Frame grab of my lovely mum from 4k capture video

NOTE: My goal for this article is to provide a fair, unbiased review of the Scarlet-X. I am aware that RED has numerous fans who can at times be a little blindsided to negative feedback of RED cameras – this review is probably not for you, even though for the most part it is VERY positive! This is a review for individuals looking to make an informed purchase decision and who want to learn more about this camera. These are my own findings and must NEVER be used solely in your decision to purchase the camera. Get your hands on one and test it yourself! One last thing, RED are constantly updating firmware to improve features. This is a review as of release firmware on the 5th February 2012. 

I was not paid by anyone to do this review. I did this on my own time for my readers. For more on my ethics please read my ethics statement. 

Scarlet-X review test footage from Philip Bloom on Vimeo. Footage has only minor colour tweaking in RED Cine Pro-X. No Grading.

This is probably one of the most unique camera reviews I have ever done. Why? Even before ever touching it, seeing it in person or shooting with it,  I knew EXACTLY what it would be like. How come? Well as a former owner on a RED Epic and having shot on that camera many times, knowing that the Scarlet-X is simply a cut down version of the Epic, everything about the camera was going to be familiar to me, both its pluses and negatives.

The Scarlet-X was finally launched on November 3rd last year, just a few hours after Canon announced the C300. Initially people, including myself, were underwhelmed by the C300 compared to the Scarlet. But things change. Once I read up on what the Scarlet could actually do, I realised that this is not a camera in competition with the C300 at all. It is a camera that occupies a unique place in the market. Whereas the C300 is an all-rounder, the Scarlet is a specialist camera. It is simply the cheapest way to acquire 4k video with a super 35mm sensor. Basically they’re taking chips made for the RED Epic which apparently hadn’t passed the QC and sticking them in the same (more or less) housing as the EPIC-X and limiting the features. That is it in a nutshell. A superb 4k acquisition camera.

If like me you have had experience with an Epic then Scarlet will frustrate you. It’s like having a Ferrari but being limited to 1st gear. The 1st gear is amazing but you SO want to open her up. It looks great, handles the same but doesn’t do most of what the Epic can do.

Thanks to Stewart Addison of Panny Hire, I had a RED Scarlet-X for the weekend. I am still recovering from laryngitis that wiped me out so I didn’t do a whole lot of filming with it and my plans to do an on camera review went out the window with my voice. But I still did some filming down at my parents’ to test it out (thanks mum and dad!). As I said earlier, it was not a surprising experience in the slightest! There were no wow moments. But it was, as ever, a pleasure to operate a RED camera.

This is what the Scarlet does EXCEPTIONALLY well…The 4K recording is just amazing. The detail in the image plus the amazing latitude is a thing of beauty. The Red code RAW codec is robust and working with it in RED Cine Pro X makes working with ANYTHING else seem like a compromise. The ability to take frame grabs from the camera is just incredible. These are really high quality images and for me represent true convergence between video and stills, as these are grabs from video – you’re not stopping recording video to take a still.

The joy of RED Cine X Pro

Frame grab of my dad

Unfortunately the cool feature from the Epic, that is HDR-X, the ability to capture two streams of information at a different exposure simultaneously to create a much higher dynamic range, is missing in 4k. It only appears at 3k and even then only for 24p, not 25p.

The camera shoots up to 5k and when it does that the part of the sensor used is larger than super 35mm. More like APS-H. Unfortunately it is useful for nothing more than stills or timelapse as its fastest frame rate is 12FPS. Although you can get away with a little video with it if you need it as you can see in my test video.

So really it’s 4k that is the main resolution for this camera. Not as big as the 5k but sill plenty! Also it’s super 35mm at 4k so that’s just fine as it’s the standard and as I have already said the 4k is exceptional.

Now for off speed, currently the fastest frame rate you have is 60fps at a windowed 2k. That means the field of view is half that of the 4k. A massive pain if you want to keep the same frame, lens etc but suddenly need slow motion. For me in my tests I found the 2k 60fps vastly inferior in quality to the 4k both in noise pattern and in resolution. Even when exported to full HD ProRes. I found this with my EPIC too but I rarely needed to use the 2k in the EPIC, as it can do 120FPS in 5K and that was more than enough for most things! I have always found the 2k to have a disappointing amount of noise in it.

3K is a good compromise. It can do 48fps (so no 25p HDRx in 3K, only 24p) and that looks pretty good. A less severe crop, sharper and more detailed. For me if I owned this camera the 3K 48fps would be my slow motion of choice. For the cost of 12FPS you can a much better looking image.

120FPS is coming but only at 1k. Until I see it, who knows what it will be like. The 2k should be improved upon with firmware upgrades. Fingers crossed on that one! The biggest problem is that the 4k is just so damn superb that anything next to it suffers immensely.

There is a chance that RED will be able to offer these speeds at lower resolution without a crop at some point, certainly it has been mentioned for the Epic. That would be great as the crop can be quite a pain at times. You can see how much it crops from 5k, 4k, 4kHD, 3k and 2k below.

Sensitivity appears to be the same as the Epic, which is not great (although with no Epic to hand, I could not do a side by side test), it needs to have light. So indoors it needs to be lit. It doesn’t come close to the sensitivity of other large chip cameras out there like the FS100, F3 and C300, but it’s a totally different camera for a different market in my opinion.

The camera I had didn’t have the side handle yet, which is a shame, as the touch screen (as cool as it is) is not super responsive and not the quickest way to flick through menus. But, it is very intuitive. Just don’t expect iPhone style responsiveness. That mean no red volts too as they go in the side handle, so I was not able to test power consumption.

I had 2 64GB cards which was more than enough for the limited filming I did, but in my EPIC experience 4 x 128gb is a minimum amount of cards I would personally recommend for a full day’s filming without offloading during a shoot.

The camera also had the Canon EF mount which is just superb, different to the Ti one I had on my Epic in design but it worked as well. Controlled the aperture just fine, albeit only in 1/3 stop increments and powered the IS (and focus if that is your bag!) Next to the C300 one (which should be better as it’s on a Canon) this is the best Canon mount out there other than on a DSLR! It’s easy to switch mounts to PL by removing 4 screws and putting the different mount on. One of the loveliest features of this RED design. Both on the Epic and on the Scarlet.

I mentioned this in detail in my previous Scarlet post but beware of the costs of the camera. The base price of sub $10k is not shootable. A proper shooting package, without even getting into the need to really get a RED Rocket for post, is much closer to almost double that when you get the batteries, cards, EVF, cheese plates, rods etc. You can spend a hell of a lot more than that too if you wanted. Just with my Epic which cost me $58k I spent over $20k on bits for it. Be careful as it can become a bit of a money pit!

So in summary. What do I think? It’s an astonishing 4k camera for normal speed recording. Amazing flexibility in post with the RAW image. Skin tones impress for sure. They look terrific as you can see in the video of my mum and dad!

