[Jim Biffle]

Albert,

I just went to Best Buy and purchased some screen protectors designed for cell phones. I got the stuff that is apparently used to coat helicopter blades (could be a marketing ploy but whatever). The kit came with a template you can use to mark the dimensions of your screen and cut to fit. It has been on my camera for about a year and no signs of coming off.

Also, I’m not sure about the 60D but the 7D doesn’t have any safe title guides like a regular video camera. So, I used After Effects to set up a blank comp with the safe title guides turned on over a black solid, grabbed a screen shot and went into Photoshop. I measured the dimensions of the screen on my camera in video mode keeping the gray bars on the LCD screen in mind. Then created a PSD to to those dimensions and imported my screen shot and sized the comp window to match. Then did a simple invert to make the safe title guides black and the background white. After that I printed it out on a transparency and cut to fit. I have the PSD available if you would like it. I made a border so I would know where to cut on the transparency so it would match the screen size (3 inches). It does get in the way of the display a little bit but not bad. I would recommend printing this out on a laser printer. I tried an inkjet (that didn’t go so well) and even a couple of different colors but black worked the best.

So in essence I have two screen protectors on my camera and I don’t see any color variation other than what appears to be a few air bubbles but no big deal.

Hope this helps you out a little,

Jim

[Jim Biffle]

Albert,

Again, no worries for the delay. After putting the video together I thought they would not be good for landscaping type shots until I shot some stuff for work last week with an EF 18-135 lens that yielded almost the same results. I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong or if it’s just the glass but there seems to be a point that the lenses can no longer hold a crisp focus (about 50 feet or so).

I think the FD lenses do have a place in the HDSLR world. They do have a unique look (mainly the softer focus and chromatic aberration) the newer lenses don’t have. I could see them being used for a nostalgic film look, music video or anything a director wants that isn’t the “new hotness” look. I will keep them in my arsenal of glass even when I can afford some good primes. Plus, they are apparently going for fairly cheap on ebay and the like so if you need a unique look for your close up to medium shots the FD lenses sure fit the bill. I’m not trying to take away from the high end primes out there in any way.

As for your question on LCD protectors I will post something on that thread for you. It would be more appropriate there then on this thread. Thanks for taking the time to take a look at the videos. If you want to see anymore of my work just look on my Vimeo page, https://www.vimeo.com/jimbiffle

I love me some motion graphics and After Effects!

Have a good one,

Jim

[Jim Biffle]

Albert and Micah,

Here is some stuff I put together I shot in San Antonio last weekend. I used the FD lenses exclusively just for some more tests. My conclusion, they work excellent for a prime lens and do have a unique look as compared to the newer EF lenses. I don’t think I will be using them for wide or landscaping shots though. What are your thoughts? Hope you guys enjoy.

Jim

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[Jim Biffle]

Ted,

I have a setup that allows me to do both. I like having the mic mounted instead of the Zoom. It is less awkward and less stress on the shoe mount to just have a shotgun mic mounted to the camera instead of the Zoom sitting on top of the camera. I don’t have a wireless transmitter so I just put the Zoom in a photog vest or a hip pouch. It would also depend on what kind of audio you want to get.

Hope this helps a little,

Jim

[Jim Biffle]

Micah,

Thanks for the compliment! I thought the car would be an interesting subject. To answer your question about the adapter. It has two thin peices of glass that allow for more than macro work. I can remove them to do macro shots but I have a macro ring set so I don’t even bother with the glass in the adapter. They can focus fairly far but there still seems to be a certain distance that is slightly out of focus or it’s just me. I should have some more test video posted in the next couple of days. I’ll let you and Albert know. I have noticed the chromatic aberration is worse on these older lenses in some situations. Once I get the money I will invest in some newer lenses but cash is tight right now. In the meantime these FD lenses will have to work and they do have a unique look.

Have a good one,

Jim

[Jim Biffle]

Albert,

Funny you shold mention people, buildings, landscapes etc. I was in San Antonio, TX this weekend and got lots of good stuff from the Riverwalk. I should have something put together this week and posted. The rehydration idea was a good one since it was hot down there and wearing a vest full of gear got tiring after a while. I’ll let you know when it’s online. I’m excited to dig into it because I was using a fader ND so I could run an f-stop of 2-2.8 and not have the shots completely blown out. Also, I got to experience the “incognito” effect of a DSLR. Even though I had a loupe attached to the back and a large lens hood on the front people mostly thought I was taking stills. More to come.

Jim

[Jim Biffle]

Albert,

No worries on getting back to me. I understand the busy thing. You’re right on the sharpness of the EF lens. I’m not sure if it’s the glass itself, the age or whatever but the newer lens is definitely sharper. In the next couple of weeks I plan to do some more tests outside now that I have a fader ND filter and see how they react to that.

One issue I’m having with the Canon FD in particular is when I open it up to 1.4 the color is so bright that I can’t really get anything in focus. I’ve never used a lens that fast so I don’t know if it was something I was doing wrong or something in the lens. It seems that both the Canon FD and the Focal FD work best at 2.8.

One word of caution Albert. The Canon FD lens has a tight focus ring when going from close up to about halfway to infinity (90 degree rotation). Then it loosens up and even turns smoothly in the other direction for the full rotation. Probably just age but it has wrecked havoc on my follow focus setup. So just know that the focus ring might be tight. A very small amount of gun oil and setting it in the car on a sunny day for about two hours seemed to help but it still gets tight on the same spot. Just not as tight.

Hope this info can be of good use to you.

Jim

[Jim Biffle]

Albert,

Here are a couple of links to the results. There are two versions. One with a color grade and one without. Let me know what you think. I definitely need to invest in some lens hoods and other things if I’m going to use these but I think they have potential.

Enjoy,

Jim

No Color Correction:

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[Jim Biffle]

Albert,

I shot some stuff last week and the initial results were promising. However, I need to reshoot in a more controlled environment for consistancy with lighting. I shot outdoors around sunset to really test the low light capabilities of the lenses but the sun set faster than I thought so the results aren’t consistant. Also, I needed to clean the lenses better. Once I reshoot I will post it if you or anyone else is interested.

Thanks,

Jim

[Jim Biffle]

Tyle,

I often wondered the same thing after I graduated from college. My first two jobs in the industry did not require a degree but did prefer one. As it turned out I worked with lots of folks who had no degree but could do amazing work! It wasn’t until my current job that a degree came into play. If you didn’t have one you weren’t even considered for the job. So, I think it boils down to which type of job you are going for.

Having a degree is never a bad thing as other people on here have pointed out. Looking back now I’m glad I got a degree and wouldn’t change that for anything. It’s something nice to have on the resume.

As for the certifications, that is a mixed bag. I posted a similar question on this forum about software certifications. Here’s a link if you would like to check it out. Lots of good responses.
https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/17/872443

I can tell you it hasn’t helped me any yet but, it is nice knowing that I earned that on my own and can put the Adobe logo by my name. Sorry if that sound egotistical because I’m not meaning to but it did give me a great feeling of accomplishment.

Hope this helps you out a little.