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A knife and two bazookas to a gun fight
  • 148 Replies sorted by
  • NO - they are scaled for posting. I'm not sure what Vitaly's rules are for post bloat, but I was trying to be respectful. I'll be uploading video (to Vimeo) soon @ 1920 x 1080.

    -- David

  • gotcha. I've seen others post full scale ones, and I think p-view scales them down automatically, but shows them full size if you click on the picture . . . I think . . .

  • @010101

    Boy your long, nonsensical, emotionally driven post sure told me. Looks like there are only a handful of people in this stream/thread that actually get it.

    Oh well.

  • I'm a very satisfied GH2 owner. I have absolutely no experience with any RED products. Haven't even seen one in real life.

    That said, I'm sure the RED is a superior camera, pretty obviously so in any number of objective technical measurements and specifications. Higher resolution, greater bit depth, uncompressed RAW capture. Sure, most of that will not be readily apparent to casual viewers (and even a few experts) in the final product for the majority of shots. And by that measure, some people will say that it's not worth the huge price premium over the $700 GH2.

    But that's missing the point. We've gotten to the point in technology where the camera is no longer the most important limiting factor in getting great cinematic images. But most of the other factors (lighting, camera movements, audio, a full complement of talented crew, quality actors, makeup, locations, etc.) are still there and make a big difference to the final product that's often readily apparent to even the most uninformed of viewers. And doing all this stuff consistently right generally costs a lot of money.

    So if you're on a production that's spending hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more) on all this other stuff, what's the point of saving ten grand on the camera? Sure, you could walk onto the set of some high budget production and substitute out their RED or whatever with a GH2 and still get a good looking result that most audiences would be perfectly satisfied with, but the operators and post-production will have to work harder with the compromised ergonomics and more limited margin for error, and in some areas quality will suffer (however perceptibly), and you'll probably spend more money in terms of extra shooting/post-production time to work with the GH2 than you would have saved by not buying or renting a pro camera. For this type of production, the price premium of a RED is a drop in the production budget bucket, and well worth the relatively minor additional investment.

    Cameras like the GH2 are great for those of us with low or no budgets, because we can get in the same league as the pros in terms of image capture ability for so little money, letting us spend more of our limited budgets (and a lot of sweat equity) on improvising/approximating the other stuff without the camera holding us back.

    No need for a flame war.

  • Yeah, gotta say it's weird to see anybody getting defensive over their GH2s. I love mine but seriously... it's such a temporary investment, which as others have pointed out, has already reached a threshold where improvement going forward is minimal but still always there. There are no longer "quantum leaps" in comparative quality between high-end and low-end any more, it is a tool. Comparing a gh2 to RED is like me trying to make my Honda Civic into a WRX... not gonna happen. Doesn't mean I can't modify the engine and make it approximate some of the same qualities inherent in a better vehicle.

  • @David_Cole Hi, yes most people like myself have been posting uncompressed png for different test to show images, because if else it is too difficult to make any proper assessments during all those comparison between bitrate etc.

  • If Panasonic addressed a very flat profile (which I'm sure the sensor is capable of capturing) with our High bitrates GOP1, the image quality is in the ballpark. Remember, anyone grading Red footage is going to crush the shadows anyway. A full flat high dynamic frame is definitely not the delivered final range. And if we can add a Magic Lantern type HDR mode, we'd have most of the cool features Red has. And hopefully the GH-3 will give use 1080p 60. 120 would be nice, but 60 is very useful. Then I'd like to see the trend of non-pattern noise patterns like the Canon C300. So even the high ISO noise would be okay.

    Plus, I love the GH-2 form factor. The Red Epic/Scarlet form factor, The metal box, is highly unappealing.

  • like chase jarvis said, "the best camera is the one with you". So RED people dont get mad that people are getting excited over the GH2 getting close to the quality the RED produces. They're just happy that they have something good enough that fits their budget for making films. GH2 people, dont get so mad when RED users say it doesnt come close to what the RED's can do, because they are right. The GH2 doesnt come close in more technical aspects. But lets all get together on this, they are tools for creating films. GH2 will produce great images with certain required walk arounds and the REDs will always perform amazing. Its all about what pleases the user, the budget, workflow and audience. Then again it is all about the AUDIENCE. They wont care what it was shot with, they will care about the message of the film. The beauty and what not. You rarely hear anyone coming out of a theatre saying, "this movie rocks cuz it was shot on RED" or "This movie sucks cuz it was shot on DV cam". Scenes in 28Days Later were shot with an XL-2. Did you hear anyone say the movie was shit cuz of that? NO. So dont hate on each other over specs. Embrace the passion from both sides. Specs are specs. The AUDIENCE will always judge in the end. Film making isnt a gear showdown. Its a passion and an artform. It doesnt matter what you use. SO STOP.

  • Geez. It's starting to sound like the REDuser forums over here.

    I'm with stanlymanly2. Can't we all just agree that a camera is just one tool out of many used to tell your story? It doesn't really matter if one has the specs of another. Specs don't get listed in the credits. Audiences don't cheer for pixels and sensors. At work we simply choose the tool that fits the job. And we like each for different reasons.

