New AF101 Owner

[Mike Harvey]

Duck Dynasty is the first thing that comes to mind. I love that show. lol. In its second season, its ratings shot through the roof and I believe it is now the highest rated show on A&E and the highest rated "reality" show. And whatever your opinion on it (it's actually a very clean and wholesome "reality" show, if you haven't seen it.. compared to the Housewives and the Honey Boo Boo crud),...

Not to get off track, but I've seen Duck Dynasty once at my parents' place... it almost caused me to get cable just so I could see more of it. Dang it was funny, and not in a train-wreck-of-people's-lives sort of way (which is why I avoid 99% of reality TV).

 

[BrandonT]

Oh in this video that was just a single AF100 with me as operator, Tamron 17-50 constant F2.8 zoom, couple of chairs and a ticking clock. Being a sit down sports interview in the middle of a Superbike pitlane with time pressure I wouldn't setup a second camera unless I had a second operator with me and I generally use zooms for these types of outdoor interviews, flexibility and time saving is key and moving a tripod around with a prime lens can be a hassle as you really need to stay in range if the shotgun mic, lapel mics are great when you have time. Personally during an interview (I'm often the interviewer) I wouldn't want to fiddle with the camera or change the focal length as I want the best from the talent, a second camera and operator would aways be on a long lens and slightly away from the interview space so as not to detract the talent. Here's something I shot a while back for Tanita Europe on two GH2s, seems to be turning up on all kinds of YouTube channels. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpAZFrl54EA all post work was done by me, i used motion graphics by motionVFX.com - I can see problems with it now, I hate looking at older work, you always get this reminder that you're not as pimp as you think you are lol

These look really good. Nice job with the compositing from the graphics templates, too. That Tamron gives a nice image at $500. Looks like you were around 50mm, but I can see the advantage if you needed to reframe without having to move the camera. And the F2.8 still gives a good shallow DOF. I was checking if it was parfocal, and it seemed to be a yes.

The GH2 or 3 is a perfect B-camera for the AF100, my thinking is this. On a time sensitive shoot where lapel mics are not an option I would position the AF100 as close as I can for a respectable mid shot (chest up, with a foot of head room max) and use a fairly shallow depth of field that is a combination of focal length and aperture selection somewhere around 75mm F2.8-F4, you don't want to be so shallow that they move in and out of focus and you do want a hint of the surrounding they are in. The B-Camera would always be on a long lens over 135mm for three reasons, 1) the second operator can stay away from me and the talent, 2) being on a long he won't get me or the production in shot, if it was a famous interviewer I would probably give him his own camera or create a 90 degree two shot from the main with a fixed over the shoulder (OTS) shot on the talent, 3) he can use slower f stops to achieve exposure and still achieve shallow depth of field without the need of a Matte box which is kind of essential for me with a backup GH2 that is not my main camera and is part of a selection kit that I have to hump to and from the location.

Not for every shoot but this is my go to plan for interviews that I then modify from. For example, I did a set of interviews for a kit car club and the opening shot of the founder standing next to the cars was in the Pit lane garage at silverstone and for this I used my Jib crane to crane down from above to a chest height full shot of the owner and the race car. I swapped the AF100 camera on the Jib for the GH2 when I set up the interview space and had that operated by a second man to get cool shots of the interview taking place. Sadly they ran out of budget and I only got to use the title segment we shot as a kind of mini promo but they may have a bigger budget this year. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUcyj4CwHyk

That was a good explanation of the reason to shoot long focal length for the B-cam. I have a 45 - 175 Lumix (the servo zoom one). That would probably work pretty well. I always have time to do lav mics on my shoots. And I'm finally getting a wireless set. Running an XLR entension cable for a wired lav is a pain.

So it sounds like you like to shoot the A-cam on a longer focal length than I have been. I've been using a 50mm and achieve something like this:

I've been looking at the 35mm Rokinon for interviews... but I've REALLY wanted an 85mm, which Rokinon also has in their cine line and it costs less. Sounds like that's around the focal length you like to shoot your interviews at. Is that right? Do you think that would be a good combo for interviews? It's T1.5, so plenty sensitive. I guess another advantage of the 85mm is that you have less area in the background that you have to set up to get a nice looking shot. Like office knick knacks or flowers/ vases/ piano in a parlor room.

Not to get off track, but I've seen Duck Dynasty once at my parents' place... it almost caused me to get cable just so I could see more of it. Dang it was funny, and not in a train-wreck-of-people's-lives sort of way (which is why I avoid 99% of reality TV).

