Film and Digital Times | The Journal of Art, Technique and Technology in Film, Video and Digital Production

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April 2020: Issue 101

132-page April Edition. Printable 38 MB Hi-Rez PDF download for SUBSCRIBERS. FREE ACCESS 18 MB PDF Edition. (Best with Adobe Acrobat Reader, 2-page view, show cover page.)

Canon EOS C300 Mark III Super35 Camera
Canon CINE-SERVO 25-250 mm T2.95-3.95 Zoom
Teradek Bolt 4K; ARRI EF Mount, ERM
Panasonic S1H, Apple ProRes RAW, Atomos Ninja V
Cooke Tour 2020; Gods of Focus
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Reports
ARRI OCU-1 & Master Grips on Location
FUJINON Premista Around the World
ARRI EF Mount; OCU-1; Master Grips
Hunters, Rexer, SIGMA, RED

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Jon Fauer’s Film and Digital Times is published on paper, online and on iPad roughly every two months. Depending on events, introductions and technological breakthroughs, we sometimes combine issues into larger editions. Join us for the adventure and subscribe online. We talk about products and procedures in practical production—here’s the job at hand: how do we use tools and techniques to get the results we want?

Film and Digital Times is an inside-the-industry look at the nuts and bolts of high-end prodcution: how-to and how not to, technique and technology, style and strategies, tips and trends for Cinematographers, Directors, Producers, Rental Houses, Manufacturers, Camera Assistants, Camera Operators, Photographers, Videographers, Gaffers, Grips, Students, and Faculty.

About 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.

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News

Angenieux Optimo Primes on Location
Scene Two. What do the Angénieux Optimo Primes look like? To find out, let's take a nature walk as the evening fog swirls onto Shinnecock Bay, Southampton, Long Island, New York. It's one hour before sunset. Optimo Prime 28mm and 135mm lenses on a Sony a7R IIII with a Vocas PL to E-mount adapter, shooting 4K video and stills. read more...
Gods of Focus: Michael Burke In this latest episode of “The Gods of Focus,” we focus on focus puller Michael Burke. Jon Fauer: You worked as First AC-Focus Puller on “Hunters” with William Rexer as DP. I understand you used RED MONSTRO 8K VV, SIGMA Primes and the Preston Light Ranger 2. Michael Burke: The studio and handheld cameras had Light Rangers on them. We... read more...
Canon EOS C300 Mark III S35 Camera Canon's new Super35 4K EOS C300 Mark III camera was introduced on April 20 and should ship later this year. It records Cinema RAW Light and XF-AVC internally, has electronic image stabilization, and a Dual Gain Ouput Sensor with improved dynamic range. The Dual Pixel Focus Guide eyepiece display shows whether you’re near focused or far and when you’re right on, it glows green. There's 4K 120 fps Cinema RAW Light internal recording and HDR support for both HLG and PQ. This article is a summary of features. read more...
Jean-Marc Bouchut joins Band Pro Jean-Marc Bouchut has joined Band Pro as Senior Product Manager – Angenieux. Widely known and respected in the industry, Jean-Marc worked at Angenieux for 30 years in R&D, service and sales. Jean-Marc Bouchut’s new position at Band Pro will involve coordinating technical matters of Angenieux EZ Zooms and Optimo Primes. He will support the sales and marketing teams at Band Pro as well as customers and clients in the Americas. read more...
Claire Mathon AFC: “Portrait of a Lady on Fire”The Cannes Film Festival would normally be running right now. Portrait of a Lady on Fire premiered at Cannes last year. It is now streaming on Hulu. Céline Sciamma directed and Claire Mathon AFC was the cinematographer. Here is our interview, reprinted from the Feb 2020 edition of FDTimes. read more...
Denny Clairmont Denny Clairmont passed away yesterday afternoon, May 11. He took a fall while at his home in Mill Valley, California. This is a tribute to a dear friend, mentor and icon of the film world. Denny Clairmont founded Clairmont Camera in 1976 with his brother Terry. Denny was like a father to so many of us, always there with advice and encouragement from the beginning of our careers. Denny never saw a camera or lens he didn't want to improved or retrofit. read more...
Chris Sieniawski, S1H, Ninja V, ProRes RAW Panasonic and Atomos recently worked with Chris Sieniawski on a short film to demonstrate the Panasonic LUMIX S1H recording Apple ProRes RAW onto the Atomos Ninja V. The film is "Blind Love." Dan Chung, Chief Marketing Officer of Atomos, was on a lock-down chat from London. We were joined by Krzysztof (Chris) Sieniawski in Warsaw. Here is an edited summary of our discussion. read more...
“Into The Rising Sun” with Blackmagic Cameras Scott Wilson and Andre Dupuis started Echo Bay Media 20 years ago to focus mainly on travel documentary TV production. Recently, they co-produced a mini-series about Japan. They shot with a Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera 6K, Pocket Cinema Camera 4K and URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2. The Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 was our main “A” Camera. Grading and post was completed with DaVinci Resolve Studio. read more...
Australian Bigfoot and Blackmagic Camera Attila Kaldy’s Track: Search for Australia’s Bigfoot is now streaming and on DVD. Produced by Sydney-based MoonLark Media, Attila takes us on a fascinating journey into the rugged Australian wilderness with an intrepid band of scientists and adventurers. Attila shot this documentary with the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, edited and graded in DaVinci Resolve Studio. read more...

