I’ve been debating a bit on whether or not to post this one - but I think it’s necessary - so here goes:

New technology is great.  It allows us to do things we previously thought impossible.  It empowers us to “push the envelope” if you will.

That being said, one of my favorite axioms came to mind after I read the PDN Article at left, namely: “Just because you can - doesn’t mean you should.”

First - I should say that I don’t know Jason Lam (the person selling these helicopters) nor is this aimed at him or critical of him.  Jason has EVERY right to sell his services and helicopters - unequivocally.

But I do think it’s a tad bit irresponsible for PDN (and perhaps Jason’s site as well) to fail to mention two very key things in their article/site:

1. Flying a remote control helicopter over New York City (as in the island of Manhattan) is ILLEGAL. (w/o a special permit - which is virtually impossible to obtain due to safety concerns.)

2. It’s extremely dangerous to fly such a helicopter (1. in general and 2. especially over a heavily populated place such as NYC.) Think of a flying blender if you will… if the operator/pilot makes a mistake the thing will crash or worse maim someone.

God forbid an errant radio signal interferes with the helicopter’s signal and the thing goes haywire (these things don’t exactly float down if you catch my drift.)

What I’m trying to say is:  you can kill someone (or yourself) if you don’t know what you’re doing.  Trying to fly a helicopter and trying to take pictures as well - is more that twice as dangerous! (more…)

Shane Hurlbut coupled a Canon 5D MKII to a Panavision Primo Prime.

It’s been a very interesting year for both Photography and Cinematrography with the release of HD-DSLR cameras.

Those who have read this blog understand that I’ve become somewhat of a lightning rod/evangelist for this new technology and how I believe that it has the potential to change both professions.

At times I see the skeptical comments on this blog or a puzzled look from an audience members when I give a speech.  So it’s nice to know that I’m not alone in this.

Shane Hurlbut, a very successful Director of Photography and ASC member has also jumped into this world with both feet.  Shane has a new blog that I want to introduce you to as well as a new contest that you might be interested in participating in…

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The good news is that “Nocturne” will be back up at some point soon.   The long and short of the situation is that Canon’s request that I take “Nocturne” down temporarily had absolutely nothing to do with me, the short film, or any technical reason whatsoever.

Canon is large, multi-national corporation - and at times things can hit a snag.   I had a meeting with a few Canon USA executives this week in New York at the Photo Plus Expo - and they went as far as to ask me to communicate to you that they are genuinely apologetic that this has happened.

The only bad news for me - is that this is a bit too much of Deja Vu - and that I did everything that I could to prevent a repeat of last year (when Reverie was also pulled down after it was initially posted - and then reposted a few days later on Canon’s site.)    This kind of “excitement” is not something that I look forward to - and I had wished to have this video available to share with everyone for the week of the release of the Canon 1D MKIV.  It was awkward to say the least to be presenting on stage this week at the Expo - and showing “Reverie” again - a video that was more than one year old.

And the last “bad” news - is that I haven’t been given an exact date as to when the video can go back up just yet.    The sooner the better of course.

Thanks for your patience.

Canon has requested that we take down “Nocturne.”   As a professional courtesy I am going to honor their request until they can figure out things internally and our little film can be shown again in public.   As some of you may remember this happened last year and all was fine a few days later.  I’m sure they will be able to figure things out on their end and hope to be able to share the short with you again soon.  The response so far has exceed that of “Reverie” both in terms of numbers and in terms of how fast it happened - something that I would never have expected.

David Nelson and I - late late Saturday - or I guess that makes it Sunday - Morning. As a technical reference - this is a frame grab from a 5D MKII. The light was SO yellow we se the 1D MKIV to 2500K... and it was still yellow.

First of all - thank you for all of the positive comments (and a few of the nasty ones too!)

I wanted to clarify a few things - because I won’t have time to answer all of the e-mails / blog posts - many of which are asking the same questions.

First - I really want to give due credit to Stu Maschwitz & David Nelson - my co-filmmakers.  We agreed to work together (having more than one director is never a good idea - we all knew it - but we were too swamped with our day jobs to pull this off alone under such short notice) but things worked out for the best in the end.

Collaboration is a wonderful thing.  This film would not have been what it is without them.   I also want to thank Michele the producer - as well as everyone on the cast and crew.   Some of you may be rolling your eyes - but until you’re on this side of things, you may not appreciate just how much of a team effort filmmaking is.    The film is only as good as its weakest link - and we didn’t have a single weak link on this cast or crew - no matter how late in the morning it was.

