We lost a titan of the tech industry this month.   We lost a visionary and one of the geniuses of our century in my opinion.

Most of us have yet to realize how much of a lasting imprint Steve Jobs has had on the world at large…  I crossed paths with Steve three times while on Apple’s Cupertino campus.

The first time I crossed path with him was at the entrance to 1 Infinite Loop where we exchanged a nod and smile.   

I can unequivocably say that if Steve Jobs hadn’t created the Mac – you would not be reading this blog today.  Steve transformed the path of my life with the Mac.  Period.  

I also shared an elevator ride with him to the executive level once –  an experience that many Apple employees feared most (I know a few engineers/managers who literally NEVER rode the elevator EVER for fear of having a verbal exchange w/ Steve.. Apparently, not being able to give a satisfactory answer to Steve’s question of "What do you do here" could result in dire results…)

The last time I crossed paths with him, was when he walked past me an into Jon Ive’s car – weeks before his illness was publicly announced.  I remember being terribly startled by his emaciated appearance.  I dared not even speak with my friends at Apple about it – as I knew if was not to be a topic of public, let alone internal discussion.  It was far too touchy to discuss at all for all of us.  Anyone who understood Apple’s culture, knew better than to even bring the topic up… we just internalized our fears and hoped for a miracle privately.

While Steve was far from perfect – he strove for perfection every day.  And I admire that very much.

I think Steve Jobs left us with a special gift in the end (amongst many others) – perhaps a little piece of him that will stay for us for years to come:  Siri ….

While "Siri" was admittedly an acquired company – Apple has worked on perfecting it…   With that said:  Steve contributed to me spending 3 hours talking w/ a machine (my iPhone 4s) for the first time in my life for more than a few minutes…

I found myself speaking to my phone for 3 hours last Friday and asking it silly questions…

To Steve:  Thank you.  

For everything you have done and will do for years…

You have changed the way the world interacts with technology – FOR THE BETTER.   To Siri/Apple – thanks for having a sense of humor (I suggest you ask Siri:  "Where I can buy drugs" and "Are you HAL?"  in honor of Stanley Kubrick… (trivia:  HAL is one letter back from IBM…)

*******

I predict that November 3rd will be a big day in cinema history.  

Canon is inviting all of the Hollywood elite to a "historic event" at the Paramount theater, and Jim Jannard or RED is promising a "most watched day in Reduser history."  

Two titans making big claims.  

I think the gauntlet has been thrown – and I’m not sure the media at large has yet to pick up on it…

*****

Canon announced the EOS 1Dx a little over a day ago.  

Looks like an amazing still camera with exciting high ISO performance and new video features…  I have yet to see it but am excited to play with the camera next week when I speak at Photo Plus Expo in NYC.  

What will their November 3rd announcement in Hollywood bring?

As I mentioned above – I think we’ll see two very relevant announcements from to titans of the imaging industry…

******

Lastly:

I spoke at the College of Southern Nevada today and asked the following question to an audience of around 200 people.

"How many of you still read newspapers in the printed form?"

A dozen people or so raised their hands…

I then asked:

"How many of you (who still read the newspaper in printed form) are under 30?"

Only one person amongst 200 had their hand up…

I used to remember when more than 1/3 of the audience (under 30)  had their hand up in response to that last question when I was in college… times have changed…

I also asked how many of those same people got their news from online versions of those same newspapers – and a healthy amount raised their hands…  that was nice to see!

Then I asked two other questions:

"How many of you expect to make your living from creating or providing content?"

Close to half of the audience responded by raising their hands up.

When I asked the same audience:

"How many of you believe that you should pay for content?"

Less than a dozen people kept their hands up… 

We need to do better.

More TK.

I will be at Photo Plus Expo next week in NYC, teaching a workshop, and speaking for Canon and Lexar from Thursday through Saturday.  I look forward to seeing some of you there!

