the editman.com

I made something different this time. A football viral spot to be showed on the web. We had a bunch of players and a football field.
I'm not involved in doing post on this. Lately I have been out of the loop when it comes to post.
It's been a while since I shot and edited something of my own material so I'm getting a bit hungry to dig into editing again.

The day was suppose to be cloudy but we ended up with almost a clear sky. My top flag came in handy since we shot towards the sun, the more the day went by.
I haven't got my Canon mount or batteries for the Marshall monitor so we had a rental monitor. I also have a Hoodman 7" hood on order for the Marshall.
But as the jobs just keeps popping in I can't get all the stuff to every shoot. Delivery times... just like the Easom cages I used for this that took me a month to finally get.



It's interesting when you work with different directors and how they handle a shoot.
This viral we are using plates to animate ball movement and it's always tricky getting a feel for how it eventually will look.
I guess when you are on a tight schedule it can become stressful getting all the shots you want. Especially when using plate technique where the camera has to stay in one place during the whole day. I also had the sun going in and out of clouds and we had to wait for each take to have an un-clouded sun.



The Director Rodrigue sure had some thinking to do in order to get all plates in place.
It'll be interesting to see the final edit/fx!

A tip from a forum user led me to a Giottos MH 1304 mini ball head.
I have a solution for mounting my LCD monitor with a Manfrotto 234 head but I just had to try another way.

This ball head is really small but when you tighten the head it seams to stay put even with a heavier load.
I didn't have time today to try it out but I'm confident it will hold my 7" Marshall in place easily. I'll get back and report...

Cory Easom sent me a cage kit a month ago and now it arrived. Postal service can be flaky sometimes.

He had a run of 12 cages and I was able to get number 11 of these cages. They are a serious piece of machined aluminium.
All these cages have their unique serial number blistered on top of each cage pair. They are light despite their size.



There are a couple of bad things though. First of they do not have enough clearance on the vertical space.
You really have to have the camera as low as possible on the rods to be able to slide a Canon 7D back and forth.
When you loosen the  clamps they are loose and turns around making it harder to make quick changes like move rods or other stuff.
The cages do flex a bit and when loading the rig heavily the handle flexes a bit to much for my taste.

Compared to cpmfilmtools cages the EASOM are wider but not as tall. Cpmfilmtools cages feels more sturdy and I guess they take more pressure before breaking.
EASOM cages are not as wide on the rods and that's a good thing. You have more room for other stuff like follow focus.

A DSLR is such a bad video camera if you look on how it's built. It's not made to shoot video or to hook up anything than a battery holder or a flash/flashremote on the hot shoe.
Sometimes I just hate them because it is so cumbersome using them. It always seams something is missing to make it perfect.



I guess one sided cages will always be weaker than a two sided cage but despite only one side they'll probably will hold together great.
Trying only one cage and I think it flexes to much and I fear it could break if treated bad.
Love the fact that you have one side, the left side free to access the camera.

I just got the Marshall HDMI monitor and since running more than one monitor with a 7D is cumbersome you have to split whatever signal you output.
Composite is bad from the Canon cameras and your best shot is the HDMI output. The other week we had an AJA HDMI to HD SDI converter to cover monitoring and it worked well.
But we didn't use an onboard monitor for the camera. When trying to find rental equipment that matches a DSLR it's my finding that there aren't many options. Most stuff they do rent is for more pro camera like ARRI and RED. So the only choice is to have the basic stuff covered yourself.

On ebay I found a small, really small HDMI 2-way splitter. It runs on 5V and it might be possible to use it together with the Marshall sharing power supply through battery or net psu.
Check it out here!

Today we made product shots on a newly designed Koskenkorva bottle. It is tricky to get a nice smooth reflection in the glass but I think we did very well bounced two of our Kino 4x4 onto one of our studio walls. The other sides we covered with black cloth and only used a Dedo bouncing of a reflector to give a smooth fill light.

This was my first time with a jib arm and we made some top shots and went through steps down to a level camera. There's so much to learn and every job gives me something new.

One of my Canon 7D mounted on the jib arm poiting straight down. Marshall monitor on top and it was great to use this small 7" monitor together with the 7D.
I had to run composite since the clients monitor can't handle anything better. Composite video out from the 7D is not great, it's quite bad really. HDMI looks very good on the Marshall and it's easy to judge exposure and even focus.



Above picture shows how I put together the rig this time. Monitor mounted and the end of the rear rods. It worked nicely for this kind of shoot.

I took the plunge and got a Marshall V-LCD70XP after reading so much positive about it.
I was surprised of the high resolution with HDMI from the 7D.
Brightness and contrast is very good. Way better than many monitors I've tried.

