FS7: Fujinon announce MK 18-55 T2.9 and MK 50-135 T2.9

broughtonfilm said:
I once took an AC'ing job and it happened to be on 24-105mm lens and 5D. Yes, I'm an old school guy and back in my AC'ing days I pulled focus with a tape and scale. I don't consider pulling focus by the monitor a real substitution. To pull focus traditionally, it is a horrifically frustrating task to do on 24-105mm lens, even if you put scales and marks on the lens, they are gone as soon as you change the focal length even by an unnoticeable amount. Focus pulling by the monitor / yourself is not always a desirable method. Long story short: just because of the proper scale which does not drift once you change the focal length, the Fujinon leaves the 24-105mm photo lens in a dust, or rather - it leaves it in photographer's bag. Ask your AC and he'll throw the 24-105mm into the ocean with passion.
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I've seen several people bring up pulling focus by monitor in the last few days. I was talking to an A-list operator a few months ago at a Steadicam workshop and he said you can't. By the time you see any change on the monitor, it's too late, you've blown the shot. He said the good guys still pull by marks, tape, eye, cine-tape.
 
The sticking point, for me, with these Fuji lenses is the mount. I currently shoot on the FS7 (also have an A7rii) but I'm not certain it will stay that way for long and when I invest in lenses they need to be taken along to the next camera system. An E-Mount only lens is a "limitation", in my opinion.

Had these lenses implemented an EF mount I may have looked at these more seriously as I am currently about to invest in some additional lenses (specifically Zeiss Milvus it appears). If Fuji had included an EF version and it covered full frame it would've been even better as I could've implemented my speed-booster and standard Metabones adaptors to give me more focal lengths and possibly made these a viable option. I had considered the Sigma Cine 18-35 but it didn't have enough reach and the 50-100...not quite wide enough and doesn't cover FF so you can't speed-boost it.

I wouldn't say I'm a "full frame fanatic" - not to start that whole mess of a debate that seems to get kicked up on so many threads - but I think what I like about the FF lenses are the OPTIONS it provides, via speed-boosters, to achieve more focal ranges. It's not an aesthetic or "cinematic thing" but a "functionality thing" for me.

The Angenieux EZ Zooms are very interesting as they can cover both Super35 and FF (with trade-offs) but currently outside of what I'm willing to invest in a single lens and not available for a while.

I guess the opinions are split within this discussion but I would agree that 24-105 range is extremely useful - for the type of work that I do anyway. The problems with the Canon are a bit frustrating but I think it says a lot about the zoom range that so many people use the lens despite it's issues. I've never used the Sigma ART 24-105 so I don't know if it solves some of the sharpness or light-loss issues but it's still an f4 lens and I'd much prefer an f2.8.
 
Run&Gun said:
I've seen several people bring up pulling focus by monitor in the last few days. I was talking to an A-list operator a few months ago at a Steadicam workshop and he said you can't. By the time you see any change on the monitor, it's too late, you've blown the shot. He said the good guys still pull by marks, tape, eye, cine-tape.
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Your A-list operator is wrong.

Gone Girl for example had dedicated monitors for the ACs to pull from

UJSY6tEl.jpg


More than one way to skin a cat.

edit: A cool conversation on the subject with debates from either side - http://www.theblackandblue.com/2014/03/28/pulling-focus-monitor-2/
 
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Ben Scott said:
Your A-list operator is wrong.

Gone Girl for example had dedicated monitors for the ACs to pull from

UJSY6tEl.jpg


More than one way to skin a cat.

edit: A cool conversation on the subject with debates from either side - http://www.theblackandblue.com/2014/03/28/pulling-focus-monitor-2/
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Definitely many ways to skin a cat (hate the expression BTW), times are changing. I recently saw an AC I had worked with many years ago, a veteran who I thought would never stop working with a tape... covered with a duvetyne in a middle of a set, with a remote FF and a 10" monitor. It all depends. Using marks requires certain protocol, chances are that some DP's and directors (and actors ! ) simply don't want to follow it anymore. I think that combination of two is the best - where AC can anticipate where the actors will lend and has ability to do that by having a proper lens, tape / cinetape and his own marks, but uses monitors to fine tune it whenever actors improvise, or whenever using tape is not practical. As an AC I'd never be a purist and say no to a nice monitor as an addition, as a DP I would not discredit an AC who somehow manages to pull focus off of a monitor (even though it is of course true that if you are reacting to something that you see on a monitor, it already happened so by definition it's late). Problem is some unexperienced AC's who think it is easy now - no, it still requires lots of practice.
 
Yep it doesn't matter how you get there as long as you get there.


