Todd Terry
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COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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Yeah Eirk I would have NO problem with an f/4 on th C300.. the light sensitivity is incredible. Just today I was shooting some relatively dark interiors with the zoom and it was more than fine.
You will find the C300 to be clear as a bell up to 10,000 ISO, and perfectly acceptable up to about 16,000.
Give Duclos a shout. I know Paul put a moritorium on working on LOMOs but I don’t know if he will work on other glass like the Fotons or not.
And in my opinion… a minimum of 80mm is way too long for the type of work you want to do.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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That sounds like a great solution, Angelo… I can see how that combo could definitely give a very similar look to the small Briese fixtures.
Be careful with that bare-bulb Joker (as I’m sure you know). Without the beamer or a softbox, in bare bulb mode those things leak UV like a sieve even with the glass thingy on the globe… and you don’t want to burn eyeballs.
Let us know how it goes!
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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This might not help you at all since you have the EF camera, but I’ll give it a shot, and might spark some conversation or other ideas for you…
I shoot probably 90% of the time with primes on my C300 (I have the PL mount version)… but when I do use a zoom I use a Russian Foton zoom. Not familiar with them?… a lot of people aren’t. The Russian LOMO and Foton lenses are absolutely fantastic lenses from our comrades, mostly made in the Cold War and slightly-post Cold War era. They are true cine lenses, typically originally used on Russian Kinor and Konvas 35mm cine cameras (as I did). Lately they’ve been appropriated for digital use, and while they used to be plentiful (especially LOMO sets), people have been snapping them up like crazy to use on everything from Alexas to Epics to C300s and just about everything else.
Recently there was a discussion of C300 rigs on another thread and I happened to snap a couple of pics of my setup, if you want to see the lens… the top two pics in this post show a prime lens mounted, but the two below that show the Foton zoom mounted…
https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/59/861753
It’s a nice range at 37-140mm. Now, it is slow as molasses at f3.8, so when I used it with previous cameras it was limited to exteriors… but the C300 is so darn light sensitive that I can use it fine with interiors now… even in low light.
As I said, it’s a true cine lens, so you have manual zoom and focus functions (with the screw-in “sticks”), but I’m going to put lens gears on mine when I get a chance. It’s sharp as a tack and quite contrasty (in a good way) for a zoom. It’s slightly on the warm side compared to some of the cooler primes that you might have been using. That classic “NFL Films” look is exactly the look it gives.
I have no idea if anyone has ever put an EF mount on one, but that’d definitely be interesting. Most of them are in PL mount, or in the Russian OCT-18 or OCT-19 mount. The mounts are removable though (by a decent lens tech), so a mechanical EF mount might be a possibility.
Best of all they are absolutely dirt cheap. Most of the time there are at least two or three floating around on eBay at any given moment, usually in the $500-$1500 range, depending on condition. No, not quite as nice a lens as the $47,000 Canon, but for the money they can’t be beat.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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[Patrick Bronte] “keen to use the black screen is so that I have a uniformed background thus producing a more professional looking product. “
It’s all aesthetics Patrick, and there are no right or wrong answers… but I’m sure you realize that uniformity does not equal professional looking. There are plenty of high-end great-looking pro videos that certainly place their subjects in a variety of natural surroundings. And plenty of crappy videos full of black limbo backgrounds. One has absolutely nothing to do with the other. You’re right, it’s all about the content.
[Patrick Bronte] “in many cases the the BG behind their favourite chair is natural white or some other nondescript bg.”
Then don’t put them there. Put them somewhere else. Yes, every one of these subjects is going to have their most favorite chair, where they are most comfortable. But that might not fly. Make them comfortable, but you don’t have to coddle them. If you wanted to interview me at my most comfortable you’d be shooting me in bed… but no one wants to see that. These guys are war heroes, they’ve been through a lot worse than giving up the La-Z-Boy for a little while.
The big problem with “real life” homes, as opposed to the ones you see on TV or in the movies, is furniture placement. In the movies, floorplans tend to be open and seating options are often in the center of rooms, or have depth behind them in some way. In real life, people tend to place chairs and sofas around the perimeter of rooms, with backs against walls. This is terrible, obviously… just about the worst choice you can make is to back a subject against a wall. I always tell people it looks like I’m taking their mug shot, and that they should be holding up an arrest number.
Get your talent away from walls. Move a chair a bit. If you are shooting a guy in his living room, can you see the kitchen in deep background? Or out a window? Or down a hall? If not, move the chair. Even in a doorway is better than against a white wall. No doubt these guys wouldn’t mind your assistant doing some slight re-arranging, as long as it’s put back. Most people are actually very accommodating.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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I’m a big fan and hardcore Canon guy, but they do puzzle me now and then.
