Since Lens Doctor Eddie Houston introduced the Fluid Variable Aperture on this blog a few months ago he says his business has gone tremendously well, so much so that – after an initial trial using the FVA installed into Nikon and Leica R lenses – the BBC have commissioned him to install the aperture system on all their stills lenses.

I’ve had quite a few of my lenses converted this way now and can testify to how well they work. It has worked especially well with my older Leica and Canon FD manual focus glass. I have other de-clicked Leica R lenses but the aperture on these has a tendency to move on its own due to the springs in the aperture system. The Lens Doctor version does not – a great help. After adding a True Lens Service 80mm lens donut, a Zacuto lens gear and a Leitax Leica R to EOS hard mount I have a newly ‘cinemized’ lens.

Eddie added: “I have a further development to the Fluid Variable Aperture system that is currently going through patenting. This will be the introduction of a gearing system with SLOW-NORMAL-FAST selection and it will also include the segmentation of the aperture down to 1/32nd increments. This will allow cameramen or movie makers to maintain a constant aperture if there is a break in filming for whatever reason (such as weather or light). They will be instantly able to mark the aperture where they stopped and set the same aperture value again when filming recommences – vital to cohesive filming and precise editing. This will be available in mid summer and we will be able to retrofit it on manual lenses. We have tested the system on Canon, Zeiss, Leica, Olympus and Nikon so far.

“I have also been approached to offer the Lens Doctor service in two other countries, the USA and Sweden. Although these discussions are in early stages it looks like the service will involve vendors offering lenses fully converted with the Fluid Variable Apertures from their outlets. If any other people are interested in offering this service in their countries, please contact me at ehouston@talk21.com“

You can find more details of the conversions on www.thelensdoctor.co.uk.

Fresh from his documentary win at Sundance, cinematic journalist Danfung Dennis has announced some early details of his next project called Condition ONE. It looks to be a highly immersive virtual reality video project which Danfung hopes will allow viewers to experience news events more fully.

Danfung hasn’t disclosed too much detail about the actual system used other than to say it is based on a Canon video-capable DSLR which can capture the entire human field of view as a distorted circular image. The image is subsequently projected onto the inside of a dome for immersive viewing. The same image can also be displayed on an Ipad app which allows the user to pan around the video image as it plays.

The video below shows just how it would work and was shot not in a sterile test environment but rather on the frontlines in Libya, by photojournalist Patrick Chauvel. The new technology gives the viewer a totally different sense of what is happening.

My Freedom Or Death – Condition ONE Beta from Danfung Dennis on Vimeo.

This is what Danfung had to say about the project:
“Visual imagery can be a powerful medium for truth. The images of napalmed girls screaming by Nick Ut, the street execution of a Vietcong prisoner by Eddie Adams, the shell-shocked soldier by Don McCullin – these iconic images have burned into our collective consciousness as reminders of war’s consequences.

About Danfung Dennis:
Danfung has covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2006. His images have been published in Newsweek, Time and The New York Times. His footage in PBS Frontline Obama’s War was nominated for a 2010 Emmy Award. His documentary, Hell and Back Again, won the World Cinema Jury and Cinematography Awards at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. He is the founder and CEO of tech/media startup Condition ONE. His background is in Applied Economics and Business Management, consulting small and medium sized enterprises in emerging markets.

You can find out more about Condition ONE here.

Comment by Dan Chung

I did not expect or intend this particular video to trigger the debate that followed on Vimeo and elsewhere in the blogosphere. It feels strangely beside the point to be continuing it when what matters is that 10,000 people have died and many more are missing due to the earthquake and tsunami. But, given the reaction, I feel I should explain why I made it.

The whole piece is honestly the closest I could bring you to what it felt like standing in that place. It’s one thing I’ve found hardest to do in video and to judge from some of the comments, perhaps I have not succeeded. I am not seeking to manipulate the viewer or to tell them how to feel – I am trying to convey how it feels to be there. Yes, it is uncomfortable looking at the ruins of people’s lives. If a disaster doesn’t make you feel uncomfortable then you are not human.

It was not frantic – it had a strange sense of calm. When faced with a scene of devastation like this, as I have been many times, you feel dazed, like you are not really there. It feels like it’s all a bad dream. Watching the survivors I think a lot of them feel the same – it’s shock. I felt the use of camera movement with a slider conveyed this sense of displacement.

