I started the gear section on this blog in 2008, and I haven’t done that much updating to it since.

Needless to say:  the gear that has become available since the 5D MKII was launched has virtually exploded and created and entirely new market.   I’ve used most of it - and today I’m publishing a list of what I have come to rely on for all of my HDDSLR productions:  This is a list of gear that I USE on a regular basis - along with some more “specialized” items that I use once or twice a year but always yield incredibly unique results.

You can go to see this new section on the My Gear Section on the top left menu of this blog.

It’s a pretty extensive list and will continue to grow with time.  Right now we’re already put up over 100 items so far - it’s taken 3 of us more than a month to put this together for you.  My goal is to make this one of the the most comprehensive gear lists on any personal blog out there.  I also want to make sure that I do more than just publish a list gear.   I’m going to do my best to explain how and why I use each piece of gear, and to give visual examples whenever possible.

So here’s what I’ve done:

1. I’ve listed each piece of kit along with a photograph of it, and I’ve organized the gear within nine categories.

2.  I’ve listed the manufacturer’s specs from their sites - and linked directly to those sites so that you can find more out from them.

3. I’ve added a list of comments as to WHY I have come to choose each product - and I’ve done my best to speak to each piece of gear’s strengths and weaknesses (every piece of gear has BOTH!)

4. I’ve added links for you to purchase this gear from two popular retailers (Adorama and B&H.)

5. As I find more time - I will include more photographs and/or videos that demonstrate how each of these pieces of gear is used.  Expect the list to continue to grow as new products are released and I get a chance to work with them on future productions.

Here is a video that I put together recently that shows how I’ve come to include many of these pieces of gear in an actual production - this is something that I will be looking to as often as I can.  I think it’s the best way for me to discuss the uses of each piece of kit:

2010 Gear Video for Italy Trip / TV Pilot from Vincent Laforet on Vimeo.

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As I and many others guessed when this controversy popped up a few months ago - the whole H.264 End User Agreement “controversy” was indeed muchado about nothing.   Good to see MPEG LA do the right thing and clear the air.

For those who missed this little controversy from back in May please read this post. The issue was with the end user license agreement for H.264 which states that the format cannot be used for “professional” distribution.

This is something we could all have worried about as the Canon HDDSLRs all shoot their footage in the H.264 format.   But now:  we don’t.  So go back out and shoot - and always remember:  as awful as some of the language in contracts often sounds at first - most of the time you can go back and discuss it with the other party.   One of my favorite sayings is that “all contracts are meant to be negotiated.”

IMPORTANT NOTE (This applies to only footage that is put online for free - NOT FOR SALE.  See comments below for clarification and rates.)

I said that I have some very exciting announcements coming in the next 2-4 weeks  - that’s true!

BUT - they will have absolutely, unequivocally, NOTHING to do with Canon or a Canon product.

I just had to clarify this because several rumor sites have picked up on a quote I made (highlighted below) in a post I wrote last week and taken it out of context - even though I made it clear that these rumors were photography related not video related and would involve the iPad and iPhone.

Here’s the quote: “Then there’s a BIG announcement coming soon… something to do with Photography and iPads and iPhones… can’t wait to share that one - that too has been a 6 month project in the making… more to come soon!  The goal is for all of this to happen within the next 2-4 weeks!”

Now for a lighter side of things - for your viewing pleasure in case you missed it - a series of hilarious video - w/ a reference to “Nocturne” I believe… I happen to agree with the little guy for the most part - but for the record: we did have an armed security guard, and we shot with 1D MKIVs - not 7Ds

IMPORTANT: NSFW - a lot of explicit language and evident frustration within:

More and much funnier ones below… this one is a little bit “angry” if you will…

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Timelapse - Coast of Italy from Vincent Laforet on Vimeo.

I just returned from a wonderful 2 week production in Italy.   The trip confirmed that I still want to retire in Tuscany and that I am still madly in love with the Mediterranean.  Seriously - this is the place for me.

We shared some unbelievable food, wine, and sites in the Chianti region of Tuscany.   The second half of our trip was spent in Naples.   Napoli is an amazing city on so many levels and a place that I will definitely return to -  I can’t wait to go diving along the Amalfi Coast as well.

We took a boat ride along the coast and it brought back so many wonderful childhood memories of mine.  I spent many summers along the mediterranean with my father, ranging from Perpignan in the south of France all the way down to Corsica.

