Music Video with 'Beta' Letus35 HD100
 

Some of the scenes in this country music video 'Hello Twins - Goodbye Boat' video were shot with the beta HD100 adapter. It didn't work for everything but I was able to get some nice images. I just received Quyen's latest HD100 adapter and it is far superior than the beta version. I have a project tomorrow I plan on using it for. Please check out the video on myspace.

www.myspace.com/chrislognion

And let me know your thoughts of the project as a whole. I'm still tweaking the overall look before it goes to GAC/CMT and I also can make major changes if anyone has major grips about a particular shot.

Chris Lognion

Oh my! Those women are hot. hot hot. Video wasn't bad though, couldn't notice where the adapter was used though. Too videoish.

I'm off to get some kleenex now.

Videoish
 

I shot in 24P mode and edited in Adobe Premiere and most everything was shot with either the Letus35 HD100 adapter or using 35mm Nikon lens attached directly to the camera. Concert scenes were shot with stock Fuji lens. How would I go about making it more filmic at this point?

BTW...Kleenex...lol...

I think it looks great. Very well done. What adaptor did you use for the Nikon lenses? And what was the cost?

www.lesbosher.co.uk should get you to the company that I ordered this adapter from. I think I originally found this information in one of these forums. I asked him for a Nikon to HD100 mount and he said no problem. I think the price was around $175.00 US.

How would I make it less videoish? Well first of all, I would use a 50mm and an 85mm nikon prime lense, with some good DOF. However that is a minor point, the main point would be to always shoot 1/50 shutter speed, and the biggest one, some natural colour correction. Your CC is off. Infact, I don't even cc, I just adjust the gamma curve and colour grade. Job done. The more simple you keep it, the better it looks.

Yasser,

I did use 50mm and 85mm for most of the B-roll at 1/48 shutter and as far as CC, I intentionally made the gold stuff, well, gold with high contrast and adjusted the RGB curve. Is tit he motion or color that is throwing it off for you.

What gamma did you use for the shots?

Gamma was set to ==== Cinelike - Normal

Yasser, i'm not sure as well where You're driving... There are plenty of other lenses which create excellent image. Not just nikon and not just primes. For instance i found brilliant zoom piece from Canon. Wide side was 17mm. I'm not sure what the other side was. and aperture 1.4 by all FL-s. It was expensive thing. But can You imagine there was no vignetting even outside 36x24 frame by fl=17 and excellent bokeh rendering!!!

Edit: I was messing here with lens data. Actually it was Canon EF 17-40 4.0.
That aperture wasn't absolutely no problem to shoot indoors using only daylight coming from window.

Hey Chris,

I think I might have an idea for how you can turn down the video look a little - without reshots and lenses and all that. Your first couple shots and most of whats on the water with the fishing boat (was that a ranger? :P) look great - pretty close to how Ford shoots its commercials IMO. Bleach bypassed look with pressed clean blacks and the smooth upward contrast and leaning towards a cool color palette. In lots of the other shots though, you change up. The hospital scene is washed, the bar is purple and red. The bikini scenes are warmer as well. I think if you go through and add a really nice color grade to each shot - making it match the first couple there. I.E. press your blacks and give a smooth roll moving from the mids into the highlights and then loose some of the reds and purples while keeping the blues clean - you'll have a completely different look. And it'll look consistent the whole way through the video.

The only other thing, production-wise I noticed was you didnt have a ton of really closeup shots on faces - more in the med shot range which lends towards safe which could add to video (unless you have amazing background setups that are lit great and add to the moment/mood)

Just my 2 cents - hope it helps!

I dunno... at first I was all wsuuuuu...? But then I thought about country music videos that I'd seen and, in terms of that aesthetic, it's dead on. So I say, is there really a need to change the video? Because to my eyes it suits the music and style. So I say good work.

What was your average F-stop when using the adapter?

Jeremy,

Thank you for your observation of the video and providing some helpful direction. When one gets to close to a project, it's nice to have creative outside input.

Nicho,

Also thank you for your comments... my f-stop was around 4 with the Letus adapter and around f8 with the 35mm direct mount with ND2, if I remember correctly. I had just recieved the adapter and was trying many different things.

Chris, what is the difference between using a direct 35mm lens mount and an adaptor like letus, in terms of filmic image quality?

Amos,

Well, with the direct 35mm lens mount it doubles the focal length of your lens which helps to create less DOF but not significant like the Letus35 allows. I found the image quality to be more stisfying than the stock Fuji lens of the HD100. With JVC HD100 the detail needs to be dialed down to -8 or -9 when using the stock or direct mount digitals because the images are too crisp. When using the Letus35, the detail can be left at normal because the adapter naturally softens tyour image. To date, I haven't used anything better than the Letus35 HD100 adapter. I'm still trying to make my HD rig look more like film everyday, but having shot film, I'm not there yet....yet. With the help of people on this forum, I know the answer is out there. I'm still looking for more information to help out my music video. While I've been doing this for 16 years this is the first time I am personally trying to do the color correction but I might have to find someone else that is a great colorist.

Chris