- Hey everybody!
This is Roberto Blake, of robertoblake.com
helping you create something awesome today.
So today, we're going to talk about
how I'm going to be creating awesome
in the near future.
We're going to be talking about my new camera,
the Panasonic Lumix G7.
This is a micro four thirds camera.
I know that some of my friends out there
who are photographers might want
to give me crap about using a micro four thirds camera.
You've got to understand, I bought this camera
for a reason, and I'm going to talk about it.
So there are a lot of reasons
why I bought this particular camera.
The Panasonic Lumix G7 has a lot of great features.
If you're someone like me who's doing a lot of travel,
speaking at conferences, going to conventions,
this is a very practical camera
because it's super light weight,
has new technology, has a lot of great features,
can shoot 4K video, and works with WiFi.
It does a lot of great stuff and does it at a bargain price.
There is not a DSLR camera,
or even a mirrorless DSLR style camera,
at the same price point that I paid for this
that gives me all the features and bang for the buck.
The other thing is,
when I don't have this mounting plate on it,
it's about as light as my iPad.
It's pretty close.
So, those are a lot of the reasons
that I bought it.
I bought it not as a photographer,
but as a business man
and as somebody who prioritizes video over photo.
The overwhelming majority of my content
is video marketing based.
So, it makes a lot of sense for me
to have a camera that is going to serve me
very well for video, more than it does for photography.
For the photography stuff that I like to do,
mostly for myself but also when I want
to do high end photography from a business standpoint,
I'm going to be using a DSLR, like my Nikon,
or, better yet, I have plans to upgrade
to a Sony, either an A7 or a A72.
If cash flow goes very well before the end of the year,
I'll probably have Sony A7R2
or one of its successors if somebody comes up with one soon.
So, that is part of my workflow.
It's part of my business model.
I'm not shooting high end weddings,
nor am I shooting high end commercial work
for real estate or what have you.
For what I do, this is a very practical camera.
It's within my budget, and the reality is
that micro four thirds is the equivalent
of super 16mm film back in the old days.
A lot of the history and reason why a lot
of photographers and videographers
prefer full frame cameras like the Nikon D810
or the D5, or the Canon 5D Mark III, for example,
those cameras are full frame.
They are closer, with their sensor size,
and the way that they work,
to the 35mm film cameras of old.
This is closer to the 16mm film cameras of old,
which was still a standard.
It was a standard used for independent filmmaking
on a lower budget.
That's a lot closer to what I do.
The other reason is majority of my work
is digitally based.
If I were doing a lot more print work of my own,
using a full frame camera makes 110% sense.
It's the most practical thing I could do.
But, since I don't need to really print much of anything,
and even if I do from this
it's still going to be great quality.
We get fantastic images out of the iPhone
and out of phones like the Samsung Galaxy 7
and S7 Edge.
And, you know what?
With those cameras in the phone,
you have a much smaller sensor than you do
with a micro four thirds system.
So I think that's fantastic.
This can still handle indoor low light situations.
It's not going to be great for shooting in the dark
and shooting night photography,
but for shooting events and conferences
like the ones that I go to,
if I want to film myself onstage,
this is extremely practical.
The crop factor actually helps me
and isn't a detriment at that point,
because with this having a 2X crop factor,
it means that I can put the equivalent
of what would be a normal sized lens in a full frame
on there and get a massive super telephoto
that, when mounted a tripod,
is going to give me exactly what I need
to have great stage videos of my speaking engagements
and that's actually going to make me a lot more money.
So, for all of those reasons, this is the new camera.
It's not going to replace the Nikon D3200
as the standard YouTube camera,
but there are videos that I'm going
to make with this.
There are some fun independent film projects
that I'm going to do.
I've promised you guys for a long time
of doing some motivational short films.
This is going to help with that.
This will help with more advanced vlogging.
In fact, the reality is that if you wanted
to do Casey Neistat style vlogging,
instead of buying a Canon 70D,
you could get this instead.
You have 4K video.
It's a lot lighter.
Mounting this on a Joby GorillaPod
is going to be even more practical,
especially if you're a smaller framed person.
You're not working out as much.
You're not getting those gains.
Then, maybe this camera is actually better for you
because of the lack of weight.
So, that's just something to consider.
Everybody needs to buy cameras not based
on just the recommendations of pros
and people they respect,
but with the context of how they're going to use it
and then what their physical capabilities
and limitations are as a human being.
For me, being able to have this flip out screen
is perfect for YouTube and self recording.
It's very practical.
4K video might be something a lot of you think
is not practical right now and not enough people consume it,
but for some of the things I do,
it actually would make sense
and I can charge clients and sponsors more money
for 4K video stuff,
and there are a lot of things it allows me to do.
And it's great for product reviews
where I want to crop in.
There's a lot that I can take advantage of
by using 4K video rather than relying
on 1080p of DSLRs and some of the limitations
that come along with that.
I am going to be stepping my game up
on some of my hardware.
I don't think that there are enough upgrades
that I can do to this Mac in order to make it
handle 4K video that much better,
so I'm probably going to be building
a custom Windows PC at a much more affordable rate
than if I bought a Mac Pro Trashcan
or a 5K Retina iMac.
I think it's going to be more practical
to just build a customize-able Windows PC
and soup it up as time goes on.
So that's probably what I'm going to do.
Anyway guys, that is the new Panasonic Lumix G7.
I'll have a full review, my first impressions,
more sample footage and stuff coming up,
but I just wanted to talk to you
about my new camera:
why I bought it, why I think it's practical.
I'm probably going to do five mits
about micro four thirds cameras
or five reasons to buy it.
That's a video that will be coming out.
I'll probably do a video to say
who I think this is for
and whether or not I think it's worth the price point,
which, by the way, spoiler alert, it is.
I mean, I just think it's a great camera.
I've enjoyed using it for the past week and a half,
two weeks now, and, the reality is,
I'm contemplating buying a second one.
It's that good, and I really think
that considering how lightweight it is,
the lenses I'm buying for it,
how light these lenses are,
I could put two of these and a complete lens kit
in my camera bag and it will weigh less
than a DSLR and one hefty lens.
So, two of these, shoot 4K video,
bunch of lenses versus one DSLR and a 24-70
for the same amount of weight when you're traveling,
probably taking up less space,
that makes sense to me for what I'm doing.
Might not work for you, though.
Anyway, if you have questions about the Panasonic Lumix G7
or even the GH4 that I played with
while I was at ShutterFest,
go ahead and ask those questions in the comments section.
I'm happy to answer them for you.
If you have questions about what I'm doing here
on the channel with the video production side,
I'd love to answer those as well.
Anyway, like this video if you like it,
don't forget to subscribe.
Check out the other awesome content on the channel.
As always you guys, thanks so very much for watching,
and don't forget, create something awesome today
with whatever camera you have.