I will also be speaking at the Apple Store in Chicago on November 7th.

I had a nice get together today with famed photographer Douglas Kirkland and Local 600 President (Director of Photography union)  and ASC member Steven Poster.  As we were about to part ways,  discussion turned to the potential demise of Kodak.

Earlier today I also happen to have read a great article about Emmanuel "Chivo" Lubezki ASC and Terrence Mallick’s "Rules"  or "dogma" as they called it,  for shooting during their collaboration on "The Tree of Life."   The article described how film is still unparralled relative to digital in terms of dynamic range and how they were able to push the boundaries of what can be captured by any camera available to us today.

Ironically earlier in the week I found myself grading a piece I had directed with one of the colorist who had graded "Tree of Life" and we found ourselves in an interesting discussion about film vs digital – and all of the cameras out there.

He argued that he would only shoot film with his still photographs, yet that he felt very comfortable with what could be done in post with digital cinema files and how digital capture has distinct advantages to film in certain specific circumstances.   

I pointed out to him, that while I worked my way up through black and white, color, and E-6 labs and learned to shoot everything on film – including sporting events on color-reversal film – that I had come to embrace digital whether it was with still images or cinema / live action footage.   If anything I found that cinema film stock offered more noticeable advantages in the motion picture world over digital cinema sensors – than in the still world for example.

We came to agree that ultimately – each camera out there (whether a Nikon or a Canon, or an Alexa vs an Epic) had very distinct characteristics – pros and cons.   Trying to pick "one" ultimate camera or stocks – was somewhat of a fool’s task.  

As we see Kodak being threatened these days – and the potential for motion picture film to disappear in the upcoming years (something that I would NOT be a fan of of course!)  - I think we came to an interesting conclusion together.

Each digital camera out there,  each sensor – will effectively become our future film stocks…   The RED Epic reacts to light differently than the Arri Alexa does – or the Sony F3, Panasonic AF100 or of course the Canon 5DMKII.   Each has its distinct pros and cons – whether due to image quality, dynamic range, sharpness, resolution, RAW codec or weight and size (not to mention price.)

What I do think is important is for all of us to work with all of the digital still and cinema cameras out there – and to treat them the same way we would different Kodak or Fuji film stocks.

I love film as much as anyone out there.   And there is no question that it’s dynamic range  - especially in the highlights – has yet to be met with digital cameras.   Yet the Zacuto Shootout tests showed that digital cameras have an uncanny ability to dig into those shadows in a very impressive manner- in ways that film cannot.

Therefore, while it may be nice to wax poetic about the inherent merits of film – especially motion picture film, it would probably behoove us to spend our time mastering these new digital sensors and post workflows.   As time, and Kodak’s potential bankruptcy, may ultimately end up forcing all of us in the direction of purely digital capture regardless of what we yearn to shoot on…

While there is no question that losing motion picture film altogether would be a huge loss – it seems to be an unfortunate reality in the next decade if not less.  (I’m betting it will be around a lot longer than most people expect…)   I think we should do our best to discover some of the new ways of shooting that these new digital sensors will allow us to.  I can tell you that shooting into the dark shadows or in very low light can be extremely fun – as many of these new camera can now literally see more than the human eye can see in the dark…

This is just a sign of where things are headed – it’s going to be FUN to be a digital cinematographer in the upcoming years!   Cameras are getting smaller and lighter (not always a good thing… but often it is!)  and more affordable.    Sensors are getting better (note that this camera has a CCD sensor not CMOS)  and I love the idea/ergonomics of this camera!   I’d love to get a chance to play with it one day!   A friend of mine has one – so we’ll see…

 A quick excerpt from the Cinema 5D article:  

  "The Ikonoskop DII records uncompressed RAW 12bit with up to 30fps.

 It saves the files onto a 80gb (15 minutes) or 160gb (30 minutes) flash drive.

There are numerous lens mounting options including Canon EF, FD, C-mount, PL mount, Leica, f-mount, bnc….

