I shoot a lot of stuff in windowless rooms of swish hotels, pressed into the service of Presentation Theatres. It’s a living. But just last week, whilst shooting in a very new venue next to St Pauls Cathedral, London, I was confused with a problem.

The lighting in some rooms appeared to strobe or flicker. In a subtle manner, not the big horrible flicker of bad Fluorescent or Sodium Vapour lighting. It was so subtle that I reckon many mortals would not have noticed it. I’ve tried to capture it even though the compression process has lessened its effect:

Well, at least you can see it in the viewfinder, rather than when viewing rushes back at home AFTER you can do anything about it. And if you can’t see the ripple effect in the initial shots, don’t worry. It’s just the Vimeo/YouTube compression. It IS very visible on the raw footage.

You’re not seeing things, it is there.

So in these situations, it seems that you can’t stop it, you can only lessen it. Slow the shutter down or turn it off. Experiment with the shutter – you might find a happy harmonic which lessens the effect. At least the compression process seems to minimise it.

It’s almost a rite of passage. I now own a matte box, and it feels strange.

Matte boxes are exquisitely expensive for what they are. Explain to anyone the cost of this simple lens shade and slot mechanism and jaws will drop. Of course, they’re full of carefully machined parts, hand assembled to fine tolerances and built to serve for a decade or two of heavy use. But they’re still a lot of money – even the cheap ones.

On the list of ‘things to buy’, they’ve been way down on my list. Way, way down.

Seen on movie cameras and ‘portable studio cameras’, matte boxes have become an icon of ‘shooting for cinema’.

The matte box serves two main jobs: to stop stray light from hitting the lens which could cause flare and lower the contrast of a scene, and whilst doing that, holding filters in front of the lens.
As a rule, film cameras don’t have built-in filters. If you need to block the amount of light, you can’t just dial in some Neutral Density, you dig out an ND filter or two and shove it in front of the lens. If you need to correct for colour temperature, you can’t white-set film, you dig out a Colour Temperature filter (dare I mention Wrattens?). Then there’s ND Grads and polarisers which need to spin around the lens axis, and you may want a sort of contrast reducing filter to even out harsh lighting setups or flattering your interviewee with a light Pro Mist or some such.

So filters are okay, and matte boxes are required to handle all of this. But what about the video end of the market? More specifically, the folks shooting on DV and prosumer kit?

I’ve been a little suspicious of matte boxes. I’d prefer to use effects in post where there’s an undo facility. Having a huge lump of engineering at the front of an EX1 isn’t exactly going to help in hand-holding shots, and lets face it, there are times when it’s going to be nothing more than a Camera Cod Piece.

So fast forward to a couple of recent shoots. Building sites (such glamourous jobs). The EX1’s a great camera with a wide latitude, but a neutral grad would have been great to knock back the sky (overcast but vaguely interesting) whilst leaving the foreground (mostly mud) at a reasonable level. Then the sun comes out so we have glare on damp concrete, grass, you name it. Pola would have tamed it all.

I have screw-in filters, but they don’t fit wide angle adaptors, and to use a pola, I have to take the EX1 lens shade off, and suddenly sunlight hits the filter and I’m holding my hand just out of shot to shade it, and I’m left thinking… life is short. I need a matte box.

I’ve shopped around, looking at some ‘inventive’ solutions that assemble with velcro, slot together like a box, I’ve looked at cheap ones imported from India, second-hand ones that crop up from time to time, and the new ones from Vocas, Chroziel, Red Rock Micro, True Lens Systems, and had to choose between the TLS Kestrel and the Genus DV. The Kestrel was much lighter, felt better made, but didn’t play nice with the EX1. The Genus seemed to be designed around the EX1, working around the annoying Mic bridge over the lens. It fits the EX1 with Century 0.6 wide angle adaptor like a glove, and has adapted the trays so it will accommodate it. Like I say, it’s the perfect fit with the EX. I bought my Genus from TLS, who distribute it in the UK, and took up their offer of a Schneider filter starter pack which includes ND, ND Grad, Pola, Pro Mist equivalent, and a skin tone enhancer. I will probably only ever use the first three, but even then it’s cheaper to buy the set than to buy the 3 filters. Good deal.

So I’m set. I never thought I’d have to own a matte box, but now I do, ready for some more adventurous shoots coming up. It will be put to good use and improve the results of my wide angle adaptor outdoors.

Ah… But then we have a certain interviewee who shall remain nameless, who continues to be dismissive of an EX1 and has an unspoken yet obvious desire for a full on film setup rather than this guy with a little black sausage of a camera, and really wants to see a big long microphone in a furry blimp – indoors – with all the bells and whistles. And, you guessed it, a big lens shade with a bigger peak on the front (he meant the French Flag).

And therein lies the rub.

It’s not just Keifer Sutherland who can only give ‘a big performance to a big camera’. Some interviewees want it too.

As much as I hate myself for accepting this, that Matte Box is going to be used to pimp up my EX1 for certain interviewees, and it will probably do more service in that than in controlling and shaping light entering the lens. And I don’t care.

I shot this along side noisemaker media crew Mark Carranceja and Justin Denmark for okayplayer at the Brooklyn Bowl. which was a cool bar/club/bowling alley. the show as a whole lasted for about 3 hours and i was on stage shooting the whole time. i was on the camera filming on the right side of the performers.

Ayer viernes 4 de setiembre fue el estreno del videoclip “Ondularte” del grupo de rock costarricense Gandhi. Este es nuestro primer trabajo como equipo de fotografía en MediaLab.

“Ondularte” es el segundo videoclip que codirigen Massimo Hernández -baterista de Gandhi y diseñador-, y Miguel Gomez -director de la película “El Cielo Rojo”- Ya ellos habían colaborado en un videoclip anterior, “Arigato” en el cual Andrés Vargas, cofundador de MediaLab, había sido el operador de cámara.

En esta ocasión la fotografía le tocó a Federico Lang, el otro miembro fundador de la compañía. Federico venía llegando de sacar su Master en Cinematografía Digital en la Escuela de Cine de Madrid y este fue su primer trabajo como DP en Costa Rica.

