103 year old lens video

I have a Wollensak Cine-Velostigmat 1.5 lens from the 1930-1940's. Wollensak was a US manufacturer of lenses for still and film camera's. I still have to do a proper video with my antique lens and really got inspired by this well-done clip shot with a Canon 5D Mark II and a 1908(!) Wollensak Cine-Velostigmat f5 lens.

Mailbox: plastic from China

UNIFORM THREADSIZE FOR ALL MY C-MOUNT LENSES

I just received an envelope with plastic from China. Three lenscaps, to be exact. I've bought 52mm stepup rings for all my small (mostly c-mount) lenses so I can use all these lenses with a single LCW variable ND filter. Now I have a bunch of 52mm stepup rings and a bunch of lenscaps to go with them.

I paid US $0,99 cents a piece incl shipping. There was also an auction(!) but how much cheaper do you want it..? There are people actually bidding 0,11 cents?! For @## sake, the profit margin is what...? give these people their 99 cents so they can (try to) feed their families... (shipping from this seller was superfast, by the way: 5 days from China!)

0,99 SHIPPED FROM CHINA

Free video

I did a post last week on free stock footage and I was really surprised to discover how much nice, free stuff is out there. Not long after I posted that entry, I was approached by a man offering free stock footage, if I ever needed it. Now certain shots most of us won't make, like shots from a plane for instance. But they can really add some production value to your film: like an aerial shot of a big city, for instance. So I tried downloading a few of these aerial shots.
I had some issues downloading clips with Firefox on a PC and contacted the website. The response was very fast and personal and that made me curious about the person behind the website. David Schmerin, owner of the website, has been in the business for a long time. I asked him a number of questions, among which: "Did you shoot the footage yourself?" and "How can giving away free footage be a viable business enterprise?" This is David's candid response:

I finally hacked my GH2- did I?

HACK INTERFACE: LOOKS MORE COMPLICATED THAN IT IS

I don't know why, but there was a huge mental barrier to hack my GH2... which I overcame today. There were a few reasons: I wondered whether or not I needed the hack, if I was jeopardizing the stability of my camera and last but not least: I really didn't feel like having to figure out how to do it...
The question whether or not "I really needed" the hack can be answered by a simple "no". Who needs the hack, really? On the other hand, who really needs a new camera? As far as the stability of my camera is concerned, you can always revert to the original firmware. And as far as my resentment for figuring out how to do the hack: it was quite simple. (even though I felt very insecure while doing it)
So now I am presumably shooting 24P with this patch: Driftwood_176M_GOP1_NOAQ_(QuantMeBaby v3) Presumably, because I have no idea whether or not anything has changed in-camera?! The firmware version stays the same and the little footage I've shot looks great. But so did the footage before... I cannot honestly say I see any difference... And I just noticed I used a Sandisk Ultra II, 15mb/s Class 2 card. I thought these are way too slow for these outrageous hack-datarate-numbers..? I guess this story isn't over yet...

On the job

Long day filming therapeutic training sessions...

(No) Canon 5D Mark III

CANON C300 CINEMA EOS CAMERA

So Canon came out with this fantastic new line of camcorders called the Cinema EOS system. The first one announced, the C300 was announced today and will cost around $16.000,- Here's a clip that cinematographer Vincent LaForet made with the prototype. But you know, I really don't care how great the new Canon C300 is, unless they will use the exact same hardware and put it in a camcorder under $6000,- or a DSLR package for $2500,-...
Looks like Canon hasn't alienated from its large base of budget/filmers and/or DSLR-users and will continue to serve us. Here's a little excerpt from Canon's pressrelease that promises a new DSLR for filmers:

"Canon Inc. today announced that the company is developing a new-concept EOS-series digital single-lens reflex (SLR) camera. Incorporating an enhanced version of the video-capture capability offered in the current EOS-series lineup, the new camera will be ideally suited for cinematographic and other digital high-resolution production applications. The model will be equipped with a 35 mm full-frame CMOS sensor and, enabling the recording of 4K video."

CANON 5D MARK III (OR WHATEVER THEY WILL CALL IT)

Wonder how this camera will compare to the C300. It's hard to be succesful these days: not only do you have to compete with the competition, but increasingly with your own cameras as well... So... bring out the 5D Mark III, Canon and try and make me sell my Canon 550D and Panasonic GH2!

