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My New Sigma 50mm ƒ1.4 DG HSM Lens

sigma lens product shot

I just picked up my new Sigma 50mm ƒ1.4 DG HSM Lens from Samy’s Cameras on Monday – Wow!!!  I’ve been waiting for it to come on now for about 2 months and it was worth the wait.  All the research I’ve done says this is one of the sharpest lenses to come along in a while and they are right. 




I’m using this lens on my 5D3 rig.  This is one in a new line of lenses from Sigma.  They also offer a 35mm ƒ1.4  Full Frame and a 18-35mm ƒ1.8 zoom for an APS-C size sensor.  

The skinny:

  • Very sharp – all the way to ƒ1.4
  • Great contrast
  • Great color rendition
  • Smooth focus ring
  • Fast auto focus
  • Nice ergonomics

So of course I wanted to shoot an image as soon as I got it and had 2 choices; the cats or the bird feeders ( man!! I’m getting old =).  So forgive the not so scientific photos… I will post some real shots and video as soon as I get a chance.

Along with the lens I added a cool little focus gear from DLC called a DL-V/Band.

It went on really easy and is nice and snug. Not too much extra hanging over to catch on the camera rig.  Smooth feel with my Chrosziel follow focus.  $15 USD.

All in all a nice ad to my kit.  I was holding out for a Rokinon 50mm Cine lens but as they seem to never want to make that lens (rumors be damned!!!!) I thought it’s time to make a move.  Stay tuned and I’ll post some more info as I discover it though use.

Until next time, Good shooting

TDTrey
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CineGear 2014

main street at cinegear 2014

Well it’s that time of year again – CineGear!!!

Seems like 2014 is the year of the copter and the gimbal.  
There were more copter offerings and camera support systems then I could shake a Steadicam at.  When you first walked in there was a copter & gimbal booth just waiting for new folks to have a peek.
All the usual suspect were there and many new ones.  This year I had a short list of items I was interested in.  I’m mostly looking at camera support and control.  Things like wireless video, wireless follow focus, a basic copter solution and I’m paying close attention to the race for the winning handheld gimbal kit. The camera race is definitely heating up but I don’t think I’m ready to jump into 4K yet and since that race is just getting started at the consumer and prosumer level, I’m hoping more time will lead to better product and pricing.
Here are some of the cooler rigs

But the best one of all (Yes.. the USS Enterprise.  We are at Paramount after all =)

For me, I found something I was looking for on every street.  Teradek had a nice offering with their updated Bolt Pro line of wireless video.  Noe it can work up to 2000 feet line of sight.  I also checked out IDX and Paralinx.  I think, for now, I might lean towards the Paralinx Arrow solution as I mostly need a multicast function with near zero latency.
I stopped by the Redrock Micro booth and took another look at their wireless follow focus the MicroRemote.  Still looks nice.  I wish they would come out with the iPhone controller they showed in 2012.  Zacuto has a really cool lens control system that works in a grip form factor called the Control Grip.  It’s a 2 motor system that can control either Zoom and Iris or Focus and Iris.  It’s still in the testing stage and should be out later this year.  I wish I had known about the new TitlaMax focus system from Tilta.  I just saw this yesterday and would have loved to check it out in person.  It is a 3 motor system (FIZ) with brushless German motors and a nice IPS touch screen for easy configuration and display.
One of the best things I found is from Woodencamera.  It’s their multi connector breakout box: the C-Box.  It can take HD-SDI and/or HDMI in and then send the signal out 3 HD-SDI BNCs and 2 HDMIs all at the same time.  Wait, it get’s better…  You can put a battery mount on one or both sides so it can function as your power distro with 2 D-Taps or clip on to an existing battery mount as an add on to extend a system. Nice!!!
It was a nice show this year.  I ran into a lot of friends there and saw a bunch of great new gear.  Can’t wait till next year!!!
Until next time, Good shooting

TDTrey
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Blackmagic Production Camera 4K is Here!!! And it’s CHEAPER – YAY!!!

I just received word from BMD that the BMPC 4K is shipping as of today.  I checked B&H and a few other sites and they are still showing it as a pre-order item but the press release just hit a few hours ago.  Along with the terrific news of official shipping it is also making it’s debut at a lower price point $2995.  Down $1K from the original MSRP.  It is still shipping with a full copy of Resolve  and appears not to have lost anything in the process.  First thing I checked was the BMD site for the specs and everything still appears to be there so it’s all good.  Hopefully as the units start making their way into the market a few review units will drift into bloggers hands =)  I’ll keep you posted.  For now please see the full press release below and let me know your thoughts.

