KIT UP YOUR MIRRORLESS The accessories you should buy right now!
SMART BUSINESS SHOPPING MASTERCLASS How buying used kit could save you thousands
Make more money by shooting live events: we show you how
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FIRST TEST
THE MAGIC FORMULA
Blackmagic’s new Ursa Mini Pro G2 with Raw recording and 300fps
ULTIMATE GUIDE TO
LIGHTING SKILLS ALL THE KIT YOU NEED AND HOW TO USE IT FOR MAXIMUM IMPACT 12-PAGE SPECIAL
SOUND ADVICE
Transform your audio with our top tips and tricks PLUS LAV MICS AND WIRELESS KITS REVIEWED
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FULL TEST
POWERHOUSE PANASONIC
Just how good is the new S1 for filmmakers?
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AUTUMN 2019
The ultimate magazine for next generation filmmakers
EDITORIAL Editor in chief Adam Duckworth Staff writer Chelsea Fearnley Contributing editor Kingsley Singleton Chief sub editor Beth Fletcher Senior sub editor Siobhan Godwood Sub editor Felicity Evans Junior sub editor Elisha Young ADVERTISING Sales director Matt Snow 01223 499453 mattsnow@bright-publishing.com Group ad manager Sam Scott-Smith 01223 499457 samscott-smith@bright-publishing.com Advertising manager Krishan Parmar 01223 499462 krishanparmar@bright-publishing.com DESIGN Design director Andy Jennings Design manager Alan Gray Designers Lucy Woolcomb, Laura Bryant, Emily Lancaster & Bruce Richardson PUBLISHING Managing directors Andy Brogden & Matt Pluck MEDIA SUPPORTERS AND PARTNERS OF:
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.
FROM THE EDITOR There are two things I don’t mind admitting I’m addicted to when it comes to filmmaking. The first is the joy of owning new kit – from cameras to lenses and accessories. And the second is slow motion. A little bit of slomo can really improve the production values of your films. And of course I’m not scared to also admit using it to mask the odd mistake I’ve made in shooting footage that’s, shall we say, less than optimal. Such as stretching out some B-roll to put on top of a talking head interview to mask a jump cut. Or making some wobbly footage look less shaky. And as I shoot lots of off-road motorcycle sport, it’s immensely useful to put focus on what the rider is doing as they go around corners, over bumps or through the air. There’s something that feels cinematic about slow motion of a rider pulling on his or her gloves ready for a race. In real time, it looks too ‘normal’. I shoot the majority of action at 120fps with audio, so I can slow it down or ramp the speed up and down in post if I need to. Yes, I realise that breaks the old ‘rule’ of shooting at 24 or 25fps for a smoother look. But it works for me, and more importantly my clients who want social media or YouTube shorts. I’m not shooting Hollywood blockbusters. So when Blackmagic revealed the Ursa Mini Pro G2 complete with 300fps, I definitely took notice. A sexy new camera and 300fps slow motion, all in an affordable package. Cinematography catnip, as far as I’m concerned. And you just know that as soon as I got hold of the new Ursa to test it, one of the first things I did was to overcrank it to 300fps and try out the slow motion. I now have lots of test footage of my dogs running around the garden, as it was the easiest and quickest thing to test my new slomo superstar on. Of course, I eventually got round to doing a proper test of the camera at conventional speeds. But I just couldn’t resist going faster on the frame rates, just because I could. Having had a couple of weeks using the Blackmagic camera, I believe it points the way forward for cinema cameras which is to be useful for everything from cinematic movies to run and gun, and everything in between. It has a large Super35 sensor, takes all sorts of EF-mount lenses for a shallow depth-of-field if that’s what you require, and shoots in 4.6K Raw. You can also overcrank to 300fps for super slow-motion albeit in HD only, ideal for adding drama to action shots. You can use it as a shoulder-mount ENG camera, or rig it up as a studio cam. It’s whatever you want it to be. Check out our full test in this issue, to see if there could be a bit of Blackmagic in your future.
ADAM DUCKWORTH, EDITOR IN CHIEF AUTUMN 2019 PRO MOVIEMAKER
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ACADEMY SOHO EDITORS LIVE LEARNING
THE NEW WAY TO LEARN
Live online training develops your skills in a way no YouTube video ever could
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earning creative software like Adobe After Effects, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve and even CGI applications like Cinema 4D is often daunting. There are many online resources that are too often out of date, unstructured and rarely taught by real-world professionals. YouTube is great for tips and tricks, but not the best place to find a solid foundation and learn a workflow properly. Imagine you went for an operation and asked the surgeon where he learnt his skills, and he told you YouTube. You would freak out! While working creatively – be it design, editing, animation, visual effects –is, admittedly, not nearly as serious as surgery, it does require a solid learning path if you really want to understand what you’re doing and succeed at it. Prerecorded tutorials can be useful, but there’s a good reason classroom training has increased over the past decade. People learn by interacting, asking questions, getting feedback, trying stuff out, making mistakes and getting one-to-one help to understand what went wrong and how to fix it. That’s how learning has always happened, so it’s no wonder we still need that experience today. Go live and online! If you are happy just to pick up a few quick tips, then traditional online learning may be the way for you. Or, if you want to be in the same room as the person training you, without any other distractions, then classroom training is going to be best for you. But for everything else, live online training can be the best of both worlds.
