Gedankenpolaroid

Weekend challenge by Philip Bloom: Last night’s remains

gedankenpolaroid — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 09:52:32 +0000

Hey guys, first off I really want to apologize for not having written anything in a long time. I've been crammed with work lately, editing 3 projects at the same time plus writing my exams. Now, last weekend I finally got to take a break from all that and took the freedom to do ... well, nothing at all. So relaxing! Of course fellas like Philip Bloom have to ruin weekends like that by starting something like this weekend challenge ;-) The objective was to create a 90 sec short film of a single object. I have to say, this really got me off the couch. I found it utterly exciting to make a film showing only one object for 90 seconds, without being boring. This is my submission: Music is by the awesome xun, go check him out! You can find some making of photos after the break.

Reviewing my DIY Bodypod

gedankenpolaroid — Sat, 29 May 2010 19:46:12 +0000

I've promised to review on this little buddy for some time now, so here it comes. Check my video review for all you need to know about my 15$ DIY Bodypod solution (well, add about 40$ for the Manfrotto quick release and you're good to go). I got the idea from this guy here. Basically this is a modified (very cheap) monopod from Delamax, which I found on ebay. But basically all monopods will do. I upgraded it with a Manfrotto quick release so I could attach my 550D very easily and take it off very fast. Enough of the words, see for yourself: Amazon links: Couldn't find the Delamax monopod on Amazon.com, this one looks good though. Or as I said, try any monopod. The Manfrotto Quick Release can be found here.

That’s a wrap: about the ‘Glassworks’ shooting

gedankenpolaroid — Tue, 25 May 2010 19:39:26 +0000

So, last weekend I finally started my first big film project acting as DP and director. We were on a very tight schedule, determined to shoot six demanding scenes in only two shooting days. Things got pretty hectic, but we had a lot of fun and in the end we managed to get everything done just in time. Before getting into details about the shooting, the equipment we used and the problems we ran into let me first tell you a bit about 'Glassworks'. A few months ago my dear friend Phil who is a talented musician currently working under the pseudonym xun finished his first ambient album 'Frameworks' (you can stream it on his bandcamp profile). I love his music and since I already created the album artwork I was eager to use some of the tracks on upcoming shorts I wanted to shoot. Talking to Phil about this we came up with the idea to both make a promotional video for the title track 'Glassworks' and at the same time tell one of the stories I wanted to tell in a short film. One thing led to another, in the end I wrote a script for it and both Phil and I agreed that Glassworks and my ideas on how to adapt it on screen were a perfect fit. Glassworks in motion was born!

Reviewing the LCDVF on the 550D/T2i

gedankenpolaroid — Tue, 04 May 2010 20:16:19 +0000

It's been some time since my last blog entry and I sincerely apologize for that! My LCDVF has finally arrived today so I really wanted to share my first impressions with you guys. Since I already wrote an article about the LCDVF a few weeks ago, I didn't really want to write a whole review - also since there already are a lot of reviews on the VF out there. So I decided to put together a quick video to tell you what I think about the LCDVF and give you an idea of what it looks like on my 550D. If you have any questions regarding the VF, please leave them in the comments and I will be very delighted to answer them as good as I can. Check out the video on Vimeo:

UPDATED 3: LCW Fader ND filter tested on 550D

gedankenpolaroid — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 11:31:21 +0000

Update May 25, 2010: Watch out when buying the LCW Fader ND on eBay! The only confirmed ebay seller is lightcraftworkshop-official-store, do not buy from "bonifaceleung"! The seller I got the Fader from is called vendilo-torinonord, this is the official eBay store from a shop in Torino, Italy, which is also a confirmed distributor of LCW (however, their ebay store is not officially confirmed). Check this section on the LCW website for an overview of official resellers. Update April 14, 2010: You can now find a sample video of the Fader ND in action at the end of this blog entry and on my Vimeo profile. -- My new Fader ND filter arrived a few days ago and I got to testing it out in the field right in time before my flu knocked me down ;-) And now that I have to spend some time in bed I finally get to share my impressions with you guys. When I first used my 550D for video shooting it didn't take much time for me to realize the need of a ND (neutral density) filter when shooting in bright day light. The problem is pretty obvious: Since changing the shutter speed while shooting in movie mode is not a good idea (your shutter speed should always remain at double the amount of the frame rate you chose - '180 degree shutter rule') the only possibility do decrease the incoming light is by stepping down the aperture. But in doing that, you also lose the shallow depth of field. So to be able to use high aperture even when it's bright outside you have to reduce the incoming light in another way: with a neutral density filter, that is. When buying a ND filter you have to consider the strength of the filter - there are different ones, each of them letting through a different amount of light. Now since I'm pretty lazy the idea of getting several ND filters and having to try out and find the right one to use in a certain situation didn't really appeal to me. Fortunately the so called Fader ND filter makes it possible to simply put on only one filter and adjust the amount of light coming through by turning the filter ring. A great concept I thought, so I decided to get one.