Crazy Colors Clip

This is a sequel to my earlier autumn clip shot with the Pentax 6mm. I've been walking around with the Cosmicar 25mm stuck on my GH2, shooting people but I could not resist grabbing some colors of autumn. Am I getting old and sentimental shooting vegetation these days? I don't know, but definitely more sensitive to the changes of seasons, the colors on colors, textures, dense and open spaces.
I promise this is my last plant/flower type clip. (At least this season...)

Turn up the volume!

Mailbox: Transcend Class 10 SDHC Cards

Between my Sony EX1 R, Panasonic GH2, Canon 550D, GoPro HD and my Panasonic Lumix TZ7, I am using a whole bunch of SDHC cards. It was time to get some new ones after I kept switching the cards between camera's and sometimes forgetting to put the card in the camera and not having a spare one in the bag.
I opted for 2 16GB Transcend SDHC cards, Class 10 (up to 20MB/s) at €18 a piece, incl shipping. I have the Transcend Class 6 cards and they have served me well in all cameras and they are by far the cheapest. I was tempted to get 32 GB cards but don't want to run the risk of losing 2 hours of shooting if the card goes foul. My advice: buy 16 GB cards and spread your risk...

FAST ENOUGH FOR THE GH2 (DRIFTWOOD) HACK?

Mailbox: return of the SmallHD DP4

OPEN THE BOX BEFORE SIGNING!

UPS stopped by today to deliver my SmallHD DP4 monitor after I sent mine back because of a slight sunburn... Too bad it didn't arrive one day earlier- I could have used it for my shoot yesterday! But SmallHD shipped it from NC, USA to Amsterdam in exactly one week from the point they (should have) received my damaged monitor. That's fast!
Last week it passed Germany on the way over here and I got a little suspicious when a UPS-worker from Poland(why Poland?) asked me for my BTW-number (my business tax-number). I get a lot of 'fishing' emails and after my monitor got stolen by some postal worker, I don't trust anyone. I called UPS Holland and they said to ignore the mail. The next day I received another email from a guy from UPS Holland who asked me for my BTW number as well and who signed his email with a very unprofessional 'Mike'. I ignored that as well.
Which is apparently the thing to do because today my monitor arrived anyway. The UPS guy came, asked me to sign for the package but when I was about to take the pencil from his hand hesitated and said "sorry, I want to check if my item is actually in there." I opened the box and there it was. I showed the DP4 to the UPS guy. Then I looked at him intensely and asked him if his name was 'Mike' and if he had friends in Poland. He said "no" and I told him that if he ever saw a colleague of his filming with something that looked like my monitor, he should contact me... 'Sure, buddy' he answered, a little unsettled, excused himself and quickly drove off in his brown UPS truck.

MY SMALLHD DP4: SPOTLESS

Portable, more portable, portablest jib...

I have written about my portable jib which arrived just over a month ago. It's light and well-made and portable. There's another kid on the block that claims to do the same while being even lighter and more portable. The downside is that it costs twice as much and that it will only hold DSLR's.
Well, it just happens to be that today for the first time I took along my jib to a paid gig and mounted my EX1R to it. It took the weight effortlessly. (even though I need some more counterweight) Anyway, check out this ultraportable jib and tell me how you like it if you happen to own one.

Cosmicar 25mm 1.4: a rare bugger...

About 6 months ago I bought a silver, metal little lens. I had just discovered c-mount lenses and was lusting after unusual, old lenses(and preferably a combination of the 2). I found a Cosmicar 25mm 1.4 television lens on a Dutch website for secondhand articles and I bought it for around €80,-
Now recently I've been working on a little project and I've been using this Cosmicar lens in combination with the GH2. It's sharp, colors are nicely saturated but there's some heavy vignetting when stopping this lens down so I have been trying to find out what thread size I need for a ND filter. Turns out that's one tough piece of information to come by..! These lenses are very rare.
Cosmicar has been taken over by Pentax and the new Pentax 25mm 1.4 is a different lens altogether and has different measurements. I found one picture of the exact same lens as mine on Flickr but that account has been inactive for 2 years... Otherwise... nothing on the web. So I contacted Pentax Holland, who referred me to Pentax England. I filled in an online contact form and was called up by Pentax Belgium! Who took my question to Pentax Germany. Pentax Germany told me they weren't sure but the lens was probably from '69. They did not have any records of sizes and advised me to measure the lens diameter by hand. My best bet was 34mm. A stepup ring is on the way.

VERY SMOOTH APERTURE AND FOCUS RING

LOOKS MODERN BUT THIS LENS IS OVER 40 YEARS OLD...

