7D covers Sri Lankan Elections
Posted by Matthew Allard in Canon Eos7D, DSLR video news, Journalism, Regular HD cameras on February 1, 2010
I was sent recently on a two week assignment to cover the Presidential elections in Sri Lanka. This trip would take me from the far south of the country to Jaffna in the extreme north.
A soldier in Northern Sri Lanka
A destroyed building in Jaffna
Sri Lanka is not the easiest place to report or shoot in. The media is controlled heavily by the government and you need permission to do just about anything.
The last time i was in Sri lanka i spent more than a week with the Tamil Tigers during the middle of the civil war in a town called Killinochi. Most of the people i met and filmed are now dead. Killinochi itself is a virtual ghost town, having almost been completely destroyed during the Sri Lankan military’s main northern assault last year.
Young girl in an IDP camp
The majority who have suffered have been the Tamil people. Hundreds of thousands are now without a place to live or living in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. For those who have left the camps they are now returning to find their houses and lively hoods have been completely destroyed by war.
Myself and correspondent Wayne Hay spent a week in Jaffna, a place that until recently had been impossible to go to. The army have controlled Jaffna for more than 10 years but it still bears the scars of more than 30 years of cival war. 98% of the population are Tamil and most of them are still living in terrible conditions with their houses either having been destroyed or been taken over by the military. Such is the level of censorship over the media that we were removed from Jaffna on the morning of the elections. At 4am in the morning four large explosions rocked the windows of the guest house we were staying in. The government had complained about a few of the stories we had done in the north of the country and had sent the military around to demand that we left and to escort us more than 200km away. We were not allowed to film any election activity that took place in the north of the country. Only 17% of voters turned out to vote in the north according to government figures. Were they intimidated? Were they free and fare? Who knows….with no media allowed to report in the area the outside world would just have to assume they were.
Sri Lanka Tamils from Matthew Allard on Vimeo.
I created this small short film of Tamils praying in a Hindu temple using my 7D. It was quite dark and very early in the morning meaning it was too difficult to shoot with my broadcast camera. The camera worked well for this situation. I would of liked to have used it more on my trip but due to time constraints and remote filing of stories using a BGAN satphone it was not possible. I hope in the future that conversion times and ease of use will improve on DSLR cameras as i love the images they produce and would use them a lot more. Still for most news gathering events such as this trip the broadcast cameras convenience and quick turn around time meant i had to use it on 90% of occasions. Aljazeera’s response to me using a DSLR continues to be fantastic and i am now blogging about it on the Aljazeera website. They will continue to post not only the stories but short films i shoot in various countries. I commend them on their forward thinking and hope other news networks jump on board the DSLR revolution.
This same film will be running on the Aljazeera website shortly. Here are some of the other stories that ran on Aljazeera from Sri Lanka:
My article on using DSLR cameras to shoot the news is also running on the Aljazeera website. Click this link
Janek Zdzarski reports for Polish TV news using the Canon Eos7D
Posted by Janek Zdzarski in Canon Eos7D, DSLR video news, Journalism on January 19, 2010
Out shooting with the Eos7D and LCDVF finder
I’ve always been a big fan of multimedia and am fascinated with the tools that make it easier to create a video report. I believe that very soon most newspapers will have a video content on their sites, not just the big ones. Below is one of my latest reports about the cancellation of the Mr Gay China event – shot entirely on the 7D, when broadcast it would have a Polish voice over track to explain everything, but I’ve left that off here.
Beijing police cancel China’s first gay pageant from Janek Zdzarski on Vimeo.
For most of my years in the media I’ve been a news photographer for daily newspapers and also writing articles. In 2004 I obtained an MA from Warsaw University, my major was TV and Photojournalism. Then 2 years ago, right before Beijing Olympics, I was being offered a freelance job for TV.
I was using regular video cameras, the Panasonic AG DVX100, Sony PD150 and Z1. For unobtrusive field work I was carrying my small Sanyo Xacti 1010HD. But then 7D appeared. The image quality, ability to shoot in low light and portability are the things that make this camera a dream tool for me. I usually equip mine with the a LCDVF LCD loupe to make viewing the back screen easier, a small stabilizing rig and sometimes a monopod. For audio I mount a Zoom H4N audio recorder to the camera and then sync it with the camera’s audio track using PluralEyes from Singular software.
Moving pictures are rapidly taking place of stills. Generally my view is that people are bored and fed up with stills, they don’t have time or will to scroll pages full of pictures online. The video format makes it easier, especially when you add some visual devices like timelapse or maybe some stills – this makes the story visually more attractive. That kind of moving news feature or report can reach a far broader audience and the new video DSLR’s are the perfect tool to make this thing happen. For me another good thing about 7d is its price: it’s a really affordable camera for the quality it offers and that gives it potential to change our industry. Here’s another example of the street shooting I’ve been doing.
Merry Christmas in Beijing from Janek Zdzarski on Vimeo.