Some of the commenters seem to think I am using news as an opportunity to make art. It is the opposite. I have been covering news for a long time and it frustrates me that people do not respond to it. I am trying to use cinematic techniques to make people connect to and care about news, not using news as an opportunity to make cinematic pieces.

One of my still images from Shintona - not as 'real' for me as the video I shot

There is nothing about a standard news package that is “real” or “authentic” or “unstylised”. It has its own conventions. What worries me is that I think there is often a disconnect from what is ‘on the news’ because it is presented in a pre-packaged way. People are used to it and know what to expect. They stop responding. Just because something IS real, doesn’t mean it ‘feels’ real to the viewer.

TV news rarely gives you a real sense of being in a place as cinema can. Because cinema has a language easily understood by audiences, they do not have to learn a new or alien visual language as they do with other multimedia. The difference is that while cinema uses these techniques to make you suspend disbelief and take you to another world – I am trying to take you to a place in the real world.

There is still plenty of room for ‘straight’ TV style news reports, but there is also room for something else. In text journalism you have stories full of facts and analysis, but you also have colour pieces. There are some excellent pieces of ‘traditional’ multimedia from photojournalists like myself – combining stills, audio and often music – but all the evidence I have seen suggests they do not reach a mass audience.

People have asked why we didn’t speak to locals. We did: it was in the news piece. This is a different piece. My colleague Jon had the option to narrate. We both thought it was better with the music.

(The Guardian decided to re-edit my video into the piece below – adding the voices of some of the survivors. Some commenters preferred it to my original. For me the piece didn’t work at all, mainly because it failed to convey what it felt like to be there.)

Photojournalism tells a story without words; who ordained that news video has to follow a prescribed format? ‘Straight’ TV news is not even a format that has always been around – back in the days of Pathe and Movietone newsreels people would watch a sequence of images with music without objection. That changed in large part because the technology changed. As the technology changes again, news should and will evolve too.

Some have suggested it was inappropriate to set up a small slider and a DSLR in the middle of a disaster zone, but it is surely no more disrespectful or intrusive than the large Japanese news crews and four-person BBC teams present. Nor is it more artificial than a photojournalist shooting stills in black and white, when the world is in colour – something few people question.

A Japanese TV crew reporting from the Tsunami zone - A satellite truck is behind out of shot

As for the music – again, it’s an attempt to convey what it feels like in those places. I guess it is partly a matter of taste but I strongly feel it was the right choice. I’d also add that it’s much more common to use music in Asia, where I live, and perhaps it seems more natural to me than others elsewhere. I often use all natural sound or dialogue when I think it works better. Take a look at my recent Arizona shootings video below.

Below is one of my earlier attempts to convey the feel of a place using cinematic journalism. This was the day the Olympic Bird’s Nest stadium was unveiled to the press. (Back in 2008, shot on a regular camcorder)

People will not like everything I do – some people may not like anything I do – and considered criticism has helped me improve my work. I am grateful to those who have spoken up for me, some of whom did not like this piece but respected my intentions. I feel there has been a valuable discussion around this video and despite some of the negative responses to it I still believe cinematic journalism is a way to involve audiences in world affairs more.

About Dan Chung:
Dan is a Guardian photographer and videographer. He also runs www.dslrnewsshooter.com

Aljazeera’s Steve Chao reports from Natori, Japan where rescue workers continue the search for survivors in one of the worst hit areas following a 10 meter high Tsunami. Amid the constant after shocks and Tsunami alerts their searches only turn up dead bodies. Survivors also return to look for loved ones who are still missing. Their search is often a desperate one that leads them to uncover their worst fears.

Both Matt and myself have been covering the tragic events surrounding the Tsunami in Japan. I have left Japan now but Matt is still there and headed back into the disaster zone to do more reports. I’m sure both of us will talk more about what it was like later on, but for now the story is the priority.

This is Matt’s report for Al Jazeera.

This is my short montage in which I try to convey a sense of what it is like to actually be there.

Aftermath – The Japanese Tsunami from Dan Chung on Vimeo.

The videos and stills I did for the Guardian can be seen here.

