"A Verse Before Dying" - AF-100 Western Short

It just occured to me that one benefit of the removable hand grip is that it can be upgraded with one that has a built-in zoom rocker to control a zoom lens. So if Panasonic, Leica, or some other manufacturer wanted to, they could design a zoom lens that couples to the camera to get a) focus control, b) iris control, and c) power for a zoom motor. Then a cable would connect the lens to the handgrip wherein there is a zoom controller.

It would work... Jan?

(this assumes of course that the AF100's lens contacts can supply power --- do they?)


It does supply some power but not enough for a servo zoom.

Best,

Jan
 
The new zoom grip could include a battery to power the zoom. When the F3 Zoom from sony comes maybe Panasonic/ Leica will offer a power zoom (with OIS, auto focus, ect) for run and gunners that would work on the AF100 I am sure it will not be cheap. Or maybe some other company will offer a zoom with power grip. One of the many great aspects of the AF100 is its removable hand grip and handle, allowing 3rd party manufactures to offer all sorts of after market options. Let the fun begin.
 
Given the shallow Micro 4/3 flange distance maybe some enterprising adapter maker could make a lens adapter/grip combo that would add a zoom rocker to the grip and a connector on the lens adapter to supply power and control from the grip and outboard power...
 
How about a m4/3 Zoom lens with built in grip (and Power source) this then could also work on a GH1,Gh2, .....
 
Back to the shoot...

I know Timur said in his blog when he first started playing with the camera in NY that the noise he first saw was removed by taking a black balance and after doing so he felt comfortable shooting at ISO 640-800.

Was wondering your feelings on the set regarding this issue of noise. I know you felt there was very little. Was this because you were diligent about performing black balances or some other reason?
 
Imo, it was because the camera exhibited very little noise at ANY of the ISOs we shot in.

Timur also had excellent camera settings as well.

And yes, we did black balance the camera
 
How often did you black balance? His setting helped reduce noise? Throughly discussing this would really be of use.
 
I think Matt is saying the camera was exhibiting very little noise in general - irregardless of Timurs settings.
 
timur, where is the best place to pickup some mirror boards. From what you're saying this seems like such a simple solution that I have never thought of.
Bounce the sun off a mirror, shoot that reflection into some silk... voila.....
 
Papa.... I like the silver sided insulation you can get from Lowe's... Its basically foam core and you can get a 8x4 sheet for around 10 bucks and I usually cut mine in half... It's also a lot lighter than the mirror boards.. but not exactly the same light from it.... and if you get a duckbill then you can use it with a C-stand, etc... The stuff they sell at the film houses is around 50 bucks for basically the same thing... I also like to cut it up and use it for car interiors... etc.
 
Mirror boards

Mirror boards

Excuse the ignorance here, but are the mirror boards constantly manned by people? I would imagine that the light can change significantly even between takes as the sun changes location.
 
Home Depot is your best friend for DIY projects. Get some white styrofoam -4'x4'. The other side, get some silver metal tape and tape that sucker up. super cheap and readily available.
 
That goes without saying. You always adjust for every take.

Excuse the ignorance here, but are the mirror boards constantly manned by people? I would imagine that the light can change significantly even between takes as the sun changes location.
 
Excuse the ignorance here, but are the mirror boards constantly manned by people? I would imagine that the light can change significantly even between takes as the sun changes location.

There isn't really a need to 'constantly' man the mirror board - but Timur kept an eye on the light, and we had crew tweaking as needed between takes.
 
Just got back home after spending a couple of hours with our editor looking over the initial cut. Things are coming together well, and the footage looks really, really nice. I'll try to post some additional frame grabs tomorrow, if possible.
 
I actually go over cheap mirror board building in my DSLR book.

Basically, get 4-5 sheets of foam core from the art store.

go to Home Depot or Lowes and buy a roll of "refelctix" insulation.

Reflectix.jpg


Cut to size and gaff tape that bad boy onto each foam core card, and you have 4-5 mirror/white boards for very little money.
 
Stephen, Barry, Timur, et al.,

This stuff is awesome! I have learned so much just following this thread. As someone new to the whole film process, I would love to see more details on the preproduction work -- things such as you shot list and the order you shot things: wide first, close-up, reverse, etc!

Actually you guys ought to think of putting together a master class series of DVD/books on the BTS and process used to make your film!!
 
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How often did you black balance? His setting helped reduce noise? Throughly discussing this would really be of use.

To be honest when i first recieved the camera it was not performing to the standard i was expecting and it did exhibit significant noise at medium ISO's. I attempted to black balance it, but it did not function the way i was used to. On the HVX200, when you press the button, it white balances, push harder and it Black balances. This camera is slightly different, the half press is black balance and the full press is White balance. However you have to hold it down for 5 seconds at half press to activate it. when it didint perform it the first time, i assumed because it had no built in iris that it had no black balance and WYSIWYG.

I was struggling with the camera, then when i finally figured it out, ( remeber this camera has no manual) it was like the clouds parting....

IT was like taking a camera, never white balancing it, then complaining about it when the image is too blue or yellow. The black balance is critical for the DSP to understand what its looking at.
 
timur, where is the best place to pickup some mirror boards. From what you're saying this seems like such a simple solution that I have never thought of.
Bounce the sun off a mirror, shoot that reflection into some silk... voila.....

Rental house.
 
Rental house.

What? You can get film gear at a rental house?

I'm shocked! ;)

Seriously though, using that type of source to bounce light into silk never came to mind when trying to create some fill outside. I always used bounce off of foamcore but this seems like a much more of a pay off. Danke!
 
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