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  • Creative type that has been involved in pro audio, photography and custom multimedia projects for about twenty years or so. Just bought a new canon 5D Mark3 and am excited to undertake some film making for multimedia projects, maybe a documentary or two... and of course some high end family video ;) Glad to have come across this site. Cheers!

  • I started out shooting stuff in my spare time with friends way back when. First few things were shot on a Sony V5000 (loved that camera!) with editing done tape to tape on two VCRs - not exactly frame accuracy with that set-up... Playing around with my buddies convinced me that making films was what I needed to do with my life so I moved to Canada and went to the Vancouver Film School. The industry was exploding there at the time and pretty much right after graduating I was lucky enough to get into the camera department.

    I worked as a 2nd AC on a ton of big TV shows and 1st AC'd on a bunch of indie films and at the same time started making my own shorts. First one was shot on 16mm and won a few awards but I felt like I had a lot to learn so started experimenting on a Canon miniDV camera and did another 8+ shorts. After 8yrs of camera assisting I was getting tired of the B.S. and with a lot of hard work and a bit of luck shifted to writing and story consulting as a means to pay the bills. That was 8yrs ago and I'm still doing it so I must be doing something right. I've had three feature scripts produced all of which got destroyed by the directors and turned out crap.

    In the last few years I've directed a few more shorts (including one on 35mm and a music video on RED) and am pushing forward with getting my first feature into production. While I've been lining up my ducks for the big project I've kept myself busy directing a bunch of webseries stuff, the latest of which I co-wrote, directed, shot and edited.

    I've made a living in the biz for 17yrs. There have been some tough times but over the years there have also been some amazing times and memories I will cherish forever. One of the things I love about it is there are always new things to learn which is why I love sites like this with terrific communities. Hopefully I can continue making a living doing what I love. :)

  • I grew up surfing in Florida. Joined the US Army Airborne when I was 21. Served with 82nd Airborne, 1st Special Forces Group and SOCOM. Spent 8 months in Baghdad in 03. Got out and went to school for Interior Design as everyone does once they get out of the Airborne. It's an old story. You've probably heard it before. Met a girl there who convinced me to move to LA to become an actor. I figured I'd give it a shot since not too many people do that. Seemed really easy. (sarcasm) Spent a few years on HGTV as a Design Assistant and Carpenter. Did some small films here and there. Did the Soap Opera round as all actors do. Got pulled into Precision Driving for movies, tv and commercials. Actually make a living as an actor now, took 7 years to do that. Waited tables one day at Elephant Bar in Burbank and walked out. That was 7 years ago :) All along people told me I should be behind the camera so I finally took that advice a couple years ago and picked up an HVX200. Started a production company with my girlfriend who is a writer called FIGMO films. Any vets out there might get a kick out of that. The past year or so I've really put all of my effort and energy into production. I've been lucky with commercials and driving gigs to have the time and money to really concentrate on the craft.

    Hopefully I can continue to do this and earn some what of a living from it.

  • I am a martial artist from Dortmund/Germany. I am specialized in the Filipino Martial Art of Modern Arnis and I am ranked as a Grandmaster, 8th Dan (degree black belt). I have been teaching since 33 years and have taught the art in 17 countries worldwide.

    From my education I am M.A. of Sport sience from the German Sports University in Cologne.

    Since 1989 I am producing martial arts instructional videos/DVDs. First on amateur Super-VHS, then on professional S-VHS, later with DV on Panasonics MII System, then full MII and now digital. After the S-VHS and DV cameras, I had a MII camera, then an HVX200 and then the GH1, GH2 (Sanity Hack) and now the GH3. I do all the filming and editing (Edius) by myself so I know a bit of everything but I am far from being an expert in filming and editing. Always glad to learn about many things here in this forum.

