Anyone filming weddings with a GH1

[Vito DeFilippo]

Thanks for the info, John.

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Vito DeFilippo

I notice that the GH2 also exhibits the camera flash problem with flashes showing on half the frame. I didn't expect that.

Originally Posted by John Griswell

Yep, kinda sucks. This was shot in 24p mode with a shutter speed of 1/50 second. At 1/25 it might look better as it should then fill the screen with the flash instead of just half.

It's nothing to do with the shutter speed. It's because these cameras use a rolling shutter i.e. each frame is not a snapshot of a single point in time (this would be a global shutter) but the sensor is scanned line by line & this takes longer than the very short flash duration. In the example only half the lines of the sensor have been scanned while the flash is illuminated so it only shows in those line.

[John Griswell]

Even this insane Wedding Film form Tony Romo's Wedding has the flash/rolling shutter half screen flashes (near the end):

Amazing footage of Tony Romo's wedding - Dallas Cowboys Blog - ESPN Dallas

[Jeff Harper]

This is the guy hired to shoot it. Joe Simon Films on Vimeo

The quality of the footage is hard to comprehend, it was fantastic, thanks for sharing.

[John Griswell]

I guess you get what you pay for ... they start at $7k.

[John J. Arnold]

I've been working the GH1 and GH2 into my wedding productions. Here's a recent one, shot with the GH2 and HMC150 for certain shots. Mostly used the Olympus 14-54 on the GH2, which I love. Such an improvement over the GH1:

Cathy + Luis Highlights on Vimeo

[Jeff Harper]

John, you are skilled with the camera, very good stuff.

[John J. Arnold]

Thanks Jeff!

[Patrick Janka]

Great job, John. Every time I see work like yours I get the urge to toss all my equipment in a lake =)

[Jeff Harper]

John, your video shows that the operator is more important than the tools, though tools are important, of course. You are using what is a not-so-great lens on the camera, but the results are great because of your techincal skills. I look forward to seeing what happens when you upgrade your lens.

[Jeff Harper]

Patrick, your work is improving quickly, keep it up. I'm so busy editing I am not learning at the pace I would like, and I'm frutrated also.

I've seen something you put up recently and it was light-years ahead of what you did months ago. I just shot a wedding Saturday and it was like I forgot everything I had learned in a week, there is so much to learn with these cameras, it's almost overload, but overall my work is getting better, and I know it, but just not at the pace I would like. I am adjusting shutter speed or exposure compensation, and then I neglect to frame the shot properly. I come home from a shoot exhausted. You have to move SO fast with these cameras.

[John J. Arnold]

Originally Posted by Jeff Harper

John, your video shows that the operator is more important than the tools, though tools are important, of course. You are using what is a not-so-great lens on the camera, but the results are great because of your techincal skills. I look forward to seeing what happens when you upgrade your lens.

Thanks Jeff. Funny you mention new lenses. I just received my Olympus 35-100 f2 this week, and will be hopefully getting the 14-35 f2 later this summer. Not to knock the 14-54 Mark II though - I really like it and find it quite flexible (especially with the telephoto feature on the GH2). I also use my Panny 20mm and Sigma 50 mm 1.4 a lot.

And Patrick, thanks for watching!

[Jeff Harper]

Didn't realize you had all of those lenses. I too use slower zooms when getting the shot is more important than getting best quality. Your new lens sound VERY nice, and I'm immediately jealous. How much did it cost? I didn't know about that lens, but it sounds very expensive, I'm guessing, $2500?

Edit: Just looked it up, wow, I was right on the money, $2499 at Amazon. Is it electronically compatible with the GH series? God that is a lot of money.

[John J. Arnold]

Yep, it's compatible with the four-thirds adapter. Allows for aperture control, and AFS auto focus kinda works (it's very slow). The thing is a beast, especially on the little GH2 body. Looking forward to putting it to use.

[Patrick Janka]

Originally Posted by Jeff Harper

Patrick, your work is improving quickly, keep it up. I'm so busy editing I am not learning at the pace I would like, and I'm frutrated also.

I've seen something you put up recently and it was light-years ahead of what you did months ago.

Thanks, Jeff =)

I heavily analyze everything people post on these forums to get new ideas for lighting, shot composition, etc. I can't beat myself up too heavily as I'm a relatively new videographer. Long road ahead!