Lenses

[Matt Kieley]

9 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

@Matt Kieley, lookin great, as always. So what you think about the GH4 compared to your  BMCC? What profile, settings did you shoot the video?

I have been enjoying the Fujinon 12.5mm 1.7 for photography and doing video in 1:1 format. This lens is the only reason I have not sold my GX85 yet. Such a pretty outfit. Love to crop the photos in the raw developer in the classic aspect ratios like 1: 1.85, 1:2.0. Raw really makes that lens sing beautifully. Shot the image below last summer but edited it only two days ago.  I guess I gonna keep this combo for another summer:)

Thanks! I like not having bad aliasing in people's hair/eyebrows when shooting close-ups on the GH4, and I like the creative options like VFR mode (I really love that I can set it to custom frame rates instead of just having set frame rates to choose from). I like the slight extra bit of width I get out of my c-mount lenses. I also love being able to tweak the image in camera and not needing much grading (all I did was adjust contrast and added a Fuji film look in Lumetri). I love the bmpcc until the aliasing/moire starts to get to me. I also kinda hate grading log footage. After doing both for some time, I prefer getting the desired look as close as possible in-camera.

I shot in CineV with the contrast/sharpness/NR at -5, Saturation at -1, Hue and Master Ped at 0, iDynamic and iResolution off. I did a controlled lighting test of all the different profiles and that is what I preferred most. Adding a Polarizer makes it look especially nice.

[kye]

6 hours ago, mercer said:

Man I wish the GH5s had IBIS. 

THIS.

[mercer]

3 hours ago, Matt Kieley said:

Speaking of Fuji C-Mount lenses, here's some footage of the 25mm and 50mm (and Cosmicar 12.5mm/Canon V10X15) I shot on the GH4:

All lenses are shot wide open in this video:

 

Nice work as always Matt! I think you’re the one person I’d love to see a film made with a GH5 and one lens. I think your signature indie look would make that camera sing.

Mans I swear, I truly think those Panny cameras are built for those c-mounts.

[JordanWright]

@mercer Nah sorry its not my video. The lens looks great tho, based on that video. The flaring looks fantastic imo. 

[thebrothersthre3]

Great shots and who said the GH4 wasn't a capable camera haha

[mercer]

Here’s a mock-up poster for my film. It was shot with the Canon 28mm 1.8...

[mercer]

Sorry, I think that may be a repost. I’m thinking way too hard about lens choice I guess...?

[webrunner5]

Not too sure I am liking how the word "the" looks on that graphic Glenn. The t looks like an E. Other than that I really like it.

[mercer]

Good point @webrunner5 ... I actually posted an earlier version by mistake... here’s the fixed one...

I don’t know if I love the font that much either but it’s meant to look like handwriting on a post card that is part of the mystery of the story. 

[kye]

4 hours ago, mercer said:

Good point @webrunner5 ... I actually posted an earlier version by mistake... here’s the fixed one...

I don’t know if I love the font that much either but it’s meant to look like handwriting on a post card that is part of the mystery of the story. 

Yeah, I'm not a fan of that font either.

I used to be a designer making websites for people in the 90s, and font choice is difficult and takes a lot of time.  They have so much influence on your design you really need to take some time with it.  If you can, try and use the software such that you can just change the font on the actual poster by just using the arrow keys on the keyboard to cycle through the list of fonts on your computer, that saves a lot of time.  

(It's normally something like highlight your text, click into font drop-down, click on one font, hopefully the "cursor" stays in the list and you can use up/down arrows to cycle and it updates the writing on the actual image.)

[kye]

Did a quick test with the Mir, all shot wide-open at 2.8.

• Mir-1B 37mm f2.8 lens at F2.8 (no SB)
• GH5 6K 10-bit Open Gate mode with crop in post
• GHa Alexa LUT pack

 

I don't think I'm a fan of that combination of settings.

[webrunner5]

A little too soft for my liking. I feel like I am 25 again seeing that. 320p, maybe 240p!

[Cinegain]

7 hours ago, kye said:

Yeah, I'm not a fan of that font either.

I used to be a designer making websites for people in the 90s, and font choice is difficult and takes a lot of time.  They have so much influence on your design you really need to take some time with it.  If you can, try and use the software such that you can just change the font on the actual poster by just using the arrow keys on the keyboard to cycle through the list of fonts on your computer, that saves a lot of time.  

