"Zoom pulling"

J

jamani

Active member
Does it exist in the world of DSLRs? Done a search around the forum and haven't come across it. I don't come from a camcorder background but I edit a great deal of weddings that others have shot using proper video cameras and as an editor i appreciate ceremony and reception shots which employ smooth zooming while following the subject/s as opposed to the abrupt zooms I'm used to when I'm shooting on DSLR. I do understand that for narrative work, zooming is an absolute no-no as it's unnatural to the eye. So is there an equivalent of a follow-focus made specifically for smooth zooming on DSLR lenses beside THIS ONE?
 
Zooms seem to be coming back a bit as they give an old-school feel. How many movies from the 50's to 80's do you see where the crane shot is just a zoom (and you think, "sheesh, that would look better with a crane/dolly...")

Watching season 1 of "American Horror Story" and man, do they overdo the little jerky zoom-ins. And they look done in post as well, like the motion blur is off.
 
jamani said:
I do understand that for narrative work, zooming is an absolute no-no as it's unnatural to the eye.
Click to expand...

So it is absolutely natural to the eye to watch little figures in color pixels on a square box known as a television or a computer monitor?

It's all unnatural, baby! It's just whatever vocabulary or syntax we are used to that counts.
I bet many folks in the 70's didn't even realize zooming was going on while they were watching, they were so used to it.
 
Watched "The Exorcist" with the Mrs and kept saying "zoooooommmmm..." She'd cock an eyebrow at me and I'd say "you really don't see it? Look, there's a dolly... look, that's a zoom". She was like "nope, sorry - there is something old-fashioned going on though..." BTW, she's got a PhD, she's a great writer and a pretty fascinating cultural/media critic when she wants to be... but she doesn't "see" a zoom, other than "Oh, this movie's older". But even as comparatively recent as Exorcist, she gets the overall retro-ish vibe, but that's overall production... unrealistic sound mixing and design (those "rats in the attic" sound like they're in your ear, distant conversations are crystal clear)... pre-Ridley Scott lighting (where's the hazer??), etc. So even today, "civilians" don't see the zooms.
 
I used to be totally against zooming in my wedding films (mostly because if you zoom then it means it wasn't shot using a prime...dumb I know) However, there are certain lenses that I feel zoom very nicely, the Canon 70-200 IS II for example. Something about the feel of the IS and the zoom that I really like.
 
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