Filmmaking Naturally - Latest Comments

Re: Using Peaking in Panasonic’s HPX-250

Kevin J Railsback — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 11:24:03 -0000

Hey Steve!
Thanks for stoping by! So much stuff I want to do with this site but just have to get the time to get it all done!
I too have found some situations where I use the expanded view mode instead of peaking as well. I wish we could assign a user button to toggle between the two.
For some subjects it just works better to have an expanded view to judge focus.
With the EVF set to black and white and peaking turned on it makes for a great run and gun set up for fast zone focusing.
I guess peaking is like any other tool in our toolbox. Sometimes it's the right thing to use and other times theirs a better took that can get the job done.
I'm glad we have the option though!

Re: Using Peaking in Panasonic’s HPX-250

steve siegel, UWOL — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 10:17:04 -0000

Hey Kevin,
I've been scrolling through your site. Lots of good stuff. Thanks. You're still the master. Regarding peaking. My Sony EX3 has it, too. Shooting small birds with big telephoto, the range of sharp focus is so tiny, that the amount of peaking highlight remains imperceptibly changed through sharp focus and on both sides of it. I can't tell the difference between sharp and off sharp. For that reason I don't use it.

Re: How to Set up and Use Focus in Red on the Panasonic HPX250 P2 Camera

Kevin J Railsback — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 10:28:11 -0000

Hi,
I'm glad you found it useful. It took me a few minutes to figure it out too!
Do you think the difference in focus is because the dvx100b had a bit more room for error being a standard definition camera?
I know when I switched to HD I found that focus was much more critical than with my SD camera. If you're off just a hair it makes a huge difference.
The LCD on the 250 combined with peaking and now focus in red really goes a long way in helping get critical focus.
Thanks again for letting me know this tip was helpful to you!

Re: How to Set up and Use Focus in Red on the Panasonic HPX250 P2 Camera

Jujusunrise — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 10:21:43 -0000

Thank you for the tip. Was very useful, as Panasonic didn't mentioned how to witch to in red on the manual. I love my cam but find difficult to be in focus compared to the dvx100b i had, especially when i zoom out. Probably the inconvenience of this great *22 lens. Cheers from France

Re: Don’t Blow Unexpected Wildlife Filming Opportunities

Kevin J Railsback — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 08:30:48 -0000

I think the Tilley hat is the best hat out there. I'd reccomended it to anyone. Yeah, it's not cheap but when I wear mine it doesn't even feel like I'm wearing a hat and it breathes like no other hat I've owned. I'm seriously thinking about getting a couple more and horde them just in case something happens to my current hat. :)

Don't even get me started about losing weight! :) I need to lose about 100lns to get back to the weight I was when I got married 20 years ago.

It's tough being in front of the camera instead of behind it. I'm a one man show so I have to take two camera setups with me when I want to film a tip or tutorial. I can think of all the things I want to say before I hit the record button. Once I start rolling, all that goes out the window.

My goal is to eventually sound like I'm just having a conversation with someone in the field. I get asked so many questions in the field and I need to get to a point where I'm talking on camera like I do to the people that ask me questions in the field.

Going to really try and step things up in the coming weeks. We'll see how it goes. I need to do a video on caring for your camera in high heat and humidity. I'm sure the Tilley hat will be featured prominently!! :)

Re: Don’t Blow Unexpected Wildlife Filming Opportunities

Drilstone — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 00:58:17 -0000

Ha! My olive Tilley hat arrived last week -- I just ordered the same size as my 20-year-old white one and it fits perfectly. :)

Kevin, you've got a great presence on-camera. I just shot a two-camera shoot (5D2 & 7D) of myself doing a mini review of a Glideshot jib. Two things wrong: a) I sound like a dork, and b) I need to lose 50 lbs. Make that 60 lbs! I wore dark clothing because my daughter said it would be "slimming". Well, beluga whales are dark and THEY don't look slim......

Looking forward to your future productions.

Best,

Dave Rilstone

Re: Don’t Blow Unexpected Wildlife Filming Opportunities

Kevin J Railsback — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 17:41:24 -0000

When you think about it when a deer or cottontail is spooked, what do you see? A flash of white as it's running away from you. So it totally makes sense that when animals see flashes of white they think danger.
The only time I really where anything camo is when I know there will be a lot of ticks and bugs. Then I wear some RhinkSkin bug proof clothing which the stuff I have happens to be camo.
Luckily for me, I like earth tone clothing so I have a pretty good selection to choose from. Sometimes when it's really, really hot I just go ahead and where white for the coolness factor but realize that I'm really advertising my presence.
BTW, I love my Tilley hat!! Mine is olive so it's not a problem wearing out in the field. I picked mine up when I was headed to Africa and it's probably the best hat I've ever owned. They're not cheap by any means but I'd recommend them to anyone.
Glad you like the videos. I have more ambitious stuff planned but still trying to find my comfort zone in front of the camera instead of behind it.