Fremont, CA – February 10, 2014 – Blackmagic Design today announced the Blackmagic Production Camera 4K is now shipping and with a new low price of US$2,995. This new low price will be available for all customers, including existing pre-orders. Blackmagic Production Camera 4K is available now from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide for only US$2,995.

“The support from the creative community for the Blackmagic Cinema Camera and Production Camera 4K has been amazing,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “As with all of our products, we work hard in production to reduce costs so we can pass along the savings, even to our first Blackmagic Production Camera 4K customers. The Blackmagic Production Camera 4K is a perfect companion for ATEM Production 4K switchers and we hope the new low price will help more customers to expand their Ultra HD live production set ups with even more camera angles!”

Blackmagic Production Camera 4K is a super high resolution 4K digital production camera for Ultra HD television production. Featuring a large Super 35 sensor, professional global shutter as well as EF and ZE compatible lens mount, the Blackmagic Production Camera 4K captures high quality ProRes™ files, giving customers a complete solution to shoot amazing high resolution music videos, episodic television productions, television commercials, sport and documentaries.

The Blackmagic Production Camera 4K has everything customers need right out of the box including a built in SSD recorder, rechargeable battery and a large 5” LCD touchscreen. In addition to focusing and monitoring shots, the touchscreen also lets customers enter metadata and change camera settings all on a single easy to use interface. Customers also get a full copy of DaVinci Resolve for amazing quality color grading and finishing for Mac OS X and Windows computers.

  • Ultra HD 3840 x 2160 resolution
  • ProRes 422 (HQ)™ recording
  • Super 35 sensor
  • Global shutter
  • EF and ZE compatible lens mount
  • Built-in SSD recorder
  • 5” LCD touchscreen
  • Metadata entry
  • 6G-SDI output for 10-bit HD and Ultra HD
The Blackmagic Production Camera 4K is available now for US$2,995 from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide.

Until next time, Good shooting

TDTrey

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Blackmagic Design has big announcements from IBC

Some really cool stuff coming from Blackmagic Design at this year’s IBC.  Looks like the new Beta 10 version of DaVinci Resolve is now available for download at Blackmagic Design Support.  This is the all new version that was originally announced at NAB earlier this year.  Some of the cool new features are:
  • Resolve Live-live grading of the incoming video signal from the camera
  • Enhanced editing features
  • Multitrack editing with support for up to 16 tracks of audio per clip
  • Expanded support for more NLE’s via XML and EDL
  • Support for OpenFX plugins
  • Support for mixed frame rates and media types
  • Fantastic updated to limiting, qualifiers and power windows
  • Outstanding workflow features for window burns, file naming overlay and audio syncing of secondary tracks to picture
  • and much more
Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design was quoted saying:

 “We are extremely excited to have this public beta of DaVinci Resolve 10 ready for download from the Blackmagic Design web site,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “This is an important update for all DaVinci Resolve customers and dramatically boosts the ease of workflow in the television industry. This new public beta is available for high end DaVinci Resolve systems as well as the exciting free of charge DaVinci Resolve Lite edition which now includes support for UHD timelines and rendering. This is an exciting moment for DaVinci Resolve because its the biggest update to a DaVinci product line in 30 years!”

Another cool announcement was regarding the new Desktop Video version 10.  With the onset of 4K coming faster and faster BMD felt it was time to completely revamp the Desktop Video architecture from the ground up. Aimed at helping the UltraStudio 4K and the DeckLink 4 products, this upgrade will make the ever changing job of managing signals around the edit bay, design center, paint and color correction rooms a breeze.

Please check out all the new goodies at BlackmagicDesign.com

Until next time, Good Shooting
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ATOMOS Samurai Blade

