- SIGMA fp 2.00 Update
- SIGMA fp gets ProRes RAW with Atomos Ninja V
- Sin-Sin film shot with fp, directed by Yu Yamanaka
- Teradek SERV PRO & VUER
- Sam Nicholson on Virtual Production
- AJA U-Tap Webcam
- Leitz THALIA 1:2 Makros
- Sony VENICE V6.0
- Sony FX9 V2.0
- FX9 & ProRes RAW on Atomos
- Canon EOS R5
- Rotolight Titan X
- Angénieux Optimo Primes
- McCormick on The High Note
- Gods of Focus: Chris Solano
- Gods of Focus: Olga Abramson
- Bouchut joins Band Pro
- —Otto Nemenz“
Just read your latest issue and I found it so facinating and well written. It was some of the best cinematography writing in recent history. Thank you.
”—Peter Lyons Collister, ASC“The only thing to read for professional information
”—Alexander Bscheidl, Vantage Film“I don’t know how I managed before without all the info of FDTimes
”—Philippe Ros, AFC, Member Imago Tech CommitteeView All Readers’ CommentsAbout Jon Fauer
Jon Fauer, ASC is an award-winning cinematographer and director who has written 12 bestselling books, famous for their user-friendly way of explaining things as if you’re right there on location with him.
Cannes 2016
Over 120,000 of his books on cameras, cinematography, film and digital video have been printed. Think of this bimonthly Journal as Fauer’s next book — arriving a year early, with up-to-the minute information brought to you in episodic format.- INOVATIV AXIS Health Products for Safer SetsYou arrive on set. They check you in at a flimsy folding table. Where are the masks? Gloves? Protocols? Getting back to work and working safely in Coronavirus times can be helped by some common-sense practices and products. Now, INOVATIV introduces a new line of AXIS Health workstations to stay safe on set and on location as production reopens. Inovativ... read more...
- On-Set Social Distancing Using AJA Products
Sushi is not socially distant. Here is a photo of this article's author, Andy Bellamy, in pre-pandemic days, providing bounce fill with his napkin at Yamazato in Amsterdam. We managed to avoid eviction from this and other fine sushi establishments whose chefs suffered our antics in tabletop lighting and camera tests between uni and ebi. But, this is not an article about sushi. It's Andy's article about AJA products that can help crews keep safely apart, watching the action on monitors far away from the cameras and connected by fiber optic cables and AJA devices. read more... - 40 Megapixel Leica M10-R
July 16, 2020. Leica Camera introduced the latest in their long line of beloved M cameras. The new M10-R has a new, 40 Megapixel sensor. Image noise is reduced, dynamic range increased, time exposure now goes to 16 minutes for those night sky shots, and ISO ranges from 100 to 50,000. The shutter is quieter and causes less vibration.... read more... - ZEISS Virtual Cine Expo
This could be where trade shows are going for the near future and then continue for years to come. Thursday, July 16 is the third and final day of the ZEISS Virtual Cine Expo online. You enter a realistic, 3D rendered view of the ZEISS booth familiar from many real trade shows. Stroll around onscreen and watch detailed presentations. read more... - Shooting on Location without Flying There
During this pandemic, how do we shoot on location without flying there? While some of us think green screen backgrounds are about as much fun as having root canal work, what if you could use affordable, consumer electronics, large screen LED TVs and projectors to let the actors interact in real time with their backgrounds on set? You can, and Sam Nicholson ASC explains how. He and his company Stargate worked on the HBO’s new series "Run." The story travels across the United States on a train, but production never left the studio in Toronto—except to shoot the background plates in advance. Equipment includes RED cameras, Panavision lenses, DaVinci Resolve, lots of Blackmagic Design equipment, ARRI SkyPanels, 82" monitors and lots more. read more... - Gods of Focus: Olga Abramson
The lack of marks or rehearsals on Uncut Gems was a given from the start; it’s a part of the Safdie brothers’ directing style. Whether lining up a frenetic running shot or an over-the-shoulder close up, Cinematographer Darius Khondji ASC, AFC would suggest a 150mm lens and the brothers would revel in raising the stakes. Why not a 250mm? Or better yet, a 360mm? read more... - SIGMA fp 2.00 Update
The critics at Cahiers du Cinema espoused a new vocabulary for film students to memorize in the following years: auteur, the director as author and le caméra stylo, writing with the camera as if it were a pen. Actually, a lot of this theory was just that: theory. There was, of course, an entire crew around the camera, behind the author and the pen and the talented cinematographers who liberated the camera from its fixed tripod.
It has been said, at times ironically, that the new wave owed much to the fact that you could avoid pesky Parisian film permits by shooting without a tripod. Nevertheless, Truffaut, Godard, Decaë, Coutard and company would have wept with joy had the SIGMA fp, no larger than a pack of Gauloises, arrived 60 years earlier.
The SIGMA fp camera is the embodiment of an entirely new and liberated camera, an auteur’s stylo. SIGMA CEO Kazuto Yamaki called it “a deconstructed camera that allows for free and flexible styles that adapt to any genre. It is a camera for the next new wave.”
