RAW video for the 5D Mark 3

About 3 weeks after I bought my 5D Mark III, one of  the most amazing development in recent video-years has been realized by the magicians from Magic Lantern. They have been able to unlock full potential from the camera's fullframe sensor, enabling RAW video to be output directly onto the card.
I am not a technical person and definitely not a pixelpeeper but the amount of information that becomes available not only in terms of dynamic range and color space but also in terms of detail is absolutely phenomenal for every shooter.
I was going to write a piece about my initial experiences with the 5D Mark III, which were not too positive about a few findings that will most likely be completely alleviated by this development: mushy images and dynamic range. There's so much information being pumped out of the sensot at such rates that my Class 10 SD cards won't be able to keep up. I needed a CF card for backup anyway so I picked up one of these cheap Komputerbay 64GB CF cards that can apparently digest the RAW files without exploding... Here are the first RAW video's shot with the 5D Mark III:
Canon 5D Mark III Continuous Raw Video with Magic Lantern (1920x1280 24p) from Andrew Reid on Vimeo.

14-bit RAW on Canon 5D Mark III vs. factory default - Night Image Quality & Dynamic Range from Saad Rabia on Vimeo.

Pulled the trigger and bit the bullet: the Canon 5D Mark 3 is mine

I've been wanting to go fullframe for quite a while and have waited till prices would drop on the 5D Mark 3. In addition to the other contender on the full frame front, the Nikon D800, I've also lurked over the Blackmagic Cinema Camera and the Sony FS100. I went with the Canon because of the fullframe, the look of the images, its lowlight ability and because I wanted a camera that shoots great stills as well as video.
I have an occasional photo-assignment and last year I borrowed a 5D Mark 2 and it made my photos -and me- look a lot better.
So I broke the piggybank and gave myself this huge present for my upcoming milestone birthday. I'll be able to make good use of it this year, with trips to London, Napels, Italy, Antwerpen, Florida and Honduras to look forward to!

I not only bought the Canon 5D Mark 3 but the kitlens, the 24-105 F4 L IS as well. I read great stuff about it and as an allround lens it should serve me well for photo-assignments as well as documentary filming.

I already own a bunch of aftermarket batteries for the Canon 5D that I bought to power my SmallHD monitor, I have a nice set of lenses, so I'm really trying to keep accessories to a minimum. Perhaps a flashlight or a CF card, but that's it... well, maybe a small microphone for the hotshoe, a batterygrip for those long video interviews... but that's really it... wait... the Atomos Ninja records the uncompressed HDMI signal ánd serves as a monitor as the same time, right... Sounds like a must have accessory. I swear that's the last of it!! (Is an SSD included..?)

Tourists - a short film about people & hats

In the fall of 2012 I started noticing a great many people, tourists, wearing the same type of hats with  'Amsterdam'  stitched on them. I thought it was such a curious phenomenon and started to 'collect' all these people wearing these hats, asking them where they are from. I thought they would be from all over the world -and they are- but It turned out that by far most of them are from Italy!

So this is the result 6 months later: a collection of people from all walks of life and from all over the world: United under One Hat…

First documentary shot on GH2 on television

The first documentary shot on a GH2 is broadcast tonight in the Netherlands, on Nederland 2 at eleven pm. The excellent documentary slot Het Uur van de Wolf co-produced the film.
(I believe there are 2 scoops:  the first documentary shot on a GH2 in the Netherlands and the first filmer with the name Wolf making a film for Het Uur van de Wolf (The Hour of the Wolf).)

The film is actually not entirely shot on the Panasonic GH2 because shooting with a consumer camera proved extremely impractical in many instances, especially when doing camera, sound ánd interviews. About one third of the film was shot on the Sony EX1 and 3. 

Het Ritme van Elly de Waard is a film about Holland's first serious pop journalist back in the 70's and 80's who later became a poet and stock broker. Today, at 72, she lives with her wife and their Jack Russel in a beautiful home in the woods on the coast of Noord-Holland. Outspoken and uncomprimising, Elly de Waard has encountered much resistance to her persona and work, but she has stayed true to her beliefs and work, whatever the cost.