A couple more things – for me after shooting news photographs for many years I am familiar with DSLR cameras. I understand how to move around with them and the whole philosophy of being a photographer. But not I’m shooting video, I just need to wait longer to capture not just 1/250th of a second, but let’s say 10 seconds. I also need to take care with the audio (as one of my friend said: in the film the good light means good sound). The other area a photographer coming to DSLR video needs to learn and manage is the editing. It evolves more senses and more dimensions than straight stills. Take time to learn all these things.
I still take photographs though, using the 7D and also sometimes a Mamiya 7. I’d like to take the opportunity here to really encourage photographers to learn how to edit and produce a video features. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that photography is about to die; for me video is another challenge and as said before – the video story can reach the broader audience.
Anybody interested in these kind of News/Documentary features from China, please don’t hesitate to drop me a line.
I publish some of my stuff on my photoblog and here’s my picture’s portfolio: www.zdzarski.com
Below is CNN’s version of the Mr Gay China story – look closely and you’ll see it features Janek in action with his 7D.
Aljazeera’s Matthew Allard uses Canon Eos 7D to shoot the TV news
Posted by Matthew Allard in DSLR video news on January 11, 2010
The Sword Maker & The Swordsman from Matthew Allard on Vimeo.
Shooting the Sword Maker and the Swordsman using the 7D rig attached to a Sachtler tripod
I bought a Canon 7D in Seoul during a work trip to South Korea last year. I have always been interested in trying new equipment and techniques to capture images. Previously to get the film look required an expensive film camera or buying something like a Letus 35mm adapter setup for a broadcast camera. Either way was very expensive and out of reach for most of us.
At Aljazeera we shoot on Sony XDCAM HD and while being a pretty good camera it gets let down with poor dynamic range, sharpness issues and bad depth of field. Working for a 24 hour Global news network the camera is great for the fast turn around of breaking news stories. Currently the work flow of a using a DSLR camera is not quick enough in most cases to meet these requirements. There are the problems with audio, transcoding, lack of full HDMI out and not being able to use a fluent zoom lens, these issues would probably most TV news networks away from wanting to use them. I have found working at Aljazeera that i have had quite a bit of freedom to try new cameras and ways of doing things. There are always conservative factions in most media organisations that don’t like anything new or different, but Aljazeera has been very supportive. Asia Correspondent Steve Chao has been fantastic and shown great patience in letting me use the 7D on certain stories, knowing full well that it takes a lot longer to shoot with than using our regular TV equipment. Aljazeera has been very pleased with the results and i hope that more people will follow my example and start using this sort of technology.
Matt in action with his regular Sony XDCAM kit
Recently Correspondent Steve Chao and I went to Taiwan to do a few stories and one of them was in Cheding in the south of Taiwan. It was a story on the dying tradition of sword making. Kuo Chang Shi has been a sword maker for more than 50 years and is the man who made the Green Destiny sword that featured in the the Oscar winning movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I decided to shoot it on the 7D because it suited the old, poorly lit workshop he was in and he would be dealing with fire so I would have to shoot in high contrast conditions. Anyone who has used an XDCAM will tell you that they are terrible in low light and cannot reproduce high dynamic range scenes.
I shot with the 7D in 720p/50fps. I did this for two reasons: I wanted to slow a lot of the material down to 25fps and it tends to work better if you are using it with any XDCAM vision. Our work cameras only shoot 50i (35mb/s) so when you shoot in 25p it doesn’t tend to blend in very well.
Using the 7D with Genus Mattebox to capture the atmosphere
I initially had the idea to go to a temple to get some mood shots. This story was about old world traditions and customs. The incense burning and people praying would make a great introduction to the story. I didn’t set up much with the sword maker as what he does is very repetitive. I tend to prefer to let people do what they normally do and work around them. This way you get a more fluid natural look to your story. The shoot took about 4-5 hours to do. I was lucky enough to have one of the worlds top Tai Chi experts turn up to get his swords sharpened while we were filming. We politely asked him to demonstrate some moves for us which again looked great when slowed from 50fps to 25fps. I still record my audio on my broadcast cameras as I’m still waiting for either a Magic Lantern firmware upgrade or the new Juicelink system that is is pre production.
Once I’d finished the story I then imported the shots onto an external hard drive, then used MPEG Streamclip to convert them into Apple ProRes 422. There is a catch with doing this though, the file sizes created are enormous and you have to own a huge external hard drive. If I’m mixing 7D with other footage I usually convert them to XDCAM 1080i50 (35mbs) as that is the format my broadcast camera records in. The file sizes are a lot smaller when you do this however they take a lot longer to convert than turning them into ProRes 422. The advantage of doing this is that I don’t have to render the material if i’m dropping it onto a XDCAM timeline in FCP. Because this story was shot solely on a 7D I turned them into ProRes 422 and created a 720p/50fps timeline. I also turned most of my material from 50fps to 25fps using Cinema Tools so I had nice slow motion footage. I did this because I wanted to emphasise every little detail from the drifting of the smoke to the tiny bits of metal and sparks coming off the steel.
