Next Day, More Good

A little excited I have added some genuine utility to my kit, I took the new lens for another wander this morning.

Determined to get on top of the close focus performance, something I had read was average wide open in most reviews, I needed to find it’s peak and where it is strongest.

Same scenario as yesterday, but AF set to be more precise, which is needed.

This is soft light, so you get soft contrast, but sharpness is there.

Something that struck me today is how much easier it is to get some of these images with M43 gear and the quality is often indistinguishable.

As soon as you get into that portrait range, it starts to really shine.

Accuracy sorted, getting what I want when I want it, which is the important thing for a working pro.

At the wide end, it holds well, maybe needing to be at it’s very close minimum focus before it falls apart. On the S5, it tens towards cool green.

Edges are fully usable.

I would not want a stable of these perfect but bland lenses, but it sure is nice to have one.

In mono, something I find tends to make or break a lens, the high micro contrast and lack of brilliance is handy a bit like the films I used to like and reminds me of my old NEX 7, which did great mono if not much else.

Gentle highlight roll-off if a nice feature for a mono shooter.

This image (from above) is a good example of the ability to open up a contrasty scene in mono without it looking pushed.

Here is my reminder. At f2.8, at even a decent distance, the close background is still soft, so no wonder my semi-macro’s were too shallow and twitchy to be useful by far.

The Sigma Has Arrived, Time To Stress A Little, Then Hopefully Relax.

The Sigma 28-70 f2.8 Contemporary has arrived. All a bit rushed and done befre I even had a chance to get my head around it, but it felt like the right fix for the right problem at the right time.

First impressions;

• Tight and true, very solid feeling.

• Heavy and reasonably long but slim, which is what I was after. It will effectively replace three primes with the footprint of a large M43 lens.

• Sharp? Still testing (see below).

My main take away after having it for only minutes is, it is a good fit on an S5/S5II, balanced and well proportioned, but to be honest, boring as bat sh&t.

Just a bit….bleagh.

Cannot help but say it, but there is nothing about this lens (cosmetically) that excites me. It is exactly what it needs to be, but on first sight, that is a lot dull. As a working tog, I know how little that matters, but still….. .

Using it, the real test.

AF performance is quick and quiet. I was not sure how good, but after trying the kit zoom straight after, it is as good for stills.

Optically, well, I must admit to being a bit of a dick here.

Armed with cameras I am not as familiar with using as my usual, intuitive kit, shot wide open and close in a format I use rarely (how soon we forget the lessons of decades), at high ISO’s hand held inside and on a windy day outside. The light was mixed, some soft, some cool, some bland.

Nothing was sharp! I had a dud! De-centred to hell!

How is my luck so bad I asked myself (after the poor 16mm Hope and soft down one side 35-100 Pana a couple of years ago), but I also know that first impressions can be strange and misleading.

I was convinced years ago that early on I had a bad 40-150 f2.8, a lens I now consider one of my most reliably awesome.

I got some wins, but had to search for them.

Twitchy was the name of the day, but I knew that, using the settings I had chosen, or I should have.

I went back and processed todays work images and then with a slightly more realistic frame of mind, tried again.

The shot below and a far side crop was taken at F6.3 and yes, it is very, very sharp.

Back to f2.8, but not a semi-macro this time, more the sort of thing I bought it for.

This is the range I would actually use the lens at and it has all the elements I wanted, fast drop-off, sharp, contrasty, ideal for “cutting out” subjects in scenarios like the ball arrivals the other night.

I will admit it to all who are reading. I am not a huge fan of modern “perfect-but-flat” rendering lenses, but sometimes it is exactly what I need. That super creamy Bokeh and almost green screen-like cut away look is useful when you need it.

I also have to give it to the lens, it is boring on the outside, but the images are quite beautiful, if lacking a little brilliance.

Lovely feathery Bokeh interesting without being distracting.

Nice foreground Bokeh

Again, nice background Bokeh and rich contrast.

Lovely contrast and snap. Overall, a very harmonious look.

So, what am I seeing?

Strong contrast, very modern Bokeh dancing with high sharpness, good colour, nice balance if a bit predictable and slightly muted brilliance. A workhorse commercial lens.

A bit like the Sigma 30mm for M43, it is technically very sound, has some charm and does the expected job perfectly.

I usually like other types of lenses more, old fashioned lenses, lenses with some character and three dimensionality, but I need perfect lenses like these to get some jobs done as only they can.

The rendering is like the 15mm f1.7, but with versatility that I could only get with a M43 10-25 f1.7 at twice the price (and not as useful a range, meaning buying both) and it looks a little like the S Prime 85 f1.8, the lens it will be regularly partnered with.

The range is ideal. I have the 85 for true compression and avoid anything longer than 70 or wider than 28mm for “normal” images. I have 20-24 covered in the kit zoom when I need.

Full Frame Developments

I will admit, when things do not go to plan, sometimes full frame is just better to have to get you out of trouble.

Good light, no real difference (all else being equal) and the benefits of M43 shine, sometimes enough to do better in poor light even (like stupidly fast/long lenses not possible in full frame).

In low light, there is a slight quality drop, but not one that prohibits M43 from being used professionally, again the lens thing makes a lot of difference.

In very bad light, meaning mixed colours, poor light levels and high contrast, the sort of light where things just go wrong without flash or other lighting, full frame is capable of holding about 2 more stops of “life” in your files, even with the trade-off of less flash power*.

You do need to use decent glass to see a real difference, but even with a crummy kit lens, it can still be there. Sometimes, I just push M43 too far and know that full frame may have saved me in a far from ideal situation.

I did a big school ball the other day, the arrivals alone took two hours, shot with flash in pre-winter darkness. I wanted Panasonic colours, but the G9’s are not as AF reliable as Oly M43’s (I have found) and the G9II is rigged for video. So, S5II it was.

I shot them with the S5II and 20-60 kit lens because I was cramped-up and the cars were inconsistently placed on arrival. I had to work fast and precisely while providing all the flexibility at my end. It is easy to stand flat footed and zoom in these situations, so I needed to keep an eye on going too wide (28mm was the widest).

The background could get quite messy at F5 with cars stacked up, stragglers wandering past and the support staff in some shots.

The S5II and kit lens did not miss a shot, which was amazing as the lighting ranged from direct headlight glare to basically nothing but flash!

The focus hit every time, flare was handled as well as I have seen and the shots were sharp and controlled, even the ones that were taken a little wider than I would have liked.

I was also shooting at ISO 4000 to save flash battery, something I need not have done, as it mattered little, both the battery and the ISO were well within their respective comfort envelopes**.

I am sold on the specific camera (S5II) for these types of jobs, the G9II also would have done it I guess, but that cam is doing duty as my movement video camera where it’s RAW out and slightly better AF/Stabe are at their best.

The problem on the night was, I was using manual flash with a variable aperture lens and the depth of field of the lens (usually about f4.5 at 35mm, f5.6 soon after), was deep enough to force me to create a background mask to add blur and reduce exposure for all 150 arrivals shots, something my old laptop struggled with. Processing went from tens of minutes up to about 3 hours.

I had fast primes, but not room or control of composition enough to trust my widest (35mm) to be wide enough, nor did I want to miss the opportunity to use the more natural rendering that comes from 50mm or longer.

I am looking at a future where full frame will be my night and event core cameras, M43 for daylight and action (both supporting the other).

The second issue is more practical.

I am struggling to fit a full frame and several lenses in a bag, especially if my backup is an M43 kit. Even the oversized F-7 bag struggles to take two S series lenses, two cams and some M43 glass. A single standard zoom would sort the full frame, the M43 for the long end.

So, if full frame is drifting towards stills, a workhorse zoom is a must, the size of the lenses forcing it, but the variable aperture kit lens, as stellar as it is, is not that lens. I guess I should also point out that if this was an M43 lens (in depth of field terms) even the kit lens would be equivalent to an f1.8~2.8 zoom, but light is the issue here as much as depth of field otherwise I may as well use M43.

A full frame lens with a fixed f2.8 aperture would have blurred the background enough to fix most shots with safe depth of field and saved me a half a working day of processing as I would only have needed a little brush work on distracting lights***.

So, decent quality, a fixed aperture, not too big or expensive and not at odds with what I have already.

Options?

First, the 62/67mm filter thread options (to fit most of my filters).

Tamron VXD G2 28-75 f2.8. No L-mount available, or this would be the one. Cheaper than the Panasonic 24 prime alone, it is an improvement on a lens that basically matches it’s competition already. Not yet or maybe ever?

Tamron RXD 28-75 f2.8 is available in L-mount and this is the one that matches most, but I would rather wait for the G2 to come out, unless I get one at a ridiculously good price. Not the G2.

Sigma 28-70 f2.8 is the cheapest and smallest of the lot and well liked, sharper than the Panasonic 24-105, about the same as the RXD. Strong option and the best priced around.

These all fit well with the 20-60, which is strongest wide, the 85 prime and IRIX 150. I am happy with a kit zoom for wide applications and a manual focus macro/portrait tele, it’s the working middle I need to concentrate on.

Now the rest.

The Pana-Leica S Pro 24-70 f2.8, which is a monster in dimensions and price, but has a reputation for that Leica “X” factor and is built like a tank. It is older than most here, bigger, more expensive and now has some genuine Panasonic competition. It also lacks a stabiliser for video, although the weight alone would help. Too big and expensive.