El concepto y la preparación de la luz

Un par de días antes, Miguel me había contactado para que le ayudara a hacer unas entrevistas para su próximo proyecto, el largometraje “90”, y luego de hablar un rato me comentó que iban a filmar este videoclip y si me animaba a hacer la dirección de Fotografía. Le dije que con mucho gusto, pero que utilizaramos la nueva cámara de MediaLab, la Sony EX1, ya que no había tenido la oportunidad de probarla en un videoclip con estas características.

El concepto del video era muy simple, eran muchas personas que se pasaban un bombillo entre ellas, esto con un fondo negro, eso era todo el video. Se harían unos cambios para la banda y todo el resto se haría en postproducción. En este caso MediaLab no haría la post, así que me tenía que asegurar que la luz quedase perfecta desde el comienzo, ya que controlarla luego me iba a ser muy dificil.

Se trataba de un reto bastante interesante, fondo negro, personajes vestidos de negro, y un bombillo que pasaba entre ellos, y eso era todo el video. Así que se me ocurrió hacer un diseño de iluminación bastante simple y que no tuviese que variar mucho durante el día. Lo que pense fue lo siguiente:

Generar dos softboxes con papel pergamino para usarlos como backlight, quería que fuesen fuentes grandes de luz, y bien difusas. Mi idea original era poner en cada lado dos tunstenos de 1000W cada uno, para un total de 4K en el back, 2k de cada lado. Esto porque no sabía qué bombillo se iba a utilizar y yo lo que quería era generar un espacio en sombra en la cara de la gente, para que cuando el bombillo pasase les iluminara. Asi que con esa idea me fui a dormir tranquilo la noche anterior al rodaje.

El rodaje

19 de agosto. 8:30am. Miguel Gomez me pasa a recoger a mi casa con rumbo Belén. De camino pasaremos por Rafa, quien será el Best Boy, y por Nel Llanos, asistente de dirección. Ya cuando estamos todos les explico un poco como pienso la luz y Miguel me dice que Federico Miranda -guitarrista de Gandhi e Ingeniero Eléctrico- va a traer los bombillos para el rodaje.

10:00 am. Llegamos al estudio de Positivo Films de Luis Naguil, en San Antonio de Belén, ahi conozco a Tony, excelente gaffer que nos va a ayudar durante todo el día. Con la ayuda de tres pequeños focos de LEDs y dos muñequitos de LEGO le explico más detalladamente a Tony y a Rafa lo que quiero lograr con la luz, y la importancia del bombillo que me van a traer.

Así que entre Rafa y Tony empiezan a armar los soft boxes. Yo en ese momento aprovecho para revisar que la óptica de la cámara esté impecable y la limpio con cuidado. Después reviso el menú de la cámara, y me aseguro que la opcion de Black Stretch esté activa, ya que los negros serán un punto crítico y necesito que tengan detalle para poder luego dejarlos perfectos en postproducción.

Ese era quizás mi mayor miedo, que los negros fuesen TAN oscuros que se pegasen y se viera todo como un parche negro cuando el video estuviese ya terminado. Así que luego de revisar el Stretch, empecé a probar las curvas de Gamma, quedandome con la número 3, que es la que me daba mejores resultados en cuanto a negros.

El seteo final de cámara fue el siguiente:
Matriz de Color: Hi SAT
Detail: –40
Gamma: STD3
Black Gamma -2
Todo el resto de parámetros estaban o en
el default o en 0

Ya terminado el seteo de la cámara y con las luces puestas, pusimos cámara en posición, con una óptica un poco tele para comprimir el fondo y no generar distorsion por angular. Hicimos pruebas con algunas personas que andaban por ahi y el espacio oscuro en la cara quedaba bastante bien. Decidi dejar únicamente 1K de cada lado porque tenía suficiente luz y un segundo foco de cada lado me podía complicar los recortes que se habían hecho para que el fondo estuviese siempre negro.

2:00pm. Luego de una larga espera finalmente llegó el esperado bombillo, y nos dio varios inesperados problemas. El más evidente y dificil de solucionar era que no generaba suficiente luz para iluminar la cara de las personas mientras pasaba, y el segundo y menos grave es que eran LEDs “blancos” que tienen una dominante azul muy fuerte.

El primer problema lo intentamos resolver de varias maneras, el bombillo original solo traía un único LED adentro, así que lo desarmamos y se utilizó uno de los focos que yo traía -con los que había preiluminado a los LEGOS- que tenía ya 7 LEDS y que entonces por lo menos ya registraba en la cámara. Intentamos con eso y aún así no funcionó, por lo que tuve que dejar ir mi querida idea de que fuese el bombillo el que iluminaba las caras y tuve que colocar un KinoFlo a más o menos 3 metros de distancia de los sujetos, con un único tubo encendido y al mínimo, solo para generar un relleno en las caras, y finalmente colocarle CTB (filtro azul) del 100% a las luces de 1000W que funcionaban de contra.

Ahi me encontré con un problema, al poner el CTB de 100% perdí muchisima luz, con la suerte que al llegar a la EX1 a revisar la exposición, abrí el diafragma a 1.9 y no tuve que colocar más luces de las que ya tenía, lo cual hubiese sido un atraso considerable, ya que de por si llevabamos dos horas de atraso por otras razones externas al departamento de fotografía.

Y después de esto esperé casi 12 horas para iluminar el siguiente plano, que correspondía al grupo. Esto llevaba practicamente la misma iluminación que la gente, solo que para resaltar el rojo de atrás le colocamos 1 fresnel de 300W a cada tela roja y quitamos los CTBs de los contras.

Ya casi terminando se le ocurrió a Massimo tirar los planos de los integrantes pasando frente al bombillo transparente. Para esto únicamente usamos la luz proveniente del propio bombillo. Eran ya las 4am cuando se hizo wrap y todo el mundo se fue para la casa.

En cuento a la postproducción de imagen del video, tanto Massimo como Miguel quedaron muy contentos con la calidad de imagen, por lo cual tocaron muy levemente los niveles solo para disimular un poco el suelo del lugar.

