Panasonic Lumix GH2 and FCP X

Has anyone used FCP X to edit footage shot with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 DSLR? If so, what was your experience with the work flow, importing the footage and editing? Did you have any problems?

I appreciate any feedback. Thank you.

Works fine. Not much else to say about it. I've done a lot of projects and no issues. I open fcpx, put the sd card in my iMac and import.

Hi Julian,

Thanks for responding.

Have you shot any projects with the GH2?

Would you be able to share some links of your work?

I've shot dozens of projects with the GH2 and edited in FCP X. IMO there isn't a better value in videography at the moment than that particular hardware/software pairing.

Hi Swester,

Thanks for responding.

Is your GH2 hacked or unhacked?

Would you be able to share some links of your work?

There are more than enough samples of excellent work filmed on the GH2 out there on Vimeo and Youtube, as well as many in-depth comparison tests.

I used to have my GH2 hacked, but then decided that, under most circumstances, it appeared to my eyes to have no discernible improvement over the stock v1.1 firmware. I now use the stock firmware exclusively, although I didn't have any problems with the hacked version either.

swester wrote: I used to have my GH2 hacked, but then decided that, under most circumstances, it appeared to my eyes to have no discernible improvement over the stock v1.1 firmware. I now use the stock firmware exclusively, although I didn't have any problems with the hacked version either.

What hack did you use? Did you experience any problems with the camera while using the hack?

When you say stock, you mean the firmware that was included with the camera?

Yes, stock means official.

I used the EOSHD hacks (the 44mbps and the 88mbps versions). Once or twice I had some weird write-errors, but those were very rare. I just figured there wasn't any point to waste extra card space on a hack that wasn't producing noticeable results, so I reverted to stock. All of this is pretty easy to do and fully un-doable, using the plentiful guides out there on the Interwebz.

I use the flomotion hack, I have trouble noticing any difference between this and the stock firmware, but I do think it adds a little more room for color correction in post. I really don't like the GH2 color profile so much and my next camera will be the BMCC 2nd generation. There is just no comparing that 12-bit the the 8-bit the GH2 has.

Here's a video I shot for a school project. The story doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but I wasn't responsible for that, just shooting and editing.

For plugins, I used the Crumplepop 35mm film grain and their tone grade at a very low setting. The tone grade did a really great job bringing out the details on their faces and really makes the footage look much more sharp.

For the split screen stuff I used the new Tokyo Split plugin which is so simple to use and every editor should really have this at their disposal, it's a great plugin.

Watch the video here.

Julian wrote: I use the flomotion hack, I have trouble noticing any difference between this and the stock firmware,

For plugins, I used the Crumplepop 35mm film grain and their tone grade at a very low setting. The tone grade did a really great job bringing out the details on their faces and really makes the footage look much more sharp.

For the split screen stuff I used the new Tokyo Split plugin which is so simple to use and every editor should really have this at their disposal, it's a great plugin.

Watch the video here.

Thanks for sharing your video and which plugins you used.

What Panasonic lenses are recommended to use with the GH2 for shooting dramatic film work, web videos and green screen projects?

Which lenses in particular do each of you use?

If not Panasonic, what other brands would you also recommend?

Thanks.

Get the 20mm f/1.7; it's a must have. Excellent in low light as well as for general use. Beyond that, the sky's the limit for lenses. If you have the $$, the new Panny X lenses are great. Otherwise, you should be able to manage with one of the standard zooms they offer.

The 20mm 1.7 is the best looking lens I have. It's just a great lens and 20mm is almost wide enough. I'm considering the 14mm 2.5(?) next.

I have the 9-18mm Olympus. I wouldn't buy it again, but I'm not gonna sell it. Totally sucks indoors. The 14-140mm is okay, once again, I'll keep it because I have it. It's really good for outdoor run and gun stuff, you can get some nice DOF when zoomed in.

I also have a 58mm Minolta Rokkor 58mm f1.4 lens that does some really nice close up shots. This is probably my second favorite lens, just had it on a camera that was lying around.

I bought the 28mm f2.5 vivitar lens for $50 bucks, if there is light out, it gets lens flares. So if you like that, great, but it's mostly not something I use.

swester wrote: Get the 20mm f/1.7; it's a must have. Excellent in low light as well as for general use. Beyond that, the sky's the limit for lenses. If you have the $$, the new Panny X lenses are great. Otherwise, you should be able to manage with one of the standard zooms they offer.

Thanks Swester,

Would that be the Panasonic LUMIX G 20mm f/1.7 Aspherical Pancake Lens?

Thanks for the feedback Julian.

Do you primarily shoot video or still photos with your lenses?

Julian wrote: The 20mm 1.7 is the best looking lens I have. It's just a great lens and 20mm is almost wide enough. I'm considering the 14mm 2.5(?) next. The 14-140mm is okay. It's really good for outdoor run and gun stuff, you can get some nice DOF when zoomed in.

All video.

Here's something I shot for a school project. I only used the 20mm on this at 24p with the flowmotion hack.

The room was lit up really well too, we had about six lights setup.

School Project

Julian,

Thanks for sharing the link to your short film. How did you handle the audio?

Used a boom and separate recorder and synced in FCPX.