Premium Members RobVanGelder Posted December 7, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted December 7, 2009 :lol: At a recent shoot I was asked to put a 300mm Zeiss, 2.8 telelens on the 435. It was basically a simple shot, following a Marine cadet over-shoulder, then arc around and when he comes to a stop in front of an officer, a close up on minimum focus. It was an experiment, we already had the other versions (50mm "wide angle", 85mm "medium" and 135mm tele), but the director wanted to know how much he could push the selective focus of this shot. We thought it was a would be a nightmare for the focus puller, but he could not do much anyway as we shot on the minimum focus the whole time. Afterwards I was not too unhappy with the result, but it is for sure more luck than operating skills if there is a small usable part in a take. Shooting at 75 fps extended that usable part a bit. I have the shot but I think I cannot show it here due to copyrights..... What's your longest and "do-able" lens ever used? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitin Rao Posted December 7, 2009 Report Share Posted December 7, 2009 Hi I am sure would have been really difficult to operate with that focal length. How did u manage to balance the kit. Would be nice to see a pic of the kit with the 300mm on. Cheers Nitin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members JimBartell Posted December 7, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted December 7, 2009 Gustavo Penna sent me the following photo. I think it's got to be a contender: Jim "does size matter?" Bartell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members nick franco Posted December 7, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted December 7, 2009 Did he lose a bet? Gustavo Penna sent me the following photo. I think it's got to be a contender: Jim "does size matter?" Bartell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members RobVanGelder Posted December 8, 2009 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted December 8, 2009 Jim, that must be the loooongest ever! Even for a "normal" dolly setup it will be the longest. Nice picture, must be the winner! Would be interesting to know if he actually made a shot with it. Nitin, the 300mm Zeiss is similar to the Canon 300, so it is not that big and heavy and does not really need a support when mounted on a PL-mount camera. Yes, the operating is very sensitive to every movement of body and fingers. And due to the mass of a Steadicam (inertia) you tend to over-correct every minuscule movement. So we did a few takes and there were bits and pieces of usable material, not sure if they will end up in the finished commercial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Charles Papert Posted December 8, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted December 8, 2009 Long lens when you are relatively close to the subject is a lot more forgiving than when a substantial distance, as the former is more "abstract" with no background to contend with. The ass-kicker to me was tracking laterally on a 150 from across the street,where you can really see all of the extraneous movement in the architecture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Eric Fletcher S.O.C. Posted December 8, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted December 8, 2009 I've shot ton's of stuff in Dexter (a F23 show) at 72mm or 180mm equivalent, I also shoot a lot of Handheld at 72mm. It REALLY helps to have a focus puller that is at the top of his game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinThwaites Posted December 8, 2009 Report Share Posted December 8, 2009 Longest I have heard of was 300mm Canon on 16mm vehicle mounted filming lions in Africa. Focus was taken care of by tying pieces of meat to ropes behind the Land Rover and having the lions chase and nearly catch. Dust was an issue but the camera op was there for a long period trying to get a just a few seconds of great footage. Robin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members RobVanGelder Posted December 8, 2009 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted December 8, 2009 Charles, I agree with you partially: the background is so blurry , it doesn't matter where you look at. However, the foreground, in this setup a (part of a) guys face, who is walking at considerable speed and I have to double that speed to make that circular movement in time for the end shot makes it not forgiving at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Charles Papert Posted December 8, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted December 8, 2009 No, that's true, for a circling shot there's a lot of challenges represented. I was thinking more of the type of shot that a focus puller would actually be able to manage (did he actually pull it off? very impressive, even if at a fat stop). One thing is definitely true of a lens that long; if your rig has any vibration in it, this is where you'll see it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Eric Fletcher S.O.C. Posted December 8, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted December 8, 2009 I've shot ton's of stuff in Dexter (a F23 show) at 72mm or 180mm equivalent, I also shoot a lot of Handheld at 72mm. It REALLY helps to have a focus puller that is at the top of his game. Eric, I watched the latest episode of Dexter last night. Did you shoot the scene that ended the episode with the two steadicam shots that lead Dexter and Arthur towards each other in the middle of the police station? They were a great couple of shots, really added to the whole build up towards those three words at the end of the episode! Ah I love Dexter! I am full time on Dexter, so yes whatever steadicam you see I shot, same goes for all the Handheld and all the long lens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Mike Germond SOC Posted December 8, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted December 8, 2009 One thing is definitely true of a lens that long; if your rig has any vibration in it, this is where you'll see it! Primary reason why I can't wait to get out of this Flyer LE!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members JimBartell Posted December 8, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted December 8, 2009 Jim, that must be the loooongest ever! Even for a "normal" dolly setup it will be the longest.Nice picture, must be the winner! Would be interesting to know if he actually made a shot with it. Yes, he did. He was filming from the pits at a Nascar-type event and they wanted the camera to go right up to and inside the car when it was at a pit stop. Gustavo said he could do it with a regular camera but they didn't want him to get too close to the car so they got that extender from Innovision so he could stay farther back but look like he was right inside the car. As far as I know they used it. Jim "hearsay testimony" Bartell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Amando Crespo Posted December 11, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted December 11, 2009 :unsure: :unsure: :unsure: Take a look...: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Amando.../46/6SQ8FePjZ2k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Thomas English Posted December 11, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted December 11, 2009 The extender from Innovision looks great and useful in certain applications. From the lengh of the sled and batteries it does not look too unfeasible in weight. I wonder if there would be any sensible ways to get that camera further forward and the rig "safer" away from the danger. I have spent the last few weeks on a series of Burberry commercials. They wanted details from the steadicam, close up stitching etc. So I have spent pretty much the whole time on a 75mm or a 100mm at s16 sized gate (i.e. 150mm to 200mm). It is very satisfying when you are nailing the shots and we all like photography that borders towards "macro" but wow its hard for focus! especially on running shots where your leading the talent. Off course wide open on superspeeds T1.3 due to the framerate and at about 4 feet away. I don't think that Take 2 or Fava rental had ever had a steadicam operator ring up and request Cinetape for running shots. I went down the route of trying to hardwire Cinetape into the follow focus but did not really get anywhere so stuck with my trusty Bartech. It is possible on the C-Motion. Still, it is not my department and sharps did a spectacular job without Cinetape or nothing. In music videos we are always piling on the longest lens in the armory for effect but really we know we might not get much and the bits we do get look lovely. I think it is a different kettle of fish when over a 200mm (35mm gate) gets put on in drama. The pressure is on. Well done Rob! Shame I can't buy you a beer this winter to congratulate. Maybe next winter hey! Pop it in the pot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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