Panasonic S 24-60 f2.8. For about $1000au less (but still way too expensive), this modernised gem is as sharp as the S Pro, but may lack that special something a Leica approved lens has and also it’s build quality, but it is about the same size as the 20-60 kit lens! This is probably best bought with a camera as the kitted lenses tend to be way cheaper, but I don’t need a camera. To expensive.

Panasonic 24-105 f4, this lens is the sort of lens that can realistically do almost all your work to a decent enough standard. A fixed, semi-fast f4 and sharp with the best range here as well as genuine macro. It is older so easily found second hand. In one lens I could have a reasonable indoor sports option, a better wide angle and a decent enough fixed aperture standard zoom. A kit bargain is also possible. Needs to be the right price.

A Sigma 24 f2 or f3.5. These would give me both a premium prime and a smaller lens than the Panas, for (in Australia) about 60% the price of the 24mm S and cheaper than any zoom. I could even use it as a dual focal length video lens in APS-C mode. Not sure this does anything.

The Tamron 24 f2.8, which is less than half the price of the Sigma 24’s, is a macro and very small and light. On a second body, it could have been the fix for the above scenario, but then again, so could have the the 20-60 kit on a second cam with the 35 on the main one. Maybe in addition to a 28-70?

There are others, like the 24-70 f2.8, 24-45 f1.8, 28-105 f2.8 Sigma’s, but all are really overkill for the need to be addressed.

Leaders at the moment are the solid and versatile 24-105 Pana at $1500au and the slightly better, but less useful 28-70 Sigma for about $1k au.

There is a risk the 35 and 50mm S primes and the 7Art cine lenses may be made redundant, but there is always room for specialist glass, once you have the basics covered.

Ed. So I bought the Sigma on sale with the Australian Sigma supplier with a free SD card and overnight freight for under 1k. It was impulsive, but felt right, was a bargain and hopefully will be covered by my tax return. The Pana was scarce in deals without a camera. I feel the Sigma is not ideal for video (but no slouch), but I am not buying for video.

*M43 gives you about 2 stops more depth of field which means you can often shoot groups “wide open” at f1.8 or f2, which means 2 power levels more flash grunt or less battery drain.

**Battery of the Godox 860 still showed 80% after these and about 500 more shots inside and the images are clean as you would need.

***the excellent Panasonic 10-25 f1.7 would have also, but at $2.5k au if I had gone this way full frame would not even be in the picture.

Football, My Bread And Butter (But Not My Cup Of Tea)

I am not a huge fan of the Australian game of football. Nothing personal, it just was not appealing when I was young and as I got older other sports grabbed me like Test Cricket and Rugby Union.

I do however, love to photograph it.

Few other sports are as easy to get good images from as Ozzie-rules footy.

Sometimes called “Aerial Ping-Pong”, the game tends to have plenty of tip of the finger moments.

The game has handling rules, like having to hand-ball, kick or punch the ball, but not throw it, you have to bounce it after a few steps, not tuck and run, but there is no off-side, so other than that, it is fairly free form and fast, meaning the play can come to you at any time.

A running game, a tackling game and above all a fast game.

At higher levels, the play is very open and fast, a bit like Basketball (my next favourite to photograph), at lower levels it tends to be more “scrum” like and the fickle oval ball kicked, punched or passed will always yield some unexpected results.

Drama is plentiful at any level of skill. In this game the strong home side dominated, but the nature of the game is still evident.

Unlike most other winter sports I have shot, it is not rigid, has no defined “front line” of action and each contest is a dramatic 1 to 1 tussle.

From a players perspective you can contribute no matter your size. There is room for the strong, the fast, the agile, but of course at the top level, all of these are expected.

It’s little wonder basketball players also make good AFL players, as speed and height (natural or post-jump) are both mandatory.

I am never going to be a full blown footy fan, but I will also never turn down a chance to shoot it.

So, This Is My Life Now?

One day recently, I walked into the den of the “enemy”, well not the enemy as such, more a competitor in a shared space, but a little drama boosts the story maybe?

I shoot the bulk of the stills images for the school that is my main employer, another, much more professional organisation shoot the video and stills when it is necessary for their needs and sometimes, my video ambitions aim at their space.

Realistic?

For much f what the school needs, absolutely and it was my intention to grow into that space and save them money, earn me some more and avoid the over kill that can happen when a specialist is called in to do little jobs.

Well, if I could not beat them, I decided to join them.

Impulsively, I walked in to their business and pressed my case as a possible video option and I guess maybe stills.

Stills, the thing I do while I think about video.

I cannot think when was the last time taking stills was something that I stressed over or even gave much thought to. Get the job, pick the gear, select a bag that go. Adaption is often needed, so adapt I do.

What came of the exchange was a surprise.

The company concerned has the contract for AFL Tasmania. AFL (Australian Rules Football) is the national winter sport, although these days there is a lot of competition.

They are video specialist, so often stills work is freelanced out. I am one of those it seems and it looks like their options are slim.

Anyway, I have next few weekends booked and the standard of games like yeserdays is only one level below national. Massive gallery below, but no apologies, I enjoyed it.

The 300 as usual shone, as did the 40-150 f2.8, making heavy crops possible.

Not sure where this is going, but I will ride it until it is done and no, I am not complaining.

The Past Revisited And Depth Increased....Maybe.

I have been offered a few bits of older Oly gear and testing has begun.

First up, an EM1 (mk1).

As a long term EM5 user (professionally even) the Em1 was a nostalgic revelation.

I bought into the M43 system on the release of the EM5 Mk1 and found the focus acquisition was fast enough to capture some sports, but the EM1 had phase detect AF, the holy grail of sports focussing systems, the system all SLR’s used. This was not a first for mirrorless (though close), but it was a first for M43.

I sold plenty of them, used them and was keen on one, but the cost and my contentment with the EM5’s saw me putting it off. The Mk2 came out with improvements across the board and when I was more ready and I jumped. That camera and the one after have done nearly 2 million frames between them and are still ticking.

The EM1 in question has had a gentler life. Petite compared to the later cams, a single card slot and the EM5’s old battery are interesting (handy also as the only other cam I use now that takes the 6 I have, is the Pen F) and it comes with an unused grip.

AF is fast in single shot mode, faster than the old EM5’s and close to as fast as the Mk2, but obviously slower than the EM1.2 or EM1x with tracking, but I knew that. Olympus raised the bar with the Mk2, one of the reasons I jumped and improvements since have been incremental.

It is worth remembering, the EM1 only predates the EM1x by 1 to 2 models, not a massively long time, even in early digital (although dual sensors in the EM1x give it ten times the image processing).

Image quality?

Basically the same as the EM5.1 which is plenty for most uses, solid and predictable. The first phase detect sensor was known to be noisier than the older, simpler sensor, another thing the Mk2 improved on, but there are signs of the good imager it is known to be.

I used the 45 f1.8 to test it, probably my most “known” property and a lens that actually pre-dates it. The first image below is actually one of my most satisfying of a regular inspiration.

My gut feeling on this one is the files are very slightly less smooth and simple than the EM5.1’s, a little pushed and processed, likely in response to the phase detect pixel strain being compensated for, but that solid performance of the older cams is there and something I do like about these sensors is their robust handling of low/mixed light.

I noticed a few years ago that the EM5’s handled bad lighting very well compared to some newer cams that seemed “busier”. They may be a little noisier, but did not produce ugly or looking stressed files and a test with ON1 No Noise 2024 produced surprisingly clean and workable files at ISO 6400 and above.

A crop from above and yes, good enough for most (really any) real world uses.

Next, the lens that came with it is the 14-54 SLR lens (first model) and the adapter.

Glass was the strength of the Oly SLR range, spectacular glass, ironically held back by a low pixel count sensor. The lens was the first professional lens followed by the 12~35 f2 and the 12~60 2.8~3.5, both excellent, but the 14-54 was not a compromise and sold when new for $1000au, which was the later 2000’s, so not a “kit” lens, although this one is the older model, not the SWD version.

On the EM1x with adapter, the zoom mechanism makes a strange electro-mechanical sound almost like a “burbling”, but that is the adapter not the lens (see below). AF is solid and reliable, not going to blow minds, certainly not up to sports capture, but accurate.

Quality is good from these basically unprocessed files with a simpler early digi-cam vibe like my EM5’s or Canon 10D. I like the near-far Bokeh (last two files).

So, old camera with new lens, or old lens on newer camera?

In this test, a poorly controlled one I admit, using familiar subject matter, the older camera with native lens wins for sure.

Finally, the camera that originally came with the 14-54 and one that I lusted after for years, the E-3. Way out of my price range at the time, the camera that was the pinnacle of the E series, anointed to support such paragon lenses as the 90-250 f2.8 or 35-100 f2, the E-3 is a solid and hefty beast sitting between the legendary E-1 and improved upon by the more sure footed E-5 before the range was dropped in favour of the M43 platform.

Like an EM1x squashed down and deeper. It has proper battery latches etc, but I do have to consider the media. XD and CF cards, the CF being the only viable option and I do not have a reader (the cam dropped the files down ok via a cable).

As expected, the view finder is tiny and dim, but quite clear. It is smooth and fast in operation, AF being surprisingly snappy and accurate for single shooting. The lens is performing much more happily here than on the EM1x with adapter and no weird sounds when zooming.