I have a LOT to share with you on this blog regarding the gear we used on this 2 week production (for a TV pilot.)  That will keep me busy for sure in the upcoming weeks on this blog as we brought quite a few prototype pieces with us - definitely stay tuned.

For now, here is a quick time lapse video of a beautiful scene from Napoli.    I love time lapses as much as anyone out there - but I think that they take on an entirely new dimension once you are able to actually move the camera itself.

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You can now expect more…

from this blog…

HERE’S THE SHORT VERSION:

A little under two years ago I started this blog with a post titled “The Cloud is Falling.”  I then went to cover the Olympics for Newsweek which helped to increase readership - and then I posted a little video called “Reverie” on this blog.   And everything changed from that point on - for a lot of us.

Since then - nearly 5,000,000 visitors have graced us with their presence.   And at times this blog has utterly overwhelmed me.   In the months following Reverie or Nocturne - it was not uncommon for me to wake up each morning to more than 500 e-mails in my inbox from fantastic people from around the globe. (This number would not include junk mail.)

The problem was: My staff and I simply could not keep up.   We were missing jobs left and right as they were becoming buried amidst the hundreds of e-mails.  This blog’s readership is now north of 150,000 people per month.

At one point - I considered ending the blog.   And then I realized that I couldn’t.  This community is far too special to turn one’s back on.   I’ve simply met far too many interesting people in the past few years - and any single one of them alone would justify continuing the blog.  This HDDSLR movement is a bona fide thing - not just a flash in the pan.

So now I’ve come to the following conclusion:  I need a little help from some friends to keep this blog healthy.   I’m not able to focus on my career to the degree that I’d like to AND simultaneously focus on producing regular content for you all on this blog - let alone to be a husband and father to two young wonderful children.    In this case, those friends are the “supporters” illustrated above.  I’ve formed great relationships and friendships with the people at these companies and use their products on a regular basis.

Therefore, a little over a month ago I went to them  and asked if they’d help support this blog in a non-traditional manner (more on that below).   In effect these companies are contributing to help me hire someone to manage this blog.   Every post you will see on this blog will continue to be written by me - that’s something that is essential to me.   That new person (a young buck by the name of Justin Hamilton) will simply be there to help me grab the relevant graphics, links, check my spelling, and to shoot and edit the videos you will see as a new feature of this blog.   For those of you who run your own blogs - you know that it’s not uncommon to spend 5+ hours to shoot, edit, grade, EQ and post a video - that runs all of a whopping 2 minutes on the blog…

My goal is to keep this blog as close to what is has been over the past few years - but to add more content to it with Justin’s and the above “supporters’” help.

So that’s the short version - below is the longer version for those who have been regular readers all along.  It will cover a lot of the pertinent questions you might have btw.

The LONG VERSION: (more…)

The funny thing is:  I was planning on writing about my video and photography workflow within the next few weeks (ok well months - it’s been BUSY).   I can now cross that off my calendar because my buddy Chase Jarvis just did a pretty extensive video that describes his workflow - and he did it WELL.

And you know what?   Our workflow is SCARILY SIMILAR - if not close to identical.

The only main difference?   I back everything up to LTO Tape at the end of the process and keep two copies of those tapes - one in Los Angeles, and one in New York  (kind of like Chase’s theory of making sure floods/meteors etc don’t strike the ONE location where your data is backed up.  I call it Armageddon myself and joke that if CA falls into the ocean - I’ll have some data in NY…)  I do also send my still masters to PhotoShelter for online storage as well.

One of my favorite sayings of all time is one by Bert Lance: “If it ain’t broke - don’t fix it!”

That comes into play here.   Chase - thanks for saving me the time  To everyone here - check out Chase’s video and his workflow - and understand that my workflow is nearly identical.   I’ll detail some of the minor differences below after the video in case you want to get into the nitty gritty / nuances between our similar workflows.

What we use here at LAFORET | VISUALS: (more…)

Two days ago RED’s Founder Jim Jannard made the following statement:

“I fully expect the DSLR mfgs to get it right at some point. Make a non-line-skipping 4K camera. At that point, the difference will be RAW 5K and 6K vs. whatever they make. Until then, a line-skipping 1080P camera is just not in the running for a pro camera. Can you make OK images with a line-skipping 1080P camera? Sure. Should you be embarrassed? Yes. We are not in that business.

I saw the Canon commercial about shooting “motion stills”. They should be ashamed. Just try to take a still from their motion 1080P capture…

Jim -REDuser.net“

Certain sites summed up his statement as “RED founder blasts DSLR video” or “DSLRs vs. RED - Fight! Fight!”

