Newly Refined Rig for TV Commercials

Since the earlier post detailing the HDSLR rig we were using for the ABC Family commercials, my team has done several more tv commercials and have extensively refined the kit. The last setup was highly functional but a bit of a Frankenstein monster.

The new rig is more compact, cleaner and more functional, especially from the standpoint of pulling focus — which is kind of a big deal. You can see the new rig in the slideshow below. The major changes outlined underneath.

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Camera Selection & Production Speed

For a recent project I just completed, we needed a lot of footage from many locations but were on a tight budget and even tighter time schedule. This is a common situation in commercial work. Speed of production is where HDSLR cameras can make the previously impossible more viable.

On the “Cages & Light” branded film, we needed to shoot many different settings, and do it quickly as well as inconspicuously. The 5D we shot it on made this possible.
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Snehal Patel Shoots a Music Video With Available Light

Snehal Patel sent me a link to this music video he shot with almost all existing light.

The story is that I called Samrat up while he was visiting LA and asked him if he wanted to make a music video in his spare time. This video was filmed by myself and international cinematographer Peter Holland. We used a Canon 5D on loan from Canon and nothing else. The only lighting we used was an Arri 300w in the apartment scene. Everything else was filmed with available light. I wanted to see how much the camera could be pushed. I wasn’t bothered by grain or noise in the image as long as the story was clear. There was no crew and no other equipment. Just the camera and an interesting idea.

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HDSLR Rig for “ABC Family” TV Commercials

In the past year, TV commercials and short branded films have taken over the commercial side of my business (after years of advertising photography, aside from the book and exhibition work) — which is great, I love creating motion content.

I work with whichever camera is most appropriate for the job, ranging from Red MX cameras to vintage low tech options such as Super 8 film. As is often discussed here, sometimes an HDSLR is the right combination of look, economics, weight, light sensitivity, and workflow. This has been the case on a series of commercials I’ve been shooting for ABC Family.

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8 Things I’ve Learned From Shooting Long Form Drama on the 5D That I didn’t Know Before I Started

Yeah yeah, long title for a blog entry but this is an important one. I consider myself pretty savvy about shooting on DSLRs and have made a monstrous heap of mistakes over the last eight months, enough to have learned some things. Having now wrapped production on Ladies and Gentlemen I think it’s only fair that I share a few things that I’ve learned that I simply wouldn’t have learned any other way. I’m not talking about moiré or rolling shutter, we all know about those already, more about the consequences of working with DSLRs over a protracted period on a big project.

1. Shooting handheld is nothing to be scared of

We all worry about the rolling shutter issue, and shooting handheld is a sure way to get that monstrous CMOS sensor jiggling like a jelly in a hurricane. Hurlbut shoots handheld all the time, he shot a bunch of marines (hoohah) running around and got away with it. If you’re properly kitted out (we had a fully featured Redrock setup) then those no reason to be scared of it. Oh but what about focus? – I hear you say. True that, focus is a problem, but only if you’re not ready for it. Don’t go shooting on an 85mm, wide open … Continue Reading

Canon 5D Mark II Firmware Update 2.0.7

Canon has released a firmware update for the 5D MK II that is available here. According to the Canon Japan website:

This firmware update (Version 2.0.7) incorporates the following improvements and fixes.
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