28mm wide angle video

So I finally fronted up the cash for a tripod on the weekend, after weeks of indecision. I ended up going for the Manfrotto 701HDV head with 755XB legs. I’ll post a full review here soon, with lots of pretty pictures, but for now I’ll just say that it is a thing of Italian beauty. Rock solid still shots, perfect pans.  I can tell this baby is going to do a lot of miles over the next few years.

Also obtained in the last week was a new wide angle lens for the twoneil adapter, which is actually the point of this post.  Having used the twoneil with a 50mm lens for the last 6 months, overall I find the ‘closeness’ of the 50mm a little restrictive. In general I don’t like getting too close to things, or rather, I like keeping my distance. With the 50mm lens I could never get far enough away to improve the scope of my shots. Great for close ups and depth of field, but I was itching to practice my shot composition a little more.

Hence I purchase a 28mm 2.8 AIS Nikkor wide angle lens, second hand off ebay. Why AIS? Well mostly because from what I have gathered from various opinion leaders across the web, AIS lens’ are generally better constructed than some of the newer plastic ones. It ended up cheaper purchasing a second hand AIS lens than sourcing a brand new one – AIS lenses also tend to be quite hard to come across, though regularly pop up on ebay.

Anyway, with new tripod slung over my shoulder I headed out on Sunday morning to take some shots, the below video is the result.

Overall I’m really pleased with the new scope the wide angle has opened up, and so far the increase (decrease?) in aperture (1.8 to 2.8) hasn’t had any noticeable effect. I will say that this is also the first video to use the twoneil plus attachment (ie achromat) which seems to have done a really good job of crisping up the edges of the picture and pretty much eliminating vignetting. Compared to the crisp video below, my previous videos look very muddy.

I’m also using HDV50i mode with shutter priority set to 125.  Switching between this and 25fps + cinemode I witnessed a noticeable drop in colour and vibrancy and hence I thought I would give it a go on the new setting. I like the result. It’s much crisper, and personally I can’t see much difference in “movie” like texture. That could of course be because I don’t have many closeups of people. Give it a go and see if you like the results.

Hope you enjoy. Review of tripod coming soon.

P.S. Oh and yes, I finally figured out how to embed vimeo videos into wordpress.

Check out my latest videos at: http://www.vimeo.com/user492981/videos

Best final cut pro settings for Vimeo

Every person who gets into videography as a hobby is going to eventually ask themselves: what video settings do I use?

Some people will be using Sony Vegas, others iMovie, I just happen to be using Final Cut Pro which has about 30+ input and output options available for importing your masterpiece from tape and exporting it for others to see.  Since this has been an ongoing question for me, I thought I’d provide a bit of clarity and a link to one of my favourite how-to videos.

Best FCP settings for importing video from the Canon Hv30

Import or “Capture” settings largely depend on the resolution and framerate of the video camera you shot the footage with. As I use the Canon Hv30 (PAL), I import using the Final Cut Pro setting “HDV” and start a sequence using “HDV – 1080i50”. This seems to be pretty standard for most high definition cameras and works well for me.

Best FCP export settings for Vimeo

Ok so this one took me a LOT longer to find. I was going out of my mind for a while. First off, realise that when I say export, I really mean “compress”.  The “Export – Quicktime Movie” in FCP will not produce a video capable of being uploaded to Vimeo. Don’t make the mistake as many times as I did. For Vimeo you’ll actually need to choose “Using Quicktime Conversion” or “Using Compressor”. Compressor is a companion product for FCP, Quicktime is well…Quicktime.

Now that you’re in the right area, you should have a look at Vimeo’s general guidelines as they are essential for the next part of your export journey. Whatever program you are using, you should see the settings mentioned by Vimeo hidden in the tabs somewhere. If you end up using Quicktime Conversion, the guidelines are pretty much all you’ll need to work it out, so I won’t go into it. Unfortunately, results from Quicktime Conversion tend to vary in quality, hence why Apple invented Compressor.

Compressor is definitely more complex, as it’s designed for professionals. I, quite obviously, am not a professional, hence why I love it when people make videos on how to do this stuff. The video below contains all the instructions necessary to make the most of Compressor for uploading videos to Vimeo. Happy exporting!

Compressor Settings for Vimeo

New back beach video

I found a few spare shots from a recent trip to New Zealand that I hadn’t found a proper home for. I cut it together in about half an hour last night and the result is a pretty good approximation for what it felt like to walking along that prehistoric beach dragging my feet through the jet black sand. The beach’s name I have no idea, but New Plymouth locals call it the “back beach”.

Some of the shots are a little too long, but the colours are so vivid that I found it difficult to bring myself shorten them. I think the video is a great example of how brilliant the low light capability of the HV30 is. The footage is captured using a DOF adapter (which actually makes it a little harder sometimes to shoot in low light) so I’m absolutely thrilled that even with that light loss, the HV30 was able to step up to the mark. There are no complaints from me with regard to the HV30’s ability to capture magnificent low light scenes.

I’ve also performed zero colour correction and the master footage looks about 10 times better – I have yet to master compressor settings in FCP. This is straight off the camera, into FCP for some editing and straight out into Vimeo. I hope you like it.

Happy shooting.

Best lens support (rails) for Twoneil DOF adapter

Have just received my achromat add-on for the Twoneil DOF adapter. It adds about 2 inches to the barrell of the adapter, which means that my adapter + 50mm lens is now officially longer than my HV30. It also means that, as Twoneil suggests on his website, it’s time to buy some lens support for when I use it with a tripod.

So the search begins again!  First I did an initial product search for a suitable lens support system for the twoneil and came up with a couple of options:

• Cavision 15mm rod support – approx US$159
• Manfrotto telephoto lens support – approx US$69
• indiRAIL Pro 18mm rod support -approx US$129

There is a lot of useful discussion on which of the above lens support systems is best over at hv20.com. It seems there is a general consensus that the Cavision support is working for most people, however the 12mm rails might be a bit too short for longer lenses. For people who want to play it safe, it seems the indiRAIL 18mm model is the way to go.

However, digging a little deeper I discovered a more customised HV30 + Twoneil lens support system out there called the Shrigg Rig which was developed in consultation with a hv20.com veteran called “Shrigg”.

The Shrigg Rig supports long and short lenses and holds the HV20/30 upside down to negate the need to flip in post production (doesn’t of course correct the viewfinder). This is also available through indiSYSTEMS at just $109, the downside being that the rods are only 12mm, which may be too short for those using something like a 70-200mm lens (interested in owners feedback on this point). There is some useful discussion on the Shrigg Rig at hv20.com.

indiSYSTEMS Shrigg Rigg

As for the much cheaper Manfrotto, it seems the main disadvantage is that it is made for still cameras and doesn’t really offer too much flexibility for hv30 owners wanting to pimp their rigs in the future with matte boxes and the like.

For me, it looks like the best way to go is the Shrigg Rig, mostly because it looks to be the product of a Hv20/30 love affair between manufacturer and consumer. It also will shave some time off my “flip” post production process by holding my dear Hv30 upside down while shooting.

If anyone has any impressions of the Shrigg Rig they’d like to share, or any other suggestions for lens support systems, leave a comment below. Happy shooting.