El estreno y los miedos

El videoclip se presentaba a la prensa el Jueves 3 de setiembre a las 8:00pm en Arte Cine Lindora. Yo nunca había ido a ese lugar, así que no tenía ni idea de cómo era la proyección ni siquiera si el lugar era bueno o no.

Llegamos y me encontré con la primera mala noticia: la proyección se haría desde un DVD, ¿por qué malo? porque la compresión a MPEG-2 cuando no está bien hecha, puede generar negros sucios y artefactos de movimiento, y este era un video que tenía muchisimo negro y muchos movimientos generados en post.

La película que estaban pasando no había acabado aún así que no podíamos probar la proyección hasta minutos antes del estreno, lo cual me tenia un poco estresado por si existía algún problema.

Ya como a las 7:40 pudimos entrar y probar, por dicha todas mis preocupaciones fueron borradas al ver la gran calidad con la que se proyecta en este lugar. Ver los negros bien expuestos y a las personas separadas del fondo a como fueron filmadas me dio una sensacion de tranquilidad impresionante.

Pueden ver el video final acá

o en

Y así fue el proceso de “Ondularte” de Gandhi, cualquier duda o comentario pueden escribirme a federicolang@labdigitalmedia.com

Ahí les contaré la próxima.

Fotos: Vuelta en U www.vueltaenu.co.cr

READ UPDATE AT BOTTOM:

During our summer recess, i have been experimenting with getting our 1080p HD footage on a standard DVD. This is a HUGE issue and, i assure you, extremely frustrating!

Take that load off your shoulders, throw off your shackles, quit on that Prozac, and follow my workflow to get the best HD to SD conversion possible by software. And… it even beats expensive hardware solutions, but that’s my humble opinion.

Introduction

If you read the many threads on the subject on websites such as DVForum, Creative Cow and the numerous sites dedicated to FCP editing, you’ll get an impression of the frustration that people are experiencing with this issue. I myself tried a number of work flows and methods to get our Sony EX1 and EX3 HD footage to look good on a DVD, without much avail. You can paste a HD edit into a SD sequence, you can export using either Compressor, After effects and other non-Adobe tools. You can resize and sharpen each frame separately using Photoshop and one can use expensive hardware converters…  But each time i burned a DVD and watched it on a normal consumer Plasma television, i was disappointed with the results. The difference in quality compared with other DVDs was significant.

The well known problems are:

• sharpness -> footage is as blurry as hell; did i buy a HD camera to end up with this crap?!
• jaggies and noise-> if sharpening the footage using Unsharp-Mask, the down conversion introduces strong jagging and additional noise

I admit that the resizing algorithm of After Effects is much better than FCP’s, but it’s still not what you want.

We are talking commercial DVD and broadcast material here- please,  do me a favor!!! – there must be a way to get this right!! Well.., it took me many many hours and a whole spindle of DVD’s to find a method that produced something worth watching AND comparable to the quality of any other commercial DVD production. Read on – even if you don’t use a Sony EX camera!

Here is my work flow – and i repeat: also if you don’t use a Sony EX camera!

• Download and install the Sony XDCAM-EX Clip Browser for Mac or Windows from http://www.sony.ca/xdcamex/software.htm
• Download and install the Sony XDCam Transfer package for Mac or Windows from http://www.sony.ca/xdcamex/software.htm
• Edit your HD footage in FCP (v6.x)  as usual, in a HD timeline, using Prores or whatever suites you best, and finalize your production
• Set your audio tracks to Dual Mono – instead of Stereo – in the Audio Outputs Tab (Sequence settings dialog)
• Select Export from the FCP file menu and select SONY XDCAM
• CHANGED THIS: Select an export path, MXF as format, leave any other setting as-is
• INTO THIS: Select an export path, MP4 (XDCAM) as format, leave any other setting as-is
• Run the XDCAM EX Clip Browser program
• Locate and load the sequence you’ve just exported
• Select Export from the File menu and select either Raw DV or DVCAM
  
• Click on the Details button on the Raw DV window that has appeared; set aspect ratio as preferred (eg. letterbox)
• This will bloody well take some time, so sit back and relax…
• Use the resulting DV file directly in any DVD mastering/burning software, or import into a FCP SD sequence timeline, if you want to do additional grading or sharpening, or whatever…
• Ready! Pin-sharp, pure gold…

Bottom line

We’ve used Sony’s XDCam technology (program and codecs) to downconvert a 720 or 1080 HD sequence to Standard Definition TV format, for output to DVD or Tape. It does a much better job than any other conversion method (except maybe for converting and sharpening each frame with Photoshop).

4K footage (Red) looks even better if you apply a slight blur to the hole HD sequence before exporting it to XDCam in FCP – this to eliminate jaggies. This was suggested in some newsgroup and it makes sense – maybe it’s not needed if you follow the workflow above.

Again, i apologise for any English errors – i am not a native English speaker – but i hope that my 25+ years of experience with this matter helps you off that Prozac (and Cialis at the same time…)

Martin

UPDATE: the amazing little program MPEG STREAMCLIP does the job very very good! Best software downconversion seen to date. For both MAC and PC:  http://www.squared5.com/

E-Films have some great new toys for PMW-EX1/3 owners that update and enhance the successful SDHC adaptors and add a couple of new products that tick a lot of wishlist boxes.

Ross and friends over at E-Films make adaptors so you can put SDHC cards into your PMW-EX1 for cost effective bulk-shooting. They’re wonderful little things, but as we shooters got used to the things, many realised it was a lot easier to let the SDHC cards ‘live’ in the adaptors – one per card – rather than swap them out. Some of the more hamfisted amongst us could occasionally and accidentally pop-out the SDHC card whilst pressing the adaptor into either the camera or the computer. Nothing bad happens, beyond having to unplug, reseat, replug, rinse and repeat. But…

Ross has responded by making an adaptor with no pop-in-pop-out mechanism. Plug a card in, and it’s not coming out without a ‘determined effort’.