One of the great things about this camera besides its quality is that you can use your Canon mount lenses. On top of that there are many many great 16mm film lenses being sold on ebay as 16mm film is meeting its doom. Here, for example, is a very high speed Schneider f0.95 25mm lens for 800€. There are many c-mount f1.4 cctv lenses starting at $10, but I guess they suck (?). The reason for the diversity of mounting options is that it optionally comes pre-equipped with a P+S IMS mount"

For more info go to Cinema 5D.

A week ago – Canon announced a big event that would take place on November 3rd, 2011.   They have reportedly invited many of Hollywood’s elite to an event on in Hollywood and are making a quote "Historic Global Annoucement."    Canon is not known for hyperbole.

Yesterday - Jim Jannard of RED Announced that the details of the Scarlet camera would be announced on November 3rd, 2011 – on the same day of the Canon announcement.   He claimed that:

From REDUSER:

"November 3rd is likely to be the most watched day in Reduser history. It will be well worth it.

Jim  ."  

Not a small statement either.

Many of you are speculating on the web that the 5D MK THREE is overdue…   

Will that be the third "3" in this formula?

 (Note: While I read all of the rumors as fervently as any of you do –  am contractually bound not to make any comments on them.) 

On a personal note: last weekend someone reminded me on a tweet that he was celebrating the 3 year anniversary of the release of Reverie.     

So you can bet I’ll definitely be paying attention on November 3rd to these announcements.

Can the timing of Canon and RED’s announcements be pure coincidence?  Engadget addresses that question…   

Clearly, someone knows something…  or are we witnessing a gauntlet being tossed out there?  A challenge?  

I’d love to speculate out loud – but nothing good ever comes from that.    I made a joke a a little over a year ago that "even if I knew that the 5D MKVI  would come out in the spring of 2011, I could never confirm or deny the fact."  

I was subsequently quoted in dozens of articles across the globe that the "5D MKIII was coming out in the spring of 2011."  

We all know that never happened.  And as a result of that irresponsible "journalism" I just abide by a policy to to stay quiet and make no comments whatsoever – the old: "I can neither confirm nor deny" routine is the best thing for me to do.  

I trust you’ll understand.  It’s never a fun thing to be on the receiving end of the calls or  e-mails from Canon – especially when you have no idea what the source of the statements are…

I am only posting this because of the coincidental timing of both the Canon and RED announcements. I must admit that took me a bit by surprise.   Especially given both Canon and Mr. Jannard’s claims.     

Clearly, if you are a camera geek of any kind, you should all mark November 3rd on your calendars.

 I had the pleasure to join Leo Laporte and Catherine Hall today on TWiT Photo – here is a link to that video podcast for those interested!   (Unfortunately our entire building lost power (and internet access) with just a few minutes left during the live broadcast for those wondering what happened towards the end of the show…)  Never a dull moment!

For those that want to see more behind the scenes – and a PEAK AT THE NEXT GENERATION of time lapse tools from Kessler Crane – here you go!   The new system will allow you to control focus, zoom, and iris! (along with the dolly/crane and pan/tilt head that are currently part of the existing system.)  A special thanks to Eric Kessler and Tom Guilemette for the behind the scenes video!  For a list of Time Lapse gear that I use go HERE.

Kessler TimeFest 2011: Behind The Scenes from Kessler Crane on Vimeo.

Tom Lowe, just put up some of his footage on Vimeo of the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas.  The footage was shot with the RED Epic and these clips are part of Tom’s upcoming film, "Timescapes."   The footage is beautiful, and I’ve got to admit to becoming slightly addicted to the dubstep artist’s work (SKRILLEX is the artist btw)   I was impressed to see Tom getting these type of results in relatively low light at 96 fps and120 fps.  Tom was able to do this at a reltively low ISO (800 to 1000) because he had a secret weapon at his disposal:  the  Zeiss Master Prime cinema lenses, which open up to T1.3.   Not too shabby… 

We both had fun shooting with the Master Primes together last month at TimeFest.   Check out the video below for a glimpse of what we shot together with some very talented and quality people.  And stay tuned, because in a few days Tom Guillmette will be releasing a half hour documentary on the  inaugural TimeFest.