For all wide-angle freaks

In the ongoing evolution of camera's and cameragear it was just a matter of time before the 360 degree lens would hit the market. Because competition is killing, it's important to have a headstart on your competitors. But in this case, I would have told my engineers to keep working at it just a wee bit more before taking it to the stores. This footage is so soft you could use it for pillow stuffing... (Ok, that's the best I could come up with. Better comparisons may be left in the comment box)It's a fun gadget though. Move your mouse over the image and you can view 360 degrees. (there's also a free iphone app from the same company)

Free footage (and music and more...)

Apparently there's so much free footage out there it makes you wonder why you should go out and shoot anything at all..;-) A few days ago I read about Videoblocks giving away 20 clips a day for 7 days to attract new customers. But I lost the link and while trying to retrieve it, I came across a few other sites where cheapo's like us can find free footage. Such as StockFootageForFree. No catch! There's even a Vimeo group that you can join and have access to some quality HD stuff. Now why didn't I know about that before..?! I admit I haven't tried all of them but I'm sure you can find some great material and definitely worth it if you're looking for some special footage, animations or (sound-)tracks.

Mailbox: budget 'Perfect' DSLR viewfinder

DSLR viewfinder comes with strap and sticky frame

Well, I don't know if it's perfect but that's what it says on the box. It's a LCD foldable viewfinder with 3x magnification and +/-3 diopter. At $46,- shipped it doesn't get any cheaper than this.I bought a viewfinder that doesn't have diopter nor is it foldable for €55,- , about than 10 months ago.What particularly bothered me about that design is the sticky metal frames: they kept falling off. And the magnets that were supposed to keep the two elements together weren't strong enough, either...
I've seen some good stuff about this 'perfect' viewfinder and decided to give it a shot. It's all plastic and light; nothing fancy about it. But who needs that, as long as it works? I will write about my experiences with this loupe after I've really used it and tell you how it holds up.

foldaway loupe for easy viewing

Stolen: SmallHD DP4

MY DP4 ONE DAY AFTER I RECEIVED IT

I sent my practically new SmallHD DP4 monitor in for repair a few weeks ago and yesterday I got word from SmallHD that someone along the way from Amsterdam to the USA opened the box, took out the monitor and closed it again in such a way that no one would notice..! Unfortunately SmallHD signed for it without checking the box... And that is very unfortunate, from a legal standpoint.
The only consolation is that the thief has a unit with sunburn spots on the LCD.(the reason my monitor went back for repair.) And because it's such a specialized piece of gear, only SmallHD can repair it. In case you come across a SmallHD DP4 (for sale) and it has serial# DP4-00473, please contact SmallHD.

The good news is that my new replacement monitor is on the way. Let's just hope it doesn't pass the same thieving hands when it travels to Amsterdam. One thing I know for certain: I will check every box I receive before signing for it.

A new&better GoPro HD...

I was so happy with my new GoPro HD camera and now they've released a GoPro HD2 and I feel like I have an outdated camera... The new GoPro is 2x sharper, does 120 fps (albeit lo-res), has all sorts of wireless control and viewing functions (optional) etc. Why do they keep doing this? Can't they just stick with one design for 10 years and make me feel really priviliged...;-)

Panasonic, Pentax, Park

'P' was on the menu today. I should add 'Painter's Palette...'. 'Plant Poetry' perhaps ;-) ? Pardon this presumptuous proposition...

It's just a collection of colors, lightrays and shades I framed in the park today...

Fun with the 15,- Pentax 6mm 1.2

Took my GH2 with Pentax 6mm lens to the voetbal/football/soccer tournament at my son's club. 10 year old boys (plus the occasional girl) playing some incredible voetbal. But with this lens it was much more fun shooting the emotion around the game than shooting the action itself... Some of these kids are so concentrated on the game you can literally stick a camera in their face and they won't notice...
Here's my very short impression of the day.

Canon 5D Mark III..?

Is it real... or a fata morgana?

Small HD DP4 and Zacuto EVF compared

Nice Lady does it again: nice review of the DP4 vs the Zacuto EVF! She's turning this review into a series with a cliffhanger: part 3 is still to come! I was planning to do my own review but then my DP4 got fried before I got the chance to. I was going to spend a day shooting with soundman Neal McDiarmid -who owns a Zacuto EVF- and compare the two but Nice Lady beat us to it. That's fine: the more, the better, right? We will do our own anyway, so people can make an even more informed decision. Meanwhile, this is what Nice Lady has to say about both EVF's. Nice work, Nice Lady!