Is it Chinese porcelain? A crystal bowl? No, it's an adapter plate!

A TYPICAL CASE OF 'OVER-BOXING'

I have received packages in all sizes and shapes but I have never seen a package that was so utterly over-packed as this sliding adapter plate that was delivered to me this morning! A cardboard box nearly 30 cm wide, 24 cm high en 22 cm deep (yes, I measured it, for good measure...) to deliver an adapter plate?! Aside from the fact that you could have easily fitted 100 adapter plates in this box, it was wrapped like antique glass... I'm all for good packaging but this is way beyond any reasoning and a waste at that... (interesting sidenote: this Manfrotto-compatibel adapter plate (Calumet's own brand, half the price of the official Manfrotto version) is shipped in a Manfrotto box...)

SVAROFFSKI EGG PROTECTION... FOR A STEEL PLATE?!

Missing in Action

Waddaya mean DSLR small form factor..??!

Within a week of having my mattebox all set up with my new Formatt glass 4x4 filters, I lost one of my filter holders with a Circular Polarizer still in it. I've been shooting out on the edge of a lake and experimented with different filters. My mattebox has two filter holders and I would shoot with both the polarizer and the ND filter, take out the polarizer, shoot with just one filter, etc. Occasionally I placed a filterholder with glass against my camerabag. I probably looked right through it when I left (it's glass*%##!) and found out 3 days later I was missing a filter and filterholder. So today I biked the 10 miles to the lake to see if it was still lying somewhere in the grass but that was just too much to hope for...
I just spent €25,- to send my damaged SmallHD monitor in for repair, now I need to spend another €80,- to replace my filter and holder. None of this would have happened if I just stuck to shooting with my EX1 and keep things nice and simple... Which goes to prove: the more stuff you have, the more can go wrong... (and it usually does)

MY CIRCULAR POLARIZER IN BETTER DAYS...

Cheap GoPro HD bike mount

CAMERA BIKE MOUNT: $3,- OR $30,-??!

Ever since I busted my GoPro HD mount that was used to attach my camera to racing steering wheel, I started looking for a replacement. I was looking at offers like '$20,- plus $32,- shipping'. Ridiculous. Then I saw something they sell as a GoPro bike mount but is not even an official GoPro accessory. But the price is still over $30,-. Absurd. Then I remembered I bought exactly the same bike mount last year for my Panasonic Lumix TZ7. Cost me $1,- plus $2,- shipping! Now we're talking. (don't forget you'll need a GoPro tripod mount to use any of these bike mounts)
Don't get fooled by so-called 'official accessories', an extra few minutes of searching on eBay can earn you lots of dollars...

NO-NAME BIKE MOUNT (LEFT) AND GOPRO TRIPOD MOUNT

SmallHD DP4 and sunlight

BELOW RIGHT: WHITE SUNBURN SPOT

I have been using the SmallHD DP4 for about a month now. It's been sunny and that's the reason I have been shooting outside a lot, experimenting with different lenses, rigs, my new mattebox and glass filters. My DP4 made it a lot more fun and so much easier to shoot with these accessories and judge what I was doing.

But there is a big drawback to shooting in the sun with an Electronic View Finder (EVF): sunlight. And when I disovered a few spots/specks on my monitor and contacted SmallHD what these spots could be, they said they recognized the spots as coming from sunlight going into the EVF burning holes in your screen. The EVF is a magnifier: remember as a child using a magnifying glass to burn stuff? SmallHD says it takes no more than 30 seconds to burn holes in your screen. Considering that, I'm glad the damage was limited to a few spots...

Problem is that most often we're shooting with the sun in our back. So fiddling with equipment, searching your bag, talking to talent, whatever... 30 seconds is gone in a spiffy...