For off-speed this is not the camera for you, IMHO. Even though the resolution on paper is better than other cameras at 60fps, it’s inferior in many ways. For example the FS100 does 1080p slow motion and it’s gorgeous. Shame it’s at such a low bit rate of 28mb/s. The C300 only does 60p at 720p but it is not windowed (cropped) and suffers from a wee bit of aliasing. To be blunt, the cropping is a massive pain…ALTHOUGH there are times when being able to punch in is quite nice…the C300 720p 60p is of a mostly similar quality, in my opinion to the Scarlet is terms of sharpness at 60fps but it is cleaner for sure! That is what is so disappointing in the camera. For a camera that does one thing so well it’s a shame the rest is not so great!

Perhaps if I was coming at this camera without EPIC experience then I would see it differently, but then again maybe not. All I know is that 4K is so damn good it’s so damn frustrating that it cannot do off speed, even at 48FPS in 4k. If it did, this would be in my camera arsenal for sure! Only being able to do 30p at 4K is just so damn…limiting!!

Therefore, who is this camera for? Well it is a good backup for an Epic or RED One. A great camera for a narrative feature that you can light. A great camera for music videos with no slow motion (although many music videos need them). A great camera for commercials, again when you don’t need off speed. It’s not a great doco camera, which is my forte, where available light is often all you have to work with. Not a camera for the budget conscious. Not a camera for the casual user. This is a PRO camera for PROS. Getting this camera will not make you a better shooter. It will make your images look crisper, but it won’t suddenly make your work any better. It will make you more skint so remember that when you get out your credit card!

So is this the camera for you then, or is the C300? The F3? The AF100? The FS100? Well my next blog post is “Which large chip camcorder should I buy?” but I can tell you now those other cameras should be compared against each other. The Scarlet? It’s just unique and for a totally different task. I will go into that further in my next blog post.

If you are England based and need a Scarlet for hire, Stewart is your guy. For £350 a day (always check price!) this little beauty could be yours.

 

James Miller is a talented guy. Apart from designing a lot of my graphics and the background for this site he has been my right hand man on many of my UK shoots. Having a talented shooter as your right hand man makes your life so much easier. He has become synonymous with “lens whacking” which he explains about here. You can see more of James’ work on his vimeo page here. One bit of advice. This is a great and cool effect. But like all effects use them in moderation for the most impact! After James’ article there is a link for 5Dleaks.com and Lightfilth from Lens Anarchy. Both are a collection of real light leaks that you can add in post. Not the same as what James does but a cool effect and a nice cheap price of $19.99 nad £15 respectively. There is a 20% odd code right now too for 5dleaks. Details at end of post.

James Miller

Lens Whacking, whats its all about then?

When a cameras lens is fixed firmly to a camera the only light falling on the sensor is through the lens. Thats great most of the time and when you want something different you can either add effects, layers, overlays in post. Or you can remove your entire lens.

“When you take the lens off it creates an effect, look and feeling that is totally different, you really can connect to image. Because it’s real and not added in post, it’s randomness gives a dreamlike quality. Its almost like how your mind remembers images and I love the feeling it gives. Its a romance, it really is.”

Nina Naustdal – Couture / Celebrity Launch Party from James Miller on Vimeo.

 

How does it work?

Removing your lens is going to let a lot of light to hit the sensor. In a total wash of light there will be no image, so this has to be controlled. We you really want to achieve is a part sharp image but lots of flare and light leaks going on within the frame. This effect will wash the image with what ever light source is dominant in the scene behind the camera or to the side.

The effect is similar to a tilt and shift lens where you only get a slither of focus depth or you can manipulate the lens to allow the entire frame to be in focus.

 What do I need?

Lets say for this example you have the Canon 5Dmk2, a full frame large sensor camera.

It’s no good trying to use a Canon lens EF or FD as the distance between the rear element and sensor (The Flange distance) is too small. You need a Nikon lens, not with a Nikon to EOS mount, just the lens.

As lens whacking really needs to be created hand held on a full frame sensor a lens upto 50mm is about the limit otherwise your going to induce to much wobble, rolling shutter. On a cropped sensor 7D, 600D or Sony FS100 or Canon C300 you really need to work a 35mm lens, 50mm is doable but you have to be careful. As its very easy and cheap to buy a old E Series Nikon 50mm 1.8 (around £30-£50) I suggest you start here.

Also the E Series is pancake in construction so your hand won’t suffer from fatigue so much. If you have a non Canon lens try it out.

 

How do you control it?

You can control the amount of light hitting the sensor but one of two things. First is to use you hand, the hand not holding the lens and cup it over the back of the lens. You can fan your covering hand by opening your fingers, letting more light in where necessary.

Second you can adjust the focus on the lens. The standard for shooting Lens Whacking is for the lens to be set to infinity this allow just the right amount of light coming in from the gap between the lens and the body. But if you change this distance you will notice to achieve a focus you will need to keep the lens closer to the body of the camera and this closes the gap thus reducing the amount of light leaking in.

How do I Whack?

1/ Start by setting the camera to live view.

2/ Open the aperture fully on the lens and set the focus to infinity. If the lens is inherently soft wide open then stop the lens down a click, this will effect the look and structure of the ‘Bokeh’.

3/ Hold the camera body to your chest with your right hand.

4/ Pickup the lens with your left hand.

5/ Still with the left, hand hold the lens tight up to the body of the camera with your thumb and index finger whilst pinching the middle finger of your left hand, causing the lens to rock on this pinch. (This is how you change focus)

6/ Try and use your left hand palm to act as a hinge that allows the focus to be adjusted by changing the gap between the lens and the body.

7/ If your worried about dirt or dust getting on the sensor 1/ Don’t do it. 2/ Cut out some good optical quality polyester film like Melinex and fit it under the camera bodies lens mount, on top of the contact pins. Has to be good quality otherwise you will get blooming on highlights. You can also use ND filter film acting as a dust blocker and filter. (Filters on the rear of the lens are very forgiving).

Focusing will be daunting at first but practice and it will feel more natural than turing that ring, I promise.

I find when Lens Whacking on the 5D mk2 using the Zacuto Z-Finder is critical for immersing yourself in the shot and stabilising the picture. It’s just the same otherwise.

Why not just use a Lens Baby or similar toy lens?

Really the effect, look and feeling is totally different. I loose my self in the moment, you really can connect to image. Its almost how your mind remembers images and I love the feeling it gives. Its a romance, it really is. And it’s free.

How can I add Lens Whacking to my existing films?

You can’t get the full effect in post. An besides you loose the feeling. Sure you can replicated some of the look but its very post intensive. Light leaks can be achieved by shooting with you lens cap on and just Lens Whacking blank. The files produced can then be used as an overlay.

Examples I have shot on the Canon 5Dmk2:

Leuven, Belgium – Oude Markt, Terras from James Miller on Vimeo.

The Plea “Feel It Ticking” from James Miller on Vimeo.

De Madammen in Amsterdam from James Miller on Vimeo.

London Meet-up with Philip Bloom from James Miller on Vimeo.

90 Seconds in Leuven from James Miller on Vimeo.

 

BPM Dance Academy from James Miller on Vimeo.