    My personal website is: http://dieterknuettel.de/

    My shop is: http://www.abanico.de/shop/index.php?language=en

  • My name is Todd, I am from just north of Seattle Washington. I have also lived in Oregon, Hawaii, Mexico, Nevada, California, Alaska, and I currently live in Japan working as an English teacher. I acted all throughout school, and into college, but took most pleasure in writing classes and film study. I sorta got stuck in a town with no prospects for way too long, though the life experience there was immeasurable, and I did land a role as an extra working with Jennifer Love Hewitt back when she was a tender teen, and even shared a moment with her before being shooshed by the casting director. She also attended my school, and as crazy as it sounds/was half the saved by the bell cast (the men only) showed up to my homecoming dance to hit on the way to young for them miss Hewitt.. Moving on...

    I never really stopped creating, and documenting ideas. I bought a panasonic DV cam about 5 years ago, and filmed what I could, whether it be my mad talented musician brother, drunkeness, nature hikes, or short skits... I continued writing, and upon moving to Japan decided I should do my best to take things to a new level. I knew my camera and skills were lacking, so I did as much research as possible for a professional entry level camera, and it led me to the GH2, which has exceeded all of my expectations thanks to VK and the many Patch creators. I think I am more of a right brained filmer. I have studied the basics and understand framing, and some of the basic rules, and try to use it all, but I suspect I see things a bit different than many, and I try to capture a feeling more than a technically correct look, or maybe that is normal, I really don't know. I am now at the level where I believe at the very least I can start reaching out for paying gigs (other than the very low pay stuff I was doing for one of my English schools). It is a bit difficult being that I after nearly 2 years my Japanese is not very good at all. However I am slowly meeting others with similar interests. I have connected with one other GH2 user recently, and have begun helping him out with a project.

    My ultimate goal is feature films, Documentaries, and perhaps some Snowboard (I am pretty good on a stick), and Scuba footage, I have ideas written on scraps of paper going back nearly 10 years, some are terrible, but some I truly believe are great. Now the trick is really writing them out and taping into my long idle/somewhat forgotten script writing skills.

    I am very grateful for this forum, and all of the experienced people here. I have learned more through posts on this forums or links from members than any other resource. Thanks to all !

  • Greetings to all this wonderfull bunch of friends, that keeps me company the last two years! My name is Pantelis, 36 years old and I'm from Greeece, so english is not my primary language. After a successful career in IT for 12 years, I decided that I need a change. Cinematography was always my pation but only the last 2 years I am using it proffessionaly. Mostly capturing images on public events, weddings, video clips. A few words I have written on my vimeo page . . .

    Cinematographer - Director of Photography - Editor - Colorist.

    Recollecting my early years editing with two VHS players. I always had the "video virus" inside me so I worked in a local TV station for some years learning all about broadcasting, editing, capturing images, sound mixing and CGI titles. Also having working experience on technical staging audiovisual conferences and a degree on graphic design. All those ingredients helped me today to develop special skills and an alternative point of view on capturing moments in different events. Cinematography is not only my job title, it's my whole life and I love it!!!!

    During my technical advisor years in computers, software and networks, I was specialised basicaly in some professions like photographers, graphic designers, architects/engineering. I can edit on any editing system, like Grass Valley Edius, Adobe Premier, Final Cut Pro, Sony Vegas. Great knowledge in the history of cinema and a great fan of classic movies.

    If you ever come to the island of Crete (southest island of Europe), I'll be glad to help you out. It is a great honor to be in your group, you have helped me a lot. Thank you all, especially V.K., N.D., Ralph B, CBrandin, ThePalalias and some other names that I forgot . . .

    https://vimeo.com/sakattaq

    http://www.sakattaq.net/ (still building it)

  • Hi, mates. It is fun to be part of this interesting community where knowledge is shared so generous way. I really like that and that's the reason why this site is always open in my browser. I'm glad to have discovered its existence quite from the very beginning. Vitaliy's hacking work has made many people all over the world more happy with their hacked cameras, but it also opened opportunity for many talented but low-budget (or no budget) film makers to do something on technically high level with little cheap cameras like GHx's.