New LCDVF to fully support 550D/T2i shipping in 4 weeks

gedankenpolaroid — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 08:19:41 +0000

Before talking about the big news, let me just get into the whole LCD-as-a-viewfinder issue for a second. I've been interested in the LCDVF since I first heard about it. Since the viewfinder on the DSLRs is blocked by the mirror when set to movie mode, the LCD screen has to be used as a VF. Obviously this makes it very very hard to focus - especially when shooting in 1080p. In the past few months companies have responded to that issue, one of the first solutions being the Hoodman HoodLoupe (which was actually build for still photographers, making it easier to review the images on the LCD screen when shooting in bright daylight). Today, many people rely on the Zacuto Z-Finder, which sure is a great product - but very expensive. A cheap alternative, the LCDVF, had been introduced by a one-man company early this year. It offers a magnification of about 200% but no diopter. No problem for me, since I'm using contact lenses anyways. The LCDVF is listed at about 160$ (130€ in Germany), which is still much less than the cheapest Z-Finder (starting at 265$, but at that price also without diopter). The LCDVF has been out of stock pretty much everywhere for the past few weeks, so I wasn't able to get my hands on one of them. The only retailer in Germany selling these things seems to be a web shop called EnjoyYouCamera.com (they also ship to UK, FR and IT btw). After checking back with EYC I was told the LCDVF should be back in stock by last week ;-) Nothing there yet, though. Another issue has popped up on the internet when someone with a 550D/T2i got his hands on a LCDVF - apparently the screen of the 550D is a bit smaller than the ones on the 7D or 5DmkII, resulting in the mounting frame of the VF cropping off 2mm on both sides of the LCD screen. Not much you might say (so do I), but also not really perfect when you think about the 160$ you invested into this.

UPDATED 2: 550D/T2i knock-off battery test with surprises (1400mAh)

gedankenpolaroid — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 18:46:50 +0000

Update May 04, 2010: Watch out when buying batteries from the ebay seller mentioned in the text ("trade-shop"); it seems he sends out different kinds of batteries (with less power than the ones i got) - check out Lucas Pfaffs blog entry on this matter (it's in german). Thanks for the warning, Lucas! Update May 06, 2010: I have received word from quite a few people now the ebay seller ("trade-shop") now ships batteries with significantly less power than the ones I got. Be careful when buying the batteries on ebay, try to get a statement from the seller first and feel free to link to this blog entry! _ Since the first knock-off batteries for the 550D/T2i appeared on Amazon and eBay a few weeks ago, I was eager to get my hands on some of them. The original Canon battery LP-E8 is still listed at something like 60$ and I believe it was even more before the first knock-offs were introduced. For me this is far too much money to be spend on a battery; even though they obviously are an essential piece of equipment for the DSLR filmmaker (especially when it comes to longer shoots). Anyhow, since I was planning to get enough batteries to last for a whole shooting day (and still keep an eye on the money spent), I wanted to be sure the ones I got would be as long lasting as possible. After checking back with Nino Leitner's experiences with some of the clones I decided to get some myself. Now the ones Nino tested lasted for about 47min compared to a total of 147min with the original Canon battery. I decided to give a battery from eBay (Germany) a shot - it claimed to have 1400mAH, which is quite a bit more than the original battery has (1120mAh). I bought it for about 10€ (which is something like 13$) and didn't expect too much. But hey, not much of a risk at 10 bucks, right. Well, prepare for some surprises.

UPDATED: canon 550d/t2i finally here! stay tuned for more!

gedankenpolaroid — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 12:41:36 +0000

Update April 09, 2010: You can now find a sample video on my vimeo profile. Hey folks, I finally got my new camera - the Canon 550D/t2i. I'm already in love with it and will be uploading sample videos to my vimeo profile soon. The full HD footage looks stunning with my canon 50/1.8 lens. stay tuned for more, i'll be putting together quite some gear in the near future for hddslr filmmaking while staying on a budget. maybe i'll be of help for some of you guys who also want to get into hddslr business. i'm currently waiting on the LCDVF to be sold in Germany again - it seems to be out of stock anywhere else as well, but i was told new stocks should arrive some time this week. i'll keep you posted on this as well for i know it is a low priced alternative to the zacuto z-finder and is supposed to be working quite okay. check back here for more info, reviews and footage on that later! hope you have a wonderful week! xo

canon releases plugin to connect FCP and DSLRs UPDATE

gedankenpolaroid — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 21:26:19 +0000

I just found out about a plugin for Final Cut Pro that was released by Canon just a few days ago - looks like this plugin makes it possible to convert hd video material from the 7D, 5DmkII and 1DmkIV directly and very fast into Apple ProRes 422 using the log & transfer feature of FCP. Doesn't yet work for the 500D/550D (t1i/t2i), but looks like this is planned for future versions of the plugin. Very nice if you ask me, could come in handy. check out the US Canon website for the download links (select your camera model first, then find it in the 'drivers & downloads' section. Update: Apparently there already is a workaround to get the plugin working with the 550D as well. Check out these instructions by Nathan Beaman to get it done. xo via philipbloom.co.uk

my new lens: canon ef50 f1.8 mkI

gedankenpolaroid — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 22:23:58 +0000

Since yesterday i'm the proud owner of a beautiful canon ef 50mm f1.8 lens. yes, i know there is a mkII version out there which is not 20 years old like this one, but it seemed to me more like a step back than forward, especially when it comes to production quality. the mkI version features a metal bayonet, while the new one has plastic. plus - most important point for me - since i'm planning to use this lens for hddslr filming i will be able to actually use the focus ring on the mkII. it's still not really wide, but much wider than the one on the newer version (which is like 1.5 mm). the mkI is kind of hard to get though, there are a few ones on ebay, but often they are quite expensive due to their rareness. i was lucky and got mine for about 170$ from a marketplace in a dslr forum. i already played around with the lens a bit, but have yet to test it under real low light conditions (in which i was planning to use it obviously). i'll show some samples here then. in the next days i'll get myself the new canon 550d, really looking forward to it. i can't wait to get into the whole hddslr filmmaking, after seeing all the possibilities you have with these cameras (check out the blog of filmmaker/dp philip bloom - i love his work and he's totally into hddslr filmmaking). xo