Image quality?

Focus was accurate as was exposure, once I re-adapted to the SLR way of working, and the results robust and clean at ISO 400-1600 and the files responded to sharpening and noise reduction well.

You could produce professional quality results easily enough especially in controlled circumstances like a studio. The second image is a crop with some highlight retrieval.

The left crop as shot, the right one with applied sharpening (hard to pick actually). This performance reminds me of old arguments about visual and measurable quality, something we moved past soon after into the “pixel peeping” show, but is still a valid one, especially as this quality matches most phones.

The EM1 is a working proposition for me as another “shutter saver” like my pair of ailing EM10.2’s or even older EM5’s. I could see myself using this regularly as my second or third camera and the accurate low light focus would make it a good flash cam.

I must admit, I also like it in the hand. The slightly more petite form factor is pleasant, almost an anti-EM1x option.

The lens-on-adapter would only have one viable application and that would be as a video standard lens, freeing up my Leica 12-60, except for the audible mechanical sounds it makes when zooming and poor AF, the first is not an issue on the native camera.

This is not a realistic option, but does produce nice images.

The E~3 with lens on is a curiosity. A decent working proposition, even professionally, but not something I will be throwing any real money at, but if it was mine, I would likely still be using it occasionally. Yes, a nearly 20 year old camera can take good enough images to fool most.

The local shop has the 50-200 and 12-60 SWD pair in their S/H window for $800au, again worth looking at maybe if the E~3 and/or adapter were mine already, but for the price of some of the M43 glass around and my deep arsenal, maybe not.

ANZAC Day, But Not For The Paper

Since leaving the paper, my photographic habits have fallen into a better place.

I have let the pressures of captioning and time go, I have become me again, an image capturer a s visual story teller without distraction.

So, I covered the ANZAC day parade today and fell strangely into the same old habits. I kept going to grab shots of interesting people, then decided not as I would need to caption more, then remembered I would not have to, then realised I was not shooting for anyone other than the school, then realised, I can shoot what I want for what ever reason I want!

Full circle, resulting in job done for the school (a speaker and marching corps), shots taken for me and nobody else.

Something I did realise though, was the way I approached the job with the paper was harder than it needed to be. I would grab too many shots, get too many names, lament too many shots I would not use.

The march first.

I had just taken a shot of the two journalistic togs walking past me and this little guy spontaneously walked out into the street before the march. Front page stuff.

Then on to the podium presentation.

The freedom of not shooting for the paper is still liberating.

Fire Dancers.

Possibly more exciting, but also slightly more disturbing than cloud busting is fire watching.

Demonic faces and dancing ghosts? Take your time.

My Cursed Luck With Wide 7Artisans Lenses?

Not sure what is going on here, but I have bought several 7Art lenses over the years and have had consistently good luck with anything 50mm (equivalent) or longer, but mixed luck with shorter lenses.

The 12mm Vision is very loose on the mount, but focusses nicely/lightly and is a winner optically.

The 35mm Spectrum is a little tight, hard to use without a follow focus and the mount has a tiny amount of play which is noticeable because of it’s tight focus pull. This varies between cameras and the one I use it on (S5) is the better of the two.

The 16mm Hope arrived today and well, the bad luck continues. The other two Hope lenses have been great. Nice and consistent mechanically, hand holdable, smooth to use and sharp.

The 16 has by far the tightest focus pull of any lens I have used in a while*, tight being possibly flattering and the mount on my G9II (first cam I grabbed) is loose in the extreme, like or worse than the 12mm, but the 12mm does not resist focus pulling.

On the GH5s, it is less so, so being it’s likely home, all is ok I guess……, but it needs a follow focus and even then, it is a very different experience to the 25 or 50. I bought it as a run-n-gun lens, which is not where it would shine, if at all. To be honest, I have always suspected that for that type of work, a stabilised and/or AF zoom lens (8-18, 12-60) would probably be used anyway.

The reality is, the G9II misses little and can act like a gimbal cam if used well, so why compromise?

It looks ok optically, well so far after just a couple of images.

Ed. Soft down the left side with very bad, as in bright blue and blotchy CA (see bottom right). I struggled to get consistently sharp shots with it after about 50 attempts, then switched to the 25mm and got 4 out of 4. I feel it is poor close and de-centred.

It is going back and I will probably not bother with another. It was a lens I baulked at once, then went for, then regretted (the 12mm after cropping is fine), then was disappointed with anyway. Not auspicious by any measure.

In answer to the question I posed in another post, “Do you need a cinema lens?”, I guess for me it is also a tough question, very dependent on circumstance.

I do not need them for commercial work, indeed my go-to lenses for most of my commercial jobs are the safe and easy to use Lumix-S primes or the decent kit zoom for my S5’s, the 8-18 or 12-60 Leicas for the G9II (used with stabe and AF for that role) and the GH5s, my most cine rigged of cams gets cine or stills glass as needed (often the 12-40 Olympus which has excellent optics, just worn mechanics).

The 25 and 50 Hope lenses were bought as matching interview lenses, but to be honest I have the Spectrum and Lumix primes and they are the 35/50 combo I use most.

I guess I just like having cine glass, the lenses I have are excellent, the experience is sometimes better than using AF stills lenses, promoting good disciplines when it makes sense to use them and they do look the biz, but no, I do not need them.

This rig actually looks odd with a tiny M43 prime up front.

I am not going to make a movie, probably not even a documentary, just do little jobs that mean something to me, so I will call it here. Maybe another BMVA12g, so I can double cam with B-Raw.

My “head” ideal would have been the 10-25 and 25-50 f1.7 zooms in MFT (and no full frame), or the S-Primes (24 to 85) in full frame (35-135 APS-c), but probably not both.

From here, even though I prefer the format and technically my two “best” video cams are MFT, it seems now my video direction is leaning more towards full frame, so possibly the 24 S-Prime to complete my set, the excellent 24-70 Leica or maybe the well liked 24-105 or even a Sigma f2.8 model?

Choosing A Cinema Lens (Or Not)

Why choose a cinema lens?

Often, well sometimes, a cinema lens is identical in optical design to a stills lens from the same maker (Sony, IRIX, Sigma), but it is physically different and must fall within the parameters needed to make a cinema grade lens.

Thjis can mean different things to different people and there are ‘camps” of preferences in this field, but there also some constants.

A cine lens will have longer focus throw, smooth manual focus, manual and step-less aperture ring, consistent body shape and size (for rigging) and more often than not be at least 50% dearer.

Two 25mm lenses for the same format. One is designed for maximum edge to edge sharpness, high contrast and “modern” stills rendering while being auto everything. The other is designed for manual handling and things that look good, sometimes even when they are considered flaws or some older fashioned things like the 3D effect, deeper depth of field Bokeh, as well as the first thing you would grab in a fight. The smaller lens is also brighter in aperture.

What else do you need to think about, what is the actual difference?

Sharpness and contrast.

Cinema lenses, against current opinion, do need to be sharp, but they do not need to be photography or “perfectly” sharp, which is to say razor sharp edge to edge with biting contrast.

“Character” a term often used to hide unacceptable flaws in stills lenses are sometimes fostered in cinema lenses, even the dearest ones, because unlike stills, moving footage looks more natural with some softness or smoothness.

All these characteristics however, need to contribute the overall viewing experience.

Smoothness can be from the lens, the frame rate, lighting, filtering or motion blur. Even the old enemies of chromatic aberration are seen as “additives”.

The question you must ask yourself when choosing a cine lens, dear or cheap, old or new is “do I like the rendering?”. This is something you have to deal with at your end, visually, instinctively. Ignore the price tag, ignore the reputation and the test charts, just look at the results (in context).

There is a reason quite ancient legacy glass is used on some big production movies. It is not simple perfection they seek.

Bokeh.

Sharpness or the perception of it’s qualities often goes hand in hand with Bokeh or the subjective quality of out of focus elements, which is a thing at any aperture as long as there is even a small amount of focus transition.

The cinematic look generally includes some out of focus areas, areas that become as much a part of the image as the sharp parts, so the quality of that blurring cannot be avoided. Super shallow depth is rarely used in cinema except in extreme cases, so Bokeh at a more useable aperture like f4 on a full frame has to be taken into account.

Modern “perfect” glass comes at a price. The super soft Bokeh rendering of the latest Sigma or Sony G-master is nice if you need it, but from a cinematographers perspective, it may be too aggressive, too “perfect”, rarely applicable and lack a transitional or interest value beloved by the masters.

Like above, you need to see it in action and go with your heart and gut.

Three dimensionality.

A modern trend with super corrected still lenses is a “flatness” in rendering. This is always common in longer lenses to some degree, but seeking technical perfection in other spheres seems to exaggerate it. It is almost a blind spot fostered by recent designers, needed for them to deliver more fashionable qualities like resolution.

Like Bokeh above, three dimensionality and blur character are all part of the rendering of the frame, which may, against modern trends, need some interplay of depth. The whole moving frame will be visible for the whole time, so how that works with the blocking of the characters is critical to good videography.

The sharp/soft look, so good at softening a background to make a blogger look good may not work to tell a story. Nothing screams “digital video” more than that all too shallow depth and flat perspective.

Flare.

Flare is subjective as are most of the things we are dealing with are, but it is something you need to be aware of because situations where it may be a factor are virtually guaranteed.

