Stupidly excited: just got my first film camera

Presumably you wanted film? i got rid of my last film stills camera in feb, was sorry to see it go, but rolls and rolls for processing esp transparency gets quite expensive

did you see the new canon 5D mark II announcement? its going to change the face of photography/video forever i think. in a good way (well, for photographers anyway)

Sorry to crash - how Nick?

Yes, I wanted film. I love the look of it and finally decided to get one. I went for a cheap one on Ebay to start of with (but decent make and model). There seems to be quite a revival of 8mm and 16mm film going on in the industry. I've just put some batteries in it and the sound it makes it lovely. The things I excited about ?

That new Canon looks amazing. My favourite stills camera is still my old minolta (1970's) which is a completely manual one. I find it so much easier to use than the DSLR's.

Have you seen the Red cameras? Those are some really amazing cameras. Causing quite a stir at the moment in the movie industry as the quality is higher than film and a lot cheaper to buy than the usual hiring at Panavision. They also have a "basic model", the Red Scarlet, which is surprisingly very cheap, it shoots up to 120fps in full 3K resolution ?. We always have fun telling photographers about this camera at weddings ?

its able to record moving footage in HD. huge opportunity for wedding photographers, and lots of other photographers too. i suspect it lll take a while for people to see the results, but the capacity to shoot stills and video simultaneously is amazing. videographers should take note, a nd react accordingly.

interestingly NS - i read a review by a guy who knows a canon tester, and he s a movie director, who uses red cameras. he said that the quality of the footage from the 5d at full res was actually better than his reds.

besides, FPS etc isnt everything, nor is mega pixels, as i m sure you know.

True, fps, megapixels, ... not everything. I know a wedding videographer in the Phillipines who used a Nokia phone to make a short video clip and it looks better than many clips I've seen being made with so called top of the range equipment. It's not the equipment that makes the difference but how you use it.

Would love to read that review. A still frame from the 5D would indeed be better than from the Red, but comparing video from both, that's something different. The video capability on the Canon is at the moment more of a gimmick. It seems unlikely that they would make a still camera that would outdo their own line of professional video cameras. I would imagine that using that feature of the 5D would also drain the battery quite quickly and it also requires a huge amount of storage. Sony has 2 cameras at the moment that use compact flash cards to record and you would need about 16GB for an hour or so. The resolution of the 5D for video is the same as for example the Sony EX1.

Red cameras have a higher resolution than any other video camera out there at the moment, it's of a higher quality than what was used to film the latest Star Wars films. They do have the advantage that they are modular and you can add any type of recording medium to it or lenses. Hence a lot more uses and flexibility. Peter Jackson and Alex Proyas are using these cameras (film with Nicolas Cage being released next year was completely shot with Red cameras).

Forums like DWF have some serious photographers ranting about how about how the new scarlet is going to cause a convergence in the industry and cause a problem for photographers due to wedding videographers pulling HD stills. I find it funny that some of them are so paranoid about it. There are quite a few photographers who won't let a videographer come near them at weddings out of fear that may "steal" their shots and take frame grabs to sell to the couple. Personally, I don't want to move into that market. Shooting for video and shooting for stills are 2 different things (not even getting into the post production) and I like my job.

Anyway, I now need to go find a replacement type of battery for the light meter of my 8mm camera, as apparantly, mercury batteries are no longer available. oops

I dont agree about it being a gimmick at all. it isnt designed to replace canon film cameras at all, its not that type of product. but the creative possibilities it opens up for people like wedding photographers are pretty amazing. plus, your average couple arent going to give a toss if something was shot on a red camera, an HD sony, a 5D, etc.

http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2008/09/20/something-very-interesting-is-comingboth-to-this-blog-and-to-our-industry/

Nick, do you think that eventually people will choose to have EITHER videographer OR photographer? That, to me, seems like a shame. However, being able to include small amounts of video into a photo-DVD slideshow seems quite cool.

I assume that the 5Dmk2 is manual focus only in video mode, like the Nikon D90?

I've read the blog entry and what really stood out for me was " says the 5D MKII is "far superior to the RED camera" in terms of low light performance…"
I have no problem believing that. It's doesn't say the footage is better then the red, it says it's better in terms of low light performance. I used to use Sony PD-150's and they are better in low light performance then my current Z-1, but my Z-1 image is far superior!

Also, another issue for serious video use is the lack of good audio inputs, an onboard mic and a mini jack input wouldn't be sufficient.

Kind of funny that this thread went into discussing the highest spec cameras around, while I'm sitting here playing with my 1970's super8 camera which doesn't even have a single digital element to it ? It does have an electronic zoom function!

apparently not. the spec says otherwise, but it ll be dependent on the lens atached at the time, and whether the live view function is accurate.

cran, hard to say really. i can see a number of people selling it as a service if theyre good at both, which most people wont be. but i m betting that after a year, there'll be some super cool stuff out there which good wedding photogaphers have done, and to have a mix of stills/moving done by someone realy creative would be fantastic. i think as with anything like this though, you need some funky people to adopt it, and to try it. and then it ll really take off.

I think it has audio input? i dont know enough about film cameras to debate successfully though tbh. i just want to wait until i ve seen what can be done with it, and if you keep your eye on that guys blog, the video should be up soon.

