Panasonic GH1 advice

snapper8v

snapper8v

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Lawrence CLIFT
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A friend has mailed me for some advice, which I hope that someone can answer please as I have no experience of filming with a DSLR. Thanks.

"For the trip across America that I'm fllming, I've bought a Panasonic GH1 to use as a 'film' camera just because I've heard so much about the depth of field capabiities of these cameras.

I'm told to use it at 25fps (for PAL video) with a shutter speed of 1/50 to give a nice smooth effect. But then I'm told to use a variable ND filter to get the best out of it, and as I've never used a filter before because on a video camera you have a switch that says ND1 and ND2, I'm not to sure how to use one and when!"
 
A variable ND is just what it says it is. It's a filter that you can use which adjust to give different ND values.

My guess is that it is two polarising filters that move to control the amount of light that is transmitted. The reason they are used is that most DSLR-Video cameras won't let you drop the ISO setting to below 100. This in some cases may be too high to allow correct exposure with a slow ( 1/50 ) shutter speed . Now with theses filters you can get up to 10 stops of adjustment. These filters vary in price from around £25 to well over £300.


The Tiffin ones seem to have a good reputation but are expensive others I can't comment on.

However you could use a conventional ND filter reduce the exposure to a manageable level. Say an ND0.9 would give you 3 stops of correction, or if you need more, 2 of them to give 6 stops.

The point with using DSLR cameras for video is, that because they use a much larger sensor than video cameras they give a "Film Like" small depth of field, when used around normal apertures say f5.6-f8. In bright conditions you can't get down to these values so an ND is required. Careful use of a normal ND though solves most of these difficulties. I've alway found that my Polariser has a similar effect, it has about a 2 1/2 stop reduction and works fine.
 
If you have a relatively slow shutter and big aperture, you'll need to reduce the amount of light hitting the sensor. On a video camera, you switch in an ND filter. On a stills camera, you stick one on the lens.
 
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