The whole edit took about 7-8 hours to do as I spent a lot of time fiddling with it and making slight adjustments – I was running five tracks of audio. I didn’t use any grading tool like Magic Bullet Looks and the camera was simply on the Standard setting. Once completed I had to export it as a Quicktime file and then bring it back into FCP. The reason for this was I had to turn it into an XDCAM sequence to be able to play out off the timeline through a Matrox MXO box than converts the signal into an HDSDI so i could record it onto an XDCAM F70 machine. I wish i could create a ProRes timeline and play it out as ProRes, but the approximately four year old work issued 17″ Macbook Pro cannot play a ProRes timeline out. Hopefully in the future I’ll be able to cut and output in ProRes because the quality is a lot better if you do it that way.
Click to see another Aljazeera film shot on the 7D
I’ve used the 7D for about 3 months now and am still getting used to it. I have a few basic items for it including a Genus mattebox and adaptor plate that lets me put the camera straight on my professional Sachtler 18P tripod. I still don’t have a viewfinder (although I just ordered a Zacuto Z-Finder) or anything for audio. I make do with the lights, audio and other equipment from my regular broadcast kit. I own a Canon 50mm f1.2 and a 16-35mm f2.8 and I hope to get a 70-200 eventually.
Overall I was happy with the result of the story. There are a lot of situations that i can think of, especially in news, where this camera would be useless for shooting with. That said it is certainly is a useful addition to my kit and something I will continue to use in the future.
About Matthew Allard, Aljazeera Senior Field Cameraman, Kuala Lumpur:
Matt has been a Camera/Editor in TV news for 20 years, previously working for both Channel 9 and Channel 10 in Australia. Twice Network Ten Australia’s cameraman of the year as well as being a Walkley Finalist for outstanding camerawork in 2006 (for coverage of the Cronulla Race Riots) and a Logie Finalist for outstanding news coverage 2006 (Bali 9). He has covered news events in more than 30 countries, from major sporting events to terrorist bombings. Based out of the Kuala Lumpur broadcast centre in Malaysia he is an avid user and follower of new technology, shooting stories on HD broadcast cameras as well as new Canon DSLR’s.
Agence France Presse photographer Ed Jones uses DSLR to shoot wire service video
Posted by Ed Jones in Canon Eos5DmkII, Journalism on January 8, 2010
I arrived in Hong Kong in May 2009 and did what any photographer in the bargain camera capital of the world would do; go shopping – I was keen to get my hands on a video-capable DSLR. Whilst AFP has a deal with Nikon and supplies staff with Nikon equipment, I also have a basic Canon setup of my own. At the time the Nikon D3s had not been released, though an agency-wide upgrade is imminent.
Hong Kong women shrug off tattoo taboo from Ed Jones on Vimeo.
After getting to grips with the DSLR video function, it wasn’t long before I was proposing a video feature to the Hong Kong bureau chiefs. Newspapers have been at it for a while; photographers already gathering video for two or three years perhaps; a timeframe which increasingly seems to constitute ‘a while’ in the conveyor-belt culture of technology and it’s blossoming relationship with the word ‘obsolete’. AFP has been slower to pick up steam with photographer-generated video, but with good reason: the agency already has a television service capable of producing features and a some select news coverage, and until recently the technology was simply not malleable enough to squeeze into the workflow of AFP’s hundreds of photographers without detriment to the very things that keep it competetive: the speed to meet the neverending deadlines of 24 timezones, and unsurprisingly; cost.
Now thanks to some extremely clever chaps in the upper-echelons of the agency, it is possible to transcode, compress, and transmit HD footage from a DSLR to a desk on the other side of the world as fast as a few photos. My latest video-based endeavour was much less demanding: being a feature I had more time, and as such I decided to provide a text story and photos in addition to the video.
I also wanted to see for myself what it would involve to tackle the feature as a full-on multimedia journalist and be self-sufficient in providing the story. Using around two minutes of footage, 500 words, and maybe six photos or more, I would tell a brief story about the increasing number of conservative Hong Kong women getting tattooed. My equipment was as minimal as possible – I wanted gathering the video to be simple and quick: a DSLR body, a tripod, 70-200mm and 17-40mm lenses, a reflector, and an external sennheiser mic — enough to fit in a small camera bag.
Ed with his personal Canon 5DmkII kit
Ambient light in dingy tattoo parlours was a concern, but the reflector and a wide aperture was easily sufficient to keep the interviewees lit. It was the language barriers, the tiny parlours still trading as I conducted my interviews, and actually finding a Hong Kong woman who was conservative enough to be included in the story but liberal enough to talk about her love of ink in English, that proved the toughest challenges.