Almost everyone had a day job to go back to after each night - often on other productions that lasted more than 10-12 hours…  Ben Nussbaum and his post house Pictures in a Row were exceptional.  Ben worked 5-6 days straight on this - day and night working in between his own projects.   He owns a huge part of the creative puzzle that made up this film. (more…)

UPDATE:  CANON HAS REQUESTED THAT THE VIDEO BE TAKEN DOWN FOR NOW.  PLEASE SEE THE MOST RECENT POST.

In 2008 we witnessed the birth of HD-DSLR Cameras.

In 2009 you will be introduced to cameras that can see in the dark better than the naked eye.

Just a little over a year ago my jaw dropped when I stumbled upon the 5D MKII and saw 1080p video coming off of a full frame chip for the first time.

Just a little over two weeks ago my jaw dropped even harder when I took a prototype of the Canon 1D MKIV outdoors to test it at night.  I was on the road, it was late and I had just rushed back to my hotel to get to the unit.  I was expecting a 1D body, with 24p, a 1.3 crop factor sensor, 10 fps for stills, a new AF system - 60 fps at 720p - and of course 1080p video.

Nothing prepared me for what happened next.

I set the ASA to high - and I pointed it towards an area lit by a single flood light.  The image was overexposed by 4-5 stops.  I then started to play with the settings, pointing my light into an area in complete shadow (my eye saw nothing but black) but on the rear of the LCD I saw sharp, green leaves as crystal clear as if it were shot in daylight.

I think it’s safe to say that every single filmmaker and photographer has always dreamed of cameras that can see what our naked eyes can see.  This time these cameras can actually see more.   Sure - they may not have the dynamic ranges of our eyes just yet - but they see more than my naked eyes can see in low light.

Period.

And that’s qualifies as a paradigm shift in my book.

The next few years will see photography and filmmaking redefined by technology.   While there is no substitute for exquisite lighting - artists will now be able to explore areas once thought impossible to photograph.

Think of all of the images you’ve missed throughout your career.   Think of all of the places you didn’t even consider going to film - because they were too dark.   Those days are now but a distant memory.  Even if you don’t need to go into the shadows - imaging photographing at f 5.6 or at f 8 at some point soon in areas you are struggling to capture at 1/50th, f 2.8 at 1600 ASA currently…

In many ways these past two weeks felt like Reverie all over again.   I had not expected to get the 1D MKIV until after the Photo Plus Expo.    When I got a voicemail letting me know in a very unceremonious way that two units were waiting for me to try  ”we need your shipping address” the message said - I was surprised.  Canon did not have any plans to have me or anyone shoot anything this year in time for the announcement.

When I saw what this camera did at night, I pushed the all hands on deck button - calling my friends and colleagues to engage in an “interesting project” that I could not elaborate on.   They pretty much had to trust me that it might be worth their time and commit to it blind.

Once again - we had very very little time to prepare.  Just under 72 hours.  And we were ALL busy working on other jobs as this economy seems to be awakening again.

What you will see below - is what we were able to pull together under a pretty ridiculous deadline.  Once again there were no film permits (no time… no time to location scout and apply) no fancy anything.  But I did have some incredibly talented people out here in LA willing to help on such short notice - we shot over two nights in downtown Los Angeles.  Most of the cast and crew had worked a 10-12 hour day shift.  We all worked close to 48 hours straight last weekend.  Everyone was bitten by the bug if you will - once they saw what this camera could do. I was incredibly fortunate to work with one of the best group of people out there -period.

Here is the main point that I hope you take into account: the short film you are about to watch was shot in pretty much the very worst light that I could possibly find in an evening urban landscape.  I did not chose “pretty lighting” in a mall or under neon signs.  That would have been cheating in my book.

The short was shot near East 6th and Mateo St. in Los Angeles - in an industrial part of the city.   If you live in the area - go check out the area - you won’t believe the video you see below came from the poor lighting in that area.   Sodium and mercury vapor lights.   That’s it.  Really awful lighting.

Not a single external light source was used / added.  In other words I did not use a single flashlight, LightPanel, flood light - nothing.   For one shot only I pulled out a silver reflector… just to say we did it really.  And yes it worked (see the shot of the young girl.)

The ISO stayed locked in the 6400 ASA range - with a very few shots hovering 1 stop above and one or two set to 3200 ASA because we had TOO MUCH depth of field…(on the bridge.)  At one point I found myself shooting at 12,800 ASA by mistake - and I didn’t even notice any noise on the rear LCD in the skies… 6400 ASA is the new 1600 ASA - maybe even the new 800 ASA.  Stop to ponder that for a second  - and what it can mean to the way you approach your craft.

