See it bigger on SmugMug!

(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.)

To view a larger video of this click here.

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.

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For the video, click on the image above or here: REVERIE.

The video is now back online on this blog. Many thanks for your patience and support.

UPDATE: See The Behind the Scenes video here on SmugMug

You may now find 10 images shot during the filming of “REVERIE” from the prototype Canon 5D MKII Camera at the following link (here.)

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…

(SPECIAL NOTE:  I have released these images for you to download to your hard drives for evaluation only.  You may share these freely with others with the following terms:  AT NO TIME can these images be used in any media whatsoever without attribution. If you are a web publication - you may not run these images on your website without the following specification - the images must run with the following credit “© Laforet Visuals Inc  - blog.vincentlaforet.com “.  If you are a print publication - please contact me directly to obtain a release to run these images without a watermark at studio (a) vincentlaforet.com

Keep in mind - this is raw footage (not RAW) from both Canon XH A1 camcorder - and a few clips for the Canon EOS 5D MKII - you’ll see that the two are toe to toe (not really) on bright scenes… but in low light - the Canon EOS 5D MKII is impressive -  but common sense leads me to state the following:  if the Canon still camera team and the video team have come together to produce the Canon EOS 5D MKII - the next HD camcorder they come out with - may just floor us all…  these are very exciting times - to be someone who focuses on “creating” as opposed to the “process” and “technique” of making your vision match the “reality” of the tools you have at your disposal. To view the main movie (not the behind-the-scenes), click here: REVERIE

See it in higher resolution on SmugMug!

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…  

WITHIN THE NEXT TWELVE HOURS…

See it in gallery on SmugMug

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…)