Unlike shooting news footage where a short period of time must be forecefully divided between gathering photos and video, I found that without these constraints I shot far too much footage; a scattergun approach that meant I ended up with lots of material but not enough real quality. The shooting time of the video comprised of a couple of two-hour video interview and photo-taking sessions, and another two hours to gather extra footage on the street and to return to one of the studios for some action shots.
The editing took a little longer, and was done in small sessions spread inbetween my usual work schedule across five weeks – a delay partly due to the need to comply with the agency’s video style which I was learning for the first time. This meant compiling three different edits of the footage for television and web-based clients. The broadcast version should be able to be re-edited by TV clients, with a package of extra footage in case they should need more choice. No cut-away shots during an interview, and no overlapping audio called for less creative freedom, but essentially retains flexibility for whoever wants to use it. The web version allows much more creativity in the edit so that the product can be directly uploaded to websites with the minimum of intervention. On top of all of this is I have to submit a heavily detailed shotlist, a document explaining when and where all the included shots were taken, and details of the interviewees. The shotlist also includes the text story and the voiceover script as a reference for clients.
Once finished, it was extrememly satisfying to see the story, photos and the video appearing on websites and in publications around the world, and whilst the feature is not as polished as I would have liked, I will refine my approach for future stories – for which I already have a few ideas.
Upon reflection, I feel increasingly fortunate that it is the tools of our trade that are now capable of such attention-grabbing video results – the opportunity to continue to visually record the world firmly cemented in the hands of photographers. From weather features to war stories, the ability and the need to implement video segments into our workflow is here. At AFP photo editors are already handling video alongside pictures. From now on, the challenge for news photographers will be to gather and transmit footage fluently and with the minimum of hassle…and then let the desk worry about it.
Shooting on ice – 1DmkIV and 7D play nice together and get published
Posted by Dan Chung in Canon EOS-1D Mk IV, Canon Eos7D, DSLR video news on January 6, 2010
The 1DmkIV and 7D video featured on the front of the Guardian website
I’m back in Beijing after my travels and I’ve finally had a chance to get out and shoot a piece for my newspaper’s website with the 1DmkIV. It’s nothing too complicated but a good excuse to put the camera through its paces in bright daylight. I set it in 720p/60, put a 70-200 lens on it and ventured down to a frozen lake in Beijing to see how it performed in daylight.
1DmkIV and 7D on Ice – Winter fun on Beijing’s Houhai lake from Dan Chung on Vimeo.
When it came to editing the 1DmkIV footage was changed into slow motion by using Apple’s Cinematools to conform it to 25p. All the footage is graded using Magic Bullet looks.
Canon Eos7D ice cycle cam ready to roll
To get the moving shots I attached my 7D on the front of an ice-bike that I’d rented, using a super clamp. The camera was fitted with a Tokina 11-16mm lens and to get the exposure I wanted I fitted a Genus Fader ND filter to the front. I would have put the 1DmkIV on there but I didn’t really want to be the first person to write one off; imagine how embarrassing that would be. I got some strange looks as it was – and had some near misses.
This camera was set to shoot 1080p/30 and then conformed to 25p to give a very slight slowdown, then downsized to 720p in the final output.
The 7D was fitted with a Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 and a Genus Fader ND filter
Sadly the ice was not as smooth as I’d expected and ideally I should have used some kind of stabilisation rig for the 7D. So the result was not perfect and needed a little help from Final Cut’s smoothcam filter to get rid of some of the worst wobbling. I guess a better solution might have been a gyro stabilizer and some kind of arm, but I have neither. Maybe I’ll treat myself later in the year.
The Tokina 11-16 f2.8 – Getting Wide and fast on a Canon Eos 1DmkIV
Posted by Dan Chung in Canon EOS-1D Mk IV, DSLR video news, Matteboxes and filters on January 3, 2010
Fully loaded 1DmkIV with Tokina 11-16 f2.8, Genus Wideangle Mattebox and bars, Zacuto Z-finder
Eos1DmkIV with Tokina 11-16mm and Genus Mattebox from Dan Chung on Vimeo.
Since getting my shiny new 1DmkIV I’ve been rebuilding my standard go everywhere kit to accomodate the new camera. The 1.3x crop factor has been seen as limiting by many who have got used to a ‘full frame’ body like the 5DmkII. Some users have sited the lack of good, fast aperture wide angle lenses and it is true there are few options. I’m specifically going to focus on video here but much of this applies to stills too.
The widest Canon f2.8 zoom is the 16-35 f2.8L II, a fine lens but when put on the 1DmkIV it becomes the 35mm equivalent of approximately a 21-45mm, certainly not too shabby and probably as wide as you need to go in many circumstances. It also takes 82mm screw in filters and also takes a Mattebox easily. However if you do want to stray wider the options are more limited. I have a Canon 17-40 f4L which is also nice but not quite as wide or as fast aperture as I’d like.
