I don’t usually post random things here but I came across this quote by Cinematographer Gordon Willis, ASC and found it incredibly profound yet wonderfully simplistic…I thought I would share:
“I’ve told students many times to concentrate on the purpose rather than the method of doing something. It’s not really ‘How do I do this?’ It’s ‘What is the purpose of this?’ If you think that way, you’re going to do things differently.” - Gordon Willis, ASC
Prepping a live performance shoot for my friend Stacey Kaniuk happening later in the week….
Attended Vistek’s Canon EOS 7D launch to a full turnout. Canon gave a presentation talking about the camera’s new features as well as some feedback from both photographers and videographers who have used it in the field. There seems to be a wide spread interest in this camera and I know a lot of people who have or are strongly planning on buying a unit. Saw some footage shot by Vistek staff to demo the video function and it looks great on a HD screen! Need to get an HD TV to playback some of my stuff!
Great to see some old friends that I haven’t seen in a while as well as the usual bunch!
The 7D with 70-200mm lens and Redrock accessories. I’m strongly thinking of adding the Redrock cage system so I can add the convenient top handle that they make. I think it will mesh fine with my Zacuto gear.
Every once in a while when I get into an adventure in my kitchen, I’ll drag out some lights, setup at my kitchen table and photograph stills of my latest creations. The only thing better than shooting or food is probably shooting food.
With the advent of my new 7D I decided I finally had something accessible with high enough quality to start shooting moving pictures with my food.
A few things I’ve noted:
- Might shoot my next spot at 30p. There’s a noticeably strange jitter with 24P panning. My computer is a little slow and the issue becomes noticeably improved once I down rez to the final output but it still seems a little more staccato compared to an HVX200 for example. I might shoot 1/30 shutter also to increase smear, which from conducting tests after I shot this, seems to help a little. Might also try shooting 60p. Other people on some of the forums have been noticing this jitter issue also. There’s a chance it might be improved with Canon’s rumored 7D firmware upgrade coming soon.
Tech specs -
Camera: Canon 7D 24p 1080 1/50 shutter @ 100-160 ISO
Lens: Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8 shot @ 2.8
Edit: Final Cut Pro w/ 3-way color correct.
Hung out at the Henry’s Imaging show this past weekend - so many people into photographing, video and imaging these days! It’s become a really huge market and has opened up to a lot of people. I think everyone should make images…it’s really good for you and your development.
The Canon booth was packed with people checking out the new 7D and the slew of lenses. Got to briefly play with an EF 14mm f/2.8 and their EF-S 10-22 f/3.5-4.5. I definitely want to get something wider to compliment my 24-70 f/2.8. I’m liking that wide lens really close up to faces look these days for certain things… (see my Candy Apples video..though it still wasn’t wide enough at 24mm). Also got asked by a lot of people about my Z-Finder!
Was also told that the WFT-E5 wireless transmitter for the 7D is shipping soon. I’m hoping that this is my answer to a director’s monitor as I should be able to send a Live View video feed from the camera to a laptop or my iphone all wirelessly! I’m hoping I can still connect a monitor to the HDMI port simultaneously.
Also got to check out some 3D technology at JVC’s presentation - impressive - this is going to open up a whole new angle for filmmakers telling their stories.
Just finished shooting a music video for director Darrell Faria and producer Mike MacMillan of Lithium Studios. A few months back, Darrell and I, on a whim and a free evening with a camera package from another job, decided to shoot a little video in my garage. The on-the-spot concept that Darell came up featured a character named “Dr. Science” (played by Dare) explaining, visually, scientific things that slowly become less scientific. The setup was very typically hip hop with a grey backdrop with a token hotspot. Cut to a few months later and Darrell got some hip hop artists to cut a track themed with Dr. Science’s explanations and us shooting (or reshooting depending on how you see it) the video with the artists and this new track.
This time around we shot at Studio 101 in Toronto owned by photographer and friend Maciek Drozdzik (www.maciekdrozdzik.com). A similar setup was used with a grey backdrop. Actor Troy Matthew Martin replaced Dare as Dr. Science and we got some great performance stuff out of Tim and Jo Run with some of their buddies and Playboy model Anissa Holmes making an appearance also.
I shot using my new 7D with the 24-70 f/2.8 lens. It turned out quite well. We used a standard photo backdrop which is about 9ft wide which is a little limiting with this kind of setup but it worked out ok. A traditional studio cyc would be better for this kind of application, easier to deal with shadows, etc but our budget was extremely limiting. The 7D worked out really well though I definitely have to figure out something for a double monitor setup…
Here are some screen caps (uncorrected @ 50%) and set photos courtesy of Maciek Drozdzik.
A little short impromptu video I shot of my cousins during this past Thanksgiving weekend. Canon 7D, 24P, Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8 lens @ 640 ISO. Cut in FCP w/ a little basic color correct with FCP 3-way.
Being able to shoot this doc style, on the fly content wherever and whenever is really exciting to me.
Finished shooting a music video for Director Jesse Ewles and collaborators Winston Hacking and Brett Long from Exploding Motor Car who art directed the project.
The video is entirely narrative, no performance coverage, about a messy and unorganized seamstress who is having a hard time finding any kind of inspiration in her work. The video is set in her messy apartment and as she continues through a string of denial about her mess, an armoire begins to suck the clutter into its cavity eventually resulting in the formation of a garbage monster with an appetite for more.
I shot with my new 7D package - my first project with it. Overall really happy with my first experience. The shoot was very run and gun because we had so much coverage to get through, no additional tech help and the space we were working in was a huge gong show in terms of maneuverability so it wasn’t the best conditions to test and fine tune exposure - but as such was a good real world test. I mainly set the camera to 400 ISO and occasionally bumped it to 500 or 640 when I had to buy 1/3 to 2/3 stops really quickly. I carried a Canon EF 16-35mm and EF 24-70 lenses which are both T/2.8. I typically shot wide open.
A couple of things I can report on:
- Battery life is quite good. Seems better than the 5D from what I can remember. As long as you can power a charger you shouldn’t need to alternate between more than 2 batteries all day. I have 4 batteries + 2 chargers with my package so I should be good for almost all scenarios.
- I found the 24-70 is still too short to carry as your longer lens even with the 1.6x crop factor on the 7D. I found I used the 16-35 quite a bit. At 24mm it wasn’t wide enough for me to frame what I had to. From here on out I will probably carry the 16-35, 24-70 and 70-200 T/2.8. A few higher speed primes across the board is probably a good idea also. I think I’m eying an 85mm prime as my next purchase lens.
- Handheld is still a little bit of an issue. I have Zacuto gak with my package which definitely improves things but I’m still finding a strange vibration that happens which becomes more apparent the longer you are on the lens. Both the 16-35 and 24-70 are non IS (image stabilizing) lenses. I’ve shot with Canon IS lenses with the 5D which might help the problem for shots where you’re trying to keep still but I’ve also found the IS introduces other issues when you’re telegraphing more of a move - you get this weird jump/jerk as it tries to compensate. Increasing the weight on the package might help also though part of me thinks there’s something going on with the electronic shutter.
- Definitely need to get some kind of on-board monitor. The lack of an articulating screen is a huge deal for operating.
A few screen caps. Taken from the native H264 file. No Color Corrrection. Resized 50%.