I had to try a way to mount the monitor to the rods with a Manfrotto 234 tilt head.
It's the most solid and reliable mount for a LCD monitor I've found so far.
Locks in place great and it's no problem to handle the weight.
I guess even a beefy 9" would rest comfortable on this head.



Tried two different positions for the mount and Marshall and they both work great and feels super solid.
Cages are from cpmfilmtools.com.

Compared with other 7" I think the Marshall is rather small and it feels great.
Got many features I'll try tomorrow in another commercial shoot.

We had the last shoot in Östersund (northern part of Sweden) for the Actimel commercials with Swedish skistar Charlotte Kalla.

I have to write a short note and learn from this experience. When the cab picked me up I put my bags in the baggage compartment and took a seat at the taxis back seat.
To my surprise, on the floor, a Canon 5D (mark I or II I didnt' notice) with a 16-35L lens (I think) just sat there. When you shoot with 7D's and L lenses yourself this was really odd.
I picket it up looked at it for a short time and asked the driver if it was his camera. It wasn't, someone had forgot it. I left it to the cab driver because I couldn't leave it to anyone else.
He said he was going to check with central after a while... or if someone would call and report it missing.

I didn't think much of it until the day after when the cab firm (Taxistockholm) called and said the driver said I took it with me! A pure lie! I even talked to the owner later the same day and of course he has two contradicting storys now. I wish I had taking care of the camera and left it when I changed cab where I had witnesses. I feel bad for the guy who forgot it and I'm angry at that bastard of a cabdriver. Lesson learned=never trust anyone you don't know! Never trust cab drivers either.

Well anyway this Tuesday we spent the morning outdoors, on the ice. Cold but very beautiful.
The Canon 7D performs very well in almost any weather. A slight drop in battery time but everything just works.

I worked as 1st AC and Marek as DP. To really get a useful image I guess the aperture was around F9-F11 and my Fader ND was at times almost closed all the way.
Anyone working with these DSLRs know you're not suppose to have deeper DOF. But this production we actually went the other way. I think we never went lower than F5.6.



I had a mixture of stuff. Some rentals and then stuff from different vendors.
On demo/review I have a rig from cpmfilmtools and I used some parts for this job.



The picture above shows how I assembled the rig for this job.
Monitor on top is from Swit. A really bad monitor which I can't recommend to anyone.
Low resolution, low brightness, heavy, battery eating. I have nothing good to say about it.
My mounting options were limited and the small magic arm could barely hold it in place.



I found a ton of stuff to improve until next time. Most parts on the lower section is from Gini and they have some flaws.
The screws have a tendency to come loose sometimes and once one just fell off. The bottom plate came loose once also.

We had a Manfrotto 501 head and Sachtler tripod. The head was all rubbish really. It might have been to small for this kind a rig.
I've used a 503 many times and it's way better and really useful. 501 head was a rental and I'll wont rent it again.



The real star was of course Charlotte Kalla and she really performed like a pro.
She made everything focused and with a smile not to far away.



All in all a fun, interesting and learnful experience these days. I'm heading back to my office tomorrow and then I have some new hardware stuff digging into!

This week started 05:00 Monday morning.



First of was to pick up camera equipment for a commercial shoot set in Taxinge just south of Stockholm.
I had the duty of 2st AC and to monitor one of Syndicates 7D.
These cameras are modified to accept BNC lenses and we had two cases of old glass to put to use.
Syndicate have a non standard spacing and dimension on the rails and the picture illustrates this pretty well.

We had Charlotte Kalla and Karin Mortensen as talent for the Swedish and Danish market. One each day.

Two long days spent in Taxinge I had another shoot in our studio and to assist the DP as 1st AC.
This commercial was for Europcar and we used one of my Canon 7D and lenses. Mostly the 85mm and 135mm ones.

Then on thursday I had to gather equipment and finish some projects before heading off to Denmark.
The rental stuff got to me a bit late and even though I received a LCD monitor it had no HDMI input.
Really needed that HDMI monitor!

It's a bit tricky to travel light and still be able to get everything right. Luckily on the way to the hotel I found a solution - to use the EOS Utility and a laptop as monitor.
It worked out okay but I don't like it when things goes wrong with equipment. For real lightweight traveling this is a very smart solution but a bigger HDMI monitor is way better if possible.
A Marshall 70XP HDMI monitor and Canon battery pack is on the way but for this job I'll just have to do without and use a 8" LCD monitor from Swit instead next week.

