[John Young]

In my mind, I have decided that the small office will not work and I should focus my energies on the making larger storage space work and I think the company is on board. I am optimistic that the sound issues can be minimized without a huge expensive construction project. With some sound-absorbent ceiling tiles and a heavy black curtain surrounding the space, I think we can make it work.

Keep your fingers crossed everyone.

John

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[John Young]

What is the possibility that the guys at Magic Lantern are able to hack into the 4K sensor and get 4K footage from the C300 (or even the C100!)?

They seem to be on a roll getting into all sorts of Canon DSLRs.

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[John Young]

[Erik Anschicks] “200mm would be plenty tight enough from where my vantage points would be in the game (mostly end zone and sidelines).”

I have not done this kind of shooting, but I wonder if your statement above is going to turn out to be true.

Look at these guys. Those lenses look a lot longer than 200mm.

John

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[John Young]

Good Luck with the shoot.
Please share your results when you are finished. I am especially interested in hearing about your experience with the Rokinon Cine lenses. The 14mm T3.1 has been on my radar for a while.

Let us know what works and what doesn’t for your shoot.

John

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[John Young]

I am a big fan of prime lenses as well, but only for situations that suit them.

Could you get away with one focal length? Yes

Is this a traditional documentary style or more of a news documentary style? If it is the latter and you have interviews and then just general B-roll over top of it, then you could make it work with just one focal length. If it is the former and you are capturing the moment as it happens in front of the lens (the DJ setting up his equipment, the DJ in everyday life, the DJ talking to fans), then a zoom is going to be very handy.

Think of it this way. If a DJ is interacting with a fan and you want to capture it ‘in the moment’. With a zoom you get a medium two shot, quickly zoom in to a close up, zoom out for a wide shot. Then you can probably cut all that together to make a sequence. With a prime you are going to have to change you camera position and (most likely) angle as well. During that time you may have lost the ‘moment’ and the fan and DJ are just finishing their hug and the fan is walking away.

Would I advise it? No

You know your project and your equipment needs better than anyone, but I would think about whether this project, and future projects would be better served by having a nice cine lens or by having a variety of focal lengths. A variety of focal lengths will give you a variety of shots which will, by most anyone’s measure, make your project more interesting, and by extension better.

I guess I assume in all this that this is a one-camera shoot. Your post didn’t mention any other cameras. If it is a multi-camera shoot, then disregard everything I just said. That is where primes can be really utilized well.

John

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[John Young]

[Aindreas Gallagher] “sure, but a few thousand here, a few thousand there, pretty soon it might look like massaging your subscription numbers when you’ve got Q4 public shareholder subscription targets.”

Well, if you show me numbers that tell what percentage of their CC subscriptions have been give-aways then maybe I will think you are on to something. But, when use one conference as your evidence, I think you are stretching big time.

John

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[John Young]

As a critic of CC, I have to say, this means absolutely nothing.

Just as this promotion does not mean that Red Giant is going out of business. https://www.rodemic.com/pluraleyes
Just as when Adobe gave all of the estimated 5,000 in attendance at the Adobe Max conference in May a full year of CC for free, it didn’t mean that CC was in trouble (it was at that event that they announced CC and that it would be subscription only).

John

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Roger,
I think your decision should be based more on what kind of work you do.

If you work primarily in controlled environments where you can really take your time and craft your image, then the hacked 5D will work great for you. You can take the time to record dual system audio and sync it later (or try and deal with the headache that is audio piped into your DSLR. You are able to run to to your bag, brag the ND filter, and screw it on (or drop it in your matte box holder) if you need to.

But if you shoot a lot of documentary-style, run and gun, one man band type content (like I do) the C100 makes a lot more sense. I really like being able to grab my camera and just go shoot. And the images are almost comparable to a hacked 5D.

I just pitched my boss the purchase of a C100. Here is why that camera is a better choice for the work we do.
-Built in audio– messing with an external recorder is just a hassle. When I am often in charge of the image, the audio, and sometimes conducting the interview as well, my add-on Zoom H4N just doesn’t work for me.
-built in ND filters. We do a lot of docu-style shoots in uncontrolled environments where we have no control over lighting (and often the lighting will change mid-shot, when a cloud moves in).
-form factor- grab it and shoot
-image quality- the C100 has all those advantages over DSLR type shooting for us, and the image beats DSLR and comes close to RAW when it comes to Dynamic Range, depth-of-field, highlight rolloff, overall cinematic feel.

For us, I think it is the right choice. I guess we will see when I actually have the camera in hand. I hope that helps in your decision.

John

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I don’t know from experience. I do not work regularly with either the II or the III, but smart people that I pay attention to have commented how much better the 5dIII is at moire and aliasing (the moire is by some accounts much much much better).

Look into the C100 as well. Same Canon imaging technology but with a great form factor and usability.

John

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[aroonz arunpg] “i thought i would go with a camera with less moire and artifacts. “

The easy answer to this is a Canon 5D MarkIII. If you want a camera with the exact same capabilities you already have just with better moire and aliasing performance the MIII is what you want.

I do a lot video of construction sites. I would wonder how often you would need 4 cameras, all shooting simultaneously. The only thing I could think of was a Grand Opening or Breaking Ground ceremony, or some big event like that. It might be a better financial decision to hire out those services only for the times when you need 4 cameras, and spend the extra money on extra capabilities. (timelapse, high quality audio equip, lenses, ect).

You know what your shoot will entail better than anyone, but having done a lot of construction video, those are some of my thoughts.

Good luck,
John

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