GROUP TEST: SHOTGUN MICS
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THE NEW STANDARD
WIN A SENNHEISER ACTION MIC WORTH £180/$199
URSA Mini Pro raises do-it-all cameras to the next level
HOT KIT!
New gear direct from Las Vegas
SMALL WONDER
Panasonic’s GH5 packs a huge punch as a filmmaking camera
RAW REVOLUTION
Canon’s stunning C200 brings Raw recording to the masses
CINE LENSES MEGA TEST! 10-PAGE SPECIAL: The new breed of affordable zooms and primes rated PMM-SPRING17-001 COVER subbedAD.indd 1
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SUMMER 2017
OPINION by Adam Duckworth
FROM THE EDITOR
Filmmaking is all about a meeting of creativity and technology, and although the former is the most important by far, sometimes the latter has a crucial role to play. This was very much the case with Mark Payne-Gill, a wildlife filmmaker who has worked on a host of celebrated productions. In Mark’s case it was the chance to work with Canon’s extraordinary ME20F-SH camera, which offers ISO speeds up to 4,000,000. Mark still needed every ounce of his filmmaking skills to get the footage of the nocturnal tarsier monkeys he was after, but now he was able to shoot without the huge lights that would have scared the animals away. There are plenty of other cases of kit being used to boost filmmaking capabilities in this issue. For example, we’re looking at the best ways steady footage can be achieved using a DJI Osmo and larger motorised gimbals, while we’re also indulging in a little gear spotting to discover how an assortment of filmmakers tackled a motorcycle supercross race. Cinema lenses have exploded on to the scene in a big way recently, with an unprecedented number of launches from the likes of Sigma, Fujifilm, Schneider and Canon shaking up the market. Don’t miss our lens special section for a full low-down. Exciting times indeed, and you’ll read all about it in the pages of Pro Moviemaker!
TERRY HOPE, EDITOR
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The ultimate magazine for next generation filmmakers EDITORIAL
Editor Terry Hope Managing editor Adam Duckworth Senior sub editor Lisa Clatworthy Sub editor Siobhan Godwood
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Bright Publishing Ltd, Bright House, 82 High Street, Sawston, Cambridgeshire CB22 3HJ Pro Moviemaker is published quarterly by Bright Publishing Ltd, Bright House, 82 High Street, Sawston, Cambridge CB22 3HJ. No part of this magazine can be used without prior written permission of Bright Publishing Ltd. ISSN number: 2045-3892. Pro Moviemaker is a registered trademark of Bright Publishing Ltd. The advertisements published in Pro Moviemaker that have been written, designed or produced by employees of Bright Publishing Ltd remain the copyright of Bright Publishing Ltd and may not be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. Prices quoted are street prices. In sterling they include VAT but US dollar prices are without local sales taxes. Prices are where available or converted using the exchange rate on the day the magazine went to press.
A NEW MILESTONE The recent furore around the launch of the top-ofthe-range Sony A9 mirrorless camera may have escaped your attention. It’s not video-focused and lacks some features like log gamma and there’s certainly no 10-bit recording like on the Panasonic GH5. If Sony’s recent history is anything to go by, we’ll soon have an A9S for filmmaking. The £4500 A9 video spec is good, with 120fps in HD as well as full 4K recording. Just not earthshattering spec, at least on paper. It’s the first mirrorless camera aimed at stills action shooters with a silent electronic shutter that shoots stills at 20fps – faster than any DSLR. It captures 241 Raw files before the buffer fills and the viewfinder does not black out at all during shooting. The autofocus system has 693 on-sensor phase-detection points, covering 93% of the frame, as well as 25 contrast-detection points. Early tests show amazing tracking capabilities, all at 20fps. That takes a lot of processing power, and this is where the Sony is relevant to filmmakers. It’s all made possible by the camera’s new 24-megapixel stacked full-frame CMOS sensor. This uses an additional processor between the image sensor and buffer that processes data 20 times faster than a non-stacked sensor. This super-fast data transfer means rolling shutter is virtually eliminated. It’s been the bane of all digital cameras without a global shutter, which is virtually all of them. Canon is also said to be working on a global shutter, but that could be a long way off. Fast processing allows speedier autofocus, and the Sony has a system that can track moving subjects well. While old-school filmmakers agree AF does not work for filming at all, I’m not so sure. Anyone who has used clever AF in stills cameras could soon trust clever AF in next-generation mirrorless cameras. Automatic tracking of moving subjects with a wide aperture is coming. In fact, it might just be here with the latest Sony. Put this in a video-spec camera and it’ll be a real winner.
