Next purchase?

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Inveresk

Well-known member
I've had my AF100 for a few months now and am very pleased with the results when I get it right which isn't nearly as often as I'd like. I've been building my kit progressively and am ready to invest in additional gear but am unsure what will produce the biggest benefit. I find the red focus assist great but struggle with the WFM and getting exposure consistently right is one of my issues. The zebras are helpful but a pretty blunt tool. I'm wondering about an on camera monitor and whether this would make a significant difference or whether its just more trial and error to build experience with the WFM that I need.

i shoot architecture and landscapes mostly and need decent mobile lighting gear so I can add some ambiance to interior shots. I also need one decent fast lens wider than the 14mm I currently mostly use inside. However, there's no point getting lighting until I get on top of the exposure issues.

Im torn. A monitor is tempting but I don't want to spend a few hundred bucks on one if the issue I face is experience rather than gear. I'd rather invest in a new lens or lighting.

id welcome hearing about the experience of others in similar circumstances and what worked for them.
 
I've been an acrh shooter for 20 years. For stills arch, I use strobe mainly. But I have plenty of hot lights, florescent and LED's. Let's start off with what do you want to balance too? Daylight, halogen? 465035_3889212712076_1472535346_o.jpg
 
Lights and lighting modifiers are a must. I'd bet your interior exposure issues stem from lack of controlled light. The WFM is at least 30% of what makes this little camera so awesome, and you'll get better at using it when you have a lighting kit, as in there will be more to look at than a squiggly green line at 20 IRE . You will also find that f4 kit lens more useful as well. Yay lights!
 
Dusty lense, Ive seen your work and its as good as it gets.

I'm not sure what strobe lighting is or how it's used in shooting architecture - I'll investigate.

Up to now I've shot daylight outside. I haven't done any outside shooting at dusk or at nighttime. Inside lighting conditions i confront are mostly halogen lit but with a diminishing amount of tungsten and increasing use of LED.

The reason I took up video making is to make promo material for my own buildings, and to make some promotional material for our community - i'm an Islands Trust trustee. It's not an income earner and so limits what I'm willing to spend.
 
Whatever you buy..spend some time understanding the WFM.

If you dont understand it...there is ABSOLUTELY nothing you can buy to improve things ....except hiring a D.P that can understand the WFM
 
Stobes are flash photography (not gonna work for videos).

I would suggest using florescent lighting to you. This way you can buy daylight balanced and tungsten (halogen temperature) bulbs. You can get some pretty inexpensive light kits with lots of power to fill your interiors. If you want to shape light, then I would go for a halogen kit with fresnel units.

Here are some inexpensive fluorescent kits that would get you going:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Studio-Phot...163?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43b794d4cb

I have this head and it's works great!:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1400W-Studi...646?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35aecd965e

I also have these and they work great:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1650w-6-BAN...615?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d077a0f4f

Then there are these. LED fresnel. But you have to replace the lens and paint the blue rings inside black. Once you do they work pretty darn good:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bi-color-10...377?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20ce469bd1
Fresnel repacement: http://www.coollights.biz/cool-lights-650w-tungsten-150w-replacement-lens-p-107.html

For halogen I use Mole Richarson are Arri lights. Both pretty expensive lights when you get up in power. But there are Chinese knockoffs that work pretty good from what I hear: Just ebay search "as arri"
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Three-Fresn...792?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19d80ec820

Omni lights will never go wrong:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lowel-Omni-...157?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5aed07311d

Remember, with halogens, they get hot and your can start a fire!
O+LAWD+Jesus+its+a+FIRE+.+Made+this+Myself+D_3a9789_3907128.jpg
 
Inveresk said:
Im torn. A monitor is tempting but I don't want to spend a few hundred bucks on one if the issue I face is experience rather than gear. I'd rather invest in a new lens or lighting..
Click to expand...

Well experience always trumps gear. And when it comes to buying gear, a few hundred bucks honestly doesn't buy a monitor capable of being used to judge true color/exposure. And will only get you a single light, or maybe a coupe of used lights.

My advice take it or leave it.... Up your budget on accessories, and get to know the tools you do have.
 
Probably the single most important tool you can have is a quality monitor with scopes but they don't come cheap.
 
Yeah, I think a monitor is really important. I have a TVLogic 5.6 which is invaluable to me. It has everything, more stuff than I use. I don't use it for color, as I manually white balance on every setup. One thing to look for in a monitor to augment the AF100 is 1:1 zoom for focus. I've gotten really fast at getting that zoom set and zooming back. I'm not sure what you're using for an NLE but all of them have waveform monitors. I'd take the time to look at what you've shot already, away from the rush of a shoot, to learn what is what on that waveform monitor. I use a Hoodman on my monitor outside and it works alright. I like the Red FA and B&W on the EVF for focus outside, especially if I can stay F5.6 or greater because I know what my depth of field will be.

I'd get a monitor next. You'll be glad you did.
 
Thanks for the recommendations and advice. i had an expectation that I need to spend more time with the WFM and will do. The lighting links are helpful and I'll commit some funds for that purpose.

The monitor I had my eye on was an Ikan but something considerably more modest than the D7w, the vk7i. I was questioning the wisdom of sourcing a waveform monitor when I had one on the camera. I find the camera LCD screen smaller than my deteriorating eyesight can easily handle and a larger screen with false color I hoped might facilitate hitting correct exposure consistently.

Thanks for the tip re the lens. I'll look out for a used one.

By and large I haven't gone cheap on gear but the total cost is way more than I expected when I bought the AF100. That's not a complaint, just an observation. By the time one adds in tripod and head, rails, a few lenses, follow focus, motorised slider, mics, an audio recorder, flash cards, cabling, batteries, bags and other accessories, I'm close to the cost of a small car. I'd still have committed to the activity had I done my homework rather more assiduously but, for sure, this ain't a cheap hobby.
 
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