Cooke Varotal/i FF in Industry City Video
Took a Look at Cooke Varotal/i FF Zooms
FDTimes looked at Cooke Varotal/i FF Zooms on VENICE 2 at Industry City, in Brooklyn, NY. You can see the 4K video on YouTube at: youtu.be/zF-5mThr0j0
and on Vimeo: vimeo.com/766754992 read more…
NAB Show New York 2022
10/19/22 – 10/20/22
NAB Show New York 2022: NAB Show New York 2022
Education: October 17-20, 2022
Exhibits: October 19-20, 2022
Javits Center in New York City
200+ Exhibitors
Show Floor Hours:
- Wednesday, October 19 | 10 m. – 6 p.m.
- Thursday, October 20 | 10 m. – 5 p.m.
“Top Gun: Maverick,” Miranda, Lenses, Cameras
The camera and lens list on TOP GUN: MAVERICK is long. As Admiral Cain, played by Ed Harris, asked, “Why is that?”
Claudio Miranda, ASC replied, “It’s one of life’s mysteries.” Seriously, Joe Kosinski, our Director, wanted to shoot Full Frame. SIGMA covered the wide end, and the Master Primes covered the long end. We were using the SIGMAs from 14mm to 50mm. The Master Primes in those focal lengths don’t cover Full Frame. But the 50, 75, 100 and 150mm Master Primes do cover Full Frame. In terms of sharpness and resolution, they’re pretty close. In grading, even if things are just a little bit off, you can kind of blend them all in.
September FDTimes Supply Chain
I thought supply chain delays involved semiconductors and electronics. Who expected paper to also be in short supply. So, the latest September edition of FDTimes hopefully ships next week. If you were at IBC, you may have picked up a copy of the EU edition printed in Amsterdam.
Please download the online PDF edition while waiting for printed copies. Sorry for the delay. read more…
How Hugo Looks – Wide Open, No Excuses
Sept 5 – 8, 2022. The nice folks at Leitz invited a coterie of cinematographers and camera assistants to visit Wetzlar for eyes-on time with Hugo, Elsie and Henri, along with factory tours, fine food and flowing refreshments.
Hugo is the new Leitz series of Leica Format (Full Frame) cine prime lenses: 21, 24, 28, 35, 50, 75, 90 mm — all T1.5. There is an additional 50mm T1.0 lens and an 18mm and 135 are in the works.
Leica optical designer Peter Karbe was there. “Shoot wide open, no excuses,” he said. And so I did, all wide open “with a wrench” at T1.5. To see how Hugo looks, here are some ungraded 4K portraits taken with the 90mm and 75mm Hugo primes. read more…
Leitz LPL Mount for VENICE
What is a DP or Rental House to do? You have a new set of Leitz Hugos or Elsies or other LPL mount lenses and want to use them on a Sony VENICE or VENICE 2. But VENICE cameras only come with a native E-mount and a PL mount that screws in front. (Recent ARRI ALEXA Cameras have LPL mounts.) Now, Leitz has designed and built an LPL mount for Sony VENICE and VENICE 2. It fits in place of Sony’s original PL mount and attaches with 6 screws. Lens metadata is fully functional; /i data is recorded directly by VENICE. read more…
Leitz Hugo Leica Format Cine Lenses
Hugo joins Leitz Primes, Elsie and Henri in the eponymous family of cine lenses and finders at Ernst Leitz Wetzlar.
Hugo Wehrenfennig, a talented mechanical engineer, helped design many early M Mount lenses and created the original Leica M Mount. Its four-pronged bayonet assembly was essential to Leica’s new M3 camera, introduced at Photokina in 1954. The M mount has connected Leica M cameras and M lenses to this day.
September 6, 2022. Ernst Leitz Wetzlar introduces the Leitz Hugo series of cine prime lenses. The initial set of 7 consists of 21, 24, 28, 35, 50, 75, 90 mm — all T1.5. There is an additional 50mm T1.0 lens in the series. They are expected in Q1 2023. read more…
ALEXA 35 Software Update 1.0.3 Revision 4
August 11, 2022. ARRI posted a new maintenance update for ALEXA 35 cameras today: ALEXA 35 SUP 1.0.3 Revision 4.