ADAM DUCKWORTH, MANAGING EDITOR
SUMMER 2017 PRO MOVIEMAKER
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The ultimate magazine for next generation filmmakers
SUMMER 2017
AGENDA
18
6 NEWS AND VIEWS!
Behind the scenes from the huge NAB show in Las Vegas, hot new kit revealed, expensive gizmos to tempt you and Adrian Weinbrecht talks about his amazing rise from ace photographer to top commercial filmmaker. FEATURES
18 CASE STUDY: FJORD FOCUS
A time-lapse specialist turns his skills onto his homeland of Norway to produce some of the most amazing sequences of stunning landscapes you’ll ever see.
24 CASE STUDY: WILDLIFE AFTER DARK
Always using the latest in technology has helped one nature-loving filmmaker shoot incredible night-time films of wild animals previously thought impossible.
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ACADEMY
32 THE HDR REVOLUTION!
The latest big thing to hit moviemaking is HDR so our expert, Larry Jordan explains how it will affect you.
34 WIN! A SENNHEISER GO-PRO MIC
Enter our contest and you could be the owner of the latest Sennheiser MKE 2 mic to fit Go-Pro Hero 4 cameras.
38 GEARSPOTTING!
We take a long look inside the gear bags of some pro filmmakers to see what they use and why.
46 KEEPING IT STEADY
What the owner’s manuals don’t tell you about using motorised three-axis gimbals like the DJI Osmo.
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MOVIE MATTERS
53 ASK THE EXPERTS
What gear to buy to film weddings and the differences between budget and pricier LED light panels probed.
58 IS FILM SCHOOL REALLY WORTH IT?
We quiz lots of recent graduates on their experiences before and after graduating to see if education is the key to success in the world of commercial filmmaking.
64 FROM DSLR TO DOP!
Jim Marks has gone from a photographer experimenting with shooting video on his DSLR to being the Director of Photography on a full-length feature film!
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CASE STUDY THE TIME-LAPSE MASTER
CASE STUDY: THE TIME-LAPSE MASTER
Morten Rustad specialises in dramatic time-lapse productions focusing on the beauty of his native Norway WORDS TERRY HOPE
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THE TIME-LAPSE MASTER CASE STUDY
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ime-lapse is one of those techniques that is extraordinary to watch, speeding up the action and bringing even an apparently static scene vividly to life. The whole vista becomes a sea of movement, from frantically waving grass through to clouds scudding across the sky. It all looks so simple, to the point where the effect is at risk of becoming something of a cliché, but the art lies in anticipating what will unfold in front of the camera, and in introducing further carefully considered movements that are designed to add to the drama. One of those who has most definitely mastered the effect is Morten Rustad, who is the creative force behind a series of staggeringly powerful films that utilise the virtues of time-lapse to the full. The apparent quandary arises from the fact
that these productions are created from a vast collection of still photographs, but all of the skills that Morten is utilising are still very much those of a filmmaker, planning sequences in the same way that anyone shooting a conventional movie might do. “A photographer is a photographer no matter whether they shoot stills or videos,” Morten says. “Time-lapse is a fusion between still photography and video, so I choose not to define myself as either. I came into the medium after becoming fascinated by the fact that it was possible to create super high quality video using a relatively cheap still camera. I am 100% self-taught and have gained my knowledge through thousands of hours of trying and failing. Mostly failing.” Time-lapse first became a passion for Morten while he was still studying at
university, and it was locations around his native Norway that initially inspired him and continue to drive his creativity to this day. After cutting his teeth on projects around his campus, working with a Canon EOS 450D and a GoPro, he moved on to his first big production, Norway: A TimeLapse Adventure, which really signalled his entry into serious filmmaking. It created a lot of interest and ultimately led to a job in the film industry. Subsequently, he’s been influenced by the numerous directors and cinematographers that he’s worked alongside, with the result that his latest project, Seasons of Norway, has an even more cinematic feel, with time-lapse being used as a dynamic tool for storytelling in its own right, rather than simply as a means of showing off a selection of stunning landscapes. SUMMER 2017 PRO MOVIEMAKER
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ACADEMY GEARSPOTTING
CLEMENTS
TOOFAST MAX
THE ITALIAN A feature by Adam Duckworth
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GEARSPOTTING
CHAMBO
THE HIPSTER
Choose life. Choose a big camera. Choose lenses, Compact Flash, microphones and tripods. We asked five filmmakers what gear they chose – and why!