Is it a flaw in the design? I am not an engineer and cannot answer that. I have read that Zacuto's EVF has the same problem and most likely every monitor/EVF combo. Can't they redirect the sunlight so it won't hit the LCD? My uneducated guess is that -if possible at all- that would require very expensive optical engineering that would put the DP4 out of our financial range.
SmallHD has warned for use in the sunlight and consider this 'user damage'. But I have to give the company credit for the way it handles this issue. For now, clients are getting their DP4's fixed under warranty. In the future the sun warning will be more explicit in the manual and a lenscap for the EVF will be shipped with the package. I would add: preferably permanently attached to the EVF and with a big yellow warning sticker on the EVF itself. Because in the rush of the job, 30 seconds can pass before you can change a lens...

SOME SPOTS ARE ONLY VISIBLE WITH BLACK BACKGROUNDS

Return of the 15,- Pentax 6mm 1.2 (a succes story!)

grind down more on the side, as shown in picture

Ever since I bought my Pentax 6mm 1.2 cctv lens, I have not been able to focus on infinity. I paid someone €20,- to shave down the rear barrel of my lens but to no avail. I started grinding my c-mount adapter but that was not succesful either.
The problem is -and I know other buyers are struggling with the same thing- is that you don't know exactly how much to grind down of the barrel. People didn't get it and I didn't, either... It's not that the person who 'discovered' this cheap wide and fast lens, Seb Farges, wasn't helpful. He shared pictures of the mod but he was not able to explain exactly why simple 'shaving off a few millimeters' didn't work. But then, upon close examination and with the help of blogger Obakesan I finally noticed what I was supposed to do: shave off the outer side of the barrel a few millimeters more, untill you reach the screw on the side.
I bought a €35,- Dremel (electric tool) to do the job and after a few rounds grinding down the barrel... tadaaaa! Infinity! I am infinitely happy with the results... I will post some footage I shot with the Pentax soon. (Note: this is not a dirtcheap lens anymore: 15,- for the Pentax, 2 c-mount adapters@ 19,- together, 35,- for the Dremel... But the Dremel is a lovely tool: I used it to slice through metal today and it lived up to the task!)

GH2 AND PENTAX 6MM 1.2: TOGETHER AT LAST!

Improving the budget fluidhead

WEIFENG/FANCIER HEAD WITH MANFROTTO 577 ADAPTER PLATE

I have been using the cheap Weifeng aka Fancier 717 fluid tripod head and I really appreciate the relatively small form factor and its fluid qualities but... there's one big drawback with this head and that's the quick-release plate. It is really fiddly to slide your camera with plate onto the tripod head: my Manfrotto head, for instance, has wedged edges that make sliding your camera onto the head a breeze. With the Weifeng/Fancier, this is bad design and a big drawback; particularly noticeable and aggrevating when you're working with a heavier setup like a DSLR rig or bigger/heavier camera than a DSLR. I simply could not mount my 15 pound DSLR rig with that quick-release plate...

But you can give your budget fluid head the same ease and convenience of a more expensive system. I mounted my Manfrotto 577 adapter plate on my Fancier quick-release plate and you will never have to deal with the Weifeng/Fancier quickrelase plate again! Another benefit is that -if you already use Manfrotto- you only have to use one type of quick-release plate. Calumet sells their own brand which is compatible with Manfrotto but much cheaper. (they have European stores as well: free delivery action running now!))

IMPOSSIBLE WEIFENG/FANCIER SLIDER PLATE

WEIFENG QUICK-RELEASE PLATE WITH SHARP EDGES

SMOOTH SLIDING MANFROTTO 577 PLATE

WEDGED EDGES MAKE FOR EASY ENTRY INTO ADAPTER PLATE

Mailbox: Accessories for my DSLR rig

FINISHING TOUCH: C-SHAPE CAGE AND TOP HANDLE

Since I have just about everything for my DSLR rig, I might as well put the finishing touch to it. I had no way to comfortable carry the rig around so what I really needed was a top handle- and a way to mount it. There were two options: a square cage or a C-shaped support with top handle. I opted for the last one because in my case (I already have a basic Gini rig) it was cheaper.
After some research I opted for the Lanparte C-shaped Cage, a top handle and 2 rod-risers to accommodate a batterygrip for my camera's. Not cheap but good quality and very functional. After a little searching I found a place that was cheaper than eBay. I have the feeling that the old days -where the best deals were exclusively on eBay- are over...

