F55: Ritz-Carlton "Memories"

Nate Weaver

Nate Weaver

Veteran
2 weeks ago I went to Aruba to shoot what is to become a number of pieces for Ritz-Carlton, to promote the opening of a new hotel on the island.

Very small crew, etc etc, was very happy with how things turned out considering the resources we had.

I continue to be amazed and very happy with my Solid Camera AKS. This time I had the addition of a fast-mount clamp that has just a 1/4-20 for a noga arm or what have you, which allowed me to mount or dismount a DP7 monitor extremely quickly, depending on the shot. Hopefully I can get pics of this sometime later. The idea is not groundbreaking, but the fact that with the Doveplate system there are so many mounting points, it really speeds things along when the camera is in weird places.


IMG_0171.jpg
IMG_0174.jpg
 
Last edited:
Hi Nate, I've been trying to pick up a red 50-150 for ages, so pls let me know when you might be looking to move it on! Thanks
 
Looks great! Especially loved the shot with fire on focus and sun setting in the background, just beautiful!
 
By the way I own the same lenses and am really happy with the 50-150 but not so much with the 18-50 because it's not par focal. Other than that it's a great little lens because it doubles as a macro lens because it focuses almost on the front glass element :) What's your reason for selling? Also how do you like that slider, is it the medium sized or large one?
 
badlaa said:
By the way I own the same lenses and am really happy with the 50-150 but not so much with the 18-50 because it's not par focal.
Click to expand...

I'm getting picky enough on critical focus that the mechanics on both are starting to get to me. But I maintain that for the money, they are unbeatable. I mean really, 18 to 150mm in two small lenses with proper gears for cine work? They have no competition, all flaws aside.


badlaa said:
Also how do you like that slider, is it the medium sized or large one?
Click to expand...

It's mostly great, it's the medium. The bearing blocks have plastic wheels which get dirty easily, so you have to take care to keep it clean and bump-free. MYT Works wants Arri prices for the bearing blocks, which I almost consider a consumable on it because they wear so much. That part is unfortunate. It works better with more weight on it, I found that out after putting an Alexa on it once.

It's the best slider though that I've found for the size and weight.
 
Tom Roper said:
did you shoot a 4k master?
Click to expand...

Nope. It was quick turnaround (the piece above was delivered the evening of the last day of shooting, the day the hotel opened).

1080p XAVC, S-Log2, S-Gamut. I would have liked to shoot SR codec, but no overcranking in SR. I sure hope they add that eventually.
 
Because it was a really quick delivery, the editor did the coloring for the real deliverable.

2 nights ago, I did my own color and that's what's posted. I went back to the original files.

There's going to be future, longer pieces based on the same footage though, and I think it will go to Incendio in Venice.
 
I enjoyed this as well, nice work Nate. Simple, direct message backed up with some great visuals.

my only critique is every now & then you'll see some shake or bump in the dolly moves. Something I'm sure could be fixed in post.
 
Nice looking stuff. Did you ever run into jaggies on hard lines against blown out backgrounds? an example would be a window frame shooting out into the sun.
 
DM_rider said:
Did you ever run into jaggies on hard lines against blown out backgrounds? an example would be a window frame shooting out into the sun.
Click to expand...

Thanks. You know, I know what you mean. A few months back I had noticed this on a few specific rare shots where there was a harsh transition from say 80IRE to 106IRE, but I haven't seen it in quite some time. I had forgotten about it.

Maybe they got that IQ issue licked somewhere around v2.0?
 
Nate Weaver said:
Thanks. You know, I know what you mean. A few months back I had noticed this on a few specific rare shots where there was a harsh transition from say 80IRE to 106IRE, but I haven't seen it in quite some time. I had forgotten about it.

Maybe they got that IQ issue licked somewhere around v2.0?
Click to expand...

The reason I ask, is because I run into it all the time with the FS700. I also ran into it with the F5 a few weeks ago. But, I'd hope the F55 would handle it better, seeing that it's in a different category and performs at a much higher level.
 
Nate Weaver said:
Nope. It was quick turnaround (the piece above was delivered the evening of the last day of shooting, the day the hotel opened).

1080p XAVC, S-Log2, S-Gamut. I would have liked to shoot SR codec, but no overcranking in SR. I sure hope they add that eventually.
Click to expand...

Nice stuff as always Nate. What are your thoughts on the differences between XAVC and SR? Does SR hold up substantially better in the grade?
 
Grug said:
What are your thoughts on the differences between XAVC and SR? Does SR hold up substantially better in the grade?
Click to expand...

SR holds up with secondaries better. You need to grab a single color and tweak it around, the macro blocking will be a lot less likely to show up, if at all. If it does show up, the blocks will be much, much smaller. But really I haven't seen it in a finished shot...only looking at the matte for a key.

Sometimes in the blacks, after applying LUT (or the requisite contrast and lift) to normalize SGamut/SLog2, you'll see some minor compression noise with XAVC. That also becomes less noticeable or gone completely with SR.

Overall, the SR appears the tiniest bit sharper. You really can only see it when on a pixel-for-pixel display at a good viewing distance though. It would be lost on a lot of people, but that said, probably hold up to delivery MPEG2 encoding better too, which is the main point.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top