San Francisco was noticed by an Belgium Director/ Music Man, Frank De Wulf. This was really a turing point for me. And for that I will forever be grateful. Thanks Frank

San Francisco from James Miller on Vimeo.

 Examples I have shot on the Sony NEX FS100:

The Plea, Live in Ghent, Belgium from James Miller on Vimeo.

Jack Campbell Vampire Weekend, Mansard Roof from James Miller on Vimeo.

 

20% off code for 1 week only with code philipbloom at checkout expires on 8th February 2012

 

LightFilth by Lens Anarchy: Trailer from Miguel Santana on Vimeo.

 

To tie in with the release of the rather nice new slider from Kessler Crane and the re-launch of my website, Eric Kessler has generously come up with the idea of giving one away in conjunction with a fund raising for a charity very close to his heart. The Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Make-A-Wish grants children with terminal or life threatening illnesses wishes to give them hope. To give them some joy when they have none. It’s a really special charity.

To be in with a chance of winning a Stealth all you need to do is donate $10 or more (more is better!) to any of your local Make A Wish chapter and send a receipt of it to this address. The fundraiser will last 2 weeks and I will make the live draw on Feb 12th. More details to come. This is a world wide competition so doesn’t matter where you live!

The great news is Eric will match the donation up to $5000. So get donating!!

About the slider: The Stealth is an all black hybrid between the basic pocket dolly and the top of the range Philip Bloom Slider.  Whereas my one comes with a case, feet, flat head adaptor and crank. This a build your own system (not possible to add the crank), with a starting price of $799.95 for either the 2 foot traveler or 3 foot standard.

Not everyone wants a flashy red ended slider like my model. Some want it all in black and of course some people naturally don’t want my name on it either! So that is where the stealth comes in. Sexy black. Minimalist. As smooth as all the pocket dollys. This is the dolly you don’t want to attract attention to…hence the name “Stealth”

If you want to order it click here or the banner below. It’s generally in stock unlike the Bloom dolly which is available in small batches once a month near the end of each month.

So here we are. About 6 months later than I had hoped but better late than never. My site is reborn with I hope a cleaner, fresher design. Easier to find content and more pleasing to the eye.

What has changed?

Obviously cosmetically it is totally different. New background by my frequent shooting partner James Miller (maybe Percy is TOO big on my shoulder?). Cleaner less obtrusive ads (yes I know there are two on this post) but the top banner is now just one that rotates every new click instead of 6 rotating. Much nicer. Same with the side banners.

We now have top posts rather than most popular posts. Ones which I think would interest you the most. A nice simple twitter feed and a Facebook “fan page” link, this is where you go to see what I am doing every day if you have not already been there.

Very important to me is my work. So the films section is now organised by which camera they were shot on AND genres…although this is a work in progress. I need to add a Documentary section. Again, nice and organised.

There is a very cool events section on the main page and under the menu. Ever wondered where and when my next workshop/ meet up is? Now you know!

There is also now a better and clearer education area with nice clear sections. If you have any suggestions about organisation of this section or any other please let me know below. I am trying to make this easier for you! I know every single post that I have done but you do not, so if you can suggest even easier ways to find stuff do let me know!

In one week’s time I will launch my forum. Yep a forum. I have had a forum before…it was a bit shit to be honest. Then I used buddypress in wordpress. Even worse. So now we will have a proper professional forum integrated perfectly into the website. Comments will still be on the posts unlike say EOSHD where he has moved all comments to the forum. That is not what I want. I want a place where new and experienced can meet and help each other out.

I have had mixed experience with forums in the past. The one that stands head and shoulders over the rest is DVinfo. A place where you can ask questions without being attacked, hounded or banned! It will be a REAL NAME only forum and will have to be heavily moderated. The moderators will be selected amongst my readers. If you interested email me at work@philipbloom.net telling me about yourself and why you would be a good moderator.

It will be a place for you to ask questions about my work or ask in depth questions…this is the place to do it, rather than commenting on posts. I want to try and keep the right things in the right places. It may well be a total disaster…but that is down to you. Together we can make it work.

Ideally within it I will also have a database of shooters/ soundos etc in different areas. So if you are looking for help, it’s the place to go to.

There will be different sections for the different cameras. For different gear and to showcase your work. Again, it will be a work in progress but I hope you sign up!

I will try and keep the content up like I have been. I cannot do daily posts as my day job of shooting gets in the way, but I will post as often as I can and will continue to have guest posts like I have had in the past from Preston Kanak and Eve Hazelton. I will continue to be me. Helpful, funny (I hope), occasionally short and snappy (sorry but I am human and get stressed!) but what you see with me is what you get. I am honest, true to my word and don’t do BS! Remember my ethics statement when in doubt!

Oh, BTW we should have facebook/ twitter comment integration soon to make it easier to leave comments…but still not anonymous which I don’t do!

So bear with me. I doing my best to make the new site as seamless as possible. There WILL be glitches. A lot of them as the site only went live today so it’s the real test!

The site this morning!!

 

ETHICS STATEMENT: Kessler are my main site sponsor. Their stuff is the stuff of legends! Great, relatively affordable gear for timelapsing! Read more in my full ethics statement here. 

Courtesy of Jon Nash

 

Sorry for being all quiet on the western front (or middle eastern front!) but I have been up to my ears in a job in Dubai where I am timelapsing like crazy…actually my first fully timelapse commission. I’ve done lots of pro timelapse before but never JUST timelapse! I am only able to write this as am sick as a dog with food poisoning so I’m taking an enforced break! My brief is to shoot as many timelapses as I can! Well…with 5 cameras I can shoot A LOT!

I can’t say too much about it just yet other than what I am using…

I have 5 Canon DSLRs with me. 2 5DmkIIs. 2 7Ds and a 1DmkIV.

1 Vinten 100mm bowl Sticks to take the Kessler Revolution head and the Hercules head.

1 Miller Solo 3 stage with DS20 head. Great tripod and solid.

2 Gitzo tripods.

2 Delkin Fat Gecko suction mounts for sticking on windows.

1 Kessler Hercules 2.0 Head ESSENTIAL for those vertical slider moves and the new 2.0 version is so much lighter than version 1.

1 Kessler Revolution Head For motorised pans and tilts!

1 3 foot Philip Bloom Pocket Dolly 3 Foot is better for timelapse than 2 foot but it’s harder to balance, Hercules head comes in Very handy here.

1 5 Foot Cineslider A HUGE beast, but useful!

1 Kessler Outrigger Feet Used for ground mounting of slider on even surfaces…

1 Kessler All Terrain Outrigger Feet for REALLY uneven ground, like beaches, rocks etc

2 500 speed motors The speed needed to do vertical moves. The Torque of the 500 pushes that camera up!

2 Bescor Batteries To keep the whole lot powered.

1 splitter for Bescor To use a battery adaptor for the Canon at same time as powering the motor stuff.

