» Posts Tagged ‘cinematography’
First of all, just a quick note that the Panasonic AF100 is currently in stock at B&H Photo. It’s been a hard camera to find, as the demand is exceeding the supply — so if you were planning on buying the camera, please use this link to support NFS (at no additional cost to you). With that out of the way, here’s a video from Abel Cine highlighting the new low-cost Sekonic L-308DC light meter, which like all light meters allows one to light by ratios — measuring stops without needing to constantly consult a camera’s waveform or histogram. However, the newly-released 308DC is a third of the price of most light meters, and is specifically designed for DSLR and digital cinematography: More »
Roger Deakins, ASC is up for a cinematography Oscar this year for lensing the Coen Brother’s masterful True Grit, and according to Deakins himself, it might be his last movie shot on film. Deakins — whose other credits include The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, No Country for Old Men, O Brother Where Art Thou?, and The Shawshank Redemption — has been nominated for nine cinematography Oscars but has never actually won one (really?). Coming from the legendary cinematographer, who up until now has never shot digitally, it’s not just another “film is dead” quote. More »
For those unfamiliar with RED camera-native files, a common first reaction to ungraded footage is “this looks really flat.” Indeed, that is exactly the point: by capturing as much visual information as possible, the camera gives the colorist the most flexibility in post to push the image toward a desired look. Now, with a new mode called HDRx, RED has found a way to conjoin two adjacent exposures in order to give rise to a real-time High Dynamic Range moving image. So in terms of dynamic range, what’s one of the hardest shots for a camera to expose? Quite possibly a dark interior with a bright sunny day outside. To prove the mettle of their HDRx mode, RED released the following clip: More »
Stu Maschwitz has a very interesting post about creating a “Shot You Can Make Simulator” that is essentially a virtual playground in After Effects for simulating different field of view/depth of field/crop factors. More on that in a second — first, on the same topic, Philip Bloom has a video comparing the field of view on the new Panasonic AF100 and Sony F3. As you can see below, the same lens yields a different FOV thanks to the Micro 4/3 crop factor of the AF100 (18.8 x10.6mm), compared to the Super 35 chip in the Sony (23.6 x 13.3mm): More »
At ProVideo Coalition, DP Art Adams has posted some good advice for young cinematographers. His article is a response to a thread on the Cinematography.net CML-chat list, for which anyone can sign up. These are all practical, realistic tips not about which HMI to use for a particular situation, but rather how to conduct yourself on a set and what to keep in mind for building a career from job to job. He’s posted a dozen points; here’s his first: More »
A month ago I wondered if the Panasonic GH2 is the next great HDSLR (despite the fact that it’s not technically a DSLR, due to its lack of viewfinder). Now shooter Mike Kobal has posted a pair of comparison videos comparing the GH2 with the 5D Mark II. These are 720P videos and you won’t be able to discern every difference; however, the GH2 is looking pretty good… More »
Since announcing the SCARLET and EPIC camera lines over two years ago, RED has pushed the ship dates back and changed a number of features. While the list of films shot on RED has been growing ever longer, indies have been waiting (patiently or not) for the lower-end SCARLET entry. I’d previously noted that RED was abandoning the prosumer market because of HDSLRs, but seemingly in order to ship even better high-end rigs. Now comes word from head honcho Jim Jannard that the Super 35mm-sized SCARLET has been renamed the EPIC-S and re-priced accordingly.
UPDATE as of October 2011: it appears RED has re-re-named the EPIC-S back to the SCARLET and will be announcing it officially (and shipping it) November 3rd. Stay tuned.