Gearspotting. We’re all guilty of it. Spot another moviemaker and there isn’t a gear head on this planet who can’t help but have a quick look at what kit is being used. The choice of cameras, lenses and accessories gives a real insight into the authentic world of commercial filmmaking. To get a first-hand look into what’s inside the gear bags of some pros, we went to a motorcycle supercross race at Wembley Arena where we caught up with some of the film crews to see what they were doing, what they were using, and to ask why they chose it.
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GEAR PANASONIC GH5
CINEMA CAMERA IN DISGUISE!
It may look like a stills camera but the new Panasonic GH5 has all the spec filmmakers need WORDS ADAM DUCKWORTH
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ake a look at the video specifications of the new Panasonic GH5, and chances are you’d think you were reading all about a dedicated, highend cinema camera. Specs like 4K at 60p with 10-bit 4:2:2 output, 180fps super slow motion in HD, waveform and vectorscope monitoring and a variety of log gamma choices with LUTbased preview display are all the usual domain of pricey cinema cameras rather than a mirrorless stills camera. But the GH5 is not just a stills machine with added video capability, as many of the Micro Four Thirds cameras so blatantly are. Panasonic has always put a serious amount of video-spec into its GH models, but now they have pushed it one step further with the GH5. It feels and operates like a camera designed for and by filmmakers, with the added bonus of good-quality stills. Everything from the design of the body – which is large for a Micro Four Thirds model compared with the tiny cameras from Olympus – to the menus and even accessories have been conceived for professional video use. It even manages to out-spec cameras like the Sony A7S Mark II – another camera targeted at filmmakers. The mics have been moved and are useful for scratch audio. There’s a second mic to record noise from when the camera is touched, focus set or buttons pressed. This signal is then compared to the main audio and software cleans up the main audio feed.
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NEW BODY IS VIDEO-READY The GH5 body may not look like a huge change from the old GH4 but has been significantly tweaked to make it a more video-friendly machine. The dedicated Rec start-stop button on the top-plate is a useful addition, as is a full-size HDMI port. The internal microphones have been moved to capture scratch audio better and the built-in flash has been removed. The GH5 body feels like a solid piece of pro kit and is well sealed against the elements.
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PANASONIC GH5
MENUS FOR REAL FILMMAKERS
SPECIFICATIONS SPECIFICATIONS Price: £1699/$1997 body only
Yes, that really does offer options for anamorphic shooting – something that is not what you’d normally expect to see on a consumer mirrorless stills camera. There are lots of pukka cinema features the GH5 has that will make it a firm favourite with cinematographers.
Sensor: 20.3-megapixel Micro Four Thirds CMOS sensor Recording format: MOV: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC (Audio format: LPCM (2ch 48kHz/16bit, 48kHz/24-bit, 96kHz/24bit. MP4: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC/AVCHD Progressive, AVCHD (Audio format: Dolby Audio 2ch) File sizes: 4096x2160, 24p @400Mbps in 4:2:2 10-bit. 24p and 48p @150Mbps 4:2:0 8-bit and 4:2:2 10-bit, 24p @100Mpbs 4:2:0 8-bit. 3840x2160, 29.97/25/24 @400Mbps 4:2:2 10-bit. 59.94/50/48 @150Mpbs 4:2:0 8-bit, 29.97/ 25/24 @150Mbps 4:2:2 10-bit, 29.97/25/24 @100Mbps 4:2:0 8-bit. HD: 59.94/29.97/50/25/24 @200/100Mbps 4:2:2 10bit, 59.94/29.97/50/25/24 @100Mbps 4:2:0 8-bit.