Yeah, that's why it's a good show. I mean, they do funny and stupid stuff of course, but it's wholesome. No cussing. No violence (except there's some hunting and fishing sometimes, of course). And they end each show with the family sitting down together to eat after saying a blessing, which there's a voiceover from one of the main people that is like a "moral of the story". Like we sometimes may get annoyed with our loved ones, but at the end of the day, yadda yadda. So yeah, I think they are doing something good for the reality TV show genre. Maybe others will try their way of doing things instead of the sex and flipping tables crud.


--

We got a response from Rokinon about their 50mm cine. It is definitely real. Here's what they said on the Facebook post:

The only thing we can say right now is that we are developing a 50mm cine lens. We cannot confirm any detailed specs yet. We will definitely let you know when we have updated information

 

[XSVpro]

These look really good. Nice job with the compositing from the graphics templates, too. That Tamron gives a nice image at $500. Looks like you were around 50mm, but I can see the advantage if you needed to reframe without having to move the camera. And the F2.8 still gives a good shallow DOF. I was checking if it was parfocal, and it seemed to be a yes. That was a good explanation of the reason to shoot long focal length for the B-cam. I have a 45 - 175 Lumix (the servo zoom one). That would probably work pretty well. I always have time to do lav mics on my shoots. And I'm finally getting a wireless set. Running an XLR entension cable for a wired lav is a pain.

So it sounds like you like to shoot the A-cam on a longer focal length than I have been. I've been using a 50mm and achieve something like this:

I've been looking at the 35mm Rokinon for interviews... but I've REALLY wanted an 85mm, which Rokinon also has in their cine line and it costs less. Sounds like that's around the focal length you like to shoot your interviews at. Is that right? Do you think that would be a good combo for interviews? It's T1.5, so plenty sensitive. I guess another advantage of the 85mm is that you have less area in the background that you have to set up to get a nice looking shot. Like office knick knacks or flowers/ vases/ piano in a parlor room.

No not really, most of my A camera interviews are around 35-50mm (70-100mm field of view) mainly as I like the 70mm look but also as I use a lot of shot gun mic sound during the interview and try to get the camera as close as I can without going too wide, 25mm (50mm field of view) is as wide as I will go on a talents face. I have a couple of lapel mics but if I can avoid using them I will, mainly because of the hassle of clipping it to the talents clothes (not always that flattering) and its nice to get a little natural ambienance in the dialogue when outside but if its windy, noisey or inside then I always use a lapel mic. That's just me though, a lot of what I do in the summer is sports coverage and its perfectly acceptable if not better to have a not so clean audio track, as long as there is no artefacts like wind buffeting or a siren going off in the background it's all good but inside in a studio space a lapel mic is the best you can use to avoid room bounce.

I can vouch for the Tamrons, I have the 17-50 and the 70-200 F2.8 zooms, very sharp glass, fairly well built wide hard stops on the focus and stepless aperture when mounted with the Novaflex adapter. I also have the Samyangs/Rokinon Cines, 24, 35 and 85 and very much looking forward to the 50mm, possibly the 14mm and the Metabones speedbooster Nikon adapter to mount them all as they will only get sharper and faster, with the Zooms hitting F2 and the Samyang Cines coming in at around F1.0!

Can I make a small recommendation for shooting interviews outside, a small LED light, bounce card or reflector with you can help avoid blow out in the sky and really help your talent pop, enhanced with a power window in post does wonders, also don't do what I did and use a clean scene file, try and let a little noise in by having the detail upto around -4 coring down to -2 a Norm 1 or Flu matrix with the Cine-V gamma, daylight with these settings and a white balance to a white card (not manual dial in) gives you great skin tones and a fairly sharp image.

Welcome to being an AF100 owner, I have a feeling you are going to get a lot of use out if this camera

 

[mainstreetprod]

There are two types of Nikon-to-MFT adapters, and with an AF-D lens you only need a simple fixed adapter that gives you infinity focus. The other type of adapter has a "lock" ring that's intended to manually open the lens iris on Nikon G lenses that have no aperture rings. I have the Fotodiox adapter and its aperature control is anything but "smooth". The kludgy operation of these adapter aperture rings is so finicky and sticky that in practice, they're only good for setting the lens wide open.

I actually had good luck with a couple of cheap (around $20) Rainbow Imaging adaptors from Ebay. The stepless aperture was easy to adjust and they fit the mount perfectly. I used the Nikkor 50mm F1.8 and the newer 35mm F 1.8.

 

[BrandonT]

Do these adapters have their own iris/ apertures.. or do they make the iris in the lens stepless? We're talking about the same thing as like a "declicked" lens, right?

 

[XSVpro]

Do these adapters have their own iris/ apertures.. or do they make the iris in the lens stepless? We're talking about the same thing as like a "declicked" lens, right?