ROD RAISERS ENABLE USE OF BATTERYGRIP

MATTEBOX AND FF SIT ON BLACK RODS

Filters for your mattebox

This is the first time I took my new Formatt 4x4 filters out for a spin. I have no experience with matteboxes and filters so I was very curious to see how they would behave.  It takes quite some getting used to working with a mattebox and filters. Not only is setup time considerably increased but try to find a bag big enough that will hold a rig with mattebox...
One of the first mistakes I made was to forget the 'donuts' that seal off the mattebox from light coming in from the rear, reflecting off the glass filters. In a few of these shots, the reflection is quite visible. I tried different configurations, adding and removing filters, opening up or stopping down the lens. This is just a first test, however, and now that I've seen the results I'm eager to do some more testing. Shooting water with only the polarizer, for instance, and doing comparisons between ND Grad .9 and ND .9
If there's anything you'd like to see in particular, let me know. For now, you get a pretty good impression of what these filters do and are capable of. Money well spent.

Mailbox: Hi-Capacity LP-E8 (aftermarket)

MINI-DV?? OH, WELL, AS LONG AS THEY WORK...

I am hired to do my first professional photoshoot in a few weeks and I'm starting to get nervous already... What camera, what lenses, how many SDHC cards, shoot RAW, do I have enough batteries. I think I got everything worked out: bringing my Canon 550D/T2i because it's a nicer photocamera than the GH2, in my opinion, particularly because of the form factor.
Besides, my only two autofocus lenses fit just the Canon: the Tamron 17-50 2.8 VC and the Canon EF 50mm 1.8 II. I will pack two 16 GB cards. My biggest worry was running out of juice, considering I only have three batteries, of which two are clones. So I ordered an extra two, 'hi-capacity' batteries, which I received today from ECELL. Two LP-E8 replacements, rated 1930 mAh a piece. (23,- incl shipping). That's considerably more power than the original 1120 mAh Canon battery. But what does that mean in real life? I guess I'll find out and let you know how they fare on the job.

WHAT'S THAT? MADE IN JAPAN?!

Cracked: close call for the GoPro HD

GOPRO PLASTIC MOUNT: BAD PART OR MOUNTING ISSUE?

I went for a ride on my racebike yesterday and attached my GoPro HD with the special bikemount accessory I purchased. Everything went well for the first 80 kilometers but when I rode back into Amsterdam the GoPro seemed to shake more than a few hours before... I thought it was one of the screws that had vibrated itself loose and felt if the GoPro was still secured tight to my steering wheel. It felt solid but the camera shakes actually got worse. A minute later I checked again -still riding fast- and when I removed my hand the GoPro fell, nearly crashing onto the pavement at 30 km/hour... if it wasn't for a reflex in which I snatched the camera before it dropped to the ground...
The plastic part that was holding it simply broke off after 80 kilometers of shaking. But it shouldn't have: this is the same mount they use for motorcycles or mountainbikes and that is way more abusive than a relatively smooth ride over paved streets..? The only thing I can think of is that I somehow mounted it too stiff and there was no slack to release energy/drain vibrations..?
Because for a sports camera, this should not happen...

THE OTHER HALF OF THE BROKEN MOUNTING PART

Mailbox: portable jib

JIB INSTALLS IN A MINUTE

Got my portable jib in today from Glidecam Industries, after 2,5 months... Actually, got two portable jibs. (One for me and one for fellow gearhead, 'Soundman Neal' here in the Netherlands.) We got a little discount on the shipping when ordering two... (Dutch buyers, by the way, get slapped by all sorts of taxes. For the two jibs it added up to €78,-) The goods arrived scratch-free, wrapped in bubble plastic and shipped in a cardboard box.

The jib feels solid- as it should because there's not that much to it. Black finish feels good, welding is rough but fine. The system is indeed portable because it's light, lighter than what you'd think by looking at it. (That's of course without the weights) I mounted it on my tripod, screwed my GH2 onto the jib and played with it a little. Even without counterweights (not included, have to find some...) it feels very solid, smooth and professional. No vibrations, no rattling, no slack. We'll have to find out if that stays that way when adding weights and other stuff...

