Canon C100

Could the new Canon C100 be the way forward?

An interesting article here:

http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2012/08/29/canon-c100-leads-to-murky-future-for-mid-to-upper-range-video-hdslrs/

The Lens Doctor

Just discovered "The Lens Doctor" who can modify older film camera lenses to suit the newer EF mount. What I especially like is the "de-clicking" modification he can perform whereby the aperture blades can be smoothly opened and closed. This is great for filming when one wishes to change the exposure slightly instead of stopping up and down in a stepped motion.

This video demonstrates this here:

http://vimeo.com/18217032

Show Racism the Red Card

Delighted - a short video I shot and produced for a local primary school in Nottingham for their entry in the "Show Racism the Red Card" event, won the local heat at a judging event at County Hall, Nottingham on 17th October 2012. The whole short was shot on a Canon 550D DSLR, 24 to 105 f/4 IS L lens, Tokina 11 to 16 f/2.8 lens and Jag35 follow focus. Sound was handled separately using a Zoom H4N and Rode NTG3 with full Rode "blimp". The most pleasing aspect was that I had just 2 hours to shoot the 3 minute short (and the weather wasn't kind either). Editing was via Final Cut Pro, ProTools, Pluraleyes and Magic Bullet Looks for final grading.

I am informed that the short has now been entered in the national competition to take place at Wembley.

Vari-ND

My cheap 77mm vari-ND filter arrived today, so when there is some sunlight, a test video will be created. This filter will enable one to use a wide aperture, 1/50s shutter in sunlight to give both the correct exposure and shallow DoF.

Two new videos

I have just made another two basic videos to showcase the difference in both depth of field and field of view between the Canon 550D and Canon 5Dmkii. With the 5Dmkii being a full frame sensor one must compensate between the two cameras by either adjusting the focal lengths of the lens differently, or by positioning the 550D further back from the subject.

The first test was to place the two camera bodies as close to each other as possible and the same distance away from the "30cm" marking on a tape measure. Focal length was then adjusted to approx. 70mm on the 5Dmkii and 43mm (approx.) on the 550D, thus providing the same field of view. Secondly, the same focal length was set on both cameras to show the difference in field of view / depth of field for both camera bodies.

The second test was using to try and demonstrate the difference in camera position required to give the same field of view for the same focal length setting. The 5Dmkii was positioned approx. 75cm from the subject (in this case a plant!) and the 550D was positioned approx. 120cm from the same subject (i.e. to take into account the x1.6 crop factor).

In each case the ISO values were set identically on both cameras, the same 24 to 105 f/4 L lens was used (set to f/4) and the shutter on both was set to 1/50s.

Videos are available on the usual www.vimeo.com/digitalvideoslr pages.....

Sensor size and DoF

Have just been considering the effect of sensor size and the depth of field achievable for the same focal length and the same aperture. I have just been using an on-line depth of field calculator (www.dofmaster.com), which interestingly stated that for the same distance to subject, using the same focal length and aperture, the depth of field will be shorter on the cropped sensor camera compared to the full frame. However, one has to remember that on the cropped sensor camera, the effective field of view will be greater (x1.6 crop for example) resulting in a shorter DoF since the magnification will be greater. If however, the distance to subject is increased for the cropped sensor to provide the same effective field of view for both cameras (and to compensate for the magnification due to the cropped sensor). then the DoF will be shorter for the full frame sensor.

Example: (using the DoF master software)

Full frame 5DMKII with 50mm f/2.8 lens with a distance to subject of 10 feet:

Depth of field: 2.06 feet

APS-C 7D with 50mm f/2.8 lens with a distance to subject of 10 feet:

Depth of field: 1.29 feet

However, one must remember that the 50mm lens on the APS-C camera will behave more like an 80mm lens (50mm x 1.6), meaning the field of view will be "closer" and the DoF will be shorter (as DoF is also a product of focal length too). Therefore, if we "move" the APS-C camera further away from the subject to say 16 feet, then the field of view for both cameras, with the 50mm lens should be the same and hence the DoF on the APS-C camera should be deeper than the for the full frame.

A test video needs to be created for this.... watch this space!