ABOVE One advantage of live online training is that you can log-in from anywhere, including your favourite coffee shop
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“People learn by interacting, asking questions, getting feedback, trying stuff out, making mistakes and getting one-to-one help to understand” Live online training involves a virtual classroom that is streamed live to your desktop, laptop or mobile device. You watch the lessons and follow along on your own computer. The live session allows you to interact directly with the trainer, including allowing them to see your screen, review your work and problemsolve straight away. Each lesson is broken down into bite-sized chunks with a Q&A and private one-to-ones. Since the trainers are software certified, you can be confident you are getting all the up-to-date and accurate information, and because they all work in the creative world, you’ll also receive practical tips and tricks that go beyond just using the software. You can also log-in from anywhere in the world, whether it be from your office, your favourite coffee shop or the comfort of your own home. All of the practice files – such as footage, photos, and music – are sent
ahead of time, as well as video instructions on how to set up and interact during the lessons. What’s more, your lesson is recorded, so you can review the footage back at any time. Soho Editors is now able to offer all its incredible classroom training experiences live and online, including: Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, Photoshop, Avid Media Composer, DaVinci Resolve, Cinema 4D, Final Cut Pro and many more. Contact Soho Editors for upcoming course dates, customised bespoke courses and live, online support.
More information sohoeditors.com
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CANON ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE
Beauty on the battlefield
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amera gear is important for any documentary filmmaker. Take a filmmaker with a focus on cinematography who shoots in some of the most hostile locations on the planet and you can multiply that importance tenfold. For Olivier Sarbil, there’s only one choice when it comes to cameras and lenses: Canon. “When shooting documentary, Mosul, I used my Canon EOS C300 Mark II as it’s a beautiful, lightweight, compact camera and robust enough to withstand the punishing fieldwork of the front line,” says Sarbil. Elaborating, he tells us that 90% of the film was shot handheld. “I needed to work very fast with one lens that could cover every situation. I chose the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f2.8 as it has image stabilisation, it’s light, has a good focal length and delivers good picture quality.” After serving as a soldier in an elite airborne regiment of the French Army, Sarbil turned his passions toward the camera. For a time, he worked as a broadcast cameraman for television news, covering conflicts all around the world. In
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2016, he began following an elite team of Iraqi Special Forces. The result of this was documentary, Mosul, which won an Emmy for Outstanding Cinematography. Three years later, he has completed his second documentary, On The President’s Orders, a film exploring the extrajudicial killings that have taken place during President Duterte’s campaign against drug dealers and addicts in the Philippines. For both bodies of work, Canon has been his cinematic companion. The things he carried As reflected by their awards, the cinematography in Sarbil’s films is distinctly cinematic, particularly among documentaries.“Documentarycamerawork is often seen as a lesser craft than narrative cinema, but I really believe in the power of cinematic storytelling, even in the chaos of war,” he tells us. During the filming of On The President’s Orders, Sarbil wasn’t in a literal war zone and was under less pressure. As a result, he had wider scope when it came to gear. The film’s small crew was made up of Sarbil himself, James Jones, co-director on both
© OLIVIER SARBIL
Following his new documentary set in the heart of Manila’s urban drug war, daring documentary filmmaker Olivier Sarbil tells us how Canon’s CN lenses are helping him keep things looking better than ever
ABOVE A still from On The President’s Orders, shot using Canon’s cine prime lenses
Mosul and On The President’s Orders, and a local Filipino fixer to assist with gear. With this extra freedom, Sarbil picked up some new glass – Canon’s cine lenses: “I used a set of Canon CN-E primes as my base lens package.” Favouring the CN-E 14mm, 50mm and 85mm lenses, he tells us, “I am familiar with these lenses, they have amazing colour and great visual quality, especially in low light, which is how I often like to shoot. I really loved the 50mm and the majority of the night footage was shot with it wide open. This lens produces some stunning rounded bokeh and the image is
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© OLIVIER SARBIL
CANON ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE “Canon CN-E primes were my base lens package. They have amazing colour and great visual quality” beautifully sharp.” When shooting required a change of pace, Sarbil returned to a trusted favourite. “For the run-and-gun shooting, I wanted to place the viewer in among the action, so I picked up the Canon EF-S 17-55mm again,” he says. It appears Sarbil is broadening his horizons further still, and the possibility of his most visually stunning work yet is promising. “I’ve purchased the new Canon C700 FF,” he says. “I’m impressed with its performance and versatility, and like the ability to switch between sensor sizes in-camera, from full-frame to Super 35 to Super 16. The C700 FF has a great dynamic range and beautiful colour reproduction. I find it easy to operate handheld as it is well balanced on the shoulder and lightweight, considering its size. I can’t wait to put it through its paces on my next projects.” Behind the camera Make no mistake, though, the impressive visuals of Sarbil’s documentaries do not account for the entire content of the films, and the stories he tells are as compelling as any. In his own words, “The most important factor of a documentary is simply the story. Without a good story, you don’t have a film.” BELOW Olivier Sarbil (left) and co-director James Jones (right) shooting On The President’s Orders. For the unsettling wide shots, the Canon CN-E 14mm lens was used
And a good story requires good characters. On the topic of his subjects, Sarbil notes that it “takes determination, patience and respect”. He adds: “The only way to get great access is to build a relationship with your subject, as trust is the most important factor. During filming, I try not to be too intrusive, to give the characters enough space and to be calm around them. The magic is when you disappear into the background. “My background as a paratrooper has left me with a skill set that definitely helps me to work in hostile environments but I’m not drawn to war, I’m drawn to the story.” Giving the orders Sarbil shot Mosul alone, only collaborating with his co-creators upon his return to London. “I was alone. The soldiers and I were facing snipers, drone attacks, suicide bombers night and day, I could never switch off. Mosul was by far the toughest filming I’ve ever done,” he says. When asked about shooting On The President’s Orders alongside co-director James Jones, Sarbil describes their relationship as “a dynamic partnership with no ego clashes”. Both men approached the film with a desire to “show a side of the story that hadn’t really been seen before and to get inside the heads of the cops who’d been accused of being behind the killings”. Again, the cinematic quality of the film came down to a combination of intention and gear. For the documentary’s unsettling wide shots, Sarbil used the CN-E 14mm. “Visually, we wanted to film the documentary in the style of a thriller with a tense and atmospheric look,” he explains. “We wanted to keep the mood of the film dark and sinister with carefully composed imagery. I used wide lenses to help build the dark mood of the film and to try and make the audience feel uncomfortable.” Canon’s CN lenses ensured the filmmakers were able to capture their vision. Ultimately, these moody, night-time city scenes coupled with an undeniably thrilling story may just have made for Sarbil’s best work to date.