Many like some flare, some more. Saving Private Ryan was filmed with lenses that were deliberately uncoated to exaggerate flare like older lenses, but too much or ugly flare simply ruins a shot.

Lenses will flare, but you need to be aware of how much, what type and whether it enhances the frame or ruins it for your vision.

This is a tough one, but thankfully many reviewers touch on this enough to get you part of the way there.

So, you need to like the sharpness, Bokeh, flare and 3d rendering of your lens.

Distortions.

Often tested to ridiculous extent and just as often corrected in camera by paranoid manufacturers, distortions are many and varied. In cinema, thanks mostly to classic anamorphic lenses used warts-and-all in many big budget movies by choice, distortions are not only tolerated, but often pursued.

Wes Anderson uses wide shots often with centred subjects. Take a scene from his movies, any scene really and look at the horizontals and edge sharpness. You will see bad things there, unacceptable to most stills shooters.

Not an architectural photographers dream, Anderson seems to also want to exaggerate this by his subject placement.

Handling.

Cine lenses are designed for use in heavy cinema rigs using focus pulling gears etc. It is important that this is recognised, because just buying one for hand held work may not be ideal. Talking from personal experience, some of my cine lenses feel good and work fine as hand held lenses (Hope 25, Sirui 24, Spectrum 50 ), while some are not as sweet.

They have by nature long focus throw, which for fast work can be annoying, but it is ideal for more measured work. This can be altered by changing the gear on your follow focus.

Equally, I enjoy many stills lenses for fast work, but the opposite is not true on the whole. When using stills lenses in a cine role, they are inconsistent and twitchy, often too small, lack focussing aids and aperture changes are “clicked”, even when electronically applied. I can use Pana lenses on Pana cams with electronically applied longer throw, which helps a little.

Cine lenses are usually mechanically matched, making rigging easy as changes are fast and limited to the lens only, not follow focus or rig alignment and weight should be similar. (see below).

Focus Breathing.

This is irrelevant in stills work, but important for focus transitions in video. Does the lens “shift” framing when focus is pulled a lot. This may not be a huge thing for you, but it may be.

Consistency.

Cine lenses are meant to be able to be used in matched sets. This is rare, even with dearer sets of lenses, but the closer the better. Colour matching (warm or cool), rendering (sharpness, Bokeh, flare etc), mechanical draw and placement of focus and aperture rings etc, should all be at least within the same ball park.

Even expensive sets may be less than perfectly consistent, but by intent, they will be close enough.

Even some cheap sets are close here (4 out of the 6 Hope lenses match well, two are slightly warmer or cooler).

I have actually mixed sets and brands with little issue after painstaking research and have a simple system of stickers (blue/white/yellow) to help remind me of warm or cool sensor and lens combinations (regardless of lens consistency, even cameras from the same maker can vary).

It can be a matter of buy what you like and see what works or you can be more scientific, research well and make your choice.

Do you need a cine lens?

To be honest, my full frame kit is well served by the Lumix-S primes, which have many of the benefits of a cine set (same filter, same overall size and similar weight, linear focus throw-on a Pana cam and similar rendering). They are light, reasonably priced and have a nice balance of sharp/smoothness, with well controlled focus breathing.

They are not perfect, but that is party because they are hybrid lenses.

In M43, it is the opposite. The Hope lenses are great value cine glass and my cherry picked extras, the Sirui 24 Nightwalker and Vision 12mm match adequately. The odd AF zoom pops up when AF and stabe is needed, but I have times when they are not. In another life, one where I would only have M43 format, I would have bought the two Pana f1.7 zooms, but that is another life.

Levels Of Awareness And Growth

There are levels of awareness in most things.

Ignorance can be bliss, but knowledge can be even better.

I have been trying to learn what I need to be a decent videographer and in that journey, I have come across “levels” of knowledge, or more specifically levels of teaching and expectation.

I started wanting to know how to use a Panasonic G9 for professional work as others were at the time. The G9 without a paid firmware upgrade has a very decent video capability including red frame recording, 10 bit colour, HLG, Cine-D codecs and good levels of control, but lacked LOG. For many Natural with the saturation and sharpness further reduced was enough, starting more than a few careers.

Cine-D had more latitude, but did not seem to be overly popular, HLG had more even more but was even less popular, so I stuck to the accepted norm.

The whole LOG thing seemed overly involved to me anyway, so I went with Natural profile, reduced contrast.

Unhappy with my results (muddy whites), I tried flat line, Standard profile one day out of desperation and got nicer, cleaner results to my eye (basically it looked like I liked to grade).

I was swimming against the tide of popular opinion, but it seemed to work for me. The sources I visited at the time leaned more towards the soft, warm, desaturated camp, where I wanted more punch, more of a match to my stills, ewhich were often an element. Why would I want anything other than basically what I was looking at?

This was the breakthrough clip, the clip where I felt I broke free from the chains of reluctant expectations. It looked right, came easily and needed little adjustment (G9 mk1 12-40 Olympus lens).

Within that limited scope, I felt I must have been wrong, because nobody was using that profile, but the accepted norm was at odds with what I was seeing in the TV shows and movies I liked. The modern videographer and even Netflix with it’s uber-dreamy look was a different beast to a “traditional” cinematographers needs.

I did notice also about now the butchering of correct photo terms and understanding like depth of field/aperture, applying video profiles to stills and generally an ignorance of some basics. The signs were there, but I was in unfamiliar territory, the newbie, so I just watched and learned..

At this point, success seemed to be tied to getting white balance and exposure right and avoiding flicker. This was all very “front of house” to a dedicated RAW stills shooter, but I had to adapt to the needs of the medium, not the other way around..

My habit was to keep a 17mm lens in my bag with a 5 stop ND filter permanently mounted (which helped with high sync speed flash use also), white balance became an obsession, something I had managed to avoid dealing with for most of my stills life and I even understood a little more about how the power grid worked.

LOG it seemed was the holy grail, the golden ring, the top tier and in many cases it was perfectly fine as a professional aspiration. Combined with strong Black Mist filters and heavily (self) promoted Luts that tended to lean towards soft and low contrast looks. That look was all-pervasive, even my decades of photo experience was reluctantly adjusting to this new way of seeing.

Why then, was I chasing a look I actually did not like?

I tentatively moved towards LOG when I bought the S5, but quickly went “backwards” again to the much friendlier “Flat” profile, being a sort of Cine-D without the catches (odd skin tones etc). Exposing LOG required extra effort (I thought) and the intricacies of it were above my pay grade, requiring the application of calibrated Zebras, Luts (video pre-sets) and other foreign concepts.

Basically my grading skills did not make enough difference to LOG footage to better the more main stream profiles and I could not commit to using Luts. It all seemed too pre-determined, conformist and predictable. I know Luts are only the first step in the editing chain, but they were somebody else’s first step, someone else’s opinion.

Better I go straight-line to something closer to my ideal, then push it a little from there. The whole LOG thing just seemed to be over complicating the already complicated.

I felt like I was the video equivalent of a JPEG-only stills shooter. Limited, deluding myself possibly, but the whole video processing thing was just not doing it for me and LOG was more an enemy than a potential ally.

I did question some times why other people’s out-of-camera or phone footage looked great, my own older files even and my “semi-pro” level hybrid-cams were producing a whole other thing.

At this point I did not fully understand the importance of all the other processing stuff other than just the camera and lens, like lighting, which is actually more important!

Getting better at Resolve (well, I thought so at the time!), I decided to upgrade to Studio along with getting the Micro Panel, BMVA 12g 5” and Speed Editor to get better at it, which opened the door to RAW formats.

I was assuming ProRes would have been enough, which it turns out the old G9’s can feed out to the BMVA 3G, but I went straight into B-Raw, based on dozens of reviews and opinions, especially comparisons between Pocket 4 and 6k cams vs regular hybrids.

In a seeming whirlwind, I shifted through LOG, past ProRes and into a true RAW space. This was the same pathway the makers of indie films and even the fringes of Hollywood mainstream, like makers of The Creator used, a consumer cam with an off-board recorder (in that case a Sony FX 3 into Atamos Ninjas in ProRes RAW ).

Potential realised?

This was real and better than LOG, but again, so much more to learn.

The difference though was the elevated relevance of the information and language of the sources as I chased different questions, needing different answers, like “RAW vs ProRes HQ”, “what is a Colour Space Transform node” or “what is a node even?”..

All of a sudden, in the blink of a google search eye, LOG was relegated to “baby” or pseudo RAW, the new lingo was all about saturation, colour depth, high bit rates, Node trees etc, LOG was only the beginning of the next level not the end.

Already blessed with 10 bit colour from the humble G9, suddenly 12bit or even 16 bit was more the go.

It occurs to me, I made some good choices early on, exclusively using 10 bit was one of them.

All the vloggers I had been following now seemed like they were only scratching the surface with their own journeys, granted more aligned to their work flow needs, but I now felt reasonably justified in rejecting some of what I had taken as lore and back myself.

I could place shooters into the camps of young and popular “self taught” videographers and influencers, all following their own pack, to well trained “emerging or ex-professionals” often coming from a pro-colourist or sound engineer backgrounds and finally the “true cinematographers” sharing their experience with the wider world, but generally seen as either too old or too pro for many to listen to.

