Just another night at the office...

HOW NOT TO USE THE STAGE!!

I spent some weary, non-stop hours last night filming an event (or at least trying to) with 15 speakers and a singing act. The lighting was theatrical (dramatic!) ie loads of light next to complete darkness. I emphasized that all speakers remain in the light during their speech, but many either walked in and out of the dark or chose to remain there 80% of the time...

Can things be worse for a filmer? Yes! Our friendly but inexperienced speakers either didn't use or walked away from the microphone half of the time, leaving me pumping the volume up and down. And to make things a complete disaster: the host of the evening had his own mic and screamed like a chicken, making the contrast with the other speakers even more noticeable.

And another 4,- lens!

I exchanged 2 of my 4,- lenses because they were defect and got two with M42 mounts. One of them is a Pentacon 50mm 1.8. It has a little slack in the focus ring but seems to work fine otherwise. I made a few quick snapshots around the house and I had a hard time to get proper focus closeby. Shot at 1/100 shutter but maybe I should have gone faster to eliminate handshake. A little further away it got better.

11 looks compared

I was so impressed with the look of this footage I shot a few days ago that I thought it a good idea to compare the different 'looks' or 'presets' available in the Panasonic GH2. (also because I accidentally changed a setting and forgot which one I used!)
I shot this in full HD with the Lumix 20mm 1.7 and fader ND wide open. It's all straight out of the camera but I did lower the brightness by two nudges in FCP on the Nostalgic and Nature shots because they seemed too bright.

The settings for 'my film' are:

Contrast 0
Sharpness -1
Saturation 0
NR 0

(spectacular, eh? ;-)


11 looks compared from Filmersblog on Vimeo.

550D/T2i and GH2 Full HD comparison

The second edition of a practical, completely non-scientific test. The first time shot in 720P, now in full HD. Two camera's, mounted with the same lenses: a 20mm, 50mm and 135mm. How do they compare. Both daylight WB, aperture mostly stopped down all the way -or almost so- except for the inside shots. Both camera's set to the highest quality.

Straight out of the camera's.

550D/T2i and GH2 Full HD comparison from Filmersblog on Vimeo.

Summerday: a short film

Took my son out to the 'skate-pleintje' (skate square) in the neighborhood. A bunch of kids, boys around the age of my son, were hanging out and skating. Nice kids, having a good time. I just wanted to take a few shots of the action & some skating but it became more than that.
When I came home and looked at the shots it felt -excusez le mot- 'filmic'. (There is something about this lens, the pancake Lumix 20mm 1.7. I talked about it in a post a few days ago: how can something be sharp and soft at the same time? Well, this lens demonstrates it.) Maybe it was the light on this day and the way I was able to control it with the Fader ND filter that made this footage stand out. The colors and warmth. The photogenic boys. The sound and movement. The special combination of it all somehow makes it more than just a few shots of some kids skating.
A short visual on comraderie, playing from dawn to sunset, about careless summerdays. This could be anywhere and about any boy in the world. (watch it fullscreen)

Summerday: a short film from Filmersblog on Vimeo.

abused Pentax 6mm 1.2

SHAVED REAR TURNS GOLD!

I found someone who was willing and able to grind down the rear barrel of my Pentax 6mm 1.2 so that I could focus. Somehow the lens didn't sink low enough into the adapter to be able to focus. After some chiseling and machining about 2 mm is shaved off. And yes, it focuses! But not, to my great disappointment, into infinity...
So I paid someone 20,- to abuse my lens and it is effectively useless. Where did I go wrong? Others have done the same thing and have been more succesful. I'm sure I can fix it. I won't give up. This story is not over yet...
I wanted to try it out anyway and took my GH2 to the Sushi restaurant and was able to steal a few shots of the food before my wife got annoyed with my monomanic behaviour, ordered me to put the camera away and be social...




Modified (abused) Pentax 6mm 1.2 from Filmersblog on Vimeo.

To color correct or not to

"We'll fix it in post", is a much heard expression and its meaning is becoming more and more prevalent in video and filmproduction. The ability to correct and manipulate (the look of) footage has become more mainstream since the advent of tools such as Magic Bullet's Look or Colorista.