More information oliviersarbil.com canon.co.uk
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ACADEMY ULTIMATE GUIDE TO LIGHTING
MASTERCLASS
ULTIMATE GUIDE TO LIGHTING The kit every filmmaker should own and how to use it WORDS ADAM DUCKWORTH
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hether your experience is all in filmmaking or you’re a photographer who is making the move into videography, you have to get to grips with lighting. Stills shooters often have experience with flash, but it’s obviously useless for video. When it comes to filming, continuous light is the only way to go, which brings its own issues and challenges. The first is that it’s nowhere near as bright as flash, so if you plan to use video lights outdoors on a bright day to overpower the sun, then you’ll be out of luck. Using video lights effectively means understanding where and when they can be used for different effects. Just as with stills, lighting can be hard and directional or soft and diffuse, and each gives a very different look to your film. Large light sources provide softer, more flattering illumination and are ideal for portraits or approximating daylight on a cloudy day. Smaller or more focused lights give harder, more crisp light ideal for backgrounds or hair lights.
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Many video lights can have a colour temperature dialled in. And many of the new ones can even change colours, as they have full RGB colour spectrum at the turn of a dial. Another consideration is flicker rate. As mains-powered lights flicker at 50Hz in the UK and Europe and 60Hz in the USA, you have to be careful to set a shutter speed that doesn’t clash, or else you’ll see flickering on the screen. Many LED and HDMI video lights are specially designed not to flicker, but incandescent and fluorescent lights are prone to it. And in slow motion it’s even more of a problem, as you have to find a light source where the flicker frequency is not lower than the refresh rate of the camera sensor. So a US-spec camera recording 30fps generates flicker when artificial light is present if it’s shot in Europe. In slow motion, the problem is increased if the frame rate and the refresh rate are mixed and not in line with the light output. Hence why in fast frame rate video the flicker is much more apparent
and often needs fixing in post with dedicated software and often lots of time. Noise from the lights is also a consideration. Some lights have fans to cool them, which can be useless if you are using them for interviews, since a decent mic will pick up the noise. And there’s also a huge variety of choice, from powerful HMIs to LED light panels, fluorescent tubes and more, there’s a bewildering array of light sources available for video. So, here is the Pro Moviemaker crash course in basic lighting, and the right kit you should look at investing in.
“Lighting can be hard and directional or soft and diffuse, and each gives a very different look to your film”
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ULTIMATE GUIDE TO LIGHTING
PICK YOUR LIGHT FOR THE RIGHT EFFECT Larger light sources like large LED light banks are great at providing soft, even illumination. And harder light sources like HMIs or focusing fresnel LEDs are far more suited for harder-edged, more contrasty light that’s ideal for hair lights or background lights. Of course, if you have a powerful light, then you can use scrims and other modifiers – such as reflectors to soften it up. HMI lights were once the most popular as they are quiet and daylight-balanced, so can be modified to make them softer. But they are mains only, often need an additional ballast pack and many are not ‘hot restrike’. So if you turn them off, you have to wait up to ten minutes before they can turned on again, and then you have to wait until the light stabilises. That’s why lighting is becoming dominated by LEDs, which are bright, small, silent and can be adjusted to provide different colour temperatures. They also don’t usually require huge ballast packs or massive mains generators to run them. They come in all shapes and sizes, allowing you play the balance of cost and portability against power and features. For many years, some of the most popular soft lights have used banks of large fluorescent tubes, which you could buy in different colours. The market leader for these simple, effective and light units is Kino Flo – and many people refer to all lights of this type as Kinos. They are still popular, but Kino now has what are effectively LED tube versions of the lights that can be remotely controlled, can be tuned via an app, have RGB light control and various modifiers from grids to softboxes and barn doors (as shown below). It’s the best of both worlds.
UNDERSTANDING LIGHT Whether it’s coming from your LEDs, the sun, street lights or interior ‘practical’ lights in a building, all light has certain properties that a clued-up filmmaker should be aware of. If you learn to consider the properties of the light, then you’re in a great position to understand how your footage will look and, crucially, how you can alter the light or introduce your own effectively. The six key properties of light you should consider are: quality, direction, contrast, intensity, evenness and colour temperature. And you should understand how these properties change and affect each other if you modify the light in some way, for example, by introducing an extra light source. The quality of light refers to how hard or soft it is, and direction can affect the look of your shots. Contrast is something to be aware of and can be managed by introducing fill lights or reflectors, and evenness affects how the light falls off your subject. The closer the light, the more extreme the fall-off. And colour temperature affects white balance as well as being able to create a different mood. Intensity is a measure of how bright the light is. That’s crucial not only to which ISO to use or aperture to set your lens to, but how any lights you have introduced balance with the ambient. Although continuous lights aren’t as powerful as flash, you can use them to create a very bright pool of light if you pick specially designed, powerful units. BELOW This Dedolight is a hard light source, and has its own ballast and barn doors for controlling light spill
ABOVE Soft light from a large light source is usually more flattering, filling in any skin imperfections
ABOVE Harder light from a smaller or more focused light source can be more dramatic, often with more pronounced and darker shadows
Dedolight has made a whole range of powerful, focusing LED lights for many years and is the master of pin-point lighting. Many of its lights have built-in ballast and barn doors. But if you want a huge beam of light, which moviemakers often use outside buildings to shine through windows to look like sunshine, then Dedolight has the answer with the rugged DPB70 1200W parallel beam light with a parabolic reflector. It’s like bringing your own sunshine on location with you! The theory of light may seem like a lot to have to think about, but the more you do it, the easier and more natural it becomes. Eventually, it becomes second nature and a real aid in helping you quickly decide what to do with your lighting. For example, where to position your lights, how to modify their output, which colour gel or RGB setting you may need and much more. Once you’ve become a dab hand at lighting and can make informed decisions quickly, it’s so much easier to really focus on your subject.