3 Kessler Canon Battery Adaptor ESSENTIAL

2 AC Canon Adaptors

2 Lenskirts ESSENTIAL for shooting through windows and killing those reflections.

1 Canon 14mm F2.8

1 Tokina 11-16

1 Canon 17mm TS

1 Canon 24mm TS

1 Samyang 35mm F1.4

1 Canon 50mm F1.2

1 Canon 16-35mm F2.8

1 Canon 100-400mm

PHEW! Lot of gear. But I am doing A LOT of timelapsing. Pretty much 24/7, 5 cameras going in different positions.

Some of it was shot RAW but the majority was shot JPEG purely because I shot so many shots! So Large JPEG was order or the day with a nice flat PP of Marvels Cine. AV mode was done for all the big light changes and smoothed out in post in FCP 7 using Long Exposure by CHV electronics. I did have sound nasty old flicker which was sorted by this plug in. There are a few HDR timelapses done using photomatix pro.In the end I had 144 timelapses. Of which about 40 made it into the below edit.

 

Here is the edit of some of the shots I made during this trip. Called Abraj: Plural of Burj which is Arabic for Tower.

Abraj: The two towers of Dubai from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

Abraj: Plural of Burj which is Arabic for Tower.

Timelapse video featuring the two iconic towers of Dubai. The Burj Al Arab and the world’s tallest building. The Burj Khalifa.

Commisioned to shoot various timelapses of the Emirate by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai. This is an edit I put together for myself of some of my favourite shots. Including some amazing views from 154 floors up on the Burj Khalifa.

Music is by Vaughan Williams: Variations on theme by Thomas Tallis

Below is a time-lapse film I made here two years ago…I think my new one is better! This one was my first ever timelapse film.

Some of the most useful little things I have with me are the Kessler Camera Battery Adaptors. I can power my 7D or 5DmkII off them with the Bescor batteries for DAYS! Add a splitter and you can power your Kessler motor at the same time. They’ve been very useful for those unmanned 24 hour shots. 

Other than that I of course have LOTS of cards. DON’T use the Duracell ones you see here. They are fine for stills but crap out on video on my DSLRs and the C300. Weird!

Data wrangling is tough as it’s just me keeping on top of it. So lots of offloading each night to 3 different hard drives. A G-TECH G-Raid and 2 Western Digital My Passports. Here is what my offload folder looks like at the moment! Software used was ShotPut Pro, which is the easiest way to offload to multiple destinations and error check.

Below are some of the frame grabs from some of them and two very short BTS…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dubai Timelapse BTS 3 from Philip Bloom extras on Vimeo.

Third BTS of my timelapse adventures at Dubai.

Take two on the motorised timelapse. I like last night’s but I can do better!!

 

Whilst those 5 cameras were going I was talked into doing a SkyDive. Yep. A SkyDive. Not a big fan of heights but I guess you have to do it once right? Well I did. The SkyDiving bit was actually pretty incredible! Would I do it again? Am in no rush…Thankfully Jon Nash loaned me his GoPro 2 so I was able to get some cool footage! I was 2 and a half bloody miles up in the air!!!!

 

 

With Tony Augstinack, Jon Nash, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Ismaeil, Joseph Hutson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you come from a video background (like me) or a film background then you are used to the joy of an iris on a lens that is smooth as butter and that is located where it should be…on the lens.

Every 2/3″ lens I used in my 23 year career has had the ability to change the iris in micro adjustments. Perfect for riding exposure during a shot. My Sony EX1 (now deceased) and my EX3 (alive and clicking but gathering dust) have a proper smooth iris on the lens, and this is especially cool on the EX1 as it is not a removable lens. Many other cameras of that ilk have the iris control on the camera. Smoothish but not the same as having it on the lens.

One of the biggest issues I came across when I first started using 35mm adaptors with still lenses was the inability to change exposure on the lens during a shot due to the iris moving in clicks. This was not so bad on 35mm adaptors, as I always rode the exposure on my EX1 lens which also maintained my depth of field. The 35mm lens on the front stayed at the same aperture to hit the ground glass creating that chosen depth of field.

But, with DSLRs it has gotten worse. Stills guys are used to it. But I was not. All Canon made lenses and the MAJORITY of the third party lenses and many Nikon lenses (although at least you generally get a choice with Nikon made glass) have the iris controlled within the camera. I am sure most stills guys are used to that now and to be honest they don’t need to ride exposure during a shot as that is a purely video thing. The majority of lenses controlled by the Canon cameras from the dial change the iris in 1/3 stop increments. This is nowhere near fine enough to use during a shot. Actually the Canon C300 is the best camera I have used for using Canon EF and EFS glass as it lets you change exposure in “fine” mode which is around 1/8 of a stop give or take…This is “just” about smooth enough to get away with during a shot when you need to change exposure. The superb RED Epic Canon mount for example only lets you change the iris in 1/3 stop increments again (that may change in firmware).

You may ask why would you want to change exposure during a shot? Well as a predominantly documentary filmmaker, a lot of what I shoot is at the mercy of the light as clouds go past etc. For my drama work then if the light changed we cut and do a new take.

There is a, semi solution. Unfortunately it’s not for Canon made glass as you are stuck. It’s a physical thing not having a manual iris ring…I have been trying to tell people not to buy Zeiss ZE glass for their cameras but the Nikon mount ZF instead…why? It has a manual iris on it.

ZF with manual iris

ZE with no manual iris

With an adaptor like the Fotodiox Pro the ZF will go on a Canon body no problem. It will also go on just about any camera out there with an adaptor, and as it has a manual iris you don’t have the issues of waiting for a Canon EF electronic mount adaptor to come out…

The downside it the ZF focuses the “Nikon way” round, which is the opposite to any lens I have ever used. You get used to it though.

There are loads of other lenses with manual iris I have used, other than Nikon glass, like the budget lenses by Samyang/ Rokinon. Even the Canon one has a manual iris! They are pretty good and worth checking out. I have the 35mm F1.4 Samyang and use it lot.

So now we have got to the benefits of having a manual iris, but we still have issues. The iris is not smooth. In fact it’s worse in some cases. Instead of the 1/3 stop increment the Canon cameras have, the ZF lenses only have 1/2 stop increments between the full stops. Even less smooth. I used a Contax lens the other day and it had no increments at all. It went from one stop to the next. Terrible for riding the exposure. That is where people like Eddie Houston, The Lens Doctor,  come in. Eddie is based in Scotland and camera recommended by my friend Dan Chung. For a relatively low cost (dependent on the lens) he will “de-click” your lenses for  you. So suddenly you have cine-lens-like smoothness in the iris ring. He removes the clicks but adds enough resistance so it’s not crazy loose. I recently got him to do all my ZF glass, and it’s like having a whole new set of glass. I also have had my Samyang de-clicked and recently bought the ZF 35mm F1.4 which I am going to send to him shortly. So instead of 1 stop, or 1/2 stop or 1/3 stop it’s micro fine adjustments. Suddenly you can ride the exposure smoothly!

Eddie has also repaired a couple of my lenses and done a wonderful job. I cannot recommend him enough.