Without a monitor there's no way to frame the shot and when I ordered the jib I didn't have a monitor. But now I do. I just noticed they're selling a 'jib monitor mount bracket' and at $15,- that is a no-brainer if you want to do more than landscapes and wide shots. Sorry, Neal, looks like this story isn't over yet...

SILVER BAR FOR HOLDING WEIGHTS

PINS FOR SECURING WEIGHTS

SIMPLE... BUT EFFECTIVE

MOUNTING PLATE WITH SCREW (SUPPLIED)

A Dream Come True

I have made possible 1,5 seconds of the production of Man-Child, a feature film to be made by Koo. He needed $115.000,- to make this film and yesterday it became clear that enough people chipped in on Kickstarter to make it happen. Wow. Congratulations! I believe 24 hours before the deadline he still needed $15.000,- and I never thought he was going to make it.
I have to give this guy a lot of respect. Things looked hopeless but up untill the last seconds Koo remained relentless in his drive to draw people into his dream. What focus and positivism can achieve... All his life he had been working towards this moment: investing, reading, writing, filming, blogging, giving, sowing. Waiting for that one moment to harvest.
A week or two before the deadline not even half the money was pledged. He started changing the reward levels- I thought it was a desperate move that could have an averse effect: people can be turned off when they're pushed and lured to obviously. But it worked.
The first time I increased my donation I got a Blu-ray DVD, the second time I officially owned the right rear wheel of his Volkswagen Jetta and at level three I was entitled to a full body massage by Koo's girlfriend Jasmine. Call it outrageous, call it obscene... but sometimes a man's gotta do what he's gotta do- to make his dream come true.

Great editing: the sum and the parts...

Breathtaking video and superb editing. I love the way these seemingly unrelated images come together to create a sensation that cannot be put to words. Just watch. (by the way, there is another, longer trailer that doesn't work for me, probably because I had seen this first...)

This is the drill for my 15,- Pentax 6mm 1.2

THE DREMEL: IF THIS DOESN'T WORK, NOTHING WILL...

I cannot get my Pentax 6mm 1.2 c-mount lens to focus on my Panasonic GH2. I am stuck with a fixed focus lens while others have been able to shoot good stuff with this wide-angle, fast lens I bought for €15,-
I am going to give this lens one last shot and bought a Dremel (mini-drill) that will help me modify my lens even further. I have instructions from people that have been succesful at getting infinity focus with comparable lenses... Either I'm going to shoot some lowlight, wide angle stuff pretty soon or I'll be stuck with a handfull of scrapmetal...

PRECISE INSTRUCTIONS FOR MODIFICATION

Mailbox: glass filters for my Mattebox

MY OWN STARTER'S KIT

Got my set of 5 glass 4x4 filters in today. I didn't buy my mattebox for the looks, as I've read that many people do. I wanted one primarily because I want to control the amount of light entering my lenses and I wanted a 'one size fits all' solution. Later on I learned about other types of filters: I loved what the Polarizer did to reduce reflections and enhance saturation while the Graduated Filter prevents skies from blowing out. So I put together my own 'Starter's Kit', consisiting of :

1. .03 ND Filter
2. .06 ND Filter
3. .09 ND Filter
4. .06 ND Grad Filter
5. Circular Polarizer Filter

Now how hard can it be to prepare this order? Apparently very hard because I was sent a 0.9 Grad ND as opposed to the 0.6 I specified. (Specified twice: once when placing the order and once after I paid. To make sure...)
The filters are new and engraved with the brandname and specifications. No complaints there  but the velcro on one of the pouches partly ripped off the very first time I opened it. No disaster but you don't want that to happen when you unwrap something new... Furthermore: on the seller's eBay store it says:

"Each Filter comes in its individual leather pouch casing."  

Do my casings look like leather to you..?