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SIGMA ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE
The difference is clear Drawing inspiration from the beautiful Aizu province of Japan where all its lenses are made, Sigma’s commitment to engineering excellence helped it to become a major player in the stills market – and now it’s turning the same precise focus to cine lenses
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igma has been a leader in the stills photography market for more than 40 years, but only recently brought its optical expertise to the world of filmmaking – the wait for videographers has been well worth it though. We get a versatile line-up that’s backed by huge experience in design, optics, build and handling – something you’ll realise if you shoot with Sigma’s Cine Lens line-up. The pedigree of Sigma’s cine series builds on the success of its Global Vision stills lenses, its unique manufacturing philosophy and the company’s ethics. All Sigma’s lens production is handled in the company’s own factory at Aizu, in the Fukushima Prefecture of Japan. “That’s actually one of the many things that makes Sigma special,” says Graham Armitage, general manager of Sigma Imaging (UK) Ltd. “The fact that it’s a family owned business, with a true understanding and love of photography and cinematography. It’s not simply a consumer electronics company that outsources production as cost saving – Sigma believes in the quality that’s ensured by its Japanese designers and engineers. But it’s also about social conscience and environmental issues, as Sigma is the largest employer in the area and many families depend on us.” According to Sigma’s founder, Michihiro Yamaki, the people of the Aizu
ABOVE Sigma’s success comes from its ethics and manufacturing principles, with all lenses made in Aizu, Japan
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“Sigma believes in the quality that’s ensured by its Japanese designers and engineers” region were also instrumental in the company’s growth and success. The Sigma factory was established in 1974, at a time when the Aizu region had next to no leading industry, motorways or access points for Japan’s bullet train network, so it was by no means an obvious place for efficient manufacturing. Instead, Yamaki said, it was the locals’ proverbial honesty, stubbornness, persistence and precision that inspired him to locate there and create the bedrock of the company’s optical engineering. Now the world’s largest full-operation production interchangeable lens factory, Sigma’s Aizu factory covers 76,000 square metres, has 1650 full-time workers and contains all the equipment necessary to manufacture all of Sigma’s products in-house. What this vertically integrated production structure boils down to is complete quality control. “In fact,” continues Armitage, “each lens is individually tested with our A1 MFT machine, which uses a 46-megapixel Foveon direct image sensor, rather than in batches. It’s part of a commitment to quality that’s bringing the very best young designers to Sigma – people who are passionate about optical development. In the past, they might have gone to bigger companies, but now they come to us because we have shared values.” Sigma’s Cine Lens range is based on its Global Vision Art lenses, which feature uncompromising optical quality, designed to meet the requirements of today’s 50-megapixel sensors, so they’re able to deliver amazing quality at 4K, 6K or even 8K. The lenses are retooled for video use, offering a range of mounts and handling changes tailored to movie production rather than stills, for instance an emphasis on ultra-smooth manual focus with the minimum of focus breathing. See right to check out what’s available in Sigma’s Cine Lens range.
THE SIGMA CINE LENS LINE-UP There are 13 optics in Sigma’s Cine Lens range: three zooms and 10 primes. All are built to the highest optical and mechanical standards, and are colour balanced. Available in Canon EF, Sony E and PL mounts, at the core of the range are Sigma’s FF High Speed Primes, which are full-frame compatible, yet compact and light. These primes run from 14mm to 135mm, and cover must-have focal lengths like 28mm, 40mm and 85mm, so all bases are covered for filmmakers. All Sigma’s FF High Speed Primes are T1.5 in brightness, apart from the 14mm and 135mm models, which are T2, so there’s plenty of scope for working in low light, providing consistency and avoiding changing lighting when you swap lenses. The FF Zoom line features the 24-35mm T2.2 FF, a full-frame lens, which comes in Canon EF and Sony E-mounts, and offers outstanding image quality for 6K or 8K shooting, as well as versatile framing in a compact body. Sigma’s High Speed Zoom line features two zooms, built for use on cine cameras with Super 35 sensors, an 18-35mm T2 and 50-100mm T2. Coming in PL, EF and E-mounts, you get consistent brightness across the zoom range, the highest image quality in their class, compact design and amazing value.
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SIGMA ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE
MADE FOR MOVIES
STANDARD FILTER SIZE
Sigma’s commitment to optical excellence is well known due to its lenses for stills cameras. The company’s cine lenses build on that performance with features moviemakers will love...
Sigma Cine Lenses use 82mm filters, allowing videographers to use the same size of NDs on different lenses and the front diameter is 95mm, so compatible with a wide range of matte boxes.
HIGH VISIBILITY Markings are laser engraved, so the paint won’t be stripped away by tape and luminous paint means you can work in dim conditions with ease. There are fully luminous versions, too.
TOUGH BUILD Sigma’s cinema lenses have a dust-proof and splash-proof construction. Each ring and the mount are sealed and the body is 100% metal.
SMOOTH HANDLING The positions of the gears in each ring are standardised, so you don’t need to adjust the follow focus, motor unit or accessories when changing lenses, and each is dampened for silent operation. 0.8M gear pitches mean great compatibility with accessories.
LENS FOOT All lenses in the line-up use a dedicated foot to enhance mount stability and minimise load on the camera body, and there are two screw holes for maximum compatibility.
FULL MANUAL IRIS The de-clicked aperture ring provides smooth control and a standard T stop display, as well as 60° rotation, just like high-end cinema lenses.