This time we used both my 7D's and lenses. I even had a Canon 70-200L IS rental lens.
A good thing using the EOS utility is you can use the LCD-display at the same time as having an external monitoring with a laptop.
Specially with a Z-finder on the back of the display. In this situation this was a real life saver since we got the client and director a view.

This week has also giving me the opportunity to testdrive a new cage system from cpmfilmtools. It's not perfect for the 7D with the sample cages I got,
because the 7D is so wide on the right side. But other than that it's a really nice setup and I had a lot of questions and curious people asking about the camera and setup.
Even got a comment it looks like a RED camera. I don't now if that's good or bad...

It takes more effort to change lenses than shooting with still video zoom lenses on a dedicated video camera but there are advantages also.
Small camera and big sensor. You can run the camera a whole day with just two batteries and since video options are limited I tend to work fast.

I have one more day of shooting as 1s AC next week in Östersund and then I'm heading back to my office for some online work.

I had a Feed-ex delivery today. A small white padded plastic bag. I open it and inside is a small bag with a white label stating "ZipGear Prime Lens Kit"
Four tiny plastic gear rings, four small metal locks and a small wrench. That's it? How much was it? $265 What!

Yeah, this is one of the strangest things. Despite the ridiculous high price I'm satisfied.
I got the Shoot35 Cinefocus and their lens gears but they do not fit the 50L and they make my other lenses to bulky in my camerabag.
Shoot35 says they will release a solution and I bet it will be similar to these Zacuto ZipGears but alot cheaper... well I need these now so my choices were limited.



These ZipGears are really easy to attach to the lens focus ring. I put them on four lenses in just about ten minutes.
I got six lenses so that leaves me with to "ungeared" lenses so far. Might wait for the Shoot35 ones or get another two... pricey!
But I have four Shoot35 gears left and they work great when mounted just the bulk could be less.



Here's one ZipGear wrapped around the 35L. I like the fact my lenses seams to have lost some weight around their waist!
I didn't get the stop parts but I do have an idea I'll try this weekend for zero $...

I got a new follow focus system this week from Shoot35. Compared with the one I had before it's like day and night.
This one is built to last. Solid as a rock, it oozes quality. Take a look:

I got it with four lens gears and so for I put one on the 35L lens which is one of my most used lenses.
The feeling of using this is just great. No play when turning, lens gear fits nice even on the to borderline to big 35L.
I know I can't put it on my 50L because its just to fat. Might try a Zip gear later on.

The gears come with a rubberband that goes inbetween the gear and the lens, to protect the lens from marks.
Of my lenses these gears do fit the 16-35L, 85/1.8, and 135L. Without rubberbands it does fit both my 35L and 100LMacro.
I would say pulling focus is a joy with this follow focus on all my lenses which I have tried.

Shoot35 has a speedcrank which I got and it's also a solid piece. They will release a cinewhip this spring so I'm looking forward to complete this FF then.




Look at the size of the cinefocus! Big hands is not a problem I tell you!
Interesting to see many manufactures use black and red on their products. It sure look great together and the feeling of well machined aluminium is excellent.
The marker is rotateable 360 around the focuswheel and the marker plate has that 3D shape so you can see focus marks from a great number of angles.

It was delivered in a cardboard box with foaming inside and inside that a product box and inside that bubbelwrap and inside that a cinefocus case!
And inside that case padded compartments for the cinefocus and crank. Wow! I love how certain manufactures cares about packaging.

I'll get back when everything is put to use on our next commercial shoot. Let's hope it's soon because I'm dying to try it out!

I have a slower week and been trying out some new interesting stuff that arrived this week. I'll get back when I'm through configuring.
Some eye candy til then!

With all the hoopla about the new firmware for the Canon 5D MKII it might seam crazy to get another 7D body.
But I finally made the decision to sell my GH1 and I needed another b-camera and backup body.



Did I made the right choice instead of getting a 5D MKII? I don't know but would I have gone for two different cameras I still wouldn't have a backup when shooting film.
FOV is different between 7D and 5D MKII, so for now it feels good. Let's hope the 5D MKII's firmware stuff find it's way into the 7D.

Briska - Commercial/sponrship spot from editman on Vimeo.

We spent two days shooting this 20 second commercial for a new beverage "Briska" at "Berns Salonger" in Stockholm/Sweden.

I worked as 1st AC and we used my camera equipment and lenses. Canon 7D, Canon 35/1.4, 50/1.2 and 85/1.8.

The director did the editing by himself and I only had a slight grading afterwards. A couple of shoots have a CG bottle but most of it is in camera action.

Check out the behind the scenes feature to get a glimpse of how it was made.