Monthly Archives: September 2020
LEITZ PRIME Lenses
LEITZ PRIME lenses have been described as “cinematic with an iconic confluence of coatings, glass, design, art and craft.” Development began in 2015. In 2019, I remember rhapsodizing, “LEITZ PRIME lenses has the look of glowing, lusciously smooth skin tones, detailed details where you want them—sharp eyelashes and eyebrows—with silky sympathetic focus roll-off, gently tempered depth of field dimensionality, impressionistic luminous backgrounds, beautiful bokeh and harmonious contrast.
Tags: LEITZ PRIME, LEITZ PRIME Lenses
LEITZ ZOOM Lenses
All four lines of LEITZ Full Frame / Large Format / Leica Format cine lenses are delivering now. The M 0.8 series was introduced in 2016. THALIA came next, in 2017. September 2018 saw a new set of unnamed and untouchable Leica Format prime lenses inside a locked glass case at IBC. The name came in February 2019: LEITZ PRIME. Shortly after, LEITZ ZOOM lenses were announced. Here are the zooms.
Tags: LEITZ ZOOM, Lenses, MacroLux
P.A.T. Lens Charts
Stéphane Paillard is a former Camera Operator and Camera Assistant who turned his sharp knowledge into a thriving business designing and supplying high-tech lens charts and essential accessories. His company P.A.T-Accessories (Prêt à Tourner—Ready to Shoot) is a few miles from the location where the Lumière Brothers shot The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station with their Cinematograph in 1895. P.A.T. charts let you check the resolution of a lens or the camera’s sensor. read more…
Canon EOS C70 4K Super35 Cine Camera
September 24, 2020. The press release reads: “Canon is excited to announce the company’s first-ever RF mount Cinema EOS camera, the EOS C70 4K Digital Cinema Camera. When the Canon RF mount was first introduced, imaging professionals began to dream about the possibilities that this revolutionary mount system might provide them. One request that Canon consistently heard was to put an RF mount on a Cinema EOS camera so that future lens performance could capitalize on the short flange depth. Just two short years later, those wishes have come true with the new C70 camera.” read more…
ARRI Signature Zooms
September 23, 2020. ARRI introduces four Signature Zoom lenses: 16-32 mm T2.8, 24-75 mm T2.8, 45-135 mm T2.8, and 65-300 mm T2.8 (110.5-510 mm T4.95 with dedicated 1.7x extender). They cover Large Format / Full Frame and have LPL mounts. So, now there is an ARRI Signature lens system consisting of four Signature Zooms and sixteen Signature Primes. Signature Primes were unveiled concurrently with ALEXA LF at BSC Expo in February 2018. First customer deliveries began in May 2018 with the 35, 47, 75 and 125 mm primes. Then, during every following month in 2018, at least one or two additional focal lengths shipped. By the end of 2018, I think delivered sets already consisted of thirteen lenses. Three more Signature Primes arrived in 2019; they were unique: 12, 15, and 280 mm. I cannot recall an introduction of so many cine lenses in such a short time. Pre-production 45-135 and 65-300 Signature Zooms have landed. read more…
ALEXA Mini LF Update 9/20 & SUP 6.0.22
ALEXA Mini LF — September 2020 ARRI ALEXA Mini LF manufacturing continues apace. ARRI sent the following notice in the ARRI newsletter, summarized here: A limited number of ALEXA Mini LF cameras have experienced errors. ARRI now offers fixes: a camera Software Update Package and a Compact Drive firmware update. If you still experience issues after having done both of… read more…
Takumi 40.6 – 332 mm Full Frame
Musashi Optical System Company is located in Saitama, Japan. Their expanders, extenders and optical adapters are well known, including the OptMag, OptMag Plus and OptMore. Now, Mushashi-Opt presents their new Takumi 40.6-332 mm T4.8 Full Frame zoom lens.
Leica M10-R — 40 Megapixel Sensor
March 1914, Wetzlar. Oskar Barnack completes the prototype of his Liliput camera, the “Ur-Leica. It shoots 36×24 mm (Full Frame) stills, using 35mm cine film positioned horizontally. March 1925. The Leica I begins serial production and is introduced at the Leipzig Fair. The format is called Leica Format. 1930: the Leica I gets a 39 mm diameter threaded mount for interchangeable lenses and looking back, can be called a primordial ILMC—Interchangeable Lens Mirrorless Camera. 1932: the Leica model C standardizes on a Flange Focal Depth of 28.8 mm. 1954. The first M series Leica Camera, with a bayonet mount, is introduced at Photokina. Flange Focal Depth is now 27.8 mm and the mount’s Inside Diameter is 44 mm. July 2020: Leica Camera introduces the latest in their long line of M cameras–the M10-R has a new 40 Megapixel sensor.
Panalight Rome and Milan Reopen
As part of J. L. Fisher’s ongoing RHC (Refined Hydraulic Control) upgrade program, Wick Hempleman was scheduled to travel to Rome on March 17th and stay for a few weeks, tending to clients in Rome and Milan. On March 10th, his flights were cancelled. In June, the lockdown eased across Europe. It looked like work would be cautiously restarting in Italy in July. David Jarratt and Carlo Loreti, Panalight Managing Directors, wanted to get their fleet of dollies upgraded and ready to return to work. So, Wick got in his car and drove from his base in Cologne to Rome — a two day trip.