Also, to provide approximately the same DoF for both sensors, as well as as moving the cropped sensor further away from the subject to provide the same field of view, one can decrease the aperture of the lens on the full frame sensor too.

Vari-ND

I can feel another video coming on. I have just purchased a 77mm Vari-ND filter which will be useful for well lit situations where the shutter needs to be kept at 1/50s (PAL) and the aperture of the lens needs to be wide open too. It's only a cheap filter, but I am hoping that for demonstration purposes, it will be reasonable enough.

Video will be posted on this Blog and via Vimeo as usual, hopefully within a few days.....

Canon 6D

17th September saw the announcement by Canon of the new 6D FULL FRAME DSLR camera! The specs look good and one wonders now whether to purchase one of these instead of the new Canon 5D MKIII or the MKII!

 

"ISO 25"

Another cracking new feature which I have just discovered in Magic Lantern is the ability to lower the ISO beyond the standard minimum setting of ISO100. It is now possible to reduce the ISO to ISO25, meaning a two stop reduction in sensor sensitivity. Why would you want to do this I hear you ask? Well, there are two reasons I can think of immediately:

1. Shooting outdoors in bright daylight. Unless one has a neutral density filter on the front of the lens, the only way to maintain a short depth of field (wide lens aperture), but avoid over exposure, is to decrease the shutter speed lower than the standard 180 degree shutter of 1/2n, where n = the frame rate. The main issue with doing this however, is that any movement in the shots can become very "staccato". This is often used in fight / action sequences for creative effect, but it is often not desired for normal shooting. Therefore, if one can reduce the ISO to ISO25, the aperture can be opened up two stops, which will help maintain the short depth of field which DSLR video so easily enables. Let's take an example where say the camera is set to ISO 100 and a shutter speed of 1/50s (i.e. standard 25fps shooting). To avoid over exposure, the aperture of the lens needs to be reduced from f/2.8 to f5.6 (two stops reduction). However, in doing this, the depth of field is increased beyond what is required. If the ISO is now changed to ISO25, the exposure will reduce by TWO stops meaning that the aperture on the lens can now be returned to f/2.8, giving the desired short depth of field. Therefore, this new feature acts in a similar way to using a two-stop ND filter.

2. Shooting timelapse sequences using the FRAME RATE OVERRIDE function. If shooting with say a frame rate of 2fps, the shutter speed is also greatly increased, meaning lots of light, meaning potential over exposure, even with the smallest of lens apertures (f/22 for example). However, with the ISO reduced to ISO25, again, one can open up the iris of the lens somewhat higher than its minimum setting.

The DOWNSIDE to this feature, is that some of the over exposed regions can become pink, but this can be corrected in post. 

A VERY nice feature!

Intervalometer in MOVIE mode / Frame Rate Override

Another test which I plan to carry out this week is Magic Lantern's intervalometer in MOVIE mode. As previously discussed and demonstrated, Magic Lantern has a built-in intervalometer which can be used to automatically press the shutter at set intervals. The resulting still images are then convered into an image sequence using some software such as Quicktime Player 7.

The frame rate override function within Magic Lantern has also been investigated as well which is where the frame rate, in MOVIE mode is lowered to say 2fps, which allows timelapse sequence to be created directly as a movie (this also helps to avoid some of the artefacts caused when using a series of still images too).

What interests me now is using the intervalometer directly within MOVIE mode, which instead of taking a single image every few seconds (for example), will take a 1s movie clip at a user defineable interval. These short 1s movie clips can then be joined together to create a timelapse sequence.

Watch this space for the results......

EDIT: a couple of tests have recently been carried out and the results are as follows:

1. When using the intervalometer in MOVIE mode, the results are decent, however, as the camera is taking a 1s movie clip at regular intervals, the outcome can be quite "jerky". A test was carried out where a 1s clip was taken every 60s for around 2 hours and the results were good, however, when speeding the clip up by 2000%, a much smoother clip was produced.

2. When using the FRAME RATE OVERRIDE function, set to 0.5fps, the results were very good indeed as this basically produced a sequence with the same effect as using a series of still images with a shutter frequency of once every 2 seconds. I did however find that increasing the playback speed by 500% yielded an even better and smoother result. Therefore, if this is the case, it would probably be better to use around a frame rate of 2fps rather than the 0.5fps I tested.