If you don’t live in the UK there are loads of places that will offer the same service. Make sure you get a recommendation before you send your glass off but I promise you this, it won’t change your life, but it will make shooting a lot easier with still lenses!

If you have any global recommendation for places like “The Lens Doctor” please share them in comments below.

USA based? Then Matt Duclos is your man. He can add front filter diameters so all your lenses match and permanent focus wheels too…

There is one other way to get smooth iris change, and this will not effect your DOF like changing an IRIS will, and that is a Variable ND. I have been using them since I started with DSLRs and they have been a godsend. No good in lower light conditions as even at their minimum setting you are looking at losing well over a stop of light, and be careful of cheap ones. They often are soft and give you a colour shift.

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<A HREF=”http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?rt=ss_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fphilipblcouk-20%2F8001%2F198ec959-9e46-4fad-ab4f-8b9b9140c973&Operation=NoScript”>Amazon.com Widgets</A>

Please read my ethics statement here

 

It’s submission time for the second almost annual Vimeo awards! (The last one was in October 2009). It was an amazing event last year and next year’s one will be even better…why? More categories!

So what is the deal? Grants of $5,000 will be awarded to the winners of each of the 13 categories, and a grant of $25,000 will be presented to the winner of the Best Video Award. Entrants can submit any original work that premiered anywhere online between July 31, 2010 and February 20, 2012, or any original work that has never been premiered. So that means if you don’t have something great now, you have two months to get cracking. I would enter but I can’t. I am judging one of the categories: Lyrical, which is VERY me! Below is what Lyrical is all about…and the other 12 below it.

The only downside is it will cost you $20 to enter, but just $5 if you are a plus or pro member. $5…that’s not even my Venti Triple Skinny cappuccino from Starbucks!…Entries are now open, click here for more info on the general rules.

I will be at the awards ceremony too which is in June. Last time I was in NY was for the last Vimeo Awards!

 

 

Last year, Sebastian Wiegaertner, Nino Leitner and myself held a hugely successful 3 day filmmaking intensive masterclass on the beautiful Island of Majorca. Well, this year we are going back there to do it again. Not just that but by popular demand we will also be holding two more 3 day masterclasses in Las Vegas immediately after NAB then another one in Key West, Florida the following weekend.

They are exclusive small group masterclasses where the focus is on practical filmmaking so don’t expect to be stuck in a classroom much!

Learn more about the contents of each masterclass, cost, location etc by clicking the image below or here!

Remember booking is very limited!

If you have never been to Key West check out my short film “2 nights in Mallory Square” it’s a gorgeous town, if you have never been to Vegas then check out my timelapse video I did from there last year and to give you an idea of how beautiful Majorca is check out my short “Inspiens” I shot with some of the Majorca attendees last year. Again just below!

 

EDIT:

Even though the workshop has sold out there will be a meet up, a chance to meet people like you, great networking…straight after at 5pm at Westbourne Studios at the bar there.  So if you can make it come along…it’s free and worth it!

 

On the 2nd of Feb I will be back in London to do my new/ tweaked/ improved DSLR/ Large Chip Camcorder workshop.

I would call it intermediate. I will assume you already know the beginner basics of the cameras.

This is a one day class for a larger group to keep ticket prices down. But not so big that you are unable to ask what you want.

I won’t go over the mega basics as that will be a waste of time. If you want those please watch my Vimeo lessons.

These are some of the things we will cover in the London interactive workshop. You don’t need to bring any gear with you as there will be no actual shoot taking place.

Selecting the camera for you.

Pros and Cons of the camera and how to work around them

In depth sound…techniques of sound recording. Tips and tricks. Dual system sound.

Lighting with DSLRs

large chip camcorders

In depth timelapse lessons including motion controlled and HDR

Post workflow. Conversion. Grading.

AND MUCH MORE

There will lots of gear there too!

The rest of the day is guided by YOU! You ask what you want and we cover it. It’s a nice freeform style that encourages participants to get involved and ask. This is not a dry keynote workshop!

It’s only £95. Hopefully I will see lots of you there. If this goes well I hope to go to the rest of the UK later in the year!

You can book tickets for London by clicking here! I can’t wait!!

 

Originally posted on KesslerU

Tom Baurain has done this excellent video tutorial on RAW workflow for timelapses. I use a mix of RAW and JPEGS dependent on the project. Eric Kessler and I worked with Tom to get this tutorial done and it’s excellent for those looking to up their game and take the next step!

It’s pretty solid information, I don’t do the same as Tom on everything especially when it comes to shutter speeds. I let mine go as high as needed! Essential for day to nights and night to days.

 

Why shoot timelapse using raw instead of jpgs?  The Red Owl, Tom Baurain explains it’s for two reasons:  quality and control.  Raw files have much more information that can result in greater quality to your timelapse.

The larger files not only hold more color information, but the size of these images allows you the ability crop out what you don’t want or pan and scan without compromising quality.

The very nature of the raw file allows you to tweak the image in such a way that allows you to achieve the look you want without baking that look into the file itself.

Taking advantage of the Raw format isn’t without peril, but the Red Owl breaks it all down with this Raw workflow.

Here’s just some of what you’ll learn in this video:

• What gear you need for timelapse

• Adjusting your cameras settings to prevent “flicker”

• Setting up a file system to ensure compatibility with After Effects

• How to tweak your image in the Camera Raw interface

• The switches in the Camera Raw interface and what they do

• Monitor your results in Adobe Bridge

• Importing into AfterEffects and rendering your composition

On top of all this, Baurain also reveals some other great resources. For further learning, please visit the links below.

General Learning

• TimeScapes “I’m New To Timelapse“

• Tyler Ginter’s Timelapse Checklist

Lenses

“Behind The Glass” with Vincent Laforet and Blake Whitman

• Part 1 “Intro to Lenses“

• Part 2 “Focal Length“

• Part 3 “Depth of Field“

Lens Cleaning with Jared Abrams

Filters

• fxguidetv #74

• OliviaTech – Polarizing Filters

• OliviaTech – ND Filters for beginners

• CheesyCam – ND filter color cast testing

Color Correction

• Intro To Color Grading

• Tao of Color

• AaronWilliams.tv

• Color Correction Handbook by Alexis Van Hurkman

Software

• LRTimelapse and click “tutorial” for several great tutorials on LRTimelapse

Other Useful Resources

• Vimeo Video School

• Timelapse with a DSLR starring Andrea Allen and Philip Bloom

• Vimeo Music Store

• Mastering ISO

• DSLR Mechanics

• Tilt Shift

If you’re thinking about doing timelapse or if you’ve done one but want to improve, then it’s imperative you watch this video.  You can find out more about The Red Owl, on his website athttp://theredowl.com

 

EDIT: Next batch will go on sale Tuesday at 11am Eastern USA time and 9PM Eastern USA Time! Sorry these are in so short supply but demand is huge and each one is handmade. Kessler Crane are looking for new factories to help make more but quality is paramount. The add to cart option goes live at the Kessler Site here at the above times.

 

Philip Bloom Signature Series Pocket Dolly Overview from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

Kessler Crane Philip Bloom Pocket Dolly Review from Chris Weatherly on Vimeo.