VECTORSCOPE VIEWING
Fast and slow frame rates: UHD 4K @60fps, 1080p @180fps-2fps
Waveforms like vectorscopes are really useful for experienced professional filmmakers to gauge their footage and have been absent on mirrorless cameras until now. The GH5 is the first to offer vectorscopes although they are a little small. An external monitor makes them more useful, but many monitors offer their own waveforms anyway.
The screen folds out and articulates and is also a touchscreen
Recording media: Dual SDHC/SDXC slots Audio input: Mic input jack, built-in mic ISO: Auto, 100-25,600 Image stabilisation: 5-axis hybrid image stabiliser Screen: 3.2in LCD articulating touchscreen, 1,620k dots
V-LOG AND MORE!
Shutter speed: 60 secs1/16,000sec
Paying the bit extra for the enhanced dynamic range of V-log is a worthwhile upgrade for most advanced users. The high bit rates and detailed recording and output options are leagues above what many rival cameras offer. The GH5 is packed with spec for filmmakers at all levels – from frame rates to codec options and more.
Autofocus: Contrast AF Video modes: Manual, program AE, aperturepriority, shutter-priority Picture style: Cinelike D, Cinelike V, Like709. V-logL and LUT picture display with paid software upgrade Dimensions (WxHxD): 138.5x98.1x87.4mm/ 5.45x3.86x3.44in Weight: 750g/1.6lb
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GEAR BLACKMAGIC URSA MINI PRO 4.6K
URSA’S
SPECIFICATIONS
MAJOR REVAMP A huge redesign of Blackmagic’s URSA Mini has given a Pro transformation to the 4.6K do‑it-all cinema camera WORDS ADAM DUCKWORTH
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here is a lot to love about Blackmagic Design’s radical URSA Mini. It’s the company’s first (what you might call) conventional cinema camera, with the ergonomics of a camcorder – a flip-out screen on the left and rotating grip on the right – and a competitive price with fantastic image quality. However, there was a lot not to love about it at launch and it’s fair to say the first iteration of the camera didn’t garner a lot of support from early adopters. That was down to the operating system software that was unusual and left buyers feeling like they were beta testers of unproven software. Blackmagic responded with a firmware update of a brandnew operating system, including all-new menus and some in-camera processing for ENG users rather than having to put all footage through DaVinci Resolve. Plus improvements to auto exposure too.
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Other quirks largely revolved around the design of the camera, with its minimalist left side with just a few buttons. Blackmagic prides itself on its unusually-designed and sleek cameras and, despite being largely conventional, the URSA Mini followed along with this ethos, and it suffered for it. You had to take the camera off the shoulder and open the five-inch LCD screen to change lots of settings, with lots of buttonpushing and menu-digging. Plus the camera didn’t have built-in ND filters, which made it a total no-go for some customers, and of course, there was a limited ISO range. Customers moaned that usability ruined the experience of shooting with a camera that offered stunning performance, and Blackmagic listened. So hot on the heels comes the totally revamped URSA Mini Pro which is a significant upgrade from the current URSA Mini 4.6K, but it still uses the same Super 35 sensor. The Pro model has lots of new features like built-in ND filters and a new control layout, especially on the left side, to make it much faster and intuitive to use – ideal for run-and-gun work. And as a bonus, the lens mount is userinterchangeable so you can switch it if you swap systems, or to take other lenses. Standard is a Canon EF mount, but you can buy Nikon, PL and B4 mounts which just bolt on. The camera also has four card slots,
Price: £5902/ $5995 body only. Shoulder mount kit: £350/$395. Viewfinder: £1434/$1495. V-lock battery plate: £91/$105 Sensor size: 25.34x14.25mm (Super 35) Formats: 4608x2592, 4608x1920 (4.6K 2.40:1), 4096x2304 (4K 16:9), 4096x2160 (4K DCI), 3840x2160 (Ultra HD), 3072x2560 (3K Anamorphic), 2048x1152 (2K 16:9), 2048x1080 (2K DCI), and 1920x1080 Codecs: CinemaDNG Raw, CinemaDNG Raw 3:1, CinemaDNG Raw 4:1, Apple ProRes 4444 XQ QuickTime, ProRes 4444 QuickTime, ProRes 422 HQ QuickTime, ProRes 422 QuickTime, ProRes 422 LT QuickTime and ProRes 422 Proxy QuickTime Frame rates: Max frame rate dependent on resolution and codec. 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, 59.94 and 60fps, 120fps in cropped 2K size ISO: 200-1600 Dynamic range: 15 stops
LEFT Flip open the four-inch screen and you have more control buttons.