NYLON POUCH THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN LEATHER

.09 ND GRAD FILTER

.03 ND FILTER

RIPPED VELCRO: NOT A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION

Configuring a DSLR rig: phase one

 It took me about half a year but I believe I finally have everything a functional rig should comprise of: a Gini rig, a follow focus, a camera light, a matte box and a monitor. For the first time I have put it all the elements together and it has been a puzzle. Instead of everything working the way I hoped for, I am running into all sorts of issues. First one: I cannot use my batterygrip on my Canon 550D/T2i because both the mattebox and follow focus don't raise that high. For the same reason I can't use my Manfrotto quick release plate and I really dislike having to screw my camera unto the Gini camera plate. The follow focus and the mattebox fight for space the left side of the rig. With a wide angle lens I cannot slide my matte box unto the lens because the FF sits in the way...
Balancing this rig will be a real challenge. I guess I've learned that building a rig is like designing a tool: it will work only after a lot of trial and error. Phase one is finding a place for everything and making it work with my most important lenses. Phase two will be balancing it for shoulderwork.

Stunning looks: don't fix it in post!

Fix it in-camera. People always talk about getting the most neutral or 'flat' picture profiles as possible, to be able to tweak the look of their video later on with color correction software. But there are some good arguments why you don't want to go that route. For one: you don't have time to manipulate all the shots in postproduction. Or: you don't have the skills.
Another good reason is that you can get such incredible result tweaking the camera settings that there simply is no reason to want more. This fine looking, very informative video shows you how to play around with the settings in camera so you can get that specific look you want, without any color correction after the shoot.

3.2 gigabyte panorama picture?

We all know panorama pictures: a series of pictures 'stitched together' to form a very wide angle view photograph. A gigapixel photograph is not a series of photo's stitched together but a series of panorama photo's stitched together: an über-panorama photograph! Making such a photograph manually is painstaking and not the most enlightening chore imaginable. Unless you're a monk and find peace and enlightment in repitition...
For non-monks Gigapan systems developed a robot that makes these pictures for you, and much better than you could do yourself. Here you can take a look at some pictures taken with this device. Combine these with timelapse and the freak-factor is complete...

Testing my 'film-lens' collection

Earlier this year I bought a set of Carl-Zeiss Jena and Meyer-Optik prime lenses that had been modified for film-use. The seller had made the aperture-rings click-less for smooth, jitter-free aperture adjustment and every lens had a custom-made gear ring for easier focussing, with or without follow-focus.
The seller considered this a set 'that belonged together' because the footage of these lenses was supposed to cut well together and the lenses cover a nice range from 20mm to 135mm.
Meanwhile I had been bitten by the lens-bug and have acquired quite a few other lenses, impulsively or because I had really liked the footage that was shot with that particular lens. I have shot a lot of footage with all these lenses but never really tested that first collection of Carl-Zeiss Jena's and Meyer-Optik's.
In the next week I'm planning to put this collection to the test and see what makes these lenses special.

CLICK-LESS APERTURE RING AND CUSTOM GEAR RING

I've Sold my Soul without Selling my Film...

...so now it's time to Sell my Film without Selling my Soul. At least that's what the authors of this book promise with the book of the same title. The book is free up untill October 1 and you can get different versions: for iPad, iPhone, pdf, Kindle, Sony E-Reader, you name it. Enhanced with video interviews with filmmakers. Only the paperback will cost money.
This is a great initative and promises to be of great help in raising money for postproduction for the documentary I'm working on.
I've been trying to download a copy for my iPad but I can't because it's only offered in the US iTunes Store, not in the Dutch one..??!! What the..? I am a World Citizen, not a prisoner of Holland?! Come on, Apple, figure it out. You're getting worse than Mickeysoft! Luckily I was able to download a pdf from the film collaborative's website but I want to watch those interviews as well!@! Anyway, get your copy while it's free and make sure to spread the word.

In search of the best 4x4...

