he Fall '19 is a step up of my usual work for Oside Kulture. This time around, my team was equipped with much more equipment such as gimbals and faster lenses. The client needed photos and videos for the website and the YouTube channel. I felt like this was a great opportunity to experiment with the GH4's low light capabilities paired with the Olympus 12-40 F 2.8 lens.

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What went well?

Working with the GH4 was quite easy and it's safe to say that the camera can still holds its place. The camera performs really well under well-lit conditions for photography and the same can be said for videography. The Ronin S helped provide more stable control over the GH4 to deliver well composed shots.

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Things that can be worked on

Looking into the GH4, I realized that it lacked an OIS and the lens had no stabilization. As a result, micro jitters were clearly visible throughout the video, even through the use of the Ronin S. On our first day of shooting, we set the cameras to record at 4k 24fps, which we thought we have been a good choice, but then realized that at that frame rate, the slight jitters were clearly visible. We also didn't realize that the recommended ISO for the GH4 is 800, and it's evident at some points that the camera struggle to keep up at low-light situations, even through the use of a considerably fast lens. During post production, it was difficult to get smooth movement out of the clips without the use of Warp Stabilizer. For most of the clips, I kept it at a maximum at 10%, but for some clips, I had to go up to 50%.

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From this, I learned that the ideal settings to set the GH4 would be at 1080p 60fps, with a max ISO of 800 in low-light situations. I'll have to bring an external mic for occasions that I need to record audio. The Ronin could use some tweaking in the app and with practice in movements, we could definitely provide solid, smooth footage that looks pleasing to the eyes!

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End Products

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