So, the afternoon that the Samurai Blade was first in stock at B&H, I ordered it.  I had been waiting a while for it to be available and was happy it was finally on it’s way.
At CineGear I was able to check out quite a few recorders including the Atomos Samurai Blade and the Convergent Design Odyssey 7.  Both are excellent recorders.  Both have terrific feature sets.  Both are priced at $1295 USD. 
I went with the Blade.
      • It’s 5.5″ screen makes it a nice tiny recorder to hang on any rig.
      • It has a non proprietary storage media solution. (the Odyssey uses Convergent Design’s own SSDs to ensure compatibility with the recorder)
      • With the Blade, you can use SSDs or spinning 2.5″ hard drives right from your local computer store (as long as they meet the specs required by Atomos)  The fact that you can use spinning drives is one of the main reasons I went with the blade.  I can use a 500 gig laptop drive for tripod shoots and it will only cost me $60 or so and yields almost 5 hours of ProRes HQ.  For “run and gun” I’ll probably want to use SSDs because of the risk of shock to the drives.
      • I can run all day on a couple Sony NP-F970 batteries.
      • The Blade works well with both my EX3’s SDI out and my 5D3’s HDMI out.  For the HDMI from the Canon 5D3 I use the Atomos H2S converter.  It converts HDMI to HD-SDI and does 3:2 pulldown removal in real time.
      • The focus assist features work like my Zacuto EVF and SmallHD AC7 monitor.  I can see the focal plan coming my way as I roll through focus.
      • The waveform feature is very handy and pretty much a necessity these days on DSLR shoots.
        One of the other things I’ve been waiting for in a recorder is the ability to delay the audio coming into the recorder to compensate for the 5 frame LAG the Canon 5D3 has on it’s clean HDMI output.  When feeding the recorder audio directly you’ll end up with your picture behind your audio 5 frames.  Those clips will then need to be slipped back into sync on the timeline during editing.  However, (this was great) I wrote Atomos about the LAG and asked if there was anything in the works at Atomos to help.  The next day (at 3:02 am) Tech support sent me an e-mail saying they had released a new firmware update that morning and added an audio delay function and way better audio meters.  I was stoked as those were really the last 2 minor things that disappointed me about the Blade.

        The Convergent Design Odyssey 7 and 7Q look like excellent recorders as well.  At the time I needed my recorder the Odyssey units weren’t shipping and did not yet offer ProRes.  They are projected to ship a little later this year.  The 7Q will be able to do up to 4K resolutions  and also record in camera raw formats.
        All in all I think the Atomos Samurai Blade is a great choice for a flexible external field recorder and one that I will be able to use for some time to come.  As we all move ever closer to the 4K world new technology is going to keep sneaking up on us.  But for now HD recorders are a great way to go.

        Until next time – Good shooting

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        DaVinci Resolve 9 Flippin’ Fastastic

        Black Magic Design released the Beta version of their new DaVinci Resolve 9 Lite week before last.  You can download it for the Mac here.  
        It’s a great new look and feel to this wonderful application. I love the new layout.  Still has all the tools you need — they are just in a better placement now.  And, you don’t have to be as much of a rock scientist to figure out how to “make it go”  =)
        I decided to jump in with both feet.  My friends are on the home stretch of their first feature and asked if I would be willing to have a go at the grading.  I said…Suuuure, why not.  It’s a fun vampire flick with all sorts of twists and turns.  It was shot on the Panasonic HVX 200.  INT’s, EXT’s and mixed lighting – a real good test.  Check it out here.

        The new layout only took a little while to get familiar with and helped to really speed things up.  Things I liked best right out of the gate:
        • Improved Layout
        • Better Scene Detection feature
        • Smarter HSL keying
        • Easier access to Primaries and Wheels
        • Smart gallery access
        • Fantastic Motion Tracking!!!!!!
          • Super easy to use and link
        • Delivery TAB for outputting
        • Premiere Pro 6 support

        This is all from me using the Beta 3 version for only about a week.  As I dig into the app I’ll update this post.  Feel free to add comments to help all the readers =)

        I got this project as a full length ProRes movie and used the scene detection feature to split it up and conform it.  Took just a little tweaking and it worked great.  A lot of the content is set in a dark or flat location so I had to pickup a few of the cuts as they were hard to discern for the detection threshold I had set – No biggy.
        The vignette and power window features are very nice.  Made it easy to correct windows, clothing, walls… everything!!!

        The delivery TAB is now super easy to use.  You can make your own custom  output settings and then save them for future use or just take advantage of one of the many presets.  A new feature I like is the fact that you can set multiple outputs and then place them in the render que and walk away.  Each output can have it’s own settings and destination.

        Well, that’s it for now.  I’ll add more as I go.  Just wanted to give props to BMD for delivering such a great update to an already awesome tool.

        Until next time, good… grading

        TDTrey.com

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        Which Camera(s) cont’d – Sony FS700

        Well, looks like Sony has gone and done it again…. The FS700 is the new camera to beat. I thought I would wait until the dust settled to put my two cents in. I’ve got nothing to report that hasn’t already been written — Other than WOW!!! wait… I read that somewhere too…

        This seems like what the C300 should have been, what the Scarlet X might have been and what we were hoping the 5Dmk3 would have been. And it’s a Sony =)

        I was very intrigued with the FS100 but not completely sold. And have been looking for a way to use my Canon EF glass to make the package a done deal. I found the Metabones adapter for the lensing and the battery support for running all my monitoring but was not just there yet… Then I was hipped to the FS700 last Monday and everything changed.

        Looks like the new camera route might be to get the FS 700 ASAP. Shoot the 5Dmk2 for as long as I can. Rent the Mark III when needed. Adapte the 5D cage to the 700 for maximum use. If I still get requests for the 5D a lot upgrade later and replace the mark II….