A video of the video discussed in (2), can be found here:

https://vimeo.com/47586109

The main issue with both of these functions is that the Canon 550D can overheat fairly quickly (after around 15 minutes!) but turning off the LCD display on the camera can apparently help increase overheating times quite substantially - again, watch this space!

Magic Lantern New Version - TODAY

Today sees the latest release of Magic Lantern become available, for all users, for free.

There appears to be some cracking new features available in this latest upgrade, including the abaility to shoot video at a frame rate as low as 0.2fps (equivalent to timelapse shooting of 1 frame every 5 seconds). This is a feature I will definitely be investigating.

Latest version can be downloaded here:

http://www.magiclantern.fm/releasenotes

Timelapse vs. Frame Rate Override

A couple of short timelapse demonstration sequences, one shot using MOVIE mode and the "frame rate override" function to reduce the frame rate to just 1fps. The other shot using a series of still images (lowest JPEG setting), taken every 1 second, strung together in Quicktime Player 7. Both of them were shot over a 15 minute period. (The problem when using such low frame rates is that the camera wants to overheat quite quickly!).

The latest version of Magic Lantern, which was only installed today, enables frame rates much slower than the previous version, which on the 550D, only allowed adjustment as low as 4fps.

The main issue when shooting at such a slow frame rate in MOVIE mode, is that the image can easily be overexposed. With not a great deal of light available, the aperture on the lens had to be closed down to its minimum setting (f/22) to prevent over exposure. Therefore, an ND4 filter was attached to the lens which enabled the aperture to be widened slightly to f/11.

For the timelapse shot with a series of still images, the ND filter was removed to allow the same aperture of f/11 with a shutter of 1/40s. The "LENS TWIST" method was also employed (see previous post), to ensure that the aperture blades were held in the same position for each shot.

On the plus side, using such a slow frame rate would allow fantastic low-light shooting, especially with a fast lens such as the Canon 50mm f/1.8II currently being used for these tests.

Results:

Frame rate override using ISO: 100, 1fps, f/11.


Timelapse using ISO:800, shutter frequency: 1s, f/11.

Higher quality version at Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/46747324

Aperture flicker and other artefacts

Found that when using the 24 to 105 f/4L IS lens, there seems to be quite a lot a movement between the stills in a timelapse sequence and also, there is quite a lot of "aperture" flicker between shots too. Aperture flicker occurs because the aperture blades of a lens return each time a shot is taken and apparently, the camera cannot precisely close the blades by exactly the same amount each time the shutter is released.

Firstly, another lens - the Tokina 11 to 16 f/2.8 was tried and this produced zero movement between shots (which is interesting in itself) and also, the "twist" method to keep the aperture blades on the camera constant was used on the 24 to 105 as well, which is a neat trick:

Aperture fix via "twist" method demonstrated here: https://vimeo.com/30974031

A couple of very shorts tests were carried out with the camera set to take a shot every 2 seconds over a period of approx. 1 minute. The clips below are therefore extremely short, however, they hopefully aid this discussion. 

1. Using the Canon 24 to 105 f/4L IS lens, the lens was stopped down to f/8 to close the blades down a little and using the trick mentioned in the video above, the blades were forced to stay in this position. Interestingly, flicker was noticeably reduced, however there was still some slight movement between some of the shots as this very short clip demonstrates.

It might not be noticeable in the video above, but there is some slight movement between some of the shots. There definitely therefore appears to be an issue with lens when used for timelapse sequences.

2. Using the Canon 50mm f/1.8II lens with its aperture blades forced down to f/8, the same short sequence was shot and again, the results were much better, with no noticeable movements between successive shots:

The power of Vimeo as an e-Learning tool

I've had my Vimeo pages and Vimeo channel for around 2 years now and in that time posted quite a few demonstration /instructional type videos covering AV and in that time received quite a few international comments. Only yesterday, after someone from Norway had viewed an instructional video I had made on "safety recording", did he get in touch requiring some help and guidance; something I was very happy to provide.


There are many user groups within Vimeo and when certain videos are added to these specialist groups, interest in what one is doing starts to increase; the videos on my pages received 50 plays yesterday alone for example.