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BLACKMAGIC URSA MINI PRO 4.6K Focus: Focus button turns on peaking, autofocus available using compatible lenses Iris control: Iris button automatically adjusts the lens iris settings on compatible lenses Lens mount: EF Screen: 4in LCD capacitive touchscreen Controls: On-screen menus, push buttons, two assignable shortcut keys Audio: Integrated stereo microphones, 2x XLR inputs with phantom power support Storage: 2x CFast 2.0 slots, 2 x SD slots Dimensions (WxHxD): 20.1x20.9x14.6cm/7.95x8.23 x5.78in Weight: 2.3kg/5.1lb
BELOW The left side of the camera has a new screen and lots of control buttons.
two for CFast 2.0 and two SD. For data-intensive recording like Raw you need to use CFast but for HD and some 4K footage, quick SD cards will do the job. The left side of the camera now has a new backlit LCD screen showing record, locked and reference time code, plus frame rate, shutter angle, aperture, whitebalance, ISO and iris. It also has a battery indicator, card recording status and audio meters. Just like top broadcast cameras, the left control panel has lots of separate control buttons, switches, knobs and dials, to quickly change many of the most-used settings including a dedicated high frame rate button. The controls are easy to use, fast, simple and a real improvement. The only small niggle is that when the LCD screen is folded out, it does hinder access to some of the controls. If you have ever used any sort of pro-style camera, you’ll quickly get to grips with controlling the URSA Mini Pro. The screen is a four-inch fold-out touchscreen that’s an inch smaller than the old URSA Mini screen but really is no worse for the reduction in size. The screen is bright, with
“The touchscreen is a real joy to use, with simple and intuitive menus” a viewing angle that’s useable outdoors. You can get away without a field monitor in most situations. The touchscreen is a real joy to use, with simple and intuitive menus. There are tabs at the top of the screen to let you select what group of settings you want to alter or check. Then just tap or swipe away, just like on a smartphone, you can adjust settings like white-balance, shutter angle and audio levels, using sliders so you can tweak them easily, without digging into menus. It feels totally modern, professional and very useable, and makes you realise how some cameras have such unnecessarily intricate and baffling menu systems, with push buttons and scrolling wheels to make changes. Other manufacturers should really take a look at Blackmagic’s URSA Mini Pro and learn a lesson from it.
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GEAR LENS SPECIAL
FUJIFILM MK 18-55MM T2.9 ZOOM
FUJI’S INDY WINNER!