In addition, the adaptor has been designed and tested with the newer 32 GB cards (with a view to future high capacity cards). 32 GB cards get you almost two hours of high quality shooting per card. Switch to HDV quality, and you can fit nearly 3 hours of material on a 32 GB card. With one in each slot, you’re good for almost 4 hours of XDCAM or 5 hours 45 minutes of HDV.

But wait, as Steve Jobs would say, “one more thing”. Here’s the Steve Jobs moment. The redesign of the adaptor has left room for (wait for it) a sticky label! Yay! You can write out a label and stick it on the adaptor and it won’t scrape off in the camera or jam up your computer. It sounds a simple thing, but ye gods – I miss my labels. If you’re new to MxR, go for the new adaptors, even if you’re going for 16GB cards, as the non-popup, futureproof capacity and writable labels are must-have features. Remember to get your boxes too!

With lots of cards, and maybe many hours worth of material (event capture, multi-camera) to ingest, with the slower transfer speed of USB, one could be in for some long evenings. I’m writing this whilst I ingest. So imagine the ability to ingest 4 cards at the same time. Boggle!

The E-MCR (Multi Card Reader) comes in a little zip-up soft case which will also store up to 6 MxR adaptors with the cards inside. It will work with ShotPut Pro from Imagine Software which can back up each card to up to three different locations with a range of data integrity checks ranging from a quick copy to bit-for-bit checking.

I’m a bit leery of recommending ShotPut as they’ve not given me particularly good customer service in the past, (the English way of saying ‘it sucks’). But hopefully there’s somebody out there who can give ShotPut the thumbs up.

Their store will point you in the direction of a local supplier or from their own store if applicable.

Am I buying any of these products? Well, right now, no – I’ve invested too heavily in the first round and am getting more than satisfactory (an English way of saying profanely brilliant) performance from my kit. But if I were to be heavily into multicam, or invested in a second camera which needed its own setup, yes: I would. Like a shot.

And if I found that Imagine Products’ customer service stopped sucking, I might look into giving it another go. Word on the wire is that keeping with the original file structure may be a wise thing to do, that we should back up our BPAV folders rather than the QuickTime movies that XDCAM Transfer creates. Right now, I’m not sure why my workflow would enjoy this, but I could be convinced.

Copyright 2009 Spoken Image llc All Rights Reserved

Comentários originais do diretor:

I shot this during the annual lady bug swarm here in the mountains above Boulder Colorado. Mostly meant to be a test to see how the 5D and EX1 footage would cut together. Just had the footage looked at by the good people at GW Hannaway on their ultra high end monitors and it seems, and I am told that, under the right circumstances and understanding the cameras internal codec issues, the footage holds up quite well!

I used Canon L Series lenses (24-70 and 70-200) and a Lens Baby with the plus 10 macro.

Song is Dandelion Wine by Gregory Alan Isakov from the album This Empty Northern Hemisphere. Copyright 2008: Gregory Alan Isakov, used with permission.

You can buy his music here:

itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=316335828&s=143441
I am a producer/ cinematographer…all shots are mine.

Aus der Ferne konnte Ich am Horizont nur ein paar helle Lichtspiele beobachten,  die sich allerdings nach kürzester Zeit in ein gewaltiges Natur-gewitter-blitzphänomen umwandelten.  Gut zu wissen dass mein Fensterbrett undicht und wasserdurchlässig ist… da kommt man ja auch nicht jeden Tag drauf

Ein paar Screenshots der blauen “Naturschönheiten” möchte ich euch nicht vorenthalten.

Az időjárással kapcsolatban is egész jó volt a tippünk, de inkább visszatérünk a mi asztalunkhoz – fényképezőgépek. Méghozzá a Sony jövőben megjelenő DSLR készülékeiről pletyizünk, mert a pr-hez érkezett egy email a korábban felsorolt Sony DSLR spekulációlistával kapcsolatban.Vigyázat, hosszú post lesz

“A felsorolás a Sony jövőben megjelenő készülékeiről helyes volt. A 200-350 készülékek csak átmeneti készülékek voltak. Az emberek azt hitték, hogy az A200 az A100 utódja volt. Hát nem az – az 500-as széria lesz az. A 230-380 szintén csak átmeneti modellek, amíg a Sony ki nem dolgozza a tökéletes megoldást a videofelvétel beépítésére.

A Sony-t nem érdekli, hogy a Canon mit csinál.

Ők csupán a videó funkció beépítésére koncentrálnak a Red miatt, mivel a Sony gyakorlatilag egyeduralkodó volt a digitális videó szegmensben. A stúdiók 99%-a Sony készüléket használt. Aztán jött a Red és viszonylag olcsón kezdte árulni a felszereléseket a független készítőknek. A Red igazi előnye a 35mm-es érzékelőkben rejlik, amely rendkívül művészi DOF-t biztosít. A Red készült előrukkolni a Scarlet-tel, de a Sony szabályosan kinyírta azt a projectet az XDCAM EX1 és EX3 kameráival. A Red-nek vissza kell kullognia a tervezőasztalhoz. Az XDCAM gyakorlatilag világszerte elterjedt alapvető broadcast megoldás. A Sony kishíján uralja a broadcast szegmenst is. A Red készülékek nem teljesítenek annyira jól, mint ahogy azt az új generációs modellektől korábban elvárták volna, úgyhogy a Sony tervei között szerepel, hogy lenyomja olcsóbb és jobban teljesítő HD videofelvétel funkcióval ellátott DSLR készülékekkel. A Canon nem ellenfél a Sony számára. A Red igen. A Sony professzionális videó szegmense rendkívül sikeres és megbízható. Egyetlen gyártó sem volt még képes olyan rohamra, amely a Sony-t meghátrálásra bírta volna. A Panasonic egyszer megpróbálta az saját M2-es formátumukkal, de a Sony azonnal válaszolt a Betacam-mal (Nem azonos a Beta-val). A Panasonic M2 formátuma gyorsan feledésbe merült. A csatornák vezetői, akik az M2 mellett tették le voksukat elvesztették állásaikat. Azóta él az iparágon belül a híres-hírhedt idézet:

“Sose rúghatnak ki,

ha Sony-t vásárolsz.”

