If shutter speed has been neglected in all the talks about manual control, what to say about the ISO? Would it not have been in the firmware change log, I doubt many people would have cried. At least for the first few days.

While aperture and shutter speed give creative control over the way you present a scene, the ISO impacts the overall look. Switching from ISO 100 to 400 might be a no brainer if you need more light when taking pictures. On the other hand, if you are editing a clip and interlinking scenes shot at various ISO, the differences will be obvious and viewers will expect it to be done for a reason.

Look consistency in a scene is king and having control over the ISO helps keeping the same look from the start of the scene to the end. This part can already be done with the exposure lock button (*). The new thing here is that you also want to set a predetermined ISO in a case where you have a multi camera setup or in scenes where lighting changes drastically.

Some people might argue that most of the look can be generated during the grading stage but, as with everything, it is always better to do it in camera than in post. You will save yourself a lot of time trying to match clips with each others.

We talked about it a few days ago and now On one software just announced that DSLR Remote is now available for purchase on the iTune store. It is available in two format: lite (2$) or pro (10$ now, 20$ regular price).

I did not even take the time to read the differences between the two and picked the pro version. I will test is out for a day or two then post a review.

Buy DSLR Camera Remote

Buy DSLR Camera Remote lite

While I demonstrated in a previous post the advantage of IS lenses compared to non-IS lenses, the new aperture control is going to make these babies even shinier. How comes? As you know, the further an object is from the camera, the more it is subject to camera shake since the total travelled distance on the sensor of a far object is bigger than the one of a close by object given the same ’shake angle’.

Now here is the sweet part: since we will be able to use large aperture it will give us a shallower depth of field which will results in a nice bokeh which will cream the shaky background! Everyone is going to benefit from this but IS lenses even more since they already reduce the shake.

Suddenly, IS lenses became even sexier. Example footage available next week.

While people keep talking about the creative freedom given by the manual control over aperture, no one is talking about the shutter speed. The only time you hear people talking about it is in the context of the 24fps fiasco, wishing have a 1/48 sec shutter duration.

Well, it makes me sad. Shutter speed is such a creative tool! While you might not perceive the differences between a 1/30 and 1/60 shutters, the new firmware enables us to crank it up to 1/4000sec which is a big difference in look.

At 1/4000sec, each of the 30 frames per second will be sharp. In fact, it will be unnaturally sharp in the case of fast moving subjects. This may be the look you are looking for. If it is not, you will need to introduce some motion blurring in your post processing workflow.

If you don’t have access to [after effects], you can slow down the shutter by reducing the amount of light that is coming in, resulting in a blurry image. I am sure you already guessed how it can be done: by using a stack of ND filters as we have been doing pre firmware update to control the aperture. The difference is that you won’t be neutralizing light to increase the aperture but to slow down the shutter.

Note: while reading my post, it occurred to me that I own a very good photography book which goes in great details about how one can use the shutter speed in creative ways in still photography: Understanding Shutter Speed. It’s from the same guy who wrote Understanding Exposure. Not as much of a classic and mandatory reading as the Exposure one but still worth a read for anyone who wants to learn photography.

Now that everyone is aware of the incoming firmware upgrade, I think it is time to talk about its impacts on the way we have been working with it so far. You might be surprised by this but there is more to this update than being able to isolate your girlfriend from the background the next time you film her on the beach…

I am going to cover these changes over the next few days, one aspect at the time, starting now. If you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to contact me or drop a comment.

WoW! My source for the previous rumor hinted about this but I never expected it to happen so soon! Congrats to CanonRumors for posting this first (at least before all the other blogs I subscribe to!) visit them for the details.

Of course, it happens after I bought for about 200$ of adapters and lenses… I will now be hunting for a 24L1.4 and 85L1.2, gosh, this is doing to be expensive!

I just wished they released it on the Friday. It is going to be one hell of a long weekend!

Folks. I think I have been sitting on this news long enough. As you all know, one of the most frustration thing about video editing in HD is that you can never work directly with the original clips without some serious performance hit and frame skipping.

The solution to this issue, so far, has been to either use proxies or transcode the clip into a format that can be rendered in real time (ex: ProRes 422). Each of these solutions has a disadvantage. Proxies add complexity to the workflow (I wish Premiere or FCP would handle them like After Effects does) and if you transcode to another codec, you are losing some image quality (they don’t handle the color the same way). The lost might be minimal but it is there. That is why some people just keep editing in H.264 and accept the ever present render bar as a necessary evil.

