Driftwood Quantum X Settings, Series 1: v3b Rocket - v4b Orion - v5 β Pictoris

sohus

I shoot documentary and the size of the GH2 is a big advantage. Very unobtrusive to the interviewee, and when shooting at public locations. They take me for a tourist, not a documentary filmmaker. I love that.

I used to shoot with XL-H1 but this is so much better.

rockroadpix

@mhun - For that, I believe that it is definitely possible.

bullet2

Thus the need for a dummy shell for these cameras...heck you could sell hx9v footage if it were graded and lit properly!

mhun

@rockroadpix, agreed. i shoot mostly documentaries mixing photos and videos, with a very small team and low footprint, sometimes in places not that safe (and generally in places where rig/cage/ect are not welcomed or possible). My A camera is 5dMII + monitor, but looking for a very light/cheap backup camera that indeed can act as also as crash cam/cabinet/experimental projects, etc, but something that gives files good enough so I can incorporate in the 5d footage at times, anyone did that around here, anything to show? Initially bought the Gf2 as a photo backup for my M9 (using same lenses), and was lately hoping (dreaming??) it could act as a video backup as well. I'll see what I can pull out of it and let you know. Files that I have seen going around this post, with the hacks, let me think this is possible but we need to get rid of automatic adjustments, in other things.

rockroadpix

Every client that I've had has shown up with elevated expectations. That covers the full gamut from Proctor and Gamble/ Reckitt Benckiser down to the regional/local business doing some web stuff. Every professional on here knows that selling the GH2 to a client isn't very easy. That goes even when it's up against a 5D. @sohus- but I like your style! :D

sohus

@rockroadpix Let the client pay in advance :) problem solved. It is about the footage. But you are right, GF2 might be pushing it, GH2 is fine.

rockroadpix

@mhun - Sorry to say, but pulling the gf 2 out in a professional setting where you have a client or more isn't really going to impress unless you have it in a rig or cage with rails, MB, monitor etc. unless you're using it as a crash cam or something to have inside a medicine cabinet for a reveal shot, no one that is paying you is going to take it too seriously. Yeah, the footage can look great, but it's not something that I would pull out on set and start shooting with as an A camera.

pop24

Quantum X Rocket 3b / Hyperprime 12mm / Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 45 mm / 3200 iso / Nostalgic Filmmode / color -2 /

Jspatz

@mhun Leicasonic http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/2020/leicasonic-14-50mm-f2.8-3.5-can-it-talk-with-the-gh2/p1

mhun

@ignatius, thanks again, I read the EOSHD link. it is clear on how to stretch the gf2 manual settings and the limitations. one of the two advices is :

"2. Use a lens with a manual aperture ring, that the camera cannot control electronically."

I have such lenses, but they won't be stabilized by the gf2. Any lense out there have a manual aperture ring that would still be stabilized by the gf2?

would love a hack that would also stop the remaining ISO self adjustment. To me, that is a real stopper in using the camera in any serious/professional setting. If I want to shoot under or overexpose, it should let me do so.

sohus

Quantum X Orion V4b Smooth profile test (direct download for Vimeo plus members)

Quantum X Orion V4b Nostalgic profile test (direct download for Vimeo plus members)

(videos won't on Vimeo because of ProRes 422 masters that Vimeo cannot convert, so download the original files directly from Vimeo)

Quantum X Orion V4b All profile test at 0/0/0/0

Workflow: ingest .MTS files into FCPX, render out in ProRes 422, upload to Vimeo. YouTube files are H.264 renders out of Adobe Media Encoder.

ignatius

@mhun You can get a bit of manual control back with a few tricks. Head over to EOSHD and read through this: http://www.eoshd.com/content/7074/hacked-gf2-the-300-digital-cinema-camera

YOSS

@otcx which ISO / profile ? -looks great!

mhun

@ignatius, thanks, but I have the gf2 (not the GH2), is manual control possible with it or am I dreaming?

dbp

My cat and my friend's dog playing. Was shot with Orion (4a).

One of the things I notice about the hacks is the rendering of fine details in the animal's fur.

sohus

I just finished some preliminary profile testing with Orion v4b. Uploading now.

kingmixer

@otcx That's very impressive for unaltered, non-"lit" footage. The sharpness/softness has a feel kind of inbetween the regular GH2 and a 5dmII – which is great.

bullet2

Sorry...should have read as "chose only the one i thought was for quantum orion, and then saved".

bullet2

...zip file, and chose only the one i thought was for quantum, and then saved without altering anything in ptools. Should I have set anything else? I assumed that the bit rate etc would have been set automatically.

bullet2

Ok, I assumed that my camera was set wrong to use driftwood quantum v4 orion. But under my recording choices, I have 24h and 24l. Were these available without the patch applied? If not, did I need to manually set anything before I saved the firmware? All I did was load the "g.ini" file and then save, thinking that was all that I needed to do. I unzipped the combined

Strangways

[GH2] Driftwood Quantum X - v4b Orion with Sandisk Extreme HD Video 30MB/s 16GB cards:

24H records up to the 4GB limit, which I seem to recall (deleted the file early in testing) is a little over 5 minutes. I've had 4 minute record times in the past, so that's no problem. Total record time possible on the card is just over 13 minutes.

24L spans perfectly, at least with relatively static shots - the sort of interview shot I'd need spanning for. Total record time possible on the card is just over 26 minutes.

24H and L are both able to record death charts with no problem (haven't tried spanning with them, though) and playback in-camera perfectly.

What I found most interesting is that Vegas 9 (yup, I'm a bit behind) and VLC 2.0.0 play the 24H footage no problem, but struggle a bit with the first 24L clip in a spanned set, and struggle quite a bit with the following 24L clips in a spanned set. VLC likes to freeze on the first frame of a 24L 2nd-4th spanned 24L clip, and Vegas runs at a snail's pace.

I haven't yet investigated why, but once I get an old project in Vegas 9 cleared off my computer and upgrade to 11, I'll see if that solves it. Otherwise I'll be digging into Streamparser I suppose, or transcoding.

rsquires

@MisterJ I can't believe those are stills from video. Just incredible.

otcx

Low light test with quantum x v3b. Only home lightning, no grade or post, just catch a moment.

danyyyel

Could the matrix affect dynamic range. Most of the shot I see have very nice (low contrast) to them, very filmic. Now it could be because of the softer winter light etc, but just asking.

JDN

@cafeteriacarlos sorry for later reply. The L setting on Quantum Orion looks good to my eyes for long interviews (and reality is if I'm on those shots for more than a few seconds anyway, I haven't done my job and shot enough b-roll!).

If I was only doing a shoot with sit downs and staticty shots I'd probably just use rocket at H as the adaptive bit rate probably works out to L. But for the moment I've got too much movement in my B roll to risk it dropping out (pans, slider shots, etc). Of course correct me if I'm wrong and Rocket can now handle that fine as Orion.

Okay, back to the everglades. Wood stork full frame with the 100-300 flew right at the camera yesterday. Love it when critters know how to act like that!

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