In the upcoming days I will share more details, behind the scenes, post workflow etc. A huge thanks goes out to my co-directors Stu Maschwitz, David Nelson and our incredibly resourceful Uber Producer Michele Abbott - and every single member of the cast and crew.  For now - if you even made it this far - take a look into the shadows:

CANON HAS REQUESTED THAT THE VIDEO BE TAKEN DOWN FOR NOW.  PLEASE SEE THE MOST RECENT POST.

Nocturne from Vincent Laforet on Vimeo.

P.S.  Before the end of the year - I plan to release a series of downloadable videos - that cover numerous production tips/aspects of these HD-DSLR cameras - as well as post workflow.  Basically everything I know.  If you are interested - pls send an e-mail to production@vincentlaforet.com - with the word “NOTIFY” in the subject only.  I will then contact you when those are available.  No obligation on your part of course - just send me an e-mail if you’d like to be notified.  We are already in pre-production for the series.

P.P.S. - on a technical note: because I know everyone will ask: the footage was graded with Stu’s Magic Bullet Colorista software (PLEASE CHECK OUT STU’S BLOG POSTING ON THIS SHOOT HERE) that he helped design and treated for noise (not a significant amount at all to be honest - at some point I may put up raw clips.) The point here is to show what this footage CAN look like when processed on an average laptop (i.e. nothing fancy!)

The 1080p footage on SmugMug is pretty incredible - but remember that a 365 MB compressed file was initially uploaded and then re-compressed a second time - from a 2.32 GB original uncompressed file. You can expect that the blacks will be a bit clamped, and that there will be a loss in sharpness relative to the original.

I’m pretty sure that this is something you’re going to want to see.   I’m going to update this site just after midnight E.S.T. tonight.

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated my gear list on this blog to reflect some of the new toys that I’ve put into the mix of my HD-DSLR kit.

I’d like to share three pieces that I think might be relevant to many out there.

First I’ve been using a new rig quite a bit that Bruce Dorn makes -it’s called the IDC U-Boat Commander Rig for HD-DSLR Video. I’ve had it since January and I’ve found myself using it more and more.

As you may know - I’m a big fan of the RedRock Micro DSLR Rig - and I tend to use that when I need to mount a Marshall Monitor, the 5D MKII or 7D together on a rig such as a set of sticks, dolly, jib or Steadicam.  However for some - I can see others needing a slightly more compact rig.  One can of course customize the RedRock Micro rig down to be pretty compact - but I have to say that both of these solutions are quite elegant.

Bruce Dorn’s design is economical, sturdy, and quite elegant - so much so that he’s sold quite a few to the US Military’s combat photography unit - and that’s a stamp of approval if I’ve ever heard of one.

His rigs come in two flavors - the U-Boat Commander which is perfect for attaching a external mic to, and the even smaller iDC Run & Gun Kit / Follow-Focus & Viewfinder Kit - which is easily the single most understated way of intelligently building up your 5D MKII without making it too intimidating / apparent to others. (more…)

We’ve had a few similar requests from people over the past few days regarding this weekend’s upcoming Canon 5DMKII workshop and have agreed to allow more students into the workshop this weekend. This will allow us to offer them at a significantly lower price. For more information see below.

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I invite anyone in the Atlanta area to join me this coming Thursday at a gallery opening of some of my work at the Matre Gallery.

There will be an opening reception on Thursday, October 8th, 2009 from 7-9 p.m.  I will of course be present and should you not be able to make it that evening, the show will continue through November 3rd.

Atlanta Magazine has put this at the top of their list of their Five Points list of “What’s worth your while this month” which is very cool.

The majority of the work that will be shown is from 3 years worth of tilt-shift photography assignments that I have shot across the country.

There will be six 60X40 limited edition prints as well as eight 24X36 limited edition prints displayed at the gallery.  While these prints sell regularly and are part of many  private collections, this is the first time that the tilt-shift photographs will be exhibited as a series.

The Matre Gallery is located at:

65 Bennett Street  •  Atlanta, GA  30309  •  T 404.351.3620

www.matregallery.com

On a separate note - there is one LAST spot open for this Tuesday’s workshop (see earlier posts) as someone had to pull out to take a job.  Pls post in the comments if you are interested.

Below are some thumbnails of a small selection of the images that will be shown at the gallery: (more…)