- Matty Libatique, ASC on The Prom
- Chris Menges, ASC, BSC on Waiting for the Barbarians
- Steven Meizler on The Queen’s Gambit
- Joshua James Richards on Nomadland
- Vance Burberry: Five Blackmagic Cameras, No Waiting
- Teradek and Amimon Sci-Tech Awards
- The Business of the Business: Jon Fry, MD CVP
- Sony FX3
- AJA T-TAP Pro
- Gods of Focus: Richie Masino
- AbelCine and Motion Impossible’s AGITO
- Louma 2 Stories
- Chrosziel Motor for Angenieux EZ 1 & EZ 2
- and lots more
- —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.- 11 ZEISS Radiance PrimesAnd now there are 11. Initially, 7 ZEISS Supreme Prime Radiance (SPR) lenses were introduced in June 2019. Inevitably, cinematographers asked for more. Now, just short of 2 years later, ZEISS introduced 4 more Supreme Prime Radiance lenses. ZEISS Supreme Prime Radiance lenses artistically emphasize ghosting (flares). They are consistent across the entire set. They are based on Supreme Primes but have a warmer color tone. And no, they are not simply the same Supremes with coatings removed. There is no loss of light and no uncontrolled “white-out.” Instead, Radiance Primes have newly formulated T* Blue coatings. While there are 13 focal lengths in a set of Supremes, there are now 11 Radiance Primes, from 18 to 135 mm, all T1.5. read more...
- DJI FPV @ MIT
Jonathon Brearley, MIT Master of Architecture and colleagues fly the DJI FPV. " The FPV system’s precise navigation makes it feel extremely easy to position the drone in the sky. With this drone, the intention is to use the superb first-person-view (FPV) goggles that provide the pilot with a high definition stream of the 150˚ FOV drone camera. The goggles are so immersive, if you’ve had dreams of being a bird, free to roam the skies, this might be the closest you’ll get with your feet planted safely on the ground. It’s slightly uncanny how natural the flight felt, especially the ability to assess depth and proximity of obstacles through the goggles, something I do not find easy to do while flying other phone-screen operated drones. read more... - Steven Meizler on “The Queen’s Gambit”
In its initial month of streaming, The Queen’s Gambit was viewed by 62 million households. These are Netflix numbers. Director Scott Frank has brought so much excitement to a story about chess and a conflicted prodigy that the New York Times headlined Marie Fazio’s review with “The Netflix show has reignited interest in the game and fueled demand for chess sets, accessories and timers.” Reviews were quick to extoll the beautifully lit and masterfully composed cinematography of Steven Meizler. And so— read more... - DMG DASH
Dash Dot Dot / Dash Dash / Dash Dash Dot.That's Morse code for DMG as in DMG Lumiere.And now, DASH is the brilliant new pocket LED light fixture from DMG Lumiere by Rosco. It is housed in a rugged aluminum housing that can endure most production scenarios. DASH can all be controlled with the myMIX app for iOS, Android and APK. DASH is tiny (5" x 3.1" x 1.1") but powerful (up to 35 footcandles at 3.3 feet / 380 Lux at 1 meter.) read more... - Jeff Cree 1951 – 2021
Jeffrey Allen Cree passed away on January 13, 2021 at home in Santa Clarita, California. He was born December 10, 1951 in Modesto, California. His first job ewas at KGO, an ABC owned and operated TV station in San Francisco. Next, Jeff traveled the world as an ABC news cameraman. His exploits became legendary and as his friend George Lang said, “Almost all of them are true." Jeff joined Sony in San Jose, California in the 1990s and then moved with the Sony team to New Jersey. His next excellent adventure continued at Band Pro Film & Digital in 2002 as CTO. There will be a Zoom tribute to Jeff on Wed Feb 24, 2021 at 4:00 pm PST. read more... - Nicol Verheem and Teradek at Sci-Tech Awards
Saturday, February 13. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored 55 individuals and 2 companies in a virtual Scientific and Technical Awards (Sci-Tech) presentation. Three of these recipients are well-known to FDTimes readers. They graciously endured interviews. Here is the first of three: Nicol Verheem is the Founder & CEO of Teradek and CEO of Creative Solutions. read more... - Greg Smokler – Teradek – Sci-Tech Award
