Searching for gear for GH4 for shooting in Taiwan

kolinko

Hello!

I didn't have much time to check out the gh4 so far, a lot of work hinders me, going too far into research for each little thing myself, that's why I hoped I could get a little support from you hear. Mostly I'll record video and sound on myself at the same time, not sure if I'll have an assistant from time to time. My idea until now is to record in 4k, maybe in 24fps should be alright I guess. The shooting will be for a 5 video monitor/large flat screen panels installation.

My equipment so far: GH4 with kit lens 12-35mm

Voigtlander Nocton 17.5mm 0.95f with UV and ND filters
Voigtlander Nocton 42.5mm 0.95f with UV and ND filters
One SD card SanDisk Extreme Pro 32GB 280 MB/s (I'll have another one like that)
only one battery so far
trolley case

I'll definitely need a second battery or the battery grip, is it a good thing to have?

Sound Recording device
Microphone (one or two? maybe too much to handle!)
Wind jammer (boom?)
Any experiences with 'Rycote Zoom H5 Audio Kit' or 'Tascam DR-60DmkII 4-Channel Portable Recorder with Rode NTG2 Condenser Shotgun Mic Kit'?
Tripod mainly to use as proper stand in any condition, not sure if I'll need a very heavy one for doing pans?
Rig / steady cam? I actually would prefer shooting with a rig/steady cam to make pans with a heavy tripod. Follow focus! Which one?
A super-portable extra light like dedo light!
SSD discs for backups?
A Mattebox?

And everything should be of proper quality, lightweight one-person-solutions, possible to get through the airports O.K..

Thanks, I appreciate your hints, ideas, experiences and comments ! kolinko

kolinko

technically a dillettante I know...

Vitaliy_Kiselev

@kolinko

I think best idea is to look around various topics.

I also highly advise to start from minimal kit and not invest all money even if you have it.

Look at Tascam recorders and JuicedLink preamps for audio.

Rode mikes, MXL for shotguns and some cheap Chinese wired lavaliers (if you need them, for starters).

Waifeng makes many good tripods from cheap to top (E-IMAGE brand).

Fotga makes cheap and good quality rigs / matte boxes. Look on deals page (top menu) for other manufacturers.

Adam_Mercier

Staying lightweight is absolutely necceary if you are on your own or with inexperienced crew. A good tripod is a must, you can save a lot of weight with a ball head instead of good quality fluid head (range of 2kg heads is well suited for gh4).

A follow focus is unnecessary unless you have a AC and time to setup your shots with many takes. The only advantage of a FF on your own would be on a shoulder kit.

A small led panel+reflector is a must for interviews shot Imo.

I think at some point more gear will really reduce your creative possibility and prevent you from moving fast.

I can not advice a lot about sound, but a decent on cam mic and lavalier to small pocketable recorder is a good base.

For backup having a laptop with external hard drive can work well, also if you can keep all footage on the card as second backup it makes things quite safe.

mrbill

You should tell us what you will be shooting so we can offer better advice.

kolinko

@mrbill good point! Actually we are still in the planning phase of the shooting as we both never planned a film shooting until now. But what's for sure until now is one shot at a primary school recording kids having their school lunch. And another one is filming a setting of a table of gifts for the gods at a temple with incense sticks burning (relatively close/big). The second one should be shot with a green screen kinda thing to be able to change the background later. That's what I can tell for now. But we sure need to hurry to go on planning the rest of the shots properly.

kolinko

sorry but it's nonsense to show a video here that I still want to show on film festivals.. I really don't know how to properly describe my work here. I studied film at a public art school. This was my first work at the university: https://vimeo.com/channels/vetofilm/91960426 "Gedankenportal - Chinook Schneider 2013 8'30'' EngSub"

It was shot with a Canon SX200 back then, veeery handy and easy. But I also had a small Tascam for sound recording.

Meanwhile I progressed to a hacked gh1 with dedo light, proper tripod, voigtlander nokton 0.95f 17.5mm and 42.5mm, sounddevices audio recorder with some vintage neumann or sennheiser mic and shotgun, as well as wireless lavalier mics, for my graduate film, that's how I connected to this community.

kolinko

Here another Video I shot and edited. This time it's a hacked GH1 with 100Mbps Max Latitude Settings. I finished it a few days ago. Enjoy!

kolinko

Thanks for your recommendations so far! I think things get clearer by trying and buying and using and planning.

There will be for example closeups of sacrificial offerings with monocrome background (color sheets of cloth or paper). Different views on young kids having their school lunch break. Probably there'll be talking heads with closeups.

I went shopping a small rental/sales shop the other day: I got the E-Image 7050H for 220 EUR. I seems pretty well done, tough, easy to handle, well designed and has everything I could think of for a good video tripod. I also got two extra batteries and a 50cm reflector each for 20 EUR. It feels very good to have a proper tripod, like grounded in a way.

still need: second SD-card: Which card would I need for recording 1080p 25fps ALL-Intra (200Mbit/s) My first SD-card is a SanDisk Extreme Pro 32GB, 280 MB/s, SD HC II (3) Should I get another one like this or is a cheaper one good enough? Any experiences with the Aputure V-Mic D2 DSLR Mic with level control. It seems unbelievable good for the price of 139 EUR.

Monitor: Lilliput 664 O 18cm/7" superflacher 1280x800 IPS Monitor (HDMI in+out) 289 EUR it seems not worth the money for my minimalistic approach and as a beginner since with the gh4 I can use peaking to see if things are sharp. But actually it seems to me that peaking is not alwas working only under certain conditions??

ND-Filters so far I got only one: B+W 58mm 0.9 ND MRC 103M Filter 66$ on B+H photo website. I could get an extra set of three cheaper ND filters 58mm ND 0.3 / 0.6 / 0.9 for 48 EUR? It's a cheaper version, but hemmed in metal frame, made of real glass.

Hard to find a protective rain, Sand & Dust Camera Cover that's not so expensive, but on the other hand really better than a trash bag? Good umbrellas, Ponchos for the emergency case??

I got the recommendation to not record in 4K since 1080p 25fps ALL-Intra (200Mbit/s) has the best dynamic range. Also to use cinegamma, not S-Log! and to pitch down the digital sharpness of the gh4 in advance. What do you think?

Since I'm going to Taiwan, is there a good rig brand from Taiwan I could acquire there?

Which kind of data carrier do you use for editing?

Thanks again.

AndCycle

@kolinko

late reply, probably no not much help.

SD card: I do have Transcend SDXC UHS-I U3 128G/256G for my GH4, work as expected while I shoot at 4k
Aputure V-Mic D2: no, I think, attractive on spec, but pick up EMI interference by phone
about rig, I don't have so I only know where you can get, http://www.kphoto.com.tw/

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