Sorry for the derail, NSG. But this is something I've been reading about on a lot of forums over the last 2 days, and wanted to hear Nick's take. I think someone trying to be both, but failing at either, would be a nightmare. Definitely interesting to see what someone with a few clever ideas can do though.

it has audio input but just through a mini jack. Professional audio needs XLR inputs.

Will certainly be keeping an eye on that blog!

Actually just to pick up on one thing you said NS, about the low light performance. surely most weddings are low light anyway? as the day goes on that is. large halls, big hotels etc, not huge amounts of light - f2.8 and 1600 ASA and a 15th of a second usually ?

cran, thats like anything though isnt it? i ve seen some shocking wedding images from links on planning, i mean really really bad. put this camera in the right hands and the results could be spectacular.

Definitely, Nick. I just hope that it doesn't make the skilled photographer think he has to learn to create decent video as well - I guess I'm hoping that people will always appreciate still photography, regardless of the availability of video. I think they will - I think it'll be another service that some people offer, along with high res proofs on DVD, e-sessions and TTD sessions.

Don't get me started on low lighting! It's horrible at so many venues, not just during the evening (actually it sometimes is better in the evening than during the ceremony due to the extra lights from bands and DJ's). I really wish people would spend a bit more money on lighting design as it can really make a dull place look extra-ordinary (a friend's wedding in an old industrial mining control room looked amazing with just a few spot and fill lights in the right places and was a lot cheaper and more effective than flower table decorations). Anyway, as I said, our old cameras used to cope quite well with low light. The HD ones we currently use are not as light sensitive which means we need to bring in extra light, which I hate doing but not much choice now. We can make the cameras more light sensitive but as with photography that does add grain.

why would one send high res proofs?

NS - well, people dont do they? they expect you to create light from nowhere. ceremony at 4pm in december? want evenly lit shots outdoors afterwards? ahem ?

the nikon d3 will shoot virtually noisless at 12400 asa, and the new canon 5d will as well. apparently images shot at 26400 asa are usable as well. be interesting to see. actually that reminds me, i m amazed more weddoing photographers dont use lights (not talkking about on camera flash)

As it happens at a wedding last week, the photographer loved one of our video light so much that he went of it for a while and asked for the details of it. ?

ETA: the 5D on video, it does not look like it's possible to change iris settings (and many other settings) manually while recording. Many of the controls we constantly use are either not available or not able to get to. However as said, for short little extras it's great, but to make proper movies and videos with, not likely.

I've seen quite a few photographers include a DVD of all images taken, in high-res, as part of the package - they use this DVD to show their (colour balanced and exposure-adjusted) proofs, then do any additional PS type adjustments on the 100 or so chosen for the final album/prints. Seems that more and more people these days want all their images - or at least the top 500 or so - and are willing to pay to have them.

I m still not getting why you d give a dvd of the proofs in high res. yes, some people i know at the top of their game offer a high res disc of all the images as an extra pay item on top of the album package, but i d suggest t hat to give high res as proofs is just limiting further print sales at the time of viewing. all the ones i know make it available later for a certain price.

i ve actually been using tungsten lights quite bit recently. i did something last week which used a mix of mono bloc light and tungsten, WB set to tungsten so makes background and flash look blue. works well.

I think it's a conscious decision by people not wanting to get into having to upsell afterwards - front-load your prices, charge for your time, earn enough not to bother with having to sell after the event. My brother's wedding photographer, for instance, did this - edited the day after the wedding and presented them with a disc. Job done! The trade off for this, of course, is the client will get their pics printed at "cheapprintsrus.com" and they'll look shoddy and, more than likely, distorted as they won't be sized correctly.

whih ulttimately refelcts badly on the photgrapher when people see them, and is the reason why most pros wont do it.

The video footage from the 5Dmk2 is on Canon's website now:

http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=2086

Now, to my eyes, on my work laptop, certain shots look more noisy than I'd expect from a D700 or a D3 at 3200 ISO Could be the compression for web, though.

Theres only one shot where i can see noise - the girl standing in the street in the red dress, but actually, that might just be the colour of the light.

for 5000 dollars, 2 nights shooting and no planning, its pretty cool i think. plus they only had one, image what two could do in the right hands? anyway, i ve just ordered 2. apparently set for nov delivery, but we ll see.

Just out of interest, do you shoot with Canon at the moment, Nick?

Canon and mamiya/phase one.

Wow! That canon 5D mark II video is amazing - I didn't realise it could be that good actually.

Nick, here's another clip about the 5D that might interest you

https://vimeo.com/1790529

Interesting. thanks for that.

The making of clip is quite interesting too

http://vincentlaforet.smugmug.com/gallery/6021407_xEg87/1/#378608891_Jd2CT-A-LB

Hi, assume that £50.00 for 3 mins includes transfer to tape?. Which camera did you purchase?

You say you require batteries for your 8mm camera, i don't know which model you have some cameras use the flying saucer looking battery, (px625/px13) wein cells make 1.35v replacement batteries, lorrel of luton stock them, theres some listed on ebay.. Be careful not to use 1.5v batts, as this may throw/damage the cameras meter...