One of the most important accessories that you can purchase to help you get better results with the video from your Canon 5D MKII is an external LCD monitor (a video assist monitor.)
The Canon 5D MKII was designed as a still camera first, therefore when you shoot video you will often find that the placement of the LCD screen, not to mention the ergonomics of the camera body itself are not ideally suited to shooting video. Being able to hold the camera below your eye-line (or any angle for that matter) become quite important when shooting video vs stills.
I’ve had a chance to play with a variety of monitors out there - and for now Marshall Electronics’ V-LCD70P-HDMI is the clear standout both for the quality of the image it displays, as well as all of the extra features it offers. This is a 7″ lightweight monitor that comes in at just over a pound, and offers an 800X480 resolution image. I was able to work with a prototype of this monitor in January for 3 weeks of the Jamie O’Brien shoot and it was simply fantastic. I should also mention that I am also testing out Ikan’s V5600 5.6″ TFT LCD Monitor and will write about that at some point as well - it’s small size may be very attractive to some. (I’ve yet to put it through it’s paces, but I plan to do so in the upcoming weeks.) (more…)
(Due to the length and size of this piece I am putting it up at 720p.)
Please note that Tiffen and Formatt BOTH make screw on filters and 4 X 5.65 filters for the matteboxes. I use a variety of filters from both companies - I use 1-6 stop Neutral Density filters as well as a few 10 stop screw on filters. (The RED One camera became part of our production a few days before we left and we had to scramble to find the appropriate filters in time - luckily both Tiffen and Formatt helped save the day in last minute fashion.)
Both companies also make graduated NDs and Hot Mirror filters that cut out infra red light when using the RED One camera. The 4 stop and 6 stop are the NDs we’re using most often. I personally like the 10 stop to use my 1.2 lenses wide open in sunlight. Also - if you want to stay very light and mobile - I recommend you use the screw on filters - I travel with a set of 72mm and 77mm filters for my Canon lenses - but you could also buy a step-down adapter to screw on your 77mm filters onto your 72mm if you’re looking to economize. I tell every friend buying a 5D MKII to: 1. buy ND filters right away and 2. an good video head (see the Gitzo G2180 below) 3. an extra battery for the 5D MKII 4. and look into audio (see previous posts for the Rode mic and other options.)
We’ve also been using a variety of Manfrotto Tripods and video heads that we mention in this Behind The Scenes on this project that have allowed us to pull of some very nice pans of Jamie surfing. I can’t overstate how important it is for you to get a good tripod set to shoot nice pans - and you’ll need the heavy duty stuff to shoot with the heavier RED and long Canon glass. If you want a simple setup to start off with a 5D MKII and shorter lenses - we’ve found the Gitzo carbon fiber tripods and the Gitzo G2180 Fluid head to perform quite remarkably (but don’t overload it or any fluid head with weight - unlike still photography you can’t really get away with overloading a head with video as your pans and tilts will suffer.) Another really nice option are these self-standing monopods by Manfrotto that I recommend you use with a quick release plate.
Check out the RedRock Micro DSLR Rig and long lens support that I’ve mentioned in the past as well as the Wicked Circuits EF Lens adapter for the RED One Camera.
I will be posting a DETAILED list of all of the gear described within this and the first behind the scenes clip in a few days after we put up the 3rd installment of the Behind the Scenes up (it’s a long list and I want to add links so it’ll take me a better part of a day to do and we’ve only got a few days of shooting left on this project.)
Here is the first installment of our behind the scenes footage. I will be detailing every piece of gear used as we go through this production - and tomorrow I will post the model numbers etc. of what we are using as I’m sure a few of you might be interested in those specifics. I was planning on doing that in this post - but it’s late and we’re a little behind given the 18-hour island-wide power failure, so stay tuned.
Here is one of the shots from our first day of filming Jamie O’Brien on the North Shore of Hawaii. To view the 1080p High Res click here. (You DEFINITELY WANT TO DO THIS)
It’s been pretty fantastic to get a chance to know Jamie, his dad and crew - I really think that this project has wings and I think that it’s fitting to start off with this shot from our first day of shooting. It was shot with a Canon 5D MKII and a 24mm Tilt-Shift lens mounted to a radio controlled helicopter. Tabb Firchau is joining our motley crew with what is definitely one of the coolest toys that we have on hand - a radio controlled helicopter that can fly inches off the ground and through very, very small openings. Tabb specializes in video and still aerial footage and travels regularly across the globe. He just came back from a National Geographic assignment where he almost got eaten by a shark - but that’s a whole other story…
We’ve had an interesting few days here in Hawaii - the weather played havoc with a lot of our travel plans (it took more than 48 hours for our editor to make it out here from Toronto - he got to spend a night on the floor at O’Hare) and our crew’s lost baggage stories have been almost comical given their frequency… Meanwhile we’ve been tinkering with a lot of our new toys from a variety of companies - most of them prototypes. It’s been a steep learning curve at times and that’s to be expected when you’re the guinea pig trying to use multiple prototypes together for the first time - to give you an idea: soldering was involved! (I won’t say to who’s gear though…) But we’re finally up and running and in full swing. I’ll be posting the first behind the scenes video tomorrow some time (thought I’d give our editor Ryan Hughes a good night’s sleep before throwing him into the mix) and we’re planning on showing you every detail of how this and other shots are being produced. (more…)
Canon's 800mm 5.6 coupled to a RED One Camera with a RedRock Micro lens support system.
Allow me to introduce the Big Kahuna.
I mentioned that I was working on a few prototypes/gadgets for this production with Jamie O’Brien - here is one of the first things that I can share.