It’s very noticeable that they don’t offer them in PL, which is surprising if they want to consider them “real” cine lenses. Although based on Canon’s past history I wouldn’t be surprised if they roll out a PL version shortly (as the did with their zooms). EF-only versions makes one think they are most heavily targeting the DSLR crowd, although that market typically doesn’t buy glass quite in that price range in huge numbers.
A bit odd that there’s nothing between 24mm and 50mm. Even odder that the 85mm is threaded… pretty rare to see on any cine lens. If ever. And even weirder that it’s only on the one.
Thanks for the review.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Well this has been a little educational for me… I had no idea there were so many different kinds of Briese instruments, and doing different things… I’d never visited their website before. I responded to Angelo’s original post assuming he meant the big giant parabolic ones, which I think of as the iconic Briese fixtures. Sounds like some more info is needed to find out exactly what the director wants… if he even really knows.
Like most of us, I suspect, I’ve never actually used the Briese myself… and they’re so rare I’ve only seen them in use in person on two occasions. One was a big shoot on stage… the other was an outdoor location late afternoon/dusk shoot for a big-budget music video. What struck me most about them is what gigantic behemoths they are… really huge fixtures. A couple of them were in play on the music video shoot and were moving around a bit… and each of them had a crew of a couple or three guys just to wrangle it.
Very interesting though, let us know how it all plays out.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Well the Brieses certainly are beautiful instruments… they definitely really give that “high fashion” look. But yeah, they are unbelievably gawd-awful expensive. If you can even find them. That’s probably not a problem in NY or LA rental houses, but outside of there they are pretty scarce.
I would say though that it’s perfectly fine for your director to define the look that he or she wants… but they shouldn’t really be dictating the hardware that’s used to create that look. But you’ve probably said that to yourself already.
You probably can’t exactly replicate that focusable-big-parabola look of a Briese, but definitely get in the neighborhood. I’d say your bounced HMI is a good start… that’s usually my go-to setup for a similar look.
If the director wants that “soft but focusable” look, I might not bounce an HMI but rather use it directly, shot through diffusion… probably Lee 250 or so in a 4×4 Hollywood frame. If you use a fresnel head rather than a PAR you’ll have more focus flexibility, a bit like the Briese. If you are doing any extreme closeup stuff (visible eyeballs) or other reflective objects and the director likes the circular reflections of the Briese, you could ditch the 4×4 and use a round pop-up silk instead, although slightly harder to rig. For the super shadowless look of the Briese you might also add a ring light to the lens and use a bit of it as needed.
There are probably some other options, too… those are just what first spring to my mind.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Just depends on what your needs are and how you work. I personally haven’t used a field mixer in, oh gosh, I can’t even remember the last time. If shooting single-camera style and single mic (and I almost always just use one boom mic) there’s really not much necessity for a mixer (although the sound guys don’t like knowing or hearing that).
Of course if you are shooting with multiple mics in situations where you have to ride the mix or inputs a lot, then yes you might want a mixer and a sound guy. As I said, just depends on what and how you shoot.
Yes the C100 definitely has 48v phantom power. I don’t shoot with the C100 I shoot the C300, but I’m betting the pre-amps are exactly the same in both cameras. If so, they are perfectly fine amps, quiet as a mouse… I don’t think you’ll have any concerns there.
Like you, we also have a H4N but it doesn’t see too much use anymore except for wild recording. We’ll shoot double system sound for film or DSLR shooting, but never have with the C300.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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[john sharaf] “Another solution is to lower the light and bring it from the opposite side of the key, making it more of a “scratch” light.”
I do this all the time and it works well.
I think that’s actually something I did years ago by accident, not knowing any better or having been taught that it was an actual “technique” that people do. I’ll now often put the backlight lower and much more to one side (and yes, opposite the key). Not only does it really soften the rim and help deal with white or bald heads, but often times that hint of a splash across the side of the face is really interesting and a good look… definitely not the flat and über-perfect “Sears Portrait Studio” look you get with strict and traditional three-point lighting.
On stage I’ll usually use a small tungsten fresnel for that (maybe a Pepper 200 or so)… but these days when out of the studio I’m usually predominantly using LEDs on location, especially for quick-n-dirty stuff. In those cases my backlight of choice is usually a little Switronix TorchLED, which despite being one of the most uncontrollable instruments you can imagine, can still give a great look if positioned correctly.
That’s a great little fixture, actually… by “uncontrollable” I just mean that like most all LEDs things like barndoors are pretty much useless. It’s a little bi-color head that will let you dial in the exact color temp you need, and will run for hours off its on-board battery.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Dang it… peaking is the only one of the things that I would want to display on another monitor.
Just my luck…
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
