By Matt Allard

Big news from Sony USA this week. You can now purchase the S-log upgrade for your F3 for a mere $899 US. This is no doubt a direct response to the launch of the Canon C300. The S-Log upgrade was $3800 and came on a SxS card. The $899 price lasts until March with one small catch – the offer is only available currently to those purchasers in the US and if you already own the F3 the camera must be sent to Sony’s US service centre to have it installed. You can of course just buy a new F3 in America with the option already loaded for an additional $899. For those of US users who already paid $3800 for the upgrade you can get a $2500 discount on the Sony 18-252mm zoom lens or the SR1 recorder as a kind on consolation prize. It is unclear how this quite works when Sony USA is already offering mail in rebates already when buying the zoom or recorder.

Also this new offer only applies to people purchasing in the US so it screws me . A lot of overseas customers like me who paid full price for S-Log will be very angry with Sony and will get zero rebate!

This is however great news for people wanting to invest in a new F3 because it really makes it an interesting comparison with price and performance against the C300. While I still believe these cameras are quite different and both offer their good and bad points it shows Sony is worried about possible sales drops of the F3 with the C300 now available.

S-log For Dummies from Matthew Allard on Vimeo.

The C300 is retailing for $16K US while the F3 with S-Log is now $14,859. Sony also have incentives on new purchases of a FS100, offering Sony Vegas Pro and a free SDHC card. This will coincide with a firmware update in March 2012 that will make the FS100 a true world camera by enabling both PAL and NTSC frame rates (currently it is either a PAL or NTSC only model).

Speaking of firmware, there is a new version 1.31 for the F3 which has enabled a few new things and some updates. This from Sony:

3D-Link:
3D shooting with 3D-Link and a power zoom lens is enabled (optional CBK-3DL01 3D-Link Option, 3D-Link cable, and SCL- Z18X140 power zoom lens are required):
• Linking function of the lens position (zoom, iris, and focus) on the main unit and sub unit, either constant linking or temporary linking enabled
• Iris offset adjustable when the lenses on both units are linked to move in sync
• Status indication of the lens condition (zoom, iris, etc.) on the main unit and that on the sub unit may not be the same even after the lens positions on both units has been synchronized.
• If Iris Position Sync, Focus Position Sync, or Zoom Position Sync under 3D-Link of the OTHERS menu is set to On for constant linking, pressing the assignable button to which the corresponding linking function is assigned does not activate temporary linking. Set the constant linking function to Off for activating the temporary linking. The linking function of this unit does not guarantee synchronizing in the same phase.

S-Log:
S-Log422 shooting is enabled (optional CBK-RGB01 RGB&S-LOG Output Option is required):
• 1.5G YPbPr422 & S-Log and 3G YPbPr422 & S-Log options available under Dual-Link & Gamma Select of the VIDEO SET menu

Synchro Rec (synchronized recording):
Synchronized recording via Dual-Link output enabled for normal recording (a recording device supporting Synchro Rec and Dual- Link output signals is required):
• Synchro Rec option under SDI Rec Control available. If Synchro Rec is started when the i.Link output or the Picture Cache Recording is active, or during playback (including Rec Review and thumbnail display), recording synchronization may not be achieved or distorted video recording may occur.

Wide-angle manual zoom lens:
(An optional SCL-P11X15 wide-angle zoom lens is required.) Status indication to observe the lens condition is enabled.

MF Assist setting:
The default setting for MF Assist of the CAMERA SET menu has been changed to Off

Also available to order from today is the new Sony PL mount 11-16mm T3 short zoom. I was lucky enough to get one a few weeks ago to try out.

Below is my video lens review of the new Sony 11-16mm T3 PL zoom and Sony 18-252mm F3 mount zoom lenses.

Sony 11-16mm T3 PL and 18-252mm Sony F3 Lens Review from Matthew Allard on Vimeo.

This was all done in 3 hours on an afternoon in Tokyo. I was lucky enough to get Sony Japan (through System 5) to lend me these lenses to test. I do not have any commercial arrangement with Sony or System 5 and nor did I receive any of these products for free. If I want them I have to buy them like everyone else.

I’m not normally in front of the camera so please excuse the rambling and mistakes that are made.

More of a review than a test there are no charts, just me using the lenses for a few hours to get a general feel for them and to help me evaluate what I liked and didn’t like about them.

I missed a few things in my video as I ran out of time. A few of the key things I forget to mention were that the 18-252mm zoom can be controlled via the F3 remote control. This is quite a cool feature and would be very handy on a jib, slider or dolly. The zoom itself is quite smooth and not jumpy but I didn’t check to see in the menus anywhere whether there was a way of increasing or decreasing the zoom speed. The auto-focus function was very slow and pretty much unusable. Another small concern is that the servo motor on the lens is quite loud, although in saying that I couldn’t hear it on the recorded audio. It would also be interesting to see if the remote connection on the back of the camera could be used with an external zoom controller as this would make the ease of use of the lens so much better. I didn’t notice any breathing (if there was it was very minimal) and I found it seemed to hold the focus through out the zoom range.

Would I buy either of these lenses? Thats a good question. The 18-252mm has a lot of strengths and some weaknesses. What it does offer is something that no other product has done before. A zoom rocker controlled Super 35mm lens with a big range. Yes it’s not fast aperture, but if your using it outside or in controlled lighting situations it’s pretty good. You can still get reasonable shallow depth of field despite it not being a fast lens. It’s not perfect, far from it, but it does offer a lot of convenience and a pretty nice image up until about 220mm.

The 11-16mm is quite nice. It’s fast for the range at T3 and is very sharp. It also handles flare and highlights very well. It is very expensive and probably too expensive in my belief. If this lens was $3-4k I would buy it on the spot, but $7K ! that’s a lot of money for any lens.

If you have any questions about either lens feel free to comment and I will be happy to answer. I’m sure I’ve missed out lots that people want to know!

By Matt Allard

It’s an all-out battle in the DSLR world: 2011 saw a plethora of new camera gear and announcements.  The major manufacturers are now engaged in a real fight, which can only be a good thing for the end user. That said…while all this new gear is great, I feel we are becoming overly obsessed with new technology and buying the latest product.

