Category: Sydney cameraman

At last a really useful drone

by North Coast Videographer, posted in Sydney cameraman, Tim Bradley, Uncategorized

It seems every man and his dog has a drone these days. The sad fact is though that the vast majority of these are either not equipped with a decent camera or are flown badly or even worse illegally.
To get great results you do need to get a professional drone crew. On shoots that I have been on by far the best results have been achieved by a two person Drone crew. One person to fly the drone and the second to frame the camera.
The good news is that there are better drones everyday equipped with better cameras giving more options to get the shot. I have to admit though I am old school and can easily see the advantages in shooting from a Helicopter with a stabilised mount. In this type of setup you can choose the camera and lenses you need rather than having to accept a fixed lense that distorts the image from prosumer type drones.

But all that aside, here is the best way to enjoy using a drone I have seen.

Move it with Michelle

by North Coast Videographer, posted in April 2016, Gear, Sony, Sydney cameraman, Tim Bradley

Michelle Bridges

Unless you have been living under a rock, surely almost everyone is familiar with the kickass reputation of Aussie TV personality and trainer Michelle Bridges.

Tim Bradley at Minds Eye Films certainly knows now that she applies this can-do attitude across all areas of her life, and especially so in her training programs.

Continue reading “Move it with Michelle” →

Working on water

by North Coast Videographer, posted in April 2016, Canon, Gear, GoPro, Sony, Sydney cameraman, Tim Bradley

Working on Water

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!

Continue reading “Working on water” →

Gear gear gear ….

by North Coast Videographer, posted in Gear, MindsEye, Sydney cameraman, Tim Bradley

Does it ever end ? No, when it comes to film and TV gear. So with that in mind I have a bunch of new gear. New lighting frames 10 x 10, 6 x 6 and 4 x 4. Also a new Chromakey green 10 x 10 screen as well as some new new textiles for my other frames.

I also have a new monitor stand setup to make having a monitor on set in the right place easier and faster. This is a combination of a few Mathews products specially designed for onset monitors.

I now have a “low boy ” attachment for my Wally dolly kit. This enables the tripod head to be mounted to the T frame on the dolly, making for some really nice low angle shots.

Then there is a load of other new gear, including Shot bags x 4, C stands and more light stands.

All this new gear comes included with all my existing gear as part of my shooting package which means I can handle any shoot.

Is this the future ?

by North Coast Videographer, posted in Gear, Sydney cameraman, Tim Bradley, Uncategorized

Cameras are getting smaller and stranger shaped, but this one even with its odd looking body just maybe the future or cameras. Say hello to the DJI Osmo, a new handheld camera that lets you shoot 12MP photos and 4K video while being stabilized with a 3-axis brushless gimbal.

The camera system is basically a sleek handheld stabilizer that comes standard with the Inspire 1’s X3 camera, which packs a 1/2.3-inch Sony Exmor R sensor with an ISO range of 100-1600 (100-3200 for video), a 20mm (35mm equiv.) lens with a 94° field of view, and DNG support or You can also choose to buy the grip for a new X5 camera if you’d like a Micro Four Thirds sensor and mount.

Dragon Upgraded to swapable OLPF

by North Coast Videographer, posted in Dragon, Epic, MindsEye, Red, Sydney cameraman, Tim Bradley

We have just completed the Dragon camera upgrade to take the latest swap-able OLPF (Optical Low Pass Filters) We also have both of Reds OLPFs which give more options for shooting.

The OLPF come in two varieties:

The Low Light Optimized is the original RED DRAGON OLPF tuned for higher ISO shooting, and similar to the OLPF used in the EPIC MYSTERIUM-X. This OLPF provides excellent color and tone reproduction in dim environments. Use this OLPF to capture and preserve color quality in mid-tones, darks, and shadows.
The Skin Tone Highlight OLPF offers a stop of extra highlight protection, the most incredibly accurate skin-tones and color science as well as additional flare control, with the expense of a stop of light sensitivity. Use this OLPF to capture and preserve color quality in highlights, bright colors, and well-lit environments. While using the Skin Tone Highlight OLPF with ND filters there is no need for Infrared filtering.
Dragon swap-able OLPF

More lenses

by North Coast Videographer, posted in Canon, Dragon, Epic, Gear, Red, Sydney cameraman, Tim Bradley
Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM Lens
Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM Lens

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.

Red Dragon scores highest ever

by North Coast Videographer, posted in Epic, Red, Scarlet, Sydney cameraman, Tim Bradley

Red Epic DragonThe folks over at DXOmark, who have become the bible of camera testing , have tested the Dragon and the results are pretty incredible. The Dragon rose above all still cameras tested before it, including the best full frame and medium format cameras. Combining the best imaging sensor with the ability to shoot 100 frames per second opens up a whole new world of imaging to photographers.

http://www.dxomark.com/Reviews/RED-Epic-Dragon-review-First-camera-to-break-the-100-point-DxOMark-sensor-score-barrier/Overall-score-Epic-Dragon-takes-first-place-101-points

DXOmark went on to praise the Red Epic Dragon camera –

– As the new leader in this category, the prototype Epic Dragon surpasses the Phase One P65+ and P65+ HR models in color sensitivity, and it marginally exceeds the mighty Phase One IQ180 digital back in our rankings.

– The highest color sensitivity ever measured: exceptionally low noise at the base ISO.

– The headline news is, of course, that of the Dragon’s exceptionally low noise levels. The SNR (signal/noise ratio) curve shown above is simply outstanding – it’s higher than the Nikon D4’s curve for the whole of that sensor’s signal response. The shape of the response curve is interesting as well.

– This noise curve, coupled with a good color response, leads to a very high color sensitivity. At the pixel level (screen mode), the color sensitivity is simply the best ever measured. We normally calculate color sensitivity using an 8-bit output sRGB colorspace. In this case, however, the 8-bit sRGB color space was not large enough to accurately represent the color sensitivity of the Epic Dragon. As a result, we had to switch to a 16-bit sRGB color space!

– this new technology just may forever change the way both footage and stills are shot in the future.

For the tests, the camera was set to full 6k resolution at 23.98 fps, 16 bit and RC 5:1 compression.

Great new tool to setup all your Red Epic/Scarlet buttons

by North Coast Videographer, posted in Epic, Red, Scarlet, Sydney cameraman, Tim Bradley

DSMCResourcesIconRed has released a new set of tools for Epic or Scarlet camera users.

One of the tools is amazingly good, it is visual tool for key mapping so  you to setup all the buttons / keys on your Epic camera while using a Mac or PC. Once you have run the program and setup all you button / key choices you save it to a camera SSD and then load to your camera.

Its a so much quicker, easier and simpler way to set up your camera using this program. This tool would be great for anyone one who either rents an Epic or Scarlet or  uses multiple cameras on a shoot. A great way to have all the keys / buttons setup uniformly.

The tools included in the latest release are:
REDMote Upgrade Utility
RED Guide Creator
RED Key Mapper

https://s3.amazonaws.com/red_3/downl…olkit_v5.1.zip