A megbízhatóság az egyik ok a sok közül, hogy miért választják a Sony-t. Ami valójában érdekes az az, hogy míg a Red 35mm-es érzékelője 8 megapixeles felbontást biztosít, a Sony EX1 (és EX3) csak 2 megapixellel dolgozik, ám ugyan azt a képminőséget és alacsony megvilágításnál készített felvételi teljesítményt nyújtja az 1/2″ méretű CMOS ellenére is. A Sony erőssége abban rejlik, hogy ő tudhatja magának a világ legtapasztaltabb érzékelő gyártójának járó címet és a miniatürizálásban szerzett tapasztalata is világszinten a legelismertebb.

Egyik oka, hogy a Sony belépőszintűnek hívja a legutóbb bemutatott 3 készülékét az az, hogy valóban annak készültek, kis keresővel. A korábbi 3 modell nagyobb volt és kissé több funkcióval rendelkeztek, mert szükség volt rájuk, hogy áthidalják az űrt a még meg nem jelent 500-as széria között. A Sony kijelentette, hogy 5 kamerát akartak. Hát meg is van nekik. Most, hogy az 500-as, 800-as és az 1000-es sorozat is készülőben van, a felhozatal teljes lesz – 10 készülék. Le lehet ellenőrizni, hogy a Sony leginkább a FullFrame formátum felé tolja az objektív vonalát is. Ez is azt bizonyítja, hogy a Sony 3 fullframe készülékkel szeretne jelen lenni a piacon kiváló minőségű Carl Zeiss és G objektívekkel párosítva.

A Sonynak szüksége van DSLR készülékekre, mert a közeljövőben várható egybeolvadás a mozgó- és állóképekkel soha nem látott lehetőségeket adhat, közel olyan mértékű lesz a változás, mint a váltás analóg fényképezésről digitálisra, vagy fekete-fehér után a szines film megjelenése. Továbbá azért is fontos ez a Sonynak, mert szüksége van egy komoly image-re, hogy el tudja adni a digitális P&S kompakt készülékeit is.

A Sony célja: Első lenni a DSLR piacon. Ez vezérli az embereket a DSLR tervezőasztaloknál. Az idáig megjelent készülékek csak korai próbálkozások, előszelei a jövőben várható hihetetlen fejlődésnek.

A Sony meg akarja hódítani a DSLR piacot és úgy hiszi, hogy komoly támadást fog indítani az uj szuper videó-állókép felvételre képes DSLR készülékeivel, kezdve az A1000-rel.

Az A800 és A1000 készülékek fullframe-esek lesznek.”

Filmed and produced by WindmillVideoPhoto.com.

Filmed with EX1 and Redrock M2, Nikon lenses 50mm, 85mm, 17-35mm, and Canon 5D Mark2.

For Faces Bridal Boutique.

I have been shooting with the Sony EX-1 a few weeks ago. An interior shot with tungsten light – i know, an invitation to noise… Nevertheless three quarters of the shots we’re doing are interiors and i have never seen so much noise in the picture ever before. The difference was that instead of using cine gamma-1, i switched to cine-gamma 3 and 4 for that day. It was probably visible on our reference monitor, but that day i didn’t pay much attention to it because i was on the dolly – my colleague Karl was watching the monitors and i did not hear him complain.

I am even considering a reshoot of all scenes shot that day; i have never seen such a lot of rubbish coming from any modern camera. The levels are OK, no in-camera corrections, just bags of noise – in faces, in shadows, in blues, in grays. Hopeless…

Whe did some further testing that evening; did that before too. I knew that the cine gamma’s above 2 were giving more noise – it’s all my own fault. But… even with the other gamma settings, it’s noise noise noise with the EX1. In daylight it performs OK.

In my opinion; the EX1 is NOT a professional camera and disappoints me on a regular basis. For what it delivers, apart from full HD, it’s not worth the money and this is  definitely the last thing i’ll shoot professionally with that camera. We’ll add it to the rental stock after we are finished, or put it on ebay.

And, yes, the EX3 looks as bad. A lot of crap for a lot of money. You can almost call it an achievement to produce an all-digital solid state camera that produces so much noise and garbage. Sony: i am very disappointed.

If i’d have to buy a camera now today, i’d buy a Scarlet kit and i’d be cheaper off too. But, hey, the EX1 is four months old now – so i’ts almost antique anyway.

I’ll put an apologie on the credits of Birth of a Song saying: Marvels Film apologizes for the electronic noise and defects you have experienced during this film. Please contact Sony Europe for more information…

Ross Hereweni has done it again. His company, E-Films, produce the MxR adaptor designed to enable the use of inexpensive SDHC cards inside the Sony PMW-EX line of cameras. With a couple of relatively inexpensive 32GB SDHC cards, you’re good for almost 3 hours of shooting without swapping cards.

But there’s times when some need more than this, or need to start editing straight away – which is a problem if your rushes straddle two cards.

So here’s the scoop: his newest product is the HDR. This ingenious device allows you to connect a hard disk – any hard disk – to your EX camera and shoot directly to that. If you shoot conferences and presentation material, or even the ‘waiting for it to happen’ shoots when you have to keep rolling, the HDR is yet another ‘enabling’ technology.

It even comes with an enclosure with – get this – a power supply. So you’re not tethered to a power outlet.

Okay, so Sony makes the PHU-60K – so what gives? Well, if you have 4 days of conference to record, you’ll need two if not three units per camera, plus their batteries. They’re only 60GB. With the HDR, I can get any size I want, at street price, not ‘Sony Price’.

But lets go one stage beyond that. You can elect to fit a Solid State Disk – vibration proof, high performance and so on.

Combined with CalibratedQ software I reported on a few days ago, at last we have a system which enables shooters to capture long-form to disk, stop recording and IMMEDIATELY start editing – and in my little niche, that’s a big deal.

I’d been doing this trick with humble Z1s and recording DV directly to Final Cut Pro via FireWire. This worked well – no loss of content due to tape changes, quick turnaround and so on – but of course requires a laptop and a copy of FCP per camera.

With the HDR, maybe the time has finally come when I can retire my Z1s and invest in PMW-EX throughout, shooting 720p direct to disk (any hard disk) and then multi-cam the edits when done.