But let’s start by reviewing those additions. Super 35mm sensor cameras, 4K and 5K cameras and external recorders were the big movers this year. For the majority of DSLR news shooters there wasn’t that much change. Only a handful of new cameras and no new Canon 5D Mark III in sight.  Towards the end of the year Canon did announce the 1Dx and a 4k concept camera – there is also a strong rumor of a 7D mkII release early in 2012.  The video features of the 1D X are probably a strong indication of what’s to come in the 5D mkIII (or whatever it’s officially called).   I’m expecting the 5D mkIII will probably only have minor changes in video mode over the current model and probably have similar video functions to the 1D X.  The release of the C300 and a 4K concept camera has pretty much assured that as Canon are unlikely to want to compete with their own products.  

How much will the 4K concept camera be?  Well given the 1D X is going to be between $6-7K US I can’t see it being any less.  How the 4K camera will record and to what media remains to be seen.  Regardless of price and features I’m sure the 5D mkIII will be a big seller for Canon. The 5D mkII still remains one of the best bang-for-your-buck cameras around. In my view DSLR cameras with HD video will continue to flourish. The quality of the image and the price point ensures they will remain relevant for years to come.

Earlier in the year we saw the Sony F3, FS100 and the Panasonic AF100 come to the market.  All these cameras were revolutionary and have proved to be very popular in the market place.  The  biggest announcements of the year were the much publicized Canon C300 and the RED Scarlet.  Both cameras had been in the works for quite some time. They are both great cameras but very different. For me there is no such thing as a clear winner when it comes to cameras – all have their strengths and weaknesses.  I recommend you buy the one that has the most strengths in the areas that you require the most – always use the appropriate camera for the job.  The other key message is don’t buy a camera just because someone recommends it. Do your own research, watch as much actual footage as you can and go and try the camera for yourself.  Reading reviews and blogs can help but make sure you don’t just take one person’s opinion and base your purchase on that.

Another big equipment mover in 2011 has been external recorders.  The Nanoflash from Convergent Designs and the Ki Pro Mini from AJA were pretty much the only low cost external recorders available at the start of 2011.  We now have the Atomos Ninja and Samurai, the Sound  Devices PIX 220 and 240, the Blackmagic Design Hyperdeck Shuttle as well as the Convergent Designs Gemini.  External recorders can extend the life of older cameras as well as give you higher codec recording options for newer cameras like the Sony F3 and Panasonic AF100.  A word of warning though – don’t expect external recorders to suddenly turn your vision into something spectacular and don’t expect them to work well with a Canon DSLR (even a hacked one).  Your camera does the important work – the external recorder just lends a helping hand.  I have both the Sound Devices PIX 240 and a Blackmagic Design Hyperdeck Shuttle.  To be honest if I show a normal person vision recorded at 35Mb/s on my Sony F3 compared to material recorded at 220Mb/s they can’t tell the difference. Uncompressed 4:2:2 is a different story – the image quality is so clean but so it should be. At over 1200Mb/s it produces ridiculous file sizes and even a 250GB SSD drive will only give you 25 minutes of record time.

Uncompressed is great but like 4K recording it’s not suitable for a lot of the work I do.  I will post a review of both the Sound Devices PIX 240 and Blackmagic Design Hyperdeck Shuttle at a later stage.

All that said, as I mentioned earlier, I feel we are becoming obsessed with wanting the latest product.  I have been guilty of this too:  I own a lot of equipment I wish I had never purchased or simply never use.  Buying the latest and greatest of everything doesn’t make you a better cameraman or film maker.  A great camera definitely helps – but it isn’t the most important thing. Pretty pictures are great but without your film/news story/personal project having good characters and an interesting story it will lack depth.  As human beings we relate and identify with other people.  A good film makes you feel something.  Whether that emotion is fear, laughter, suspense or happiness is not important.  What is important is whether the viewer feels one or more of these emotions when they are watching your film.  You want to identify with the characters.  To be sad for them, laugh with them or root for them in a tough situation. People go to see most films because of who is in it and what the story is about, not because it was shot at 4K or on a RED or Arri Alexa.  We in the camera world get too caught up with cameras and equipment rather than the story and characters.

To get a great final product everything – the story, characters and pictures – have to blend together in harmony. But please, never forget that the story and characters are King. I cannot stress this enough.

Also don’t forget that you can never know or learn enough about film making.  I’m still learning new things every day after 22 years in the industry.  To quote the famous New York Yankees baseball player Mickey Mantle “It’s unbelievable how much you don’t know about the game you have played your whole life”.  Keep learning and asking questions: it’s the only way to get better.

I’d like to finish on this note.  I’m lucky enough to travel the world with my job and see the best and the worst of humanity. Why do we whinge and complain about a camera not having this feature or that? or why I can’t afford that particular camera? Let’s put things in perspective.  A great deal of people in the world have almost nothing and struggle to survive day to day.  As 2012 begins let’s stop complaining and create the best content we can with what we have. Anyone who gets to make films for a living or just does it as a hobby is extremely fortunate.  Sometimes we forget how lucky we are.

About Matthew Allard, Aljazeera Senior Field Cameraman, Kuala Lumpur:
Matt has been a Camera/Editor in TV news for more 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 is a multiple ACS (Australian Cinematographers Society) award winner. His Sword Maker story that was shot on a 7D won the prestigious Neil Davis International News Golden Tripod at the 2011 ACS Awards. He has covered news events in more than 35 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, the Sony F3 as well as new Canon DSLRs.

By Matt Allard

I was pretty much sold on the Sony F3 before it had even been launched at NAB.  After seeing a film called “Compulsion” by Jason Wingrove on Vimeo it was a done deal in my mind to go and purchase.  Jason had shot this piece down at one of Sydney’s sea pools at North Narrabeen, a spot I know very well. So when I was recently back in Sydney, Australia on holidays I decided to make a short film thanks to Jason’s inspiration. My parents live up on the Northern beaches and every morning they go swimming in these sea pools which are basically outdoor swimming pools built into the natural surroundings. The pools are very unique to Sydney and are not found anywhere else in Australia.  They were originally built in the 1930′s because of the fear of shark attacks.

Saltwater from Matthew Allard on Vimeo.

The people who go down and swim every morning usually go regardless of the weather.  I was originally just going to shoot pictures but decided instead to make it more documentary style.  I didn’t have any proper microphones with me so I improvised and just set the camera up very close to the people I interviewed and used the camera’s top mic. This worked out fine as I didn’t intend on using anything other than the audio from the interview clips over overlay over my images.

