Archive for April, 2010

Another DSLR interview shoot

I’ve been having a very busy yet interesting and fun week shooting interviews at the University of East Anglia in Norwich. Over the past 2 weeks I’ve shot around twenty interviews as well as a lot of cut-away material which will be used at the editing stage.

The shoots have all been done as per my DSLR Interview workflow post, the only thing I’ve changed over the last couple of days is that I’ve been using both cameras without rails, matte-boxes and follow focus. Because I’m having to move around a lot I’ve been trying to keep my cases as light as possible so anything not essential had to go.

Here’s a quick snap I took on the iPhone today and a screen grab from each camera. The Camera on the left is a Glidetrack mounted Canon 7D fitted with a 35mm 1.4 lens & Rode videomic. The Canon 5D mark II is on the right mounted on my Miller DS20 tripod and fitted with a Canon 70-200 2.8, Rode videomic and LCDVF.

I recorded audio using a Sony ECM-77 lav mic running into a UWP-V1 wireless kit and recorded on my Zoom H4n.

The Beamer has landed!

The Harley-Davidson documentary that I’ve been planning for the last few months is now suddenly a reality and my ride for the trip which starts on Saturday has just been delivered by the hire company.

So here it is in all it’s splendour, a brand spanking new BMW R1200 GS Adventure fully kitted out with luggage, tank bag (not in the pics) and a full Satnav system.

Excuse the rubbish quality iPhone pics, too excited to go get the 5D!

Delkin dual universal battery charger review

I’ve been using a pair of Delkin dual universal battery chargers to charge my Canon LP-E6 DSLR batteries for a while now and they are so useful I thought it was about time I shared my thoughts…

Click here to read the review and comment.

Hoya Lens Hood with Fader ND filters

I’ve been using a couple of Fader ND filters with my prime lenses for a while now, the Fader ND’s are useful because they allow you to adjust for bigger lens apertures in daylight conditions without the need to keep swapping filters.

One thing that is a bit annoying when using Fader ND’s though is that it’s no longer possible to attach the Canon sun hoods that are supplied with the lenses.

While I was out shooting some external pickup shots yesterday I experimented with using a Hoya Screw in Rubber lens Hood on my 50mm 1.2 and 35mm 1.4 lenses. It’s quite strange using these on the fader ND because to adjust the level of ND you end up rotating the entire lens hood, it works well though!

Hoya hood on 35mm (Canon 5D mk2)

The Hoya hoods are able to be set in two positions allowing you to use them with a range of lenses from medium wides out to zooms.

Unfortunately the Hoya hoods only go up to 77mm which means they can only be used on lenses up to 72mm in diameter because the Fader ND’s step up a size. Both my 35mm 1.4 and 50mm 1.2 have a 72mm thread so the 77mm Hoya Hood work well on those. On the 35mm the hood needed to be in it’s closed down setting so that it didn’t appear in the shot on my 5D mark2.

Hoya hood on 35mm (Canon 5D mk2)

My 24mm 1.4 and 70 – 200 2.8 are 77mm so with a 77mm fader ND fitted the hoods won’t work on those as the required diameter is then 82mm. The 24mm would likely be too wide for the sun hood anyway, plus the Fader ND’s are not recommended on long zooms so you probably wouldn’t want to use the hoods on either of those lenses anyway.

By far the best feature of the Hoya hoods has to be the red line on the end – full on L series looks for just a few $! ;)

Buying in the US: B&H sell the Hoya hoods for around $25.

Buying in the UK: Warehouse express sell the Hoya hoods priced from £12 – £40 depending on size.

If you’re looking for Fader ND filters they can be purchased from B&H for $62 – £139 depending on the lens diameter you need.

Behind The Scenes – DSLR Interview

I’ve been asked a few times recently to post more BTS (Behind The Scenes) images from my shoots so here’s a few from today. This was the latest in a series of interviews I’m doing for one of my clients. Interviews is one area where these cameras shine, so much so that three of the four people I shot today remarked about the amazing look of the shots.

My kit and workflow was exactly as described previously in my DSLR Workflow post. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to post a comment and ask.