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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ikan Elements at NAB 2010

ikan Elements NAB 2010 from Michael Britt on Vimeo.

Michael at iKan gives us a rundown of the ikan elements. If you see him be sure to ask for a cheese stick.

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Bron Imaging Features Photographers Shooting Motion

The Bron imaging blog features two photographers who are incorporating motion in their photo work. August Bradley talks about a shoot at the Edison here in LA
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Lens adapters for Micro Four Thirds and Canon HDSLRs

If you are looking for a lens adapter to shoot Leica M on a Panasonic GH-1, a Nikon lens on a Canon Camera, or any lens/camera combination you can come up with, Fotodiox seems like the place to go since they have pages and pages of adapters for medium format and 35mm lenses.. I first saw them mentioned in the comments section on Shane Hurlbut’s blog post called Still Lenses That Can Grace The Big Screen.
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Canon EOS Movie Plugin-E1 for Final Cut Pro is Out

The Canon EOS MOVIE Plugin-E1 for Final Cut Pro is now available and you can download it directly from the Canon website – not from the Apple Final Cut download page as stated in the earlier Canon press release covered by PCN.

Once you are on the Canon 5D Mark II page, click the Drivers & Downloads tab and then use the “Select OS” pulldown to choose Mac OSX. The plugin should now be at the top of the “Software” list. If you want to download the user guide scroll down to “Guides and Manuals” and grab the PDF or click here.
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