It’s easy to just go and shoot some pretty pictures and put them to music, but I wanted to give the piece some soul.  And so I gathered voices from real people, doing real things.  I interviewed about six people and only recorded their voice as I felt they were a lot more comfortable chatting to me knowing they weren’t being filmed.   Their answers were from the heart; raw and honest.  By making interviews more like a conversation you tend to get better answers.

Australia’s eastern coastline also provides some amazing sunrises.  I got up over several days at 5am to go shoot the sea pools and surfers.  Sunrises where you are trying to not only show the sun, but also the surroundings, test the highest limits of a camera’s dynamic range.  I wasn’t using an external recorder so I didn’t want to record Sony’s straight S-log tone curve to the SxS memory cards.  This tone curve is designed to give the maximum possible latitude in an image when post processed but requires some effort. What I did after doing a bit of experimenting was to record in the S-log mode but with a REC709 (800%) LUT applied.  I found this gave me most of the benefits of S-log but still made the image easily gradable in post.  The key when using S-log is to protect your highlights. If you do it’s amazing how much detail you can recover.  If you blow your highlights out you can never get them back.

Getting up early is worth it for anything you are shooting. There is something so special about that time just before sunrise and just after. The first morning I got up it was very cloudy and overcast and I was worried I wasn’t going to get a sunrise. When I arrived at the beach I was pleasantly surprised. Dark clouds, big surf and just enough of a gap on the horizon to see the sun come up.  The F3′s ability (especially using S-log) to handle super high ‘contrasty’ scenes still amazes me.  The camera could hold in the highlights of a strong rising sun while still showing the subtlety in the clouds and the detail in the shadows of the rock pools.  I primarily used the Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 and a Zeiss 21mm f2.8 lenses for this shoot.  There was some footage shot at 720/50p in camera to achieve the slow motion shots.  I didn’t want it all to be slow motion as it was important for me to showcase how the water and light moved in real-time. It was also important to have a lot of natural sound and not to just put it to music.

All the locations presented me with different lighting conditions; from stormy clouds to harsh morning sun, every spot presented a unique challenge.  Knowing how your camera works and what it can and cannot do are key.  If you use your camera’s strengths and hide its weaknesses, it is easier to achieve good results.

I used surfing footage shot in a GoPro action cam by a good friend of mine, Steve Clements. He used to be a professional surfer and now his son Koby is also joining him down in the water.  The GoPro vision was shot at 60p and then converted in Cinema tools to 25p.

Hopefully this piece showcases the natural beauty of Sydney’s northern beaches, as well as give you an insight into how the surroundings make the people who live there feel.  The key to any film you shoot is if people watch it and feel something from it.  Good characters make a story or a film.  Without them it lacks a soul. Being a good story teller is sometimes letting other people tell the story for you.

I shot all this footage at Avalon, Collaroy, North Narrabeen and Long Reef beaches in Sydney.  This wasn’t a paid assignment – it was just me and my camera, going out and doing what I love.

About Matthew Allard, Aljazeera Senior Field Cameraman, Kuala Lumpur:
Matt has been a Camera/Editor in TV news for more 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 is a multiple ACS (Australian Cinematographers Society) award winner. His Sword Maker story that was shot on a 7D won the prestigious Neil Davis International News Golden Tripod at the 2011 ACS Awards. He has covered news events in more than 35 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, the Sony F3 as well as new Canon DSLRs.

By Matt Allard

I recently read a very good article by Mike Jones where he talks about the digital age of film making and how every man and his dog are now calling themselves a professional film maker. Mike is a lecturer in screen studies at the Australian Film TV and Radio School where he teaches across departments and disciplines – from SciFi and Horror genres, to WebTV development; from screen history and culture to screenwriting and technical production.

I’ll quote some of what he said, “Would all you multi-hyphenate, DSLR shooting, one-man-band, editor / director / screenwriter / colour-grader / filmmakers, with your ultra-shallow depth-of-field, Vimeo hosted music-video showreels – who have never actually had a paid professional gig in your life – please, for the love of God, SHUT THE F**K UP…!

Please stop blogging, please stop tweeting, please stop dispensing advice or setting up websites with your ‘pro’ techniques and commentary, please stop propagating fallacy and ignorance, please stop offering your opinions on what is or isn’t Cinematic, please stop signing your signature with a litany of job titles just because you own a fist-full of software plug-ins and a Mac. Please stop pretending…”

He then goes on to say “Ok, Allow me to qualify my consternation. There has been a distinct trend shift over the past decade in the way we discuss and use the term ‘professional’ particularly in relation to the screen media production. Once upon a time the term Professional had a very specific meaning – a doctor, priest or lawyer – specialized positions of trust. Later the term broadened and embodied a person who makes a living from a knowledge-based art or craft and is hence denoted as belonging to a ‘profession’. The word ‘profession’ derives from someone who ‘professes’ for gain or livelihood in an activity or field of endeavor often engaged in by amateurs.

However the moniker of Professional seems now to be adopted not just by those who possess specialist knowledge and make a living from that knowledge, but also by those who simply claim to have a professional attitude, a professional mindset, a professional demeanor irrespective of whether they actually make a professional living from that knowledge or even whether they possess that knowledge or experience at all. In short, the notion of a screen media ‘professional’ has been watered down into a evaporating puddle of mediocrity and irrelevance.”

I see where he is coming from. With the falling prices of cameras and the rapid advances in technology, more and more people are getting into film making. Is this a bad thing? Well no. In my opinion it’s great to see so many people picking up cameras and shooting. The flip side of this though is what Mike talks about in his article. Professional refers to someone who makes a living out of what they do. Anyone these days can go buy a camera, create a Vimeo page and start up a website – but it doesn’t make them a Professional. Unfortunately today there are so many web sites and forums full of guys with an opinion.  Guys who aren’t professionals trying to critique others work, telling you what looks cinematic and pretending to be the world’s biggest experts on anything to do with filming. Now this isn’t everyone, but there is a large number who fit this category.