The 3 foot version

Honestly, I find this hard to believe myself, but I actually have had a piece of gear made to my specifications and being sold with my name on it! Blimey! I am a very humble guy and am utterly flattered that this has been made! I cannot thank Eric Kessler enough! Although doesn’t a Philip Bloom Pocket Dolly sound a bit wrong and kind of blow up? Not that I could imagine anyone EVER wanting one of those (apart from my cats?!)

So…finally after much teasing, the “Philip Bloom Signature Edition” Pocket Dolly is out for sale, both in 2 foot and 3 foot versions…and before you ask, yes I can write and that is my actual signature not some font (which a lovely lady friend said she liked the dolly but didn’t like the font! )

With the advent of DSLRs shooting video, sliders have become an essential part of any filmmaker’s kit. The ability to do small dolly moves can make your shot so much more cinematic.

I have been using various sliders for almost two years and none of them ever fulfilled my needs completely. Too heavy, not smooth enough etc…

The Kessler Crane Cineslider has been by far the greatest slider I have ever used with two downsides for me. The size and weight. I fly a lot and it is simply too big without its own case, and it needs support on either end ideally or a heavy duty tripod. I often use lightweight tripods and wanted the design of the Cineslider combined with the weight of the Kessler Crane Pocket Dolly. The Pocket Dolly V2 is a superb dolly but I personally missed the features of the Cineslider.

With a 16mm Bolex on it!!

The 2 Foot version

This is the best piece of kit I have ever used and I am incredibly proud for it be the first piece of gear to ever bear my name!

It is completely compatible with the Elektra Drive and Oracle motorised system. Simply remove the drag control and fit the motor on exactly as you would do with the Cineslider.

This slider is SERIOUSLY smooth, I call it a “one take slider”, you only need to do the shot again if you cock up, not the gear sticking on you!

It comes as a kit only with the outrigger feet, lovely case, dolly 2 foot or 3 foot and the flat head tripod adaptor. Both the 3 foot and 2 foot are $995 intro price, then it’s $1,095 after the first 12 have gone…I LOVE this dolly.  Yes it is more money than the Pocket Dolly V2 but it is essentially a lightweight Cineslider with all the perks of that model and then some, you get the outrigger feet and head mount too. The dolly is also tested for completely smoothness to a 100 feet using a laser for pinpoint accuracy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Measuring tape for use with elektra drive and oracle motorized system

2 nights in Mallory Square from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

Shot on the Canon 5D MK II to test out the Kessler Crane Pocket Jib and the new special Philip Bloom Pocket Dolly.
>
Filmed over two evenings at Mallory Square in Key West, Florida

So here I am sitting in yet another hotel room, this time in Porto Portugal. Thankfully the internet is not as pants as most hotel internet is (at the moment but that could change!). Why is this good? Well Karen Abad and Cristina Valdivieso have dirt on me and have blackmailed me into doing their podcast on Sunday night! Damn Las Vegas…NAB 2012 warning…always remember there are cameras EVERYWHERE!

All joking aside I can’t wait to do the podcast. Both Karen and Cristina are AWESOME (I understand Americans say that a lot? Personally I would go with smashing!) and it should be an insightful and interesting conversion…So at 5pm USA Eastern, that’s 10pm Portugal/ London time I will be exposing myself to them live on air, metaphorically speaking I must add (much to everyone’s relief!) to answer all their probing questions and hopefully yours!

So click on the image below and I hope to see you all there!

Finally!!

The first narrative feature that I have ever worked on. Lucasfilm’s “Red Tails” trailer was released on line today. I was the re shoot second unit  DSLR DP on it using Canon DSLRs and also camera C for the reshoots on the 1st unit. Check out my blog post about it here!

It was a fantastic experience, overwhelming at times. So looking forward to seeing the finished movie. Got my own movies to DP soon this year. Two of them including the sure to be Zombie masterpiece “Invasion of the note quite dead!”

It looks like a lot of fun and a fair few of my shots are in the trailer! Bet you can’t spot them! I’m not going to give exact timecodes. Just let you sit and wonder! (Clue…2nd unit means action shots)

Enjoy!!

Also check my short film “Legends” at the bottom of this post, which helped me land the gig and of course my Skywalker Ranch blog post which was the film that I shot in a day at cut the next morning and played on the big screen to George Lucas, Rich McCallum and Quentin Tarantino (!) that convinced Lucasfilm that Red Tails could use DSLRs!

Oh…do download the 1080 HD version and stick it up on your biggest screen. LOOKS AMAZING!

Behind the Scenes on Lucasfilm’s Red Tails with the Canon DSLRs from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Legends HD from Philip Bloom on Vimeo. Shot on EX3 and Letus Ultimate

 

Oh and if you are wondering about my imdb credit. That will be down to union rules am afraid…oh well!!

Read more in my full ethics statement here. 

I have been using Nikon DSLRs longer than I have Canon ones. I shot my first DSLR video with the rather poor video function of the Nikon D90. I have bought the D3s for its (still not beaten) low light video function, the D7000 and D5100 and been disappointed each and every time. But I am very optimistic this time.

I know I am late to the party in writing this blog post, but work has gotten in the way. I have been shooting in Dubai for the past ten days and had very little free time. So it’s catch up time. I won’t go into all the things it does, especially with stills. I am interested in video and below is what excites me. I am hoping to get some time with the camera in the next two weeks so I can report back on if it’s good or not. I have also not had any time with the new Canon 1DX which also looks interesting. Love to try that too!

It’s the first full frame DSLR with full HD video from Nikon AND it also can crop in video mode to 1.5x or 2.7x. If this is implemented without image artifacts, this could be incredibly useful. Given us three different focal lengths off of one prime. Very useful for fast doco shooting that I do.

This is what excites me…

We are promised next to none of that nasty moire and aliasing we all hate from DSLR video.

A HEADPHONE JACK! I know, basic, but this is the first time there is such a crazy science fiction feature on a DSLR! Finally we can monitor the audio we record. Basic, but HUGE!

Clean 8 Bit 422 out of the HDMI. No more H.264 nastiness if we don’t want it. Couple it with an AJA KiPRO mini, Atomos Samurai and away you go. A first for a DSLR. BUT I understand you cannot record on the CF cards at the same time. One or the other.

Incredible low light performance due to the reasonable MP count. This should be better than the D3s which was usable at 50,000 ISO!

So I have not shot with it or seen it yet, hopefully I will very soon. As soon as I do I will report back. Below is Dan Chung’s video of Nikon’s James Banfield going through the camera and an official D4 video from Nikon which looks terrific!

Read more in my full ethics statement here. 

I rarely post about new products that I have not touched, but this looks interesting enough to share…

I love the Sony FS100 because it’s cheap and produces a great image. It did incredibly well in my recent shootout. It’s not perfect. Build quality is a wee bit plastic. Fiddly to use, horribly buttons, no NDs, no HD-SDI… But, it’s an amazing image for the price!

