[Ryan Orr]

Hey guys, I’m glad my old thread is being of SOME use 😀

Michael – I can’t recommend whether or not to use your Promaster. I’m not an optics specialist, and only have a vague/basic understanding on how lenses work. I bought a random old lens from ebay and just frankensteined my setup together. To me, it worked decently, however the image is being cropped by the small sensor of the 60D. So you’ll just have to experiment, as not all lenses are created equal. Maybe the rear element would work, but who knows. Just try it out if it’s a lens of cheap value…

Rebekah – Below is a link to my YouTube account that has a 3-minute reel of footage. Yep, that’s me! Now, be mindful, that footage was out of focus to begin with (my dad ain’t no cameraman!), so when I was getting the projected image in focus on the sensor, I looked at the outer edges of the film strip and focused on that. Also, it’s YouTube…it ain’t the best footage at all. However, if I were to play this on my laptop/tv with it’s full resolution/quality, it’s awesome.

I guess this isn’t the best kind of test footage you may be looking for, but with very minor banding I think it works nicely. I defend the flickering a little bit. It’s super 8 film at 18fps…it’s gonna flicker on the projector, and I think it should flicker on the tv screen. It preserves the old film look and the effect is okay by me. There may be some way to get rid of it and make it look like a 24fps movie, but to me that isn’t old home movie super 8mm footage…

https://youtu.be/vTj1OaoeD7k

Also, Rebekah, I kinda abandoned this project, so no I haven’t experimented on getting the whole image on the sensor. I do stand beside my theory on how to get the whole image on the sensor (read one of my posts on this theory). In my head, shortening the distance between the film strip and the modified “rear element” setup would work. The only thing is you would have to flip the footage horizontally and vertically in the edit, since the optics flips the image when you are capturing.

I hope that helps a little for you guys!
Ryan

Some contents or functionalities here are not available due to your cookie preferences!

This happens because the functionality/content marked as “Google Youtube” uses cookies that you choosed to keep disabled. In order to view this content or use this functionality, please enable cookies: click here to open your cookie preferences.

[Ryan Orr]

I’ve investigated in a Peavey USB-Powered Audio Playback Device like the one linked below.

https://www.fullcompass.com/product/401346.html?utm_source=googleps&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=googleps

I’m sure this would most likely fix the problem. However, I’ve also decided to give it one more try with a different solution. If you would treat the computer as an instrument, I would like to try a direct box. It simply turns an unbalanced 1/4″ unbalanced to a balanced XLR, with possible ground loop removal. This seems to be a promising solution. I have a 4″x1/8″ cable, and would connect it from the computer to a direct box with the appropriate adapter. Shortest unbalanced cable run as far as I know. Then, run an XLR to the sound board from there. Hopefully that would get rid of it.

I also have a 1/8″ to L/R Phono as a backup, but I don’t think that would work as well as I’d like it to be…that’s unbalanced as far as I know…

I just hope it works. If not, well, the Peavey isn’t expensive and I’m very sure that would fix the problem…

Thanks for the suggestions! If it happens again this week, I’ll make sure to post a recording of the interference to see if anyone out there can more accurately diagnose it.

Thanks!
Ryan

[Ryan Orr]

Okay, I get that he is using the laser dots to track something in AE, but what is that “something”? Wouldn’t the two points of the lasers simply be stagnant on the video? I mean, if both the camera and lasers are moving in tandem, what’s the point of tracking it?

A dual laser would mean that he is not simply stabilizing the shot, but rather tracking both scale and rotation. The ONLY means that I can reason why he is using the lasers is that he would pan the camera while shooting. As he pans to either side, the laser’s shape and size would change. Somehow, that difference would be analyzed by AE, and then would be applied, somehow, to the time-lapse backgrounds so that the chroma keyed talent and background would match up.

Were the lasers used during the time-lapse? I don’t think so. You could easily track a brick of a building or a street lamp.

In the one Behind the Scene video, the way he travels the camera on his camera on the slider, it would seem that the lasers would have crossed over the talent. I don’t believe this shot was used on the final spot (you can kinda guess that from the two different ways the weatherman walks), however would it be paramount to keep the lasers on the green screen, and never cross over the subject?

