Hello 2012! 2011 had some fun stuff going on... you've got some pretty big shoes to fill...
2011 Highlights:
*I got married.
*I worked on a nice variety of documentary, art, industrial and commercial work. New territory included some great transmedia work with Kinetic Fin, and my return to commissioned film (doc for hire sort of stuff).
*I finished up work on a compelling documentary, "Different Is The New Normal." This was a great film on a boy with Tourette's Syndrome and aired on PBS in the fall.
*I attached myself to a very important documentary-in-progress, "Coached Into Silence."
*I bought a home and subsequently set up a sweet gear storage setup in my new garage.
*I shot (2nd) an episode of Animal Planet's "Confessions: Animal Hoarding."
All in all, I had a great year, both professionally and personally. Let's hope 2012 continues the positive trend.
CHIN CHIN!
Showing posts with label ferrari. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ferrari. Show all posts
05 January, 2012
10 June, 2011
26 April, 2011
Russian Invasion!
A few weeks ago I traveled to Nürburg, Germany with Kinetic Fin to shoot material for a documentary series on Jim Glickenhaus and his Ferrari P 4/5 Competizione, a remarkable one-off supercar. In June, the car will compete in the 24 Hours Nürburgring endurance race. Last week was qualifying and testing.
Going into this first trip (we'll be going again for the 24H, and possibly one more time before), very few details were known by the crew. Where were we to stage? Where could we shoot from? What exactly is the schedule for the race? We knew the car, we knew what it set out to do in Nürburg, but we were in the dark as far as logistics went. So we considered this trip somewhat of a scout and just went into it open-minded, ready to adapt.
I knew that even if there were prime press areas to shoot from, I'd need a lens on the long end to get great shots of the car and the action. I already had an 80-300mm zoom in my arsenal, but it's a long and thin beast and can get a bit wobbly on occasion. Ideally, I'd use that on rods with a lens support but with Kinetic Fin, we like to roll light and scaled back as much as possible. Also, I wanted closer than 300mm. Enter the Russian-made Zenit 3M-5CA 500mm f/8 lens...
This beast is a reflex lens, that is, it accomplishes its focal length with the use of mirrors in the lens, rather than the traditional design. This allows it to be lighter and -let's not dance around it- cheaper than comparable-length telephotos. The problems with reflex lenses are that you usually sacrifice some contrast and the bokeh is ellipsoidal. The bokeh thing was not a problem for me. I don't mind interesting stuff going on back there. The contrast issue, however, was a concern. So I researched and researched and stumbled upon the Zenit. A few videos later and I was sold. A quick search found me a mint one for a reasonable price and a week later, I had the lens in my hand...
As you can see from the video, it holds up nicely. Being on the longer end, there is considerable "jello" (DSLR sensor-related wobble) but while following fast cars or completely locked off, that is hardly an issue. The biggest problem I found was that the lens is a fixed-aperture lens. It's f/8 and f/8 only. Normally, I would've loved to stop down on a long lens like this and increase my DoF. But of course, compromises must be made if you want to save literally thousands of dollars on a telephoto lens like this. So I had to rack focus. Luckily there was time to practice - if I had to roll live, this would not have been the ideal lens, but shooting to edit leaves room to rehearse your shots and practice your racks... let me tell you, maintaining focus on cars going this fast towards and then past you is no easy task.
Going into this first trip (we'll be going again for the 24H, and possibly one more time before), very few details were known by the crew. Where were we to stage? Where could we shoot from? What exactly is the schedule for the race? We knew the car, we knew what it set out to do in Nürburg, but we were in the dark as far as logistics went. So we considered this trip somewhat of a scout and just went into it open-minded, ready to adapt.
I knew that even if there were prime press areas to shoot from, I'd need a lens on the long end to get great shots of the car and the action. I already had an 80-300mm zoom in my arsenal, but it's a long and thin beast and can get a bit wobbly on occasion. Ideally, I'd use that on rods with a lens support but with Kinetic Fin, we like to roll light and scaled back as much as possible. Also, I wanted closer than 300mm. Enter the Russian-made Zenit 3M-5CA 500mm f/8 lens...
This beast is a reflex lens, that is, it accomplishes its focal length with the use of mirrors in the lens, rather than the traditional design. This allows it to be lighter and -let's not dance around it- cheaper than comparable-length telephotos. The problems with reflex lenses are that you usually sacrifice some contrast and the bokeh is ellipsoidal. The bokeh thing was not a problem for me. I don't mind interesting stuff going on back there. The contrast issue, however, was a concern. So I researched and researched and stumbled upon the Zenit. A few videos later and I was sold. A quick search found me a mint one for a reasonable price and a week later, I had the lens in my hand...
As you can see from the video, it holds up nicely. Being on the longer end, there is considerable "jello" (DSLR sensor-related wobble) but while following fast cars or completely locked off, that is hardly an issue. The biggest problem I found was that the lens is a fixed-aperture lens. It's f/8 and f/8 only. Normally, I would've loved to stop down on a long lens like this and increase my DoF. But of course, compromises must be made if you want to save literally thousands of dollars on a telephoto lens like this. So I had to rack focus. Luckily there was time to practice - if I had to roll live, this would not have been the ideal lens, but shooting to edit leaves room to rehearse your shots and practice your racks... let me tell you, maintaining focus on cars going this fast towards and then past you is no easy task.
Anyway, I managed and got what I needed for the job. I'm definitely looking forward to shooting with this bad boy again in June. Here are some selects using this lens (there's a lot more good stuff on this lens but until the film comes out, I'm limited to what I can show).
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