This is a re-blog from my production company, Red Futon Films.

I’m going to answer two questions I had last week in this post. The first being what’s my DSLR gear? This will be in concert with my inventory for Cairo for this latest international short doc. The second will be why I chose the SI-2K for this trip.

DSLR:
What I don’t use on a regular basis will be noted.

• Canon T2i
• Canon EF-S 17-55 F/2.8
• Canon EF 70-200 F/2.8L (rented)
• Zeiss 50mm F/1.4
• Cinetactics Matteblox DV Mattebox
• Tiffen Water White IR ND 4×4 filters (0.6/0.9)
• Generic Resin 4×4 filters (0.6, 0.9, 1.2×2)
• Edirol 09-HR stereo audio recorder (SFX/main audio)
• Sennehesier G2 wireless w/countryman B3 (rented)
• Trek-Tech T-Pod
• Treck-Tech MagMount Pro
• Best Buy Monopod
• CF tripod with fluid ball head (rented)
• CalDigt VR mini (w/extra sets of drives)- RAID 1
• 13” MacBook Pro

In place of the Sennheiser, I usually record my doc audio to an Audio-Technica 897 battery powered mic. I needed low-profile for this trip though so no shotgun. 1 wireless set-up only.

SI-2K + Cinedeck
This is the other question I go this week. “Why’d you choose the SI-2K Mini?” There are a couple of reasons. First of all, the opportunity came up. Secondly, this camera has always been very, very attractive to me because of it’s silly-small size and the ability to shoot at a 2K resolution. Until now, it’s only been able to record to laptop so not great for the doc filmmaker like myself.

Enter Cinedeck. I’ve been following them for a long time and have gotten to know them and their leadership over Twitter and had a beta HDMI model for a couple of weeks to play with. They offered to toss me one for this trip. This happens to be a unit that’s not in production though. I’m sure if you want one, he can custom build one for you but the SI doesn’t have enough market to justify a full production run in this configuration.

What’s the impact on the doc filmmaker? Well, I’ll be able to tell you more after I get on the ground with it for a few days. But my initial thoughts are form factor, footprint, and quality:

Form Factor
The Cinedeck and SI-2K Mini are both very, very small. These two units plus my HDDs take up roughly the same space as my DSLR kit does. This SI can be mounted in a gazillion different configurations. The Cinedeck can be run from a backpack, fanny pack, or mounted to a rig with the camera.

Footprint
Related to form factor but slightly different. I can leave my laptop, memory cards and monitors at home. I usually don’t take additional monitors, but I know lots of people who do. I also always take my laptop and a huge stack of memory cards with me. This box replaces my monitors, memory cards and laptop. It records to SSD drives and easily connects to a set of HDDs to offload footage or even record to those instead. All the while taking up less space in my bags. So, I dunno, more room for lenses or snacks or something.

Quality
This thing shoots RAW 2K resolution! There really is NOTHING on the market that has this capability with this footprint and form factor. I’ll be shooting primarily to Cineform 444 at 2K. These files are instantly editable in Premiere CS5 or Avid MC5 on my 2.66GHz laptop. I’ll say it here, Epic won’t hit this price point and Scarlet is well, this combo has been here since the first of the year.

If your stuff doesn’t go beyond the web or DVD, this setup probably isn’t for you. Save yourself some bucks and pick up a DSLR (remembering to spend some time working through the handicaps). If you’re stuff is going to the big screen? This is the set up to have. I do almost entirely non-profit work and while it doesn’t go to the movie theatre screen, it always ends up on huge conference screens so I will take the best quality I can get.

Finally, I didn’t want to deal with DSLR aliasing and the blurring in post that it requires. I don’t have access to the artists and time I need to work through some of those issues on this project. I can get right to the edit.

The one major downside right now is glass. I have a wide angle lens but it’s not high-quality enough to produce a real tight image at this resolution and detail level. My EF-S lenses do NOT work with P+S’s IMS-Canon mount. I’ll work through that though.

I’ll try to answer any questions you might have regarding workflow as I go, if you have any- but it’s pretty straight forward.

So, from the Middle East and Southeast Asia, Cheers!

Tags: cameras, cinedeck, cineform, documentary, egypt, hdslr, SI2K, tech, tools, video

I went out today for about an hour with my dad to do some test shooting. He needed to wrap his head around the Canon while I need to get a feel for the set up in the wild. Granted, the softball park isn’t the wild compared to places in Egypt next week but it’s close enough. I hope to get some AMAZING shots of the pyramids with this. So my thoughts:

1. I’m losing A LOT in the lens. It’s really, really soft. I may end up using my Zeiss 50mm which acts like an 85mm on this thing. Pretty much longer than what I want, but I hate to waste this on a bad lens. The T2i stuff looks better in the finished piece. (the best stuff is (:43-:46)
2. Incredibly difficult to see in bright daylight in a bag- I’m going to work up a remedy between now and well, Tuesday. I raised the bag and created a preview Iridas .look file that I applied which helped a TON.
3. There is so much damn RANGE! I’m looking down at my histogram thinking, yeah, something’s going to be slammed up or down. For instance, on the Z7, if it’s too hot, I pull it down to lose some of the blowouts and then I lose all my details in the dark. Not so with this, I can pull down my highlights and still have all the room in the shadows. “Hello, Spoiled.”
4. The details. Related to #2 but look at those clouds in some of the shots! (:42-46)
5. Easier to use than my DSLR and my “real” video cam. Blows them both outta the water. ‘Nuff said.

I did’t take the time to actually correct any of the color. So some of the highlights are blown, some of the shadows can be pulled down more, the faces are darker than I’d like but whatever. I’m sure you get the idea. I just pulled the clips directly into First Light and made a few adjustments and then dropped them in to Premiere for the cut.

You will notice the grass color difference between the SI and the t2i. Not sure if the Canon is adding color or if it’s because I didn’t WB them. Either way I can fix it so I’m not overly concerned.

Think about the fact I just captured RAW off the sensor to a setup as small as mine at a possible 2K resolution. I’ll take that ANY DAY.

Way more coming. Big ups to Charles at Cinedeck for the gear.

Tags: cinedeck, cineform, SI2K, tech, tools, video

Note: This is a Reblog. I do have lots and lots to write about but simply, mostly out of time right now.

So one of the guys I had just the joy of hanging out with and getting to know at NAB (thanks to him seemingly randomly Twittering me at the Poker Tournament) is pro producer Jon Mckee- wicked talented, easy to talk to and is just that type of guy that everyone wants to work with.

Jag35 caught up with him at NAB- Click the pic for the vid:

Tags: NAB, producers, Production, tech, tools, video