F5: "I need another brick!!"

JPNola

JPNola

Veteran
You have to hear this piece if you have not-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3tz6QSk3iI

Not that cameramen need any ego feeding...but Carolla nails it in the piece where he talks about never complaining and being "inside" the camera. Nice to see that someone else gets it and appreciates what we do.

I love where the co-host asks if all the accolades also apply to Still Photogs and Adam immediately snaps "NO. I hate those douchebags." lmao

I've shot walking backwards on cobblestones through a crowd during mardi gras, btw. It isn't really all that difficult. :happy:
 
Paul Cronin said:
LOL fun, thanks for posting. And I also love when he is asked about still guys, NO! Ha
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I've jokingly called them "Stills-born".

I encountered a professional still photographer the other day who told me their auto focus was struggling due to the low light we were in. I suggested they switch to manual focus and this person said "I've never shot with manual focus before." And this is a person with a 10+ year career in still photography.

Edit: Just wanted to add that the individual I described above is the exception. I have great respect for the abilities of pro stills shooters. Particularly all the calculating they quickly perform in their heads for different shutter speeds and sync flash. And, despite what Carolla says in the video, there are video and film shooters who are d-bags. I trust that you will let me know if I am sounding like one of them. :laugh:
 
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Yea, I have some good friends who are still guys and they never use manual focus. One of them started doing video and was shocked his auto focus did a poor job.

But, to be honest I shoot a lot of stills and have along with filming for 40 years and find shooting stills very relaxing. But filming is my job and one of my many passions. So there is room for all, but the video still makes me LOL and has a lot of truth.
 
Great vid!

All the good motion ops started out in stills anyway - spend 10 years just learning light and composition then take it further. Very Zen.

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JP - I started on ManFocus with stills and you hit a point (20mp 6k?) when you realise you have to use technology as the eye is not good enough to get critical focus unless you had a 28in monitor (which you dont on a stills cam - unless shooting 'tethered')

I see better AF has to come to video if we are ever going to actually shoot material that truely resolves 4k.

In stills the first gens of AF (1992) were terrible as we see in todays video AF, but from 1992 to 1997 AF got better and ended up king of the hill -and yes 'better' for motion will have to account for dramatic use of focus.

S
 
morgan_moore said:
Great vid!

All the good motion ops started out in stills anyway - spend 10 years just learning light and composition then take it further. Very Zen.

--
JP - I started on ManFocus with stills and you hit a point (20mp 6k?) when you realise you have to use technology as the eye is not good enough to get critical focus unless you had a 28in monitor (which you dont on a stills cam - unless shooting 'tethered')

I see better AF has to come to video if we are ever going to actually shoot material that truely resolves 4k.

In stills the first gens of AF (1992) were terrible as we see in todays video AF, but from 1992 to 1997 AF got better and ended up king of the hill -and yes 'better' for motion will have to account for dramatic use of focus.

S
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I realize that autofocus has it's place and can be a valuable tool. It makes perfect sense to use autofocus in many situations in still photography.

While they have the advantage of rehearsals and marks for actors, AC's on feature films still pull focus manually. And the actors don't always hit their marks so the AC's are often focusing by eye, on the fly. Or they are shooting a car stunt at night where the action in the scene can be somewhat unpredictable. And this is on 6K and a zoom at a f/2.8. The NFL Films shooters also focus manually. ( and I believe they are shooting 5k on Alexas ) And pretty much every video shooter at a live event / sporting event is focusing manually. Regardless of whatever "K" the event is being shot in.

As you no doubt are aware, AF is problematic for video because it's difficult for the AF to know which part of the frame you want in focus. Try using AF to rack focus from a door in the back of a room to a person sitting midway to the door to an object on a table that is 2 ft in front of the lens and then taking the entire frame completely out of focus yet coming to a gentle halt when the bokeh is exactly at the sweet spot you chose beforehand. And have the AF perform the focus racks in sync with actors movements...AND have the AF vary the speed of the different racks ( quickly from door to seated individual, slowly and non-linear in speed when racking from seated individual to object on table. )

Focus hunting that occurs when focusing manually can be a nice effect. The comparative slamming to a halt of AF isn't such a nice effect. MF can ease into focus very gently. MF can "speak" to the viewer with it's organic nature.

AF works for stills because in stills there is one depth of focus in any given shot and that point does not alter "in shot". Also because the act of focusing and the characteristics of focusing are not part of the shot in still photography. They are only a means to produce the shot.
 
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I realize that autofocus has it's place and can be a valuable tool. It makes perfect sense to use autofocus in many situations in still photography.

Nearly all unless you are using magnigified live view or a large monitor your eyes just cannot resolve 6k on a 1.5in bit of ground glass. You I nobody is as good as a computer at some tasks.

While they have the advantage of rehearsals and marks for actors, AC's on feature films still pull focus manually.

As they did in 1920. Times do change. This is still the best option today.

The NFL Films shooters also focus manually. ( and I believe they are shooting 5k on Alexas ) And pretty much every video shooter at a live event / sporting event is focusing manually. Regardless of whatever "K" the event is being shot in.

Im sure those guys are good but actually if someone ran down the field with a test chart what would their true resolution they capture be. 4k or 'good enough to please an audience watching in compressed 1080', the latter I suggest.

To some extent I would flip this as an argument that 4k is 'pointless' in many situations!

As you no doubt are aware, AF is problematic for video because it's difficult for the AF to know which part of the frame you want in focus.

Todays AF is of course 90% unusable for many scenes. My vision of future AF is that the operator/puller will set the lens at maybe 40 inches and the camera will work out if actually 4.25 or 39.75 inches would be the spot - I call this focus 'tickle'

S
 
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