HIGH PRECISION The rotation of both the zoom and focus rings are increased by more than double over their stills equivalents, for easy and accurate zooming and focusing.
VERSATILE MOUNT Available across a wide range of mounts, including EF, E or PL, you can use Sigma’s cine lenses with all top cinema cameras, as well as hybrid bodies.
More information sigma-imaging-uk.com
AND THERE’S MORE... Of course there’s more to Sigma’s moviemaking credentials that cine lenses and hybrid shooters can enjoy. There’s a whole Global Vision line-up of lenses, including Art, Sport and Contemporary models in Nikon, Canon and Sony fits. And with its burgeoning relationship with Panasonic and Leica creating the L-Mount, Sigma lenses will be shortly landing for that system, too. As part of the SGV line, these lenses pack in further innovation as you can use them with the
company’s unique USB dock, allowing not only easy upgrades to a lens’s firmware, but also methods of fine-tuning performance, such as altering the optical image stabilisation or AF speed. So, for example, while stills sport photographers might want lots of snap, videographers can reduce the speed of the AF for maximum smoothness. It’s a great choice to have. SGV lenses can be converted to different mounts, too, so you can keep your favourite glass even if you swap bodies.
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MOVIE MATTERS BUYING USED
COST-CUTTING CAMERAS
DREAM KIT GOING CHEAP! Can’t justify the cost of the brand-new gear you’ve always wanted? A real option for the savvy cinematographer is opting for used kit WORDS ADAM DUCKWORTH
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hen cameras went digital, there was a huge yearly increase in technology that made old kit look obsolete and nearly worthless almost overnight. Camcorders recording to tape may have been cutting-edge in their day, but as the DSLR craze hit – followed by large-chip camcorders then mirrorless cameras – everything changed. Technology has now largely settled down, meaning gear that’s a few years old is no longer old hat. And that means you might be able to afford the latest bit of kit you want by searching it out on the used market – if you know what you’re buying and take care to avoid obvious lemons. Cameras that were the latest technology not very long ago don’t suddenly lose the ability to create great footage. And if you buy used, then the original purchaser will have shouldered the (often pretty scary) depreciation, especially on high-end kit. That’s not to say we would recommend buying an almost decade-old Panasonic AF101 now for professional use, as some equipment has definitely stood the test of time far better than others. And in terms of lenses, glass tends to hold its value for far longer. But that means lenses do hold their money well, and therefore may not look like such a great bargain used. Look around and you will find them, though.
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BUYING USED
THE SMART WAY TO BUY
While lenses have changed very little, camera tech has moved on. Many cameras might not be able to record in 4K, for example. When it comes to making a sound business decision based on cash flow, you need to ask yourself what your kit absolutely must do, and stick to it. You might not need 4K if all your work is delivered in HD (at best) for web use. And very few filmmakers right now really can’t manage without a HLG camera for HDR workflow. The same goes for Raw output and streaming capabilities. Shooting in 4K means you are futureproofing your content for when 4K is the norm and you can crop in far easier without losing quality if you are editing in 1080p, so that could affect your decision. And remember, it’s not just the cost of the camera alone that dictates the overall financial strain on your budget. 4K and Raw take up lots of memory cards, hard disk space and you may end up having to upgrade your computer to edit the footage. A used camera might have batteries that run out quicker than the newest generation, and the batteries themselves might be worn out after lots of charging cycles. But if you’re already a Canon user investing in a Cinema EOS camera, or a Panasonic EVA1, Blackmagic Ursa, Kinefinity or even a Red, you might already have a set of lenses you can use.
Some Reds have interchangeable lens mounts, for example, but often come as a basic brain that requires a lens mount, handgrip, V-Lock battery and its own RedMag SSD media. That’s before you even think about the condition of the camera, which may have had a hard life – especially as most cinema cameras are used by professionals rather than amateurs who baby their kit. Cinema cameras have an hour meter so you can see how long it has been used for. But DSLR and mirrorless cameras don’t. A record of how many shutter actuations the camera has done is often available, but it won’t be a guide to how long it’s been used to shoot video for. But as shooting video means there are no moving parts – unlike a stills shooter with a mechanical shutter – this may be less of an issue. So, what would be a great used camera to buy today and why? We’ll discount the very latest cameras, although these can sometimes be bought slightly used. The effect of brand-new models often means there is an instant impact on the older versions of the camera, which become ever-greater value for money. So we name our pick of the used market of interchangeable-lens cameras and lenses that may not be very latest bits of kit, but can make loads of sense for the filmmaker on a budget.
If you want to save the maximum amount of money, a private sale from eBay or social media might seem like a good idea. But usually the item is ‘sold as seen’, which is a pain if you discover a fault. The internet is awash with horror stories about buying online, so pick up the camera in person to be sure of the condition, see it working and get an idea of whether the seller seems legitimate. It’s best to use a service such as PayPal, because this will cover you against fraud. To take a lot of the worry out of buying used, and to ensure the camera comes as described, a reputable dealer will offer some guarantee, will have checked the kit for faults and usually there is a cooling-off period, during which you can return the kit. The leader in used video and stills kit is MPB, with an easy-to-use website where you can not only buy kit, but also sell your old gear to part fund your purchase. Other specialist pro video firms like CVP and Wex have lots of used kit in stock, including cameras, lenses and video accessories. Allround camera retailers like CameraWorld, Park Cameras, The Flash Centre and Wilkinson Cameras often have secondhand pro video kit in stock, and are often an obvious choice for DSLR and mirrorless cameras and lenses. If money is no object and cash is flowing, then buying the latest kit brand new can seem like the obvious option. But then your business will be faced with the very large depreciation of a sizeable part of capital expenditure. The benefits of new are the warranty and, of course, if you are VAT registered, you get that 20% back within three months. There are also leasing options, or sometimes 0% offers. Your accountant is the best bet for financial advice on major purchases. Another option is ordering from overseas, as the prices often appear to be lower. However, you’ll find you need to pay import duty and VAT, and this can add to the purchase cost significantly. The kit might not be UK spec, there may be warranty issues and, of course, you are not supporting the UK importers or dealers who you might rely on in case of any problems.