I don’t know. I have access to a green screen, and I’ll grab my own DSLR and get my own timelapses. Hopefully by going through the motions, I’ll be able to pick this apart and answer the question of why it is essential to have a DUAL laser system for this moving chroma key shot.

But please, do comment and help with any of the solutions!

[Ryan Orr]

First off, make sure you do your homework before you get either of these lenses. The sensor size of the T3i is an APH-C sized sensor, and I believe both of these lenses are for full framed sensors. So as long as you are okay with the crop factor with these lenses, then we can proceed.

I just got a Tamron 18-50mm f2.8, and I feel that between your Sigma and my Tamron, they are very near the same, so when I say my Tamron is AWESOME…I’m sure your Sigma is great too.

I also have the exact Canon “Nifty Fifty” 50mm you’re talking about. It’s nice, but with that crop factor (I have a Canon 60D, which has the same sized sensor of the T3i), so it acts like around a 60-70mm lens. That kind of throw may be fine with you, but having no option other then backing up, I needed to get something wider, like my Tamron. Also, that f1.8 is nice for low light, but unless you’re a master at focusing (and I REALLY mean it…MASTER), your shots are going to be constantly out of focus. There may be like…2 awesome focus pullers out there that can keep a tack sharp focus at f1.8, and I’m betting you’re not one of them, lol.

My suggestion is get both! The plastic version of the nifty fifty is only around $100, so why not? But if it comes right down to it, get the Sigma, you won’t regret it. However, like I said before, do your homework and see what sized sensor the Sigma is for…and if it’s full framed, see if you’ll be fine with the crop factor.

Cheers!
Ryan~

[Ryan Orr]

See, I’ve seen this 5DtoRGB thing before, but it just made things a little less clear. I’ve always heard that transcoding your footage to a codec that your NLE loves is best. And now with this 5DtoRGB transcoder, it will keep your gamma of your footage truer to the original, and in a flavor your NLE likes best…

Meh, I’m just gonna do my own tests and see what fits my bill better.

[Ryan Orr]

Noah,

I can understand that Premier can edit DSLR footage natively, but is it the BEST codec to use? How about if you want to color correct and in general, beat up the image for whatever reason. Would it be better to transcode it into a different codec so Premiere/hardware would still be happy, even after all kinds of alterations to the footage?

Thanks,
Ryan

[Ryan Orr]

No.

Depends on the camera, but most are not HD, or have will have gfx on them.

The BEST way is to still record to the media card you put into the camera. You could try to see what Magic Lantern has hacked for your specific camera, but I wouldn’t waste your time on it. They haven’t completely hacked any camera that would give you the highest HD resolution without GFX yet. Otherwise, you would have heard about a TON of people already doing this…

[Ryan Orr]

Well, like I said after the video, before I even started shooting, I used the magnification buttons on the 60D to get that critical focus on the buildings. I would assume that only ‘digitally’ zooms into the center of the image, and since the lens is fixed focal, as long as the building had that critical focus, it should have been fine.

But also, like you said, maybe I underestimated how thin the DOF would be once the lens needed to be wide open during the after hours. Possibly adjusting the ISO to a higher number, the lens wouldn’t have to be so wide open to expose right.

If I ever get the time to do another timelapse at that location (Wheeling, WV…btw), I’ll finick with it again. I’ll be sure to also use some tape to ‘lock’ in my focus, lol.

Thanks Noah,
Ryan~

[Ryan Orr]

You must understand. With a mechanical only adapter, you are sacrificing infinite focus. You may be getting ‘softness’ and ‘lack of infinite focus’ confused and using the two terms for what you think is the same thing.

To get that infinite focus back, you’ll need an adapter WITH the corrective glass built into it.

FD glass is great, and you can find some awesome deals out there. However, they won’t be tack sharp as the newer lenses, and you will always have to work with the limitations of the adapters. It won’t matter which camera you are using. Both the 60d and GH2 are supreme cameras with nice video options, with nearly identical features and settings.

Either camera will not get you better performances from the lens…it’s the lens that will get you the better performance.

[Ryan Orr]

Although the 17mm-50mm lens has similar zoom, it will have better quality in glass then your lens kit, and also have a constant f-stop in your zoom range. Your lens kit’s f-stop would be 3-4 at best, and as you zoom in, it floats up to 5.6-7 I would guess. The fact that the Tameron is a constant 2.8 throughout the zoom range is a great thing, especial for video.