Buying a 5DmkII doesn’t make you an expert and nor should you pretend to act like one. People who make videos on a weekend, then go onto a blog and pretend to know everything can be equated to someone buying a guitar and then going and telling Joe Satriani or Eddie Van Halen that they’re doing it all wrong. If you are not a professional then show some humility and be prepared to learn. Thinking you know it all will not get you into this industry – in the long term it will hurt your own work. This doesn’t mean all professionals know what they are talking about or are good at what they do either. There are lots of w**kers in this industry who simply got jobs because their uncle worked at a TV station or a production house. Getting your foot in the door is very,very difficult. There are not that many good positions out there and a lot of freelance guys really struggle.

I’ve been doing this professionally for more than 20 years now. I had to start at the bottom and work my way up. I never pretended to know everything and tried to learn from as many different cameramen as possible. Even to this day I’m still learning. Every shoot I do I learn something new. I’ve shot more than 25,000 Interviews, worked on more than 10,000 stories and done hundreds of international assignments – and I still don’t consider myself an expert.

People who are getting into filmmaking should try to develop their own style. Watch what others do but don’t try and become who they are. Learn from lots of different cameramen and ask as many different questions as you can. Don’t believe everything you read on websites and don’t just read one or two of them (Ed – even this one!). Look around as there are so many differing opinions and ways of doing something. Please don’t think you need all the equipment and a super fancy 4K camera to do something good. I still laugh at all the forum posts where people are complaining that this camera or that camera doesn’t do 4K or 300fps. Who has a 4k monitor at home? How many people are shooting for the big screen? Most of the stuff you see is on the web, where quite frankly you can’t tell the difference between a $50k camera and a $1k one. It’s WHAT YOU SHOOT, not what you shoot it with.

The point of all this is that I believe nobody is an expert. There are lots of professionals out there but also a lot of people who have no idea about what they are talking about. Most of us do this job because we love it, not because of the money. It’s thought in some circles that it takes between 10,000 to 20,000 hours to become an expert at something. Well in some ways this is true but I still believe you are never an expert. We always have the capacity to learn something new every day.

I’ll leave these final words from Mike whose article sums it up nicely: “In short, my message to those who may be guilty of these crimes (yes, you know who you are) is this – Start acting like an Aspiring Amateur rather than a Pretending Professional and I think you’ll find you get to your goal of making a living as a professional a lot quicker. Start acting like someone who wants to learn and knows they have much to learn openly and honestly, rather than slipping into the pit of self-delusion that will result in nothing but the perpetuation of ignorance. Be careful who you read, choose your sources carefully, check the ‘about’ page of the website to see if the author has credability. Cross-check opinions on technology and technique with writers who do know what they are talking about. I am a vivacious website and blog reader about production technology but I can assure that 16 out of every 20 websites and blogs I encounter propogate nothing but fallacies, innacuracies and misunderstandings. To be an effective Learner you need to have good powers of critical-thinking to sift through the bullshit. Because there is a whole lot of Bullshit out there.

True Professionals are more likely to take you seriously and be inclined to help you if you dont try and pretend to be something you’re not. The honesty and openness of being apsiring is much more productive than the close-minded arrogance of the fraud-professional.

So stop pretending – if you are an aspiring amateur then proudly say so – you’ll learn more and have people far more willing to help you and offer you opportunities. But if you persist with being a fraud, with pretending your merit exceeds your experience, if you insist on calling yourself a professional when you are clearly are not making a living in the profession, then the only people who will buy into your trust value will be other frauds and non-professionals. If you would like one day to make a living making screen media, then start acting like an Amateur. You’ll get there faster.”

Mike currently has a number of projects in development including a new book on episodic storytelling, a novel, a screenplay adaptation and a number of transmedia productions.

About Matthew Allard, Aljazeera Senior Field Cameraman, Kuala Lumpur:
Matt has been a Camera/Editor in TV news for more 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 is a multiple ACS (Australian Cinematographers Society) award winner. His Sword Maker story that was shot on a 7D won the prestigious Neil Davis International News Golden Tripod at the 2011 ACS Awards. He has covered news events in more than 35 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, the Sony F3 as well as new Canon DSLRs.

By Matt Allard

Like me you probably hadn’t heard of Sony S-log or even had the faintest idea about what it is or what it does.

S-log was originally only available on super high end Cine cameras like the Sony F35. Now that it’s available for the Sony F3 I thought I’d do some research and try and explain it in as simple language as possible. Now before I do I’m not some super tekkie guy or an engineer so i’m not even going to try and explain why it does what it does from a technical perspective. I’m just going to explain what it does to an image in the real world. I have researched by reading various articles and I’ve tried to not make this article too technical. I am also happy to be corrected on anything I have gotten wrong.

S-log For Dummies from Matthew Allard on Vimeo.

The short video I have made is just some test shots to try and show you what S-log does and looks like. It’s not a scientific test, it’s just me using the camera. It hasn’t been recorded on an external recorder – its all been recorded straight onto the internal SxS cards. All comparison shots were done using the exact same lenses and settings unless otherwise noted.  I’ve shot comparisons between S-log/non S-log, graded S-log/ungraded S-log and graded non S-log/graded S-log. There are also comparisons between a Canon 7D using the Technicolor Cinestyle profile and the F3 with and without S-log.

In a nutshell, S-log is supposed to offer you exceptional tonal reproduction in both the high-lights and low-lights. In other words it can help expose the brightest part of your scene while still keeping the detail in the shadows. We have all shot something when, to expose for the brightest part of a scene, we have had to stop the camera down. This usually means losing all the detail in the shadows. S-log helps you to keep some of that information you would normally lose.

The human eye can see around a 14 stop range of light but it works in the reverse way of a camera sensor. We see only small changes in dark conditions but very big changes in bright ones. With a cameras sensor it sees big changes in dark conditions but only small changes in bright ones. What this means is our eyes see most things that are dark as being dark, but when it comes to things that are bright like say the sky, we can make out very gradual changes in brightness. Thats why a camera struggles when you try and shoot a bright sky while trying to expose the foreground correctly – it can’t easily recognize the gradual steps in bright scenes like your eye can.

Straight from a camera’s sensor an image appears very dark if it doesn’t have a gamma curve added to it. Almost all HD video cameras process video with a gamma curve so when it is viewed on your TV it  looks correct . This viewing method is referred to as REC709. What REC709 can’t do though is display the entire range of what your cameras sensor can capture. The F3 has a 16 bit sensor but without S-log you can’t capture all that information into a 10 bit signal. Here’s where S-log earns its money. It bends the range of the sensor to fit all the information into the allowable 10 bit space. It loses some information in this process but it now allows the camera to mimick the changes in brightness that are visable to our eyes. So remember earlier when I talked about why a camera struggles with replicating bright scenes? Well this is what S-log is helping correct.

