Your Vision Goes Here

Terralux is a company doing big things in the LED lighting space. This short piece looks at some key pieces to how they plan to revolutionize the lighting industry.

From SoxPlace.com,
“SOX PLACE is for you…
the gutter punk, the train rider, the homeless youth,
you who just need something to eat,
you who just need a safe place to crash
Whether you’ve been on the street for
one day or one decade,
SOX PLACE IS FOR YOU”

ATA Clothing, ata-clothing.com, is selling Sox Place tees to support this great organization. They have something called the “100% program”, meaning they give 100% of the profits to the organization. Awesome.

Music by Kevin MacLeod

James Drake Films, Denver Video Production

Cheap lenses… I’m all about them. I bought a set of cheap old Pentax lenses that I used to shoot Play Her Song. But as you’ll see from the test below, sometimes a good price comes at the cost of quality… (watch it in 720p, the standard quality is terrible)

Shot in Monument Colorado, 40 or so miles south of Denver, just far enough away from the city to see some of the stars. It was about 15 degrees, so I rushed through without checking the focus on the camera. The issue? The cheap plastic focus ring on the 50mm f/1.8 plastic mount Canon Lens.

When locked into autofocus mode, the focusing ring is rigid, controlled by the inner motor. But when switched to manual focus, the ring becomes loose. VERY loose. When shooting up towards the sky, I didn’t notice the small changes in focus from the vibration of the shutter (and gravity).

The lens is $99 new, so I can’t be critical of it. The quality of image out of such a cheap piece of glass is pretty astounding. But I now know not to entrust my “star-lapse” work with it, lesson learned.

One last note, the plastic mount on my lens feels like it will break soon. The metal mount Canon 50mm f/1.4 is well worth consideration for the $350 price tag!

James Drake Films, Denver Video Production

VidExpo in Denver has been great. Denver has never been the biggest Video Production town on the market, but it certainly has a sizable passionate group of video and film people that know their stuff. Panasonic has been touring around their upcoming AG-AF100, which has a huge buzz around it, and I was thrilled to discover 1 of only 3 working preproduction units here in Denver. I instantly got to talking shop with the two Panasonic reps, though most of the luscious details have already been thrust into the blogosphere. Yet there’s always a keen difference between knowing the specs on a camera and hands on. For example, I knew about the waveform monitor built on the camera, but was NOT ready to see THIS….(click for larger)

The HUGE waveform on the Panasonic AG-AF100

I was half expecting a dinky histogram like we see on the Canon DSLRs. A useful guide, but nothing more. But WOW! This waveform was exactly what I hope to see on every camera! Extensive detail and information on a large display. The option after the waveform monitor was a vectorscope, which I imagine would be immensely helpful for skin tones and such.

Now with the SDI out, many people are eagerly waiting to bypass the internal 24mbps long-GOP codec and go straight to a Nanoflash or Kipro Mini for a better codec. That’s all well and good, but where do you put the external recorder? Some mount the device above, some mount behind, but it all seems so clunky. Well funny enough, Panasonic seems to have thought this through already. The rep here is pointing to the handle on the side, where you normally grip the camera with your right hand. That piece detaches, allowing yet another place to mount your external recording device. This is great news if you have a good rail system, you really don’t need that handle on the side anyway, so you’ve effectively moving your external recorder out of sight, out of the way.

Pointing to the removable side handle

The top is also detachable, if the need be.

Front view, no lens, (removable handle on left side)

One potential downer is the LCD screen (though it’s still a preproduction unit). I’ve never been particularly pleased with the LCD screens on Panasonic cameras, ESPECIALLY on the HVX200, but even on the HPX cameras, the LCD has always been a weak point in my opinion. The AF100 certainly doesn’t have an LCD like the EX1 or EX3 have. Sony really did an incredible job with those screens.

But despite the LCD, this is going to be an exciting camera. No doubt a successful one from Panasonic. And I hear Birger may be designing an EF mount for the camera, so the multitude of Canon DSLR filmmakers may be able to make an easier transition…. Guess we’ll see!

