Spent some time sharing and exchanging ideas with fellow filmmakers, photographers and image makers - Ryan Hughes, Kar Wai Ng and Arash Moallemi. We did a little informal testing but mainly discussed workflow, shortcomings of DSLR cameras, as well as imaging technique and application in general. Hopefully, the first of more meetings to come.
Some pics from the day - all photos by Arash - thanks!
barrycheong.com 7D package next to a standard 5D.
Ryan testing out handheld with my 7D. He was very interested in exploring handheld shooting, as his last experience hadn’t been too favorable. The added hardware of my package definitely makes handheld easier to accomplish.
Kar Wai and I talking shop…
“It’s better to make 1 cut that works than 10 that don’t. It’s better to set 1 light that works than 20 that don’t. It’s better to have 3 fabulous words of dialogue than 20 that are lousy.” -Gordon Willis, ASC
“Subtractive thinking is very important, meaning less is better than more. Generally speaking, if something’s not working, you’re doing too much.” -Gordon Willis, ASC
Click Above to View
I saw a quick test my friend Ryan Glover did with his GH1 and a Panasonic anamorphic adapter attachment designed originally for the DVX100 and it got me interested in researching the idea further. Some other people have been experimenting with similar adapters and DSLR video. These anamorphic adapters, originally designed to convert 4:3 video to 16:9, have since fallen off the radar, but used with 16:9 native chips will give you roughly 2.35:1 aspect ratio plus all the characteristics of using anamorphic lenses, most famously the blue vertical streaking. The adapter essentially squeezes the image vertically by a factor of 1.33x resulting in everything looking skinny but in post you stretch everything back out by that same factor which results in your wider aspect ratio.
The adapter I’m using is a Century Optics Digital Series lens with 58mm threads that I believe was originally used with a Sony PD-150 back in the day. The 58mm thread works well with Canon EF primes like their 85mm and 50mm 1.4 and with a simple stepping ring, to their wider lenses which have the smaller 52mm thread. I’ve been testing mainly with their 50mm 1.8 which is the only lens I have access to at the moment. It will unfortunately not work with their L series lenses.
(My 7D w/ Canon 50mm 1.8 and Century anamorphic lens attachment.)
Click on the screen grab at the top of the post to see a quick test I did. Shot in available light between 640 and 1250 ISO, between T/2.8 - 5.6, and anywhere between 7-15 feet roughly away from the subject. I flared the lens manually with an LED maglite for fun as well. Please excuse my silly friends, who thought it would be silly to dress up and be silly in front of the camera. I think they’re pretty silly (and awesome).
There definitely are some limitations with focus and exposure with this adapter, but as such force you to frame, block and generally work slightly differently. For example the lens starts performing a lot better once you stop down to T4 - 5.6 (as do real anamorphic lenses used with 35mm cameras). Also, with the 50mm at least, you have to maintain at least 4 or more feet away from your subject to get focus. I briefly tested the adapter on an 85mm 1.8 and found focus difficult to achieve even at deeper stops. Putting more distance between lens and subject will probably help but at that point defeats the purpose of using that long of a lens unless you really need the spacial representation of an 85.
In general this adapter is not for every project but for a certain look, for a certain project it could be really great. More thorough testing to come.
“I never shot something with one bulb on because I thought it was unique; I shot it that way because I thought it was right. There are other people all over the world who perceived it as unique — or horrifying, depending.” -Gordon Willis, ASC
I was curious to know whether the 7D performs any better, noise-wise, in tungsten or daylight. I ran a quick test with a Kino Flo bulbed with both types of tubes and shot all the combinations. Camera white balance was set to either 3200k or 5500k manually.
Shooting stop was T/4.0 @ 320 ISO. I used my 24-70mm lens. I didn’t take note of the focal length. 24P @ 1/50th of a second shutter. I also shot tungsten light in daylight balance and daylight in tungsten balance and corrected in Photoshop quickly with the Color Balance option, to see how well you could recover your image.
Results below:
No apparent difference between tungsten or daylight in terms of noise. The images shot in their opposing color balance are definitely noisier but not much more so. They’re also a lot more saturated. I didn’t bother to compensate that factor.
American Cinematographer’s Facebook page is posting Gordon Willis quotes all week so I thought I would share them here since they’re insightful, blunt in a really great way and really get you thinking…
“A lot of people think a scene is dull if the camera’s not moving. What makes a scene dull is the content of the scene. If that’s no good, the camera can move back and forth forever, and it’s not going to help.” -Gordon Willis, ASC
Spent some time grading “Inside” for director Yaz Rabadi, a short film I shot with him in early July. We did the grade at REDLab in Toronto, the first for me. It was a pleasure working with senior colorist Walt Biljan and to have his expertise on our project. The footage looked great on their Christie projector! I highly recommend that all projects factor in some money for post so that you can grade your project properly. Desktop color grading has become immensely powerful and I still do a lot of my work that way but if you can take it somewhere like REDLab to have it done it’s well worth the money.
The film should be completed soon.
Some new additions to my 7D camera package… please email for further inquiries on package rates and other details.
Enjoy!
My friend Stacey Kaniuk (www.staceykaniuk.com) just recently performed at the Cameron House in Toronto to a full and enthusiastic turn out. I was there capturing some of the performance with my new 7D plus a 2nd 7D package. The A-cam down by the front of the stage was mainly shot on a 50mm 1.8 and the B-cam in the back was on a 24mm 1.4. Camera’s were at 640 ISO (I think..can’t quite remember).
The footage is going to be cut together and will probably go up on her site. Here are some screen grabs:
Great Show!