The first group had set a bar, a bar for a long time I felt under qualified to reach for, then suddenly it was only a low hurdle, something to be moved past. I am not saying I had the skills, just a better awareness of the path to follow and confirmation my gut was right all along, for me anyway.

Why keep shooting camera based LOG when for as little as $800au an off-board recorder could record RAW to an SSD or for $1700au, get a “real” cinema camera like the BMPCC4k with it built in? I did not even bother with ProRes HQ from the G9II.

My current work flow is B-Raw constant quality Q5 for most, 5:1 for interviews unless I need more than 2 cams at once, then I switch to in camera LOG or Flat for just casual work.

If you can so easily access what real cinematographers use, why not do it?

Suddenly I was in a similar space to my stills work flow. White balance was only a suggestion (not really, but mistakes are no longer cruel), exposure more forgiving and what I saw, was actually close to what I was getting without the need for viewing Luts or other forced expectations.

Now “power grades” are a thing.

For the first time, Resolve’s mind boggling options have started to even out and I am learning what to ignore.

Storage and work flow are as much to blame as ignorance I guess for avoiding RAW, but for this stills shooter, it turns out that the 4k/All-i/LOG (even ProRes) creators, making massive files and adhering to good, but not great work flows are missing out.

I used to shoot 1GB/min for Flat/10bit/1080/422 quality, I now shoot C4k/B-Raw/Q5/12Bit at about 1.5GB/min (it varies by subject, but not by much), so a vastly better result for an insignificant increase in storage space or media needs. Q5 runs as low as ProRes Proxy or up to ProRes LT, not the monster LOG/422 HQ files tht are actually a level below for editing.

It was hauntingly similar to my years of teaching stills. RAW avoidance came from unfounded fears of over complicating the seemingly easy, but “fixed” jpeg files, usually modified ironically with layers in Photoshop, a skill in itself. I have been a RAW shooter from day one and my pathways have always been straight and clear..

The reality is, you do have to process RAW files, but you can easily and logically fix problems. Jpegs are potentially processing free, but fixes and even changes are limited and complicated.

Below is an example of a relatively stuffed-up file from a basketball game the other night (mixing video and stills, I took it by reflex as I saw it, then adjusted). This level of recovery is simply not available with a jpeg file.

It was a doorway to controls and manipulations I could have only dreamed of as a colour slide or black and white film shooter.

B-RAW (as the example I have adopted) effectively shifts the whole LOG/All-i/ProRes paradigm into something much friendlier to use, more forgiving and sometimes, actually lighter on your system. It is easier to learn the editing flow when you have settled on the single most flexible and supported format in Resolve.

The files can be big, although not always, but the uncompresses RAW footage is easy on your computer because they do not need to unpack heavy compression and SSD’s are significantly cheaper and faster than SD cards.

I am now watching and reading about best Resolve work flows and the results match the expectations, which are top tier.

It turns out that the things I only recently learned are already old hat. Primaries, even LOG controls, a recent discovery, are now limited and dated. HDR Global, Colour Slice and Linear are the improved ways.

Now my language is one of “using what real colourists use”, the behind the doors expert tips and tricks. This information would have been mostly wasted on me earlier in the journey.

The reality is, the higher up the chain I go, the clearer the messaging and the easier it is getting to find answers and get results. We are often self shielded from growth by placing barriers between us and the reality we need to face. Cameras with codec limitations, programmes with multiple levels of control, a swamp of information plagued by the mosquitoes of doubt all contribute to slow and sometimes stunted growth.

B-Raw with as much skill as I can apply is finally becoming natural to me, but I have a long way to go.

What strikes me as I write this though and the reason for writing it in the first place is my journey, only a couple of years and hundreds of hours watching videos in the making, has had defined turning points, levels of awareness that on one hand I wish I had cut through earlier, but on the other, I see the need for the steps that I have taken.

My work flow is now B-Raw into the ProRig GH5s or S5, LOG if I need multiple matching cameras or sometimes just becasue it is the past of least resistance in a cramped bag or Flat in 422 ProRes for low stress jobs. My future may include another BMVA12g, maybe a Pocket 6k, or 4k, maybe not, but from this point I will only compromise when compromise makes sense.

Texture Is All

I had a chance to use my Manfrotto backdrop the other day.

It cost a bomb, so always happy to use it. The client was given a few options, going with green screen for options (cast portraits going into the productions programme with a picture frame style presentation).

I thought at the last minute that the Walnut side of my backdrop might also be an idea, so I pushed it through the stage door at rehearsals and got a “oh, that’s nice”, so Walnut it was.

I bought the Walnut and Pewter because it was the grey I wanted (very mild texture) and the Walnut appealed, but I was aware that both are cool in tone.

What I wanted, and this was the only option from their large catalogue was the texture choice. The Pewter is a very mild texture, almost nothing, but not nothing. The Walnut has an…. old wall in an abandoned house…. thing going on. I dislike regular mottle, obvious paint strokes etc.

Not a huge photoshop user, I was going to painstakingly paint the background with the brush in Capture 1 and change it. Not a huge job for a small shoot, bit of a pain for 50+ subjects.

Then Lightroom and C1 bought in auto masking of subject and background and stuff got real.

This is the base colour, cool wood with blue-ish undertones and a slight vignette (exaggerated here for final edit). Excuse the wrinkled t-shirts of the subjects. I shot in mostly darkness, the other option was strong fluorescence, and they were sharing a couple of pro T’s to hide uniforms etc. G9 Mk1 and 25 or 45mm lenses.

Reducing saturation is an easy fix, Still cool, but suits this subject.

Bringing out the texture, highlighting the background colours a little, but pushing the base olive (white balance shift and colour channels), gives me a much desired Olive tone version. With more depth of field, I could bring out more texture and colour.

Or I can go the other way and blur it out more for an almost medium format look. No doubt I can smooth and feather these better, but for now as examples they work well enough.

Wanting to give the client some variety, I treated each subject as an individual on their merits. Same background, only white balance shifts applied to the background layer.

Texture requires a background replacement, beyond my care level, but colour and therefore feel of the image is an easy fix.

With the rustic Walnut side, the clean Pewter and Grey/Black/white plain I have all I need really. Colours are then the tools that let these come alive.

An Objective Look At Real Differences In Formats

Often when I write these, I tend to get too pro-MFT for others and even myself sometimes, even if my intention is to promote the use of MFT format.

I will try my hardest here to apply my usually analytical brain to the facts of the matter to help you make up you own mind. There will be personal thoughts at the end, but not biased I hope.

The sensor.

The MFT sensor is about one quarter the size of a full frame sensor and about seventy percent the size of an APSC crop sensor. This does not mean it is only 25% as capable, because the law of diminishing returns says that more is usually less more as it goes. In the past it was always up to the bigger format to prove it’s worth, not the smaller one and smaller formats have generally punched more efficiently.

The reality is, software and processing often makes as much difference.

The sensor doubles the magnification of a given focal length, which means long reach can be achieved with smaller and cheaper lenses that fall closer to “ideal” design parameters.

Depth of field is also increased simply because the shorter lenses render it. A 300mm lens on MFT format will have the depth of field of a full frame 300mm, but the equivalent reach f a 600mm.

Your own needs will dictate what is important here, but usually when working for a client, more depth of field is a benefit, so if the widest practical aperture needed is for low light, there is a two stop equivalency gain compared to full frame (f1.8 on MFT = f2.8 full frame at the same effective magnification).

Wide angle lenses are correspondingly very short focal lengths increasing design stress, but given the difficulty of making good, sharp edge to edge wide angle lenses for larger formats, this seems to even out. My experience with MFT lenses is soft edges are rarely a thing, something I was always aware of in full frame

The sensor is squarer, which makes lens design easier also, or more to the point the perfect circle can be smaller as width and height are closer to the same.

The sensor will produce, when compared to the bigger format, either less resolution or more noise pixel to pixel. The sweet spot seems around 20mp for MFT, enough to produce bill-board sized work (assuming you are looking at proper a bill-board viewing distance). The pixel density of 20mp is roughly the same as the many of higher MP sensors in full frame formats.

These are often cited as ideal for cropping in on, so in some ways MFT is the high res full frame sensor cropped.

With modern processing applied, if a natural looking, sharp and clean image is needed and a little more time is allowed, clean ISO 12,800 images are possible, but realistically 6400 is the safe maximum if premium quality matters.

Lower res full frame sensors (24mp or under) are capable of several stops more clean output, some with dual ISO processors for an added edge. The two stops of extra depth of field and double the reach for the focal length of MFT can offer effectively two free ISO stops in some circumstances, but the “ISO free” feeling of a full frame dual ISO sensor cannot be matched.

This means that in real terms, a slow lens on a some full frame cameras can match a fast lens on an MFT cams at roughly the same resolution and with similar depth of field. The size, price and weight advantage of MFT can often be matched in these circumstances, but only at the same resolution.

This is basically the full frame makers applying the math in reverse for much the same effect.

Like a Renaissance painting, a shot taken with an ailing 16mp EM10 mk2 (the screen connection is twitchy, so I use it as an EVF only studio cam), a cheap 45 f1.8 (at 2.8) against my Manfrotto Walnut backdrop, probably worth more than the cam or lens these days and a cheap brolly/flash combo (at minimum power). One of MFT’s random advantages is a boost in flash power as I can select the “ideal” studio aperture (f2.8 in mft), which is a couple of stops faster than in full frame (f5.6), it bites you though when in bright sun and you want shallow depth.

