Tampa Freelance Videography shoots a lot of sports. The camera of choice is the larger shoulder-mounted broadcast version, the Panasonic HDX900. University of South Florida’s soccer tournament provided a good opportunity to work the small Panasonic GH2 in a role it’s not ideally suited. The HDSLR works best with prime lenses and controlled environments. Here, I mounted a broadcast ENG lens with a Micro 4/3 to B4 adapter to see if the GH2 would be easy to operate under these uncontrolled conditions.
I chose to shoot 24p with 1/50th shutter and the ISO changed with the lighting conditions. Overall, the rig worked well. Not as comfortable and easy as the HDX900, but dialing in the ISO was quick and the broadcast lens is designed for just this type of work. To make the lens work with the larger Micro 4/3 imager in the GH2, the 2x doubler is engaged. Unfortunately, that’s not the lens’ strength. It tends to get softer in the corners working at the long end of it’s range. I could have worked at f5.6 and had better results, but I wanted to push the camera/lens combo, so I was usually at f1.7/2.8.
Oh, this was a lot of fun too. Good video challenge and competitive soccer. The Florida Gulf Coast team handled the Iona Gaels in this match, only to be followed by an angry storm. You can see the approaching clouds in that final shot.
Thanks to USF for their hospitality.
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