Matt Kieley

Shot with the GH4, which I just got this past week. I sold the Micro last year to a friend (I still have access to it) and sold the Pocket to buy the GH4. I didn't know about that 110 adapter, but it's a little pricey for me. I mainly got the lens so I could get wide shots in 1080p as my Cosmicar 12.5mm vignettes except in 4K.

Just got a Pentax Auto 110 18mm f/2.8. This is one of the smallest lenses I've ever used, and incredibly sharp and pretty, especially considering it's stuck at f/2.8. I wish it had an aperture for more control over the depth of field, but it's still good. I might have to get the 24mm and 50mm 110 lenses.

Finally got my hands on a Canon V10X15 15-150 c-mount zoom lens for just $20. I shot this very quick test on the bmpcc (shot wide open) and I love it so far. The lens is pretty big so I'm using rails and the SmallRig lens support. I like the zoom range--10x is the same range as my beloved DVX100 (though the FOV is different). It has nice round bokeh at 2.8 that doesn't have those odd "dips" as the smaller range c-mount zooms I've had (V6X17 and similar Fuji lenses I've had).

I would say so haha. I worked as 2nd AC on a short film this past summer. Here's a photo I took of the DP with the Rep Dragon and Angeniuex Optimo 12x zoom lens. We had to carry that shit up and down hill every day and it fucking sucked.

I've been away for a while, just working on scripts and trying not to wast too much time on the internet. I just came back to share my newest lens find. I wanted an 8(ish)mm lens (24mm equivalent) for the bmpcc, to split the difference between my Fuji 12.5mm and Computar 6.5mm. I'd been thinking of the SLR Magic 8mm, but even though it's super cheap for what it is, I couldn't really afford it at the moment, plus reviews I'd read here noted the difficulty of the focus ring and set screw. Then I remembered a video on youtube showing off different lenses, including the Cosmicar 8.5mm f/1.5. I had bought what turned out to be the 2/3 format version a couple years ago when I first saw the video, which doesn't cover the sensor. The version that covers a 1" sensor has a larger front, like the Cosmicar 6.5mm lens I used to own, and it never shows up on ebay, and others had previously gone for $500 a couple years ago. But I managed to find one bundled with an "As-Is" CCTV camera. I was aware that this lens would need some modification, and luckily it took a very small amount of hand-filing the edges, as I've done with Cosmicar lenses in the past. This one only took about 30 minutes to complete, unlike other lenses. My copy also needs a little cleaning. I love this lens. It's pretty sharp from edge to edge, even wide open. It's distorted, but it's acceptable to me (I like a bit of distortion). Some grabs from the video: f/11. f/1.5 F/2 Since my Fuji 12.5mm is only good from edge to edge at around f/4 or lower, and my Computar 6.5mm is garbage above f/8, this may become by go-to wide angle lens. It should work well for glidecam shots too.

I DP'd a short recently. This was my first real test of my Fujinon-TV lenses on the BMMCC/BMPCC. The director/writer/editor added a sepia filter instead of the look we had talked about (I think maybe he just didn't know how to grade the log footage) so I put together this reel with my own grading.

Modification of the Fujinon 25mm and 50mm lenses was successful. Here's my unscientific test of all three Fujinon primes (12.5, 25, 50) and a comparison to the Cosmicar and Canon TV-16 lenses. I also did an infinity-close focus test, AND I tested the Tiffen +1 diopter with my Fuji 18-108 (@18mm) which I received today. The minimum focus of the 18-108 is 3.5', but I can get as close as 1' with the diopter, so now I have this focal length available for close-up shots if I want it. I think the Fujis are awesome and I was wrong in my initial assessment when they could only focus close-up. Now having the full range, and a better test, the Fujis are the obvious winners (for my taste anyway). The 50 and 12.5 are a little dreamy at f/1.4 but still nice, better at f/2.

And here's some quick footage from this afternoon, shot with the Fuji 12.5mm and bmpcc. Seeing how the lens looks with a grainy doc style.

Quick and dirty test comparing my 12.5mm c-mount lenses. For my taste, the Fuji wins.

I got a new copy of the Fujinon-TV 12.5mm 1.4 after unsuccessfully trying to modify my first copy (it was only $15 so whatever). This one works perfectly without needing modification. These grabs are shot wife open on the bmpcc. It's a bit soft and glows, but it could be used effectively with the right scene. It looks better at f2, and really nice at f2.8. My step dad, who co-owns a metal shop, is going to bring some handheld grinding tools from his shop to modify my Fuji 25mm and 50mm lenses. If it works, I'll shoot a test comparing my Fujis to my Cosmicar and Canon TV-16 lenses.