The conventional way to combat the bright skies would be with a ND grad filter in front of the lens, but I found when using Sony F3 these filters dont tend to look as good as on say my Sony PMW-350 XDCAM. With the F3 you can see a noticeable graininess where my filters are graduated and I imagine that unless you are using the highest possible quality filters you will still be able to see the change in quality. S-log benefits you greatly by allowing you to do without filters in some cases because it handles the highlights so much better.

S-log does have to be color corrected in post though. A non color corrected S-log image looks washed out, lacks color and contrast. You don’t have to record S-log to a 4.4.4 external recorder like a Convergent Designs Gemini or even to a 4.2.2 recorder like a AJA KiPro Mini. It can be recorded straight to SxS cards but this not the best way to use it as S-log benefits in the color correction process from recording to a much higher bitrate codec and broader color space. When shooting S-log you can only choose either 5600k or 3200k and you can only shoot in progressive and not interlaced (I couldn’t find an explanation as to why).

Are there any negatives to S-log? From my experiences so far you don’t need to use it for everything and it’s not a quick fix miracle that will magically make all your material look wonderful. It does add increased noise to the image so you have to be careful when using it.

The positives? It is fantastic when you have to shoot scenes that has a high level of contrast. I have been able to shoot a lot of high contrast scenes I would never even attempt without S-log. It is also quite remarkable in low light. Turning on S-log is like turning on extra lights in a room. It also provides an amazing reproduction of detail that you normally never see. At 18db with the S-log enabled the F3 can literally see in the dark. My eyes can’t see what this camera can with a fast lens.

My over all impression of S-log is “wow!” It is however a $3800US upgrade and is not for everyone. I do however thoroughly recommend it as it really does take your F3 and put it on steroids.

About Matthew Allard, Aljazeera Senior Field Cameraman, Kuala Lumpur:
Matt has been a Camera/Editor in TV news for more 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 is a multiple ACS (Australian Cinematographers Society) award winner. His Sword Maker story that was shot on a 7D won the prestigious Neil Davis International News Golden Tripod at the 2011 ACS Awards. He has covered news events in more than 35 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, the Sony F3 as well as new Canon DSLRs.

You can follow him on Twitter @mattaljazeera

By Matt Allard

I have spent more than 100 days so far this year in Japan covering a range of stories. Most of them have been related to the Earthquake and Tsunami that devastated the country on the 11th March. I’ve already posted some of the stories from there but wanted to take the opportunity to talk about a few more which were shot on my Sony PMW-F3.

My Sony F3 now has the S-log upgrade. Other pieces of kit recently acquired are the Small HD DP6 monitor, Zacuto EVF Flip, Lectrosonics 400 series radio mic kit, Genus F3 baseplate, Berkley Systems top plate and a set of Zeiss ZF 2′s (21mm f2.8, 35mm f1.4, 50mm f1.4 and 85mm f1.4. I also purchased a Manfrotto 509HD tripod, a set of mini tripod legs and a Blackmagic Hyperdeck Shuttle. I know – a lot of new kit! I won’t go through it all in this article but I hope to review some of the equipment in future articles. I’m also aiming to write a more comprehensive review about using S-log on a F3.

The first story I want to talk about was done only a week before the Tsunami happened. It is a story about the high level of judo deaths in Japan and the controversy surrounding making it compulsory in schools.  This is one of the first stories I ever shot on the F3 and I was still getting used to the camera and settings. I am blown away by this camera every time I use it. A lot of the judo shots were shot in very contrasty light which would test any cameras – the F3 performed admirably. I used a variety of tripod and hand held shots as well as one shot with a GoPro HD.

The Fall Of Judo from Matthew Allard on Vimeo.

The next story is a story about how people are coping 6 months on from the Tsunami – and what has changed . It features a man who has continued to search for his wife every day since the disaster. I wanted to shoot this in a way that not only showed his struggle but also the passing of time and the solitude of his search. I shot this story almost entirely using Zeiss ZF2 lenses (apart from the first two shots). I absolutely can not rave enough about Zeiss glass. They provide a beautiful image with fantastic color and contrast. I was lucky enough to have fairly good mid morning light. There was not much left where this man lived so I needed to be creative and set a mood that matched the story. There are a couple of slider shots in this story (I hardly ever use a slider) but I think they worked well in this piece. Natural sound also plays a big part for me in stories. It helps the story flow and it allows you to hear the sounds that surround the pictures. I left an Electrosionics 400 series radio mic on the talent for the entire time I filmed with him. I wanted people to hear the sound that was around him, not the sound from near my camera. I shot most of this story on the Abel Cine Normal picture Profile and a few shots on the Abel Cine Highlight profile. Minimal color correction was done.

The Search For Solace from Matthew Allard on Vimeo.

The next story is on the mounting concerns of radiation levels in Japan. Six months on, the nuclear crisis is still on going and the government and TEPCO (operators of the nuclear power plant) haven’t been open about the real amount of radiation that has been released.

This was a story that was going to be visually hard to tell and potentially boring. I tried to add slight movement, nice lighting conditions and some abstract shots to help the story visually. There are quite a few shots with very shallow depth of field from using Zeiss f1.4 lenses wide open. The interview with the the government radiation expert was shot straight back into a window with very harsh afternoon light. You can see how well the F3 handles these conditions. It was also shot wide open as the room the interview was in was no longer than 3 meters.

Japan’s Radiation Fears from Matthew Allard on Vimeo.

The stand up was recorded on the Black magic Hyperdeck Shuttle. This records 422 10Bit Uncompressed Quicktime files and requires a super fast SSD drive to capture at a bit rate of more than 1000Mb/s! A 250GB drive will last you 25 minutes! The level of detail and the cleanness of the image is remarkable. It is not something you would use all the time as the file sizes it generates are enormous. I’ll review it further at a later date.