        Exciting times my friends… exciting times indeed!!!!

        Good FS700 resources:

        Andy and AbleCine – Video Overview

        Den Lennie

        Frank Glencairn

        Well that’s it for now. Until next time, good shooting.

        TDTrey.com

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        Which Camera (cont’d) 2012

        Well it’s 2012… Yeah!!!

        And now we have a few more camera choices – woo hoo!!!

        The Canon 5D Mark III is finally on the horizon with the Nikon D800 giving it a good run for the money. The flagship DSLRs are also coming out soon. Then onto the big boys, the Sony PMW-F3 now has S-Log built in and the RED Scarlet-X is more then we were really hoping for (or at least the proposed version =) The Canon C300 seemed to be the best of all worlds except for the price tag… As for me, I’m caught in a spiral of full frame DSLR or Super35 camcorder.

        I currently have an EX3 and a 5D Mark II both of which get pretty regular work. The 5D2 has picked up a little more action this year which is great. I’m waiting to see what happens at NAB – it’s going to be crazy this year!!! The acceptance of 35mbs /sec has been hanging in there for a while but now with the Mark III at an estimated 90+ mb/sec it could set a new standard for most cameras. If I go on with the DSLR plan I’ll likely go to the 5D3 first and then the next offering (4K ?) after that. I do have to say the Nikon line up is looking pretty good. I was all Nikon for years and then moved to the Canon side of the street when the 5D came out. Clean – uncompressed 4:2:2 is a step in the right direction for sure… I’m waiting for a box with any mount and a clean out, place for a monitor and external recorder!!! This would be the best solution ever — just change out the body when a new one comes out. Maybe later this year??

        At any rate the next 2 months will be really exciting!!!

        Until next time, good shooting.

        TDTrey.com

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        Shooting with the RED is EPIC

        So I got to spend 3 days with the new RED Epic-X last week. Really nice. Some quick notes:
        • I like the touch screen menu adjustments. Although, we got the side grip the day before the shoot and I must say that it lays out a lot like a Canon system when you start accessing the menus that way.
        • We are using mostly zooms on this shoot for moving fast. The RED 18-50, RED 50-150 and the Tokina 11-17 PL. We have the full set of RED primes with us but have decided to lean on the zooms. A lot of the work is being done from my Porta-Jib Explorer camera support system. We are using both the JIB and the slider configurations so the zooms are coming in handy.
        • Playback is still forthcoming so we are treating this like a film shoot. If the client wants to review a shot they go over to the DIT station and look at it there. (usually after the card has gone in for offloading). It will be great when it is put in a future build.
        • The media management seems pretty straight forward. Very much like an EX workflow. We are getting the MacBook Pros to play back at 1/8 resolution in REDCINE-X with out much problem. No real color adjustments are being made on the set – We just check to see when there is a problem that we will be able to remove it in post.
        What a great camera package for digital cinema. I’m looking forward to the next time I get to shoot with this camera.

        Until next time, good shooting.

        TDTrey.com

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        Exit the ScarLETUS – Enter the Scarlet-X !!!

        AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

        I was at the Technology Expo in Burbank today, visiting the Canon booth, waiting to hear the good news about their new $6K HD camera like everyone else. They had no news. The Paramount team hadn’t called yet. At 3:30pm I started getting phone calls about the Canon presentation at Paramount: The camera is cool, great form factor, very sharp…. then the price came out — $20,000 freakin’ dollars!!!

        Hop over to RED. The stage is set. Every one is hoping for a Hail Mary and RED delivers!!! A gigantic round for their bazooka. Dead hit! 4K Super 35 for under $10K Yippee Cy Ya M… F….

        Sorry. I’ll reel in the enthusiasm a little. I’ve just been waiting for this camera for soooooo long. I got a fast track lesson on the EPIC yesterday. I’ll be shooting with it next week. I was very impressed. I had relegated myself to the idea that the Scarlet could possibly fill a gap for me until the EPIC-S/Scarlet S35 eventually came on the scene. As in my ScarLETUS blog I was even planning a way to make the fixed 8x lens concept work for the mean time with my 35mm LETUS adapter. Well I don’t have to worry about that anymore =)

        I’ll just say that my EX3, 5D and F3 were filling in the gaps and if I were to buy another camera it would need to really stand out. EPIC not withstanding, (out of my price range) the EPIC-S was going to be the only contender for that position but had reportedly gotten pushed to the back of the line – SOOOOO glad that RED brought it out as the Scarlet-X.

        Great job RED!!! Now I can look forward to the Digital Future with hope =)

        Until next time, good shooting. (Go RED!!!)

        TDTrey.com