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December Tour of Asia with Canon
Po Chan and I will be leaving on a five-country tour of Asia with Canon in just a few days. If you are nearby, I hope to see you at one of the events. My father-in-law lives in Thailand, and it is...
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Many Camera Formats Strike in Waiting for Lightning
By Michael Svitak, Elite Team Cinematographer MichaelSvitak.com Waiting for Lightning, a documentary about pro skateboarding pioneer Danny Way, began production in 2008 with director Jacob Rosenberg at...
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Testing Your Camera’s Emulsion
A few months ago, I ran a blog post about how important it is to do camera tests. It was part one in a four part series. It discussed the fact that you should not just surf the web for forums and...
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Testing Your Camera’s Latitude
Recently we reviewed how to find the power of your sensor in the darkness of a lens cap, as well as injecting skin tones into your test. In part three, we will test your camera’s latitude. This is one...
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Canon 1DC Camera Tests Outside the Studio
In a former post, we took you through how to find your camera’s latitude. This week, in part four of the series, we will show you how important it is to take your tests out of the studio and on to...
View ArticleBig Winners: The SmallHD Story
By Julien Lasseur While I was working at Hurlbut Visuals, Lydia came up with the idea of interviewing our sponsors for the blog and gave me the opportunity to direct those spots, as it was my dream to...
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Digital Cinematography vs Film: Tides are Turning
As I embark on a long creative, exciting journey on Need for Speed with DreamWorks, I wanted to share some of my most recent findings from a five day camera test that pushed every camera to its...
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Using Color Temp to Create Depth and Dimension with your HD Video
I have been asked this question many times, “Do you white balance your camera?” I respond with one word, “Never.” White balancing a video camera is a holdover from the days of Ikegami cameras, the...
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Turning the Blackmagic Cinema Camera into a Movie Making Machine
You all know that I have been conducting many camera tests during prep on Need for Speed. I have been testing all of the different digital emulsions to see where they will fit into my toolbox....
View ArticleInterview with Greg Staten on the HP DreamColor Monitor
By Julien Lasseur When I picked HP DreamColor Solutions Architect Greg Staten up from LAX, it came to my attention that he was only in LA for a few hours. He had come to LA specifically for this...
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Inovativ Carts on a Game of Thrones Promo
By Michael Svitak, Elite Team Cinematographer MichaelSvitak.com In the minds of many, there are basically two legitimate camera cart systems—Yager and Backstage. Well, make room for the third…...
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Podcast on Selecting Cameras for Need for Speed
I return to the doddleTALKS Tech podcast on episode 17. We discuss the approach to selecting cameras for Need for Speed, and by testing those cameras, how we found that they each had their own unique...
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Using a Crane: Educating your Audience on Geography & the Art of Discovery
This week we go into another motion tool of storytelling, THE CRANE. This device has been around for decades. Allan Dwan has been credited with the first dolly shot and the first crane shot. He devised...
View ArticleHDSLR Cinematographer Starter Kit
Here is another episode in the B&H series we did in 2011, this time on the HDSLR cinematographer’s starter kit. A transcript follows. Although I’m using the Canon 5D Mk II in the video, this...
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Blackmagic Cinema Camera Tests
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 2.5k With the price decrease on the Blackmagic Cinema Camera (BMCC), new functions, firmware upgrades and the anticipated delivery of the Pocket Cam, I thought it would be...
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Creating a Level of Intensity with Internal Camera Settings
Shutter angle is an important story-telling tool. As a Director of Photography, I love this technique and wanted to show you how I have used it to assist in the character’s emotional arc. “Using...
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How to Set Up Menus for Cinematic Capture on the Canon 1DC
In the spring of 2012, Canon, writer/director Po Chan and the Hurlbut Visuals production arm collaborated together on the short film project The Ticket to showcase the new Canon 4K DSLR 1DC. I was...
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Arri Alexa vs. Canon C500
PART 1 In this corner, weighing 13.7 lbs. and a height of 13 inches and boasting 2.8K imagery, The Arri Alexa!!!!! In the other corner, weighing 6 lbs. and a height of 7 inches displaying 4K...
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Arri Alexa vs. Canon C500 Part 2
Arri Alexa vs. Canon C500 (Arri RAW 2.8K) (Canon RAW 4K) PART 2 Last week, we took you through Day ISO tests, Dynamic Day Exterior range tests, Back Light/Skin Tone tests and Fill Light ratio...
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Red Epic vs. Canon C500
Red Epic vs. Canon C500 5K RAW 4:1 Canon 4K RAW S Recorder In this corner, weighing 11 lbs. and a height of 7.5 inches and boasting 5K imagery, The Red Epic!!!!! In the other corner,...
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