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AERIAL FILMMAKER DRONE NEWS
New anamorphic lenses for drones, winners announced in aerial photography competition and new safety measures for drone disasters WORDS KINGSLEY SINGLETON
CHUTES FOR SHOOTS
Go wider with your Mavic Moment, best known for producing neat add-on camera lenses for smartphones, has just announced that it’s making anamorphic lenses for DJI’s Mavic 2 Pro and Mavic 2 Zoom drones. Launched on Kickstarter, the Moment Air quickly smashed its $100,000 target and backers will get the lens for £159/$199, rather than the RRP of £239/$300. Like adding an ND filter to your Mavic 2, the Moment Air anamorphic lens simply clips to the gimbal using a two-part lock and balance mounting system. The lens sits on one side with a counterweight on the other, and it’s claimed to not impede the gimbal at all in shape or weight. In fact, Moment claims its design uses aerospace grade composites and metals to keep weight to an absolute minimum. The anamorphic lens is a 1.33x design, so should produce a cinematic looking
2:40:1 ratio 4K footage from the Mavics once it’s processed, equating to shooting with a wider focal length in the horizontal direction and a longer focal length in the vertical. The lens is claimed to use “cinema quality glass… and a unique set of coatings to deliver a horizontal flare associated with vintage anamorphics.” And if you’re put off by the squeezed look of unprocessed anamorphic, Moment is in discussion with DJI about automatically processing footage within the drone’s app. If you add a different lens design you’re going to need different filters; Moment is also producing sets of NDs and a circular polariser for its anamorphic lens, which will come in sets of six, from ND4 to ND64 plus the polariser. These can be bought as part of the Kickstarter, too. shopmoment.com
Check out this year’s Drone Awards for a superb selection of aerial filmmaking. Run by Art Photo Travel Association, the competition is now in its second year and winners of the 2019 contest were recently announced, including stills and videos. Check out the competition
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It’s very rare, but still the drone operator’s worst nightmare: a catastrophic failure that sends your aircraft and any payload crashing to Earth. But now an effective means of safety is being offered by ParaZero with its SafeAir parachutes. The units are available for various DJI models, including the popular models like the M200 Series, Phantom 4, Mavic Pro and Mavic 2 series. In terms of price you’re looking at £289 for the Mavic version and £2,599 for the M200. The system monitors the drone’s avionics for anomalies, and if a critical fault is detected, it cuts power to the aircraft’s engines and automatically deploys the parachute as the drone falls, protecting people on the ground and damage to the aircraft, too. parazero.com
“It automatically deploys the parachute as the drone falls” website to see the winner, ‘Bolivia by Motorbike and Drone’ by Alex Chacon, and some amazing highly commended and commended entries, all no more than five minutes long and very pretty indeed. droneawards.photo
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GEAR PANASONIC S1 TEST
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PANASONIC S1 TEST
THE NEW NIGHT KING Panasonic’s Lumix S1 is ready to take the throne as the ruler of low-light shooting WORDS & IMAGES ADAM DUCKWORTH
T
he recipe for creating a camera that can perform incredibly well in low light is a reasonably tried-and-tested formula. First, you need a CMOS sensor that’s as big as you can get. In reality, that’s a full-frame chip. You need it to not have the highest resolution, as too many pixels can create more noise – fewer but fatter pixels that just soak up all that lovely light is usually best (but not so few that resolution is compromised). And of course you need fast processors and clever software to get the best out of the sensor. Right now, that sweet spot seems to be around 24 megapixels. This gives high enough resolution for most real-world use, and less information to remove to achieve 4K video compared with superhigh resolution sensors such as the 47.3-megapixel Panasonic S1R. Sony, Nikon, Canon and Leica all offer their best all-round mirrorless cameras with roughly 24 megapixels. And now you can add the Panasonic S1 to this list. With its video-friendly 10-bit 4:2:2 capability in the HEVC codec and an ISO range that can be used up to a dizzying 204,800, the Panasonic aces all its rivals when the light levels drop. Of course, massive ISO settings are largely academic. At more useable settings such as 12,800 ISO and below, however, the Panasonic has the edge on any of the latest crop of full-frame mirrorless cameras
in terms of control of noise and ultimate image quality. That includes the current cream of the crop, the latest Sony A7 III and Nikon Z 6 mirrorless. The only camera that can come close at very high ISO is the Sony A7S II, thanks to its very conservative 12.2-megapixel sensor. But this is an old-generation camera, yet to be updated in Sony’s range, and offers specs and performance in other areas that nowadays is not really in the same league as the ultra-modern Panasonic. If you want the best-performing camera in terms of low-light and high-ISO performance, the S1 should be at the top of your shopping list. Of course, a camera is not just all about how good it is at high ISO performance, and the new Lumix delivers in many ways. The Panasonic S1 shares the rugged and large, tough body and all the controls with the S1R that we tested in the last issue. At 47.3 megapixels, the S1R isone of the highest resolution full-frame camera, ideal for stills shooters whose quest for detail seems never-ending. Both have fantastic control buttons and wheels that are better to use than even those made by long-established camera companies like Canon or Nikon. The S1 costs significantly less than the S1R, thanks to the lower cost of producing a less densely-packed sensor. But that makes it a far better video camera. There is less excess data to get rid of to get the signal
“Of course, a camera is not just all about how good it is at high ISO performance” AUTUMN 2019 PRO MOVIEMAKER
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GEAR GROUP TEST SIGNAL TO NOISE!
