mini35 & steadicam footage from 3 day shoot

[Dennis Hingsberg]

Happy New Year all,

I just finished DOP'ing and flying steadicam for an indie short film production in Northern Ontario over the weekend. The film is a comedy / horror titled "Sugar Cabin" starring Sugar from Canada's YTV show "The Zone".

The footage is absolutely beautiful with light snow covered grounds, trees with and without greenery, some interior car shots, eerie interior cabin shots and partially frozen lake scenic backdrops. 85% of the film was shot using a steadicam which really helped on the production value end of things. Just an overall amazing shoot, I was very excited to have been a part of this production.

The complete film will likely finish post in February but I should have some footage to post soon.

[John Benton]

Wow,
What Camera? What Lenses?
What Auto remote?

Can't wait to see it
I would love to shoot this way

[David Cummings]

I cant wait to see it.. or at least some frame grabs.. the mini-35 can only be summed up in one word really.. amazing!

I'd love to hear more details. the type of camera, lenses, & steadycam.. I'm gready! I want it all :D

[Dennis Hingsberg]

There's a still pic on my site for now - but I know it's not what everyone wants to see.

I have to get some footage from the director as well permission as to what I can post and how much. I should be meeting up with him this weekend.

I'll post more details as to what we used equipment-wise soon...

[Charles Papert]

Dennis, do you find it difficult to have to operate Steadicam when also assuming the DP duties, especially for a project with lots of exteriors? I've done it more times than I'd care to imagine but I'll never be that happy with being separated from a decent monitor, waveform etc. to judge exposure, especially under changing light. Plus there's that thing where running in at the last second to tweak a light is not viable when strapped into the rig.

I think one of my more frustrating days in this manner was shooting some second unit work on "Scrubs"; lining up an over-the-shoulder of the janitor character (played by 6'5" Neil Flynn) to Zach Braff, and literally not being able to see Zach's face in person because I was blocked by Neil, thus having to judge the lighting via the Steadicam monitor. Ugh.

[Dennis Hingsberg]

Okay, got my footage this weekend. I hope to cut something together this week.

First frame grabs and sample video.. technical details to follow!

[Dennis Hingsberg]

Sorry I've let this slide for so long. I have some full sample uncompressed screen shots to share with everyone (sorry not very many for now) and was instructed not to post any "raw" footage by producers of the film.

I am however able to incorporate some of the footage into my demo reel and will work on getting that up on my site in the next month.

Here are some images to get you started:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/attachmen...7&d=1170216547

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/attachmen...8&d=1170216547

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/attachmen...9&d=1170216547

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/attachmen...0&d=1170216547

[Carlos Quinones]

Cool, I'll will like to see some of your images...
What camera did you use?
Under what parameters?

We got a Mini35 with a canon XL-H1, and PL mount lenses. We have some Anginaux zooms and also some Macros.
I just got our Mini35 from getting service at ZGC.

Now, I have a little detail...
I don;t really like a black shadow that comes out on the edge of my frame.
Of caurse we are shooting on HDV then editing on HDV and downconverting to SD wide frame.

Is this shadow normall?
Is it happening to you?
Does any body likes this type of un-wanted effect?
What do you recomend?

By the way, we start to shoot tomorrow, I need some help. We need to make a desition on this effect.

Thanks.

Carlos Quinones
It's Written Productions, LLc.

[Dennis Hingsberg]

Better late than never!

This was shot using the XL2 - this is NOT HD despite what some may have thought! The mini35 and XL2 is a great setup and who doesn't love the ease of editing SD? ;)

Paramaters basically were no in camera gamma, knee, color settings on the Canon. ZERO. Do this in post, not in camera.

Gain always set to -3dB if possible, sometimes 0dB but NEVER above that. If you need more than 0dB you are not using enough (or any) lighting.

Color balance was set for outdoor. Indoor lighting scenes used 3000 watts of lighting with daylight gels.

Iris on 35mm lenses NEVER shot open, always between f2.0 and f4.0 of you will never maintain focus and too much depth of field looks like cheese.

I have never had vignetting problems with my setup but have heard of it with the XLH1. I hope you've had this resolved by now, probably a new relay lens by mini35 would fix this.

I will have a short sequence from the short up on my site soon www.starcentral.ca but not soon enough... working on some new projects.

Thanks

[Dennis Hingsberg]

Full short film shot using Glidecam V-16 + mini35 XL2:

Click on "Sugar Cabin" www.starcentral.ca/demo.htm

[Dennis Hingsberg]

Update: Flash video now available on website..

www.starcentral.ca/demo.htm

Also find some frame grabs from a few scenes, some had actually been convinced these were HD - take a look!

[Josef Heks]

wow. amazing. I just posted a thread questioning whether I should go HD with a p + s adapter instead of XL2, but you answered my questions. What brand of lenses? How much were they? Actual motion picture lenses, or are they just SLR lenses?

cheers, nice work!

[Dennis Hingsberg]

I have not used the PS with HD yet, but the XL2 and PS produced exceptional results as you can tell. I think these images only had some curves applied in post to create more contrast and reduce grey matter in images.

The lenses used on this production were all Nikon and rated F1.2 to F1.4 but never wide open during shooting. You can get these lenses on ebay for about $250 - $300 each on average.

Let me tell you though focus pulling SLR lenses while on a steadicam is no simple task - for steadicam work consider PL lenses and remote focus pulling option!

Thanks for your comments - I'll be updating the footage soon once I get more time... (yeah right)

[Charles Papert]

Originally Posted by Dennis Hingsberg

Let me tell you though focus pulling SLR lenses while on a steadicam is no simple task - for steadicam work consider PL lenses and remote focus pulling option!)

No doubt! Dennis, what are you currently using to achieve this? Set-and-forget/hyperfocal?

I'm due to receive a test unit of the Foveas remote system which will be in the right price range for most adaptor users (I'm not expecting it to be a Preston).

[Dennis Hingsberg]

Yes we would set the focus for the focal plane and keep withing the hyperfocal by keeping the distance between subject and lens roughly the same. A tighter f-stop on the lens helps you get several inches (if not feet) depending on the lens you use.

Where focus pulls were necessary we would mark the barrel, again knowing the focal plane distance in advance (X marks the spot using gaffers tape on the floor) and the director would pull while I was flying the steadicam.

Dollying inwards with the steadicam to the subject would have probably been impossible in this setup. Still everything turned out and as I mentioned keeping the f-stop between f4 and f5.6 definitely helped with the range of hyperfocal.

I also think its one of the reasons the footage doesn't look to "overly 35mm adapter-like". Nothing is worse than seeing mega exagerated depth of field - its got yuck written all over it!