Bulb ramping / Frame rate override

Just realised that after discussing Magic Lantern's Intervalometer, it has a built-in "bulb ramping" option whereby, after a period of calibration, the software can automatically adjust each shot to maintain the same exposure. This would be particularly useful in shooting a day to night sequence for example where the lighting is changing constantly, but one wants the exposure to remain constant to avoid "flickering" during the final output sequence.

Something else to try!

Another alternative method to taking a series of still images, is to make use of Magic Lantern's Frame Rate Override function and use video mode instead. Usually, the DSLR will only go down as far as 24fp, but with the override enabled, the frame rate can go as low as 4fps. I have just briefly investigated this and the results seem good although, if shooting in daylight with such a slow shutter (in this case 1/4s, 360 degree shutter), one has to close down the aperture of the lens a great deal to prevent over exposure.

More to try again!

DSLR Moire FCP Filter

One of the drawbacks of using DSLR cameras for video work is their inherent moire problems when shooting certain types of image.

I have just stumbled across this "moire" removal plugin for Final Cut Pro, and must give it a try at some point:

http://colorbyjorg.wordpress.com/plugins/

Magic Lantern

For anyone wishing to shoot video with their Canon DSLR, they should seriously think about installing Magic Lantern. I have had Magic Lantern running on my own 550D for about 18 months now and whilst it can be a little on the "flaky" side on occasion, it really does open up a raft of extra features including manual audio gain control (an absolute must!) and an excellent intervalometer for timelapse.

It also now seems that Magic Lantern has a new website and yet another new version out:

http://www.magiclantern.fm/

Sorry, just checked - the new version is only currently available (31st July 2012) for PayPal contributors. However, it will be free to all from Monday 13th August 2012.

Ultra HD Timelapse

Usually, the lowest JPEG setting on a DSLR is more than adequate to turn the series of images into a full HD timelapse sequence. The lowest quality JPEG setting on the Canon 550 happens to be 2592 x 1728 pixels, which is obviously more than enough for 1920 x 1080 video. However, I plan to take this much further and string together a timelapse sequence made from the highest setting of 5184 x 3456 pixels, which will then be cropped down to a 4k image, which Final Cut Pro will support. The Canon 550D also as a "Normal" and "Fine" mode for its image quality settings, so to help keep the filesize down a little, the plan will be to probably just opt for the "Normal" setting!

Not only does using 18M pixel images enable the creation of ultra-HD sequences, but one can effectively pan and zoom within the large image and still create a full 1080p sequence too, without any loss in quality.

Results of both of these experiments will be posted shortly.....

Ice melting timelapse

Still playing with timelapse techniques for next year. Using the Magic Lantern software "hack", the in-built intervalometer was set to take a shot every 2 seconds. Mode on camera: AV, manual focus. Canon 550D with Canon 24 to 105 f/4L IS lens.

Update: 2500 still images (approx), taken into Quicktimer Player 7 and exported to Pro Res 422 LT, preserving a 1920 x 1080 aspect ratio using a crop.

Video available at: https://vimeo.com/46635877

Next year

Currently reflecting on last year's academic year in terms of how things went assessment wise, and whilst the students on AV Production really enjoyed the module on the whole, I want to try and better use lab time to support the coursework requirements for 2012/13. Therefore, I have decided to have one major piece of coursework (plus a Blackboard based phase test), which is split into three "milestones", with supporting labs occurring around each of these milestones. Last year, I ran various exercises within the lab times covering topics such as dubbing, video capture and editing using footage supplied by me. However, to encourage better engagement during these lab times, the plan is to get students to provide their own footage to work on such that they can use the introductory exercises to help them work on the coursework requirements. For example, if there is a lab exercise covering editing using Apple's Final Cut Pro, students will be asked to have footage shot and ready to work on in the lab, which not only will cover the requirements of the lab, but also the students can use the work produced towards their "milestone", rather than it simply being a "lab exercise".