From American Cinematographer magazine on Gone Girl:

Indeed, the shallow depth-of-field inherent in the 6K imagery put to the test the talents of A-camera 1st AC James Apted and B-camera 1st AC Matthew Tucker Korte. Apted recalls, “I found out early in the shoot that at a T1.3 with the Leica lenses and the 6K [sensor], you can’t just lay a couple of marks and expect to pull an actor from 10 feet to 3 feet. We had to use a 17-inch monitor, which I had tried in the past but found challenging. But the more you try, the better you get. Nearly every shot had extremely precise camera movement, and with David directing the actors, the dolly absolutely had to hit its marks, so it was really helpful having a great dolly grip, Brad Rea.”
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Ben Scott said:
Your A-list operator is wrong.

Gone Girl for example had dedicated monitors for the ACs to pull from

UJSY6tEl.jpg


More than one way to skin a cat.

edit: A cool conversation on the subject with debates from either side - http://www.theblackandblue.com/2014/03/28/pulling-focus-monitor-2/
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I don't live in that world, but I'm presuming they also have distance info(cine-tape), etc. and aren't just pulling based on the monitor image alone, which is what I think he meant.
 
Pulling from a monitor or not, photographic zooms like the 24-105mm are a nightmare. This "Gone Girl" situation is actually a good example why you still need a proper lens. Let's say that they run a rehearsal and AC pulls focus based on the monitor / tape combo. He'd still definitely mark his FF device with the marks he's getting so that he can anticipate, narrow down distances and get better as they go into shooting. Now, director asks DP to zoom in just a smidgen... On a proper lens this is not a problem, marks are still pretty much the same. On a lens like 24-105mm you are starting from zero.
 
I have a sigma 24-105 I allways take it with me in case I can't handle a situation with my 55mm Otus on an SB and my Zeiss 18mm on. a6300 in a gimbal but I haven't actually used it in months. For me having full control over focus is key.
 
Run&Gun said:
I don't live in that world, but I'm presuming they also have distance info(cine-tape), etc. and aren't just pulling based on the monitor image alone, which is what I think he meant.
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Not often, but I have seen AC's on feature films pull exclusively from a monitor. Particularly when outdoors in full sun. They have their head under a shroud with the monitor. I know because I do EPK and when I am working with an AC working exclusively off the monitor I don't have to worry about blocking his line of sight to the actors. Love it when the AC's do that!

So there are times when AC'S pull solely from a monitor. The guy who said that you can't use a monitor because of the delay is, frankly, an idiot for saying that. And his mindset that no good AC pulls from a monitor is from 1995. Times have changed.
 
JPNola said:
The guy who said that you can't use a monitor because of the delay is, frankly, an idiot for saying that. And his mindset that no good AC pulls from a monitor is from 1995. Times have changed.
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What you see on a screen is something that already happened. Since you are pulling focus based on that then indeed you are certainly late. Yes, it does not always matter, but you are late.
 
Most focus pulling at 'good AC' level is pre-emptive or proactive rather than reactive.

So you learn that actor A going up on his feet means he is about to move forward, or in that close, when actress B does a sharp intake of breath it is followed by moving her head back a smidge. It's all reading body language and so an AC thinking ahead like a conductor, plus the 1 frame latency of a monitor come together to form the dark art of focus pulling in the 2010s...

It's also why rehearsals are important :)
 
Ben Scott said:
Most focus pulling at 'good AC' level is pre-emptive or proactive rather than reactive.

So you learn that actor A going up on his feet means he is about to move forward, or in that close, when actress B does a sharp intake of breath it is followed by moving her head back a smidge. It's all reading body language and so an AC thinking ahead like a conductor, plus the 1 frame latency of a monitor come together to form the dark art of focus pulling in the 2010s...

It's also why rehearsals are important :)
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How do you know where to pull to in such situation when an actress moves her head back a smidge if you are pulling by a monitor?
 
By having pulled focus hundreds if not thousands of times before and learning to read people.

It's why people are career ACs. A real art.

But if your field of focus is calculated at only 10cm and the character is seated, you know her head will not go back any further than 20cm you can have a built in contingency for it.
 
Ben Scott said:
By having pulled focus hundreds if not thousands of times before and learning to read people.

It's why people are career ACs. A real art.

But if your field of focus is calculated at only 10cm and the character is seated, you know her head will not go back any further than 20cm you can have a built in contingency for it.
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Exactly. If you are talking actual distances like 20cm, 10cm, then it's not pulling focus "exclusively" or "solely" by a monitor, that is using scales. That's my whole point.
 
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