    I'm happy for anyone who has a GH2. It's a great tool. Much better than what I shot my first short film on (3/4-inch shoulder mounted 3CCD Sony connected with a multi-core cable to a 15 pound recorder) in classic standard definition at 30fps. But I'm also happy for anyone who can afford RED, Alexa, Sony F3 or F35 or any of the other higher end gear. It's a great time to want to make moving pictures. Not sure why all the brand angst.

    There seem to be two growing camps. One that says the GH2 (or other DSLR) is every bit as good as the "big cams" and one that says "no way is that consumer cam is as good as my professional gear." Both groups have lots of information to back up their points of view. Which one is right? Does it really matter in the end? Get good shots. Tell a good story. Do that and honestly most people won't give a damn what you spent on your camera.

  • @JMZ

    I'm glad you agree friend!

    @RED OWNERS HERE

    Look at Spielberg. He's still shooting with film. He does because he's used to it, he doesnt want to change formats or workflows, and because people watch his movies because of the storytelling. No one cares what kind of film stock he uses and what not. Its his passion and stories people love.

    Dont hate on GH2 users and the camera itself, because this website was made by Vitaly and users here are producing patches to help people. Shitting on GH2 users because you have better cameras is like saying Vitaly and Driftwood and @David_Cole 's efforts are useless. This is a family website. I joined because I wanted to see people produce amazing things with their GH2s. If your happy with your RED and dont like the GH2, then dont bother posting here. This is a place for the admiration, development and friendship between GH2 users. Dont rain on our parade simply because we're happy we have a tool that can produce quality that is up to our standards that will support our skills in cinematography and story telling. So enough negativity and put this gear showdown on the side.

    @GH2 PEEPS

    Dont hate on RED either. Make your films, stick to whats best for you at the moment. Dont go into the trend where newer/more expensive is better. Stick to what you know and create magic with it. Dont get so defensive. RED is RED. Its a top notch film making tool. There will always be something better than what you have, but it doesn't matter if you dont need it at all.

  • I am really sick of people trying to make topic into another GH2 vs RED.

    Guys, go and shoot something. Do not waste your time.

  • Does anyone here have an ikonoskop? http://www.ikonoskop.com/dii/ It would be nice to see some footage from that compared to the GH2.

  • @Sebben

    I wanna see the ikonoskop digital in action. I like how they started with a 16mm camera! Zacuto has done a great shootout with all the pro cameras & Canon & Nikon DSLRs (but excluded the GH1&2, and RED cams sadly), it's fun to watch the cinematographers' surprise w/ the hdslrs quality. How does the GH2 compare to the early (Star Wars Episode One era) Cine 3 CCD cameras? It would be nice to think an indy crew could shoot a beauty film like The Russian Ark (shot with sony video) with todays consumer technology.

  • @whoopteedoobuckaroo - You can download some of the A-Cam footage and grade it yourself. http://www.ikonoskop.com/dii/footage/

    Unfortunately I can't afford the camera but the global shutter and the form factor sure would be nice to have.

  • I have those Volcom boardshorts :p Nice work

  • This GH2 vs........... is getting really really old. It's a TOOL people a T.O.O.L.!! It can never replace CREATIVITY. You can have the best tool but still don't know how to use it. Master you tool and be the jedi master of it. Let the tools speak for it self, go out there and shoot something!! Thanks you.

  • The Scarlet looks way sharper in the full size screen grabs on the first page.

  • I'm a GH2 fanboy. At one point I was literally considering get married to my silver body GH2. Image wise, GH2 isn't that far from the big boys. It can stand next to them on a good day. But I think where the GH2 dies is in post. That's the limiting factor, the 4k, big color space, that stuff matters. My dos centavos.

  • Updated the windsock frame grabs on 1st page with 1920x1080 images.

  • @David_Cole I can't see any difference other then the greenish tint of the GH2. I'm I crazy?

  • @David_Cole

    Thanks for providing these screenshots for us that don´t have access to all these goodies.

  • Hmm... the uploaded PNGs really don't help making the comparison. The conversion from 16 to 8 bit steps on the Scarlet color pretty bad. Maybe it's Photoshop's quantizer?

  • The aliasing is pretty bad on the GH2 sample on the windsock picture. Not as bad as my 7D but still bad compared to the Scarlet.

  • All good fun, thanks for posting David... The limitations of colour are inherent on the GH2 in the sky but other than that it holds up pretty well. Other DSLRs like the 5D Mk II and Sony NEX 5N deal with shadows better and allow flatter picture profiles but nothing else DSLR-wise comes close to the cleanness and resolution of the GH2's image at 1080p.

    I'm interested to see how they compare on dynamic range and low light now.

  • We've got footage shot on hacked GH2s in color right now (on a 30 foot screen). Aside from latitude (which RED does much better), colorist said that we could bring in DP after DP off the street and they wouldn't know what cam it was shot on. He was blown away. Definitely doesn't fall apart like most h264 footy.

    btw - this isn't a GH2 is better than RED post, either. Just stating facts that this cam is holding up with the best of them in our situation.