Using Canon glass on these cameras is a big no no though, due to the electronic aperture control of these lenses. Nikon mount lenses (which I use on the FS100) have a mechanical lever which is easy to adjust. Not for EF glass.

I have a huge amount of quality EF glass, and this has been my biggest pain because they only really work on my Canon DSLRs, RED Epic and C300. Redrock do a nice adaptor for the AF100 but no IS using them and it’s a bit clunky and doesn’t work with the 85mm F1.2…There is a workaround adaptor the F3 but it has the same issues.

Birger have been promising that one will come out since the Napoleonic wars, but no sign of it yet!

MTF services should have one soon but it’s a week bit bulky and expensive.

Apart from buying a C300, this looks like the best option yet…if it works. Now I MUST stress this. I have not used it, seen it, touched it, fiddled with it, shot with it, had  a conversation with it, taken it to dinner, gone on holiday with or had my way with it yet…all this is based PURELY upon specs. On those specs and the price of $395 could it be too good to be true!?

 

This is what is supported!

EF and EF-S lenses

Image stabilization (IS)

Electronic manual focusing (EF 85/1.2L, discontinued non-IS white telephotos, discontinued EF28-80/2.8-4L)

EXIF (focal length, aperture, lens ID) P, A, S, M exposure modes

Contax N mount lenses modified to Canon EF by Conurus

Contax 645 NAM-1 adapter modified to Canon EF by Conurus

Sigma, Tamron and Tokina lenses in Canon EF mount

So it’s powered by the camera (HUGE plus), we get EXIF data, supports IS, and I am assuming but cannot say for certain that it supports the 85mm F1.2. No idea of build quality, but this could be a great solution for me and the countless others wanting to use the FS100 with Canon Lenses.

Of course this will work with your NEX5N and NEX7 as it’s the same E-mount

They are currently sold out but you can keep an eye out on this page for pre-orders.

Here are a couple of pieces I shot for Sony with the FS100

 

March 2012 DSLR/ Large Chip Camcorder Australia/ NZ workshops. Click above for more info

 

Ethics statement: Rode supplied me with a RODE Stereo Mic to play with and are also sponsors of my workshop tour in March. I have a relationship with them therefore, but I use their products on all my projects and have done well before I started working with them as a company. They are my mics of choice for on camera mics and shotgun mics. Read more in my ETHICS STATEMENT here

Recording sound in camera using DSLRs has always been a problem. The inbuilt mics are in my opinion not usable. So I have always recorded my b-roll sound using first the old Rode Video Mic (which is directional) then the much improved Video Mic Pro at the start of the last year. They took the already good mic, made it better and importantly MUCH smaller.

I have to be honest, I really don’t like the original Rode Stereo Mic – it’s heavy and ugly as sin. The sound is fine but with the awful Canon Pre-Amps WAY too low making the sound very hissy! This happened to a lesser degree on the original Rode Video Mic and was fixed with the +10 and +20db gain on the mics.

Rode have just released the hugely improved Rode Stereo Video Mic Pro. Taking the old mic (that is actually quite old and pre-dates DSLR video by a long way) and making it head and shoulders better.

The new Stereo Video Mic Pro

The old Rode Stereo Video Mic

 

The new one is much sleeker, has better sound, and is a fraction of the weight. The only thing I don’t know is the price, which I will post as soon as I get it. But just on my limited use with it (I have yet to shoot a project with it, as everything I have shot since getting the mic has been timelapse) is impressive!

Here are the specs of the mic and you can read more about it here. 

It should be on sale any day now…

In six months or so, Rode are bringing out something revolutionary. A Rode Video Mic HD. A shotgun on-camera mic with a built in recorder. Perfect for recording on-camera sound, monitoring it, recording it in camera and recording it in a much better quality in the mic on SD card. It’s coming out later in the year and specs can change but this is how it is looking right now!

EDIT: Fantastic news. The finished movie won Best Documentary and Mass impact award at the Boston Film Festival. A massive boost for the film. I couldn’t be happier. Well done Ruaridh Arrow the Director!

EDIT: It’s also just won Best Documentary at Raindance!!

 

2 years ago in Boston I shot the bulk of a documentary on Nobel Peace Prize nominee Gene Sharp. This film is now finished and premiering at the 27th Boston Film Festival on the 18th of September then will be part of the Raindance Festival in London on the 2nd and 3rd of October.

 

Blog from May 29th 2009. This was shot in my first month of owning a Canon 5DmkII, so I wasn’t using it for the bulk of the filming. I was still using my EX3 and Letus Ultimate.

From wikipedia:

Gene Sharp (born 21 January 1928) is known for his extensive writings on nonviolent struggle: he has been called both the “Machiavelli of nonviolence” and the “Clausewitz of nonviolent warfare.”[1]

Sharp is a political scientist, professor emeritus, and founder of the Albert Einstein Institution, a non-profit organization which studies and promotes the use of nonviolent action in conflicts around the world.

Working with producer/ director Ruaridh Arrow, I am making a documentary on current Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Gene Sharp.

I have to plead ignorance and didn’t know of his work until I was approached for this gig, and he is an amazing man to be around, very kind, zen like and incredibly intelligent. A fascinating man whose life should have been documented well before now.

I wanted to share with you some black and white screen grabs from the Canon 5dmk2. Most of it is being shot on the EX1 and Letus, especially all the talking heads. But the more stylized shots and the other B-roll is being done on the 5dmk2 which is very new to me. It gives me the freedom to take down my lights, use available light and work REALLY fast, knocking of shots really quickly. It’s a great combo, I just wouldn’t do the whole thing on the 5dmk2 mainly due to the sound and recording length limitations. Oh and the 30p….which of course means I need to convert all my lovely footage to 25p, most likely in compressor.

Anyway, below here are some frame grabs from the footage in black and white from the 5dmk2. Love that image!

I have one and a half days of filming before I go home…it’s been great. It’s also been wonderful meeting so many people I just know over the internet at my first ever “Meet up”

Please read my ethics statement here

This is the 3rd and final lighting blog by Eve, all about lighting for greenscreen!

If you want to support her and one of the most interesting kick-starter projects I have seen then please do. You only have until the 31st of December so hurry up and show your thanks!!  I think it’s simply brilliant! They have now added a $50 reward which is a downloadable 1 hour lighting tutorial by Eve! Great stuff!

Ok – so for this one you really need to watch the video above, but I will outline the most important tips below:

1. Background Plate

Find out as much about your background plate as possible – it’s the only way to get a convincing final result!

Where are the lights that will be affecting your subject?

What type of lights are they? Hard/Soft? Warm/Cool?

What lens was used?

What camera settings were used?

Where and how was the camera set up?

2. Use your fist!

It’s a great way to look at the light in your scene. Remember to always look from the camera’s perspective – and cut out those lights to see the key without the fill, the backlight without the key etc. 3. Even Lighting The most important think about lighting the screen is to keep it even!

Soft lights like CFLs, fluorescent tubes or our LED lights are superb for this as they don’t throw shadows or patterned light onto the screen.

