Newcomer to Video/GH2

[Jim Pascoe]

As a competent photographer making a living from weddings and family photography, I have always had a sneaking desire to make film clips.  I have borrowed a camcorder a couple of times over the last 20 years but never owned one because I always thought carrying it around would conflict with my stills shooting.  We do now have a GF1 (and a G1) and I have had a bit of fun making short clips, though I've not tried any editing yet.  Going back at least 15 years I have imagined making productions containing short film clips of say 5 seconds, freezing into a perfect still image, and I can see now that that is possible using the new range of DSLR's.  I should add that we also have a 5D mk2 though have not used it for video yet.  These productions would be mainly personal work, though I can see it might be useful for the weddings as well even though I do not intend to become a full time wedding videographer.

An imminent two week cycling holiday to Costa Rica has made me decide to take the Panasonic m4/3 cameras and lenses due to their lightweight design and I am trying to decide whether to bite the bullet and get a new GH2 so that I can make some short films of the trip as well as my usual stills stuff.

A few questions.

What would be a good piece of software for me to do basic editing with.  We use Macs so do have iMovie, though not the latest version yet.  At the moment I'm not sure if I have the time to learn a lot of complicated software, though I am aware I may eventually get pulled into it.  So far I have used the mpeg format on the GF1.  Is this good enough, and if I use the AVCHD format will it be complicated to view and edit?  Regarding sound, which is something completely new to me, would the microphone on the camera give reasonable quality, or is there a benefit in having a separate sound recorder and putting them together in the editing?  Good sound is another thing I have always been interested in.

As a fairly knowledgeable photographer I can see this comes across as "I have just decided I want to be a photographer and can anyone tell me what camera to buy, how to use it and should I use iPhoto or get straight into RAW and Lightroom from the outset" kind of post - so please be gentle with me!  I appreciate that I cannot be a Spielberg yet, but just want to have a go and see where it takes me.

Jim

[Robert Roaldi]

I am far from an expert, still a video dabbler, but have some experience with iMovie. It's not a bad place to start, but if you do start with iMovie be sure to use latest version ($15 upgrade) because the "new" sound handling features are ok, the old way was a crock. This is not a pro level tool, but after using it for a couple of months, you will know what features you need/want (and what they are called) so you will be better able to judge the suitability of more advanced tools. iMovie will let you edit vids and obtain final output quickly, a good way to start.

[Peter McLennan]

1) Get the GH2 as soon as you can and start practicing.  Make your mistakes at home, not in Costa Rica. You need to learn a new and complex skill set called "Director/Cameraman"

2) Don't zoom.  EVER.  (If you must zoom, do it while you're not recording)

[Jim Pascoe]

Robert.

Thank you for that, I will get the iMovie update and play with that to start with.


Peter.

Thanks for the words of advice.  I had already kind of worked out the zooming bit having seen my fair share of 'home movies' in the past!

Does anyone have advice on recording formats, AVCHD or MPEG?

Jim

[Christopher Sanderson]

Does anyone have advice on recording formats, AVCHD or MPEG?

I cannot see any good reason not to go with the highest available quality - thus AVCHD in the case of the GH2. Buy a couple of extra SD cards if you find yourself away from the ability to off-load onto Hard Drives.

[Jim Pascoe]

Thanks Chris!  Do I assume that you will be helping to put together the forthcoming tutorial on video?  I hope it might help shed some light on the subject.

Jim

[Christopher Sanderson]

I am working on the edit right now!

[Jim Pascoe]

Thanks for the advice Fred, though I am not sure I correctly understand your last line about plug-ins!

Jim

[fredjeang]

Thanks for the advice Fred, though I am not sure I correctly understand your last line about plug-ins!

Jim

Jim,
Like PS has some usefull plug-in (genuine fractals, Silver Effex etc...) that are specifically designed for a task, to help saving time, or let's say like the styles in C1 that give you a base for a certain type of look you want to acheive, in NLE you also have the same.
So you want to look over the internet to check the availables plug-ins.
Let's say you got Premiere: http://www.adobe.com/products/plugins/premiere/
That is where you have to look.

Of course, those plug-in, like in PS, are the "easy way" but at least they can save you a lot of time in the learning curve. But on the other hand, it depends on your approach. Those are not free, so my personal "path" would be not using plug-in at first and after a while you will know your needs, what to look for, and the good ones. Like in PS, most of them are not necesary while some are really good. But manual tasks are always above those "gadgets", the thing is that lot of skills are required.(logically a lot of time then)

Contradicting my post before, I would start the hard way first and get some utilities later.


Cheers.

[Jim Pascoe]

I see.  Not having used plug-ins in photoshop I will probably just plunge in to video editing!  Will download a trial version of Premier first and have a go.

Many thanks

Jim