Imagine hiking to the top of a mountain. When you finally reach the top you want to share this special moment with your friends, right there and then. But the camera on your smartphone doesn’t really do justice to the spectacular view. ‘This is just one situation where the LUMIX GH5M2 would be perfect,’ says German videographer Chris Kueper. ‘With this camera you can film and go live, with the best image quality. The only thing you need besides the camera is a smartphone. The GH5M2 is a game changer.’
Because of its enormous potential, Chris would happily add the GH5M2 to his working gear. ‘Livestreaming became popular during Corona, and a lot of clients asked me to organise one, for example, from the fashion industry. For each of these assignments, we had to bring loads of gear and shoot in a studio setting. We managed to pull it off every time, but things would have been so much easier with the LUMIX GH5M2: with just a few clicks you’re able to do a livestream, without all the extra cables, light and technology.’ ‘I've always wanted to create a livestream outside the studio, somewhere in the middle of nature.
But until now it was technically far too complex. The release of the GH5M2 and its built-in RTMP module finally made this possible. All I need are the GH5M2 and my smartphone to go live wherever I am. For my project, I imagined extreme situations where few people would think of doing a livestream, simply for technical reasons. That's exactly where I wanted to start!’ He came up with an idea for a project where three elements came into play: air, earth and water. He wanted to shoot and livestream during a downhill mountain-bike ride, while on a hot air balloon trip, and while underwater.
‘For this project I went to Mallorca. To get the footage I wanted, I planned to film there for three days. The mountain-bike ride was the first thing on my list. During the ride, the gimbal broke, so I had to improvise. The hot air balloon trip had to be rescheduled because of the weather. And as for the underwater filming, we had to find another spot than we had originally imagined. Eventually we did everything in just fourteen hours. I hardly got any sleep, but it was well worth it: the results were great and we could go live everywhere. The trickiest was filming underwater. We had to make sure the Wi-Fi connection was stable for the livestream: if you go too deep, you lose the connection.’ Besides being able to livestream while filming, the camera has other advantages. ‘The image quality is great. The colours are adjusted slightly, which makes the images even better. Panasonic keeps on improving the Micro Four Thirds system and you really can tell when you’re using this camera.
It’s easy to use different sets of lenses. For this project I mostly used lightweight lenses. I used a wide angle lens for the photos I took during the hot air balloon ride, because of the small size of the basket we were standing in. Later on, I used a zoom lens, to get more detail of the houses and surroundings.’ Just one element is missing from his project: fire. ‘I think the next livestream will have to be from a volcano. I’ve read that there’s an active volcano in the Geldingadalir valley in the Fagradalsfjall mountain on the Reykjanes Peninsula. It would be the perfect place to complete this project. Filming near an active volcano wouldn’t be a problem with the GH5M2.’ He can’t wait to add the camera to his gear. ‘I can see a lot of possibilities for this camera. It would certainly make my life as a filmmaker a lot easier!’
Chris Kueper
I spent my youth with parcours and gymnastics. As a young trainer, I wanted to teach the kids the flips they wanted to learn. So I decided to record their attempts and successes with my camera. That was the beginning of my life as a filmmaker. Today, 15 years later, I have developed my own style and gained valuable knowledge and experience from videography to photography and back.
I'd like to tell stories and make my viewers pause for a moment, take a closer look and recognize the small sublteties. I'd like to make the people see the effort and devotion I put into my work. As a producer and director I work for "ESCAPE Filmproduktion", which I founded along with friends in 2017.