No sharpening or other contrast processing in C1. Worth mentioning here I guess, I have two full frame cams that I could have used.

Full frame sensors are generally better at mistake mitigation.

Poor exposure, white balance and colour shifts can generally be bought back better (from my experience), but personally, I have not compared like to like. My own real life testing, done using older MFT vs new full frame cams has proven out the Goldie Locks rule;

If you muck up a little, either can be saved.

If you muck up a lot, neither can be saved.

If you muck up just right, full frame is sometimes better.

The long running argument has been that full frame is called that because it is the “true” base sensor size. This is based on 35mm film being the original work horse size, which it was not professionally even then, it was just the most convenient. The fact is 35mm film was only selected because it was a handy convenience, being the film industry standard, but the 3:2 ratio was not loved for publication, considered by many to be a useless size.

The true format for film makers is a loose group of sizes lumped into the “Super-35” category and it probably should have been for stills shooters as well (the rare half frame movement), which is 35mm film shot sideways across the length, how it was meant to be. This is roughly APS-C or even close to “Academy” MFT in size..

MFT format is a rationalisation of that thinking and as formats go, it has much to offer.

To be honest, the main reason I feel MFT has had such a rough go, is simply because the big three, Canon, Nikon and now Sony have so much invested in the 35mm full frame format nearly exclusively. If they really cared about a quality boost that made a difference, medium format would be more common.

If APS-C was properly supported by the big brands, it may well be that full frame would have withered on the vine by now or been relegated to “studio” camera use, but the insistence on supporting legacy formats leading to a assumption that those formats were “true”, evinced by the “crop” term used for other formats, became a watch word for “minimum required quality”.

The question is I guess, does any specific format have benefits that align better with your needs, for your work than a larger one.

A final thought on APS-C. The slightly bigger/slightly smaller format has never to my eyes proven an option, simply because it is usually a poorly supported compromise, Fuji excepted.

On direct comparison, intending to buy some Fuji a few years ago when I had some money to spend, MFT still beat it for sheer hard sharpness, which I preferred over Fuji smooth and glossy and the noise difference was not compelling, but the MFT the lens options were (I instead bought the EM1x, 300mm and 8-18, all of which have paid for themselves repeatedly).

I guess also, if the argument for use big to crop is relevant to you, then maybe start small and don’t crop may also work?

For my own use, I find MFT benefits generally outweigh the down sides and in real terms I have never, ever been taken to task regarding the quality if my work, quite the opposite in fact. The sports team at the paper preferred my “brighter and cleaner” looking basketball files, which I joked must have been because I used a smaller and older sensor and “non issue” processing, but were more down to small, cheap, fast and sharp lenses pulling more than their weight.

Sharpness and detail are not the issue, only clean files under extreme duress, so extreme it is rarely relevant.

Full frame has it’s place in my video kit and for the occasional very tough lighting situation where needed quality possibly outstrips the realistic potential of the circumstances.

The Big Reality.

Light is all.

It is the core of photography, video and all art forms really. How light is controlled and used, how it works with the final element, what is adds are the key to art.

I am dealing with a reality that it needs to be dealt with a little better than it is.

Basically I need more light in fewer options. Light for video and constant light for portraiture. I have a quad of cheap 60-80w COB lights, the same in LED panels, two portable 60w COB (Smallrig and Amaran), lots of mods and lots of ideas.

What I do not have, without setting up multiple weaker lights, is something that can punch a bit harder, maybe even be daylight for me when needed.

This, more thn most things I touched on previously is a case of “making do” not really being enough.

The older RC220D from Smallrig is on sale at the moment ($249au), probably in response to the new model coming, but anyway, it is cheap, really cheap. I was interested in the Pro model, except the handy V-mount option is quite weak and the cost was prohibitive.

The older 220D is only a little dearer than the 120D at the moment, so no point in saving a little to lose a lot. I like the Daylight model because it is stronger than the Bi-colour, while being cheaper.

This, a Smallrig lantern, 55cm soft box, the two 60’s, some motivation light and some diffuser panels and I should be set. Book light is the ideal and one of the easiest to do in the field (a cheap reflector and diffuser sheet of white cloth)

This will be able to fill a 72” brolly, a lantern, a large soft box with grid, manage book light and even fake some sunlight.

The little 60’s then become the perfect environment boosters adding fill, hair and background light.

Light And Easy

I have been looking for a light and easy video interview lighting setup for a while now.

The elements are there, portable lights, small stands etc, but modifiers have been a problem.

I want it to be a “one trip from the car” kit, which does allow for a light trolley to be used, but not much else.

What do I need?

1. A soft main light that can light two subjects.

2. A hair light which can also partially balance the second subject

3. At least two background light sources, to motivate the light and add interest.

My light options are an Amaran 60d, Smallrig 60b, Weelite RB9 and some little LED’s. I have four more COB lights and several LED panels, but these are my smaller main lights, able to fit in one bag.

• Amaran 60d is D for daylight only, NP batt or wall power and Bowens mount.

• The Smallrig is B for Bi-colour, has an internal batt with C-type powerbank charge, but not a Bowens mount.

• The RB9 is RGB, internal batt and has limited modifier options.

Between them all, I can run for about one hour constantly at full charge without wall power, but that is pushing it, but for each I do have other power options.

Main light is probably going to be the Amaran as I can run it the longest and it has the most grunt as well as the limitation of daylight colour is less of a problem. So, this is the key, literally.

I tried a few ways of making this quite weak little light enough for my needs.

All images EM10 Mk2 and 25mm Olympus lens.

First I went for a book light idea, using the light into a westcott white brolly then out through a diffuser panel. This only needs two stands and has reasonable efficiency.

Lovely open light devoid of hotspots, but quite dull, flat and cool. The room was dull, the hallway indicating that the overcast day and closed shutters would have produced a flat and mirky image at the ISO 400 1/80th f2 exposure (allowing for roughly ISO 100, 25fps, 1/50th at f2 shoot, so plenty of power in reserve).

Next I tried a few large soft boxes I have, but the weight of these, especially on the front of the little light using a very light stand was not feasible.

Looking around I found no less than four, 4’ reflector soft boxes, the sort you have to put the flash inside of, but they also shift the centre of balance to the stand head, not the front of the light and are easy to set up. I found little use for these preferring simple brollies, but for this they may be ideal.

Much brighter and slightly more efficient with some pleasing brilliance, this is also more controllable, the light spill on the wall could possibly be reduced by feathering the modifier. The shadows are a little harsh and the brilliance is maybe too much. It would also need fill.

Next I removed the front diffuser cloth and had my wife hold the large diffuser in front of the mod.

A nice compromise, but two stands needed and again very little control over spill.

Ok, so softer, but maybe one stand and more control.

My last test was an idea I like from the start and is easy as. I clamped a sheet of soft white diffuser cloth over the 4” with it’s diffuser on.

There we go and I can use the large panel now to flag spill or as a fill reflector. Oddly, the exposure was the same as the others. It is warmer and more 3d than the top one, while being close in softness. A small hair light behind (RB9) and I am done. The Smallrig will be used to “paint” the background.

Compared to the book light on the left, there seems to be little real difference overall, just a little more contrast and a mire 3d look.

So, the winner is an Amaran 60d on a cheap Neewer stand (one of their super light fold back leg models that bend when stressed), a Godox 4” bounce-brolly modifier, a $5 sheet of white cloth, two pegs and that is it (grand total about $300au).

Nope Not The Sirui.

Well, this happened.

Don’t say I cannot take a hint!

Reviews are interesting, but lets assume that different copies and different testing procedures may throw up inconsistencies. According to one reviewer, the Sirui is the better lens optically, but since then I have found several that contradict that, one offering a very handy direct comparison of footage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKdFwreVyN4.

The Sirui 16 T1.2 has proven too hard to find at a decent price (over $600au). I could wait, but with my video “breaking through” lately and my vision becoming more focussed, filling this last hole has become a priority, especialy as I have embraced the GH5s with no stabiliser except rig weight.

Every time I searched for the Sirui, the Hope popped up and Sirui right now just seems to be too hard to source. The logic of matching my 24mm Sirui with a 16 is sound and the 16 seems to be one of their best, but the further logic of a small set of Hope lenses and the Sirui 24 kept just for very low light is also sound.

The slower Hope is possibly less versatile, but the reality is the Sirui super light focus pull is possibly too light and the extra speed I will rarely use, combined with a $200 price difference (only here in Australia it seems), means the Hope was re-ordered.

The 16/25/50 Hope series come in at 32/50/100 on most MFT cameras, but on my GH5s become a 28/45/90 near perfect combo backed up by the 24 Sirui (48/43) for speed and the Vision 12 (24/21) for wide.

I also have of course a raft of AF glass, but my direction is to force a clear divide between stills and video with the “catch all” G9II as the AF exception, the rest of my video being mostly MF cine glass.

For $456au, half paid for by cancelling some pre-ordered games (funny how work blunts that flame), seems like a logical move, over $600 not so much.

Hello And Goodbye, A Video Story

Video came into my life a few years ago and has been on the whole a fun ride.

I now understand so very much more than I did before and have been introduced to a very different landscape of information, mentoring, growth paths and influences.

Like I usually do, I have gone for the “gold ring” of best image quality and full control within a realistic envelope, while discovering along the way, lower levels can often be enough.