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Factory Tours

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...

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New Products

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...
Canon CINE-SERVO 25-250mm T2.95-3.95 Zoom Canon’s new CINE-SERVO 25-250 mm T2.95-3.95 weighs a mere 6.7 lb and is about 11 inches long. It comes in PL or EF mount. Usually you don’t handhold a 10:1 zoom. This one you can. It covers Super35 and, with its built-in 1.5x Extender/Expander, Full Frame as well. In M.O.D. Mode, you can fill the frame with an image area about the size of a credit card. read more...
AJA U-TAP for Webcam The AJA U-TAP HDMI works as a great high-end webcam. You can attach many video or still cameras with an HDMI connector. AJA also makes an SDI version: U-TAP SDI. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a webcam with a really good camera, a lens worthy of your attention and tighter than The Revenant? Most likely, the built-in webcam on your laptop has the equivalent of 28mm Full Frame (18mm Super35) lens and the depth of field goes from here to eternity. The U-TAP changes all that. read more...
Atomos Ninja V + Z CAM + ProRes RAW 12-bit The Apple ProRes RAW "consortium" continues to grow. Atomos Ninja V 5” HDR monitor-recorders and Z CAM E2 cinema cameras will soon record 12-bit Apple ProRes RAW via HDMI up to 4Kp60. Atomos and Z CAM also announced development of touch-screen camera control on the Ninja V for E2 system cameras. The cameras can be operated and key settings adjusted from the Ninja V’s AtomOS touch screen. read more...
Codex Compact Drive Dock for ALEXA Mini LF Codex and ARRI introduce their new Thunderbolt 3 Compact Drive Dock. It can read ARRI ALEXA Mini LF Compact Drive Media up to 20 Gb/sec. That is 2.5x faster than the currently-shipping Compact Drive USB-C Reader. The Codex Compact Drive Dock lets you offload ARRI ALEXA Mini LF data much faster than ever before. Combined with Codex Device Manager and HDE (High Density Encoding), downloads are easy and reliable. read more...
Mole LED Spacelites and 20K LED The next generation of Mole-Richardson Co. LED Spacelites will debut in 2020 — the Varispace 2 and Varispace 4. With power draws of 350 watts for the Varispace 2, and 900 watts for the Varispace 4, they are designed as LED alternatives to the Mole 2000 watt and 6000 watt quartz Spacelites. read more...
ERM Wireless Range Extenders for ARRI Seen at BSC Expo 2020, ERM Radio Modules by FoMa Systems let you work with ARRI and cmotion hand units, as well as SRH Remote Heads, at greater wireless distances from the camera. The ERM system works in pairs: one as a transmitter and the other as a receiver, using spread spectrum frequency-hopping technology for a long range and secure conncection. The rugged housings are built to withstand rough setups and car rigs, as they did on "Ford v Ferrari" and "Fast & Furious 9." read more...
Sony FX9 V2.0 Updates Sony PMW-FX9 gets additional capabilities with Firmware Update V2.0. The download will be available later this year. Key features include additional Frame Rates for Full Frame and Super 35 internal recording—especially DCI 4K 4096 x 2160. 16-bit RAW Output when using a Sony XDCA-FX9 Extension Unit. Create your own 3D LUTs and import up to 16 of them from an SD card.Improved Auto Focus and Eye AF. Touchscreen focus control. Touchscreen menu settings. Base ISO-High is increased to 102,400 ISO. And more. read more...