The Novaflex has its own aperture ring that is smooth, it basically moves the aperture pic on the back of Nikon lens, the great thing about this with manual lenses that already have an aperture ring is that from a combination of the two you can create hard stops for aperture adjustments, great for when you are walking from inside to outside

 

[msr]

Having read more about the Metabones Speed Booster that's supposed to be available in Nikon to MFT from March, I think I'm going to wait for that rather than splashing out on an already expensive adapter. I don't know if it will have an aperture ring but assuming it will. In the meantime I'm going to buy a Voigtlander 25mm to give me something to use.

 

[BrandonT]

Having read more about the Metabones Speed Booster that's supposed to be available in Nikon to MFT from March, I think I'm going to wait for that rather than splashing out on an already expensive adapter. I don't know if it will have an aperture ring but assuming it will. In the meantime I'm going to buy a Voigtlander 25mm to give me something to use.

That's what I was thinking, too. Do we know if the speedbooster will have an iris or not? After looking through the current models, I don't think that any have an internal aperture. The EF to NEX adapter has electronics powered and controlled by the camera, which controls the aperture in the lens. I bet the MFT model will be along the same line.

http://www.metabones.com/buy-speed-booster/results,1-6

I already have a Metabones that I think was around $90. It's just a regular adapter. But I think I do want one with an internal iris/ aperture to use with other lenses, like the 2.8 Tamron zoom, and for the stepless ability. I had to watch a video to count it, but the iris in the Novoflex has 9 blades. So that's pretty good, considering that the next step up, as far as I've seen, would be a 14 blade iris, and would be a $4k cine lens.

I actually had good luck with a couple of cheap (around $20) Rainbow Imaging adaptors from Ebay. The stepless aperture was easy to adjust and they fit the mount perfectly. I used the Nikkor 50mm F1.8 and the newer 35mm F 1.8.

That's a good price to have a stepless internal aperture. I count 7 blades, versus the 9 blades in the Novoflex. But for the price difference, if the adapter works well and is reliable, that's a pretty good deal. Do you have any video that shows what the bokeh is shaped like with it?

I checked out the Rainbow Imaging Canon EF adapter and it has a 14 blade iris! For $42! Too bad I don't buy Canon lenses.


On a slightly side note, I'm not sure if I know anyone who shoots Nikon. I'm sure I do, but it might not be someone I'd want to ask a favour to meet me to set my lens. Does anyone know if lens manufacturers tend to ship lenses with the aperture all the way open? Or is there no protocol either way?

No not really, most of my A camera interviews are around 35-50mm (70-100mm field of view) mainly as I like the 70mm look but also as I use a lot of shot gun mic sound during the interview and try to get the camera as close as I can without going too wide, 25mm (50mm field of view) is as wide as I will go on a talents face. I have a couple of lapel mics but if I can avoid using them I will, mainly because of the hassle of clipping it to the talents clothes (not always that flattering) and its nice to get a little natural ambienance in the dialogue when outside but if its windy, noisey or inside then I always use a lapel mic. That's just me though, a lot of what I do in the summer is sports coverage and its perfectly acceptable if not better to have a not so clean audio track, as long as there is no artefacts like wind buffeting or a siren going off in the background it's all good but inside in a studio space a lapel mic is the best you can use to avoid room bounce.

I can vouch for the Tamrons, I have the 17-50 and the 70-200 F2.8 zooms, very sharp glass, fairly well built wide hard stops on the focus and stepless aperture when mounted with the Novaflex adapter. I also have the Samyangs/Rokinon Cines, 24, 35 and 85 and very much looking forward to the 50mm, possibly the 14mm and the Metabones speedbooster Nikon adapter to mount them all as they will only get sharper and faster, with the Zooms hitting F2 and the Samyang Cines coming in at around F1.0!

Can I make a small recommendation for shooting interviews outside, a small LED light, bounce card or reflector with you can help avoid blow out in the sky and really help your talent pop, enhanced with a power window in post does wonders, also don't do what I did and use a clean scene file, try and let a little noise in by having the detail upto around -4 coring down to -2 a Norm 1 or Flu matrix with the Cine-V gamma, daylight with these settings and a white balance to a white card (not manual dial in) gives you great skin tones and a fairly sharp image.

Welcome to being an AF100 owner, I have a feeling you are going to get a lot of use out if this camera

Ah, ok, you were saying equivalent FOV when you said 70. So 35mm (lens) would be in your typical range. Good to know. I think it's going to be a hard toss up for me for my next buy between the Rokinon 35mm and the Tokina 17 - 50 2.8, for about the same price. I just spent $4k in the past week, so it'll be a while before I spend much more money.