Last year's Blackboard phase tests for both of my Final Year Modules went down extremely well with students too in that not only do they effectively take away the "human" side of things during the assessment period, but it also provides the students with instant feedback; something which is vital. I especially like the fact that one can keep adding to the "pool" of questions each year and then the test can be set up to say, randomly choose any 25 questions. The multiple choice answers can also be randomised too. These tests will be used again for next year's teaching, with more questions being added to the pool and perhaps, the amount of time allowed being reduced.

Good tilt shift example

I have just written a new tutorial sheet on creating timelapse, tilt-shift sequences for my AV Production module, which I want to introduce my students to during the next academic year. This kind if photography seems to be getting more and more popular at the moment, as the opening titles for BBC's Sherlock demonstrate:


BBC's Sherlock Opening Credits

Canon 24 to 105 f/4 L IS lens

Recently I purchased the excellent Canon 24 to 105 f/4 L IS lens which not only is part of Canon's "LUXURY" line of lenses (that's what the "L" stands for apparently!), but it also has optical image stabilisation built in too. Whilst this can effectively provide up to 3 or 4 stops, (i.e. one should be able to use shutter speeds 3 or 4 times slower and still achieve sharp images) for still shooting, it also enables much better hand held video shooting too.

The video below is s short demonstration showing IS being turned OFF and ON for a focal length of 105mm. The results are very impressive. The only downside is if you are using a microphone at close proximity to the camera, in that the IS motor can be heard; much better therefore to use a separate mic on a pole for example.

A higher quality version can be found on my Vimeo pages - www.vimeo.com/digitalvideoslr.

More tilt shift timelapse

Shot this out of the office window today using Canon 550D and Canon 24 to 105 f/4L lens. Using the Magic Lantern "hack", the in-built intervalometer was set to take a shot every 2 seconds, making sure that the lens was set to MANUAL focus and that the camera was in AV (aperture priority) mode to ensure that the exposure was maintained through a change in shutter speed. Using AV ensures that the aperture remains constant, and thus, the depth of field remains constant too.

The 500 or so images were then taken into Quicktime Player 7 before exporting the sequence using Apple ProRes 422 (LT) with a 1920 x 1080 crop (as the original JPEG images have a 3:2 aspect ratio) before using the Variable Blur filter in Apple's MOTION.

The final sequence was graded using Magic Bullet Quick Looks and exported to MPEG4.

Safety Recording

I always try to drum into my students the importance of making the best use of two channel recording, whether it be directly on a camera, or via something like the Zoom H4N. If a single MONO source is being used (which it often is in location recording), why not make the best use of both recording channels? Why send an EXACT duplicate to both channels of the recorder when a better strategy would be to send a lower level backup to channel 2 which can be "got at" in post, if needed? Some cameras and recorders enable the user to direct the INPUT 1 to both channel 1 and channel 2 but sometimes it is still not possible to change the gain settings independently and instead, equal gain is applied to both recording channels. Therefore, a cheap and effective way of achieving this is to make use of a microphone splitter cable (female XLR to TWO male XLR). A video demonstrating this is available via my Vimeo Channel - www.vimeo.com/digitalvideoslr or directly via an RSS feed here.

There are some devices available which will enable the gain settings for both channels to be independently changed, even for a single mono input, however if the device doesn't allow this (as in the case of the Zoom H4N for example), this option is most effective....

In post, rather than having an exact duplicate of the recording obtained across both channels, one will have a backup copy, say 10dB lower in level, on channel 2, which can be used if there is any sudden overload on channel 1. It might not be needed, but at least there is a backup just in case!

Tilt Shift Timelapse

I have decided to explore the world of Time-Lapse Tilt-Shift creation this summer when I embark on a short cruise (courtesy of the Queen Victoria / Cunard). Providing one can position the camera high enough above the subject, it is possible to create some very convincing tilt-shift effects by simply using some kind of mask to alter the focus of some parts of the image (i.e. to create a short DoF). Therefore, the plan is to try and position the camera high enough on the ship to hopefully capture a series of still images which can later be processed to give the tilt-shift effect. I have already made a prototype sequence, shot from my office window and the result was most pleasing.... As can be seen, simply narrowing the DoF in the image (by de-focusing part of the image via a mask), turns the sequence into a "minature". As mentioned, this only works if one can position the camera way above the subject to give the impression of a "giant" peering down over it :)

Downstairs Shower Room refurb in 5 days....