An affordable high-tech cinema lens in a Super 35 E-mount ideal for independent filmmakers WORDS AND PHOTOS ADAM DUCKWORTH
Fujifilm knows precisely how to make the very high-end broadcast lenses that can cost as much as a very nice car. The firm also knows how to make razor-sharp lenses for its hugely-successful X-series mirrorless stills-based cameras, pretty much at the other end of the cost scale. So putting the knowhow together, it’s tackling the booming market of large-sensor camcorder users who want cheaper, lighter lenses. Hence the MK series, a pair of all-manual cine zooms aimed at independent filmmakers. The 18-55mm lens, and the forthcoming 50-135mm, borrow technology from Fujifilm’s much more pricey Cabrio lenses in terms of optical quality but everything else – weight, size, cost, image circle size and maximum aperture – is cut down. What Fuji has done is make two quite rare additions to the lens: a macro switch and a rotating ring to adjust back focus. With the lenses not even fitting Fujifilm’s own range of X-series cameras (yet), there’s no guarantee which camera these lenses will be fitted to. So as soon as you take the lens out of its packaging, you are encouraged to set the lens up to your own camera, and luckily it takes less than a minute to do. The idea is that you put up a focusing chart on a flat wall about three metres away, set the lens to its widest aperture, focus your camera on the chart with the zoom at the widest setting. You turn the back focus ring until it’s sharpest, then lock the ring. Zoom in and see if it’s still sharp or needs a slight tweak. If you do this a few times, you get a point where no adjustment is required and the lens is set up. The other unusual feature is the macro button. Push this and
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you can focus very close, down to a very respectable 0.38m with the lens at its widest setting. It’s a really useful feature that’s easy to use and means you can quickly do a really nice close-up shot without changing lenses, ideal for B-roll. The lens comes with a zoom lever for fast adjustment of focal length, a very nice rectangular lens hood and cap, plus an extension rod to attach it to some rails. The aftermarket accessory manufacturers are already on the case and making dedicated supports, too. Almost like they know it’s going to be very popular. Like all good cine lenses, there is a constant T-stop of 2.9 instead of f-stops, to guarantee constant light transmission as you zoom in. For those coming from a DSLR background, T2.9 is roughly equivalent to f/2.7. Certainly at the longer end when shot wide open, you can get some pleasing differential focus with soft, outof-focus backgrounds. At the wider end, you’re not going to get the wafer-thin depth-of-field of a superfast T1.5 prime, for example. But of course, it’s easier to keep things in focus at T2.9. BELOW For use on Super 35 E mount cameras, the 18-55mm T2.9 includes a back focus ring to ensure spot-on set-up.
SPECIFICATIONS Price: £3678/$3799 Focal length: 18-55mm Mount: Sony E Image coverage: Super 35 Aperture: T2.9 Iris blades: 9 Focus rotation: 200° Filter thread: 82mm Front diameter: 85mm Minimum focus: 0.38m/1ft 2.9in Dimensions (LxD): 206.3x85mm/8.12x3.35in Weight: 980g/2.16lb
Compared with a bagful of primes, the Fujifilm is a far lighter, cheaper and more portable option, of course. It’s actually a lot lighter and more compact than you’d think; it balances well on cameras like the Sony FS7 and smaller FS5. You could certainly use it all day, and with the useful 18-55mm range, it’s a great all-purpose lens that goes from reasonably wide to usably long, taking into account the Super 35 crop factor. Part of the reason the lens is light is the lack of fancy electronics. The all-manual nature of the lens is its beauty, of course, especially when it comes to manual focusing. The focusing feels wonderfully precise and smooth, with a long throw that makes it very accurate and there are hard stops at the ends of the range. The zoom ring has less of a throw but is equally as smooth. And the lever lets you easily identify it’s the zoom ring you have hold of. In terms of image quality, for a lens that’s obviously made to a certain price point, it’s particularly impressive. The footage is detailed, crisp and the colours are natural. Even wide open at 18mm, the corners are sharp and certainly in line with more expensive lenses. There is good sharpness right across the frame at every focal length and aperture. It’s marginally sharper in the centre, of course, and sharpness improves as you close down from T2.9 until around T8 when it starts to get fractionally softer again due to diffraction. There is very little chromatic aberration and flare is very well
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LENS SPECIAL
“The all-manual nature of the lens is its beauty, of course, especially when it comes to manual focusing” controlled, especially with the lens hood fitted. One of the greatest strengths of cinema zooms is that they are designed for very little focus breathing – so the angle of view remains constant as you change focus - and that as you zoom, the focus stays in the same place. And in both these areas, the Fujifilm lens performs admirably well. Just about the only place that the lens does show some issues is in distortion. At shorter focal lengths there is some evidence of barrel distortion, which transforms into pincushion distortion from around the 35mm setting. It’s not too bad, and the majority of users will never notice it in the real world. But if you are shooting buildings then you can notice straight lines at the outer edges distort a little. It’s a small price to pay for such a fantastic lens that transforms the handling of camcorders into proper cinema cameras.