Re: Don’t Blow Unexpected Wildlife Filming Opportunities

Drilstone — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 12:57:23 -0000

Many techniques for wildlife photo/video making are so similar to successful hunting methods. One tip that has benefited me: Much as I love my white Tilley hat & vest, I've retired them from the field for 3 seasons of the year, as with my white t-shirts and light-coloured shorts. I haven't gone full camo by any means, but I'm careful to go with more natural/subdued earth tones. I seem to spook my wary subjects much less, especially on the bright, sunny days. The white hat & light-coloured clothing are more comfortable in summer, to be sure, but they sure shouted out my presence to deer, bunnies, and ospreys (and they ALL have eyes like a hawk! LOL).

Love your series of videos. Thanks so much for posting them!

Re: An Iowa Morning: Shooting the Panasonic AG-HPX250

Shanks Rajendran — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 11:01:00 -0000

must be that kevin, keep up the good work i liked ure page on facebook. thanks again, mabye ill show u what i get up with the 250 when i get it. cheers.

Re: An Iowa Morning: Shooting the Panasonic AG-HPX250

Kevin J Railsback — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 10:10:50 -0000

It's one of two things. Either it's just artifacts from the compression I try to compress the videos down to make them easier to stream so anything that has Microsoft Surface motion runs the risk of artifacts.
Or, it's because I put in like a 60i clip in with the 24p footage. I was testing the 250 so I shot it in all the modes I could so if it's not artifacts from compression then that would be the culprit.
I know I looked at all the source footage after I shot it and all the waterfall footage looks clean.
I know I included a waterfall jib shot that I sent to Panasonic to play at NAB and if there were artifacts they would have let me know for sure.

Re: An Iowa Morning: Shooting the Panasonic AG-HPX250

Shanks Rajendran — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 07:38:01 -0000

thanks kevin, makes sense now. Im going to rent it out this week and play around with it then probably purchase it the week after!

Btw - that footage you shot above, around the 2.06 -2.08 (waterfall scene) when panning theres some sort distortion on the bark and ground on the right? i cant full screen the video, what is that?

Re: An Iowa Morning: Shooting the Panasonic AG-HPX250

Kevin J Railsback — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 09:15:09 -0000

The very nature of 1/3" chip cameras mean they have deep depth of field. That's why I did the tutorial on how to get shallow depth of field with the 250 because typically you always have a lot of DOF.

I think the 250 would be perfect for a documentary. I'm doing one on a professional dance group so, not sure what yours is about but I guess if it can keep up with dancers then it can keep up with most subjects :)
Theyve improved the 250’s firmware to make it even better. They have focus in red now check out the tutorial I have here if you want to see it in action. Very easy to know when you're in focus.

They also added turbo focus. You hit the focus button on the camera locks focus very fast. It's nice if you don't have time to manually focus. Just hit the bottom, the camera locks on then goes back to manual focus when you let go.

The camera is fairly well balanced so hand holding isn't that hard but like any handheld, you need to build a bit of endurance. I don't do a lot handheld but the times I have I didn't have any problems.

But you'll certainly not have any issues with getting deep depth of field.

Hope that helps you a bit. Let me know if there's something you need me to elaborate more on.

Re: An Iowa Morning: Shooting the Panasonic AG-HPX250

Shanks Rajendran — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 08:35:37 -0000

hi, found this site useful, im looking to get the 250, ive been using the 5dmarkii all along and is very hard keeping focus when doing documentary, panning, running all on the go.

Do you think the 250 is good for documentary, on the run sort of filming? Im looking for something that produces deep depth of field. Also is it easy to use it hand held? I havent seen one in person yet.

Thanks

Re: An Iowa Morning: Shooting the Panasonic AG-HPX250

Kevin J Railsback — Mon, 21 May 2012 22:42:26 -0000

Ryan,
The biggest thing I love about Panasonic cameras over Sony is the Panasonic Mojo. They have such a warm organic look that I have yet to see anyone really duplicate out of the box. I used to shoot Sony cameras before the 200 came out but once I discovered the mojo, I've been sold ever since.
I did some chromakey with the 250 and was amazed at how clean the key came out even with poor lighting on the green screen. In fact I didn't even light it or take the wrinkles out.
I'll be testing the PAP 1 filter soon to see how much of an improvement there is in low light scenes over the default PAP 2 filter.