And you don’t need a PCIexpress bus on your MacBook Pro – Apple, thank these guys.

There’s been a definite meme at work this week. I’ve heard it at training sessions, I’ve had emails, I’ve read posts, and had phone calls all about people having trouble with getting EX1 footage into their system.

Of course, XDCAM Transfer does a great job – check out my tutorial in the How-to section above. But some people have been, well, ‘playing’ – doing things that perhaps they shouldn’t. And suddenly there’s an EX1 card with stuff they can’t view, can’t edit, and haven’t backed up.

So here’s an interesting utility that I’ll be investigating soon:

http://www.calibratedsoftware.com/

Essentially, it promises that you can edit the native EX1 files, even if the magic structure of your SxS or P2 card has been mangled out of shape. It promises you can rescue your ‘orphan’ video clips – no bad thing, but hopefully people accept that SxS (or equivalent) cards are like your negatives, your original film. Best not muck around with them too much. But I digress.

Whether this is a codec or a way of generating QuickTime wrappers on the fly remains to be seen, but basically the idea is you can shove the mp4s directly into Final Cut and start editing – straight off the SxS card if necessary.

News cutters: rejoice!

We’ll we got the approval to move ahead with the new video equipment purchases.

Here’s what we ordered and my initial thoughts to what’s come in so far:

Camera
Sony EX-1: I looked at all the cameras and settled on the EX-1. Here was my thought process.
-The JVC HM100 was the smallest with the smallest chips. Since we chose the EX-1 and this camera shoots the same format. I might think about adding this camera if we need a “B” camera.
-The Pannasonic HMC-150 seemed a step up in optics and image from the HM100 but AVCHD is a newer codec and could be problematic
-The Pannasonic HPX-170 is a step up optics and codec from the other two cameras. 4:2:2 color space is great for fx work and grading. I was very familiar with it having shot with the HVX200 for the last year. But P2 cards are expensive, even the new “E” series. It’s an older codec but it is very easy to work with. The image sensors are not full HD size and as a result the image is softer than other cameras.
-The JVC-HM700 has interchangeable lenses, shoots on SDHC cards and uses the same codec as the EX-1/3. The form/ ergonomics of this camera are the best of the group. But it’s also the most expensive. Once you add a power supply it was pushing $8k

So what stood out to me about the EX-1?
-I really think it has the best optics at it’s price point ($6,099). It’s full 1080p with 1/2″ sensors and it shows. Very sharp images. Very clean with little noise.
-I’ll be doing a lot of green screen work but the higher resolution should offset the loss of color space.
-Even though it’s long GOP file structure the HQ setting blows HDV away.
-It does use SxS media which are expensive but I’ve found using a MxR adapter from e-films.com allows me to use cheap class 6 SDHC cards in the camera. At this time with the SDHC card + adapter is about $100 for 16GB. This made the cost difference between the EX-1 and the HVX200 or HPX-171 negligible. It also increased the difference between the EX-1 and the JVC GY-HM700.

So what are my thoughts so far?
1. The images this camera creates is awesome! I’ll post some footage I’m editing now later this week.
2. The control for focus, zoom and iris on the lens are great. So much easier to work with. I’m going to be spoiled by it and be shocked when I shoot with another camera.
3. Ergonomics for handheld work is tough. But most handheld cameras when I shoot off the tripod I end up holding the camera by my gut. When shooting this way the EX-1 has a nice feature allowing you to rotate the hand grip.
4. There is a lot of tweak-ability in the picture profile menu but unlike Pannasonic you don’t get some “starter” profiles to jump off of.
5. I don’t know if it’s because of the higher resolution or if it’s the 1/2″ sensors but I find the focus more critical than the HVX200. I’m assuming it’s the 1/2″ sensors giving a shallower depth of field meaning a smaller “in focus” zone.

Overall I have to say I’m very impressed with the EX-1. I’ve shot some “studio” interview shots with only 2 cheap Smith-Vector lights (we have a light kit ordered) and the shots looked amazing. I’ve shot a few run-n-gun things around the church where the light was not as flattering and it’ll take some tweaking in post.

Hopefully I can develop some picture profiles for various scenarios. But the fact is it’s hard to get great looking shots in bad lighting situations.

Setting up for an interview at the World Bank

The Letus Extreme lens adapter is a very powerful accessory that can greatly enhace your images, however if you don’t pay attention to the details it can ruin your images.  Within the lens adapter sits a piece of ground glass which the camera focuses on in order to record the image.  On several occasions my company, Digital Development Communications, has sent production teams out into the field only to have them return with footage that isn’t usable because they forgot to push the little red button on the bottom of the Letus Extreme which turns on a vibrating mechanism to vibrate the ground glass.

However, turning on the ground glass is not the only thing that the camera operator must be concerned about.  During some of the tests that I have run with the Letus Extreme on the Sony EX1 I have found that the resolution of the EX1 image at 1080 30p is so high that at certain aperture setting you can notice traces of the ground glass on the image…even when it is vibrating.  The higher the f-stop, the more obvious the traces of the ground glass become within the image.

My personal preference when using the Letus Extreme is not to shoot with the iris of my 85mm zeiss lens wide open, because I feel that the depth of field is too shallow for a standard interview, however as I begin bumping up the f-stop I run the risk of seeing traces of the vibrating ground glass.  Even at f4 I can sometimes notice the ground glass and certainly at f8 I can notice it.

The video above shows a standard interview image at different f-stops.  If you are new to the Letus Extreme, please be careful to double check the focus of your shot if you open your lens all the way up, and if you stop it down make sure that there are no traces of ground glass.  Sometimes these traces can be very difficult to see on the LCD display on the camera, but once you put it up on an HD computer monitor they jump out at you, therefore it is best to conduct oyur own tests before using the Letus Extreme during a paying gig.