    My age now is somewhere between 40 and 50, I'm university teacher and kind of well-known artist. On my life road, I've lived in plenty of different countries so as logical result of it I speak fluently more languages than most of people do. My private life is not for sharing via internet, so I'll gladly skip that part and go directly to the area of our collective interests:

    Videography: hobby, advanced level. Indeed some years of experience with S-VHS cameras behind me, but this area wasn't really fun until beginning of existence of High Definition. I still have to learn a lot here, it is very complicated. My first BD production was done in 2012, release as comercial BlueRay disc 2014 expected. Subject: classical music, multicam recording of dress rehearsal and concert under tungsten lighting. In PP synced audio & video editing for the final choice will be in stereo and surround audio. My equipment is listed in the next text passage.

    Still photography: hobby, semi-pro level. Meanwhile 30 years of experience - in nature, portraits, macro (mainly flowers) and city night photography (long exp). Equipped with SLRs: Nikon F, Kiev 4, Canon T90 / DSLR: Nikon D800 / EVILs: several GH1s, GH2 and Sony Nex-7. Many, many lenses (friends, family and wife start to think I'm bit mad), mainly vintage Nikkor primes, but also few cool quite new ones, many Canon FDs, some Rokkors and Jupiters and some 3rd party brands. Some of my pics shot in very high mountains were sporadically published in the mountaineering magazines (I was quite freeky alpinist before). I otherwise made some money with my still pics only in one situation: still as student, when I sold quite many Ilford negatives to various magazines and newspapers. They were shot mainly in the nights on the streets of the city where I happened to live and study during revolutional changes which happened there. I accidentally lived in that city during turbulent time of its history. That money helped me to finance my study until my degree, few more years.

    PA: About 7 years of gigs experience, mainly ampliflying smaller rock concerts (with 1000-8000 visitors). I don't do it anymore since long time, I never did big concerts on stadiums or so, my father didn't own so much equipment. It's not my hobby, just helped family with money earned on those gigs- I don't really like rock music and life attitudes of most rock musicians I knew is disappointing.

    Accoustical audio recordings: semi-pro activity, on quite high pro quality level. Only classical music (chamber music prefered) and natural sounds samples for PP editing for film effects. Equipped with MOTU firewire interfaces (up to 20 tracks), some 20 microphones, mainly Schoeps and Neumann, several BayerDynamic and Rode mics. My recordings had several comercial CD releases, some were released by the top labels. I don't do it often, for lack of time and I also never wanted to rip away gigs from freelance guys who badly needed such gigs to survive, and some of them are damn good.

    PP & editing: for audio I use mainly Magix's editing software, simply because I know it well after years of using it, so I can work very fast with them. Interesting, how few people here seem to know and use their video editing software. I've started using it just out of habit, but didn't have to deal with most of PP issues people here seem to struggle with. Having that said, I don't make comercials as I know also Magix' weaknesses.... well, nobody and nothing is perfect.

    Sorry everybody, my text got much longer than I wanted.

  • Hey guys. I just recently finished my bachelor's in film, taking the long slow route. During which, I worked selling apple computers at some of new york's largest retailers. I did this for about a decade and now I'm stockpiling on gear. I will be moving out of the country in a few months with the soon-to-be wife and will settle down on an tropical island.

    I like the collaboration of shooting films and I enjoy working with good people, even if it doesn't pay the bills. I'm kind of a tech junkie and filmmaking is my creative outlet. Much like you guys, I'm always eager to shoot footage then stare at the screen and edit it all together for my own private use (or to the trash bin!).

    I started lurking through the site since the Summer. I had a decent deal on a GH2 and I pulled the trigger. Since then, it has become my favorite photo AND video camera. I always get pleasantly surprised everytime I see the footage on my television. Panasonic has always seemed to get it right for me. I used the DVX extensively and I purchased the HVX as soon as it was out and shot a few shorts with it. But of course, the dSLR came along and well you know...

    Aside from the video stuff, I'm usually talking about baseball, MMA, jiu-jitsu or video games. Oh and I listen to a ton of varied podcasts.

  • Hi - I am working as a camera producer for european companies. Most of them are agencies oder industrial concerns. We are located close to München in the heart of bavaria. Our spectrum has a wide range - what the customer wants we shoot.