I must admit, it is easy to get information, but harder to get good information than it was with my stills journey, or was it more that it was a different time for both?

I feel lucky though, that I had a decent enough grounding in the basics to see the red flags, because there were many.

Recently I have reached a decision to effectively stop my “commercial” videography and relegate (or elevate) it to self motivated, fully controlled and better regulated projects with a fairly narrow focus.

I want to shoot documentaries and interviews, usually for the same projects, and I want/need controlling creative input. I do not shoot overtly commercial stills (some are used commercially, but that is only one use for them), so why do commercial video?

All those commercial videos I have been done have been, as they say in the classics, “very much the opposite of fun”. Teleprompters limiting camera and lens use and placement as well as compromised microphone choices and running to scripts do not float my boat, as well has a raft of “directors” second-guessing everything I do (with little idea) is my kind of hell.

I got early on that video is different to stills shooting in several ways.

Video needs to be shot to a story “shape” of some kind.

I take stills, I deliver stills, they decide how they want to use stills.

Video for most clients has to be delivered in a package and shot to make that package.

Your content needs to be planned and work to a formula to some extent.

Usually you, the shooter will be making that content useful.

If you give a client a ton of stills, they will use them as they see fit. If you dump an hour of footage on them, even graded and cleaned up footage, most will have little use for it and if they do, you may not like the outcome.

When you are making that content into something, communication is key.

It is your project to make, but someone else’s to use for their needs, so you are making it to their vision. This one is tough, because as you make the most of what you have, inevitably other stake holders will be inspired after the fact and want more or different.

So, it takes longer.

The ratio (for me) of three hours shooting stills is one hours processing, is at least flipped, or worse. A full hour of capturing various clips may end in many hours of processing, re-processing and more (see the point above).

Technical considerations are more and less forgiving.

If you are doing sound, video and lighting, you are jugging a lot of balls at once, any of which will bring your work flat if you mess up. Unlike stills, “fixing it in post” is less powerful and has draw backs. I now use B-Raw (Q5) and it helps, but there is still less tolerance “front of house”.

It cannot be done while you are shooting stills.

Well one or the other suffers anyway. I guess 4k or higher res can have stills lifted and maybe that is the answer, but for me at least, switching hats constantly tends to produce nothing of worth in either format.

It requires more gear, especially gear that you do. ot find in a still shooters bag.

Constant light sources, microphones, reflectors and diffusers, stability of some sort, rigging and even different cameras are required. The modern hybrid camera is fine, but it is more than just turning a dial.

I have looked back at my last year and realised, most of my unwanted stress has come from video work. Not the work itself, just it’s shape. Lack of creative control, poor communication resulting in zero planning, unrealistic time frames resulting in limited gear application have robbed me of the desire to offer this service.

The reality is, nobody wants to pay for it at a realistic hourly rate, unless they know up front and are willing to engage the whole you. “Just some quick video” has become a time eating lie to me.

Example;

I said yes recently to covering the first two, hour long rehearsals of a school play. Apart from these being poorly chosen rehearsals as they were the very first cast gatherings and little had been organised and I only found this out the day before, needed to be mostly video content including interviews, rehearsals and behind the scenes.

No time to plan, little idea of the actual needs of the relevant parties (or even who they were), unknown location, space, lighting etc, meant bringing lots of gear and winging it.

I shot for the two hours, with some stills as well when able.

I have since been making short promo clips, longer introduction clips, interview sets, also providing stills, many of which are video lifts, because it turned out they needed a lot more stills than I was led to believe and have easily clocked up 10 hours of editing, much of which came down to the ping-ponging of cuts via dropbox, then re-cuts and re-re-cuts until I have it how they want.

I am not yet finished. The job paid four hours total, because I only ever charge one hour processing per job maximum, based on my stills work flow. Could I charge more? Probably not.

What would I have liked to have done? Communicate with the actual parties directly, choose better rehearsal times, write or review the script (to a story shape), have the collateral supplied before not after, look at the space and have a clearer idea of the what and why of the job.

On the other hand, two of my charity jobs are interested in several mini documentary projects, with a concept, start, middle and ending, all controlled by me.

They have a longer run time, some over several weeks, are interviews, not scripted remarks and creative control is basically up to me.

These are what I want to do. I have the luxury of choice, so I will exercise that freedom.

An interview late last year, more my style, but rare for this client.

*

This means in practical terms, I will be reducing my dedicated four camera video kit to two cameras (S5/GH5s) with the G9II as backup for movement etc and the S5II becoming effectively a stills cam.

My cinema lenses and associated gear will be tighter, stills glass also going into the general kit. The 12-60 Leica does add stabe to the GH5s, to a level I find acceptable, so it may be the exception.

The reality that the G9II is in many ways my most capable video cam is not forgotten, but for my needs, it is a specialised tool. It still needs and can support the BMVA 12G for B-Raw, but is the only cam I have that can do ProRes HQ into an SSD.

Solid B-Raw, heavy cams, traditional stabe techniques and some cinéma vérité licence are where I want to be. Gimbals etc are more of a commercial necessity.

My stills kit will score two new cams (G9II/S5II) and some handy lenses, which may still be used for video occasionally, likely doing any drudge video work “out of the bag”, something even the G9 mk1’s can handle often..

The reality is, they offer good AF, stabilising and quality with minimal fuss for those jobs I choose to handle with them, the minimal fuss ones I am trying to mostly avoid, but will have to do sometimes. They also do add some genuine video muscle to my day kit, but again, without the rest of the kit that makes the difference.

I am now happy enough with my editing skills for my work, avoiding the “cutesy” trickery and effects of commercial work, sticking to real subjects and the best, pure practices. Things like gimbals, AF, zooms etc were all stresses I embraced to satisfy other people’s needs, not mine.

Not wanting to make movies here, just genuine stuff, no gimmicks.

I always know who I am with stills, but it took a while to get it with video. Last year I just said an unqualified “yes” all the time, hungry to grow, usually resulting in adequate results, but not always and I rarely felt like I had broken through to a controlled space. I learned a lot, some of which is to so “no” some times.

This year it is more a qualified “yes, but this is how it goes, or maybe you should find someone else”. I earn the bulk of my income shooting stills, so that is where the bulk of my time, money and effort should go. Video is just for me or others if I fit their needs in a shape I choose.

The steep learning curve, with no real direction or shape, so much that is new, all the time it seems, have made the trip seem insurmountable some times, but if I am true to me and don’t try to become some type of super all-rounder, then I can get what is important defined and perfected.

The 1000mm Eye

Micro Four Thirds is under seige at the moment.

It always seems to be and from my perspective it is unjustified, pointless even.

It is a valid format with advantages and disadvantages, but I have found, and I use multiple formats, that the advantages generally win out.

Relatively poorer low light performance than full frame

vs

More reach from lighter, cheaper, faster and often sharper lenses.

I know what I chose and why.

Here is a little gallery of some cricket shot today on an “aging” EM1x and the Olympus 300 f4, crops on the left, unprocessed originals on the right. Due to iffy light ISO 800-1600 were used, no noise reduction applied.

Generally I find the 600mm equivalent a little long for side shots, because I like to tell a story and the lens only includes a single element, so I shoot lengths-ways down the pitch and include if I can the bowler, batter and relevant fielders (easier with spin bowling as the keeper is behind the stumps).

Having enough quality from a six year old, 20mp MFT sensor for effectively a 1000mm crop though is handy.

Below is a sample of a “delivered” set, no before and after to compare and who would know!

Still down to counting stitches on the ball.

All silent shutter and hand held.

The big shame is, only we, the obsessed users pixel peep every file to excrutiating detail and these files stand up to that, yet we also hammer the format for not being as good as full frame or to cut to it, nt good enough.

Good enough for what? Car sized enlargements viewed at too close a distance? Almost all images are viewed small on compressed formats or to the limits of the print process, designed to be viewed at the correct distance. Only we have the luxury or seeming need to look closer.

If size and quality ratios are accepted, then how much is too much?

I remember the Nikon rep coming to the paper I worked at last year with her $25,000au 300mm Z-series lens, pushing the benefits of cropping the 45mp Z9 to get effectively a 600mm with about 20mp resolution “still far more than print publication or online needs”.

So, a $33,000au combination to get a cropped equivalent to my $6,000 300mm Oly and older model EM1x combo. Even if there was a difference in AF performance (the Nikon gear is newer, but I have no complaints), or optical quality (genuinely doubt it-and I compared direclty), is there enough difference to really matter? I hit what I aimed at and used single captures, no drive (even if 60fps is possible).

Since leaving the paper I have been keeping an eye on the other togs work in news print and online. I am not seeing a vast difference in quality with the newer gear, which proves that the end use is usually the final arbiter.

The 300 f2.8 is faster when used shorter you say! I could still manage to add a second body, a 75mm f1.8 (150mm eq), 40-150 f2.8 (300mm eq) and Panasonic 200 f2.8 (400mm eq), for about half the Nikon kit.

The other point of note is, I walked around the boundary all afternoon, chasing the right angles for each bowler and batter, something a huge 600mm full frame lens or even the hefty 300 would have limited. When at the paper this gave me a wider range of images in a shorter time.

Even managed some bird photography (or was it an accountants convention?).

I have shot cricket with the 40-150 f2.8 before when forced, cropping my 300mm equivalent to as much as a 600mm/10mp combination and nobody noticed!

Opinions......Be Carefull

This is prompted, by a podcast from Tin House Studio (at the very end)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt3JVrWxB1s

Opinions. As someone once said, “Opinions are like a#%eholes, everyone has one and not everything they produce is good”.

It is getting increasingly hard to;

1) Find clear and evenly balanced, correctly informed opinions from people who know.

2) Be able to tell the difference.

I am going to share an opinion here, but I hope it is a fair assessment of the state of things.

It is easy to get advice, but hard to get good advice, which I fear is going to become the norm.

Video suffers from this more than stills, because the base of older videographers is just not there.

The easiest way is to go back to known and respected sources, unfortunately harder with video, as so much has changed so fast. Books, written about photography are still trustworthy, blogs and vlogs are generally a mixed bag.

Proof?

Terminology for one, something that bothers me way too much, is paying the price of poorly educated people educating the next generation.

Example;

There is a raft of poor depth of field and aperture terminology going around, which to be honest make one of the hardest things to get your head around even harder. “A depth of field” is not a thing and should not be used as a catch-all to describe shallow depth of field or Bokeh. An image has more or less depth of field, but you need to say that.

Bokeh is also not just a term for super shallow depth of field, but rather a term for all sharp-to-soft depth of field transitions and their many qualities.

Wider apertures (along with other factors) = shallower depth of field = smaller f numbers = more light. Bokeh effects always result from this, not just from the amount of blur.

I would be wealthy if I scored a dollar for every time I have heard “more of a depth of field”, meaning shallow depth of field effect, or “smashed it with a bigger aperture”, but meaning a bigger number, not an actual bigger aperture which is a smaller number.

Another is using the term Lut for stills imaging when you are using a pre-set, which in stills should be called that and should not be treated as a fix-all like in video (and neither should it be in video). The habit of selling LUT’s does nobody any favours if the user needs to know more about colour grading.

Other opinions, more dangerous than annoying are the “never” or “only” ones, you know the type, the ones that inform you that there is apparently only one true way to do something properly, one brand, format, codec or programme worth having and all the rest are sub-par. These may not even be that obvious, just gently biased through faintly praising others.

Sometimes these are quite simply paid bias or worse ignorance.

Yet to meet someone who has done it all, used everything and tried every possible connotation of the art, so how would they actually know? One thing I have learned is, all brands have something to offer and no one way is the right way, but also the grass is seldom greener on the other side.

Always shoot RAW! I do, except for when I don’t.

Always use primes (or zooms). What utter crap. Each lens and use case needs to be looked at individually, not as a philosophy of type bias. I have a preference for primes because I have found they are generally better bang for the buck. Give me a pair of cheap, fast, but conservative primes over a monster super zoom any day, but that is my choice. The reality is, my zooms often surprise me, but my fondest memories are from a few special primes I have owned.

If you have f1.4 you should use it (often with miss-pronounced Bokeh or incorrect depth of field terminology).

Way to make all your images look the same as everyone else’s and chicken out of forming an proper story telling frame. Depth of field is like light or air or anything else, it has flavours, quantities and moods, so why not use them all.

Only use brand or format “X”.

Use what works for you, which is likely what you have and remember, brand preferences come and go. Ten years ago, Sony was only emerging in the industry until they got video AF right before everyone else, then they jumped over older brands, but for a long time they struggled to produce a decent lens. According to some recent reviewers, they seem to have invented superior lens design! To non AF users (i.e.professionals), they are still just one of many mid range brands.

Never crop, always crop, never post process (for authenticity), always post process for the best results (subjective), etc.

For this one I would simply flip it. What do you want. Decide this before you shoot and make the shooting process fit that. Why should an arbitrary choice made by some tech or committee many years ago decide for you what shape/size/colour or tone your work should be?

I like square, wide screen and sometimes, just as it comes. Colour gives way to mono as appropriate and I reserve the right to treat every image as I feel without using pre-sets or LUT’s to hide behind.

The best creators have an idea, then they do what is needed to realise it, they do not start with “my camera does this, so this is what I do”. Wes Anderson did not go out and buy a “Wes Anderson kit and LUT pack” and gain his signature look from that. Many will only decide on photography at all if it is the right medium.

My advice, and this is an opinion, but one that I hope makes sense, is do you rather than copy, create new rather than mimic, research when you have a valid question and then take the “vein” of truth from several sources. Don’t be afraid to fall back on time tested techniques when in doubt, because they tend to weather time better than trends. Read older and more respected sources if you are getting contradictory information and question, question, question.

Look at the masters, not so you can copy, but take heed of their journey, the way they did not copy, but created their own look.

Ask yourself who is talking as much as what they are saying. You may identify with the face on the screen and they may be very charismatic, but do not just accept what they say if that little voice in your head throws up a question mark. Anyone doing this for less than ten years may very well be caught up in the same vast ball of mis-information out there (but still consider themselves “veterans” or worse “guru’s” none the less).

The reality is they are getting results they like, so their opinions are valid, but are they sharing their thoughts accurately and are their ways ideal for you?

On that, listen to you inner voice. Intuition and instinct are the most under utilised resources we all have.

A Philosophical Flip, Or Just Careful Choices?

I really like my two 7Artisan Hope lenses, the 25 and 50mm in MFT format (45/50 and 90/100 respectively on the 1.8x GH5s/2x other MFT).

I chose them carefully and had decided to buy the 16mm at some point to make a set. I did not get it in the end, channelling the money in other directions, but also I was not as sure about that one, it just felt like a lazy set maker.

The 25 is near perfect, the 50 possibly even sharper and the pair make for a very decent MFT interview set. The 25 is warmer than the 50, well most of the set actually, so perfect colour matching is not happening, but we are only talking 200kelvin, well within processing limits.

I also have the 7Artisan Vision 12mm (21/24), which after a rocky start has become a favourite in the rarely needed wide angle range, and the Sirui Nightwalker 24 T1.2 (43/48), which is super fast when needed and a different handling experience. but there is still a hole in the space I tend to use most (30mm-ish). I have camera lenses, like the Leica 15, Oly 17, but nothing cine format.

The Hope 16mm was still the logical contender, but unlike the 25 and 50’s, it has high CA when close focussed, some corner softness wide open (which at only T2.1, is often used), has average flare control etc and to be honest, the role of the Hope lenses, which is the “stable” studio interview performers, did not fit ideally with this focal length, especially with both existing lenses becoming slightly wider on the GH5s.

The Sirui 16mm Nightwalker (SNW) T1.2 is raising it’s hand again.

Before the Hope lenses, this was probably the inevitable purchase. The SNW shares the 67mm filter thread I have a lot of effects filters for, matching my Lumix-S series and my intended filter base size until the Spectrum and Hope lenses serviced by matt box filters. It is nice to handle with run-n-gun shooting and wide open seems much the same as the Hope 16. The thing is, wide open is T1.2. At a matching T2.1, it is better than the Hope.

It is also warmer in rendering, which actually matches the Hope 25 and SNW 24’s closer, has a very nice rendering, possibly with more character than the Hope lens and is similarly priced. I also feel it is nice to have a couple of matching lenses to add choices in a controlled dynamic.

It is a little weak wide open at it’s closes focussing distance, but stopped down to T2 (still faster than the Hope), it cleans up very well.

An odd set, the 7A Vision 12, Sirui 16 and 24 and the 7A Hope 25 and 50. They are all however, the best of their series and ideally aligned to purpose.

The Hope lenses are stable and bullet proof, ideal for set interviews and critical work.

Very stable glass for any purpose. Basically no nasties to think of, clinical and safe. These allow me to be a little risky with lighting placement while running a dual cam setup.

The SNW’s are more character filled, optically strong, over two stops faster, very light to focus, while taking smaller filters and are a smaller, lighter design, so better for run-n-gun.

The 24 Nightwalker stood out recently in a test for 3D pop in my 50mm equivalents, which to be honest was meant to allow the Hope lenses to shine. They did, but the 24 was right there. This was taken at T2.8, still showing some separation, which other lenses did not always.

The Vision 12mm is the right lens for wide angle for me and happens to match the Hope lenses in ring placement and look. The 10mm Hope is the weakest and too wide, the SNW’s offer nothing this wide.

The 12mm has impressed. The other Vision lens I would get is the 35 T1.05, but the others are a mixed bag. The mount on this one is not tight, so I put it aside, but on using it, I have come to appreciate it’s optical consistency and mechanically, it aligns with the Hope lenses.

The reality is, budget, even mid-range cine lens sets can be optically stable, sharp and well made, but within each set, there is usually some variation in colour, rendering and optical performance.

The 7Artisans Vision series stand out for being so mixed, that they are hardly a set, but individual lenses do stand out in different ways. The 12 and 35 are well behaved, the 25 and 50 less so, almost “dreamy” in rendering.

The Hope and Nightwalker series are overall better, but by no means perfectly matched (but even the much dearer Nisi Athena lenses have better and worse in their range), so apart from mechanical variables, there is little real reason not to mix the very best of each series together to make a superior budget cine set, especially if sub-sets within these make sense.

Ed. There is of course the elephant in the room of would I use a traditional cine lens for more run-n-gun video if I have two zooms and some primes, with AF and even some stabilising at hand? The reality is, the G9II is my “in hand” cam and that comes with several handling advantages.