I wouldn't call myself a knowledgeable color corrector at all and I feel I make too little use of it. I have used presets from 'Looks' on a few clips and the response on Vimeo was so much more enthusiastic compared to 'unmanipulated footage'... it was a great stimulus to explore more of that area.

Philip Bloom compares Sony FS100, Panasonic AF100 and Sony F3

A real world comparison, shooting out on the streets. Just two guys (and a girl, I believe) and their camera's. And they brought their Canon 5D Mark II as well. I like this type of testing so much more than scientific charts. After all you just want to see what your camera produces in certain circumstances, not how it behaves in theory.  This is part 1 of the test.

AF100 vs F3 vs FS100 Part 1: The Real World from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

Mailbox: rare Wollensak lens

 

The latest victim of my C-mount frenzy has arrived and it's a beauty: a rare Wollensak 1 inch 1.5 Cine-Velostigmat. It's in great shape, considering its age. This lens must be at last 50 years old, looking at the materials and the history of the company. The Wollensak firm branched off Bausch & Lomb in 1899 and started producing lenses a few years later. It's heydays were in the 50's and it went bankrupt in 1972. I am all for recycling and reusing and find it great that new use is being found for all these great products from the past. If it wasn't for the M43 camera's, these lenses would have rusted away and ground to dirt in dumpsites. A few would have been preserved by collectors or found their way to musea. But now they're back and in demand, taking pictures again of a world quite different from what they saw 50 to 100 years ago.

But we read the friggin' manual!?

I've owned the Sennheiser EW-100 G2 wireless mic system for many years and it's been a great workhorse. For the budget-minded shooters the general consensus is that you can't get any better for the money. I believe I paid between 600 and 700 euro's for mine many years ago.
A friend of mine rents my set on a regular basis but has finally decided to buy a set of his own: the latest successor of my set, the Sennheiser EW-112P G3. Newer must be better, right?

He was familiar with the settings of my set and assumed the new system would have pretty much the same menu. Not so. The day before the shoot he spent literally hours setting up his system but the mic would not pick up any sound. He practically memorized the manual but to no avail.

Final Cut Pro X: a stable system at last?

 

So Final Cut Pro X is coming soon to a Mac near you and that looks great, but what does it mean for all the hard- and software that we use for editing?
For example: I own a Matrox MXO which I bought a few years ago for monitoring and color correcting HD video on a Dell 24' monitor. Now I can't say the experience has been entirely positive, to understate it... It worked for the first year or so on my G5 Quad but then the sh*t started to hit the fan. Mac OS upgrades and consequent MXO firmware upgrades have caused more misery than benefits.

The biggest yardsale in the world (timelapse)

April 30 is Koninginnedag (Queensday) in the Netherlands, birthdate of the belated queen Juliana. It has evolved into a massive national party.
People sing, dance, perform, buy and sell. Half of Holland buys the crap that the other half wants to get rid of. Literally millions of people empty out their attics, basements, storages and closets to sit out on the street and make a few bucks.
The Vondelpark in Amsterdam is the place for kids to buy and sell toys, play instruments and do their thing, whatever it is. Like streetperformers they place a hat in which you can throw a few coins.

Shot on a Canon 550D/T2i and a Sony EX1-R

Queens Day: the biggest yardsale in the world from Filmersblog on Vimeo.

Photos by the filmlens

Took the Taylor & Hobson (actually: Taylor, Taylor & Hobson) out for a spin yesterday and came back with a lot of under and overexposed pictures. Like all these XS (that is: extra small) buggers it's a tough lens to handle and taking stills with the GH2 is still a bit of trial and error. I don't know if I somehow changed a setting but the LCD screen is pumping from dark to light (in 'M' mode) and I don't know what's causing it.
Anyway, some of the photos have that really sweet swirley bokeh. Love it or hate it...

Mailbox: filmlens super comat f1.9 Taylor Hobson

I received another interesting lens today, from Salem, Oregon, USA: a filmlens, 1 inch f1.9 super comat by Taylor, Taylor & Hobson. It's mechanically in great shape, aperture and focus rings run very smoothly, lens looks fine. It's obviously old and has some cosmetic dents and scratches but that only adds to its character. Just wondering: is it possible to get a ND-filter on this one? I'm going to start taking pictures and report back soon!