You're making my mouth water with all of those lenses you have!

Yes, I appreciate your recommendations on that interview. After setting up camera, I was actually going to put my 900 bulb LED panel pointing at the left side of her face (off the right side of the screen). I think that it really would have helped. But my 50 ft. stinger that was in my bag was probably 25 to 35 ft. too short to run power to it. I need to get a V mount battery for the light, but they are about $200, I believe. This was the only outdoor interview I did out of about 30 total for the job. And after setting up, I loved the look of the lake, bridge, and trees behind her, so I decided to go with it. Everything else was in an office, commons area, classroom, or airplane/ drone maintenance work areas. I'd ask for any other constructive advice you might have regarding interviews and post a couple of links, but then I really don't want to open that can of worms to everyone else. lol.

I got the camera yesterday and I'm VERY impressed with it. I'm going over the scene files and I think I've got a couple of good ones. I like the "Alex 1" file that the guy from crewofone.com made. I have my simple, weekly shoot tomorrow, so I'll play a bit with them. Then I should have some more quality, thought out, work within the next couple of weeks, so I'll really start seeing what I like best then. Thanks for the welcome!


Edit: I'm an INFJ. We tend to write long winded responses.

 

[Barry_Green]

Has Metabones themselves said anything about an MFT->Nikon adapter? I saw something on a rumor site, but I'm looking for something more official. Would pick up one of those in a heartbeat.

 

[BrandonT]

Has Metabones themselves said anything about an MFT->Nikon adapter? I saw something on a rumor site, but I'm looking for something more official. Would pick up one of those in a heartbeat.

Barry, I'm almost positive that they have officially said that they are working on one and that it will be out in 1 - 2 months. Let me search around.

Edit: That would be an affirmative. Official white paper from them (NOTE: it's a link to a PDF file)

http://www.metabones.com/images/metabones/Speed Booster White Paper.pdf

(Edit: this forum can't seem to handle spaces in links. If you'll replace the spaces in Speed Booster White Paper with for each space, it will show up. Otherwise, the link is at the bottom of the DP Review link below)

And then not directly from the source, but they talk about it here:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/2013/0...d-booster-lens-adapter-for-mirrirless-cameras

And this page is a Korean distributor of Metabones adapters, so not official, but in the loop. They said it'll be here hopefully before summer.

https://www.facebook.com/Metabones.Korea/posts/231747730292748

Btw, I'm just starting your book and it's a big help!!

 

[msr]

Yeah, I read somewhere it is due out next month. On second thoughts, it could still be useful having a regular adapter as it effectively doubles the usefulness of any lenses to use them at different magnifications. It will be interesting to see if the Speed Booster does have an iris ring.

 

[XSVpro]

It will, was confirmed in the white paper document from metabones

 

[msr]

Ah yes, page 2: "Capabilities, Nikon-F version: Manual iris control of G type lenses"

 

[BrandonT]

Ah yes, page 2: "Capabilities, Nikon-F version: Manual iris control of G type lenses"

Ah, I didn't read it that closely. So that means it will control the lens' iris. Do these kinds of adapters have the ability to make it stepless/ declicked? I'm thinking no, but it would be nice if so.

If not, for the price, I'd probably get the Speedbooster and then the $20 something Rainbow Imaging one. To have both focal lengths. Man, this Speedbooster adapter is going to be awesome!

 

[msr]

Yeah, seems too good to be true! It makes sense what they've written about why it didn't exist before though. I believe the adapters with manual iris rings are stepless, yeah. Go to about 2:43 in this video and it looks pretty stepless to me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ9b73Y310c

 

[BrandonT]

Yeah, I saw that the Novoflex was stepless. Makes sense that they would manufacture it that way since it has its own aperture inside. I was referring to the upcoming Metabones Speedbooster. You said that the white papers said "Manual iris control of G type lenses". I understand that as the adapter having a mechanism inside of it that controls the aperture that is inside of the Nikon lens. And not that the adapter has an iris in itself. Am I wrong? If I'm right, I have no idea if they could make the mechanism that controls the Nikon lens' iris so that it acts as a stepless, when the lens wouldn't otherwise be. That's what I was asking about.

 

[msr]

Yeah, the adapter doesn't have its own iris, it just mechanically controls the lens' iris. I'm no expert but I would assume that the control on the lens itself (for those lenses that have it) is stepped so that you know exactly what aperture you're getting so you can obtain that same aperture over again -- which is important when taking stills.

 

[XSVpro]

 

[XSVpro]

I think I should have posted a new post instead of editing the old one.