Thanks! A lo-fi horror movie sounds like a fun thing to make. I just need to come up with the right concept where it would work.

I decided to try out the Fujinon-TV 25mm 1.4 and 50mm 1.4. They need to be modified, but I shot some rough test footage to see how they look/compare to other c-mount lenses. Fujinon-TV 25mm 1.4 (wide open) Canon TV-16 25mm 1.4 (wide open) Fujinon-TV 50mm 1.4 (wide open) Fujinon-TV 50mm 1.4 (wide open) Fujinon-TV 50mm 1.4 (f2) Cosmicar 50mm 1.9 (wide open) The Fujis are very nice, but I'm not sure they're really all that different or better than the Cosmicar and Canon lenses. Not really sure if I'll bother modding them. At least they were dirt cheap.

I was going to post this earlier, but I forgot until now. This is the "movie-within-the-movie" from my first feature. I shot it on the Panasonic GS-90 to give it more of an amateur look and feel. It was a little MiniDV palmcorder I bought to use as a deck for capturing footage. I still have it, though the heads need a cleaning. I might fix it up for a fun little video experiment.

I've always loved the DVX100. It was the BMCC of it's day. I shot many things on it for about 5 years, including my first feature: Before the DVX, my first "big boy" camera was the Canon GL2. Here's a short I shot with that camera: These cameras are definitely "retro" now, which is weird to think of.

Victor Suwatch told me he only shoots in the 3x crop mode in H.264 (and doesn't recommend shooting Raw). But I used the full sensor in H.264 and liked the results. Even without Raw, ML is a godsend for the EOS M.

Thanks! I don't know about 60p in Raw, I'm not sure I've hard of anyone doing it. It actually crashed a few times when shooting with the bitrate at 3x so I had to drop it to 2.5x (I also tried 2.7x but that crashed too). All you need to install ML is the right Canon firmware 2.0.2 or whatever, and a fully charged battery. This is a good video that walks through how to do it: Incidentally, the maker of the video, Ryan Moorman, made some great videos with the EOS M and ML. His videos, as well as the videos of Victor Suwatch, and Johnny Santo Domingo were my initial inspiration to get the EOS M. These are my favorite EOS M videos:

Yes, it was all handheld. I just had a rod mounted on top with a pistol grip handle on the side, and my Marshall VLCD50 monitor on top, with the Cosmicar 12.5mm 1.9 c-mount lens. It was pretty well-balanced and comfortable to operate, though the rod mostly blocks the record button, so from now on I'll just use the same Krasnogorsk-3 pistol grip + shoulder stock + generic Manfrotto 501 QR clamp that I use with my bmpcc.

Looks like the Micro is already going down in price on the second hand market. I got one for under $700. This is my first test, also my first time shooting Raw. Love this little camera. My Micro and Pocket should compliment each other well.

I modified my Computar 6.5mm 1.8 and shot a video today with the bmpcc. All the exteriors are f/8 and interiors are wide open.

Thanks. With my Sandisk Extreme Pro 95mbps cards I was getting bitrates into the 90s sometimes. These are my EOS M videos. Both have grain added but the original images were very clean. The first video is 3x bitrate and has some grading, but the lobster claw segment is the off the card color, with grain added. The second video was entirely 720p60, with the bitrate between 2.7-3x I believe. The detail/sharpness isn't bad considering it's just 720p, although you can tell the moire is a lot worse.

There actually already was a Sundance movie shot on an iPhone: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3824458/?ref_=nv_sr_1

I was thinking of buying the E1 for slow motion/b-camera with my bmpcc. If they can add a higher framerate in 1080p I might actually get it. 60p isn't bad, but since it has the GH4 sensor and 240fps in 720p, 96fps in 1080p seems weirdly absent. It's only $200 on B&H so I may get it anyway.

I'm sure I'll probably get one of these in a couple of years when I can afford to, but I don't see myself getting rid of the current Pocket since I still want the s16 sensor to use with my c-mount lenses. Even if the new one ends up having a s16 crop, it'll still be good to have as a b-camera. Plus I'm sure the used prices for the first Pocket will go down low enough that there would be more to gain by just keeping it than selling. I'd probably use this one with a focal reducer and think of it as a s35 camera, with the OG Pocket being my s16 camera.

You can get a Magic Lantern capable EOS M for like $100. With the bitrate at 3x you can get pretty decent images. For the web anyway. Not saying it's the best camera, but it's good for the money.

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