Well I have a different take on it… and not one that you might expect.  I didn’t want to touch one this - but I’ve gotten several e-mails and comments about it - and think I’ll take the risk of weighing in.

First of all some key statements that I need to get out of the way:

1. I am a Canon Explorer of Light and sponsored by them, I am also one of the people that has obviously had a lot to do with the HDDSLR movement since it’s inception - in fact I shot one of the - if not the - first video with the Canon 5D MKII.  Obviously - I’m a big fan of HDDSLRs.

2. I have no official relationship with RED whatsoever - I do have what I would consider to be several very healthy professional and personal relationships with people at RED.

3. I shoot with both systems (and others) regularly now.

So here it goes: (more…)

Yesterday I  posted a trailer for the new “Twisted Metal“ Playstation game that we shot in downtown Los Angeles.    That shoot also happened to be the first time that I was able to put my iPad 3G to use on set.  I have always found iPads to be a helpful tool for creative professionals -  especially in film and photography - for sharing images, videos, and other multimedia material with potential clients and collaborators.  This shoot marked the first time that I found it served an important role on set for me (albeit a high tech one.)

As is often the case with commercial shoots - storyboards, shot lists, and schedules are constantly changing until the last minute (if not during the shoot itself   In this case critical information changed and was e-mailed to everyone just ten minutes before I arrived on set - the clients and creatives made some important changes to the storyboard.

Here’s where that can get tricky:  I always like to arrive early to any job - at least 1-2 hours before my “call time.”    Doing so helps me to relax and to feel ahead of the curve, it also allows me to chat with people and also to avoid any potential traffic nightmares in LA.    The problem with doing this is that I am often out of touch during that time - i.e. away from my computer and printer for a few hours.

If schedules change, I can always deal with that on my iPhone, and the same goes for shot lists.   But when storyboards change - that’s another issue entirely.   Downloading storyboards in a trailer and printing them can take 10-15 minutes - way too long on set.   And that’s where the iPad 3G comes in - I can download the files and view them on screen immediately - plus they are ALWAYS on hand from that point on (no more rolling them up and putting them in my back pants pocket…)

Obviously, as either a Director and/or DP,  having access to the latest information is incredibly important - if I don’t have access to the latest, I could potentially make incorrect decision that could waste very valuable time - not to mention thousands of dollars…   (more…)

My flight back to the States was cancelled today so I’ve got a rare bit of time to slow down and think of things. There’s been a lot that I’ve wanted to post on in the past few weeks and I simply haven’t had time - so here goes… consider these a random collection of thoughts that come in no particular order (lots of gear/tech tips towards the bottom of this post:)

1. Too Much High Tech? - I’ve had some pretty interesting discussions over the past few weeks with a variety of people following my post on a recent HDDLSR shoot. My good friend Joe McNally called me flat out “crazy” when he saw the gear we had at the Gulf Photo Expo this past week - which is a pretty fantastic compliment coming from him - given that he too has gone to the top of the Empire State Building (Joe and I are BOTH crazy for the record)  - and has shot images hanging from a helicopter as well.  My type of guy really - someone I’ve looked up to since I was in my teens…   So when he calls you “crazy” - you know you’ve hit the jackpot.   And to be honest:  it is crazy.

Some of you may have seen Robert Rodriguez out with his Franken-Rig out there this past week - needless to say we’re all gravitating towards these cameras because they do something absolutely exceptional.  Nobody would do this otherwise.  I’ve never lost sight of the fact that one of the main strengths of this camera is that it’s light and small.  I love going out with a bare body and shooting video as much as the next person.  BUT - once you start to move towards producing “professional” looking video with these cameras - you’ll find you need good camera support to stabilize this camera that given the size of its sensor and lack of image stabilization - EMPHASIZES every single movement (intended or not.)   So while I too have doubts some time as to whether or not I’ve gone off the deep end… when I see the final results the introspection ends.

That being said - I & this blog have been perhaps a bit too focused on technology to date.  Expect that to change… I’ll keep the gear heads happy - but focus more on other things to - time permitting!

For now please look at a quick video I put together with 13 fantastic students at GPP last week - most of the students were still photographers who had never shot video before - and while I gave them as much guidance as I could in terms of gear and movement - each of these shots had a student operating the camera in a 3-Day shooting workshop (followed by 2 days of editing/grading.)

GPP 2010 Student Workshop Video from Vincent Laforet on Vimeo.

Nine more thoughts / gear tips / pleas below… i.e. click on “more”

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