Video with the 60,- Vivitar zoomlens

I've been taking some photographs with the Canon 550D/Vivitar 70-210 and it was time to shoot some proper video with it. After some failed attempts at recording moving images (shaking portable tripod, forgetting memorycard, no LCD viewfinder) I finally got around to taking along my heavy Manfrotto sticks and all the necessary accessories.

Canon 550D and Vivitar series 1, 70-210mm f3.5 from Filmersblog on Vimeo.

Mailbox: 3,- lens gear twist jar opener

a very small jar opener on a very small lens

A few months ago I watched a video about a great find by Tony Carretti in a GH2 Vimeo group. He ran across some US $3,99 twist jar openers that you could use as a type of focus-gear. I contacted my father in the States and sent him out on the hunt for these little devices. It took him 3 stores to find a place that had them in stock and he was finally able to send them to me. Everything great, except that he grabbed size Small. I am not going to tell him after all his efforts but I was a little disappointed when I opened the envelope and found these diminuative pieces of rubber... These were not going to fit my lenses.
But at second thought, the small rubbers (!) actually came in very handy. I've purchased several small to extra-small C mount lenses in the last month and the big jar openers would not have worked on them. These little guys are ideal; without them some C mount lenses would be impossible to focus during shooting. I'll get myself some extra jar openers when I visit the States this summer and make sure they are Large.

Twist jar openers XS

Footage of the Cosmicar-for-Bolex 25mm 1.4

Here's a little something I shot in the park with my recently acquired Cosmicar-for-Bolex lens. Excuse the shakes, it's all handheld. The second shot of the bike is with the 1:1 crop. Really like this lens: sharp, nice bokeh and colors. Obvious vignetting when stopping down. Really looking forward to shooting downtown with this lens (including a tripod). But when?! Anyone out there want to pay me for 2 weeks of carefree test-shooting?

Panasonic GH2 + Cosmicar 25mm f1.4 from Filmersblog on Vimeo.

Beautiful budgetlens: Vivitar 70-210mm 3.5 (series 1)

Last year I paid 65,- for this lens, including the original leather lenspouch, ND-filter, manual and shipping from the States. This is one heavyweight lens, especially after working with all these 50mm lenses. It's a zoomlens with a macro-function. Here are some pictures with the Vivitar mounted on the 550D: beautiful color, saturation and bokeh, sharp but not harsh. Jeez, I sound like a wine-connaisseur... (click on pics for large view)

 

Crap or class? The 4,- Meyer-Optik Domiplan 50mm 2.8

I've read opinions on this lens ranging from 'pure crap, avoid' to 'suprisingly nice lens'. The nice thing about lenses is that there is no absolute truth to how good or bad a lens is. Aside from its technical and build qualities, everyone can have an opinion on how well a lens works for them.
In my case, for 4,- I really can't go wrong with the Meyer-Optik Gorlitz Domiplan 50mm 2.8. 4 euro's money doesn't even cover the material that it's made from. It's a very short lens and it is not the most easy glass to handle -it's easy to inadvertently change aperture while focusing- but I like the fact that it's light and compact. Anyhow, here's a few snapshots I made with this ultra-budget prime lens. (click on photo for large view)

PARK PEOPLE: HENNY

TULIPS

PARK PEOPLE: JACQUES

WALKING CANE

Mailbox: Mamiya-Sekor 50mm 1.2

I need another prime 50mm lens like I need a hole in my head. Actually, there's a hole in my wallet- and it needs to be stuffed. A modest hole because I paid 18,- for this lens. I found it on an online marketplace and even though the seller lives in another part of Amsterdam, I asked him to send it to me because I'm short on time. The guy sends me a crushproof, customized cardbox filled with newspaper and the lens is wrapped in bubble plastic in a beautiful leather pouch. And a screw-on sunshade is also included. It is heartwarming to see how people can take pride in their merchandize, no matter the value. It makes the lens even more special.

Why did I buy it? Because I saw some great photo's people had taken with it. (I know, the lens doesn't make the photographer, or filmer, but it can be inspiring...) And because I liked the look. It was cheap. I'm not just buying mind you. I'm shooting a lot of pictures. Most of it is crap but there are some beauties. I'm learning a lot about photography; skills that I can apply to my videowork as well. It's interesting to see how much these two are alike and yet completely different. Got some great shots with my Vivitar Series 1, 70-210mm, f3.5. A beautiful budget lens. Will post them soon.