And now, SIGMA fp gets firmware update 2.00 —sort of like a cinematic spa rejuvenation. It is significant. Read all about it here. read more... - Cooke Tour 2020 Chinese Translation
Who knew that Les Zellan and Robert Howard spoke fluent Mandarin Chinese? They don't—but if you do, here is the FDTimes Cooke Factory Tour 2020 translated in Chinese, all 36 pages and online as a free download. Please go to the top right of our FDTimes Chinese homepage. read more... - Focus Puller at Work: Din
The focuspulleratwork.com community is an engaging forum for Focus Pullers around the world. Interesting topics include “10 Best Things in your Toolbag” and “10 Things for Desert Shoots” and “10 Questions about You.” To share your story with the community, you can do so on the forum. There is also a group interview with 10 questions and every member is... read more... - Cooke Tour 2020
This was my 4th tour of Cooke Optics in Leicester, England. The factory has come a long way since previous visits in 2006, 2009 and 2013. It is now a state-of-the-art, modern facility with clean rooms, the latest machines, and many more technicians. As Les Zellan described it, “The glass manufacturing area is cleaner and neater and there are many... read more... - ZEISS Supreme Primes Special Report
FDTimes Factory Tour and Special Report about the new ZEISS Supreme Prime lenses. Download 44-page 11MB (high rez) PDF. ZEISS Supreme Primes cover a FULL FORMAT image area up to 46.3 mm diagonal. They are incredibly small, lightweight and fast. The focus barrel has a unique, advanced square helical thread that is as smooth as cams and even more rugged. There are 13 lenses planned so far. read more...
News
Factory Tours
- SIGMA 85mm F1.4 DG DN | Art (E & L-Mount)SIGMA announced their latest E-Mount and L-Mount high-end 85mm F1.4 Full-Frame lens for mirrorless cameras. The new SIGMA 85mm F1.4 DG DN | Art prime lens is remarkably small and lightweight yet displays superb optical performance. MTF values even exceed its much larger 85mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art predecessor. read more...
- Sony α7S III: Internal 4K 10-bit, External 4K 16-bit
Sony’s new α7S III continues to blur the boundaries between still and cine cameras. Not blurred, of course, are its images and the trajectory of thoughtful innovation inside. Some quick specifications of the new α7S III: 12 MP resolution, 4264 x 2814 3:2 (1.5:1) 36 x 24 mm sensor. ISO 80-102,400. (40-409,600 extended.) 15+ stop dynamic range in S-log3.... read more... - Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro 12K
July 16, 2020. We zoom from Wetzlar to Melbourne. Today was a day when resolution seemed to matter. A few hours after Andreas Kaufmann announced the new 40 Megapixel Leica M10-R (R for resolution) still camera, Grant Petty introduced the latest Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro 12K. He said that Blackmagic Design was aiming for the high end with this affordable camera. Did he say 12K? Yes. read more... - Canon EOS R5 — Full Frame 8K RAW Inside
This should catch your attention. Canon's new EOS R5 is a 45 Megapixel Full-Frame RF-mount mirrorless hybrid still/video camera that shoots and records 8K DCI 12-bit RAW at 2600 Mbps to an internal CFexpress card. You may not wear socks from Memorial Day to Labor Day, but if you did, the R5 specs might just knock your socks off.
Full Frame (36 x24 mm approx) 45 megapixel (4.40 μm photosites) CMOS sensor
8K RAW internal video recording up to 29.97 fps
8K internal video recording up to 29.97 fps in 4:2:2 10-bit Canon Log (H.265) / 4:2:2 10-bit HDR PQ (H.265).
4K internal video recording up to 119.88 fps in 4:2:2 10-bit Canon Log (H.265) / 4:2:2 10-bit HDR PQ (H.265).
Full-width (no crop) 8K RAW and 8K/4K sensor modes. read more... - Gods of Focus: Chris Silano
Usually this episodic series about legendary Focus Pullers is called “The Gods of Focus.” This month’s story could be called “The Lion Tamers of Focus.” Read this article to see why. Chris Silano said, "They call Preston Cinema Systems' Light Ranger 2 the Focus Puller’s friend. And while that’s true, it’s much more. It’s also the friend of the actor, director, editor and producer. Finally, the Light Ranger is the audience’s friend as they get a better movie, every time. read more... - SIGMA fp RAW Video Recording
This is a quick summary of the full article just published in July FDTimes, issue 103.
SIGMA announced a major firmware update, V2.00, for their fp camera and the big news is support for RAW video recording.
DCI 4K 12-bit / HDMI RAW output.
RAW recording via HDMI with Atomos Ninja V monitor-recorder. (Free AtomOS firmware update for Ninja V is required).
Blackmagic RAW recording via HDMI with Blackmagic Video Assist 12G models. (Requires firmware update of Video Assist 12G models using Video Assist Update 3.3.)
HDR in video shooting. etc. read more... - Angenieux Optimo Prime 40mm T1.8
Here are framegrabs taken with the new Angénieux Optimo Prime Full Frame 4omm T1.8. Still socially distancing and wrangling family and friends feigning reluctance at lens tests, here are framegrabs of the new Angénieux Optimo Prime Full Frame 4omm T1.8. Marlena Fauer endured permutations of Optimo Prime optimization and degrees of flare. An in-depth article with interviews is coming in the next FDTimes. read more... - Angénieux Optimo Primes
Three Angénieux Optimo Primes arrived. 28mm, 40mm, 135mm. All T1.8. Full Frame. Scene One: photograph them on a plexi milkglass sweep. Images follow. First impressions: beautifully made, smooth focus cams, lightweight, small, fit in one hand (don't need both hands for a lens change.) Lots of opportunities to customize: front filters, rear filters, and the eagerly-awaited internal element, also artistically called "palette." read more... - Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K Update
Blackmagic Camera 6.9.3 Update is available now as a free download from the Blackmagic Design website for the original Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K camera. This update brings the URSA Mini Pro 4.6K software up to the level of the URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 and URSA Broadcast. Our favorite thing: customizable frame guides. read more... - ARRI OCU-1 and Master Grips
Here’s a quick refresher course on the ARRI OCU-1 (Operator Control Unit) for camera operators to recover control of focus or other lens functions. The OCU-1 lets you override and take back focus, zoom or iris control from the WCU-4 (Wireless Compact Unit) at the touch of a button, even when lens motors are attached. read more...
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July 2020 Edition
July 2020: Issue 103
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