Sony EX1 with Letus and Zeiss 85mm lens

I have been investigating the effect of the Letus Extreme lens adapter with an 85mm Zeiss prime lens on the image produced by the Sony EX1 for several weeks now. Today I took the rig back outside in order to perform some tests that would allow me to better understand how the picture profile affects the quality of the image. The picture profile setting that I use on most of my shoots is a profile developed by Andy Shipsides. Andy has developed a range of picture profile settings that match the scene files for the HVX200

(Profiles available at this url – http://www.shipsides.com/download/HVXonEX1.zip – though be aware that loading these profiles will wipe any existing profiles off your camera).

I use the CINE D picture profile develop by Andy, because it I like the increased saturation and contrast that this picture profile provides. I would rather adjust colors and contrast in camera than in post, because often I am shooting footage that I deliver directly to an editor who will not have time to enhance the image through color correction adjustments.

In the video above you will see 20 second clips of the same image.  First I change the white balance, then I change the Picture Profile and finally I compare two different picture profiles with the same white balance.  As I have mentioned in earlier posts, the Zeiss lens on the lens adapter has a tendency to increase the color temperature of the image, which is why in addition to adjusting the picture porfiles, I also adjusted the white balance.  First I manually set the white balance using a white card, which resulted in a white balance for 5600k, then I put the camera on auto white balance, which resulted in a white balance for 3700k, finally I created a custom preset for 4800k.

The image that a viewer may prefer is subjective, and the “appropriate” color temperature for a shot depends on a number of factors, including subject matter and the temperature of the shots around it in the edit.  However I do think that it is important to not how manual and automatic white balances with the Zeiss lens on the Letus Extreme translate onto the screen so that the DOP can make an informed choice when choosing a white balance setting.

Based on my my test I am going to get a while balance card that is warmer than a standard white card in order to get the EX1 to set a lower white balance when I preform the manual white balance operation.

Manual white balance of EX1

I brought the camera out to the yard on a beautiful spring morning in order to run more tests of the Letus Extreme lens adapter with an 85mm Zeiss lens on the Sony EX1. I ran the tests with the help of Stephen Garrett (www.empyreanmedia.com) and Jafar Fallahi. My goal with this test was to explore how adjustments to the f-stop on the Zeiss lens and to the detail level within the picture profile of the EX1 would affect the quality of the image. I have posted some of the footage above which demonstrates the results.

After installing the Letus on the EX1 I performed a manual white balance. The result was a white balance for 5200k light temperature. You will see the first six shots with that manual white balance, but then for the 7th shot I put the camera on auto-white balance and the camera automatically adjusted for 4100k light temperature.

Overall, I find that the Letus Extreme with the Zeiss lens warms the image considerably. I do not necessarily dislike the look, however it is important to take this into consideration when setting up a shot, so that if you do not want a warm image, you can compensate by manually overriding the white balance adjustment (I would not recommend using the auto white balance, because it can change if the light in the shot changes, thus throwing off the calibration of colors).

Based on my tests with the f-stop and the detail level, I personally prefer the image at f4 with a detail level of 0. The Letus with the Zeiss tend to soften the image anyway, so bumping down the detail to -30 makes the image a bit too soft in my opinion. The detail level at +30 made the image artificially sharp, even with the softening effect of the lens.

This test has helped me better understand the interplay between the EX1 and Letus with the Zeiss lens, however there are many other tests that I would like to run, so you will be able to read more on upcoming blog posts.

On this thread I will post entries that relate to the gear I use during field production and post production.  Since the summer of 2007 I have been working exclusively in HD and have brought my cameras into some pretty tough environments.  During these field production trips I have learned some of the important details related to working with prosumer HD cameras in the field.

My first HD camera was the Panasonic HVX200.  I first began using the HVX with the Firestore 100 because I wanted to record in full 1080p and at the time the size of the P2 cards would have been to limiting.  I pushed the Firestore to the limit, traveling to several countries in Africa and to Peru and Indonesia on various shoots.  The Firestore was subjected to conditions close to freezing in the Andes in Peru and well over 100 degree Fahrenheit in the Savannah of Niger (West Africa).  The Firestore performedvaliently, but in the end it was not up to task and it defenitly could not handle the riggor of international travel.

In 2008 I upgraded to the p2 cards and bought two 32gb cards.  The cards have performed beautifully, however, as a result I was forced to begin shooting in 720p in order to get longer runtimes on my cards.  The FS-100 would hold 111 minutes of footage shot at 1080p, however the p2 cards would only hold about 1 minute per gig and 64 minutes was not enough recording time for a day of shooting.  Despite the change in format, I was happy with the way the the 720p HVX footage looked and I did not mind the fact that I lost some detail because I was filming at a lower resolution.

Early this year in 2009 I bought a Sony EX1 after many months of debating the merits of the HVX200 (and HPX170) compared to the Sony EX1 (and EX3).  I bought two 32gb cards for the EX1 which hold 116 minutes each, so I have close to 4 hours of recording time on two cards!

I now own both the HVX200 and the EX1 and I like both cameras.  I appreciate the pros and cons of both cameras and I will be discussing some of the things I have learned when working with these two cameras in future posts.

If you would like to check out some of the footage shot with both cameras please check out my website: www.ddc-international.com

Sony XDCAM EX PMW-EX1

Being a cinematography major, I spend a lot of time working with cameras.  About a year ago the department bought a beautiful prosumer camera called the Sony XDCAM EX PMW-EX1, or for short, the EX1.  And because I love the thing and am considering purchasing my own.  I thought I’d share my thoughts on it.

The EX1 is a digital video camcorder that was created specifically with High Definition cinematography in mind.  It features a 1/2″ CMOS sensor unlike most prosumer camera’s such as the Canon XL2 that only has a 1/3″ sensor.  Giving it greater sensitivity to light as well as quality of image.   It can shoot at 720 and 1080 at a variety of formats including 24p.  Which is a must for most cinematographers.  The EX1 also comes with all of the basic things found on a prosumer camera, including a high quality zoom lens, 2 ND Filters, two white balance settings and a preset, a adjustable shutter, and two audio channels.

