Red Sea Monkeys

16th May, 2011: Misia + wind + toys = Kitesurf vid ...

The last time I caught up with Misia, June 2010, I was still using my faithful old Sony PD150, great broadcast quality but not HD. I did have the Canon 5D MkII and 7D but they have certain limitations when it comes to water based sports action. An upgrade was in order and this took the form of a Canon XF300. Now the only thing needed was a waterproof housing and for that the guys at Ewa Marine came up with the goods.

The two DSLR's are great for land based video and although I have Ewa Marine housings to use them as stills cameras on the water they become really awkward to use for video especially for manual focusing and using the lcd screen in really bright conditions.

In addition to the XF300 and DSLR's I picked up a GoPro HD and added the optional lcd screen which is, in my opinion, an essential little add on. It allows you to easily frame your shot and review clips even while the unit is in the waterproof housing. You can turn the screen off, or set it to auto-power off after 60 seconds, to save battery power. Click the thumbs.

The last photo in the above sequence shows the XF300 dressed for the seaside. Elegant ... some might say not - Safe from water ... very. I like the Ewa Marine housings, I must do, I have a few of them now for DSLR's and camcorders. They are cost effective and do the job well and you don't necessarily have to buy a new housing when you change cameras. Enough said.

So I had all the toys out, Misia was in town and it was windy ... perfect! I used the DSLR's for most of the land based shots using the EF 85mm f/1.2 on the 5D and an EF 50mm f/1.2 on the 7D. The GoPro was used for the PoV stuff, Tok Tok and skateboard mounted shots. On the water the housed XF300 allowed me to get in close and personal!

The editing was done in Final Cut and Motion. All clips were converted to Apple ProRes 422 either via the Final Cut 'Log and Transfer' option or using MPEG Streamclip.

El Gouna Kitelife Part 1 - Misia from redseamonkeys.tv.

Music: 'Time to run' by The Singletons

A big thanks to:

3rd March, 2011: Skate away ...

If, like me, you're a monster fan of the Canon EOS 5D MkII, especially for HD video, then check this out. The guy taking the video is Vinny Minton and he's skating whilst shooting the vid using a 5D on a Glidecam 2000HD ... Check it out, it's SICK!!

Pre-Bitter Cold 2010 from Imperial Productions on Vimeo.

15th February, 2011: Round and round ...

Have you ever wanted to make one of those 360° images? You know, the ones where you can spin the image round and round and up and down using the mouse, there's loads on Google Earth. Well, it's really not that difficult.

I started by surfing the net for information and ended up at Panomonkey. This site has a huge amount of information on how to shoot panoramic photos (ie the source images) and even offer an online facility to upload your photos and they do the processing for you.

I read the text and watched the videos. I didn't really go for the hand held 'string & key' method of positioning the camera neither did I want to shell out for a panoramic head such as the Nodal Ninja. So I set about making a head which would do the trick. I already had a Manfrotto 410 geared head which is compact and offers precise gear movement in three directions. To this I fitted a right angled piece of aluminium and attached a Manfrotto 143BKT camera bracket normally used on a magic arm.

May not be as 'pro' looking as the Nodal Ninja but it was going to allow lots of adjustments in different planes.

I usually use a Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 fisheye on a Canon EOS 5D. With this setup I need to shoot six images 60° apart and then one image straight up.

Once the camera is setup it is important to set both the focus and exposure manually. In the example below there was really bright light outside 'blowing out' any detail which could be seen through the windows. I set the exposure so that some detail could be seen through the windows and then used a couple of Canon 580EX II strobes to light the inside.

Here are the seven images ready to be 'stitched' together:

Now it is possible to do this manually in Photoshop but I would recommend using commercially available software to take care of the 'stitching'. You should end up with something like this:

The black area at the bottom is the inevitable view of where the camera cannot 'see' ie: underneath the camera. The tripod legs can also encroach on the photos as can be seen in the source images. This can be limited to some degree by carefully moving the tripod legs in but be careful not to create an unstable platform. This black area is not a problem as you'll see in the next stage this whole area can be edited and replaced by a mirror ball or company logo or even cloned from the surrounding area.

It is the above image which is used to create the final interactive 360°. Click on the mirror ball, opposite, to view it. (This opens a new window and you will need Flash Player to view it).

Again, there are several commercially available software packages which can be used to create the finished article.

Another site with loads of useful information is Garden Gnome Software.

If you're into this kind of stuff and you've got a fast link check out the guys at Yellowbird.

Don't get dizzy :o)

16th January, 2011: The BLOG starts ... Follow that ...

OK, Hi ... I'm going to kick off this blog with a short piece on the follow focus unit from Shoot35. I really like this follow focus for two main reasons, price and build quality, both are very good!

Shown in the photo below is the unit mounted to my EOS 5D MkII complete with the Zacuto Z-Finder Pro. I bought the standard DSLRmount & CINEfocus r2 Package which comes with everything you need: Follow focus with marking disc, rod support system, crank handle and 'FLEXIgear' lens gear. You also get a bag of various length bolts, different thickness shims and an allen key. The whole package comes in a neat flight case with pick 'n' pluck foam insert. Cool!

The rod support system is perfectly adequate and I could even mount the Zacuto Gorilla plate, which is about 1cm thick, by changing the shims on the Shoot35 camera mount. The follow focus action is smooth and with the supplied crank handle is easy to operate. The marker ring works well with standard dry white board markers although a couple of times I've had to use alcohol to clean off the mark when I've left it for several hours.

The one aspect of this system that I don't really like is the supplied 'FLEXIgear' lens gear. I found it fiddly to fit and remove but I'm guessing the idea is to fit it and leave it in place. I've got two other types of lens gear. There's the Red Rock Micro type seen in the photo and the Genus lens gear which has a worm drive and works like a plactic jubilee clip. Both of these two are easier to fit and remove.

As I mentioned above the build quality of all the components is very high. I was also impressed with the after sales service. I had purchased another rod support system, for my Canon XF300, at the same time I bought the DSLR package. The XF300 has a moulded lens gear built in to the focus ring and when I tried to fit the follow focus I discovered the pitch on the Canon was .5 as opposed to the .8 pitch on the small drive gear supplied with the follow focus. I talked to Wayne at Shoot35 and two days later a .5 pitch gear arrived free of charge. I simply removed the .8 pitch gear from the follow focus unit, by unscrewing a small grub screw, and installed the new .5 pitch. Bingo, XF300 follow focus ... NEAT!

Does it all work? The answer is yes, and very well. I found the whole setup to be easy to assemble, adjust and use.

I can quickly swap the follow focus unit from my DSLR rig to my XF300 rig even though I need to change the small drive gear. The short clip, above, was shot with an EOS 5D MkII and an EF 85mm f/1.2 with a Lee 'Big Stopper' neutral density filter.

I hope to blog some more about the CINEfocus as I use it more and try it on different lenses. On the 5D MkII I've tried the EF 50mm f/1.2 and its big brother the EF 85mm f/1.2 with great results. I've yet to try it on the EF 300mm f/2.8 or some of the zoom lenses I've got.

If you are looking for other reviews about Shoot35 products try:

Here endeth the Blog - Thank you.