I Want To Make Movies - Now What? PT. 3

So my personal love in the film making world is the art of cinematography and camera operation. I love composition and the tech behind digital cinematography. One thing that originally drove me was the technological aspects of digital cinema. So when I started making movies it was obviously long before the advent of digital cinema, but my serious mature venture into digital cinema came when I realized that with a camcorder I could film, edit and distribute my film all with a camcorder, a mic, some lights and an Apple Computer. Now I know that you can edit on a Windows machine, but it didn't appeal to me quite like having a iMac DV with a Firewire port and iMovie.

I'd played with Premier on Windows prior to that point, but the Mac just seemed easier to get the footage into the computer, edited and outputted.

So where am I now with film making, cinematography and equipment? Well there are a number of things that can assist a new film maker in being able to achieve the most film like look from their low budget gear, but one thing is for sure, in order to get started it takes money.

So what would I suggest for the starting filmmaker? Here's a run down of gear and a price estimate as of the date of this post:

Ultra low budget:
Camera - Canon HV30 ($900)
Lights - Garage Can Sockets with daylight balanced 100W Halogen bulbs. ($50)

Moderate Low Budget:

Camera - Canon HV30 ($900)
Lights - Lowe Pro DV Kits ($600 - $1300)
Sound - Beachtek Adapter with a Azden Shotgun Mic ($200)
Support - Bogen / Manfrotto 501 Head and Legs ($500)

High Low Budget:

Camera - Canon HV30 ($900)
Lights - Lowe Pro DV Kits ($600 - $1300)
Sound - Beachtek Adapter with a Azden Shotgun Mic ($200)
35MM Adapter - Red Rock Micro M2 Adapter ($1745)
35MM Lenses - Nikon Set of 28mm, 50mm and 85mm ($1300)
Support - Bogen / Manfrotto 519 Head and Legs ($1300)

Of course as you get more and more sophisticated you spend more money. The current kings of indie cinema camcorders are the Panasonic HVX 200A and the Sony PWD-EX1, which both run for about $6000 and produce amazing images. The again there is a light on the horizon from Red Digital Cinema with their eagerly anticipated camera Scarlet which has 3K resolution (more twice the resolution as 1080P), 2/3" sensor which provides Depth of Field characteristics close to 16mm film, and tapeless RAW workflow which is leagues better than HDV and IMHO DVCPro due to the level of control it gives a person. All of this and more for HALF the price ($3000) of the current kings the HVX and the EX1.

In the next few blogs I'll try and explain the difference between DV, HDV, DVCPro, and RedCode RAW. When buying a camera its important to know the strengths and weaknesses of its native codec and what the codec buys or costs a filmmaker in post.

Fotodiox Nikon to EOS adapter

So I'm a professional photographer that has a good amount invested in Canon EOS lenses and cameras. For my digital cinema equipment I use Nikon lenses, mostly due to the manual aperture control, on my Red Rock Micro M2 rig, and in the future my Red One. When I purchased the Red Rock Micro M2, I purchased it with the EOS adapter AND the Nikon adapter, but since they have different flange focal lengths and different optics, you need to change out the mounts and the flange. So with all the work with that I changed my mount to a Nikon and haven't used the EOS mount since.

Now I want to use both my EOS Canon L lenses with my Nikon primes, so I went and purchased the Fotodiox Nikon to EOS adapter from Adorama. So now I'm able to add this adapter to my Nikon lenses and then attach the Nikon lens to a Canon EOS mount (like my 5D). The adapter is a small piece of metal that has a very small amount of metal to adjust the flange focus for a Nikon lens to a Canon flange distance.

My initial excitement about the ability to use my Nikon lenses on my Canon cameras and my Red Rock Micro M2 was quickly dashed after 2 minutes of attempting to work with the adapter. Now I already knew that with the adapter there would be NO AUTOMATIC CONTROL, but in a cinema environment, thats not really needed since manual is preferred. The issue with this adapter is attaching it to the Nikon lens is a pain! Its difficult to figure out where the alignment is going to go since the marker for matching up the mount to the adapter is hard to see. Once thats been found the attachment is so tight that its easy to move the aperture control without being aware of it. Also once the adapter is on the lens, changing the aperture is impossible with how it presses onto the lens.

With the adapter being so tight, I was almost scared when I thought about it getting permanently lodged onto the lens. Good thing is, once its on, it attaches to the EOS mount easily.

Now taking it off is another story. Just one suggestion, with the Fotodiox adapter, wear gloves when putting on the adapter and taking it off. The metal edges on the adapter are SHARP and make cuts in you fingers. Now I don't know if I got a bum adapter, but after attempting to get the adapter off of the lens I had numerous cuts in my thumb and forefinger. Also, in order to free the lens from the adapter you have to pull up on a tiny metal tab and twist the adapter free from the lens. Not an easy task and you risk putting your grubby fingers on the rear element of the lens.

Good thing about this adapter it its cheap. There are $255 adapters for sale (Novoflex) that might have a better build quality and easier usage, but this one is $50. In the end they work the same, but the cut fingers and frustration are difficult to justify.

Pros: Ability to attach Nikon F Mount lenses to an Canon EOS camera or mount. Price at almost a third the cost of the other adapters.

Cons: Hard to mount to lens. Difficult to remove from lens. Sharp metal pieces cut fingers. Taking adapter on and off lenses not good for the life of the lens.

Suggested: No. I don't know about the Novoflex adapter, but I'm sure its another case of you get what you pay for.

Busy weekend

This weekend was a busy one, not leaving much time for blogging. Tonight I should have a blog up with a review of a Nikon to Canon mount adapter I purchased for attaching Nikon lenses to my Red Rock Micro Canon EOS mount so I have a wider array of lenses to choose from without changing the flange focus of the M2 adapter. Plus I should be a week or so away from receiving my Red Rock Micro Mattebox which I'm planning on doing a full video unboxing of and posting here! Should be good!

Look for that review tonight and hopefully another segment of "I want to make movies, now what?"