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Monday, April 30, 2012

Quick Links

NAB 2012: Is BMD the new RED, Part 2? | Adam Wilt | ProVideoCoalition
Adam puts together nearly all the outstanding questions about the Blackmagic Digital Cinema Camera:
A “normal” lens for the BMDCC will be something like a 20mm, so ultrawide EF-mount lenses like the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, Canon EF-S 10-22mm, or the Canon EF 14mm f/2.8L are your best wide-angle bets. The widest Zeiss ZE lens, the Distagon 18mm F/3.5, isn’t very wide on a 15.6mm-wide sensor.
I also think he has a point when he writes: it’s funny how folks gave Sony endless grief about the lack of NDs in the large-sensor NEX-FS100, but I haven’t heard any complaints about the similar omission on the BMDCC.



Mike Valentine – Depth Of Field | Anwar Brett | movieScope
Mike worked on The Bourne Ultimatum and multiple Bond movies, and is one of the world’s leading experts on shooting underwater. Here he talks about how he got into the business, and some of the factors involved in shooting underwater:
When we go underwater, people appear to be very pale and washed-out. That’s because the first colour in the spectrum absorbed by water is red, and a lot of red is contained within our skin. This means that we have to replace the lost colour underwater. I’ve developed a technique of using certain lighting fixtures underwater, Kino Flos based on tungsten or daylight colour balance as a very soft source, which we can also use to act as a very soft fill.


Canon EFS 17-55 causing vignetting on the C300 – or maybe not! | Paul Joy | Blog
Interesting reminder that the Super35mm sensor of the C300 is actually larger than an APS-C sensor, and how this might impact using EF-S lenses (which are designed for the APS-C cameras), though it turned out Paul's problem wasn't the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Zoom Lens.
The super35 sensor on the C300 is slightly wider than the APS-C sensors on crop frame Canon DSLR’s. This results in the edges of the sensor capturing a bit more of the light coverage than say a 7D or T3i. I had initially put the vignetting issue down to the EFS lens not being able to cover the sensor sufficiently.

Today I was using the lens again and noticed the issue wasn’t there.


Three Random Things I’ve Found Out While Using The Canon 5D MK III  | scottbourne | Photofocus
Three little things learnt about the 5D Mark III:
1. You can use a zoom lens while in video mode, but it has to be a fixed (not variable) aperture lens so that the exposure doesn’t change while you record.


Lighting with Canon’s 1DC DSLR 4K Capture Project “The Ticket” | Shane Hurlbut | Blog
Shane has posted a couple of pieces about shooting with the EOS 1D-C. This one covers lighting, and is worth reading about how to light scenes, whether or not you are interested in 4K DSLRs:
One of my favorite shots was when Emma exits the car. She looks so beautiful, the moving blue light playing on her face. She looks like a little kid in a candy shot. I wanted to light this section with an urban feel. I embraced the orange sodium vapor lights on Sunset Blvd. and flagged a couple off of her so that the light came from one direction and that was from the right side as a back light.


Tutorial - After Effects Render Queue and Presets | Chris Fenwick | One On One
Chris posts a couple of After Effects tutorials:
One thing that can speed up your work and allow you to make less mistakes in AE is knowing the ins and outs of your Render Queue and making your own custom presets. In this tutorial I walk thru some steps that will allow you to know your renders are right the first time.
The second one covers how parenting in AE works, with an accent on 3D composition:
Tutorial - Parenting in After Effects - Dance With Me



NAB 2012 – Jag35′s affordable ultralight rig & follow focus | Cinema5D
A quick look at two new goodies from Jag35: a low cost shoulder rig for consumer camcorders, and a low-cost follow-focus:
Jag35's continues efforts to create useful HDSLR gear at extremely low prices continues with the new DvRunner rig, which is targeted at people with small camcorders, but looks like it wouldn't mind to add extra stability to an HDSLR either.


C300 to Alexa Color Matching Test | Infrastructure Productions | Vimeo
Trying to color match footage:
A quick attempt to match the C300 to the Arri Alexa using a video comparison shot by Shane Hurlbut. I think I probably could have gotten much closer if I used the 422 mpegs straight from the camera.


Peter Jackson Says To Wait Until You See 'The Hobbit' In Full Before Judging The Results Of 48fps Filmmaking | Kevin Jagernauth | The Playlist
Peters says "don't worry; you'll get used to it":
“At first it’s unusual because you’ve never seen a movie like this before. It’s literally a new experience, but you know, that doesn’t last the entire experience of the film; not by any stretch, after 10 minutes or so,” Jackson further explains. “That’s a different experience than if you see a fast-cutting montage at a technical presentation.” But of course, that does beg the question that if a "fast-cutting montage" wasn't the best way to present this new format to viewers, why did they choose to go down that path?




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