Web series shot on AF100

K

Kelsey Thompson

Member
Hi everyone,

I just launched a web series that I shot on the AF100 with the GH2 as a B-cam. It's a nine part series of shorts that focus' on work life balance through action sport.

You can check out the trailer here: https://vimeo.com/50503763

and episode one here: https://vimeo.com/51404044

I've found the AF100 to be an amazing tool for shooting this kind of footage and the ability to shoot 1080p slow mo is super valuable!

I'd love to hear what everyone thinks!

Kelsey Thompson
 
Wow, that is just GORGEOUS stuff!!! Perfect exposure on the white water. Great stories, too!

At the beginning of Ep 1, how did you light the CUs of the trees and moss? They are beautiful!

And might as well ask, what Gamma/Matrix do you use? And lenses? :beer:
 
Yeah, really nice.
Was the jib shot of the guy waving his arms as he plans his kayak done on the GH2??
 
Great to see such nice images from outdoors with the AF100.

Nice work and cool project to undertake.
 
Congrats on the project! Even got it sponsored. Very cool. You brought out the best of the camera but you also know how to shoot. This should be used as a sample for others that say the AF-100 can't shoot outdoors. Done and done.
Beautiful images throughout the episode and the compositions are great.
Only thing I would have liked is more sound design. Nats of the water rushing under the music maybe even full at times and the slap of the kayak hitting the water when it was going down the river drops. Pretty minor but really adds to the story. Nice job and look forward to the next episode.
 
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"Very cool. You brought out the best of the camera but you also know how to shoot. This should be used as a sample for others that say the AF-100 can't shoot outdoors. Done and done. "

+1 +1 +1
very very nice!
Lenses?
Grading?
 
Great looking images. Congratulations and lots of respect, specially under harsh sun light with an AF100.
At first I was surprised and thinking to myself it barely looked like AF100 footage in some shots. But then watching again I started seeing the give aways.

I don't even need to post any frames of my own footage when every problem I have complained are all over other AF100 footages.

Now this is not a knock on you or your footage Kelsey. Like I said, it looks great and I know how hard it is to get great looking footage in daylight with the AF100.

But all the problems I have with the AF100 are displayed here too.


*Yellow blows on the tank dolly shot.
*Posterization on the nose and starting on the forehead in the interviews with the kayaker in the forest.
*The last shot with the kayak going downhill on the little creek. The end title sequence I mean. It's a perfect example of a typical AF100 shot under sun light. Neither the shadows or the highlights exposures are spot on . You have to accept the bright parts to be slightly overexposed and washed out to get a little extra detail in the shadows, but still not enough to bring the shadows up totally from being underexposed.
*Shadows under trees in the shots of the kayak going down the river are absolutely crushed, no detail there, even though the bright areas are beautifully exposed.

This is exactly what I found with the AF100 and there doesn't seem to be a way around that apart from using a different camera. Unless you want your talent's face underexposed under sunlight, you need to put up with that posterization effect on the highlights if not ugly yellow, depending on the angle the light is coming from. Unless you use a silk to diffuse the light somehow. But under direct sunlight there doesn't seem another way if you want a high contrast (low key) effect. The camera just can't handle it. If you like flatter faces with low contrast then its not much of a problem.

About the dynamic range, I understand it's "only" 10 stops and no camera has an easy time exposing bright sunny shots with tree shadows. But because the AF100 highlight handling is so bad, it makes those 10 stops feel like less than that. You absolutely can't get away with anything in the highlights, so you end up having to underexpose way more than you would need with another camera, getting stuck between good looking highlights/dark shadows, ok looking highlights/ok looking shadows like your last shot, or crappy looking highlights/good looking shadows.

Again this is not about your show Kelsey. Your show looks great and the problems I pointed out are not as big of a deal in a documentary type of situation. But for narrative they just don't fly.
 
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OMG! lighten up.
maybe this camera is not for you but for those of us who appreciate the price point, ability to use most any lense and who continue to make money with the AF100... - this web series is a great professional example of professional quality editing and camera work.
 
Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all of the kind words, I'm glad everyone enjoyed it! Apologies for not answering your questions sooner, I thought I had subscribed to this topic but apparently I didn't and just noticed the replies!

The tree's at the begging were naturally lit, there just happened to be really nice light coming into the woods that made the moss pop! Those are GH2 shots.

This was shot with the Bpress gamma using Nikon lens and the Novaflex adapter. Mainly 17-35 f2.8 and 80-200 f2.8 but a couple of shots were with the a 50mm f1.4. Colour grading was nothing special, just 3 way colour corrector in FCP7.

The jib shots were all done on the AF100... I feel like I over did it a little but they are cool and I quite enjoy operating a jib.

I totally agree with the sound design comment... it's just not my strong point and I didn't have the gumption to go for it or cash to hire someone to do it for me... some day ;)

The interview shots are my biggest complaint, no complaint regarding the camera just of my shooting. We started in great light but it only lasted a few minutes and I should have moved him or tried to improve the lighting, the nose and forehead over exposure is quite ugly, lesson learned. It's funny that the last shot during the title sequence was brought up as it is the only shot in the video that wasn't from an AF100 or GH2. It was actually shot on a 60D by someone else, I wasn't going to use it because as mentioned it's not a great exposure of the sun or shade but I thought it was funny and it's my video so I can put it in there if I want to :) Normally I would have waited around for better light but the bottom of the channel empties into the ocean and the tide was going out, at low tide the bottom is a pile of sharp rocks and I didn't want the episode to turn into a recovery story.

The second episode of the series is now online if anyone is interested in checking it out. I had some issues with partial exposure that will be immediately apparent but I thought they kind of went with the uncomfortable nature of the story so used the shots anyway. I'm not as pleased with the shooting I did for this episode but I think the story is more compelling and that's really all that matters.

Mountain biking this time, more kayaking in a few weeks, here is it: https://vimeo.com/51878963

Thanks for the feedback!
 
Nice work dude, love the jib shots, I think with the minimal to no lighting you did a great job and its always nice to read one of Adamsenoj rants about the AF100 to find that he's moaning about the 60D ;0)

im following you, look forward to the other episodes
 
Very well done. You have some great shots, and as others have said - you've done great work with the AF100 outdoors in full sunlight. I really hope you find ways to put in some sound design though! It doesn't have to be complex, but even just some ambients during the riding in ep. 2 would have added a lot. Nice work!
 
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