Nico Nonne

Hi, first: congrats on shooting with a Red One, it can truly record nice pictures. However, if you know how to frame (and I think you did some nice shots in that regard) it really is more about learning how to light than anything else. Except for a few people from the film making community no one would have noticed the gain in resolution and dynamic range that makes the difference to a DSLR (apart from all those other little details). It simply makes your life easier (and sometimes harder ;) ). So instead of renting a Red One, get a gaffer, light and grip equipment (if you can). That said, I think the dynamic range of the camera actually saved you in quite a lot of shots, that would have been blown out or mostly black otherwise. What really makes a difference with all cameras is not to respect the dynamic range of your sensor in terms of highlights, only using hard light, not thinking about where to put the light and how it changes the shadows, using thick smoke 'just because' etc. This sounds overly harsh and you really got some nice shots (some of them even because you used hard light), still there is a lot of room for improvement, I think. Then again I simply hate "in you face"-lighting, so I'm quite biased. I was contemplating whether to actually post this critique of mine, but in the end we all learn from seeing someone else's point of view, even if we disregard it as rubbish ;) Nico

Most of your self-critique seems quite valid. There are some camera jerks in there, but a bit of stabilisation should smooth that out. The whole shot is 1:20, without a lot of practice mistakes are inevitable. I think anyone who has seen the Zacuto shootout knows the GH2 is a fine camera as long as you light for it. And frankly I'm not a big fan of the lighting in that scene. More separation between the fore- and background, along with different tables etc., would have been nice, but you pointed all of that out already. The thing is: as long as there is an interesting story and good acting, you can put your camera on a table, point it at the actors and be done with it. It will still be a joy to watch. I cannot judge what this scene adds to the story, maybe there are important developments that I simply don't see, because I don't know the story. Every shot should add something, reveal emotions, show new paths and new angles. This scene has no emotional impact on me, there are people at a party, a girl walking around. It does not capture my imagination. Then again, it might just be me or simply a lack of context.