GH2 for ambient dance & gym

[dick]

I hate single-on-camera-flash pictures - high contrast, dark background... but you can use room light as fill.

Someone has to do it, and this Saturday I will be photographing dancing girls and gymnasts... mostly posed, but some moving or not very stable in a pose.

I would like to avoid having to set up the H4D-60 and studio flash, and I have 4 big Metzes I might use (I have the SCA adapter for the GH2)... but I was hoping to get some nice "natural light" pictures with the GH2... the 20mm f1.7 arrives tomorrow, but it is a bit wide... but the pictures are only for my wife's Web site...

Is the stabilization so good I do not need a tripod for the static shots?

Colour accuracy is not very important, so what ISO is usable?

Thinking of single-on-camera-flash for low fill, it seems that the GH2 will not work upside-down?

How good is the sport mode?

With the depth-of-field problem, for web work, will the GH2 produce better pictures than the H4D-60?

I used the H3D11-50 in the gallery in the same hall with the Elinchromes for static poses, but, in the main hall, the Elinchromes might be more trouble than they would be worth - but I could just blast them all off the ceiling as additional fill?

 

[curious80]

... the 20mm f1.7 arrives tomorrow, but it is a bit wide... but the pictures are only for my wife's Web site...

Is the stabilization so good I do not need a tripod for the static shots?

...

GH2 does not have in-body stabilization and the 20mm 1.7 lens does not have stabilization either.

 

[dick]

GH2 does not have in-body stabilization and the 20mm 1.7 lens does not have stabilization either.

The 14-140 has stabilization, does it not? what about the 14-42?

The 14-42 is a little wider at F3.5 instead of f4, but the 14-140 is a better lens at all focal lengths?

The 20mm f1.7 would not need very fast shutter speeds to make camera shake tolerable, would it?

I am going to a gym class this afternoon to try it out, but the 20mm still has not arrived.

 

[m3photo]

Re: 20mm f/1.7

T
The 20mm f1.7 would not need very fast stutter speeds to make camera shake tolerable, would it?
.

Or shutter speeds ...
No, seriously, also bear in mind that the 20mm is one of the few lenses that you can use at its maximum aperture with excellent results:

Both with G1+20mm f/1.7 @ f/1.7

 

[dick]

Re: 20mm f/1.7

Or shutter speeds ...
No, seriously, also bear in mind that the 20mm is one of the few lenses that you can use at its maximum aperture with excellent results:

Both with G1+20mm f/1.7 @ f/1.7

Thanks - what shutter speed and ISO were you using?

Does the colour look not too bad at ISO 1600 or what?

(My 20mm f1.7 has just arrived - and I am out to use it on gymnasts soon.)

 

[m3photo]

1/30th of a second or thereabouts at ISO 100. ISO 1600 on a G1 is a total waste of time; I don't go above ISO 200, that's why I'm looking to buy a G3.

 

[dick]

1/30th of a second or thereabouts at ISO 100. ISO 1600 on a G1 is a total waste of time; I don't go above ISO 200, that's why I'm looking to buy a G3.

Thanks...

Today I found that 1/500th was about OK for cart-wheeling gymnasts, and (without uploading to the computer) it seems that 400 or 800 or 1600 ISO is usable... but I need to look at them in PS.

DOF is limited at f1.7, even with micro 4/3.

It seems that 20mm f2.8 on 4/3 gives you about the same DOF as f11 on 120mm on 645 at 3 meters.