The Red EOS Mount by Wicked Circuits was created by Andy Lesniak and Richard Wardlow. It allows you to control both Iris (Aperture) and focus control of any Canon EF Lens mounted to a RED One (Link to Wicked Circuits to come.) This will allow us to shoot 4K, 3K and 2K footage at up to 120 fps. The lens (w/ the crop factor) will be the equivalent of a 1280mm 5.6 and up (depending on the resolution we set.) Needless to say - I can’t wait to see what this looks like on the beach! (more…)
I’ve been unusually quiet on the blog because I’ve been in pre-production for the past few weeks gearing up for a pretty fantastic project. I will be filming a short narrative film on one of the world’s top surfers Jamie O’Brien over the next 3 weeks on the North Shore of Hawai’i. Jamie is an incredible talent who grew up on the Pipeline - one of, if not the surfing mecca, and the final spot for the sport’s Triple Crown competition - the Pipeline Masters. I had the pleasure of photographing this amazing sporting event for The New York Times Magazine’s PLAY two years ago - and have been trying to find a way to return to ever since. When Jamie’s manager contacted me the day after “Reverie” was released on the web asking if I’d be interested in collaborating on a project together - the project was very quickly afoot.
Jamie is a free surfer who is forward looking and very focused on the future of his sport and helping steer it back to its roots. He is also a very successful competitive surfer (although that is not his main focus,) and gets to travel the world as he chases the world’s best waves and is keenely focused on producing awesome imagery of his own - both video and stills. Jamie is one of the first surfers to have his own production company. He lives the dream of every surfer, few contests, just surfing and traveling where the waves are best at any given time.
We’re going to work together on narrative film - based on his life on the Pipeline - and possibly throughout the next year or two around the globe. Jamie lives at Pipeline - literally - he grew up looking directly at Pipeline and his bedroom window literally looks straight at the peak. His is the closest house to the wave, many people shoot straight from his front yard and balcony as they command a near perfect view of both waves, Pipeline and Backdoor. So this is in many ways a dream project for everyone involved. Doesn’t hurt to be away from the East Coast in wintertime of course…
All of these images were shot between 1600 ASA and 3200 ASA. These are in-camera JPEGs with no post production (except for the inclusion of my watermark.) Therefore it is quite foreseeable that you will get even better quality images once a final production camera becomes available - and once you are able to decode RAW images in DPP, Aperture or your favorite software - designed to better handle and minimize noise. Although I have to honestly ask: What Noise????
I think that the excitement over the video - has overshadowed the pretty incredible still image quality at high ASAs - I’ve never seen an image look this clean at 3200 ASA.
These images were shot with the exact same lens, position and timing as the video.
I remember shooting Kodak’s TMAX 3200 in college - and thinking that was a Godsend for photojournalists…. my how things have changed: some of these look better than the Kodak Ektapress 100 ASA Color Neg film I used back then as well…
In very low light - shooting at the aperture of f2 was the key with this prototype 5D MKII camera in my opinion. Of the three clips that were released - only one of them was shot at f2 - the one with Jimmy (the model) splashing water on his face. You’ll have a hard time seeing any issues of “noise” or other technical negatives from most of the footage shot at f2 (which is what the majority of the film was shot at.) Understand that almost all of the light we shot in was the still camera equivalent of 1600ASA, f2, 1/15th. That’s very low light - no matter how you cut it. (more…)
I just received confirmation from Canon: “barring any last minute technical difficulties” the video will be live within the next 12 hours… (I will link to it from this Blog)
SmugMug has stepped up to the plate as well - and they’ve agreed to host the “Behind The Scenes” video on their servers at no cost… so this site will remain advertising-free as a result (I don’t need to raise cash to pay for bandwidth as a result of their generous offer).
There is also a pretty incredible announcement coming up from them on this blog… within the next hour or so… One that almost trumps the release of this video in my opinion- an announcement that you all have a chance to benefit from…
If you choose to subscribe via RSS to this blog - you’ll be the first to hear of it and the release… my life has been on hold for almost a week - so I’m eager to get this out! We’ve gotten over 250,000 hits on this blog since Saturday - and the numbers just keep rolling in.
For now - enjoy this 12 second clip “teaser” of the behind the scenes video - to be launched simultaneously with the “Reverie” film…
COPYRIGHT LAFORET VISUALS INC. DO NOT COPY *(See Note at the end of this article)
I had it in my hands for less than 72 hours before I had to send it back - but the time I did have with a prototype of the Canon EOS 5D MKII will possibly change the path of my career as well as the photography industry to some degree.
(The video that will be released very shortly (to be notified when it does go live - go ahead and subscribe to this blog via RSS or e-mail…) I’ll announce it here soon - the main hold up is the large file size of the video - and finding a host for it… if only 100 people hit the video - we’ll hit 9 Gigabytes of streamed video… and that’s with the video that is downsized to 960 x 540 (which is 1/4 of 1080p!) in the Apple H.264 format from the full resolution 1080p RAW footage… the RAW footage that comes out of this camera is STUNNING - so much so that the entire video was cut with the RAW footage - untouched… in any way - no color, noise or exposure adjustment whatsoever… the images you are seeing on this blog - are frame grabs off of the video - those frame grabs were downsized from 1920 pixels wide to 700 pixels wide to fit the page width of this blog - and absolutely NOTHING was done to them either in Aperture/Photoshop or any other software. Also - the image above was shot with a 45mm tilt-shift lens)
Here is the story behind the short video that I produced with what I believe to be a “game changer”of a camera for the following reasons: (more…)
One of the most important accessories that you can purchase to help you get better results with the video from your Canon 5D MKII is an external LCD monitor (a video assist monitor.) 
You may now find 10 images shot during the filming of “
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