Canon make the 10-22 f3.5-4.5 EF-S lens which sadly does not fit the 1DmkIV as its only designed to fit the 7D and other EF-S mount bodies. It can be modified through surgery to fit a 1D body but it hardly seems worth it as it is still slow aperture and it will of course vignette.
Canon do offer the very nice 14mm f2.8L II lens I recently used for my horses shoot in Singapore, its very sharp and quite compact, however it is also has a very bulbous protruding front element that you can’t easilty get a filter onto. For video this is problematic as Neutral density filters are pretty much essential for daylight shooting at wide aperture whilst maintaining a shutter speed between 1/50th and 1/125th for natural looking motion. Front filters simply can’t be fitted to the Canon 14mm and the only option is to put filter gels behind the lens where there is a slot – not convenient.
Canon 1DmkIV at the races – test shoot from Dan Chung on Vimeo.
Sigma and Tamron both make cheaper fixed 14mm lenses but neither is as sharp as the Canon and they have the same issues with filters. There is apparantly a remarkably inexpensive Korean manual focus 14mm f2.8 from Samyang coming out as well but I’ve never tried it.
Many stills shooters have adapted the Nikon 14-24mm f2.8 for use in Canon, I have this lens and the appropriate adapter from 16-9.net but its a bit of a faff for video and not a cheap option either. On the plus side filter makers Lee have developed a filter holder to fit the front of the lens so ND and ND grad filters will be no problem. There are also some interesting home brew filter solutions for that lens.
Then there is the Sigma 12-24 f4.5-f5.6, lovely and wide but very slow aperture. I also have this lens and for a corrected (non-fisheye) lens it is about as wide as you can go and is very sharp. On a bright day its fine but no good for low light.
There are also a multitude of non-corrected fisheye lenses like the Canon 15mm f2.8 or Sigma 8mm f3.5 which some people ‘de-fish’ in software when shooting stills, however I’m really not sure how well that would work in video.
Which leads me to my current best solution, the Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 which I originally purchased for my Eos7D. Now this is a very sharp EF-S crop factor lens designed for the smaller 1.5 crop so it doesn’t cover the whole 35mm frame. It is f2.8 all the way through and has a nice wide manual focus ring.
Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 mounted on the 1DmkIV
When fitted to a 1DmkIV it vignettes heavily at the 11mm end but when you start zooming in the vignette goes. By about 13mm its virtually gone and you can use the lens normally even when stopped down to f16. It really is quite sharp even in the corners and shows only minimal Chromatic abberation. The AF in stills mode is pretty average but in video I’d manual focus anyway so this is not a problem. Essentially what you have is a usable range of 13mm to 16mm which in 35mm terms would be approximately a 17-21mm f2.8.
Why would I choose this lens over say the Canon 14mm for video? simple – the Tokina has a 77mm front thread which can be used with screw in filters or in my case a Genus Wide Angle Mattebox (from about 13.5mm with no problems using an adapter ring, you can probably get 13mm with flexible cloth nun’s knickers instead of a fixed ring). You can also fit the popular Genus 77mm Fader ND filter to this lens but it will vignette from about 14mm, still pretty good.
Genus 77mm Fader ND filter fitted to the Tokina 11-16mm
Until Canon bring out something better this is currently the most practical fast aperture ultra-wide angle for video use on the 1DmkIV. I hope this New Year will see other innovative lens options and a Canon 14-24 f2.8 has been long rumoured, I just hope whatever comes out can take filters.
Singapore night drive – another pre-production 1DmkIV low light shoot
Posted by Dan Chung in DSLR video news on December 16, 2009
1DmkIV – Singapore night drive from Dan Chung on Vimeo.
This is my second shoot using the pre-production 1DmkIV on loan to me from Canon Singapore. I chose to make this one a bit more like a conventional piece you might find on a news website’s feature pages. Setting myself a one evening time limit on getting the shoot done we filmed everything in about 4 hours. The star of the show is 28 year old Marvin who spends all his money on a Mercedes SLK to drive around Singapore in, mostly cruising with his friends at night.
Setting up the 1DmkIV and trying not to get run over.
I enlisted the help of a small group of friends to assist me in getting it done quickly. I was joined by Wee Han Yeo who I met at the Cathay Photo workshop earlier in the week, Russell Boyce of Reuters and his young son Lewis, as well as local Reuters photographer Vivek.
The equipment was kept simple, unlike Vincent Laforet I don’t really have the access to the best gear for car shooting (gotta love the Gyros and stabilizer rigs Vincent!), instead all I had was a tripod, the new Genus DSLR bars fitted with a Redrock Micro follow focus, along with a Redrockmico Event rig. All the car to car and interior stuff was handheld. Lens wise I had a 14mm f2.8L, 16-35mm f2.8L, 70-200 f2.8L and 300mm f2.8L lenses. I shot in 1080p/25 with the shutter speed at 1/50th to match the streetlights, aperture was wide open at f2.8 the whole time. The amazing thing is that from the video you can’t tell just how dark it really was, it was pretty damn dark!