THIS PAGE Light and compact, the Fujifilm 18-55mm T2.9 balances well on cameras like the Sony FS7 and smaller FS5.
THE VERDICT There was a huge buzz when Fujifilm revealed its cinema lenses, as the spec and price looked to be just what the independent filmmaking market wanted. And with the E-mount being the dominant lens fitting, it made sense to the legions of Sony owners. But the proof of a lens is in use, and the Fujifilm 1855mm really does live up to expectations. It’s portable and light, has great features like the macro ring and back focus adjuster, and it’s a real pleasure to use. The manual focus and zoom rings, as well as iris, are smooth and nicely damped. The quality of the footage is also excellent, with natural colours, lots of detail resolution, virtually no focus breathing or changes in focus as you zoom and good flare control. With a lens going from 18mm to 55mm, there was always going to be some distortion and there is. But it’s not too bad, and certainly isn’t a dealbreaker unless all you shoot is architecture.
For the money, the Fujifilm cine lenses are a great buy for Sony E-mount users looking to upgrade to a proper cinema lens.
More information www.fujifilm.com HOW IT RATES Features: 8 Back focus adjustment and macro are good, but no electronics Performance: 9 Sharp, detailed footage but some distortion Handling: 9 Light weight and compact size help handling Value for money:9 Loads of lens for your money! Overall rating: 9/10 Maybe not the fastest lens but a great performer and top value Pros: Great handling and image quality Cons: Only E-mount, some distortion
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GEAR BUYERS’ GUIDE: WEDDINGS
ULTIMATE KIT FOR…
WEDDING FILMMAKERS We look at ideal kit selections for professional wedding filmmakers – to suit three different budgets If you’re shooting weddings then you need kit that’s 100% reliable, delivers the results with the minimum of fuss and is quick and easy to use, even when light levels drop. It’s the ultimate runand-gun kit, although with the increased demand for cinematic wedding films, ideally you need kit that can be used to provide shots with that extra polish that modern couples demand. In our new-look Buyers’ Guide series, we take a look at some of the kit that we believe offers a good buy at three different levels of spend. For the Budget Minded, it’s kit that’ll get you going on a pro level. Pro Performer equipment might cost a bit more, but is workhorse kit packed with features and performance at exceptional value for money. And if you have the budget, Dream Buys is where you’ll want to be looking.
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CAMERA: CANON XC15 4K CAMCORDER £2383/$2399 www.canon.com If you want a video camera that is more userfriendly than a pimped-out DSLR but not as daunting as an interchangeable-lens cinema camera, the Canon XC15 could be it. Now with an added audio unit that allows full professional control and twin XLR audio inputs, it’s perfect for run-and-gun work and is relatively small and easy to use. It can be used totally manually but there are lots of get-you-out-of-jail automatic settings and it has a non-interchangeable lens with a decent focal length range, although it’s not the fastest lens in the world. But movie image quality is impressive, even in low light. And as it’s a hybrid camera, it can take good-quality stills, too. Its shape is unique and it’s an easy-to-use, high-quality camcorder that can grow with you as your business expands. It could then be an ideal second camera, perfect for mixing with footage from Canon’s C-range of pro cameras, and it shoots 4K, too.
GREAT VALUE KIT THAT DOES THE JOB
AUDIO: SENNHEISER MKE600 SHOTGUN MIC £249/$329 www.sennheiser.com Whether you are using a camcorder with professional XLR inputs or a DSLR with a separate XLR-equipped recorder or connector unit, there’s nothing like a good-quality shotgun mic for picking up voices at weddings. The Sennheiser MKE600 is an ideal mic due to its high directivity, picking up sounds coming from where the camera is pointing and effectively cutting noise coming from the sides and rear. There’s a switchable lowcut filter to reduce wind noise, and the mic comes with a foam windshield and shock mount too. If you use a camera that doesn’t supply phantom power, the MKE600 can be battery powered by AA cells which last for up to 150 hours. And if you move on to a pro camera with phantom power, it works that way too. Sennheiser mics are well built and last for years, especially all-metal mics like the MKE600.
