OT: Bobs tips on using filters.

farss wrote on 2/26/2005, 4:19 AM

I mean those expensive glass things that 'pros' use:
1) Don't pan when you're using a Grad filter of any kind unless you're tracking what you're filtering.
2) Aperture and focal length affect how a filter works, don't zoom and don't have the camera in AE, particularly when you've got a graduated filter in front of the lens.
3) Remember to take the thing OFF before starting the next shot.

No I didn't do this, you see I'm not a 'pro' with years of experience, just the inexperienced guy in the backroom who went back and captured the footage again thinking somehow my gear must have had some wierd bug in it.

Thanks for listening guys, feel better now, tomorrow I'll work out how to fix all this expensive footage with my beloved Vegas, I'm sure the guys who shot this stuff wouldn't think much of anything that doesn't start with "A" and end with "d" but with a bit of work it's going to save their bacon.

Bob.

Comments

Grazie wrote on 2/26/2005, 6:26 AM

Lol! - G

filmy wrote on 2/26/2005, 6:52 AM

>>>1) Don't pan when you're using a Grad filter of any kind unless you're tracking what you're filtering.<<<

LOL! hey, now I know *you* didn't do this - nudge nudge, wink wink - but here is a true story about a "pro" who did. On a feature, shooting with 35mm film mind you, we are shooting on a beach up past Malibu, CA. Shot is supposed to take place early morning, maybe just around sunrise but pre-dawnish. DP slaps a grad on and shoots the footage - HANDHELD AND FOLLOWING THE ACTOR, who is crawling on the beach and than running up a hill.

Not only that but on the "running up the hill" stuff the sun was behind the cameraman and, because it was low angle, running and handheld, he was not looking through the lens - and he forgot to close off the viewfinder - so the film was a bit fogged around the edges of this shot.

Usless footage? Well we couldn't go back and do it over so we used it anyway - I had to create, editorially, a dream sequence/flashback. Talk about a Homer moment when everyone was looking at the dailies and these shots came on.

farss wrote on 2/26/2005, 3:50 PM

filmy,
thanks for those stories, I'm feeling a bit better about this now. Ah, no I'm NOT!
I passed on the offer to shoot this myself because the client said he had a 'pro' who he'd used before who knew what he was doing, I'd spoken to the guy myself and he sounded like he had a full deck, came complete with crew and a grips truck. I should have been a bit more suspicious when someone told me he'd tried lighting the very shiny subjects ( machinery) with banks of 5K HMIs but then decided that wasn't going to work, DUH.
But this whole saga gets even better, he's setup some pretty complex shots with half a dozen people and bits of plant all cued to camera moves except he's used a wheeled dolly on a factory floor so every few metres, clunk, as the dolly wheels hit the joins in the concrete. So even more fun trying to fix that in Vegas.
Bob.

Spot|DSE wrote on 2/26/2005, 4:29 PM

Yeah, yeah....if only you'd posted this earlier.
Today I was shooting footage for the forest service with the Z1. As the plane came down onto the runway, I couldn't rotate my polarizer fast enough, and sorta ruined the shot. I can likely fix the shift in Vegas...but if you'd only warned me yesterday. :-)

Seriously, I'm gonna figure a way to glue a small handle on this circular polarizer. It's needed on the pans across water and snow.

farss wrote on 2/26/2005, 5:03 PM

Wouldn't a circular polariser avoid that problem?
I'm seriously interested in the Black Frost filters, anyone tried one?
They must be rather expensive, well the only one I've seen is made by Schneider so I figure it doesn't come cheap.
We've finally got the adaptor rings to fit our Format matte boxes to the Z1s so over the next few weeks I'll get a chance to see what I too can stuff up.

I'm hoping the 4x4 filters are big enough for the Z1, the standard lens does go out very wide. I wonder if anyone's had any luck with a matte box in front of the Sony WA adaptor or do you need to go to 4x6?
Bob.

Spot|DSE wrote on 2/26/2005, 5:28 PM

It is a circular that I used, but because of the angle of the snow on the mountain vs the angle of the snow next to the runway, I needed to change the angle of the polarizer as I panned across the shot. I couldn't do it in time with the pan, because there is only the rim of the filter to hold and I was making sure my fingers didn't get in the shot.
I'm using a Tiffen Black Mist 3 on a project I'm shooting pre-vis for, and it's a gas. Amazingly good. I don't think anyone has had a matte over the wide angle, there is a lot of discussion on this in the DVInfo.net forum if you want to jump in...but I think you gotta go to 4 x 6.

farss wrote on 2/26/2005, 6:13 PM

Thanks and ouch, I'm betting 4x6 filters are NOT cheap nor is the gear to hold them, or maybe just gaffer tape them to the lens :)
What box are you using?
I think our Format one has a handle on the rotating stage, I'll check it out tomorrow.
Bob.

Spot|DSE wrote on 2/26/2005, 7:57 PM

I'm demo-testing the new Chrosziel, but it won't go on with the WA lens, I don't think. I don't have my Sony WA yet, but should have it soon. It won't go on with the Century Optics. If it would, I'd have 4x4 fitting in there.
I'm of the gaffer tape mind :-) The Sony WA isn't threaded either, if I recall correctly.

farss wrote on 2/26/2005, 8:19 PM

Pretty sure you're right, I'll check tomorrow. It doesn't have much in the way of a hood so I can see major flair problems with it outdoors, you're going to need a serious french flag.
Bob.

farss wrote on 2/27/2005, 11:10 PM

SPOT,
checked today, no thread on Sony W.A. adaptor.
Tried Formatt matte box on standard Z1, well it fits BUT that silly stereo mic thing really gets in the way, need to take Dremel tool to it. Only way to get the filters in is from the bottom and trying to rotate the stage is very difficult.

Tried standard 4x4 filters in front of WA lens (just held them by hand). I'd suspect as most matte boxes mount the filters a fair way from the front of the lens you could well have an issue with 4x4 particularly if you rotated them.
Bob.