Greg Smokler is Vice President of Cine Products at Teradek. He grew up in LA, worked as a camera assistant, DP and ICG Local 600 Camera Operator. He was co-founder of Paralinx, the wireless video company, that was acquired by the Vitec Group. Today, Greg is responsible for Vitec’s Creative Solutions Cine business unit, which comprises Teradek, SmallHD, and Wooden Camera. Greg discusses his Sci-Tech Award. read more... - Dr. Zvi Reznic discusses Amimon’s Sci-Tech Award
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Scientific and Engineering Awards (Sci-Tech Academy Plaques) honored Dr. Zvi Reznic, Prof. Meir Feder, Guy Dorman and Ron Yogev. In the following interview, Dr. Reznic says, "It is a great honor for us to receive this award. Usually, only the people who develop the technology are aware of its level of sophistication, while the users are simply enjoying its merits. In this case, the Academy realized that what is simply described as 'low-latency robust wireless video' encompasses an enormous set of innovations, robustness layers, and creative engineering. read more... - Sci Tech Awards to Teradek and Amimon
SCIENTIFIC & TECHNICAL AWARDS 2020 (to be presented Saturday Feb 13, 2021).
Announced today by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: February 2, 2021. LOS ANGELES, CA — 17 scientific and technical awards will be presented in a virtual Scientific and Technical (Sci Tech) Awards presentation on Saturday, February 13, 2021 on the Oscars® website beginning at 1 p.m. Pacific Time. You can go to the website now to read summaries of the awards. 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
- Musashi-Opt 29-120 T2.9 Full Frame ZoomMusashi Optical System Co. Ltd announces the new Takumi 2 Full Frame 29-120 mm T2.9 PL-mount zoom lens. Musashi Optical System Co. Ltd is based in Saitama, Japan, about 20 km north of Tokyo. Founded in 2003 by former Fujinon executives, Musashi-Opt (as it is commonly called) is well-known for its OptMag and OptMore PL mount extenders and Full Frame expanders. In 2019, they introduced a Super35 23.9-195 mm T2.9 zoom lens. This was followed by the Takumi 1, a Full Frame 40.6 - 332 mm T4.8 PL-mount version of the lens. And now the Takumi 2 29-120 T2.9. read more...
- EL Zone by Ed Lachman ASC
Ed Lachman, ASC has come up with an incredibly intuitive, innovative and essential exposure tool. It’s called EL Zone, which stands for Exposure Log Zone — or Ed Lachman Zone.
Think of it as a spotmeter in your viewfinder or monitor. Toggle it on or off. Each stop of exposure is represented by a color. White shows areas of the scene that are over-exposed by 6 or more stops. 18% gray is normal-neutral. Black is under-exposed by 6 or more stops. read more... - Litepanels Gemini 1×1 Hard
Hard Soft. The new Litepanels Gemini Hard 1x1 is both hard and soft at the same time. This is not a paradox. It may remind you of a 5K Tungsten Fresnel, full spot through a 4x4 frame of 216 Diffusion. The light has intensity, punch, direction. And yet there is peripheral softness and fill. It is a very pleasing for portraits. Directional enough to punch through a studio fogger yet soft enough to avoid seraphic shafts. Bright and soft to light a studio sky of overhead rags. Perhaps in separate Space Light style: skirted, diffused or raw. The Gemini Hard 1x1 is bright. I measured 3660 lux / 340 footcandles at 10 feet and set to 5600K CCT. That’s T11/2 at 800 ISO, 24 fps. read more... - DJI Air 2s
The new DJI Air 2s combines thrill of flying and amazing image capture. It is nimble, amazing in low light, and super steady—even as a tripod in the sky. You can film in 5.4K or take 20 Megapixel stills. The one-inch sensor has 2.4 micron photosites — significantly larger than the Mavic Air 2 camera's 0.8 micron photosites. This contributes to gorgeous picture quality and great dynamic range. read more... - SIGMA fp L: 61 MP. Still. Cine. Director’s Finder. Webcam.