I also used Sony S-log (a paid for upgrade) on a few of the shots in the story – the shot of the Tokyo skyline and the people walking across the bridge as well as the woman sitting against a window in the late afternoon where the outside light was extremely bright. There were no lights used inside the room and the amount of detail you can see in the shadows while still holding the background window is something that can’t be done without S-log. I will also do a long article on using S-log at a later date.

Having spent so much time in Japan this year I have learned and seen so much. The Japanese peoples approach to dealing with this disaster is nothing short of amazing. Even through unimaginable sadness and loss they continue to display a dignity and strong resolve. I have seen and heard first hand people whose stories grip your heart and fill your eyes with tears. The way they have welcomed us into their homes and lives in such traumatic circumstances still amazes me. Going into evacuation centers where people have very little – they still want to cook for you or give you food or water. It is this sense of community and looking after your fellow man that has stayed with me. The devastation is still there in a lot of places as a constant reminder of what happened. Every time I see it it still moves me. The amount of destruction and loss of life cannot be viewed lightly. It is hard as a cameraman to not become involved in what you shoot. I try my best to convey what I see and experience through my pictures without trying to get too emotionally involved. This is not always possible – it becomes more than just a story because you meet incredible people along the way who become your friends.

About Matthew Allard, Aljazeera Senior Field Cameraman, Kuala Lumpur:
Matt has been a Camera/Editor in TV news for more 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 is a multiple ACS (Australian Cinematographers Society) award winner. His Sword Maker story that was shot on a 7D won the prestigious Neil Davis International News Golden Tripod at the 2011 ACS Awards. He has covered news events in more than 35 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, the Sony F3 as well as new Canon DSLRs.

By Matt Allard

Villa 9 from Matthew Allard on Vimeo.

I spent a week in Bali on a break recently and decided to make a short little film. I didn’t plan to do this beforehand and had only taken equipment to take photographs, so this is a good example of what you can do with the absolute basics. 

I had a Canon 7D, Tokina 11-16mm f2.8, Canon 50mm f1.2 and a Canon 100mm f2.8 macro (non IS). The only other things I had were a mini light stand and a gorilla pod. I didn’t have a Z-finder, monitor, slider, audio, ND faders or anything else with me.

Does shooting without those things make a huge difference? Well, yes and no. The essence of good filming is to do the basics well and to work within the limitations of your camera and kit. By understanding the limitations of your camera you can still go out and shoot something nice without the plethora of accessories. Your camera, lenses and especially you are the three most important elements of any shoot –  the foundation stones, if you will. Everything else is just the plaster and paint that help make it look prettier.

What did I miss the most? I would say ND faders. They do make your job a lot easier. Having to stop down the camera a lot to avoid running too fast a shutter speed was the biggest obstacle I faced.

Not everything needs to be super-shallow depth of field. If you don’t have ND faders, adapt to shoot without them. Stop your lens down but use distance and separation between objects to achieve a similar result. A great lens for doing this is a macro lens. Even stopped down, by its very nature, a macro lens is designed for close focus. You can use it to great effect to create shallow depth of field, without it having to be at f2.8.

If you don’t have room for a big tripod, then improvise. A small light stand, a Gorillapod or anywhere you can place the camera where it is supported and steady will do. A table, a chair or even a rolled up shirt or towel will help you get the job done. If that is not available then rest the camera against the side of a wall or any other object that will prevent shake. A lot of hand-held DSLR material looks truly awful. As a famous cameraman once told me: “Don’t shoot anything hand-held that you can shoot off a tripod.”

There are certain times when hand held is the only way to shoot something, but don’t be lazy and go hand-held for wrong reasons. Even without a tripod you can find things to make your shots steady.

Don’t be fooled into thinking you need every accessory under the sun to shoot something good. Yes, they can help and add extra elements to your shoot, but they aren’t essential.

Master the basics first such as composition and framing, and understand how your camera works before you take the leap into sliders, hand-held rigs and other accessories.

You don’t need to spend a fortune on equipment to get good results. Sometimes less is more.

About Matthew Allard, Aljazeera Senior Field Cameraman, Kuala Lumpur:
Matt has been a Camera/Editor in TV news for more 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 is a multiple ACS (Australian Cinematographers Society) award winner. His Sword Maker story that was shot on a 7D won the prestigious Neil Davis International News Golden Tripod at the 2011 ACS Awards. He has covered news events in more than 35 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, the Sony F3 as well as new Canon DSLRs.

By Matt Allard

Lenses should be the most important part of your kit. Camera bodies come and go, but good glass can be used for a lifetime. Testament to this is that 20- to 30-year-old lenses can still look fantastic on your camera. Over time they have been refined – auto focus and stabilization may have been added – but the basic design remains the same.

You should always try to buy the best lens you can afford. You are better off spending more money on your lens than getting an expensive camera body and a cheap kit lens. In most cases you get what you pay for, but there are always exceptions. If you only have enough money for a Canon 5DmkII body and a cheap lens, you are better off getting for example a Canon 60D and spending more money on a better piece of glass. You can keep quality lenses forever but your camera body can become outdated in a matter of years. Another very important thing to remember is try to buy a lens you can use on multiple cameras as this will save you a fortune down the track.

The first thing you need to consider is whether you are going to use the lenses for stills as well or just video. For photo and video you are going to want a lens that has autofocus. Manual focus for photography can be a major hassle, depending on what you’re shooting. Go and try to shoot some fast-moving action with a manual focus only lens and you will be tearing your hair out. You just can’t focus as fast as a good auto focus system. 

But for video, manual focus is crucial. You can’t be in the middle of shooting something and have your lens whirling around trying to grab focus during a shot. Lenses by Canon/Nikon/Tamron/Sigma etc that have both manual and auto focus are your best option if you plan to shoot stills and video. A lot of modern day lenses also offer image stablizers (often referred to as IS or VR) which can make a big difference to your photos or video.

If you want lenses just for video then you need to consider other things. For example, if you buy a Canon EF lens for, say, your 7D you have no ability to change exposure smoothly during a shot as the aperture is controlled by a clicked dial on the rear of the camera. The other problem is that Canon EF lenses don’t work fully on anything other than a Canon body. There are adaptors from Birger and other companies that are coming out that will allow you to use EF glass with full aperture control for cameras like the Panasonic AF100, Sony FS100 and the Sony F3,  but they will not be cheap. So for video your choices are a bit harder. You ideally want a lens that allows you to manually control the aperture and has manual focus. Even manual aperture lenses do have hard aperture stops but you can get them declicked to offer smooth iris control.