  • Hello! I've been lurking on the forums for a couple years, but never posted until now. I have a couple GH2s that I do shoots with occasionally, but make most of my living at a dayjob doing production, editing and post at a Seattle startup. Sanity is my go-to unless I know I need something specific from a patch. I sought out personal-view when looking for information on the patches for the GH2 a couple years ago, but there has been a surprising amount of information floating around on these boards on all manner of subjects. I'm glad it's here, and hope I can make a meaningful contribution to it one of these days.

  • Hello all. I first discovered this forum about 18 months ago and I owe virtually every thing I have learned about film making to this forum. The different areas of expertise and the interest from so many allows questions to be quickly answered. Well done VK and all who contribute.

    So a wee bit about what we do, we are a Husband and Wife team doing wedding films for people in the North East of Scotland, based in a small fishing town of Peterhead. I'm the technical part of the team, my wife is the creationist and she puts all our footage together. We started out filming School Balls and Proms and a couple managed to persuade us to do their wedding video. Reluctantly we agreed and armed with two Panasonic SD900s we managed to make a pretty good go for our first wedding video. They were delighted with the result and so were we. Two years later we have to turn people away because we are too busy and we like to take our time with each film that we do.

    We now work with two GH3s and one GH2 as B cam for ceremonies. The best move we ever made equipment wise was downsizing to M 4/3rds and our work has definitely bettered and benefited from it.

    Wedding work is tough, you have one moment to get it right. You are the director, the sound guy and the camera man in one and sometimes customers can make the day a breeze or very challenging. Anybody looking to get into event style or wedding related film work needs to always be mindful that its not about you and your work, its about them and what they want and expect from you. If you meet that and produce something that you are happy with then you are doing well.

    Looking forward to potential GH3 hack, then GH2 will be replaced with GH3 to allow +30 minute recording!

  • ola!

    I am 24 years old guy from Czech Republic and I am interested about filming action sports. I discovered this page few months ago and I found there really cool tripods and monopods. I started work with SONY NEX 5r and I was looking for some video tripod and finally I found it, here.

  • Hi All, I own a cinematic video production company and also started the meetup group DSLR-Cinematography. We use serveral 60Ds, 7D, 5Dmk2, with bunch of lens and gears. We would like to do more short commercials and even a tv channel on youtube.

  • My name is Bibiana. I am a visual artist based in New York (originally from Czech Republic). I work in experimental film making, abstract imagery, a way of seeing that I call visual poetry. I direct and do cinematography, but through my installation work am also heavily involved in set design. Necessity has also had me edit and do sound design for all my films, but its not my strong point. I have not made a film in almost 7 years but you can see my old hand-developed film work here: http://vimeo.com/skraby/ Outside of film I work mainly as a photographer and installation artist. Lots of documentary work, and work intense on process. My website is undergoing a major update hopefully rolling out soon, www.skrabat.cz. Currently working on a music video and it's going to be my first digital film project and first on the gh2, very excited.

  • Hello to all at Personal-View, My name is Richard, I am 30 years old, fascinated by film/movies. Since 1998 when I got my first panasonic DV camcorder, I have been trying to emulate my heroes of Cinema with Video. I love video because it has always been there for me. Film is not easily accesible and for a hobbyist like me, the affordability of video is perfect. I got married and had kids and so a long time passed without having practiced the videomaking craft, It wasn't until I heard about this new camera called the "Gh1" and how it was being hacked that I realized how much I liked the "look" of video and what a good tool it was for telling a story now. So this is what I want to do now with my life, I want to be a videomaker.

  • Hi again,

    I've finished art academy as a director in 2005, I have a MA in dramatic and audiovisual arts. Work as a freelance film and TV director for about ten years now.

    I also had some education in 3D and visual effects, and have also been involved in music, recording and production. I worked as a director on a few bigger commercials, one 40mins docu/fiction shot on film, and many small and indie projects.

    I frequently edit, shoot and make music for smaller productions that I direct. I have a hacked GH2 and a hackintosh I generally like things hacked ever since I pushed my finger in a empty light socket when I was 3 to see if my eyes would shoot light beams.

    I also teach at faculty of dramatic arts, a subject that is conveniently called Postproduction.