I made this film with my 74-year old mother, Deborah Campert, and I wish there had been a Making of... it would have been engaging viewing material..!

A dvd of the film is part of the book Vogelwater, for which my niece Frederique Masselink-van Rijn made the photographs.

Update: a compressed version of the film can be seen online.

Nighttime with the Sony RX100

If the best camera is the camera you carry with you, then my iPhone should beat the competition easily. But accessibility is only one part of the equation. There's a few minor details like lens and sensor size, for instance, that one has to take into account when judging a camera's quality and abilities.
The Sony DSC-RX100 has the size and specs to beat any pocketsize-competition out there. In fact, it even beats entry-level DSLR's, from what I've read. This camera should be a killer in low-light, considering its 1" sensor and max aperture of 1.8. But how do these specs turn out in real life? I took the RX100 out for a boat-ride and into the night. Watch these few minutes of footage and you're in for some real fireworks...

'100' (from 0 to 100 years in 150 seconds)

In October 2011 I started documenting people in the city of Amsterdam, approaching them in the street and asking them to say their age in front of the camera. My aim was to 'collect' a group of 100 people, from age 0 to 100. At first my collection grew fast but slowed down when it got down to the very young and very old. The young because of sensivity around filming or photographing children and the very old because they don't get out of the house much. I found my very old 'models' in care homes and it was a privilege to document these -often vulnerable- people for this project. I had particular problems finding a 99 year-old. (Apparently 100 year-olds enjoy notoriety, but a 99 year-old is a rare species...) And when I finally did find one, she refused to state her age. She simply denied being 99 years old! But finally, some 4 months after I recorded my first 'age', I was able to capture the 'missing link' and conclude this project. Enjoy.

Sony RX100 on the way...

Nice sober & sleek look. Love that focus ring already.

I've been hearing and seeing so many impressive things about this brandnew mighty-yet-pocketsized Sony camera that I decided I could not live without one ;-) We're talking a camera the size of a cigarette pack (who smokes these days anymore, we need to come up with a new comparison...) with a huge sensor, a manual focus ring!, manual controls, RAW, 1080P 50 in video mode, a very sweet Carl Zeiss zoom lens with an impressive 1.8 aperture on the wide end, some great functionality and a robust metal design.

I'm taking off for France with my wife and kids one of these days and all the tents, picknick tables and inflatable beds seem to be rounded up and ready to be stuffed in our stationwagen. Guess who'll be one Happy Camper with his new Sony toy this summer...

A bit of Sound Advice (on location)

MIC PLACEMENT: WHAT OPTIONS ARE THERE..?

For the last 8 months I've been working on a documentary doing camera, sound and I've even been doing the interviews the last few occasions. It's a bit much for one person but considering the budget and the advantages of being one-on-one with your subject, bringing in a soundperson has not been an option.
But obviously there is a compromise in sound quality when you're working without a dedicated soundperson. One of the biggest challenges is the placement of the microphone, in my case a wireless Sennheiser mic (MKE-2). Either it is visible and distracting on a person's chest or hidden behind clothing with the risk of the microphone rubbing against garment, thereby creating unwanted noise.
The people from Location Sound Corp have written a nice piece on lavalier microphones and the problems you may run into. They also have a few very good tricks to fix some of these problems:

Mailbox: $19,- shotgun microphone

ALL OF THIS FOR 15,- SHIPPED

I saw some posts on a cheap Chinese shotgun mic that was supposed to equal -or outperform- the Rode Videomic in quality. Now I don't own a Rode but I have been looking into a mic for use with my GH2 or 550D/T2i.
This mic costs €15 incl shipping and for that money I wanted give it a try. You can power it up via a single AA battery or via Phantom power. I use a phantom powered mic for use with my Sony PMW-EX1R so I like the ability to use this mic with my DSLR's as well as my videocamera. (ie to be able to use it with or without batteries) If you're doing a lot of handheld with your DSLR, forget about this mic because it's too long and will stick in your face or protrude with the risk of showing in your shot. For use with a cage or shoulder rig, it should be fine.