This year’s NAB show in Las Vegas promises to be an exciting one for new products and I will be there to cover what’s new for Dslrnewsshooter as last year.

The annual show is the world’s biggest for video professionals and runs from the 9th to the 14th of April this year.

Readers of this blog can get free passes to the show thanks to its promoters. All you have to do is visit http://bit.ly/NABRegSM06 or register at http://nabshow.com/register with the code SM06.

This will give you FREE ACCESS to the exhibit floor, the Opening Keynote and State of the Industry Address, Info Sessions, Content Theater, Exhibits and PITS.

There is also a NAB show super session specifically aimed at DSLR users titled ‘Small Profile, Big Results? Advantages and Challenges of DSLR Cinematography’. The speaker lineup includes some well known DOPs such as Rodney Charters, Gale Tattersal and Russell Carpenter. Details are here.

The Sony F3 on a Genus rig with Bravo follow focus

I have been shooting a lot over the last two years with Canon DSLRs. They have definitely changed the way I shoot and I’ve been able to use them in situations and conditions where I could never have used a HD broadcast camera.

I have been addicted to the brilliant image and low light capabilities that these cameras offer but at the same time have always struggled with the ergonomics, audio and slow turn around time of the footage. There have been improvements but there will always be small niggling problems for me when using a DSLR to shoot video.

I’m always on the look out for new forms of technology that make my job easier so I recently took the plunge and purchased a new Sony F3. I pre ordered my F3 in Japan and the camera turned up on the 1st Feb (unfortunately I couldn’t get back to Tokyo till the 25th Feb to pick it up.) I have the second one ever made (serial number 00002) as the store where I purchased it from (System 5) got the first production batch in the world. I chose to order the F3K which included three Sony made PL lenses (35mm, 50mm and 85mm T2). The lenses are terrific value and to my surprise are a lot easier and better to use than the pre production models I tested. The pre production models had very tight focus and iris rings but the production ones are very smooth. I will get into more detail about lenses a little later.

I have previously talked about the camera in an earlier article so I won’t go into too much detail about the specifications but I want to talk more about what it is like to use and what I think of the results.

On location in Japan with the F3

I’m always optimistic about any new camera I get. I had watched lot of vision of the F3, read a lot of reviews and gone to a seminar launch in Japan. My initial reaction after turning the camera on and doing my first few shots with it was “Wow” this thing is unbelievable in low light. I never thought I’d ever pick up a camera where I was having to stop down so much because there was too much light. It was better than i was expecting. I mentioned to Dan Chung that I wasn’t expecting miracles with this camera. I have been very happy with the image out of the 5D mkII and the F3 certainly has a very different look to it than the DSLRs. It does look more like video on the standard settings and that’s because it is a video camera. The F3 is incredibly sharp on the standard settings and the detail is incredible. It can be made to look more like a 5D mkII but that requires a lot of tweaking and bringing the sharpness way down. The other thing that impressed me was the reproduction of skin tones. I have shot in both 25P and 50i. One of the main reasons i bought this camera was it’s ability to shoot 50i. People may be thinking why would you want to shoot in 50i? Well broadcast television news is almost entirely done in 50 or 60i. Once 25P is put on broadcast servers it tends to look terrible. It looks great on vimeo or your computer but it doesn’t look like that when it is broadcast. Don’t get me wrong I love progressive but my bread and butter jobs require me to shoot in 50i. I have not had much time to muck around with settings and try different looks as I have been in Japan on assignment and had to use the F3 almost straight away. I will endeavor to do more tests as soon as I can. The other brilliant thing about this camera is its ability to be able to stream live through the i-link firewire connector. This enables a computer to recognize the camera as a DV device. I do a lot of live crosses with my work so this is an important feature.

The F3 in terms of ease of use and operating is very similar to the Sony EX series of cameras. It took me very little time to get used to using it and operating the menus. There were a few things that are still a pain to use. The shutter can only be changed in the menu system (there is only a shutter on/of switch on the camera). The lack of EVF makes it very hard to use hand held but on the plus side the flip out LCD screen is very, very good. I had no problems judging exposure and finding focus. The peaking function is also very, very good and makes following focus very easy (one of the problems I always had with a 5D mkII).
Audio is very good and easy to use. It is so good to be able to have audio monitoring, headphone jack, dual XLR connectors and complete manual control.