The second thing you have to decide is whether to get a prime lens or a zoom lens. There is no right or wrong choice here: it comes down to the individual operator and what he or she needs the lens for. Zooms can save you a lot of time as you don’t have to keep changing lenses, you don’t have to move around as much and you don’t need to buy as many lenses. When looking at a zoom lens you want to make sure you get something that has a constant aperture eg f2.8. If you have a zoom lens with variable aperture, the aperture will change when you change the focal length – this is a major pain for video. Additionally some zoom lenses (known as varifocal) do not maintain the focus throughout the zoom range meaning that you have to refocus every time you zoom – another major pain. In the ideal world your zoom lens would be fixed aperture and maintain focus (parfocal).

Combinations
A good example combination for a Canon APS-C sized sensor camera like the 7D or 60D would be a Tokina 11-16mm f2.8, a Canon 17-55mm f2.8 and a Canon 70-200mm f2.8L (or f4). This would give you 3 lenses that would cover a large range at fast aperture. Add a 1.4 or 2x teleconvertor and you would extend this range even further. If you were using a Canon 5DmkII you would just get a Canon 16-35mm f2.8 instead of the Tokina and a Canon 24-70mm or Canon 24-105mm instead of the 17-55mm. These are just examples as there are other brands out there that you could use. 

Your other option, if you’re just using your lenses for video, is to get older Contax/Zeiss or Nikon manual focus only lenses (either zooms or primes). You can now also get old manual focus Canon FD primes adapted to fit EOS cameras or other cameras like the NEX. Optically a lot of these lenses are older designs but many are still very good and it would save you a lot of money.

Some of the super zooms on the market will allow you to cover a huge range. For example I used the Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-f6.3 on a Sony F3 during the Japan tsunami/earthquake. It gave me a super range without me having to change lenses. I did this as a compromise for time over quality. Is it a good lens? Not really. It looked ok on the F3 although this lens is supposed to be used with the inbuilt stabilization on, so when using it on the F3, every time there was wind or lots of movement the whole picture turned to jello. I have also heard that this lens looks terrible on say a 7D. 

My advice would be to stay away from this sort of lens for video work. I think these super zooms are much more suited to travel photography rather than video. For me, when I do use zoom lenses, I never tend to use them as zoom lenses anyway. When I use the Canon 70-200mm I’m normally either at 70mm or 200mm. I rarely use anything in between. So you need to ask yourself whether you will be using the zoom as a zoom or just using the two extremes of the range.

Personally, I much prefer using prime lenses over zooms. Zooms can make you very lazy. You stay in the one spot and just zoom. Using primes makes you think more about your shot and forces you to move your feet. If your feet aren’t glued to the floor you will discover new angles that maybe you would never have seen if you were using a zoom. Primes also have the added benefit of being much faster lenses. The look of, say, a f2.8 zoom lens and a f1.2 prime is completely different. Don’t get me wrong; there are some fantastic zoom lenses out there, but they just don’t have the same look as a good prime lens. Fast zoom lenses are good but fast primes are great. 

Also, most lenses are optically not at their best when their apertures are wide open and tend to perform better when they are stopped down. This may be vital with stills, but I don’t think it’s as important when shooting video. Your stills lenses are designed, in the case of a full frame, to cover a huge sensor at high resolution; when you’re shooting video the image is getting reduced to a much lower 1920×1080 pixels. At this frame size the lens isn’t really getting pushed very hard. Personally I am comfortable with the quality of the results when shooting most of my lenses wide open.

People using DSLRs for video these days have in my opinion an over-fascination with shallow depth of field. You don’t need it on every shot you do. Of course, if you want super shallow depth of field then you need fast primes. Primes also, of course, offer the benefit of being in most cases very fast and therefore very good in low light conditions. I can tell the quality difference between a really good prime lens and a stills zoom quite easily. One of my favorite lenses is the Canon 50mm f1.2. It is way more expensive than the Canon 50mm f1.4 and you could buy about 20 Canon 50mm f1.8 lenses for the same money – but in my opinion it is worth every cent. For me 50mm is the lens I use the most. If you are planning on buying a really good quality lens, buy it in the focal length you use the most.

Build quality is very important to me. In most cases, the more expensive the lens, the better the build quality. The Canon L series for example are built pretty toughly. A prime example the Canon 50mm f1.2L as opposed to the Canon 50mm f1.8. Yes the Canon 50mm f1.8 only costs around $80 but if you drop it from just a few feet it will probably never work again. Good build quality also means there is less chance of moisture or dust getting into your lens.

Depending on the type of work you’re doing, build quality may not be a major factor for you; for example, if you’re very careful with your equipment and don’t travel much. If you’re constantly in challenging environments and travelling a lot then you need something built to withstand the conditions. Next time you’re shopping for a lens, pick it up and feel the weight, see what it is made out of and ask yourself: “If I drop this, will it be ok?”   Of course, even if you have something as solid as a Canon 50mm f1.2L, if you drop it straight down onto the front element it may not survive. One common alternative option are the Zeiss ZF and Zeiss ZE series – built like tanks with solid metal and not plastic.

Then there’s flexibility: can I use my lenses on multiple cameras and across multiple manufacturers? If you want the greatest flexibility you want to buy lenses that you can use on lots of different cameras. The problem up to this point (although people are working on it) is that if you owned say a Canon 5D and you wanted to buy a Sony FS100, but all you owned were Canon EF lenses, you couldn’t use them. If you have invested thousands of dollars in lenses you want to be able to use them on whatever the next camera is that you decide to buy. 

I have a wide variety of lenses from Nikon, Canon, Tokina, Sony and Zeiss and my favorite lenses are my Zeiss ones. There is just something about the look of them. They are also extremely flexible. In a Nikon mount they offer manual focus (albeit in the opposite direction to Canon) and manual aperture control. Using inexpensive lens adaptors I can use these lenses on Nikon DSLR, a Canon DSLR, my Sony F3 and even my Sony NEX-5. Although I love my Canon L series glass I can’t currently use it on anything else (with the exception of the Sony NEX-5 without aperture control).

What matters is the lens that is right for you: think about what you normally shoot and how you shoot it. Factor in price, speed, f-stop, build quality and flexibility and determine what your requirements are. There is no substitute for really good glass; it can ultimately determine the quality of your finished product. Remember too that you are the artist – your camera and lens are just the palette and brush.