Once you have the light nice and even, pop a still over into photoshop and crush the contrast, this will allow you to see hotspots and shadows and correct for them!

Ideally, your entire screen should be lit within a 10% window of your exposure – get everything between 50% and 60% and you will be set.

4. Light the Subject

Now for the tricky bit! Take all the light information from your background analysis and recreate that lighting as best you can to that your subject will match your plate.

5. Be gentle with your alpha matte! A correctly exposed screen will make your life much easier now – the lighter you can treat the alpha matte, the more fine detail you will preserve in the Key.
Seriously – if you haven’t watched the video yet DO! there is far too much to explain here! We are in the last 48 hours of our kickstarter campaign – if you want to grab yourself my hour-long lighting masterclass just pop over and part with your $50! What can I say, it’s been emotional! Thank you Philip for the opportunity to reach out to so many people, and thank you all for watching (and for the lovely comments ) Have a great new year! E xx

 

 

 

Cameras NIGHTMARE!!

EDIT: PART 1 is now live! I decided to break it down into two parts as it’s too damn long! I will start editing part 2 tomorrow and hopefully have it up with the next two or so days. I have to as I am going on holiday for new year with only a Sony NEX7 (which missed the shootout by a day!)

I would like to have included the Scarlet but as I didn’t know anyone in the UK with one and the unfortunate behaviour of the minority who feel it’s OK to be as nasty as possible, it is not included. Sorry! Am sure the next Zacuto shootout will include it!

Huge thanks to Paul Joy of PaulJoy.com, Suresh Kara of Documovie.co.uk, Joel Conder of JoelConder.com and Suresh Kara.

Also thanks to Nick Millen of Canon UK for supplying the C300 for my full review which you can see here. 

Remember this shootout and it’s results are to be taken with a pinch of salt. Real world, unscientific, lots of variables. Never base a camera purchase on things like this. Research in loads of places and try and get your hands on one!

Kind of hypocritical to say this as this whole shootout is about it, remember pixel peeping will make you go blind and give you hairy palms!! Shoot with the camera you have/can afford! There is a lot more to filmmaking than pixel peeping!

I have not been paid to do this, it was done because I wanted to see this and I am sure you did too. If you want to thank me for all the hard work I have done in making this then please consider donating to the “Make a wish” foundation who grant magical wishes to children with life threatening diseases. Such a wonderful charity, even more so at this time of year. This is the UK one but feel free to donate to your local one!

Picture profiles used:

Sony NEX5N, Flat PP

AF100 RANGE PP

C300 C-LOG

GH2 Driftwood Hack nostalgia and dialed down

5Dmk2 Marvels Advance

7D Marvels Advance

FS100 G-LOG A

F3 AB-RANGE

F3 S-Log

Nikon D7000 Flat

So interesting results from Part 1. Bang for buck the clear winner was the Gh2 with the Driftwood hack but this is purely on resolution. The F3/ C300 are damn close to each other and the FS100 not far behind. Part 2 moves onto skin tones and low light where the camcorders come into their own. I also take a look at how well each of the internal codecs hold up to colour correction and grading.

 

Orignal Post:

Tomorrow for shits and giggles myself, Paul Joy, Joel Condor, Sarah Estela and Suresh Kara will be pitting various cameras against each other in yet another one of my “legendary” real world shootouts!

The reason this has come about is Canon UK have kindly loaned me a pre-production C300 for a week. I will be doing a full on review and taking it over to France to Mont St Michel to shoot with it there. Just one of my beauty pieces. But a great challenge, as much of it will be at night so let’s see how good this low light is! There will be an accompanying on-camera and written review!

In the meantime I wanted to get this done as I myself want to see this, and I am sure many of you will too!

So what cameras will we be using tomorrow? Here they are!

Why these cameras? Well they are mine so it’s easy for starters.

C300 of course as it’s the catalyst for this test, F3 (with and without Slog) as this is the best camera in its class, the FS100 as it’s the budget F3, the AF101. DSLR wise, the 7D for a change rather than the 5DmkII as it has a similar size sensor to Super 35mm, the Gh2 with AVCinta Driftwood hack and the NEX5N. I had to draw the line at which cameras to do with just a short winter’s day to do it in. The 7D may not be the best low light Canon DSLR (that is the 1Dmkiv) or be full frame (5dmk2) but it generally represents the quality of the Canons pretty well!

EDIT:

For the resolution test I used the 7D, GH2, NEX5N, D7000, FS100, AF101, F3, C300

For the skin tones test I used the 5Dmk2, 7D, GH2, AF101, NEX5N, D7000, FS100, F3, C300

For the low light I used the 5Dmk2, 7D. Gh2, NEX5N, FS100, AF101, F3, C300 (we forgot to do the D7000! Sorry!)

 

So this will be an evolving post, so do check back especially if you are on RSS as it doesn’t update!

Two frame grabs from the C300 below, one from the hacked GH2

The outdoor shots we had on C-Log gamma curve but the not the most neutral profile. This was accidental but it still looks good. For the shots after that it was on C-Log but cinema locked which gives it a flatter image. Sharpness and resolution where not affected.

 

C300

Gh2 Driftwood Hack 70mb/s

 

Skintone test…which camera is which?! Please ignore the web compression of the JPEG…just look at the skin tones…Lens was a Nikon 80-200mm F2.8

Remember these are NOT graded. Once graded, I could make them match pretty damn close…Which ones do you prefer and can you guess which is which?!

EDIT: Someone in the comments got in right!

Sony NEX5N, Flat PP

AF100 AB-RANGE PP

C300 C-LOG

GH2 Driftwood Hack nostalgia and dialed down

5Dmk2 Marvels Advance

7D Marvels Advance

FS100 G-LOG A

F3 AB-RANGE

F3 S-Log

Nikon D7000 Flat

 

Number 1

 

Number 2

 

Number 3

 

Number 4

 

Number 5

 

Number 6

 

Number 7

 

Number 8

 

Number 9

 

Number 10

 

 

In February this year I came to Australia to do a series of short workshops for RODE microphones about DSLRs and recording sound. It was great fun but not long enough, and I didn’t get to go to Perth or New Zealand!

The good news is that next year’s tour is confirmed and it’s longer – full day workshops AND this time Perth and Auckland.

There will also be a big in-depth sound section taught by Aussie sound icon Ric Creaser.

I won’t be covering the basics of DSLRs, it’s a waste of time, pretty much everyone knows them BUT if you are new to them I recommend watching my fun series I did for Vimeo which goes over these!.

I will be talking technique across all cameras.

How to get the best out of your DSLR.

Going through the large chip camcorders with a chance to check them out.

In depth timelapse and MUCH MORE!

It will be a lot of fun as I try and make my workshops entertaining as well as educational. There will also be a meet up after each one…

Unfortunately there is no Brisbane this time – it will be in Byron Bay at the SAE institute. A great venue. All the venues are linked below.

Pricing is at the early bird price if you buy this year of $120 with a further $20 off if you have valid student ID. After that the price goes up to to $170, but the student discount is still applicable.