One particular scene at the end made me think the DoP and Art Director of the “House” finale were masters:

When House was kissing the girl in the bathroom, several times they cut to a view from outside in the hallway. On the wall was the shadow of a swaying tree branch, dancing back and forth.

Back and forth like two lovers trying to find themselves in a chaotic and uncertain world.

That’s craftsmanship and artistic vision. If the Canon 5d, (and related HDDSLR family) can capture that artistry, then it has earned it’s place among all the other tools.

(btw: I took your Into to HDDSLR workshop at CreativeLIVE.com, Vince, (and bought the downloads) and it was incredibly helpful. Thanks again for an inspiring experience.

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Vincent:

Where can we find more explanation or a list (if you will) to some of the lenses that work well on the 5D as “video lenses”, and by that I mean DSLR lenses that are meant to be used with video and not just still imagery. I’ve used the 70-200m 2.8 that you mentioned above and now I find myself looking for other solutions. Specially zoom lenses, very hard to understand which can be better suited for video.

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I’m curious. What is House usually filmed on?

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Is there a definite lens list? I swear some POVs are very familiar… like 50L, 35L - wide open, of course

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House is usually filmed on 35mm, apparently not Panavision. Probably Arri, I imagine. Filmstock, not sure.

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I think they used most if not all of the L-primes.

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[...] of the most thoughtful, reasoned and interesting reactions is from Vincent Laforet. Vincent, you may remember, is the person who kicked of this whole fusion thing by conning the [...]

There are no DSLR lenses that are meant to be used with video specifically so far, except maybe the new Zeiss lenses, which cost a fortune.

Optically there’s not necessarily anything different between a still lens and a cinema lens. Mechanically, cinema lenses tend to have a longer focus throw with a larger ring, and a larger, easier to access aperture ring with t-stops instead of f-stops.

Older manual Nikon or Zeiss ZF lenses, with an adapter like the Fotodiox, tend to work well as video lenses on a Canon DSLR because they were designed to be focussed and operated manually. Optically, they’re still great if in good condition, and really hold their value as well.

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[...] feedback of Vincent Laforet was very positive: 1. The lens sharpness was phenomenal. Why? The lighting. Sure we all caught some glimpses of [...]

Vincent: Can your statement 3 above (about lighting) be re-stated as, “dynamic range is about the same but the amount of light needed is less by one or two stops?”

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Wow, I really can’t wait to see this. Amazing.

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lighting in that episode was key and goes to show that the 5D can hold up on a major production as long as all other filmmaking principles are followed. (ie. lighting!) we have seen some great things that the 5D can do in low light, but in this case, HOUSE did everything the same in terms of large scale production, then just swapped the camera to the 5D. it looked great.

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I am now absolutely looking forward to watch this episode.

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[...] Read what else Laforte has to say here. [...]

The show was incredible…I mentioned this on other blogs/forums and I’ll def say it again

I already own a 5DMKII and this makes me wanna go out and buy another for the fact of…how good they are, how small and how cheap

I think the awesome Vincent and Greg proved…theres no excuses anymore, get out there and start shooting some amazing stuff

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that is some freaky focus work… just amazing to see what happens when pros play with cool gear.

hello future.

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Cinema lenses have a couple of special features. First is that the aperture marking are in T-stops. The difference is that a T-Stop of 2.0, is an aperture of 2.0 with a theoretical lens that doesn’t darkens at all. So a real lens might have a marking of 2.1 or 2.2. That means that at 2.0 of physical aperture, it lets as much light as a perfect lens at 2.0. So, if you use the same film stock, you can get exactly the same exposure with different cameras and lenses by using the same T-stops.
As was previously said, not only is necessary a large progressive throw in the focus ring, it has to have precision markings for distance (i.e. feets and meters). Why, because the actors have set markings of where to stand, and the focus puller sets the markings on the lens for each scene with great care and precision. If the actor hits the markings, the focus is perfect. Canon EF lenses use a slipping servo to drive the focus, so you don’t really have precision marking nor slow throw.
Other problem is that it might change the FOV as you change focus. This is not that important in a photographic lens, but it’s not nice in a motion picture.
Another problem is with zoom lenses. When you zoom a lens, it might slightly change the focus plane as you zoom. Again, not a problem for a photographer, but not good for a cinema lens.
Now think what I said about the focus marking in a zoom that has focus shifting when zooming.
Or one that doesn’t exactly keeps its aperture while focusing. Or a lens that does keep its aperture while focusing but slightly changes its luminance.
As you see, a cinema lens designer has to take a lot more issues in account when doing a cinema lens. And that’s also why a cinema zoom lens is so expensive. I’m sure that scale of economics is a big cost factor. But it does take a lot more factors to design and build a cinema lens.

