I had just visited Taipei (literally means north of Taiwan, capital of Taiwan) one month ago, and almost right after I came back to Hong Kong I learnt from a text message that we’ll go for a shoot at Taichung (literally means the centre of Taiwan) sponsored by Cathay Holidays! I had just came back from Taipei and now I’m going to check out another city of Taiwan too!
Of course I tried not to think of the idea of a “free holiday”. Well, basically it wasn’t. It was an interesting experience, filming Taichung. As the videographer for DigitalRevTV, I thought I’d talk a little bit about the gear I used.
For the video shooting of course I have the usual 5D Mark III with a 24-105mm f/4L, and Azden wireless mic. This setup works extremely well for us, but besides the planned shooting we will still have a lot of fun and I want to document all of them. That’s why I’ve also picked a Panasonic GH2 with a 7-14mm f/4 lens. GH2 is well known and loved by many videographers. I set it to shoot 1080/24p, but left everything else full auto so I could just pick it up, turn it on and shoot. The built-in mic worked unexpectedly well. Face detection and auto focusing worked well 90% of the time, which is enough for these “candid” behind the scenes style shooting. The 7-14mm lens focus silently, with widest end equivalent to a 14mm in full frame, it is great for shooting anywhere, in the plane, taxi, and even no need to check framing when holding it in one hand and shoot all three of us in those Blade Runner style Taiwan night markets.
I have to say, the GH2 is surprisingly the most exciting and very special shooting experience. 5D is amazing, but capturing those little fun moments won’t be possible when I have to focus manually in tight space and ask everyone to check mic level. With the GH2 I’m able to just pick it up and shoot correctly focus and expose HD video instantly, I’m amazed by the m4/3 concept all over again, since I first got my Olympus E-P1. On a holiday, I think it is better to have something that is light and performs well.
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If you want to visit what Lok and his team did, please click here for more detail.
All About Lok
Lok Cheung - aka Lok C - is the cameraman for DigitalRev TV.