A hybrid Genus/Redrockmicro rig and follow focus in action.
Edited as usual in Final Cut Pro there is a very light grade on the footage and a few bits of smoothcam to make up for the lack of a Gyro or Steadicam.
This time it was in virtually no light, shooting mostly in the 2000-6400 ASA range using streetlight with a Litepanels Micropro LED light for fill in. For the driving shots we put the Micropro on the dashboard pointing at Marvin to give his face is little glow.
Marvin is lit by a Litepanels Micropro sat on the dashboard
Russell’s son Lewis did a lot of the audio separately using a Zoom H4n audio recorder. For the section where Marvin is talking in the car the Zoom was left in the car and synced later in post.
I was really happy with the quality of the images I was getting is such low light but please decide for yourself, there is a downloadable link for a 1080p version on Vimeo.
Sharing the DSLR video love – in Singapore
Posted by Dan Chung in DSLR video news on December 16, 2009
As I mentioned in my last post I have been in Singapore at a series of events hosted by local retailer Cathay Photo, Canon Singapore and Genus products. The idea was to give local news professionals and keen amateurs a taste of DSLR video and how they can improve the results they are getting. I gave a one day seminar for over a hundred participants, then a one day hands on workshop to a smaller group.
In action at the Cathay Photo workshop, Clarence Lee (L) models the 5DmkII with Steadicam Pilot and Genus Mattebox
Me showing off a fully loaded 5DmkII/Redrockmicro eyespyrig with Genus Mattebox attached
DSLR video is really beginning to take off in Asia, I’ve already run DSLR video workshops at two of China’s largest newspapers. In Singapore there are already ads on the local TV done by DP’s using the 5DmkII and most photographers I talked to saw video as the next big thing. People take photography gear seriously here and as you can see from the photos there was quite an array of kit.
Clarence Lee going up and down with his Steadicam
The invite from Cathay Photo was a bit out of the blue, I fondly remembered the shop as the one where I bought some of my original Canon FD gear as a spotty teenager on visits to Singapore. Twenty years on and its still in the same place and run by the same family. David Toh and Charmaine Toh in particular helped me to set up and run the workshop which was held in the rather impressive Suntech centre. I was really impressed that they were so keen to learn more about DSLR video and pass it on to their customers.
Myself and David Toh of Cathay Photo playing with toys
My main message as always was that if you are a good photographer you stand a good chance of being a good videographer too. If you see the world in light and shade with good composition and an eye for detail then you should try extending you skills to video. There are some obvious big differences such as sound, narrative, movement etc. but if photographers are willing to learn then there is the potential to create new and interesting work. Not every one will succeed but I think photographers owe it to themselves to find out if they can do it – a “Yes we can” attitude will get you a long way. I had only shot home movies before getting serious about video four years ago, thanks to the DSLR revolution I would say now that video is over 75% of my workload.
Analysing some rushes on a very Shiny Mac setup - I want one!
Now I am no veteran videographer, nor do I profess to know everything about the subject, but luckily on hand also were former TV news shooter Steve Rushworth from Genus and Edwin Tan of the Canon Pro video department with some more expert knowledge. They helped me to demonstrate some of the latest products can really help to get a more “35mm” shallow depth of field look from the DSLRs. The Genus Mattebox, Fader ND filter and brand new soon to be launched follow focus were on show along with the Canon 5DmkII and 7D and other accessories from Litepanels, Manfrotto and Steadicam. Surprisingly no-one in the audience had a Fader filter for their DSLR video so I was glad to pass on how I use them to get shallow DOF in broad daylight. I really enjoyed the 2 days and it seemed like the participants did too.
Steve Rushworth of Genus shows how to use an ND Fader
After the Cathay event I stayed in Singapore and had a few days hands on with the 1DmkIV. I also got to present my videos at the Canon Experience, you can read more about these videos in the other posts here.
I also had a chance to catch up with my old buddy Russell Boyce from Reuters, we used to work together but he is now the company’s chief photographer in Asia. We talked over how I use DSLR video and he came out on a shoot with me to see how I worked. In my opinion it won’t be too long before you see big agencies like Reuters, the Associated Press and Getty Images embracing DSLR video for daily use. Times are a changing.
Local photographer/filmaker Wee Han Yeo presents his work
Me with the crew from Cathay Photo, Canon and Genus
Dan Chung shooting horses in slow motion with the Canon 1D mk IV
Posted by Dan Chung in Canon EOS-1D Mk IV, DSLR video news on December 15, 2009
In action at Singapore Turf club with the Canon 1DmkIV, 300mm f2.8 lens
The Beast - A 1DmkIV all tricked out with Genus Mattebox and follow focus
When Canon Singapore contacted me to see if I wanted to test drive a pre-productin shiny new Canon 1DmkIV I jumped at the chance. Up till now I’ve had to lay down my own cash to try the 5DmkII and 7D so this was a great opportunity to form an opinion about the camera without going bankrupt and I was due to be in Singapore anyway for an event at Cathay Photo. I had a few days to really put the camera through it paces shooting mainly at night to see if it lived up to the hype. I’m glad to say that the short answer is that it does and its low light video is truly stellar, easily beating my 5DmkII and 7D.