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Interview with Gale about shooting the finale.

http://www.videography.com/article/95134

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I believe that the Zeiss/ARRI “junior” lenses are now available for the Canon mount. Not just the ZF style Zeiss lenses, but the real video lenses with T-stops, precise focus and the like.

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[...] here to read Vincent’s thoughts on why FOX’s experiment was so [...]

INteresting that the lighting equipment wasn’t necessarily the most expensive. Some of it lit with Home Depot work lights. Gale talks about why he used the 5DM2, lighting, and more here: http://bit.ly/bfUcPA

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Vincent,
Thanks for you last two posts about the season finale of House. I think it’s awesome that DP Gale Tatersal decided to use the 5d for this episode. It showcases what the camera is truly capable of and it proves that the technology in a relatively inexpensive camera can go toe to toe with the big gun 35mm cinema cameras.
However, I think you hit a couple of major points that I think are often glazed over by most.
You mention that regardless of the 5D’s capability to produce fantastic quality in low light, you still need to light carefully. Attention to detail with lighting and composition are imperative to producing good results. No matter how good the camera, the quality of the end product is based largely on what you (the user) do with that camera.
Secondly, I love that you pointed out that the season finale of House cost more than the shooting of a regular episode. True, there were more special effects and extras. But, I think it is often overlooked that the production of a large shoot is still expensive!!! Any high quality, high production shoot is going to cost an incredible amount of money. The use of the 5D on House wasn’t done to save coin. It was done to prove what it’s capable of. I think it’s great that D-SLR’s are now HD video capable. It opens up the world of video to so many more users. The cost of entry into video is now down to a couple of thousand dollars. (Incredible considering what that cost used to be.) But, the cost of producing professional quality results (like this episode of House) will always cost an exorbitant amount of cash.
I think there are some out there who believe that the new HD capable DSLR’s are the magic bullet that will drive the cost of high production video down so low, that any Joe off the streets will be able to produce the same results for a fraction of the cost. Simply not true. I think you made that point very clear.
To me, the amazing part of this whole DSLR- HD video revolution is the fact that it opens the technology to so many more users. But more importantly (as you noted) this technology allows for a variety of shots that one could never have obtained before. Due to it’s light weight and small size, one is able to put a camera where they never would have ever dreamt of taking a 35mm cinema rig.
Enough of my ramblings and I apologize if I come off a little long winded. Thanks so much for these recent postings. I think your posts and commentary really “hit the nail on the head” here Vincent.
And thanks for the time and effort you put into your blog. I love your insights and openness to sharing your knowledge.
Cheers.- Ian Coble

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I’d still be interested in hearing about the post production of this episode. Shooting h264 is an issue in post with grading. I’d like to hear who did it and on what gear.

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[...] Thoughts on “House” Finale via blog.vincentlaforet.com [...]

this was an awesome episode, it’s good to see that the TV and movies are using new methods and workflows to tell their story. can’t wait to see where all this DSLR videography is going.

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[...] Thoughts on “House” Finale By · May 22, 2010 · Filed in Uncategorized via blog.vincentlaforet.com [...]

[...] of the TV series House was on last night, and it was a cracker, but more for the fact it was shot entirely on a Canon 5D mk2 slr camera.  It looked absolutely mega. Now that Canon have a great HD video mode on their slr’s, they [...]

好久没来了，来送你新的祝福啊 呵呵
有空来看看我哦，

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[...] his take on the House finally.  Check out his thoughts and a short clip from the show over at his blog.  You can watch the full House episode over at [...]

This is a great moment, as you’ve said. I’ve watched 2x feature films shot only with one (pro) camera, because that’s all the producers could afford.
The 5DII has not yet been picked up by the serious film world, but as new lenses become available, this will surely change.

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[...] online and available on Fox’s website. Vincent Laforet, an early-out-of-the gate 5D darling, sketched some of his thoughts about focus and lighting when the episode first [...]

[...] on “House” Finale http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2010/05/18/thoughts-on-house-finale/ [...]

[...] this – which is a trailer for that episode of House – with Steve Vai’s take on it here. He’s not wrong. He’s just helping others to miss the [...]

House is usually filmed on 35mm,Check out his thoughts and a short clip from the show, You can watch the full House episode over at.

***********
Kevin Smith

rel=”dofollow”<House Help Desk

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