The old details: More »
Filmmaker Jamie Stuart hauled out his Canon 7D (and winter parka) during the blizzard that recently slammed the U.S. East coast to film Idiot with a Tripod, a short film depicting New York City getting blanketed in powder. So named in homage to Dziga Vertov’s 1929 silent film Man With a Movie Camera, the clip garnered the following praise from Roger Ebert: “this film deserves to win the Academy Award for best live-action short subject.” Oscar or not, it’s nice to see a clip that’s in no way sophomoric go viral. Check it out: More »
Jag35, known for ultra-affordable DSLR accesories, has jumped into the electronic follow focus game with a very aggressively-priced unit retailing for under $200. It’s initially available in a wired version, with a wireless unit available sometime in the future. How does the Jag35 measure up? More »
I finally saw Darren Aronofsky terrific Black Swan last night, and the wonderfully textured, handheld 16mm cinematography of Matthew Libatique, ASC is one of the film’s many highlights. There were a couple of shots that looked eerily familiar to me, however: the scenes taking place on a subway train. Here’s why: I recently shot on a New York City subway with a Canon DSLR, and Black Swan in fact did the same thing. In addition to the ARRI Super 16mm camera, Aronofsky and Libatique employed a Canon 7D and 1D Mark IV on the film itself, and shot the ballet rehearsals on a 5D Mark II. More »
Dynamic Perception has some interesting-looking micro-dolly/controller combos for sale, and they’ve demonstrated how to create moving, time-lapse, HDR videos using auto exposure bracketing on a Pentax K7. It’s not something you’ll need to do everyday, but if you ever need to create this very specialized shot, here’s how. More »
Short answer: no, because it’s not technically a DSLR! The Panasonic GH2, like the GH1 before it, is an EVIL camera with no optical viewfinder, which disqualifies it from the titular question. Going beyond this technicality, however, the GH2 looks like it’s going to be the one to get when it comes out later this month (or possibly in early January). More »
I’m assuming for this post that you’ve read the bonus chapter on basic cinematography concepts that’s included in the free expanded DSLR Cinematography Guide. Anamorphic lenses are used for CinemaScope productions, wherein an oval lens stretches the image vertically compresses the image horizontally in order to fully utilize the imaging sensor. To achieve a 2.35:1 aspect ratio during projection, a corresponding anamorphic lens must be used on the projector. This is all well and good, but is it possible to use an anamorophic lens on a DSLR, instead of just cropping the image in post? More »
3D is somewhat of a controversial topic here, with no shortage of comments both lauding and decrying the third dimension. While I’m not a huge fan of where 3D is today, we’re only scratching the surface of what displays are capable of. Regardless, shooting 3D today requires an entirely new skillset from shooting 2D, and cinematographers and directors have to basically re-learn how to shoot. Video guru Adam Wilt has an in-depth post on learning to shoot with Panasonic’s AG-3DA1 3D camcorder, as he recently attended createasphere’s $795 3D workshop; his notes are invaluable for anyone thinking about shooting 3D. More »
Sony’s announcement of a compact camcorder with a 35mm sensor, priced at $16k, has raised a lot of questions. How will the PMW-F3 compare to low-end DSLRs? Panasonic’s $5k AG-AF100? RED cams? ARRI ALEXA? Will its footage look like video (which Sony is known for), or will it yield a flatter, more gradable image? Thanks to not just one, but three shorts that have just hit the web, some of these questions have been answered. Here are three videos shot entirely on the Sony F3: More »
Redrock Micro has launched their M3 35mm Lens Adapter, billed as “the definitive 35mm lens adapter for achieving remarkable film look with your existing video camera.” However, the first question that comes to my mind is why anyone would spend $1,320 on a 35mm lens adapter when the same amount of money could get you a quality DSLR with an actual large sensor (like, say, the Canon 60D). No matter how good a 35mm adapter is, it is not going to offer you the low-light sensitivity of a true large sensor. Seeing this reasoning, Redrock has attempted to answer this HDSLR question: More »
While RED releases EPIC to production and Panasonic prepares to ship their AF100, Sony has announced their most significant small-form factor camcorder since the VX1000 (the original miniDV camcorder, released in 1995). The PMW-F3L and PMW-F3K — which are the same camera, the “K” moniker indicates the inclusion of three kit lenses — are Super 35mm CMOS sensor-based CineAlta cameras, with a PL lens mount and variable 1080p frame rates. Sony is not messing around — these are pro cinema cameras. Let’s take a look at the vitals: More »
Here’s a brief clip comparing Panasonic’s AF100 (due in December) to the venerable Canon 5D Mark II. The AF100 sports an image that seems flatter and much more rock-solid than the 5D‘s, which is more hit-or-miss. But of course the 5D has that (nearly) VistaVision-sized sensor, which has its benefits. There’s no grading on either camera’s footage, take a look: More »
Since we’re on the subject of field monitors, let’s take a look at two new field monitors designed specifically for HDSLR monitoring. The SmallHD DP6 and Marshall V-LCD50-HDMI are both 5″ monitors that come in under $1000; while the SmallHD reaches above that price point provided you add the HD-SDI input, it also has a much higher resolution than the Marshall. Cinema5D has a great overview video comparing the two: More »
*Okay, so it’s not actually a dolly move. But it looks like one, and all you need is a tripod. My co-panelist at next week’s PhotoPlus Expo, Vincent Laforet, posted this neat tip for getting a smooth, short dolly-ish move from any camera. Check it out: More »
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