Compression: 4:2:0 v 4:2:2

This is a very readable blog entry on this subject by UK based DP and writer on technology, Alister Chapman. It is well worth a read to clear the air.

Vanuatu shoot

 Epai Kastom Village. The villagers have resisted the trappings of Western culture and continued to embrace a subsistence way of life dominated by their belief in “Kastom”.

Yasur Volcano. It's a short 10 min walk to the rim of the crater where you see the power of nature

November workshop: the last for the year

 

For further details of what is covered please download the training schedule

Six days training in camera and lighting for scholarship winner

 

Student film shoot

 Last weekend - the small-group workshop wraps

Thanks to this great group of willing participants who joined me last weekend for a few days of shooting around the streets of North Sydney. It's a great location with its little lanes, old terrace houses and parks. We finished up the course with a lighting session at the ACS National HQ, North Sydney. The perfect place for our base camp.

Congratulations to everyone for making it one of the best.

Shooting on PHASEONE camera promos starts on Hamilton Island

Join the August small-group workshop

Sydney dates Saturday and Sunday 13th and 14th August. For rundown sheet, please see here. The workshop will have around seven participants, so This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it early to reserve a place. For this small-group workshop, the cost is $375 + gst per person per day. The training workshop will conduct at the ACS National Clubhouse, North Sydney.

A quick trip to the Kimberly

You can never tell at the start of the week what you might be doing at the end of the week. I took an assignment last week and it  went something like this.

SMPTE 2011 ACS workshops

A number of of the ACS cinematographers recently gave time to running a series of special events at the SMPTE conference and exhibition in Sydney.

What lights do you need?

I have just added a new article which may help you to choose a few lighting bits and pieces to add to you kit. Download it here

"Lighting is at the heart of all photography regardless of the format. It’s about using your camera to tell a story and the way that you, as the storyteller, use light to enhance that story.

Photographers and videographers alike observe natural light and the way it impacts on things. It could be harsh summer sunlight that casts strong overhead shadows, or a ray of warm late afternoon light that rakes across a room after a rain shower. Light, and the way it falls, sets a mood. One challenge for the videographer is to be able to observe these naturally occurring moods and recreate them with artificial lighting." 

XYZ Networks producers take on video and lighting training

Follow-up on the workshops

Sydney DSLR video workshop

From co-presenter Nick Rains: 
Piet de Vries and I did our first Canon video workshop last Tuesday to a full room in the Sydney Masonic Conference Centre on Goulburn Street. We have already had some excellent feedback so it seems we delivered the goods. It's always tricky to know at which level to pitch these sorts of talks so Piet and I decided to assume everyone came from a stills background and set our level accordingly.

I covered the technical stuff (as is my usual style!) and Piet explained the very different thought processes necessary to shoot compelling video - and showed a video of a wedding shot by a collegue that blew everyone away with it's sophisticated editing and shooting style. It was both intimidating and inspiring at the same time.

We still have places for the other four venues, coming up next week and the week after, if you want to find out more about shooting video with your DSLR.

The Sony PMW-F3 

The newest camera on Sony's block has been in my hands and on my tripod for a few weeks. Here are some comments.

The first thing that I noticed was that the camera was familiar and after turning it on I understood why. The menu layout is similar to the Sony PMW-EX1 and the EX3. You’d swear that you were looking at those menus and this makes things easy as I’m on familiar ground. Already I'm sensing that this is a "Just Get Out and Do It" kind of camera.

There is abundant information online detailing the technical specs of the camera, however I’m more intrigued by its potential in a range of productions and the possibilities it creates to take my corporate and doco work into a new realm.

Sony suggests that the PMW-F3 is suited to television, commercials, music and promotional budget productions however, based on my two weeks of toying around, I see much more in store. Here is an example from Martin Scanlan to set the scene. I will have my film posted here very soon.

The numbers

Let's get the specs out of the way.

• The F3 is based on Sony’s XDCAM EX workflow. The codec is MPEG-2 Long GOP 4:2:0 8 bit, 35 Mbps and uses Sony’s recording format based SxS ExpressCard. 
• The Super 35mm CMOS imager delivers appealing shallow depth of field with high sensitivity and low noise levels.
• It offers a wide range of options for creating images, and the ability to edit F3 images seamlessly with material shot on Sony’s F35 by using an HD SDI dual-link output and making external recordings. This is nice given the mature and straight forward nature of the XDCAM workflow.
• The F3 records naively to the on-board SXS cards in 4:2:0 at 35Mb/sec transfer rate. 

Before making any consideration of this native spec, look at the images that come from the camera. They have a earthy, organic feel and I would be happy shooting straight to the SxS cards for most of the time, but this camera is up-scalable. 

I would consider stepping up to the 4’s and 2’s, recording at 4:2:2 at up to 280Mb/sec using the compact nanoFlash external recorder. The front end of the F3 has the Super 35mm CMOS imager and some excellent lenses all held by a solid PL lens mount and you can’t help but notice this quality in the final production.

The PL-mount of the PMW-F3 can both take PL and zoom lenses and is compatible with a variety of cine lenses such as Cooke, Arri, Fujinon and Zeiss.

Most cinematographers will appreciate that this camera creates a very new and special category, so when would I shoot with it and what is it actually like to use?

  microWAVE microbudget filmmaking event

http://www.fass.uts.edu.au/research/conferences/microwave/sessions.html

Aboriginal traditional smoking ceremony on the harbour

I'm currently shooting video elements for a photographic exhibition at The Rock Museum.

Journalism students get some basic video skills

Getting some basic video camera skills was part of the five day course for a group of students of the APM School of Business & Communication at the Australian Film Television and Radio School this week. I've been working with the schools's Open Program.

Babies now online

DSLR's: "Shooting Moving Stills" - a new article

"Inside Nature's Giants" - final filming in The Centre

We are in the final days of our shoot in this remote part of Australia’s Northern Territory. UK Veterinary Surgeon Mark Evans, the main presenter, dissects and literally uncovers the exotic features of animals. He is joined by his regular co-host, New York based Anatomist Joy Reidenberg. Earlier in the trip they dissected a roadkilled Cassowary on the Queensland leg and in more recent days, a camel and two road killed kangaroos have been dissected in the name of science. We have been working on a remote cattle station via the Oodnadatta Track in Australia's Northern Territory. 

The ING team joined shooters who are in the process of culling camels in an effort to limit the damaged that they cause to the inland environment. Station owner Allan Fennel was flying seriously low in a red micro-light aircraft and the rest of the film crew in 4WD’s close behind keeping heads down. Once a camel was culled the crew came in, set up the dissection site and filmed for 10 hours in the 40 degree heat as the presenters made their way through the freshly fallen animal. Not for the faint hearted.

Four nights at the remote Marla Roadhouse and we are all now back in Alice Springs for to shoot the final sequences. 

A shout out to additional crew Shane Mulcahy and David Nixon (Alice Springs) and to Dan Pycroft  and  Wayne Marx (Cairns) who contributed valuable additional camera work and importantly, came pre-loaded with a stack of local knowledge. All of these guys were a pleasure to have on our crew.

Now shooting series 3 of "Inside Nature's Giants"

I am currently working on three new episodes of this popular UK documentary series produced by Windfall Films London. Filming is taking place at Mission Beach in Far North Queensland and around Alice Springs over the coming few weeks. Format: HDCAM using Sony F900R cameras.