SMALL VICTORIES
They might be tiny, but picking the right lavalier mic can add quality and versatility to your moviemaking. We tested seven big-name options to see which deserves your cash WORDS KINGSLEY SINGLETON
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avalier or lav mics (often called clip, collar, lapel or tie mics) are a vital component of your filmmaking set-up, and have uses in almost all forms of production, whether it’s interviews, narration, events, documentary, drama or even music. The advantages that lav mics hold over using a shotgun mic – or, heaven forbid, your camera’s built-in stereo mic – are numerous. Aside from an obvious increase in quality over the latter, the clearest benefit is that a lav mic allows your subject to be recorded hands-free. That is to say, they don’t need to hold anything and can therefore look and move more naturally in shot. They’re also small enough to be inconspicuous, or completely hidden in clothing, and that also means they can be less off-putting for people who’re nervous presenting. Lav mics are normally clipped to clothing near the speaker’s mouth, like the collar, shirt or tie, and from there a cable can be taken directly into the camera or, more usually, into a wireless
transmitter or a small recorder. The cable therefore needs to be long enough to allow some flexibility, but needs to be kept tidy, out of shot and not move around, causing noise on the recording. Mics can also be taped to the subject, so they’re more easily hidden. What we’re testing and why We decided to look at lav mics from several different manufacturers, testing the mics alone and not including products with transmitters or recorders. Why? Well, given that lav mics are a part of even the most basic filmmaking set-up, and used a lot, they’re both easy to break and easy to upgrade. If you have a recorder or transmitter, is there much to be gained from upgrading to one of these options? Specifically, will it improve your video-making?
HOW WE DID THE TEST All the mics were tested in controlled conditions both with and without a windshield to test their sensitivity and pickup range, as well as the quality of audio. The mics were positioned on a test subject on the placket of a shirt at 20cm from the mouth. The same passage was read into them at a consistent volume and distance, and from various angles to mimic the turning of the head during conversation. We also switched between recording with the mics facing up and inverted to test if pickup was impeded, since pointing the mic away from the mouth is a common method of removing noise from the subject’s breath. For the mics that came with a windshield, we mimicked windy conditions by pointing a fan from 1m at the subject as they read, as well as walking with them to test for poor fitting. Finally, we added some background noise to see how well the mics isolated voice and excluded ambience. Each was connected to a small digital recorder (Olympus LS-P4) with levels manually set to medium gain and producing 96kHz/24-bit WAV files. Mics were also assessed on any included accessories and on price.
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GROUP TEST
ZOOM LMF-2 £39.95/$49.99
The Zoom LMF-2 mic can be bought individually, or as part of the excellent F1-LP kit, which includes a very neat digital recorder. We took the latter route, but tested the mic on its own. The kit came with a clip and a windshield, but Zoom’s website states the LMF-2 does not (so you’ll need to factor that in to cost). What you do get is a nicely built unit that mounts securely in its clip, and can then be rotated through 360° in 45° bumps. This is great for reversing the mic or angling it to improve pickup, and tugging on the lead didn’t cause any audio or placement problems via the mechanism. The windshield was a little more awkward to fit than others, and was easier to do when the mic was removed from the clip. On the plus side, the 3.5mm jack has a screw lock, so there’s the option of securing it to a transmitter, though we needed a regular 3.5mm jack adapter to get a proper fit with our test recorder or a mic-
in on a camera. The lead length is 1.6m, so it’s really designed for use with mobile devices, and not plugging in the camera. While the LMF-2 isn’t particularly small, it’s fairly average in size. Looping the cable is easy thanks to a groove in the clip. Sound-wise, the LMF-2 put in a good performance. Signal was strong and clear, if a little bassy, and being an omnidirectional mic, it picked up just as well facing away from the mouth. Turning
the head proved no real loss of pickup. The windshield fitted perfectly with no scratching in movement, and did OK in the fan test, though wasn’t thick enough to remove the rumble. Background noise was well suppressed.
interview, but it will need tying up and securing if not. The 3.5mm jack lacks a screw fastener, but this makes connection to a camera easier. The clip is fine, though without a dedicated groove for looping, and the mounting point is very stiff, meaning you need to push hard to get the mic in. It’s held securely, though not easy to remove and reposition, say for inverting the mic. The windshield is large, but a bit loose, and comes off easily, but this did not lead to any scratching in the audio.
Sound, aided by the condenser, was very crisp and clear and showed no real drop-off when the mic was inverted or the head moved around. In the wind test, the large shield did a good job of suppressing rumble, and background noise was well handled, too.
PRO MOVIEMAKER RATING: 7/10 A very good performance, and some neat features from this budget mic, though you’ll need to invest in accessories.
KENRO KNMC101 £24.95/$29.95
Kenro bills this as a ‘universal lavalier mic’, essentially meaning you can use it for all sorts of things from wedding speeches into a PA to narration and speech in your movies. It comes with a few accessories, including clip, windshield, quarter-inch jack adapter and LR44 battery. This is a condenser mic and needs power for use with most devices, although it can be turned off for devices like smartphones, which need a passive mic. This is controlled by a fairly chunky power pack, but it’s well separated from the mic and has its own clip to keep things tidy. However, we did find the battery was tricky to insert, and it took several goes to master it. What’s more, the on/off switch is a little raised and easy to slip into ‘on’ when you don’t want it, draining power. At 6m, the KNMC101 has a very long lead, which is great if you want to plug directly into the camera, say for a seated
PRO MOVIEMAKER RATING: 7/10 This budget mic gave a nice sound performance and was only let down by minor handling issues.