3 SWITCHES THAT CLICK NICELY INTO PLACE

Budget remote control for Zoom H4n

GREAT ADDITION TO YOUR ZOOM H4n

I've been shooting a documentary over the last 6 months using the Zoom H4n quite a bit for interviews. I do camera as well as audio and I noticed it was sometimes very hard to position the Zoom in such a way that I could control the functions and monitor recording.
I used the Zoom H4n in combination with the Sennheiser wireless ENG series plugged into XLR port 1 but I also wanted to record general audio on the internal mic. I would place the Zoom on a flat surface nearby like a coffee-table or a window sill but obviously that would often be out of my 'glancing sight'. I monitor my sound with a set of headphones but that's no guarantee against screwing up: with the Zoom H4n you have to press the REC button twice: once for standby and level-check, and the second time for actual recording. I am sure I am not the first person to incidentally forget to push the button for the second time...
The remote control greatly reduces the risk of missing audio because you can stick this little bugger to your tripod with velcro, for instance. Now you always have a visual clue whether or not you're recording audio! The remote blinks a red indicator when you're on standby and stays red when you're recording. Furthermore you can adjust recording and monitoring levels and control playback. All in all, a very nifty little device that makes your shoot a much more relaxing experience.
The original Zoom H4n remote control will run anywhere from $35,- to $20,- The best deal I could find for Europeans was €12 incl shipping for the Chinese (JJC) version. Little money well spent.

Cheap USB 3.0 solution for Mac

Generic USB 3.0 works like a charm

I've been looking for a USB 3.0 solution for my Mac Pro and to my dismay and great surprise, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack... Apple has not embraced USB 3.0, it appeared, because it is geared towards its own thunderbolt technology. It is an annoying strategy -and not very consistent- because USB 2.0, eSata and firewire all work fine on the Mac. So why not USB 3.0? (it is this kind of exclusive marketing that really turns me off and away from big companies. Stop engaging in these arrogant, unfriendly and frustrating behaviours, Apple!!)
So I started looking towards third party solutions. LaCie has always made PCI cards etc for the Mac and I was sure they would have such a device. And they did- but with a bunch of small print. It supports LaCie products exclusively?! Worthless... I looked at more options and there were some manufacturers who offered PCI cards for USB 3.0 for well over $100,-??!! Forget it- I paid €5,- for such a card for my PC!

Great budget pancake lens

THE KONICA 40MM F1.8: QUALITY DOESN'T HAVE TO COST MUCH

I was looking for a fast 35mm prime legacy lens and was turned onto this lens by someone who owned it. This is one extremely affordable lens that shines in all aspects. Great color rendition, it's fast, tacksharp (at all apertures), solid build with very smooth focus ring in a 'pancake' package. (is this the original pancake lens)? I bought my copy of this lens, including a completely functional Konica TC camera body, for a mere 20 euro's.
Immediately after I picked up the lens, I mounted it on my GH2 and made some shots at the BMX-shop, where my son got a bike for his 11th birthday.
I love this lens and it should be great for interviews, portraits. It's also the lens that always fits in your bag -since it's so compact- and that is another not to be underestimated asset of this fine piece of glass. Find one on an old camera and you'll get a great deal. This lens will not disappoint you.

Mailbox: a decent shoulderpad for my rig

looks like aluminum but it's tough plastic

I have a Gini rig and the one thing that I'm particularly dissatisfied about, is the solid rubber block that is supposed to act as a shoulderpad. It's the wrong shape and it doesn't hug your shoulder- as a decent shoulderpad should. That was probably the single most reason I didn't use my rig much, apart from the fact that the ball joints didn't lock as secure as I wanted to. (using a wrench as opposed to the levers for locking the ball joints works much better)
So I finally got around to finding -and ordering- a shoulderpad that stays within budget and fulfills my needs. It has just arrived and I was surprised how light and small the little box was it arrived in... I never realized it when I ordered it, but this shoulderpad is made of plastic! But it's strong and well made.
There's nothing fancy or special about this little contraption but it does what it's supposed to and it does it well. The setup here is with my GH2 and works well. I also used it this way with my Sony EX1 R and I really liked it, although with a heavy videocamera like that I would have liked some counterweight. That's next on my list. But this shoulderpad is a good investment and really made me enjoy my Gini rig for the first time.