Well, it is time to rejoice because very soon all of these issues are going to be history! I have learned that the next version of Quicktime (coming with Snow Leopard) is going to allow real time editing of the Canon 5DMrkII H.264 clips!

I have yet to figure out if this improvement will be the benefit of Core Video optimization or new hardware coming in the next Macs. I guess we will know about it at the developer conference.

Of course, this is just a second hand rumor so it has to be taken for what it is: a rumor. I publish this because my source is very credible and it fits nicely in Apple video editing strategy.

I have another rumor from the same person that might be of even greater interest to us but before posting it, I will wait for confirmation of this one. After all, I dont want to be known as the guy who keep posting false rumors!

Now that you have seen the rig, lets see how well it can perform! My test was quite simple: I dialed my lens at f/2.8 and made a small diorama with my Play Mobile miniatures. Please, don’t ask why I still have these, there is a reason, I swear!

I shot two clips, in the first I pulled and pushed the focus very slowly. In the second part, I do a few back and forth as fast as I could while keeping everything under control. Before going any further, please take a look at the clips…

The first thing you notice is, of course, that my lens breath quite a lot and there is nothing we can do about it. You can also see some camera shake created by my pulling. It is most noticeable in the second part of the clip because every time I try to change the inertia of the lens gear by rotating the handle, some pressure is added on the lens (1) or the full rig (2) depending if I am pulling of pushing. The breathing of the lens helps to reduce the problem since everything in the frame is moving at the same time but still, this is annoying. This problem can be minimized by being careful and some practice but I am curious to know if every FF system is affected by this issue or just the cheaper ones.

While there is a little bit of looseness in the handle, it is barely noticeable and does not affect the performance of the system unless you want to make a very small focus adjustment. As seen in the clip, the movement of the focus pane is very smooth once it’s going.

As you have seen in my previous video, installation of the follow focus is trivial. There are a few adjustment points which allow positioning the gear at the correct height and that is it. So far, every screw has held well but I must admit that I haven’t played much with them once I have found the “sweet spot” that fitted all my lenses and I recommend you to do the same.

The rails mount could also use some improvement. Right now, it is only held in place by a single bolt that compress the mount around the rails. The amount of tension required to keep this piece in place worries me a bit. Using two screws, closer to the rails would be more efficient and require less strength. I would also prefer to use a circular handle, I have the feeling it would make it easier to have a fluid motion.

My biggest complain about the D-Focus is was the lack of an integrated marked ring. While new buyers can order it at the same time as the FF, for early adopters like me, it is a bit frustrating to pay shipping cost, again. Some people might complain about the lack of whip too but it is not something I need right now so I can’t tell how much I miss it.

Conclusion
Should you get this? Of course! While I have not tested the intermediate systems (those around 300$), I don’t think they provide enough improvement over the D-Focus to be worth your money. So unless you are going for the high end Follow Focus systems, the D-Focus is the way to go!

I have received a few comments from people who think that the font used on this site is too small which makes long article are hard to read. While I like the current design, I have to agree with them. The font is kinda small. This is why I decided to switch to a more eye friendly theme.

I have identified a few that I am going to try out in the next few days, but if you have any suggestions, feel free to contact me! Since the branding of the site is not that strong (yet), I am open to any color palette.

I talked about my rig a while ago and never had time to (1) show it to you guys (2) write a proper review of the follow focus. So in this first post I am going to present the rig which consist of:

Manfrotto 323 RC2 Rapid Connect Adapter(you really need to buy one of these!)
DV City Lens gear
D-Focus
RailsPro
FD to EF adapter

Also shown in the clip are my Manfrotto 701HDV Pro Fluid Head and the Manfrotto 190XB Tripod.

Sorry about the quality of the clip. It was made with my girlfriend Canon PowerShot G9 with the Wide Converter which caused some flaring and I edited the whole thing in less than 10 minutes.

Have fun with my French Canadian accent! The D-Focus tests results will be online in the next 24 hours. are now available.

UPDATE:

If you get the D|Focus DSLR Mount, you can replace the RailsPro with it, reducing the overall weight and size of the rig and save some money. If you are not planning to get a matte box, this is the way to go.