has letus changed the face of the indi market.

puredrifting said:
Our cameras with the 35mm adapters work great, but mine and most of them are too long, unbalanced and ungainly. The cameras really become a film camera, which is great, but also limits shooting to having someone to pull focus when doing complex moves, limited mobility for handheld and you also have the kluge factor of making all of this disparate gear work with each other.
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The traditional way of shooting film has evolved too, but there are corners that can't be cut. The fact that (PRO) crews shoot it the way they do (using a focus puller, marks, etc) is just the nature of the beast. AF has been around in the video world for some time now (ain't we all happy to use it all the time?) but it did not make its way in the pro world. Speed and timing (when to roll focus) is still a human factor that no machine can accomplish yet. Yes, one can program a focus roll to match a dolly move, but they can't program the talent's walking pace. A violin (be it electronic) still needs a virtuoso violinist to play. My 2c.
Best,
Dan
 
dan said:
The traditional way of shooting film has evolved too, but there are corners that can't be cut. The fact that (PRO) crews shoot it the way they do (using a focus puller, marks, etc) is just the nature of the beast. AF has been around in the video world for some time now (ain't we all happy to use it all the time?) but it did not make its way in the pro world. Speed and timing (when to roll focus) is still a human factor that no machine can accomplish yet. Yes, one can program a focus roll to match a dolly move, but they can't program the talent's walking pace. A violin (be it electronic) still needs a virtuoso violinist to play. My 2c.
Best,
Dan
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Hi Dan:

My point was, if the manufacturers could figure out a way to give us the selectable depth of field built-in, we could use a follow focus and a focus puller when needed but we could also do it ourselves much easier of the rig was smaller, lighter, less expensive. I have heard that the LCD screen on the EX-1 is good enough to pull focus without an exernal monitor. Don't know if that's true, but if it is, that is a good step. It would be cool for this selective depth of field feature to be easy to just turn on and turn off too. I think the technology exists to create this, it's just that the great engineering minds at Sony and Panasonic haven't seen it as a desirable feature, yet. You can bet that people like Jan Crittenden are taking notes on the 35mm adaper boards these days ;-)

I work on a lot of film sets, I know what you are saying is true about crew positions and workflow but I also know from my days as a still photographer with manual focus lenses that it could be possible to pull your own focus in many instances, if you had an accurate enough viewfinder/lcd screen and a small/lighter camera, depending on complexity of the moves and how particular your needs are for hitting focus marks accurately (ie; in docs and BTS work, an occasional quick hunt for focus isn't always a bad thing, whereas in features, music videos, hunting for focus is unacceptable other than as an effect).

I guess the bottom line is that we never saw 24p as a commodity feature but now it is. I just bought a $200.00 miniDV crashcam for mounting on cars and many of the small, super cheapo camcorders now shoot native 16x9 with 24P. Who would have thought? At some point, selective focus or a reasonable facsimile of it will possibly become a common feature, I hope.

All my best,

Dan
 
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