The film you see here was filmed in just one night of horse racing at the Singapore Turf Club. Shooting at between 1600 and 6400 ASA under just the floodlights I got results that were far cleaner than I’d expected. The rolling shutter effects seem to be improved over the 5DmkII too, its still there but you need to look much harder for it. The one thing that is still evident on the pre-production model I was testing is aliasing, personally I didn’t find it too distracting but make up your own mind.
Canon 1DmkIV _ The races from Dan Chung on Vimeo.
I had not one but two 1DmkIV bodies from Canon to play with along with a selection for lenses from a 14mm right up to a 300mm f2.8. I wanted to test not just the low light but the slow motion capability as well so I shot this whole film on 720p/60 and then slowed it down to 23.98 fps using Cinematools, before editing in Final Cut Pro. The final footage you see here is ungraded and pretty much straight from the camera. The picture profile was set to neutral with contrast and sharpness reduced to min. If I have time I will try and grade this piece later and re-post it.
Shooting with a prototype Singapore made high quality slider and the 1DmkIV with 14mm lens
I should mention that the LCD screen somehow seems to be better than that of the 5DmkII or 7D, it is the same resolution but I found it easier to focus with. Which brings me on to one of the other new gadgets I had to test. The LCDVF viewfinder from Estonia, although I am used to the more expensive Z-finder from Zacuto, this little gadget worked quite well. It doesn’t have a diopter adjustment but I didn’t find that to be a problem with my eyesight. I actually quite like the image it gave with the 1DmkIV, being slightly smaller than the Z-finder it was still a breeze to focus. I did have one annoying problem though, the magnetic frame that attaches to the back of the camera kept falling off, I didn’t have long to allow it to set on the back before shooting and it was damned hot so maybe that caused the fault. LCDVF recommend a certain way of applying the frame which I had no time to do so maybe I’m being a little unfair. It is also possible that the new LCD on the 1DmkIV has a slightly different coating to the 5DmkII that is less sticky, who knows? sadly I had to give the 1DmkIV back so someone else will have to figure that one out.
I also tested the camera with a new as yet unreleased prototype heavy duty slider by local Singaporean designer Lee Kang Swee, this is like my original Glidetrack slider but far more heavy duty and probably better suited to the weight of a fully loaded 1DmkIV. I used it for all the slider shot you see in this film, I’m going to keep in touch and see how this product develops.
Lastly, I couldn’t have done it without the help of Singaporean photographer and filmmaker Wee Han Yeo who organised the shoot and assisted me throughout, you can see his great work at www.tripeaksimagery.com
Not one but two Canon 1DmkIV cameras out on the track
Guardian photographer Felix Clay flys high with a 5DmkII and Zacuto rig
Posted by Felix Clay in Canon Eos5DmkII, DSLR video news, Journalism on December 14, 2009
Felix Clay about to fly with a Zacuto Tactical Shooter rig.
Based in London, I have now been shooting video on a Canon 5d Mark II DSLR regularly since the beginning of 2009 for the Guardian newspaper. Having managed with little more than the camera and a tripod to date, I have recently felt the time was right to start investing directly into the extra equipment. I’ve seen the demand for video rapidly increase from news and corporate clients over the last eighteen months and simply put, there are far more opportunities in having the skills to offer potential clients both options rather than simply stills these days.
So: having finally placing my order for a Redrock Micro rig it finally arrived the night before I was due to visit the Canon Pro Photo solutions event at the Islington Business Design Centre in London last month. I was going along to check out some of the latest Canon products (including the new Eos 1D Mark IV) but also many of the other manufacturers, whose gear I was keen to get my hands on to finally finish kitting out my rig for shooting video on DSLR’s. I duly spent an hour bolting it together watched by my bemused colleague from the Guardian Dan Chung, who was over from his base in Beijing. We were meeting for a quick drink and consultation session on my new gadget as he had been using the Redrock for sometime now, and was going to give me a few pointers on using it. Dan was scheduled to give several talks at the Expo over the following two days; talking about his experiences to date, he presented a “how to” on shooting video on a DSLR, beautifully illustrated to the audience with some short exerts from his work which demonstrated his increasing mastery over the video he shoots on DSLR’s. Along with my other colleague from the Guardian, Sean Smith, who also talked about his multimedia and video experiences, primarily from his recent “embed” trips in Afghanistan over the last couple of years; they both turned out to be one of the highlights out of the series of seminars presented at the Expo.