Getting Back to Work
You probably tried to read various guidelines on going back to work on set or location. Your skepticism increased with each “it is highly recommended.” And you plowed through additional palaverous proposals of precautions for picking up production. Now, I’m no more qualified to give advice on getting back to work or working safely than some of the “experts” and magical thinkers expounding on TV, despite my few years in pre-med studies and a healthy skepticism of sheltering in place in a stunt coordinator’s “designated safe zone.” That’s too often the place where debris unexpectedly lands from an exploding car in a movie stunt, despite assurances to the contrary.
ARRI Lightweight Lens Support LLS-1
The sun is swiftly setting and you are scrambling with five more setups until wrap. You’re changing lenses faster than a short-order cook. But where are those essential lens supports? Instead of excavating the depths of the Bermuda Triangle that is your Camera Assistant bag, use ARRI’s versatile, adjustable lens support. The Lightweight Lens Support LLS-1 secures lenses with diameters from 39 mm to 153 mm. That’s a wide range from primes without support threads to big zooms.
Roger Cicala, Founder of Lensrentals
In an interview with Jon Fauer, Lensrentals founder Roger Cicala discusses how he started out as a medical doctor. “I was born in New York. We moved to Memphis. I started in trauma critical care. After six years of that, I retrained in pain management, anesthesia and worked in a neurosurgery group. I wrote five textbooks on medicine and about 60 scientific articles. All that time, my hobby was photography and that’s how I ended up shifting over to what I’m doing now: writing, testing and working with camera equipment.” read more…
Tags: Lensrentals, Roger Cicala
Interview with Michel Suissa, The Studio – B&H
This episode of “The Business of the Business” is an interview with Michel Suissa, General Manager of The Studio – B&H. Michel discusses what has changed at The Studio and what he thinks will change in the future. Topics include Super35 and Full Frame, Primes and Zooms, high-end and affordable, lighting, fiber networks, 5G, remote camera operating, social distancing and more. read more…
9/11. 19 years.
19 years later, I still have nightmares about this. Not long before the towers crumbled, we were on top—shooting a commercial for the World Trade Center. The spot featured Bobby Short playing the piano and singing “You’re the Top” by Cole Porter. As an over-the-top agency concept, the initial plan was to airlift a grand piano to the top of… read more…
Canon EOS R5 and EOS R6
Canon launched the EOS R System in Hawaii on Sept 5, 2018 with the Full-Frame Mirrorless EOS R camera and RF lenses. At that time, it was made clear that there would be more to come. The more affordable EOS RP was released in March 2019. For the third act in the EOS R series, Canon introduced the R5 and R6 cameras on July 9, 2020. Both cameras are weather, dust and spray resistant. My favorite feature, carried from the original R, is the mechanical shutter that completely covers and protects the sensor from dust when changing lenses (when the camera is turned off). All cine and mirrorless still cameras should have this.
Tags: Canon, Canon EOS R5, Canon EOS R6, EOS R System
ARRI Bicycle Grip Adapters
Philip Vischer started out as a Camera Assistant, Focus Puller and Camera Operator. Next he worked as a camera rental manager and head of sales. These positions surely influenced the thoughtful designs he undertook in the latest phase of his career, as ARRI PCA (Pro Camera Accessories) Product Manager for more than the past ten years.Here are some of the latest Professional Camera Accessories from ARRI, including the BGA-2 and BGA-2. Note that these accessories are camera agnostic. read more…
Nicol Verheem on Creativity, Content and Coping
Nicol Verheem, Founder & CEO of Teradek and CEO of Creative Solutions discusses getting back to work and how entertainment methods will change and creativity. “I’d like to make the case that getting back to work in the media industry, and maybe in Hollywood specifically, is very important for all of us to prevent a landslide change that could permanently damage the industry that we know and love and are part of. Certainly, you have to walk a fine line and balance human lives. It’s not just economic interests. I do see a few outcomes in which we can make a difference as a group. We may even become stronger as a result and play a larger role in society.” read more…
John Brawley and The Great New 12K Camera
Grant Petty introduced the Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro 12K on July 16, 2020. It has a 12,288 x 6,480 12K Super35 image sensor, 14 stops of dynamic range, and shoots up to 60 fps in 12K at 80 megapixels per frame as well as 8K up to 110 fps, and 4K DCI full sensor up to 110 fps. One of the first cinematographers to try it was “The Great” John Brawley (who shot “The Great.”) His demo footage showed silky smooth skin tones, gorgeous color and low to no noise. read more…
Huzzah. John Brawley and “The Great”
“The Great” is a bawdy farce streaming on Hulu, with Elle Fanning as the Empress of Russia and Nicholas Hoult as the Emperor. The creator, writer and producer Tony McNamara described this “occasionally true story” as being about a woman who wakes up and realizes that she’s in a really bad marriage. John Brawley was the cinematographer on 5 of the 10 episodes and he discusses how they captured this “punk history”drama in a contemporary way using ARRI ALEXA SXT and Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 cameras, with Cooke S5/i and ZEISS Super Speed lenses. read more…
FUJINON Premista 19-45 T2.9 Zoom – Updated
FUJIFILM announces the third lens in their FUJINON Premista line of lightweight Full Frame zooms.
The new 19-45 mm T2.9 fulfills the demand for a wide zoom for documentary handheld shooting, Steadicam, aerials, underwater, on gimbals, remote heads and drones.
The 19-45 is 10% shorter and 14% lighter than its siblings, the Premista 28-100 mm T2.9 and Premista 80-250 mm T2.9-3.5. This is quite a feat for a short, wide zoom. The 19-45 has Cooke /i and ZEISS eXTended Data.
These are preliminary specsfor the 19-45 and will be updated when confirmed. The 19-45 is scheduled to ship in early 2021. read more…
