Video Shot By A Guy Referred to My Client

[Jim Andrada]

Remember when you could walk into a business establishment and tell what kind of place it was by smell?

Delis smelled like pickles and smoked fish and bagels.

Doctor's offices smelled like alcohol

Camera stores smelled like developer and fixer.

Now every place you go smells like bits and bytes!

[Paul R Johnson]

That looks exactly the same as the material you get back from your media students on their first trip out alone with a camera. The major snag is that it is reaction, no prediction. They made the decision to put the camera on a tripod - but probably didn't spend time setting it up. It looked to me like the brake was on, or half on and they heaved until it gave. They waited until the subject almost left the frame before thinking about moving. Iris on manual, probably as instructed, but they forgot to look at what the scene was outside of the viewfinder - so the white background was a shock. A frantic feel for the control and down it went - but then the action took over and exposure adjustment was stopped, then started again. My students would produce material like this almost ever time on their first 'manual' outing. Framing, focus, movement and exposure all at the same time take practice and I suspect this person hasn't had enough, that's all. I'd bet it isn't zebra level setting - using the zebra indications is in itself a new skill to learn. Many of my students would swear blind the zebra wasn't working - when it was, they were just too busy to see it!

[Dean Sensui]

Pushing Tri-X to 1600: D-76 straight. 80 degrees. 12 minutes. Agitate once at the start. Let it sit. Agitate at 6 minutes. The reduced agitation kept the highlights from blocking up!

[Don Bloom]

OMG! Man the memories keep flashing thru my head! The smell, the brown fingernails (a red badge of courage for all still photogs) the beautiful Nikkor 180mm lens that cost an arm and a leg and no one was a PROFESSIONAL without it ;-).

I can't help but laugh sometimes at the photogs today including many of the guys I know that have been around forever. Today take a shot, look at the LCD to check it out, shoot, look, shoot, look...I always ask them 'what did you do before digital? you knew the right exposure, you composed,focused shot and KNEW it was right at least 99% of the time"
The older guys smile and say "yeah but now I can delete it and do it again if I need to and 100% know it's right" I suppose but I sure do miss the smells, the knocking around in the dark room (not the brown fingernails though), ah well progress!
Thanks for the memories!
Don

[Stelios Christofides]

My 8 year old boy will shoot a better video with a consumer camera.

Stelios

[Shaun Roemich]

I had my own black and white darkroom at the tender age of eight and I STILL get nostalgic when I smell fixer...

Shot Plus X (bulk rolled by me) pushed two stops, developed with Diafine 2 stage developer, printed to Kodak paper stock... Ahhhh, pleasant memories.

[Marcus Marchesseault]

I thought the video looked very modern. Also, to bring back the nostalgic feel to my editing room I rubbed pickles and developing fluid on my computer.

Seriously, I think your hired gun must have been double-booked or something and had a friend shoot the video. Even I shoot better video than that sample. The obvious problems start with the fact that he/she did not consider the optimal placement. Shooting into the direction of the sun against a white background is definitely not ideal. The face would be in less shadow if he/she had stood about 20 feet to the right near where the photographers were shooting. Being with the other photographers also would get the talent looking in the direction of the camera. The really obvious flaw in the video itself is the riding of the exposure during a non-changing lighting scenario. Full sun on a static background is not a place to be adjusting exposure. Now, it will be impossible to do color correction. At least if it was static an incorrect setting could be corrected a bit.

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Don Bloom

Ah, TriX pushed to 1600 (or more)! Big dots of grain and the newspapers all loved it! Brings back great fond memories.
NikonF (original F camera) with the lens of choice and a Singer/Graflex or Metz flash-TriX to 1600-shutter 1/60th-f/2.4 zone focus and GO FOR IT! :-)
Ah the good ol' days! Hah!

Thanks for the early AM memories
Don

You betcha! Still have my vintage 1968 all-manual Nikon F with both plain and FTn prisms and its original 52mm f/1.4 lens in fine working order. Alas, the Hewlett Packard and Metz potato masher strobes are no more, replaced in the early '80s with Sunpak. I wonder how many folks today remember the rule of thumb when you've got to get the shot NOW that a normal sunlight day with 30% scattered clouds calls for an exposure of 1/ASA at f/16?

[Jim Michael]

Originally Posted by Steve House

I wonder how many folks today remember the rule of thumb when you've got to get the shot NOW that a normal sunlight day with 30% scattered clouds calls for an exposure of 1/ASA at f/16?

Or the f-stop foot rule for flash exposures ...

[Bill Pryor]

I think you mean 100 ASA, or maybe 125 for VPS?

[Vasco Dones]

Originally Posted by Don Bloom

...the beautiful Nikkor 180mm lens that cost an arm and a leg and no one was a PROFESSIONAL without it ;-).

Remember all too well: I was just a kid
with a poor-man's Canon FTb - never looked professional
among all those black-and-yellow Nikon guys
(maybe that's why I stuck with Canon?)

Speaking of bad smell:
Cibachrome, anyone?

Vasco

[Bill Pryor]

I never had the 180. I had (still have) a 24, 35, 50micro, 135, 200. But my digital still camera is a Canon 20D. I need to get some decent lenses for it.

[John Dewey]

I would be willing to bet that the guy who shot this video was not using neutral density. It seems like when he barely touches the iris, the video exposure changes dramatically, something that happens when you are shooting on a sunny day with no neutral density. It looks like he white balanced, but never engaged the ND.

I've seen other people do this, and this is exactly what the video looked like.

[Pietro Impagliazzo]

The problem is not just missed exposure.

The camera angles are bad, sometimes the camera is just too far away, pointing at nothing important, and shaking!

When the blonde woman is arriving I can see more camera operators than the woman.

And at 1:44 he got the exposure right...
Why don't just leave at that?

[Dean Sensui]

Originally Posted by Vasco Dones

Speaking of bad smell:
Cibachrome, anyone?

That stuff burned pits into a faux marble bathroom countertop!

Never did manage to make decent looking prints. It was way too contrasty. I was going to use silver masking to try and open up the shadows but never did get around to experimenting with that process.

Much later came scanners and Epson photo printers. What a difference! I'm actually able to make great prints from reversal film, something that was just impossible before.