Commerical with 7D 1080p25

[editman]

So finally the first commercial with my Canon 7D. This was shoot during half a day in our studio and is a commercial/sponsorship for Swedish channel 5.

I assisted the DP and basically set up the camera while he took care of lighting and camera handling during recording.
All post-production was done by me. Edited in Avid, cc in AE and graphics/logo-animation in AE. Sound edit done by another company.

We used Nikkor 50/1.4D and Nikon 85/1.8D and some extreme closeups with a 2x tele adapter on the Nikon 85 lens.
The director wanted a gritty look so lots of grain added. The footage itself was grain/noise free.

If you want to look at a behind the scenes feature it's here (http://vimeo.com/7083089)

7099314

It was alot of fun to actually see how the 7D worked during this kind a job. Some things in the camera setup can be better
but the DP was very impressed and thought this was an easy rig to use and adjust.

At first, when I got the camera, I was a little bit disappointed with the 7D, expecting noise free images at high ISO and better compression, but after this I love this camera!

[smelni]

great stuff - really promising to see this - thanks for posting

[artforme]

Great shoot man. Lighting looks great!

I've just ordered my 7D, and have a few nikons to use with it. What adapter do you recommend most?

Also what did you guys use for a rig? Was that some type of slider?

[editman]

Look at the behind the scenes feature which gives you some idea of how the camera was setup. The camera was on a heavy duty slider during all shots.

Behind the scenes feature:
7083089

[artforme]

Cool, looks like y'all had a great time producing it. The craft services in the video is making me hungry now. :)

Do you recommend any Nikon to Canon adapter? As I only have Nikon lenses right now.

[chris f]

I'd like to hear more about using that little 3.5" monitor. Was it good enough to pull focus on, or just something to reference the framing without having to bend down to look at the 7D LCD?

[Andrew Brinkhaus]

What brand monitor was that 3.5"?

[chris f]

http://cgi.ebay.com/PORTABLE-3-5-TFT-LCD-MONITOR-COLOR-CCTV-CAMERA-TESTER_W0QQitemZ250506481343QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_ DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3a53598ebf#ht_3436wt_1167

[xmephestox]

http://www.adorama.com/VDGCL4.html

more expensive but a more professional build to it, probably better image quality too. and slightly bigger...

[editman]

Cool, looks like y'all had a great time producing it. The craft services in the video is making me hungry now. :)

Do you recommend any Nikon to Canon adapter? As I only have Nikon lenses right now.

I got an adapter from ebay (One can find almost anything on ebay...) and it works great. One thing that was a little fiddly was to move the adapter between lenses. A better solution is to have multiple adapters on each lens when you shoot and the lens swap will be much faster and feels smoother for the DP.

I also had the Fader ND (77mm) and had to swap this one with adapter rings which took some time. A better solution is to have 4x4 polarizing filters and use them as a variable ND. Which is one reason for having the mattebox...

This ebay item (http://cgi.ebay.com/Nikon-AI-F-Lens-to-Canon-EOS-EF-Camera-Mount-Adaptor_W0QQitemZ370261448204QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLe ns_Accessories?hash=item56354d560c)was the adapter I got.

[editman]

What brand monitor was that 3.5"?

It's a no name budget monitor. I tried a 6" monitor on my D90 and that size was to large for my taste. This one is made for cctv camera testing and adjustment.

[editman]

I'd like to hear more about using that little 3.5" monitor. Was it good enough to pull focus on, or just something to reference the framing without having to bend down to look at the 7D LCD?

We had no problem to pull focus in close ups and in longer shots we used the zoom in which is so great! You get a fully resolved image when zooming in, not like on a HVX200 where it's all a fuzz.

I think the 7D's screen is to high res and at the same time so small with almost anything looking great thou it isn't that great when you get the files into edit.
This one looks much more like in edit.

It's not of great IQ but small, lightweight, cheap, runs on batteries for hours (and you can use regular AA ones) and it gets the job done.

[chris f]

do you know what the threading is on the monitor for hot shoe mounting? Would this work (http://www.filmtools.com/hotshoto38mo.html) to attach it to the cam? Would the monitor be too heavy?

[editman]

It's a standard tripod mount in the right corner of the monitor and I used a small ball head to make it swivel.
That hot shoe adapter in your link will work but you need the ball head to make it swivel.
I have one just like that on order but prefer when shooting on a tripod to have it beside the camera instead of on top.

[chris f]

awesome, what do you use to mount it at the side of your camera?

[editman]

It's a straight bar with tripod mounts at both ends and in the middle.
You can mount a display on one end and an audio recorder on the other ( or shotgun mic ).

I don't have pictures yet but will post it in an article on www.theeditman.com when I have the time.

[boo]

is this a 16:9/4:3 monitor? focusing was really not that difficult w/ this? looking for a cheap solution for my crane and steadycam device. is the tripod thread on the bottom right? this may be the cheap solution i'm looking for. if it's good enough for pokerstars, it's good enough for me. thanks.

[erik_ande_85]

"Programmet presenteras av" Är det Vem kan slå filip å fredrik som är programmet?

[vongspoth]

Great job on the commercial and I was especially blown away by the BTS stuff!

[editman]

"Programmet presenteras av" Är det Vem kan slå filip å fredrik som är programmet? Japp du har rätt. Den gick ikväll för första gången.

[editman]

is this a 16:9/4:3 monitor? focusing was really not that difficult w/ this? looking for a cheap solution for my crane and steadycam device. is the tripod thread on the bottom right? this may be the cheap solution i'm looking for. if it's good enough for pokerstars, it's good enough for me. thanks.

It's a 4:3 monitor but works out ok since it is almost the same aspect as the 7Ds display. Info are displayed in the black area.
The tripod socket is in the right bottom corner yes.

I had to admit focus wasn't that hard to achieve in this spot. But the only difficult was actually to pull the focus ring without follow focus. I have a follow focus but think it adds to much bulk to the rig. A better thing would be a focus leveller.

[erik_ande_85]

Japp du har rätt. Den gick ikväll för första gången.

Jag såg det nu! Kul! Jag var med å jobbade på inspelningarna av programmet. Fick några sekunders "air time" vid ekorrehjulet:grin:

[ycabrera]

hey chris, im interested as well to know if the 3.5" tft was decent enough to pull focus. thanks

[boo]

also, based on the photos, it's a composite connection?

[Deepfocus88]

The director wanted a gritty look so lots of grain added. The footage itself was grain/noise free.



Interesting, thats the first thing I noticed and didn't care for.

Otherwise, looks good and thanks for posting the BTS.

[editman]

also, based on the photos, it's a composite connection?

You are right. Composite.