PRO MOVIEMAKER SUMMER 2017
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BUDGET MINDED BAG: THINK TANK WORKHORSE 19 £198/$229.75 www.thinktankphoto.com
MONITOR/RECORDER: ATOMOS NINJA BLADE £522/$495 www.atomos.com
TRIPOD: SACHTLER 1002 ACE M GS SYSTEM £491/$621 www.sachtler.com There’s nothing worse than wobbly footage so it makes sense to invest in a solid tripod that works well for video use and will last a long time despite hard use. The Sachtler 1002 Ace kit takes cameras up to 4kg/8.8lb, so is ideal for smaller camcorders and DSLR cameras. There’s a five-step counterbalance system that works very quickly, and there are three vertical and three horizontal grades of drag for fine adjustment of panning and tilting. The fluid head has a tilt range of +90 to -75° and is made from a composite material to keep things as light as possible. The head’s camera plate comes with a 1/4" screw and locating pin to stop your camera from twisting, and the kit has a floor-level spreader for quick set-up. And it comes with its own carry bag.
Squinting at your camera’s small screen in a bid to gauge focus and exposure accurately, and hoping the memory card doesn’t get corrupted isn’t the ideal way to make shooting a wedding stress free. That’s where a combined monitor/ recorder comes in, and there are few as affordable and rugged as the five-inch Atomos Ninja Blade. You can not only see and monitor your footage much better thanks to the bright 400-nit touchscreen with waveform monitors, but you can record your footage as uncompressed 8-10 bit and ProRes Avid DNxHD via your camera’s HDMI socket. If you also record to your camera’s memory card, you have an instant backup in case of card or drive failure. The Ninja Blade is a smart production recorder, monitor and playback deck. So you have an external monitor, recorder, playback deck and mini edit suite. And with the screen being five inches, it’s lightweight, too.
A bag designed for a DSLR often isn’t the best bet for carrying video kit; you don’t want to be breaking your kit down into small parts every time you pack it away. That’s where a dedicated video bag is ideal, such as the Think Tank Workhorse 19. The 19 model is one of the smallest of the Think Tank range but is ideal for basic kit. All the Workhorse range is tough, built with a collapse-proof top made out of reinforced material. And the bag itself is made from rugged ballistic nylon, with top-quality zips, welded metal hardware, nylon seatbelt webbing and high density closed-cell foam for protection. The liners are adjustable to suit your own kit, there’s lots of padding, the shoulder strap is padded and non-slip and it even comes with a raincover.
ACCESSORY: CAMRADE WETSUIT £167/$169 www.camrade.com Weddings don’t stop in inclement weather, so it makes sense to splash out on a water-resistant rain cover to make sure your camera doesn’t get soaked and liable to fail. CamRade produce lots of rain covers, tailor-made for specific cameras including the Canon XC15 and its older XC10 sibling. The handmade covers are built from a special softlined fabric to reduce any wind or rain noise from the cover itself registering as you shoot. And to prevent the camera overheating there are vents to allow hot air to escape. There’s a clear vinyl window on the top for visibility of the controls during operation and an opening with hook and loop fasteners for easy access to the hotshoe. The vinyl window over the eye piece can be closed off too, so the screen is protected but still clearly visible. The CamRade cover comes in its own waterproof pouch and also features a separate microphone cover and removable eye piece cover.
SUMMER 2017 PRO MOVIEMAKER
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PLUS: NEWS UPDATES, EXPERT ADVICE, EQUIPMENT TESTS AND MUCH MORE ON SALE with issue 137 of Professional Photo and in select stores independently from 14 September. Also available on the iOS and Android app stores
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