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GEAR MINI TESTS
This issue, the round-up of great kit tested by us in includes a Tenba bag, two aluminium tripods, and robust and reliable D-Tap batteries for Sony WORDS ADAM DUCKWORTH & KINGSLEY SINGLETON
LACIE MOBILE SSD 1TB £223/$235
SPECIFICATIONS Capacity: 1TB Transfer speed: Up to 540MB/s
lacie.com
When it comes to portable external hard drives, nothing beats the speed, silence and rugged nature of solidstate drives. While HDDs can be larger in capacity and cheaper, they are also slower. And mechanical spinning drives can – and will – go wrong. That’s not a huge issue if they’re used as desktop units for large file storage and you have a backup plan in place. But for portable units, they’re not ideal. They may have ruggedised cases and beefed-up drives, but they are still prone to failure, don’t like to be dropped and do make a slight noise. LaCie’s new Mobile SSDs use the speedier flash-based drives with no moving parts, so there’s nothing to wear out. The new design is smaller and less obvious than those orangecoloured portable hard drives every filmmaker seems to own, as the SSD is much thinner. The drive is smaller and about the same thickness as a
Hard drives: SSD Connection: USB 3.1 Type-C Thunderbolt 3 compatible
smartphone. The design features a bevelled edge, but apart from that it’s pretty boxy. It comes in a space grey colour that goes well with Apple Mac laptops, which many users have. Connectivity is provided by a USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port, which sits next to a small, bright LED that flashes when the drive is in use. The drive comes with a USB-C to USB-C cable ideal for Macs, as this is the same fit as Thunderbolt. It also comes with a USB-C to USB-A cable to fit older Macs or PCs. Of course, you do lose the impressive data transfer speed this way. The drive is said to have a maximum 540MB/s transfer rate. The drive comes formatted in the universal exFAT file system and we tested the write speeds at 480MB/s and read speeds of 520MB/s, so very close to the quoted performance. That means it’s fast to ingest footage and quick enough to edit 4K files in real time without buffering.
Connectors: USB-C cable for USB 3.1 Gen 2, USB 3.0 to USB-C cable Software: LaCie Toolkit Drop resistance: 3m/9.8ft Dimension (WxHxD): 78x9x98.4mm/3.1x0.4x3.9in Weight: 0.1kg/0.22lb
If it’s speed and reliability on the move you want, look no further. It also comes in a 2TB version to store even more data, and a 500GB version if you don’t need the space and are on a budget. The drive is compatible with Apple's Time Machine for instant backups, and comes preloaded with LaCie Toolkit software, which offers additional features such as mirroring a drive. There’s a three-year warranty and the drive comes with free Seagate data recovery software, which we’ve used in the past and it is one of the best in the business. The drive comes with a free one-month Adobe Creative Cloud membership, too, with apps like Premiere Pro CC and After Effects. A drive like this is best used for fast work on location due to its speed, size and reliability. Then when you get back to base, download to your larger, desktop-style units with a backup system to ensure peace of mind. AD.
LEFT The space grey of the SSD goes well with Apple Mac laptops
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PRO MOVIEMAKER RATING: 9/10 It’s fast, portable, rugged and 1TB is enough for most filming days Pros: Fast USB-C and Thunderbolt connection, rugged Cons: Still more expensive than conventional HDDs
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MINI TESTS SPECIFICATIONS Type: Roller bag with doctor-style opening Exterior: 1680 denier ballistic nylon with water repellent coating, seatbelt-grade webbing, abrasion-resistant waterproof bottom panel. Leather-trimmed handle, YKK zips Interior: Lightweight ripstop nylon, with lens pillow and security strap. Flexcore dividers, soft padded wraps and zip pouch Interior dimensions (WxHxD): 28x53x23cm/11x21x9in Dimensions (WxHxD): 36x61x27cm/14x24x10.5in Weight: 5.7kg/12.6lb
TENBA CINELUXE ROLLER 24 £365/$399
tenba.com
Tenba’s increasingly popular range of Cineluxe bags has literally got bigger with the introduction of the new Cineluxe Roller 24, a larger version of the Roller 21 that’s been out a couple of years. It’s aimed at shooters who use a cinema camera and lots of lenses and accessories, as it can swallow the whole lot up without having to resort to disassembling your rig. I have to admit I’m a fan of the Tenba range, and have owned the wheel-less version of this bag, the Cineluxe Shoulder Bag 24, for a couple of years. It’s the same 24-inch external size and I chose it because I hate having to assemble my camera kit from its component parts every time I want to use it. The size and doctor-style opening of all in the Cineluxe range means I can drop my Sony FS5, fitted with the Sony 18110mm cinema lens and matte box, a top handle and an Atomos Shogun Inferno recorder-monitor inside,
then just zip it up. However, the wheel mechanisms of the Roller 24 take up just enough space to prevent the bag from zipping up fully when I try it, despite the interior floor being moulded with deeper sections to help maximise interior depth. Taking off the SDI lead or using a slightly smaller ballhead on the Shogun and it would fit, though, as it’s very close. The base of the bag has a built-in pillow to cushion the lens, and there’s a strap to cinch down on the camera. It also comes with two padded wraps and a padded zip pouch, so you can keep all your other bits of kit in one place. And padded, adjustable dividers mean you can slip in just about anything else, with tough Velcro keeping things safely from being jiggled around- an important feature if you are going to drag the bag around with you. There are two huge pockets on the outside to swallow up even small
IMAGES Plenty of space for gear and it’s on wheels for easy transport
booms, and one of these large pockets has smaller pockets inside, fastened with Velcro, to keep your bits safe. And like the whole range, there are leather-trimmed carry handles and blue anodised aluminium details. Of course, stuff it full of kit and it’s very heavy, which is where the wheels come in handy. They roll well, and finally a manufacturer has put on larger and more rugged wheels to handle gravel car parks and grassy fields, rather than just smooth tarmac. The bag looks great, is weatherresistant, and if your complete kit just drops inside, is very fast to use. At the price, it’s a unique solution that won’t break the bank. AD. PRO MOVIEMAKER RATING: 9/10 Great for loads of kit; rolls well, too Pros: A light yet cavernous bag – with wheels Cons: Wheels take up some of the internal space
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