The EX1 also records onto 2 SxS flash memory cards.  Which is a blessing and a curse.  It’s wonderful because the the format allows for easy reviewing of previous shots without rewinding, like on DV tapes, that can be a headache to reset and cause breaks in the Time code.  Also capturing time is cut down immensely.  Where 60 minutes of footage on a tape takes 60 minutes to capture, 60 minutes worth of footage on an SxS card takes minutes to capture onto your computer.  I also say the SxS cards are a curse because we enter into a realm of digital video with no backup.  No physical tape that is always there if ever a hard drive fails.  Thus when using this camera it is very wise to back up all footage on multiple hard drives, preferably one being and external that remains unplugged from any system, to avoid any electrical surges.  You can Get 8 GB and 16 GB cards.   The 8 gb card runs you about $500 each, and can hold roughly 25 minutes of footage depending on recording format.

The EX1 also has a nice feature that allows you to speed up or slow down the number of frames per second, allowing you to film things at a faster or slower speed.  Up to 60 fps.  Which can be entertaining to play with, but can be a hassle to use because you have to dig into the onscreen menus to turn it on and off.

Now this camera is not perfect.  There are a few drawbacks.  It can be a bit of a headache, or more likely an hand ache to handhold.  Seeing as most of the weight is on the back of the camera and there is no shoulder mount.  Also there is no manual Macro on the EX1.  To utilize the Macro, you have to put it on Auto focus, turn Macro on, and then also make sure you slide the Focus wheel forward to AF, otherwise it will not focus.  Having a switch that turns on Auto focus, and having to slide the focus wheel forward seems a bit redundant to me.  So if you’re planning to shoot something closer then 4-5 feet to the camera, be prepared.

Also unlike the XL2 the EX1 does not have a detachable lens.  So what you’ve got is what you’ve got.  Of course you can always get adapters such as the Redrock to attach 35mm still camera lenses to it.  But whether the quality is good or not I’m sceptical.    Also many of the switches and buttons on the Ex1 can be a bit of a hassle to find/use.  The ND filter switch as well as the power switch can be a little hard to slide, and usually end up with you turning it to the wrong setting first before clicking it back to the one you wanted.

Sony XDCAM EX PMW-EX3

Now, I have to mention the EX1 big brother. The EX3.  The EX3 is identical to the EX1 when it comes to sensor and the electronic hardware.  What the EX3 offers is the more professional body, with the half shoulder mount for easier handholding.  A much better viewfinder, as well as little minor adjustments on some of the switches and dials, including a frame rate adjustment nob that saves you the trouble of digging through menus.  All of which are very nice and handy features.

Now the EX1 will run you at least $5000.  And the EX3 will run around $7000.  So basically you’re giving an extra $2000 for a shoulder mount and a detachable lens.  And considering the number of alternate lenses are few, and will run you anywhere from $2000-$4000.  Unless you are rolling in the dough, you’d probably be just fine with the EX1.

There are a lot of factors to consider when deciding what kind of digital camcorder to purchase.  But if you can afford it.  The EX1 is the best HD quality, at a reasonable price.

Mr. Knives

I’m just back from a weeks trip to the USA where I first came across E-FILMS who are producing an exciting and cheaper alternative to Sony’s grossly overpriced SXS Cards for the EX1/EX3 cameras.

EX Owners have been exploring other options for quite some time now but the best of them have always looked like too much hard work for me… and one can’t close the SXS door of the camera at the end of the process.  Not only that but Kensington have “run out” of adaptors… I doubt Sony have anything to do with that

Not to worry, this looks like a solution!

E-FILMS have built a SDHC adaptor specially designed for EX1/EX3 owners that are compatible and operate with the door closed. This clever and cost effective invention is called MxR.

Ken Cassidy – a former FAS student – contacted us about these cards but we were and still are in the process of researching them – however, I have spoken to Peter Mee, an Irish video producer who has been using an MxR/SanDisk Ultra II 16GB on his EX1 for several weeks now.

“The SCHD card slips tightly into the adaptor and after that, treat the entire unit as an SxS card,” says Peter. “It slots in to the camera easily and my EX1 the door closes. On first use, the camera prompts to format the card. Thereafter, it records fine. No problems switching slots etc. I imagine if you treat it like an SxS and don’t power down while it’s writing etc., all should be well.  I’ve taken the entire unit out of the camera and slotted it in to the express card slot on my MacBookPro. The Mac sees the card just like an SxS and Sony Clip Browser sees the files and can copy them just fine. I can also extract the SDHC card from the MxR adaptor and read it in a desktop mac via a USB card adaptor (an advantage over SxS where a special Sony unit is required)”

Peter does warn that there’s a few things to be careful of:

1. You can’t overcrank very much using the cards. They are USB based and have a lower data throughput than SxS. If you overcrank, you apparently get data errors.

2. You should not remove the SDHC card from the MxR adapter while it is in the camera.

3. Data transfer from the cards to the computer can be a little slower than from SxS (Pter has not tested this yet but so far has not noticed a significant difference).

Scratching Sessions ist ein kleines Video Mix Projekt mit Footage das sich vergangenes Jahr zusammen getragen hat. Skateboarding von Joachim Habart, Goran Medic, Bernhard Nessler, Severin Hendriks, Donovan Hofbauer, Christian Lems und Jacob Johnson wurde in dieser über 6 minütigen Montage eingefangen und zusammengeschnitten.

Hier gibt es übrigens noch einige Stimmungsbilder von Goran Medic die bei der Filmsession aus Roman’s Halle “Skatearea23″ auch in “Scratching Sessions” zusehen ist. An dieser Stelle nochmals vielen Dank an alle die diesen Dreh überhaupt erst möglich gemacht haben.

Ein ganz spezielles Danke geht hier an Roman Hackl und Joachim Habart.

Donovan und sein Nosegrind

Der Meyer beim drehen

Eine 1KW Cinelightfassung musste dann doch noch dran glauben

Severin Hendriks und Bernhard Nessler

"Der Lange" Christian Reiter

Goran gestreift

Donovan, 360flip Noseslide

360flip mit fish

An der Halle wurde während des drehs auch fleißig gebastelt

something is going on...

Joachim ?

Am Schluss waren alle Beteiligten zufrieden, vorallem nachdem der ganze Stuff wieder im Auto verstaut war