As for lenses I have two different options at the moment. I have the three Sony PL mount lenses (which I believe are actually made by Zeiss) which are super sharp and have almost zero breathing. They are very fast T2 and when combined with a follow focus make pulling focus extremely smooth and a pleasure to use. The other lens option I have is using Nikon lenses with a MTF Nikon to F3 adaptor. This adaptor is brilliant and allows you to use any Nikon mount lens and be able to control the iris via the blue anodized ring (I will do a full review on the adaptor soon). My advice is that it is easier to either go all PL mount lenses or all stills lenses. The reason is because it takes time swapping the adaptors over. Changing lenses using just one adaptor is far quicker. So I either try and stick with the PL lenses or the stills lenses depending on the job. I have purchased a Tokina 11-16mm f2.8, Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 and a Zeiss 100mm Macro Planar f2.

I really didn’t see a massive change in the look of the image when using the different lenses. The PL mount Sony lenses are sharper and faster than the Nikon mount lenses I have and I prefer the look of them but saying that you don’t lose a lot by using stills lenses. In some cases the glass in good stills lenses is just as good as that found in PL lenses.

What would I recommend if you were thinking about purchasing this camera. Well I would definitely buy the included Sony PL lenses as they offer fantastic value for money. PL lenses are in high demand and you will still be able to re sell them at a high price in the future. You can’t buy these lenses except in the F3K kit. If you want to save money then buy a MTF adaptor (apart from Nikon there is also a Canon FD mount available and a Sony/Minolta one that is due out soon). You can buy good quality, cheap glass this way and have a lot more options for the type of lenses you can use. Also don’t be to worried about getting a super fast lens as this camera is so good in low light it will make just about any lens look good in bad lighting conditions. I still recommend buying fast glass because you can always use it on your DSLR as well.

Sony F3 vs Canon 5D Mark II Low Light Test from Matthew Allard on Vimeo.

The other night I had a spare ten minutes and did a very quick low light test comparing it to the 5D mkII. I wasn’t sure what to expect as I had heard early reports that it wasn’t as good as a 5D mkII in low light, but after speaking to a leading DOP in Japan who had thoroughly tested the camera in conjunction with Sony he and told me that the F3 was better in low light – hence I was optimistic. Both the cameras were on standard picture profiles, both on roughly the same focal length and both using similar lenses (Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 on the F3 and a 70-200mm IS f2.8 on the Canon 5D) and both on 1/60th shutter. I was amazed at how much better the F3 was than the 5D. I’m sure both cameras can be tweaked to perform even better so don’t take this test as gospel. I am also sure after writing this I will get a legion of 5D mkII users writing in to complain that its not a accurate test. I am an avid user of the 5D mkII and love its abilities in low light but from actually using the F3 in the real world it blew me away with the sort of conditions I could shoot in.

Sony F3 with MTF adapter and Nikon 80-200 next to a 5D mkII

Even though the F3 was shooting on SxS cards at 35mb/s I have been very surprised by the image quality. The seminar I had previously attended in Tokyo had demonstrated footage of the same scene shot on 35mb/s and at 220mb/s Apple ProRes 422 and they blew up part of the image to 400%. There was barely any difference between the two.

I also have been lucky enough to get hold of a Cinedeck Extreme to test. This is simply a awesome all-in-one recorder, monitor, with full play back capabilities that will capture in all of the Apple ProRes codecs, Avid’s DNx HD, and Cineform. It has dual HD SDI inputs, HDMI inputs and also offers full audio/video monitoring, and all the scopes you could ever want. It records to SSD drives so the device can be taken off the camera and plugged straight into your computer. This is the same device used on Danny Boyle’s latest movie 127 hours. Again I will have a full review of it soon.

So my over all impressions of the camera so far are fantastic. I am very, very happy with what it does and the image quality is superb. If you are looking for something that looks like a DSLR then it is probably not for you. You can still get amazing results with a 5D mkII but for the type of work I do this camera is sensational. I recommend it to anyone shooting feature style news stories, documentaries and indy films. It is definitely not a camera for someone who doesn’t make their living in the world of film or television. If it’s just a hobby for you or a passion, stick with a DSLR as it offers incredible results at a fraction of the price.

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.