A simple and effective shoulderpad

Top view of the shoulderpad: non-standard threadholes..?

The Great 20MM Shootout!

not noticeable here but the Carl Zeiss is much wider than the Canon

A shootout between 2 legendary prime legacy lenses: the Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 20mm f4 vs the Canon FD 20mm f2.8

Shot on a Panasonic GH2
LCW Fader ND

Sold my doc shot on GH2

Exciting news for the author of this blog: the documentary I'm shooting and co-directing (the other director is my mother) on poet/pop-journalist/feminist Elly de Waard is commissioned by Dutch Public Broadcasting for their renowned documentary series Uur van de Wolf. (The Hour of the Wolf) I'm sure this is the first time a filmmaker named 'Wolf' is making something for Het Uur van de Wolf. Feels like coming home ;-)
Mother and son Wolf have joined film-forces before in 2008, when they collaborated on a portrait of Dutch artist Willem van Malsen. That film was selected for the Netherlands Film Festival and was aired by public broadcaster AVRO.
The documentary on poet de Waard will be shot on a Panasonic GH2 with antique Canon FD lenses. The film is planned to be aired in December of this year, along with the publication of a new book of poetry by de Waard that includes photographs by photographer Frederique Masselink van Rijn (who happens to be my niece. yes, it's all in the family...).
Good times for the filmer behind Filmersblog but less time for the blog... I'm going to try to post more than I've done the past few months and keep you up to date on several exciting new projects and the gear that I use and plan to use. (would love to get my hands on some of that Black Magic...)

The 8,- Steadistick

STEADISTICK & GOPRO: A PERFECT MATCH

This is a very neat little device that won't set you back a week's pay but adds some fun & unusual functionality to your kit. It's a tripod, is it an antenna? No, it's a steadistick! A very simple tool that people apparently use to photograph themselves.
Why did I buy this? Well, I was kind of disappointed with the way my GoPro helmet-footage looked when I went skiing last month: jittery, choppy images nothing like some of the real steady stuff I had shot with it from the hood of a car or mounted to a toy speedboat for instance...
Then I saw some snowboard footage where people mounted their GoPro to a stick of some sort and someone also mentioned that that was the way to go. I started a search and found a telescopic mounting device for small camera's for 20 euro's. A quick search on eBay and I found the exact same thing for $8,- shipped from China.
It's nothing fancy and I don't know how long it lasts but it's a lot of fun and can get you some real unusual perspectives and steady footage. Try following your dog without this 'monopod' and it will look like crap. Biking or walking footage? Couldn't get these shots without it.(at least not by yourself...)
The best part about it is that it folds up so small it fits in your inside pocket, even with a small camera attached! You can't beat portability on this one. 'The Steadistick- you won't leave home without one'.

Vincent Laforet's favorite apps

Here's a screenshot of Vincent of the Forest's favorite iPhone apps. I saw Vincent speak last night here in Amsterdam. He is a great photographer, an eloquent & funny speaker and one of the first DSLR filmers. I knew Vincent's name and had seen some of his video work, which looks great btw but to me lacks soul. His videowork so far is an example of technical mastery without a heart. Vincent, so it appeared last night, is a visual artist and a gadget-man, not a storyteller. Vincent likes to shoot from helicopters, get a bird's eye view, have a unique perspective. He doesn't submerge in the pain nor does he get 'up close & personal', to stay in film terms... In that respect it was interesting to see that of all the photographs he showed of New Orleans after hurricane Katrina, just a few were close to actual people. Most shots kept a safe distance and the disaster became a series of impressive yet abstract images. With the exception of a man holding a girl and a photograph of dead and wounded people in an arrival hall (also an overview, yet less distant).