 CHOICE – Aaron Green’s Winning Edit:

CONGRATULATIONS to Aaron Green (@AaronKGreen) for winning the edit contest from Creative Live! Aaron has won over $3,000 in gear from Redrock Micro. 

For those of you who haven’t been following the events that led up to this, here’s a quick recap.   A few months ago I went to Creative Live and taught two courses over a weekend – one on how to shoot a documentary style portrait piece, and the second a narrative scene.   The goal was never really to put together a final edit – my focus was to make sure that the students in the classroom (that were being broadcast LIVE around the world to an internet audience) as well as the viewers learned as much as I could teach them in a day.  Nonetheless there was a huge demand to see the final edit – so we decided to put up a contest to see who could do the best job of putting these pieces together.   

100 submissions were submitted  (that can be viewed here on Vimeo) and I have to admit that it was very challenging to select a winner.  I was incredibly pleased to see as many entries as we did – and to see so many talented editors put in so much time, energy and creativity into these. It really was a pleasure to look through these and I think it spoke to just how important a part of the filmmaking process the editor is.   The best part (I would assume) would be for you to see us during the actual shoot on the course – and see how everything came together, and eventually resulted in these edits.

It was a very very difficult decision – but I ultimately chose Aaron Green’s entry. The edit spoke directly to the power of editing in my opinion – Aaron did a fantastic job of restructuring the scene and emphasizing the best part of each performance. Keep in mind that we never really intended for this to become part of a final edit – our main emphasis during the Creative Live workshop was what was happening BEHIND the cameras, and making sure both the students attending learned something, as well as the thousands that were watching. I knew this – and in fact warned the actors that they would be getting very few takes, and that they were going to be somewhat neglected relative to a normal production. Given these factors – and the fact that many of the students on the crew had never shot as a group, or on a narrative piece – there were definitely some spots that needed to be edited around – and I think Aaron did this very gracefully, and managed to keep me completely engaged – even after having seen this footage time after time again!

I also selected two runners up. Congratulations to Lawrence Meriwether and Donald Strubler! Watch their "Choice" edits below.

W7′s Choice – Laforet Edit Contest by Lawrence Meriwether:

donaldStrubler [CHOICE] laforet | creativeLive edit:@donaldStrubler

Thank you again to all of you who participated in this contest!

This sounded like such a good idea at first… but now even Gizmodo has picked up on this series of videos!   A few weeks ago Blake at Vimeo asked me to help him record some instructional videos on lenses and apertures and depth of field etc.   I told him that it’d been done SOOOO many times before… I didn’t want to do anything too booorrriiinnnggg…  we had to do something DIFFERENT…  and then out of that, these 3 videos resulted – check them out below or on the Vimeo page:  

Behind the Glass: An Introduction to Lenses from Vimeo Staff on Vimeo.

Here’s a excerpt from the Vimeo page followed by the two other videos after the jump…

"Aperture:

The aperture is the diameter of the lens opening. The larger the diameter of the aperture, the more light reaches the film or image sensor. The aperture also performs a critical function for focus. As the aperture decreases in size, the background and foreground gain sharpness. This zone of sharpness is called the depth of field.







Aperture is expressed as F-stop and will be indicated on your camera in abbreviations that look like this: F2.8 or f/2.8. 

The "F" stands for the focal length of your lens, and the number indicates the diameter of the iris opening. (For a more in-depth explanation, head over to this lesson!)

Focus Ring

Located around the barrel of your lens, this helps you focus the image. Some lenses will also have an auto focus switch, which means that your lens can do the focusing for you on those days that your eyes are feeling a little tired. 