As a nature and wildlife filmmaker I'm often struggling with low light. Seems the best things happen right before sunrise and right after sunset. :)

Keep me posted on what you're doing with you 250!

Re: An Iowa Morning: Shooting the Panasonic AG-HPX250

Kevin J Railsback — Mon, 21 May 2012 22:38:12 -0000

Mark,
You really can't even compare the 200 with the 250. Much better codec, a new PAP filter that increases the sensitivity of the camera while reducing the noise. The big zoom and AVC-Intra codec puts this leaps and bounds over the 200.
I thought my 170 was a huge improvement over my 200, well the 250 goes even farther than the 170.
Now if they can get 1080p/60p to record onto P2 cards they'll scratch off the last thing on my want list.

Re: An Iowa Morning: Shooting the Panasonic AG-HPX250

Kevin J Railsback — Mon, 21 May 2012 22:32:59 -0000

Bruce,
Glad you're diggin the 250. It certainly is a big step up for me from my 170. Now, the 170 isn't chump change but with the big zoom, AVC-Intra and now focus in red and turbo focus the 250 just keeps getting better all the time.

Re: An Iowa Morning: Shooting the Panasonic AG-HPX250

Kevin J Railsback — Mon, 21 May 2012 22:31:41 -0000

Bill, even more so. With the new focus in red and turbo focus that Panasonic gives us with their firmware update the 250 is even better.
I was filming some shelter dogs in hopes of getting them adopted, the new focus in red feature made it a breeze to know when I had focus.
The only time I pick up my 170 now is when I'm filming myself doing something with the 250. :)

Re: An Iowa Morning: Shooting the Panasonic AG-HPX250

Bill — Mon, 21 May 2012 16:11:06 -0000

Are you still happy with the 250?

Re: An Iowa Morning: Shooting the Panasonic AG-HPX250

Bruce — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:00:14 -0000

Your pictures are superb and convinced me that the HPX250 was for me. I have only had one for a week but already it is showing its mettle.

Re: An Iowa Morning: Shooting the Panasonic AG-HPX250

Ryan Tebbutt — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 23:50:38 -0000

Kevin,

Thanks for this review, I was in the market for an affordable, smaller sensor run and gun camera and was curious about the HPX 250. I have used an HVX 200 for a few years and I am very aware of the limitations from the HVX and felt it was no longer competitive. I was all but convinced to move to a Sony EX1 as there isn't much out there for quality footage from the HPX but the price for the EX1 seemed a bit high for it's age. I found this page and watched your video, I was so impressed that I ended up going with the HPX 250 and I have to say I am more than pleased with it! The P2 cards are cheep now compared to what they used to be, the low light performance is improved, a lot less noise and the codec is impressive. I shot a test scene in quite low light, gain off and purposely under exposing. When I brightened it up to proper exposure in post, which would destroy the image from the HVX, it was quite usable. The best part is that it was on sale for $5100, compared to $7800 (what I was quoted) for the EX1. The P2 cards as well were a couple hundred dollars less and the batteries were half the price. For the type of work I do in a smaller town in Canada, this camera is perfect. My clients will be more than thrilled!

Regards!

Re: An Iowa Morning: Shooting the Panasonic AG-HPX250

Mark Thomas — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 08:25:00 -0000

Hi Kevin,
Really enjoyed this clip. I've used a 200 for several years now but some of it's shortcomings are holding me back. Poor performance in low light being the main one. How does the 250 stack up?
Cheers from down under!
Mark
Port Lincoln, Australia

Re: Africa: A Moment in Time

djgaths — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 00:13:42 -0000

Beautiful stuff

Re: Wildlife Filmmakers Rejoice! The HPX250 Digital Zoom Rocks!

Rick Clawson — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 09:00:06 -0000

Thanks very much for the post - I'll admit we've had rather mixed results with the digital zoom on the HPX250... To date when we've tried test shots with the 22x zoomed all the way in and with just the 2x digital zoom on the image is pixely enough that we've decided to steer clear of digital zoom...What are missing perhaps? Any particular scene settings or F-stops or other controls we might be aware of to get better results?

Re: Are You Filming Illegally in our National Parks?

Daryl L. Hunter — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 22:07:25 -0000

Good luck to Mike Lee, this needs to be overturned

Re: Woodland Wildflowers: Some Great Tips on How to Film Them

Kevin J Railsback — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:41:14 -0000

Thanks Steve!
Still have a LNG way to go before I get to where I want to be. Need to be much more polished. But slowly figuring out how to handle having two camera systems out in the field.
It's certainly a challenge trying to film something and then fill the camera that's filming the subject. :)