Overnight I was presented with my first opportunity to try the Redrock out when I received a call from the Guardian newspaper and asked to shoot an aerial video the following day of the latest developments at the Olympic site over in east London. On finding out how small the helicopter for the trip sounded, and realising how little equipment I was going to be able to take with me, I realised I’d need to re-think my approach. The door on my side of the helicopter was going to be removed, leaving nothing between me and the great outdoors but a seat belt, to allow me an unobstructed shooting area, so balancing a large-ish rig like the Redrock, changing lenses mid-flight, and everything else that might need juggling with, sounded like a nightmare, if not downright impossible. This proved a good guess as when it came to getting into the chopper and strapping in, the pilot made me go through all of my equipment that was either strapped around me or inside a host of pouches and zip pockets to take only really essential gear. He then wanted a complete demonstration of exactly how I proposed to change lenses, data cards and batteries in mid-air without dropping anything and killing someone 1500 ft or so below us.
Before I left the Expo to get to the airfield in north London, I passed by a stand showing off some of the latest Zacuto gear, rigs and viewfinders which I had noticed earlier on that day. I got chatting to Den Lennie from F-Stop Academy who was there talking to visitors, amongst other things, about the latest addition to his DVD guide series, how to shoot video on a Canon 7D. I told him where I was headed off to and he suggested I try out his Zacuto Tactical Shooter rig and the Zacuto Z-Finder as a solution to the space problem I was anticipating in the helicopter. This was an unexpected opportunity to checkout a direct rival to my rig, which I reckoned was worth postponing the Redrock experience for. As I’d not yet invested in a viewfinder, (I’m also considering the LCDVF viewfinder which is just coming onto the market and is considerably cheaper) I took both and headed up to the north London aerodrome.
Once the pilot had finished instructing me about safety with my gear we took off and headed over northeast London. We had a perfect day for it. The sun had come out after a cloudy, overcast morning and the light was soft, if slightly hazy. I had two Canon 5D Mark II’s with me (the second to grab the odd still on the way to the Olympic site) and the first sporting the very light-weight, but solidly built Zacuto rig, at the ready. The gun grip meant I could tuck the support tightly into my shoulder, which as I found out immediately, was essential to cut down on the vibrations and turbulence buffeting us. As the helicopter was so small, smaller than previous aircraft I’ve shot stills from before, motion and turbulence was going to be a problem I was simply going to have to live with. It was impossible to omit it completely, even from the final result despite the worst being edited out. Only a gyroscopic camera stabiliser would deliver perfectly smooth footage, a little out of budget for this assignment. From my confined and semi-restrained position in my seat, I found the compact size of the rig perfect for the job. It felt strong and solid, and handled intuitively. I could imagine having a similar set-up (with an added top mic attached, something like a Rode VideoMic or similar from Sennheiser) slung over one shoulder when covering a news event that looked as if it might warrant video. It would be easy to carry, would never notice knocks or scrapes and could be pulled straight to the eye and provide immediate stability for short bursts of footage – the photographers natural instinct of stills over video is always a conflict, particularly with something major unfolding in front of you, but I could have done with this set-up when covering the G20 protest in London back in April of this year (the Guardian wanted stills and video from all the photographers covering events that day). You can see the results of that day here:
Although not all of this video was shot on DSLR’s (the early footage is from a standard video camera) the latter footage when things got heated between protestors and the police, shows what is possible, especially in these types of situations, with video on a DSLR, and hand held too.
Finally, my first experience of the Zacuto Z-Finder. A piece of kit essential to judge a decent exposure in bright daylight at the minimum, something I’ve struggled with in the past for lack of one. I found an immediate problem in that my left eye is my “viewing” eye and is also much stronger than the right. Using digital DSLR’s for video requires you to view with your right eye, essentially if you are going to see where you are going and what is happening around you as you film, but also so as you don’t have to crane your neck into the side of the camera. Sports photographers will have an advantage here as many of those who have the same problem as I do now, have trained themselves to use their right eye (so as they can see over the very large lenses and follow the action of a football match or similar fast moving events). Apparently it takes years I’m told and not sure if I have the patience for that! So it’s either learn the correct way or make do with a slightly twisted, partially sited filming experience. You can at least mount the cup upside down or roll the rubber surround down to make it entirely usable if this is the situation for you too.
It also took me a while to see past the pixilation caused by looking through the Z-Finder magnifying a small screen so close, but once I’d adjusted to that it felt quite natural. Although, compared to the early days of strapping a makeshift viewfinder or even the Mark I Zacuto Z-Finder to the body of the camera with tape or rubber bands, string etc., there is now a magnetic surround that holds it in place. I did find I knocked it off a little too easily, but then I was in a confined space with a lot of equipment strapped around me, which probably exacerbated this, and there is a lanyard you can attach to either your camera strap or have around your neck to keep it flying off at the wrong moment – and in my case 1500 ft to the ground below. Overall a viewfinder is an essential piece of kit for video and I’m keen to compare it to the LCDVF version soon.
You can see the results of the video here:
