What are /r/WeAreTheFilmMakers' favorite Products & Services?

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Choosing an aperture isn't strictly about lighting, it's also a creative decision. How much depth of field do you want for a particular shot? In a professional environment (or rather, a creative professional environment), you adjust your lighting to fit your desired f/stop.

There are also other things to consider. Typically, a lens' sweet spot isn't when it's wide open.

I'm interested in hearing more about the hacked GH1/GH2. I have no problem with doing the firmware hacking/editing myself so the GH1 would be an option. Can you elaborate on why you think it's so good, and how it is in terms of useability? I'm checking out a few of this guy's videos which seem relatively convincing.

My issue with a DSLR for video would be that, most likely, I will not be the one shooting it, and would most likely have to rely on someone who hasn't had much shooting experience before. So ease of use is quite important.

Obviously, I'd be there to help set up the shots and it wouldn't be a complete rush job, but being able to take good video with minimal attention to f-stops and constantly having to refocus mid-shot is a must.

Also, would you suggest the GH1 over the GH2? Is there a hack for the GH2 that gives it muscles as well?

Yeah, I agree with the other two comments. Your aperture is a creative decision. Do you want more depth of field or do you want everything in focus? Wide open isn't usually optimal. ESPECIALLY with the f/1.4, you're limiting your depth of field to like 6 inches with that.

When I first started, I used to go 1.4 on everything. I figured the more depth of field the better. But sometimes you want to be able to make out that the background is a tree and not just a blurry mess of pixals. Plus, I tried to take portraits of someone hugging their wife from behind so their face was slightly behind them. All the photos I took with that, she was in focus but he wasn't which is not the photo I was going for.

So decide, creatively, how you want your image to look and then set your aperture accordingly. I very rarely shoot with 1.4, I rarely shoot below 2. I've found that with my 50mm 1.4 lens, 2.8-3.5 is a really sweet spot where you can get some nice bokeh but the DoF is 3 feet or so.

But just play with it, and get creative. Don't try to shoot as fast as you can just because you CAN.

note: I'm more of a photographer than film maker, but aperture is more-or-less similar. my examples are on the cheesy, generic side. There are no cookie-cutter answers that apply to all situations. You aren't Michael Bay!

1st off, a shallow depth of field is NOT the secret to professional-looking work.
It is one tool among many that should be in your tool kit. But it should not be the first one you instinctively reach for.

In most cases, landscapes should be shot with a small aperture, giving you a wide depth of field, so the scene is as detailed as possible.

A medium depth of field (F/8 or so) is a good all-round setting, most lenses work best around the middle.

Use a shallow depth of field when you want all the attention to be focused on only one thing. (eg. an extreme close-up of an actors face during an emotional scene, with the focus on their eye)

Another use of a shallow DOF is controlling what the audience is looking at.
A character might point and say "look at that" and the focus jumps from their finger in the foreground to an object in the background. Star Trek does this a lot during dramatic scenes, where the characters are standing at different distances to the camera, and the focus follows whichever character is speaking.

Having a tool doesn't mean you have to use it! general rule of thumb: the more extreme an effect, the less often you should use it.

If you did go this route, you would be able to use your nikon lenses with the canon body no problem. You can find the f mount to canon (ef?) mount adapters for like 2 dollars. I have a canon, and all of my lenses are old nikon lenses.

Here's what I had written up for my production company. It's brief, but thorough. Feel free to download and alter it.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mm3eBlhDXpSugRNpDTWw2V5CkcRiooahwMDpUn4itvY/edit

I picked up a gini rig a couple months back for $200 shipped. His shipping is expensive, but its usually 3 day air from South Korea and his stuff is build fantastically well: all cnc machined aluminum.

Good places to buy gini rig gear:

• ebay - user gini-2011
• reseller store gini1.com

I can only attest to the Gini rig, but I've heard good thins about Jag35, RedrockMicro, and Zacuto. They follow that list respectively as far as increasing prices.

I got a good, affordable rig from Gini from their ebay store.

I did get my adapter on ebay. It was this adapter from KawaPhoto. I am not affiliated with them, but I definitely recommend doing business with them.

I like 60s and 70s-era Nikon lenses for my Canon camera, because they're extremely high-quality and low-price. They work perfectly with the adapter. Old Canon (FD mount) lenses don't fit on new (EF mount) Canon cameras, and old Nikon (pre-AI) lenses don't fit on new Nikon cameras. It's because the flange lengths and physical mount characteristics would require an adapter with a lens (which means you lose a lot of light and image quality).

BUT pre-AI Nikon lenses like the 50mm f/1.4, the 85mm f/1.8, the 105mm f/2.5 and the 135mm f/2.8 work flawlessly on the newest Canon cameras because (bizarrely) their specs are a pretty close match. They just need a little metal ring that converts the Nikon mount to the Canon mount and you're in business. Focus to infinity, no glass, and I've never had a problem with the adapter breaking or damaging the other equipment.

I've been shooting with Nikon lenses on my Canon for more than a year and I couldn't be happier.

I concur. Mic input with audio level control is key. You could even get an old Canon HV20 like this off ebay for less than $300. I still use mine all the time.

DISCLAIMER: I am not the seller of that item. It is linked here as an example.

it looks like you have an nikon f mout for you adapter, is that right?

If you have a lens adapter, unless is an amazingly special high end one, you won't be able to use the electronics any way. Go to ebay and check out the old nikon f mount prime lenses. It depends on what you are doing, and what your setup is, but in most cases It will be cheaper and serve you better to buy a series of used prime lenses.

great quality Nikkor 50mm f1.4 goes for $50, a 28mm 2.8 for cheaper, and a 105mm 2.8 for like 70.

In my experience, you are going to have a better picture and less vignetting with prime lenses, than one zoom lens.

I have gotten all my nikkor lenses from ebay and haven't yet had a bad experience.

EDIT: all my lenses are from like the late 60's - early 80's and are in great condition. They are all completely manual

Do not buy a Radeon, they do not support CUDA and the hardware acceleration of CS5 would be crippled. For your price range, I'd go with a GTX 570 for $370. Damn near the fastest card currently available. Make sure your power supply is rated at 550w or higher.

If you're on a Mac, CD Finder is your solution. I used to work at a small production company and had exactly your issue. The guy before me had a massive spreadsheet that he updated manually, and it was driving me crazy. I found CD Finder, and life improved. It does exactly what you described: creates an offline, searchable database of all your drives, automagically. I think the free version does something like 20 drives and only on one computer; the paid version does unlimited drives with a network-accessible database, so more people can use it. I just used the free version, since we were small enough that all requests to find things could just go through me.

Good luck!

EDIT: Apparently, they have Windows Version, too.

3D movies may be annoying to us. But it has to be absolutely traumatic if you are a Scientologist.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Scientology-is-Sillytology

> These "Thetans" were then forced to watch a 3D movies for 36 days which according to Hubbard brain washed them into believing in God and the Devil as well as various other religious beliefs out there today. The images both implanted "false information" into their brains but it also left them devoid of any sense of personal identity.

Not to familiar with iMovie. but...

1.Do the sequence/timeline settings match your project? (is your project set to HD? cause iMovie might be downconverting it to SD if thats what the project is set at.)

1. Do you mean it looks like crap once you've made a video in iMovie? Or in the iMovie preview screen? (your export settings might be set to SD and you might be downconverting when you export your project. Also the preview screen in iMovie is not full quality, so once you export the video it might look fine.

Hope this helps.

Another thing to try is using a program like MPEG stream clip to convert the project to a more editing freindly codec and see how that looks.

What do you think of this rig? I messaged a few who had purchased them and they seemed very happy.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DSLR-VCR-Shoulder-Mount-Rig-Follow-Focus-Matte-Box-Movie-Kit-F-Canon-5D-7D-/320824983645?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ab2a8c05d

I have great affection for the Sony HVR-A1. It's a fantastic workhorse cam for its price range. Very good for run-and-gun, especially when you need to be inconspicuous. The A1P doesn't have an option to switch to NTSC (29.97) framerate, but if you're going to web, no big deal. Just make sure you edit at PAL framerates too.

If you have access to decent Nikkor glass, go DSLR. Resist the urge to shoot extremely shallow DOF. Fotodiox makes very nice F-mount to EF-mount adapters to use Nikkors on Canons -- I have a kit of Nikkor glass on my T2i. Onboard audio is functional, but not pretty; Zoom h4n is better.

Something like this would probably work for you. There's a 35mm f/1.4 that's from the same era, but it costs 10x as much as the f/2.

If you think you might want to build up a full set of fast primes for video, it's a good idea to go with full-frame lenses like these. Eventually, you'll want to move up to a full-frame sensor (like the 5DmkII) and these lenses work just as well on full-frame as they do on crop-sensor cameras like the T3i.

BUT, for really wide-angle shooting, you won't be able to go the vintage route. For anything wider than 35mm, you're better off with the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 and the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8. The alternative is to buy fast wide primes, which cost a fortune.

Yeah, that looks perfect, but they're asking for too much money. The trick to buying 50mm lenses is that they're often the lens that comes with older film cameras. You can buy an old Nikon camera like this for a third of what they want for the lens, and it comes with a lens.

cool cool. so something like this would work with the adapter? If i get a 1.4 should I get something a little higher like 2.8 or higher for more 'general' shooting? I cant afford the 30mm right now.....thanks again :)

College grad with no work = no money. For anything... Would really like to get those books, but aren't there online references too?

Yeah, I've got a 550d with a Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 from an OM-10. Love taking photos/video with this set up.

I use Firewire everyday, I couldn't care less if it has mainstream appeal. Thunderbolt has a ton of potential, look at this just announced today http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/07/magma-expressbox-3t-gives-you-3-external-pcie-slots-over-thunder/

Neither one is "open" anyway, it's just a matter of who you want to pay a royalty to.

Even Gizmodo's Andrew Liszewski agrees with you that the 5D mII still has a lot of life left.

sigh... I wish someone at Gizmodo would agree with me that 2008 was only four years ago & not five. >Nearly five years ago the Canon 5D Mark II changed cameras

There is cheap, high quality Pentax K Mount or M42 Screwmount glass out there with a $7-20 dollar adapter can work just fine on your T2i. These lenses and adapters will adapt glassless, and have aperture rings, so you don't lose a stop of light or suffer any weird vignetting like you do when you use old Canon FD lenses.

For my 60D, I'm using this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pentax-SMC-Pentax-A-50mm-F-2-K-Mount-Lens-/190571062839?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item2c5eeba637

this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tamron-28mm-f2-8-M42-screw-mount-lens-EXC-/260847595440

and I've got my eye on a cheap 35mm and a probably not-so-cheap 85mm to finish out my primes.

I was in a similar situation in August. I needed a new computer and I couldn't afford a pretty Mac Pro (or even an iMac). I've built PC's in the past, but it's been almost 5 years since my last one. I put together list after list of different parts/combinations to get the best bang for my buck. I was about 2 days out from ordering when I thought, just for shits and giggles, I'd peruse Best Buy's selection. I found this. Parts v Cost it's much better than anything I was building myself and it works excellently with Premiere. You can actually go into the adobe file system and add the graphics card to the Mercury Engine Playback list. As long as you have 96 CUDA cores, you can get away with it. Now my render times and how much I can do before rendering is about 10x better than with my 3 year old MBP. I never thought I'd buy a computer from best buy, but, turns out this one was actually worth it.

Well, there's always a chance. Nothing has been announced as of yet. The truth is though that buying technology is always a losing bet, there is always something slightly better right around the corner. But a new HMC-150 model is not going to make the images the current model creates any different.

Hell, I still pull out my DVX-100b every once and a while and it still makes me money. The trick is to make the thing pay for itself via work.

Honestly though, if your serious about giving yourself a little bit of future proofing, its gonna cost a chunk more than $3K. For around $5K you could grab an AF-100 or the Sony FS-100 whenever it comes out.

Or if you are looking for small chip video you might want to wait for the Canon XF105. No price info yet, but it looks like it might be in your range.

EDIT: So I just found out Panasonic did announce some new cameras the AC160 and AC130 Which look like they MAY retail around your range, but likely be just a little more. If there was going to be an HMC-150 replacement this looks like it.

In that case, try installing Quicktime Alternative. Sounds to me like Apple's MPEG2 files you have are encrypted/locked in some way, rather than open like the files that Premiere and pretty much any other NLE/player handle.

You should check out MPEG Streamclip. Lets you trim and transcode and allows for batch processing too. Great especially for getting clips to ProRes if you're using Final Cut.

I have edited with Cinelerra (Linux) and Final Cut Pro (apple). I prefer Cinelerra. It's not as pretty as FCP but it is easier to work with, free, and does all the things you want. OpenShot (Linux) is new and looks promising, but I am waiting for it to display audio waveforms on the time-line before I dive into it for a project.

Hi,

Yes I would. You get supersmooth footage and at will you can add slight paralax effect to your scenes. This makes the footage more enjoyable and interesting. As a plus, the ShuttlePod is so sturdy, it can easily take quite heavy setups. Further more, the rail system is expandable to a virtually any lenght. As long as the rails are supported every 8-12 feet. I made a quick fair-video to a client of mine using the ShuttlePod and Kessler Crane. You can check it out at: https://vimeo.com/37685380

Cheers, Keyframe

From concept to delivery in 48 hours, each film in the competition was given (completely at random) a title, prop and line of dialogue that had to be used.

Our title - Symbol 1

Our prop - A key (that had to be added to a keyring/holder with 4 keys already on it)

Our dialogue - "I told you it was a weird one, thrashing around like that? Weird."

The original cut was 7 minutes long, however, competition rules state that the finished film for submission must be between 3 - 5 mins total (excluding the title card and black at the beginning).

Cutting those 2 minutes was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do! :'(

But this is the finished result.

Full 7 min version coming in a week or 2.

For more of this years work, check out the Vimeo Group

Thanks! Yeah, I didn't mean that i didn't like them, I guess they are just different than a lot of my more recent stuff (people in general find these more accessible I think).

The first film I edited was 8 years ago I guess, I made films before that in elementary/middle school if that counts (just dumb things with my friends). But those films were only 4-5 years into film making for me.

You can make narrative film almost by your self as well. For this short film we had a crew of two. Me (directing and shooting it) and my friend who was moving the leaves against the window/misc things. I hired a child actor with pizza. This is a very simple setup, so I was able to pull it off, but I think it turned out pretty well considering. I did have access to equipment, like lights from the school I was going to.

Doing it in camera will also play with the focus a lot. Not bad; but it is something you will want to keep in mind. Moving it around enough to let in light can really mess with your focus. It is, however, a very neat effect But possibly not the effect you want. I actually used this technique to shoot this: https://vimeo.com/27994943

The videos Ive seen on Vimeo using this technique are all at 1/2000th @ 50/60FPS

One example

The smearing looks like too much motion blur between frames due to slow shutter speed

i know this is an old topic, but this has everything to do with the way windows filesystems (ntfs) and mac filesystems (hfs+) report file size to the operating system.

more info here, if you'd like. basically, don't worry about it.