(Go to arri.com and navigate to Service >Firmware > Software and Firmware Updates for Cameras > ALEXA 35 SUP 1.0.3)
As stated in the notes: “ALEXA 35 SUP 1.0.3 Revision 4 is a maintenance release and contains important bugfixes and improvements to system stability (and is more recent than) ALEXA 35 SUP 1.0.3 Revision 3, which was installed on the first cameras that were shipped. There are no new features. We recommend updating for all customers.” read more…
Cine Fest West. Postponed
The folks who organize BSC Expo are heading to Santa Monica. Cine Fest West is planned for September 16-17 at the event space of Santa Monica Airport. Presumably it will be outdoors, in tents and under Easy-Ups. Claire and Rob Saunders said, “The festival will offer an exciting mix of festival, learning opportunities, networking, roundtable sessions, and product demos, all in one unique event, read more…
Tags: Cine Fest West
Teradek RT MDR.S Motor Driver
Teradek RT MDR.S is a tiny receiver+control unit to drive lens motors. I guess the “S” in MDR.S could stand for small or stylish. You can control a single motor or daisy-chain up to 3 motors—for focus, iris and zoom. Short cables minimize clutter. MDR.S works with Teradek’s CTRL.1 single channel or the CRTL.3 three channel hand unit. Maximum line-of-sight range is 5,000 ft. MDR.S is ridiculously lightweight: a mere 2.4 oz. read more…
Jean-Marie Lavalou: March 9, 1946 – July 15, 2022
Jean-Marie Lavalou passed away on July 15 at the age of 76. Jean-Marie Lavalou was the co-creator of the first remote control camera system for the motion picture industry, the LOUMA.
Jean-Marie was born into the family of La Fromagerie Lavalou in Le Bourg-Saint-Léonard, Normandy, France. With a passion for film from an early age, he went to Paris to attend the prestigious film school École nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière (ENS Louis-Lumière), graduating in 1968. During his national service in the French navy film department, Jean-Marie met Alain Masseron. Together, they created previously unseen camera movements while making a film inside a submarine by attaching the camera to the end of a wooden pole and tracking through the narrow vessel. Jean-Marie received the Sci-Tech Academy Award of Merit in 2005 with his co-inventors. read more…
Webb Space Telescope’s first full-color images
James Webb Space Telescope’s first full-color images. Streaming July 12:
Four SmallHD Monitors for Focus Pullers
As focus gets more critical, you may want more pixels or a larger screen. Here’s a rundown of 4 SmallHD Monitors for Focus Pullers and other people: Cine 7, Cine 13, Cine 18, Cine 24. Cine 7 is a high-bright HD touchscreen monitor. The 13, 18 and 24 are high-bright 4K monitors. And with PageOS 5 software, they get the EL Zone exposure tool by Ed Lachman, ASC.
ECU, 4K, Full Frame, 135mm prime wide open at T1.4. Your 7-inch monitor is great, but you may want a larger 4K monitor of size and resolution to guide you in the realm of eyelash-thin, millimeter depth of focus. As depth gets smaller, focus-pullers get larger monitors.
These monitors are not just for Focus Pullers, of course — DPs, Camera Operators, Directors, DITs, Producers and Clients love them as well. read more…
Euro Cine Expo Munich
7/1/22 – 7/2/22
Euro Cine Expo Munich: Zenith Hall, Munich
From the nice folks who produce BSC Expo, a new event comes to Munich on July 1 and 2, 2022. Euro Cine Expo has exhibits, seminars, panels and screenings for anyone involved in motion picture or TV production. It is located in the Zenith Hall, on the northern edge of Munich. Registration: https://eurocineexpo.com/registration/
Tags: Euro Cine Expo Munich
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K G2
June 23, 2022. G2 is for Generation 2.
Blackmagic Design launched their Pocket Cinema Camera 6K G2 today, the second generation of the original Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K introduced in October 2019.
What’s different?