Prime or Fixed Lens vs Zoom Lens

A prime lens has a fixed focal length, whereas a zoom lens has a handy ring that allows you to switch to different lens equivalents within the single lens. But don’t knock prime lenses entirely! They may be less versatile than a zoom, but they often have superior optical quality, are lighter weight, smaller bulk and cheaper.

A Lens for Every Occasion!

Various lenses are suited for specific applications. Lets have a look at some common lenses and what they do.







16mm- An ultra wide lens, this bad boy distorts heavily, emphasizing objects in the foreground by making them look a lot larger than the background. Dynamic, but use with caution! 

28mm- Standard for documentary and photojournalism to shoot cowboy shots, otherwise known as medium shots. 

35mm- Another standard for documentary filming, also tight enough to shoot portraits.

50mm- Standard for cinema/video, it approximates the human eye’s typical focal length.

85mm- A popular portrait, or "beauty" lens. Capable of making everyone look lovely!

200mm- The top of the scale for most people, this is a telephoto lens. Their inherent shallow depth of field makes them useful in eliminating unwanted foreground and background objects by simply throwing them out of focus. Great for sports photography!



Now that we’ve had a friendly overview, let’s take a closer look at the wonders of focal length and what that means for your video. Onward to Episode 2!"   Click below to see more videos…

Read the rest of this entry »

Alcatraz – BTS from Vincent Laforet on Vimeo.

It’s important to remember that being a filmmaker or photographer is both a craft and a business.   We all need to make enough money so that we can not only pay our bills, pay our employees, re-invest in our business and gear, and hopefully have a little extra to put toward future personal projects.    

The dark little secret is that some jobs we’d do for free… for me this was one of those!  (And no – I didn’t do it for free!)

I was contacted by the Red Bull Media House and TJ Walker from Boombox,  to go shoot footage for the upcoming Red Bull King of the Rock – a global one-on-one basketball tournament held in the yard on Alcatraz! 

 I’ve been fascinated by the island since I first visited it as a young teenager.   Al Capone – the attempted escapes – the birdman …  such incredible history!    The place is absolutely magical – and at times a little spooky.

Our job was to go and shoot a series of time lapses  and some RED EPIC footage for use in the TV promo.    The challenge is that our crew had to be very small and we had to get on and off the island by boat.  So we kept is as compact as possible.    We had a total of 5 cases and somehow brought enough gear to shoot w/ the Epic on the Kessler Shuttle Pod (8ft.) and to shoot five 5D MKII cameras simultaneously for time lapses.   We were able to get 13 time lapses that afternoon and a bevy of live action footage as well.     The National Park Service was incredibly accommodating and a pleasure to work with.   We were able to shoot in locations closed off to the public (we even got to go on the roof!)  and we had the Island to ourselves after the last ferry had left the Island… it was absolutely amazing!    The total silence was a bit spooky I must admit.  Nonetheless I was sad to leave the island after sunset on a private boat back to San Francisco.   A huge thanks goes to TJ and Boombox, as well as the RedBull crew and Todd at H5 Events for taking care of many of our logistics!

Besides video/ and time lapses we also played with audio.   We used the the Mitra 3D audio mic and got some pretty stunning results.  Normally I would hire a sound engineer but in this case we couldn’t have gotten an extra body on the island.  And to be honest we weren’t asked to do audio – but I was able to "throw it in" if you will – given how little effort we had to put into collecting the audio.   (But pls don’t misinterpret this – there is NO SUBSTITUTE for a solid audio engineer on all of your jobs.  None.)   You can hear some of the audio in the piece above or check out our previous post on the Mitra 3D audio.  (You can also still take advantage of a 15% discount on both the "Pro" and "Indie" version of the mic Go to www.3dmicpro.com and use coupon code VL3D2011 during checkout.)

That’s it for now.   Hope you enjoy the video.