So how do you make sure your gear works when you need it too? That’s an easy answer, make sure you protect it properly. The easiest way to do this is to have your gear in protective cases or bags. Continue reading “Camera bags and hard cases for Photographic, Film and TV gear”
Canon just announced the new 6D Mark II and EOS Rebel SL2 Each model boasts significant upgrades over its predecessors. They both will be shipping around Mid July.
Its great to have more camera options and as they are from Canon should make great images!
Continue reading “New Canon 6D Mark II and EOS Rebel SL2 cameras”
A typical professional video shoot normally means you need a wide range of gear. Even the seemingly simplest shoot can need a huge amount of gear to make the end video look fabulous.
Keep in mind, there is no “one size fits all” equipment package for everyone since there are so many variables including budget, type of project, shoot style and shoot locations to name just a few.
Continue reading “A typical professional video shoot”
Its not just you – Tim from Minds Eye Films is definitely looking like he has been on a vacation somewhere with a lot of sun. But in fact, Tim’s tanned skin is actually a result of days of working in an idyllic location – on water!
And not just any body of water. Tim has been shooting on Sydney’s iconic harbour and the pristine Pittwater for two exciting projects for two separate clients. Minds Eye enjoys the challenges that come with tackling a new location, and shooting on a 50-foot game fishing boat and a 60-foot yacht certainly presents some unique ones!
We have added another lens to our range. The Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM Lens is a great addition as it adds a great wide angle option for both stills work and is fabulous on our Red Epic Dragon.
The Red Dragon camera is built to work with Canon lenses and takes advantages of the lenses internal motors enabling all sorts of focus options that no other professional cinema camera offers. By shooting with the light weight high quality Canon L series lenses, it enables shooting with an ultra light weight camera setup.
One of the most often asked questions is “How much is this gonna cost us to use 4K ?!” Well a great article from AbelCine goes through the costs on a multi camera shoot for both 4K and 1080 (HD) production.
The rumours that shooting 4K are way more expensive are busted. The cost for shooting 4K is the same as shooting 1080. The costs of the post are explained by Juliet McNally at AbelCine.
They have worked out the its a 55% increase in cost, but think of all the advantages. From an audience perspective, it starts with improved quality: unprecedented levels of resolution and contrast and, ultimately, a much more dynamic, engaging and immersive entertainment experience. If shoot and finish in 4K you are future proofing as 4K Tv sets are being sold in the states for $1200 also youtube streams 4K footage today.
To read the great article http://blog.abelcine.com/2013/05/21/the-cost-of-4k-from-acquisition-to-archiving/
Forget the Oscars, the world premiere of the new Hi-5 movie “Some Kind of Wonderful” with director of photography extraordinaire Tim Bradley. I shot on my new revolutionary Red Epic camera. It’s in good company, Red Epic was also used to shoot Hitchcock, The Great Gatsby, The Hobbit and Mental. Looking forward to walking the purple carpet – think Hi 5 colours 🙂
The Fantastic crew was – sound by Martin Harrington, additional cameras Brigham Edgar, Dean Ginsburg and Directed by Jim Hare.
The Film and TV industry is forever changing, but of late I have been getting a lot more stills work and stills portraiture work. It seems while companies are holding off making Video communications they are still spending on good old stills photography.
I have been having great fun shooting with the new Pocket Wizard remote flash triggers. I have the new MiniTT1 and 3 FlexTT5s as well as the AC3 flash zone controller. These are great, they have great range and are the most advanced flash triggers out today. They offer the ability to shoot well above the traditional flash sync speed – normally 1/200 or 1/250 of a second. In fact you can go all the way to 1/8000 of second, offering amazing shooting options and allowing smaller flash heads to be used to over power ambient light. This also allows you to shoot flash outdoors in full sun and work with a very shallow depth of field. The AC3 zone controller is a great time saver. You can adjust the flash power from on top of your camera in up to three zones meaning no more running back to your light to adjust the power up or down.
Another reason I enjoy the change of stills work is I can take a mile less gear. For a portrait shoot I can fit all I need into 1 Backpack and 1 Stand/tripod bag. Mind you I have the backpack jammed full. I normally carry a Canon 5D, 24-70 zoom, 70-200 zoom, Pocket Wizards, three Canon Speedlites, umbrellas, softboxes, stands and reflectors.
Another great feature is the my Canon 5D can connect to my iPad allowing a lovely way of reviewing shots.
Stills are a great change and keep the creative juices going!
For more about Tim Bradley
Ever wanted to know what the field of view of different cameras are and be able to compare them … well now you can.
Able Cine has made this great tool and they have recently added all the new cameras from NAB 2012. The new cameras include the Canon C300, C500, and 1DC. The C300 and C500′s sensor is almost exactly the same size as Super 35mm film; at 24.6×13.8mm it has a 28.2mm diagonal. The 1DC can record in both HD modes and in a 4K mode. The HD mode uses the full frame sensor area just like the 5D Mark III, however the 4K mode uses a smaller APS-H mode, like the 1D Mark 4. All these options are now available in our tool.
Additionally, they’ve added the Blackmagic Digital Cinema camera to the list, which has a sensor size somewhere between Super 16mm film and a 4/3rd sensor like on the AF100. At 15.8×8.9mm it has a 18.14 mm diagonal, which leads to a fair bit of cropping when compared to Super 35mm and full frame sensors. The Blackmagic Camera can record in both HD (ProRes, DNxHD, and uncompressed) as well a full 2.5K 12-bit Raw format. The Raw data is captured in Cinema DNG format at a resolution of 2432×1366, however the captured image area is the same, so you should get the same field of view in either mode.
Well NAB the huge TV gear / software show in Vegas has opened with lots of new gear announcements. Red has announced an upgrade to the only still very new Epic camera. The upgrade is a new sensor that will be available from the end of this year. The new sensor will have a higher resolution (increase from 5K to 6K) smaller pixels (for finer detail) and increased dymanic range ( from 13.5 stops to 15 stops) Red also announced a lot of other new accessories see red.com
Black magic has entered the camera market with an odd looking camera. This I see as an interesting move for a software company to move to making cameras.
Sony have brought out 3 new lowish cost large sensor cameras – great to have choices, but we have too many for some post houses to keep up.
Canon has announced a new camera, the C500. This would make me very unhappy if I had just purchased the C300 as that is now outdated. This must be one the fastest cameras to ever become outdated as they have only just hit the market about 3months ago.
So all in all there are today a heap of new options for production and post. Its exciting times !!
North Coast NSW & SE Queensland Videographer 