Photo Credit: Eli Tawil

A cinematographer and lighting designer by trade, Rick Siegel has worked on feature length and short films in the narrative and documentary genres. He photographs episodic television series as well – in music, comedy, fashion, home style, reality and magazine formats. In this blog, he tells us all about his Sony PMW-F3 rig.

When it comes to choosing a camera rig to purchase or to rent, what are your biggest considerations?

RS: I apply several criteria to determine and visualize my choices: what are the scripted elements to be photographed, who is going to see this project, what are the deliverables, what is the best equipment to frame the story elements, and last, but not least, what’s my budget. It’s a balance between artistic options, communication skills, dollars and sense. 

…continue reading Show Us Your Rig: Rick Siegel & PMW-F3

Many modern cameras offer an Exposure Index (EI) mode for changing exposure, instead of the simple gain that we had in the past. Other cameras offer both ISO and Gain adjustments that relate to one another, but exactly how is not always clear. With all of these options, I often get questions about the differences between ISO, Gain and EI and how they can affect each other. A little while ago, I wrote a help desk article for HD Video Pro magazine in which I talk about all of these modes and how they work in different cameras. You can read the full article over on HD Video Pro’s website – Help Desk: Sense & Sensitivity.

This year’s NAB show was the busiest one ever … on our blog at least. We posted a total of twenty-four videos from the show floor, which you can watch by clicking on our dedicated NAB 2013 category. If you didn’t get a chance to visit our booth this year, check out the videos below (some from the blog and some shot by our friends) to see a few of the highlights! 

…continue reading NAB 2013: Booth Highlights

Canon is introducing two new lenses to their lineup of Cine Primes, which currently includes the 24mm T1.5, 50mm T1.3 and 85mm T1.3. This prime set has now been expanded on both the wide angle and telephoto ends with a 14mm T3.1 and a 135mm T2.2. All five lenses have proper cine gearing and precision reference marks, EF mounts and Full Frame 35mm coverage (enough to cover the sensors of the 5DM3 and the 1D C). The 14mm is highly rectilinear, so straight horizontal and vertical lines remain undistorted even on the very edge of frame. The 135mm is a great portrait lens, flattening features by virtue of its field of view but with a rounded Bokeh to lend an attractive sense of depth.

Watch my video above to learn more about these new lenses and see what they are capable of. 

Back in July of last year, we teamed up with Vision Research to announce a special contest centering around their newest high-speed camera, the Phantom Miro M320S. We put out a call for proposals, encouraging image-makers and artists of all disciplines to submit creative ideas that took full advantage of the unique features of the Miro. The grand prize? A brand new Phantom Miro package, courtesy of Vision Research.

The team received hundreds of submissions, and narrowing them down to five finalists was a challenge in itself. In fact, the original contest rules stated that only four finalists would be chosen, but the quality of submissions was so high that adding a fifth finalist made perfect sense. Once the finalists were notified, they had about four months before their final films were due. For some behind-the-scenes insight on the final projects, check out these profiles of each of the finalists over at VRI’s blog and the official Phantom Miro facebook page.

The five final films we received were varied in subject, but all were beautiful to watch and obviously the products of very hard work. You can watch all five films below. Stay tuned, because the Grand Prize winner and runners-up prizes will be announced at a special event in NYC tonight! 

…continue reading Miro Challenge Finalists Deliver Five Unique Films

Photo courtesy of Arri.com

If you watched the Oscar ceremony last night, you’ll know that Life of Pi was one of the big winners, picking up awards for Best Original Score and Visual Effects, as well as wins for director Ang Lee and cinematographer Claudio Miranda. A while ago, Arri published a great interview on their site, in which Miranda talks about what it was like working with Ang Lee, and how he managed shooting with six ALEXAs, that he paired with the Arri / Zeiss Master Primes that he purchased through AbelCine. 

About creating the look of the movie, he says, “Life of Pi is naturalistic and appropriate for the time that we were trying to shoot. The look has kind of a golden hour, magical feel, which reflects on the story itself. There’s a great, soft feeling to it. It wants to draw you in.” Miranda also gave some more insight about how he worked with the VFX team, since most of the shots on the water were done against bluescreen: ”Between VFX and myself, we had to make it feel like the lighting of the boat had to really stick with the environment that we were actually projecting it for. I spent a lot of time with pre-vis, looking at weather and clouds to create what Pi’s environment really is. I think we did a pretty awesome job at putting that all together.” You can read the whole interview over at Arri’s site. 

Once again, congratulations to Mr. Miranda on his win, and to the whole Life of Pi team as well. What did you think of the film? Let us know in the comments! 

It’s true that the iPhone has become a ubiquitous tool on set, and now the iPad seems to have achieved that status too. Ever since the beginning of the App Store, there have been a number of video editing apps out there, such as iMovie and Avid Studio (among others). Well, one app that has been garnering some buzz lately is TouchEdit. Created by a pair of industry professionals including Dan Lebental, A.C.E., editor of Elf and Iron Man, the app is a frame-based editing system for the ipad. Users interact with their video using two filmstrips – plus the app even features something called “Grease Pencil” mode  which allows users to mark in and out points and perform three-point editing. 

Scott Simmons over at ProVideoCoalition has a great write-up on TouchEdit, including demo videos that show off the actual interface. You can also visit TouchEdit’s official website for more details. 

Are there any iPad apps that have become indispensable to you on set? Let us know in the comments!