There are way too many lenses to cover in this post so if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask here below and I’ll be happy to help you out.

About Matthew Allard, Aljazeera Senior Field Cameraman, Kuala Lumpur:
Matt has been a Camera/Editor in TV news for more 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 is a multiple ACS (Australian Cinematographers Society) award winner. His Sword Maker story that was shot on a 7D won the prestigious Neil Davis International News Golden Tripod at the 2011 ACS Awards. He has covered news events in more than 35 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, the Sony F3 as well as new Canon DSLRs.

By Matt Allard

Two new firmware updates have become available for the Sony PMW-F3. The first is the free version 1.1 – available to download here. It enables the following features on the camera:

1. Simultaneous live HD-SDI and HDMI output – This is great for anyone wanting to use an external viewfinder like the new Zacuto Z-EVF. It works in all video formats as well as in 23.98 when 2:3 pull down (59.94i) is enabled in the menus.

2. Live Dual Link Output in 444 & 422 is enabled. This means the A & B HD-SDI connectors are now both activated, so you can use them when working in Dual Link (with the RGB upgrade) or in regular 422. This means you have two additional clean outputs all the time – for connecting an external recorder. When shooting in 23.98 these outputs will give you 23.98 PsF even if you have pull-down enabled on the other HD-SDI output. (Note: When Dual Link output is enabled, the HDMI output is turned off.)

3. You can now use the S&Q wheel on the side of the camera to move around the menus. This is a good when the scroll wheel at the back of the camera camera is hard to reach. I found the scroll wheel at the back a little awkward at times so this is welcome update.

4. They have also enabled a slight color adjustment for the different ND filters. By adjusting these values, you can compensate for any color shift introduced by the ND filters.

The second firmware update is for the S-log upgrade. This is not a cheap and costs around $3500 US but what you have to remember is it places the F3 in an entirely new category. The firmware upgrade option key product code from Sony is CBK-RGB01. It enables S-Log gamma mode, Dual Link 444RGB video output, 3G-SDI output, four pre-loaded LUTs (look up tables) and five custom user LUTs.

What does this all mean? This firmware allows the F3 to output full RGB video in S-Log – opening up the true potential of this camera. S-Log raises the dynamic range of the camera to 800%, and effectively increases the base ISO at 0db from ISO800 to ISO 1600. Dual-Link SDI or 3G-SDI (dual-link on one cable) gives you full RGB444, and the LUTs allow you to monitor video normally while shooting in S-Log. The five custom LUT options mean that users can create their own looks .

The CBK-RGB01 option key, which you can now order from dealers like Abelcine, opens up several functions as well. When you purchase the key you are actually buying an SxS card with a special encoded key on it. This will allow you to enable RGB & S-Log on one camera. Once the functions are active you can remove the SxS card from the camera for safety or continue to use it as a standard SxS card. It is possible to move the RGB / S-LOG functions from one camera to another by uninstalling the key from one and re-installing it on another. They are using some serious encryption on the card to prevent multiple installations.

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 DSLRs.

By Matthew Allard

Karakuri from Matthew Allard on Vimeo.

I shot this short film for Aljazeera’s Frames four days before the devastating earthquake and tsunami struck Japan.

This is one of the first things I shot on my Sony F3. It had arrived for me in Tokyo on the first of February but I was unable to pick it up till the 28th. I managed to get the second production model ever made. I have been waiting for this camera since it was first announced back at NAB 2010 and it was definitely worth the wait.

I was in Osaka to shoot a short on the Karakuri (Japanese automata). Modern day robots can be traced back to these devices, which are 200-300 years old and were created by skilled craftsmen of the Edo period. By the use of weights and pulleys these ancient robots are able to perform amazing tasks without the use of electronics or power.

Hideki Higashino is one of the few who is keeping these incredible creations alive. His father recently had a stroke and is passing on his legacy to Hideki.

I wanted to show the intricate detail, small size and precision of these robots.

This shoot was the perfect place to really push the F3. Its ability to capture such a high dynamic range was especially crucial for a few of the shots. Shooting into the workshop from outside while trying not to over-expose the street and under-expose the workshop would test any camera. The F3 handled this amazingly well. Shooting onto the SxS cards at 4.2.0 35Mb/s showed just how good this camera is out of the box. With the ability to shoot S-log via a paid firmware update just around the corner, this camera will have even more amazing capabilities. Using S-log will increase the camera’s base sensitivity to 1600ISO. Truly spectacular for a camera at this price.

For this shoot I used the three Sony PL primes (35,50 and 85mm) as well as the Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 and the Zeiss ZF 100mm Macro Planar f2.0, the latter two via a Nikon MTF to F3 adaptor. Everything was shot using available light except for the tumbling Karakuri and when Hideki was using the sandpaper. I don’t like over lighting things and try to keep things as natural as possible. A lot of the story was shot using the Zeiss macro. I cannot rave about this lens enough. It is super sharp and when mounted on the F3 provides incredible amounts of detail.

As I’ve previously used the Canon 7D, 5DmkII, 1DmkIV and 60D, people are bound to ask me what the main differences are compared to a camera like the F3. For me the biggest difference is ease of use. Having all the controls at your fingertips, built in ND, proper audio and a convenient recording format make all the difference. As far as image quality goes, in my opinion, the F3 has a more organic look than DSLR. Saying that, I still love the image that a 5DmkII or a 7D produces. The DSLR has a unique look but it is let down by massive compression. I notice with the F3 that the level of detail is incredible. On this shoot I could see tiny grains of metal, the lines on people’s fingers and the intricate patterns on the robots’ clothing.

Do I prefer the F3 over say a 5DmkII? Yes I do, but of course that should be the case as it’s a much more expensive camera. I can’t recommend it enough. It is a video camera by design and not a stills camera. The new breed of DSLRs will not just die off; they still do an amazing job and they are very hard to beat in terms of bang for your buck. Even with all the toys and expensive cameras out there, don’t lose sight of the fact that the most important aspect of shooting anything is the story and the characters within that story. You can make anything great if it’s a good story regardless of whether you have an Arri Alexa or a Canon 550D. Equipment can help but ultimately it comes down to you.

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 DSLRs.