The new Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K G2 is almost the same as the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro (launched in February 2021) — lacking only the internal Clear, ND.6, ND1.2 and ND1.6 filters. The body is the same. Both cameras have an adjustable, tiltable 5-inch 1500 nit 5” 1920 x 1080 LCD touchscreen display. They both accept Blackmagic’s superb Pocket Cinema Camera Pro OLED EVF.
SIGMA 16-28mm F2.8 DG DN | Contemporary Zoom
SIGMA’s optical prowess continues to impress. Their new 16-28mm F2.8 DG DN | Contemporary Wide-Angle Zoom Lens (at left) is almost the same size and weight as its companion 28-70mm F2.8 DG DN | Contemporary Zoom (at right). If the best lens is the one that’s light and small enough to put in your jacket pocket, and has exceptional imaging quality, then the 16-28 is the wide zoom you’ll want to join the 28-70 that was released in March 2021.
Both lenses are for Full Frame mirrorless cameras and come in Sony E-mount or Leica/ SIGMA/Panasonic L-Mount.
Wide and fast zoom lenses are usually not this petite. The 16-28mm F2.8 DG DN | Contemporary maintains sharpness to the edges, with no shading (darkening of the edges). A few weeks ago I was gushing over the rectilinear, unbending lines of SIGMA’s 20mm F2 DG DN | Contemporary prime. Now, here’s a lens that’s wider, is almost as small, and is a zoom. read more…
Darius Khondji, ASC, AFC receives Angénieux Cinematography Tribute at Cannes
Angénieux hosts the “Pierre Angénieux Tribute” every year at the Cannes Film Festival to celebrate an exceptional cinematographer’s career. Darius Khondji ASC, AFC receives the ninth Pierre Angénieux Cinematography Tribute this year at Cannes on May 27, 2022.
Previously, Darius appeared on the cover of the February 2012 edition and in an interview about Midnight in Paris; in a February 2013 article about Philippe Parreno’s Marilyn; an ALEXA 65 article in June 2017; and an article by Chris Silano and Olga Abramson about focusing for Darius on Uncut Gems in July 2020.
We spoke a few weeks ago. read more…
FDTimes June Issue #115 Goes Online May 31 @ 12:05pm EDT; 9:05 am PDT; 6:05 pm CET
You may ask, why was FDTimes serially missing from BSC Expo and AFC Micro Salon and NAB? Some of you mischievously bestowed virtual awards for the most minimalistic, unoccupied booth at NAB. A new ARRI camera is the reason why.
The 96-page camera report goes online here, top left of the home page on Tuesday, May 31, at 12:05 pm EDT; 9:05 am PDT; 6:05 pm CET. read more…
AbelCine Spring Tech Showcase NY
The AbelCine Spring Tech Showcase, at their Industry City, Brooklyn location took place on Saturday, May 21. It was an enjoyable, focused, not-massive, local event — a full day of exhibits by the major camera, lens and lighting manufacturers, panel discussions and tech sessions. It was the premiere of the new BLACKWING7 amber skin lens variant from TRIBE7. Jay Holben was there, signing his definitive and encyclopedic The Cine Lens Manual. Canon showed their new T2.4 Flex Full Frame zooms. Tim Smith showed how seamless and simple it was to customize Angenieux Optimo Primes with their swappable internal element, swappable irises, front and rear filters. Motion Impossible’s remote controlled, modular, motorized Agito dolly glided through the halls, navigated by Ben Dair, Chief Product Officer. read more…
Koerner PNW Lens Summit 2022
Koerner Camera Systems hosted the 4th 2022 Pacific Northwest Lens (PNW) Summit on May 13-14 in their large Portland, Oregon rental headquarters. Michael Koerner, the company owner, called it “A celebration of cinema-lens technology and education.” Cooke’s Danny Haikin, who flew in from London called it “A wonderful, massive lens geek-out.”
Around 30 exhibitors displayed their products, mostly lenses. More than 300 industry visitors arrived from as far away as New Zealand.
A day before the main event, lens technicians attended hands-on lens training classes taught by lens maestros. Instructors donated their time, so the technicians attended the training for free. read more…