    I do lots of things, sometimes even good :)

  • Hi all,
    my name is Michael and together with my brother and a friend I produce image films as well as wedding films and photography (http://www.hollywedd.de). We are seated near Stuttgart / Germany and also produce sports livestreams (mainly in pool billiards, check our channel http://www.youtube.com/poolstage) which we started 4 years ago. But since the creative part is not that much in sports we launched our image and wedding film business a couple of months ago. We film with Canon DSLR (5D Mark III and 60D with Magic Lantern) and Sony EX1R (mainly for live productions). We got in contact with this forum when we tested the GH2 hack. We like it very much because the people here are so creative and post contructive ideas.
    Kind regards to all of you,
    Michael

  • My name is Chris. I live in Atlanta, Georgia (USA). I'm an electronics design engineer. I've designed robotic vision systems and mechatronics, power supplies, battery chargers and now do broadband RF/Analog design in the test/measurement field.

    I record bands in my project studio (where I've built almost all of my gear) and I like to do cinematography for low/no budget productions when asked(sometimes even paid!) to do so. I've also built a lot of my own cinematography setups including HMI lights, cranes, 30' rail and dolly system, camera rig and currently I'm working on a DIY steady cam system.

    I also restore classic/muscle cars. I'm currently working on a '67 mercury cougar.

    I was almost a pro skateboarder until I damaged my hip socket and ended up getting into music instead.

    I'm a Libertarian. I have a 3 legged cat and two parakeets.

    I enjoy watching movies, mostly sci-fi/action/horror/crime drama. I don't particularly care for comedies or love movies.

    I currently have a script and story boards for one short film and ideas for a fan-film of a famous comic book anti-hero but no time to shoot either right now.

  • I'm Miko, i'm freelance documentarist and colorist, living now in South America. I've done some documentary: the one I prefere is about bolivian wrestling, shooted with a Sony PDX1 and a RedRock Micro, you can watch here

    __//vimeo.com/40460784, please no videos here, VK

    I like this site and the incredible hacks for the Panasonic cameras!

  • Hi Everyone

    I am king of all expensive hobbies that eat away hours of my time so that I can escape my internal emotional imbalances arising from a series of youth based traumatizing and complicated relationships with my father and mother the effects of which are only now manifesting themselves in ways you can't even begin to imagine......at least that's what my therapist say....you can just call me Rob...lol

    I am a musician of 30 years. I play drums and produce music but I don't make my living at music any more. I caught the video BUG about 6 years ago and it has recently erupted into a full on obsession. I started out shooting kids events and then being asked to shoot and edit other events. In addition to event shooting I now also shoot and edit for small businesses, I am involved in a very low budget indie film project, I am working on a documentary concept which I will be writing, producing, directing and editing....and the list grows on a daily basis

    Cheers Rob

  • Hi Everyone!

    I was born in Spain ( Granada ), I was freelance photographer for about ten years. Now I am editor and documentarist in Think Image Association based in the Université Paris-Est de Créteil ( Île de France ). I've done some documentary and reportage photographic in India, Morocco, Syria, France and Spain.

    http://vimeo.com/thinkimage

    Cheers Francis

    ( Awesome blog and people here!, thanks Mr. Kiselev )

  • Hi! I’m Pere and I make my living as a freelance editor. I also have a love for nature, filmmaking and music and enjoy to capture atmospheres (here is a link to one of my shorts: http://vimeo.com/perepuigbert/aftertherain)

    The whole process – to shoot, edit, color grade and compose music – is what I like the most; every film has its own life and speaks its own language.

    I have a hacked GH2 and a GH3 and it amazes me the quality I can get from these little cameras! Good times to be a filmmaker :) It’s great to pack all your equipment in a pair of bags and spend a whole weekend shooting in nature...

    I’m Glad to be part of this community, thanks to everyone that makes this tool possible!

  • Hey all! My name is Maury Jacks, and I live in Austin, Texas. After graduation from the University of Texas with a bachelors degree in Architectural Engineering in 1987, I spent just one year as an engineer. Hated it. Went back to UT and spent a year taking more undergraduate classes in preperation for entering the graduate film program. Well, the summer before entering graduate school, I got an unpaid internship in the sound department on a film called "The Hot Spot". Goodbye school. One thing led to another, and I moved to Los Angeles and joined the sound/video/projectionist union, IASTE Local 695. After spending seven years as a cableman/cableperson, I got a job as a video assist operator and have never looked back since. Been doing it for seventeen years and still enjoy it. The last, released film that I worked on was "Flight".

