D

If I owned Canon lenses, I'm not sure I'd abandon Canon right now just because Panasonic jumped ahead.

But if you're not invested in either platform, the GH2 is certainly worth considering.
Apr 6, 2011, 7:58:00 PM
masterPilot Ah! said…
"but I do use auto-focus mid-scene to reset focus when my subjects move" what exactly u mean here? u mean u use "AFS" mode? or did u mean u use the touch screen for focusing ?
Aug 15, 2014, 10:03:00 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sony GV-D200 review

Image
Sony GV-D200 I've been using a Sony GV-D200 deck to transfer old Video8 and Hi8 tapes. Some of these tapes are over twenty years old, and no longer having a Hi8 camcorder that worked I was concerned that if I didn't do something about transferring them to a more modern format soon, I might never be able to. While Sony no longer make camcorders that use these tapes - that I know of - Sony does still sell the GV-D200 deck (or Video Walkman, as it's sometimes labelled.) They also offer the GV-D800, which is almost identical but adds a small LCD screen for about $120 more. I didn't think I'd need a screen since I was using this to capture to the computer, but you will need an external monitor when you first set it up. Physically, the device is small. At 5 7/8" wide, 5 3/8" deep and 2" high, it's the smallest video deck I've encountered. I used to have a Video8 deck that I thought was small; and it was twice as deep and twice as high. The t
Read more

Response: Which iPhone to Get?

Image
In response to my iPhone musings, I got the following reader email which actually sums up a lot of my second and third thoughts too: You might have a point about the fancier camera, but otherwise I would buy the smaller model. Its screen is about the same size as that of my Nexus 4, and I don't feel at all like it limits me with a too-small screen. But I do sometimes stretch to get my thumb the reach to the other corner of the screen. It is plenty big for a phone. A phone is a pocket thing. (Well, in my case it lives an ancient REI soft sunglasses case that I have on my belt.) Ubiquitous, handy, convenient, almost always with me. Small is crucial for all of that. Certainly a large screen is cool, but you need a place to put it: don't break a fundamental feature of a pocket phone by getting too big. That is what your small tablet is for. I have my phone with me almost always. I have my Nexus 7 tablet with me nearly as much. The bigger screen is great, yet it fits in some
Read more

Should you buy the Sony NEX-FS100 Kit Lens?

Image
The Sony NEX-FS100 is available in two configurations: B & H : NEX-FS100U Camcorder only $4,999 B & H : NEX-FS100U (with 18-200mm lens) $5,599 But what does that extra $600 get you? It get's you this: Sony 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 Zoom Lens for NEX Camera This lens is also available separately for $799.99, so at $200 off you'd think everyone would be jumping on it. But not so fast... In his article about switching from the Canon 5D Mark II to the Sony NEX-FS100 , Paul Antico  at Need Creative says of the kit lens: 7) Its 18-200 F3.6-6.3 kit lens absolutely sucks and should be avoided (thankfully, you can order it without one) [ 1 ] But is it that bad? At B & H 's site, 43 reviews give it an average of 4.6 out of 5 stars. That's not a bad rating, though many of these people are using it for stills, and the most common complaint noted is how large and heavy it is. Of course this feeling of size would be exacerbated when you put it on a tiny camera
Read more