March 25, 2021. SIGMA Corporation CEO Kazuto Yamaki presented the SIGMA fp L as the sequel to fp and the world’s smallest and lightest full-frame digital single-lens mirrorless camera with a full-frame 61 MP sensor. The camera continues SIGMA’s fp development concept: smallest and lightest pocketable full-frame camera; seamless STILL/ CINE switch, and scalability. The optional EVF-11 OLED electronic viewfinder addresses many user requests. And, the SIGMA fp L is one of the best Director’s Finders you could possibly find. read more... - Panasonic LUMIX Firmware Updates
Panasonic LUMIX S Series and BGH1 cameras get firmware updates. Quick review: LUMIX S Series are Full Frame L-Mount mirrorless hybrid video/still cameras with compelling cine capabilities. BGH1 is a Micro Four Thirds versatile cube-shaped camera conducive to remote, drone, multi-camera, stunts and car rig coverage. Highlights include: S1H: 5.9K and 4K Blackmagic RAW 12-bit Full Frame recording with Blackmagic Video Assist 12G HDR. S1H: Anamorphic 3.5K 12-bit recording in Super35 format. S1: 12-bit ProRes RAW recording with Atomos Ninja V. BGH1: 12-bit ProRes RAW recording with Atomos Ninja V. (S1H and S5 already record ProRes RAW on Atomos Ninja V.) Additional video capabilities for S1. And lots more. read more... - AJA T-TAP Pro
Grass Valley, CA. AJA Video Systems releases T-TAP Pro. It’s small, sturdy, silent and sits inconspicuously between your Thunderbolt 3 computer's output and 4K TV or monitor's HDMI or SDI input. T-TAP Pro is about the size of a small box of Lipton Instant Soup Mix: 5” x 5” x 1” — and weighs about 8 ounces. Best of all, it is silent—quiet on set. The sound recordist will not be prowling in search of a noisy fan ruining whispered words in a dramatic, critical close-up. AJA T-TAP Pro is essentially the key to viewing 4K or HD via 12G-SDI or HDMI 2.0 inputs from from any supported Thunderbolt 3-enabled Mac or PC. (UHD and 2K as well.) read more... - Sony FX3: Cage-Free, Free Range
And now there are four.
The FX3 is the latest addition to Sony’s growing Cinema Line of cameras. They seem to be multiplying at an impressive rate. VENICE, FX9, FX6, FX3.
Sony explained the concept on Sept 2, 2020: “Cinema Line will deliver not only a coveted cinematographic look but also enhanced operability and reliability. The series will extend beyond traditional cinema camera and professional camcorder form factors.”
Here’s a cinema camera with a decidedly different form factor. Inside, the FX3 acts quite like Sony’s a7S III hybrid still and video camera. Outside, the FX3 has lots of 1/4-20 threads in a unibody rugged steel skeleton. The cage-free design begs you to mount this camera in all kinds of places where a single mounting point and add-on cage wouldn’t dare to thread. read more... - Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro
Three exciting things about the new the new Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro should get your heart racing and your fingers dialing to buy one:
Built in Clear, ND.6, ND1.2 and ND1.6 filters.
5" LCD Monitor tilts up and down
Optional (essential) 1280 x 960 color OLED viewfinder.
Unless you have the enviable close-up vision of a 12-year-old prodigy pointillist painter, squinting at a camera’s rear monitor held at arm’s length in bright daylight may not be your idea of the best way to discern framing and focus. read more... - Chrosziel Lens Projection with Metadata
read more...Chrosziel will host Zoom meeting webinars about lens metadata read-out on the Chrosziel lens test projector--and more--on Feb 19 and Feb 22. Topics include a short introduction to Chrosziel P-TP7 II; Metadata display of Cooke /i, ZEISS XD, and ARRI LDS; Latest lens service products and accessories (MFT, RF, Leica M, Nikon F, USB-Adapter, Reticles); Newly updated Chrosziel Collimator with CLC Mount.
New Products
Updated March 2021 Edition v1.02
March 2021: Issue 107
Updated Version 1.02 — typos corrected.
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