WFM... Waveform Monitor! And the the rest is the usual

5Dmk2 with a 100-400L lens. Beautiful

There’s a possibility of a Canon 5D Mark III announcement coming in March April, according to Canon Rumors . Needless to say, I wait hourly for that announcement. Sure, I’m excited about the new Sony camera with an S35 sensor, the Panasonic AF100, and especially the RED Scarlet, but what ever happened to product loyalty? I’ve shot Canon my entire professional life, and have loved their cameras. I’ve used most of their recently made cameras, but my first was the Canon GL2, MiniDV Standard Definition. 4:1:1 color space baby! Somewhere in there I bought A Rebel XT and a Rebel XTi. I then moved onto the XHA1, miniDV HDV camera… ooooo… Then finally graduated into the 5D Mark ii. A still camera that shoots video. The revolution begins! I picked up my 5D Mark ii back in early 2009, at the bleeding edge of the DSLR video storm. Back then, the Nikon D90 was the talk of camera folk (and that video quality sucked!) I vividly remember taking the 5D Mark ii out for tests and being completely blown away by the video I was shooting. Gradually the love affair lost it’s initial luster and the quirks of the workflow began to stick out. I made an early short list of problems with the DSLR:

• H.264 codec is a problem. Convert to….?
• Big Rolling shutter issues (and coming from a CCD camera… wow!)
• Alaising in fine detail (which I later defined as moiré  patterns)
• 11 minute limit on recording time
• No pro-audio inputs (and with earlier firmware, only Auto Gain Control… no manual)
• No real tools for exposure (Histogram came later)

Finally! Manual control on Audio. Wait-wait-wait... what do you mean I can only monitor levels from the menu? Firmware 2.0.4

It was quite a list of negatives on the camera. Yet all of those instantly disappeared when I shot an interview in a small 10′x10′ room and was able to open my aperture and throw everything in the room completely out of focus, except my subject. I suddenly had access to THOUSANDS of lenses. Talk about creative freedom! I also noticed that the DSLR was much more sensitive to light than my 1/3″ chip on my XHA1. Whereas a 2:1 lighting ratio on the face of a subject would be fairly subtle on the footage of my XHA1, the 5D marvelously captured a separation of brightness like I had never seen. The dynamic range on this $2600 camera was absolutely unbelievable. Still, nearing two years later, the new wave of cameras coming to market jab at my side when I spend extra time syncing audio… or transcoding footage… or carefully planning around hectic moves to avoid rolling shutter.

I decided a day or so ago to post my “realistic” dream list for the Canon 5D Mark iii. Things that I think are possible and hope to see in the camera. If I’m lucky, someone from Canon will see it and send me a preproduction model of the camera (wink, wink).

• h.264 codec is ok for in camera, but selectable bitrates. Ideally prores would be amazing.
• Faster scan on CMOS chip, thus little to no rolling shutter
• Longer record times (11 minute clips can be a real challenge)
• Pro Audio inputs (or a module from canon that you can buy extra to stick underneath, like the juicedlink system but integrated into the menus and such)
• On-screen audio levels while recording
• Tools to measure exposure (zebras, false color, IRE meter, RGB histogram, ANY or ALL!)
• 1080/24 Full, uncompressed 10-bit SDI/HDMI output
• Selectable framerates (up to 60fps at 1080 would more than satisfy)
• Something other than line skipping. Alaising is killer! Use that awesome 120 megapixel technology

Maybe these items are too much to ask. Maybe there’s corporate red tape that prevents this power from residing in one camera. But I’ll say this… If a camera came out with these features at a full frame sensor, similar to the DSLR with upgrades and around the same $2600 price, it would be game over. Canon would dominate the market uncontested. I mean, who would take a 4/3″ sensor when you could have a full frame that does it all? And still takes stills?

I’m a dreamer and idealist. I recognize my lofty requests. But Canon engineer, if we can have a brief heart to heart for a minute: If you design the 5D mark III with the video features that make it easy to shoot, and take care of the few flaws, there won’t be a corner of the Earth that your camera doesn’t dominate.

