Hummingbirds In A Sanctuary...1st GH4 Project

[Bif]

First project shot with my GH4. Visited a small ranch in Christoval TX where the owner has established a hummingbird and other migratory bird sanctuary. Sitting inside the "observation building" I set up a tripod with the GH4 and a 45-200mm lens (90-400mm equiv). I had the camera set to record in Cinema 4K 24p mode and used the "Natural" color profile with all parameters set to "0".

No color correction or grading was used, colors and look seemed just right to me.

Edited in Corel Pinnacle Studio 17.5 on a 4K timeline then exported to a 1080p MP4 file.

Music is SmartSound, from the album "Cinematic Excellence", track was "Country Rain".

Here's the link: https://vimeo.com/98865311

Bruce Foreman

 

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

I think one of those was not a humming bird.

 

[Bif]

I think one of those was not a humming bird.

"Humming"bee, maybe?

It's amazing what high definition will show us. Focus was shallow enough (200mm end of the 45-200) there wasn't that noticeable increase in edge definition, where extra sharpness really shows up, but the depth and strength of image tones is something else.

I think I'm going to enjoy working with this camera.

 

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

"Humming"bee, maybe?

It's amazing what high definition will show us. Focus was shallow enough (200mm end of the 45-200) there wasn't that noticeable increase in edge definition, where extra sharpness really shows up, but the depth and strength of image tones is something else.

I think I'm going to enjoy working with this camera.

I'm going to give the hummingbird video a try. My hummingbird stills are very hit or miss.

 

[Bif]

I'm going to give the hummingbird video a try. My hummingbird stills are very hit or miss.

I shot some stills with the same camera and some turned out fine. I had better luck while the birds were perched and somewhat still. I was reluctant to try "burst" mode as I had no idea how much of the medial card was needed for 4K video.

Switching back and forth between video and stills caused a bit of a problem. I used a Manfrotto 501 head on carbon fiber legs so I could slide the camera in and out easily. Handheld allowed me to shoot stills with better framing and tripod mount was absolutely necessary for video.

I used 1/500th second for stills and sometimes forgot to switch back to 1/60th for video

In the footage where I remembered to set 1/60th the motion blur on the wings looked far more natural to me, where it stayed at 1/500th I got a kind of strobing, "fluttery" look to the wings. Not bad but the slower shutter result in video looked more like what I wanted.

Next time I try something like this I'll likely use a second camera for stills. Maybe the OMD E-M5 with the 40-150 zoom and let IBIS work it's magic.