(It's normally something like highlight your text, click into font drop-down, click on one font, hopefully the "cursor" stays in the list and you can use up/down arrows to cycle and it updates the writing on the actual image.)

That's exactly how I used to do/do it. ? Maybe in white it's better as well. E.g.

-- altn edit based on Kye-feedback

[BTM_Pix]

Picked up my first and likely only Leica AF lens recently, the slow but very well formed 18-56mm.

It's becoming my go to lens for country self destructing reportage.

Its particularly well suited for covering scenes such as "Middle aged woman screams at policeman outside Downing Street to arrest a passing politician for being 'fascist scum' "

And "Same woman subsequently finds herself in press scrum while wondering why"

 

 

 

Wish I could share this guy's sunny optimism.

EDIT >>>>  Removed. Note to self, don't try and judge colour while editing images on your phone at 4 o'clock in the morning in an airport boarding queue.

 

 

 

[thebrothersthre3]

4 hours ago, kye said:

If you can, try and use the software such that you can just change the font on the actual poster by just using the arrow keys on the keyboard to cycle through the list of fonts on your computer, that saves a lot of time.  

My technique as well??

The font looks a bit like Chalk more than handwriting mercer. Really a good shot tho, great composition I think

 

8 minutes ago, BTM_Pix said:

Picked up my first and likely only Leica AF lens recently, the slow but very well formed 18-56mm.

It's becoming my go to lens for country self destructing reportage.

 

Lovely shots, straight out of camera?

[kye]

1 hour ago, Cinegain said:

That's exactly how I used to do/do it. ? Maybe in white it's better as well. E.g.

That looks cool, I like it being on that line, it integrates it in a funny-sort of way.  I'd move it to the left so it's not crowding the guy, although it does have a bit of that person-looking-straight-at-edge-of-frame kind of trapped vibe.

1 hour ago, thebrothersthre3 said:

Really a good shot tho, great composition I think

I really like it as the frame for the poster too.  @mercer is really getting good with those 28mm lenses!! (I'm assuming that's a 28 shot?)

[BTM_Pix]

2 hours ago, thebrothersthre3 said:

Lovely shots, straight out of camera?

Thanks.

Some contrast adjustment and crop.

Oh and B&W conversion on two of them obviously.

The first two

[kye]

Just found this huge and very thorough comparison of 50mm lenses...

http://hispan.hu/50mm-lens-test/

It's in Hungarian, but is well worth translating different sections.  There are test charts, sharpness tests, bokeh tests, flare tests, etc for every lens at every aperture.  Very impressive and useful

[Jonesy Jones]

14 hours ago, mercer said:

Good point @webrunner5 ... I actually posted an earlier version by mistake... here’s the fixed one...

I don’t know if I love the font that much either but it’s meant to look like handwriting on a post card that is part of the mystery of the story. 

Good to see that you're getting closer to the finished project. I'm super happy for you and can't wait to see it. I know you'll have a ton of exposure from this site at least. 

A suggestion, I would spend more time on the graphic design elements. The composition of the shot is lovely btw. However, you'd be surprised at how important good design is, for posters, flyers, thumbnails, intro credits, epk's, whatever. Graphic design is actually the first frames of your film. People are already creating an opinion of your movie based on the design, believe it or not, having not seen even a second of the film itself. 

Graphic design is both hard and not hard at the same time. Anytime you see it done well it's like, "I could've done that." But knowing what to do is the difficult part. I always start with research. Brainstorm the meaning and tone you want to convey. It'll eventually come to you if you're patient. I'd volunteer my time to help you with it if you want. But it'd have to wait for a bit as I'm overcommitted at the moment.

The mockups ups done above using the line of bridge is cool, but they of course are missing the "SOS". This frame needs some color. Maybe try the good ol' fashioned movie credit yellow. Just some thoughts.

Also, I am in love with the 28mm fov. 28 can still do portraits, with some but not too much distortion. It can do everything actually. If I could choose only one lens it would be a lens that gave me the equiv of somewhere in the 28-35 range. That's why I love the 18-35. On my P4K with a SB it gives me a 24-50 equiv. Perfect sweet spot with a T1.2.

Anyway, good stuff.

[webrunner5]

4 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

Oh and B&W conversion on two of them obviously.

The first two

Oh my God that is Blasphemy coming from an old, hmm I am old,  Leica user. You are Only suppose to shoot in B&W, and Color it if you can. You got it ass backwards!