Ahhh, the fall. Always a time of somber emotions and cooling weather. This short piece closely examines autumn beauty often hidden in plain site… leaves. Dressed in fall colors for a only a slice of time, there is much to be observed and appreciated.

Music: “Fac 21″ by Stars of the Lid
Buy the track at: amazon.com/​Fac-21/​dp/​B001GH07HC/​ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1287994715&sr=8-1

I’m ecstatic that an $800 camera is being compared with a $40,000 RED setup (not Mysterium-X). It’s a tribute to how the DSLR cameras have really changed the game. But lest we draw early conclusions, the additional $39,200 gives you features worth every penny.

My friend Magnus needed some camera tests done for his upcoming war film in the Spring and he wanted to be completely sure that the additional requirements for RED were worth their weight, literally. He wants to shoot his entire film via shoulder mount for the “authentic documentary feel”. The RED setup we had was close to 40 pounds, whereas the t2i, including matte box, ND filters, rails, 7″ monitor and all, came in at around only 8 pounds.

RED on shoulder mount (me)

The weight of RED is manageable. I have a fairly small build, but I’m able to maneuver the camera effectively and even pull focus if need be. That said, if you don’t shoot all of the time, you’ll probably have to work up to the weight of the RED. My back and shoulder were a bit sore the day after the test (I’m too used to the light DSLR setup!).

Workflow was the next consideration. 44 mbps h.264 off of the t2i against REDCODE 36 MBps. Let’s compare….. (as always, click on the pictures for bigger versions)

Canon t2i, no color correction

RED, No color correction

Both cameras set to daylight white balance. Both at ISO 320, both around the same exposure (1/50th on t2i vs 1/48 on RED). Off camera, the T2i wins. Better contrast, color, overall a decent image. Not a problem for RED though.

RED (left) vs T2i (right) No color correction

A few tweaks in the wonderful RED tab in color and 5 minutes later…

RED (left) and T2i (right). RED corrected to match

Easy color correction to match the two cameras. Yes, you can definitely cut between them…if you’re trying to correct TO the DSLR from RED.

If you’re in the market to correct your footage to RED raw (just for the sake of example, I know you would never correct to RAW), it’s possible… sometimes. The example below works fairly well, largely due to the high key fairly low dynamic range that isn’t pushing the boundaries of the h.264 codec. If you find yourself in a situation with high contrast and extreme brights or darks the DSLR footage will quickly break down.

T2i (left) corrected to RED (right)

BUT WAIT! This doesn’t take into account the 4K resolution completely dominating the 1080p (or measured 1.2k) resolution of the T2i. Honestly, it’s hard to really see the difference in resolution on my 22″ monitor when the footage is all scaled to the same size in a timeline (and compressed for web!). Had I a 40 foot screen and a theater in my basement, I’d be more than happy to gloat on the results of 4K. For web, you’re set for cutting between the two. I’d like to do some extensive big screen tests before I make the call for larger projects.

Update: A few more tests to stretch the h.264 are coming soon.

Special thanks to Daniel Mayfield for quickly catching me up to speed on the “Red tab” in Color and working on these color comparisons with me.

A quick piece about an abandoned farm in Eastern Colorado.

This video is a part of my exploration in using wide lenses for video on the Canon 5D Mark ii. The majority of shots in this piece were shot on a 17-40mmL Canon lens. As you can see in the weeds, the DSLR does NOT like fine details. Aliasing is everywhere. It hides behind compression on the web, but the original h.264 files.
Biggest lesson learned: anything close to the camera (5-10 feet, with a few exceptions) is usually excellent shooting material, anything further needs to carefully considered and probably shot on a different camera.

Music by George Winston. “Plains” from the Plains Album.
amazon.com/Plains-George-Winston/dp/B00001O2V3/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1271223391&sr=8-1

Drum circles provide many health benefits and are fun to be a part of.
Above is a conference that took place for a corporate group, below is a promotional video specifically for a drum leader. Enjoy!