I was never a big fan of monopods. But if you need one that works for both motion and still photography, the Manfrotto 682b Monopod system may just be the ticket. [click to continue…]
Controlling household or “practical” lighting within a scene is something we deal with all the time in the film industry.
To really set a scene appropriately, a cinematographer needs to be able to use light like a paintbrush. That’s why you need dimmer switches, which are the subject of this week’s Quick Take. [click to continue…]
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Every year, the National Association of Broadcasters holds the NAB Show, one of the year’s most important events for people in the film industry.
Even though film makers technically don’t qualify as broadcasters, this is the event where many manufacturers debut the newest technology and support equipment. And now that video-enabled still cameras have penetrated the market, this year really featured something for everybody.
NAB Shows offer a mix of notable personalities and very intriguing pieces of kit, and NAB 2011 was no exception. Here’s a quick run-down of the things I saw last week. [click to continue…]
Sandy Puc and Mike Long BTS Before Upcoming Tour
Trying to shoot video and stills at the same time is enough to make anyone’s head explode. I have a few recommendations for how you can keep it together while doing both. [click to continue…]
I recently had the pleasure of working with still photographer Sandy Puc. She is one of the coolest people I have ever met in my life. The job was a promo poster for our upcoming Sandy Puc Tours with Pin Up photographer Mike Long, which will be hitting twelve cities over twenty-two days this May. The tour will focus mostly on incorporating video into still shoots for added value. A little bonus b-roll for the client never hurts. We’ll also get down and dirty with all of the tricks I have learned shooting video with HDSLR’s over the past two years. This is going to be one awesome tour. I am so excited to connect with all of the cool people out there who are passionate about crafting images both motion and still. We are going to break it all down and make it seem so simple. Viva La Revolution!
Here’s a lens test between a couple of Tonika zoom lenses and their Canon equivalent. We’re using the Tokina 28-80mm f2.8 zoom lens and the Canon 24-70mm f2.8 zoom. We also put the killer Canon 70-200mm L IS f2.8 zoom lens up against the Tokina 80-200mm f2.8 zoom lens. This was a pretty basic test seeing in which we were really interested in sharpness. We threw in a color chart and a little lens flare to boot. Testing lenses is not the most exciting affair but it does show the difference between them. We used a Canon 5D Mark II in Standard Picture Style at 320 ISO at f2.8 24fps.
First off, the Tokina glass is about one third the price. Both zooms are discontinued so they were purchased used. The Tokina 28-80mm will set you back anywhere between $350-$500. The Tokina 80-200 f2.8 is also discontinued and cost us just over five hundred smackers. They both have manual focus hard stops, which are ideal for video. The Tokina 80-200mm does not have Image Stabilization so we picked it up mostly for tripod work as a “B” camera lens. We used a one-dollar bill to easily show focus and contrast. The US mint does some fine print work. [click to continue…]
Here is a Quick Take Video we shot while waiting for make up on a commercial production. We had both the Switronix Torch LED TL-50 and Litepanels MicroPro Hybrid on set so we thought we would show you the difference between the two LED lights. The Switronix Torch LED is a little smaller than the MicroPro and seems to pack a bit more punch. At about the size of a small prime lens, it’s quite compact with its all-metal housing. Complete with two ¼-20 thread mounts on the top and bottom of the light, it also features a battery indicator light and is fully dimmable. [click to continue…]
The Great Camera Shootout 2010 Video.
Director Steve Weiss of Zacuto Films just received an Emmy for the web series “The Great Camera Shootout 2010.” This is indeed a groundbreaking new way to create and distribute video content. Zacuto set out to test a new breed of video camera now known as HDSLR’s. They intended to produce content that was on par with major television shows, a huge undertaking which took into consideration all of the then current HDSLR cameras on the market and put them up against 35mm motion picture film. In this series of episodes they test all aspects of the digital cameras. Here’s a quote from their Vimeo site on the tests performed.
“Each episode of the series features various controlled camera assessment tests which include: resolution, latitude, sensitivity, speed & ultra high speed, noise, color & green screen. The battery of tests were administered under strict controls and conducted by Robert Primes ASC, Gary Adcock, Philip Bloom, Jens Bogehegn and colorist Ryan Emerson. See the reactions to this test following 2K screenings, where “HD DSLR is compared to 35mm Film”. The test results were projected in a 2K theatrical environment at three screening locations: Stag Theater at Skywalker Ranch, LucasFilms Ltd., AFI (American Film Institute) Theater in Hollywood and the FilmWorkers Astro Color Timing Theater in Chicago. Hear commentary from the screenings by top ASC, Hollywood, Indie Film and Event & Convergence Photographers.”
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences does not yet have a web series specific category, though they do allow web content to be entered into any category competition. Even with “The Great Camera Shootout” being up against major cable and network shows, they still managed to beat them all. This new way of filmmaking has now become part of the mainstream, thanks in part to the dedicated people at Zacuto.
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