The search for a set of 4x4 filters for my mattebox is on. I've been doing some online research and I talked to a Tiffen representative at IBC last week and we could have talked the entire day. Selecting and using filters is a science all in its own... Initially I set out to buy a ND-filter because that's the main reason I bought the mattebox: to control the light coming in without having to have an ND-filter for every lens...but there's so much more to filters.
And there's so many more filters: Polarizers, ND's, graduated ND's, Black Mist, Skin Tone Enhancers, Hard Edged, Soft Edged, Diffusion filters, Sunset and Sunrise filters... after a talk to the Tiffen guy I was convinced I needed them all. Total cost would run into thousands of Euro's.

Now I've calmed down somewhat and am looking at a starter kit from Formatt. A polarizer for better contrast/reduce reflections, two ND filters for controlling the amount of light entering the lens, Super Mist for softening harsh/blue light and a Skin Tone filter for creating warm skin tone or warming outdoor shots of foliage, trees and the likes. But will I use all these filters? And how good is Formatt? People rave about Schneider and Tiffen but you hear little about Formatt. I just saw them at Zacuto's online store- a reputable store and maker of high-end gear. But does that make Formatt high end? To be continued...

Photoshop for Video Tips & Tricks

 I am not a Photoshop-adept by any means. I enviously eyeball people who effortlessly skate through layers, click frolickly on a filter here and an alpha channel there.... I can't stand it... I desperately want to be proficient at Photoshop but the reality is: I use it too little to ever really crack that nut.

For people like me, Video University has a helpful sheet with Photoshop for Video Tips & Tricks.

Some of the topics include:

• Creating an Image for Video Use

• Tips for Viewing Pixel Aspect Ratios

• Using Logos

• Extracting Elements from an Image

    

  If you want to go more in-depth, Photoshop guru Richard Harrington's Photoshop for Video has gotten some great reviews on Amazon- and beyond.

Living for The Shot

I was sent this video yesterday and was blown away by the power of these images and the great voice-over. (I understood only half of it but that was more than enough) Passion, poetry, craftsmanship combine to make it much more than the sum of the elements. Raw and subtle, smooth and rough, beautiful and dangerous... there's no denying this one...

The Great 50mm 1.4 Shootout

I own two great 50mm prime lenses: the Canon FD 50mm 1.4 and the Super Takumar 50mm 1.4 I They are both fast, sharp and I love the images they produce. Since they're both 50mm 1.4 it is interesting to see how these two wonderful lenses perform and how they compare in a number of different situations.

The 3,- DSLR grip

I posted this about 8 months ago, albeit in Dutch at the time: a 3,- grip that improves stability when shooting handheld with a DSLR by 100%. I haven't used it much because I don't shoot much handheld. But the day before yesterday I shot a short interview using the combination of the old flash bracket and GH2 and it worked very nicely. Secondhand shops have buckets full of these and I even got a discount: 2 for 5,-! If you combine them you have a dual handshooter for walking staircases, for instance. They even fold up for ultra-portability. Don't leave home without one... (or two)

A small taste of IBC Amsterdam

I did a short interview with filmmakers Nino Leitner and Sebastian Weingartner at the Sachtler stand at IBC about DSLR's, gear and related topics. They were there promoting the new Sachtler Ace tripod kit. Here is a review by Philip Bloom, a friend and colleague of theirs. (they offer DSLR workshops together) I did this all handholding the GH2 so there is a slight increase of shaking towards the end... (kind of silly: I was filming at the Sachtler stand, surrounded by tripods and decided to go handheld...)

Nino & Sebastian at IBC Amsterdam from Filmersblog on Vimeo.

At IBC interviewing Nino and Sebastian

Just did a short interview using the GH2 at the Sachtler stand.
Will post video later!

Usable audio on the Canon 550D/T2i

With Magic Lantern installed on the Canon 550D/T2i you can get good audio without having to buy separate audio recorders and sync that audio later in post. Many have said that the audio is not good enough for professional use. Period. But if you listen to Mordy here, the audio is perfectly usable for interviews. He also gives some good tips on setting the levels.


Canon T2i/550D with Magic Lantern: DSLR Audio that you can use! from Mordy G on Vimeo.