Vincent Laforet in Amsterdam

It was also paradoxical after all this grief to see 'Vincent the documentary photographer' making the switch to 'Vincent the commercial director' shooting a $600.000,- commercial shot with a Phantom slomo camera for a shoe manufacturer. Great footage, but going from such human suffering and poverty to this decadent production was hard to rhyme. It invariably made you wonder: is every second of this commercial worth $10.000,-? My answer was no. It left me completely cold. The same for his film Möbius. It's a DOP's production, full of great shots, beautiful lighting and effects. But rather cliché in drama and lacking real emotion. (But I'm sure it was a lot of fun making it!)
To be clear, I'm not trying to knock the guy. He has worked hard enough to earn the right to fool around for a few years and prove himself as a filmmaker. He is a young guy and will get many more chances. I have great respect for his craftsmanship and what he has achieved for himself. But amidst all the fireworks of amazingly perfect images, I was never really touched by Möbius. I clinically hovered over it in awe, like his favorite gyrocopter shooting from the air. I longed for something imperfect and ugly, something real. All this money and talent towards... this? I felt I had seen it before. Coming from someone with a documentary background, I had expected something more.  I hope his next, feature film, will have some more emotional texture. So that his technical wizardry will be matched by more profound content.

Mailbox: top lens, bottom price

A TOP CLASS ADDITION TO THE CANON FD COLLECTION

For those who keep their eyes open, great deals are still to be had! I got lucky with a lens I've been wanting to buy for months. I was consistently outbid on eBay and I started to feel as if there was some sort of conspiracy to keep me from acquiring this particular lens: the Canon FD 85mm 1.8
But when I was in Austria, lying on my hotelbed after a day's skiing with my son, I browsed the Dutch eBay-site and noticed someone had just posted this lens ( probably an elderly man, judging by the slightly old-fashioned and very concise written description!). I wrote to him asking what he wanted for the lens and when he said €50,- I knew I was about to make a great deal. (I had bid more than twice as much for lesser copies of this lens!) According to the seller it was in mint condition. And when it arrived in the mail a few days later I saw he was right. It was a beautiful, shiny copy. In addition, it came with the original sun hood, a UV filter and the original lens pouch. A steal!
This is a classic; a great portrait lens renowned for its faithful reproduction of colors and lack of distortion. Bargain hunting can be very gratifying...
(Warning: collecting lenses can be addictive and hazardous to your wallet.)

MINT LENS, ORIGINAL POUCH AND LENS HOOD

Riding the snow (and eating it)

This was the first time I skied in decades and the very first time my son Tommie went snowboarding. (and our first 'father and son vacation'!) The GoPro was a little disappointing this time: hard to get steady shots from my helmet. (I pasted one of the sticky holders on the side of my rented helmet) I think there is some chest-mount that will yield better results. Had a great time skiing and snowboarding with some great people! (There were many more shots I wanted to try but that would have been at the expense of precious skiing time...)

Skiing and snowboarding with the GoPro HD

A STILL FROM THE GOPRO FOOTAGE (FOLLOWING TOMMIE, MY SON)

I'm in Austria: skiing for the first time in 15 years and Tommie, my 10 year old son is snowboarding for the first time in his life. Naturally the GoPro had to come along and capture us descending the slopes beyond the speed of light ;-)
I shot some great footage the first time out, circling around my son while he was sliding down the hills, low angle stuff just above my skies and high speed stuff just blasting down the hill by myself. But when I came back to the hotel that evening, I discovered I had made beginners mistake #1: not checking your gear before taking off for a shoot. And so I learned there was no SD card in the camera... (and I also understood at this time why there was no light blinking when recording...)
Yesterday was better but my MacBook Pro 1st generation will not play back these MP4 files without stuttering. Transcoding to ProRes does not help. I'll just have to wait until I'm back on my Mac Pro in Amsterdam.

SMILE! YOU'RE ON HD CAMERA... (OUR HOTEL)

 Tomorrow I will try and attach the GoPro to my helmet because going handheld is far from ideal when you're racing down a hill and need to keep your eyes open in all directions...
I can still ski after all these years and it's so much fun to see my son has a talent for the snowboard. Too bad I screwed up my (already bad) knee trying to see how fast my friends and I could go downhill yesterday. (normal pace: about 15 minutes. suicide speed: just under 5 minutes) I banged it around so bad I now have a swollen, pulsating knee and am taking a day's rest. My son went rolling in the snow naked after we went in  the jacuzzi last evening and he is in bed next to me with high temperature. Both of us should be good to go tomorrow. Got some more sliding & shooting to do... (hope to show you the result soon!)