Refitted the downstairs Shower Room this week in approx. 5 days from start to finish. Jobs included ripping out the old toilet, basin and shower, removing old tiles, re-tiling, grouting and sealing, before installing new shower door, shower, basin / vanity unit and toilet. New pipework and fittings were installed along with new downlighters too. Existing radiator was also replaced with a new chrome tile radiator as well.

Very pleased.....

Decking in just one day

Very pleased - managed to build a 4.8m x 4m garden deck complete with 18 LED lights in just one day from scratch. I sourced some plastic adjustable feet from eBay which negated the need to construct the deck from the usual wooden posts, concreted into the ground. This new way allowed us to build the outer frame first, level it off using the adjustable feet (sat on concrete pad stones where necessary), before in-filling with joists. The feet are required every 1m or so, which also enabled the deck frame to be constructed from 3"x2" timber rather than the usual 6"x2", as it was so well supported. The whole frame is also fixed to the house wall using joist hangers too.

Shed alterations

Forgot to post this at the time, so thought I'd add it now (better late than never!).

I was never happy with the fact that I didn't install any windows in my garden lodge, so last summer I fitted two windows to the side elevation along with some new worktop :)

I also treated the outside to a sand and an oil, which really brings out the cedar....

Pluraleyes with multiple cameras and separate sound

Recently I have been playing around with using Pluraleyes to synchronise multiple cameras, all containing "scratch" audio, together with sound recorded on a separate solid state audio device. Once again, Pluraleyes worked flawlessly (once I developed a additional stage first) and the fact that it also automatically makes a multi-clip for Final Cut, makes it even better. I will shortly be testing out the new multi-cam and synchronise feature in Final Cut X which might make this method redundant, but here is my workflow for synchronising multiple cameras and separate sound for multiclip editing:

Firstly, transcode footage to both ProRes and ProRes PROXY (this is done as sometimes, depending upon the number of clips, and the power of your machine, Final Cut will struggle with the playback).

Secondly, use Pluraleyes to sync the separate sound to one of the camera angles.

Thirdly, export this as a new Quicktime file (you can use the reference movie option to save disc space).

Now, reimport this file back into Final Cut and use Pluraleyes to sync this file to the remaining camera angles.

Pluraleyes will make a multiclip with all cameras now synchronised.

Once edited, one can use the RECONNECT MEDIA option to relink the edit back to the original ProRes files.

Update

It's been a while since my last post, but just wanted to add a quick update to the Blog. Firstly, I have recently purchased a DSLR base plate with standard rods from a supplier in Hong Kong via eBay. Usually these things retail for around £150 minimum, but I paid about £58 so very pleased about that. The beauty of these things is that they allow for better positioning of my DFocus follow focus and also, at a later date, it is easy to adapt it into a full shoulder rig too.

Here is a quick picture of it:


As can be seen from the picture, as I have a battery grip on the 550D, the rods become too low to allow the gears on the FF to match up with the lens gear. Therefore, I sourced an additional pair of 6" rods and a riser from eBay to effectively "lift" the FF up closer to the lens. One can obtain something called the "DRISER" from Jag35.com to do the same thing, but this actually works out more expensive than buying two rods and an adaptor!

I also fitted the DSLR base plate with a Manfrotto quick release plate so that it can be quickly detached from the tripod.

Also looking at purchasing either a Canon 28mm f1.8 USM lens or Sigma 30mm f1.4 lens but can't decide which one. The Canon is probably slightly better than the Sigma, but the Sigma is a little bit "faster" with its 1.4 aperture.

Very recently also bought a new microphone too. I didn't want a shotgun as I can borrow these quite easily, but did want a cheap hypercardioid mic for indoor work. The choices are either the AKG CK93 capsule on the SE300 body (about £300), or the AT 4053b (about £450 ish), the Oktava MK-012 or going much more expensive, something from Schoeps. I didn't want to spend a great deal, and was lucky enough to find some end of the line Studio Electronics SE2A true condenser mics with three capsules (OMNI, CARDIOID and HYPER-CARDIOID) for only £75. The mic is lightweight and seems to perform well.