    The formats have changed over the years. Tape based: U-Matic, VHS, S-VHS, 8mm, Digital8, MiniDV. Hard disc based capture: DV25, MJPEG, DNXHD, ProRes. Hard disc based editing: D-Vision, Discreet Logic Edit, Avid Xpress DV, Avid Xpress HD, Avid Xpress Pro HD, Avid Media Composer. Cameras: Bell & Howell Eyemo, Panavision, Arriflex, Moviecam, Paramount VistaVision, Thompson Viper...

    After living in LA for ten years, I realized that most of the people I cared about lived back in Austin. So I moved back and bought a house. Best decision of my life. I now make short, fun films with my friends between travelling to distant locations for my day job. I dabble in DIY, 3D filmmaking which lead me to learn open source methods for Digital Cinema Package creation so I could project them on theater screens. This lead to DCP consulting for the Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas based here in Austin.

    I am in the process of putting together a full set of Minolta lenses for my GH2s. It is quite fun learning how to disassemble, clean and lightly re-grease them for easy use with follow focus. If you want to know how to involuntarily de-click a lens, just start taking it apart and watch the ball bearing roll away!

    Thanks to all on this site. I have learned so much from y'all! Special thanks go to Vitaliy!

  • Hi I am Ranjeet from Perth Australia. I'm new to videography and would like to create some educational and product videos.

  • Hi everone! My name is Jon and I live in Sweden with my wife and two kids.

    Ah geez, where to begin? After an unfinished science major in biochemistry and four years of art school in France (geule d'atmosphère!) I had a smallish carrier as a portait painter in the late 90-ies.

    At heart I'm actually a musician with a soft spot for electronica. I used to work in a recording studio with some other musicians in the early 00-ies mostly producing pop/dance stuff. We never had that hit track but at least we had loads of fun and I learned much about sound design, arrangement and mixing and I still produce my own tracks for fun in Reason and Ableton Live.

    Oscillian has been my nick since 2000 and comes from being a analogue synth geek :)

    Skip ahead to the 10-ies and to make things even more bi-polar I now work as a Microsoft Excel trainer/instructor for industrial companies such as Siemens, SSAB, and Toyota! Didn't see that one coming in art school, for sure ;) This is my main source of income right now.

    Oh yeah! I nearly forgot: Ever since the 80-ies I'm a huge film buff with a penchant for sci-fi and my childhood was very much forged by Spielberg and Lucas and later on Scott and Cameron. As a teenager I always borrowed my fathers VHS camcorder and got my friends together to shoot some action/sci-fi stuff in the woods (where else when you grow up in the midst of pine trees).

    This interest contiuned somewhat in art school with mini-DV and "artsy" stuff (very high brow and pretencious crap) but my interest in filmmaking reignited when I got my first pocket camera with HD-recording: the Panasonic TZ-7. At the same time a friend of mine with a 550D introduced me to Vimeo and the DSLR video revolution: I was blown away!

    I got very impressed with some wedding highlight reels from the US (mostly 5Dkm2 stuff) and how one could tell a story in 3-4 minutes about two people getting married in very creative ways.

    I contiuned to shoot some shorts about bushes and leaves (very original!) and learned the art mostly from the internet and especially DVXUSER forums where I stumbled upon... the Panny hacks and Vitaliys meme from Firefly (I actually thought he looked like that!). The TZ7 turned into a GF1 and then into a GH1 and finally into a GH2 and I was hooked!

    Once Vitaliy left the DVX scene I migrated to Personal-view and I have since then enjoyed the very creative atmosphere here!

    One thing lead to another and suddenly I found myself shooting weddings on the weekends during the warm season and teaching Excel the rest of the year.

    Right now I'm busy teaching and preparing the upcoming wedding season.

    Cheers! /Jon