Re: Advice on shooting with a Z1 + Letus35 by Todd at Fantastic Plastic on Jun 27, 2007 at 5:43:01 am
In light of the IMPORTANT NOTE section, I will just offer a couple of pieces of advice (if not for that paragraph, I might have written a coupld of pages :) )
1. Since you are committed to the Nikons, I'd highly suggest investing in either purchasing or renting the very best follow focus unit that you can get your hands on (and gear rings for the lenses). While still camera lenses can of course be used on DoF converters, it is quite difficult to pull focus with them (the problem is the range of travel: you only have to turn the ring on a still camera lens about 1/8th of a revolution to go through its complete focus range... whereas with a cine lens it's almost a complete revolution). You can also combat that by carefully blocking action so little rack focusing is required. You'll probably want to avoid rack focusing much anyway, as almost all still lenses (even Nikkors) breath when racked.
2. Be prepared to focus very carefully... by eyeball. Cine lenses are typically calibrated very carefully, and all the witness marks are usually accurate... so focusing by distance is no problem. However with still camera lenses (even expensives ones), the footage scales aren't always accurate. The infinity mark is usually right, as well as the closest possible distance... but sometimes the ones in the middle are a crapshoot, and not usefully for tape-measure focusing the way the good Lord intended.
3. Prior to shooting check all your lenses very carefully in any conceivable lighting situation that you think you might encounter. The Letus35 is notorious for vignetting, even with lenses that should cover the 35mm frame fine. The darkened edges might only be visible in certain situations though, so check various scenarios so that you are not surprised when it is too late. This problem is not exclusive to the Letus35... most of the budget-priced DoF converters suffer this problem on occasion, and even sometimes some of the more expensive ones.
4. Make sure you have a matte box or other way to hold all the filters you might need, and a full complement of ND filters, especially if you will be shooting exteriors. You will probably have to pile on some NDs for daylight exteriors as you do not want to stop the Nikon lenses down much at all... if you close the iris on them much past wide open you will definitely see the grain in the Letus35 groundglass.
5. Good luck and have fun.
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
Re: Advice on shooting with a Z1 + Letus35 by AlexHuber69 on Jun 27, 2007 at 2:38:58 pm
I will second all those comments and add one more. I would try to avoid doing any compositing or keying if at all possible -- or if you do, do a lot of tests first, and probably try bluescreen instead of greenscreen. I know someone who was trying to use that exact Z1+Letus combo, and he could never eliminate the aberation of a kind of weird blue hazy line that was to the immediate left of most hard-edged objects on screen when using the Letus35. Also I'm not trying to stifle creativity by any means, but just be aware of the extreme limitations of the Letus35 and don't try to push it if you want good results. With those DoF gadgets I've found that you really get what you pay for in terms of design/construction/usability/results and the Letus35 is the cheapest one that you can buy for a reason. I'm not saying don't use it -- since you expressly said you don't want that kind of advice -- I'm just saying learn what it can do well, and what it can't, and stay well within those parameters.
Re: Advice on shooting with a Z1 + Letus35 by raukouy on Jun 27, 2007 at 6:27:57 pm
Thanks for all the advice. The shoots in all cases will be very "simple" no zooming, no crazy moving around of the camera, no FX, no green screen. All the projects are very acting based.
Except for a couple of outdoor shots, everything will be very controlled.
Re: Advice on shooting with a Z1 + Letus35 by Michael Palmer on Jun 28, 2007 at 12:01:36 am
Suggestions
Make sure you lock off the camera manual focus and always verify the setting to maintain the correct focus with this device. I've used the Red Rock Micro and taped off the focus ring to prevent issues.
You may consider shooting 50i and converting to 24 frames later. The original footage is more film like in movement being a 25-frame native time base. I know Graeme Nattress gave me this advise a while back and yes his plugins are really fun to work with.
Make slow/steady pan movements.
Dolly moves should be slow/smooth from side to side with as little back pan as possible.
Moving straight in/out should be fine at medium speeds.
Or if fast panning is required you could think about live capturing to the computer and avoid the HDV compression and convert back to HDV later.
Re: Advice on shooting with a Z1 + Letus35 by raukouy on Jun 28, 2007 at 4:46:26 am
Great advice! Thanks.
Btw, you suggest capturing thru FireWire or via the component out? Im guessing you are referring to the component output since, if Im not mistaken, the FW out is already compressed.
Re: Advice on shooting with a Z1 + Letus35 by Todd at Fantastic Plastic on Jun 28, 2007 at 12:38:58 pm
[raukouy]"you suggest capturing thru FireWire or via the component out?"
Actually, capturing via HD-SDI out would be faaaaaar superior to either of those options. I'm not all that familiar with your camera, but as I recall I don't THINK it has HD-SDI output... but on an important project it might be worth begging or borrowing or renting a deck or camera with HD-SDI output just for the capture.
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
Re: Advice on shooting with a Z1 + Letus35 by Script-to-film on Jun 28, 2007 at 5:17:41 pm
I shot a feature film with the FX1 which is the same as the Z1 without some of the extra audio features, inputs and ability to shoot in 50i like the crazy Europeans do.
1) You can get a great key from greenscreen if you convert to Uncompressed 10 bit before doing the key.
2) DV Filmmaker is a great program, but you have to convert to 24P before editing. Compressor does not require that, but it's amazingly slow. AMAZINGLY!
3) Don't listen to anything negative. You set-up is all you need to make a great movie. It's about creativity, image and story. That's it. Good luck!
Re: Advice on shooting with a Z1 + Letus35 by Michael Stevens on Apr 17, 2008 at 6:32:39 pm
The Letus units are great, but whether you have the Letus, Redrock, Cinevate or the Mini35 you need the best prime lenses - Nikon AI's. You can see a selection of prime lenses just for Cinema Lens Adapters at our site Lenses35.com. Mike, Lenses35.com
Re: Advice on shooting with a Z1 + Letus35 by Todd Terry on Apr 17, 2008 at 7:02:47 pm
[Michael Stevens]"you need the best prime lenses - Nikon AI's"
Well, yes and no... you do indeed need the best prime lenses... but those are going to be real cine lenses (or still lenses rehoused for cine use).
Real cine lenses are going to be a bazillion times easier to use than still camera lenses, be they Nikkors or whatever. Still lenses can be a royal pain to follow focus with on a DoF converter because the travel-range of the focus ring is so short... with Nikons I believe it is 1/5th of a barrel turn. With cine lenses you will have almost a full barrel turn, and your focus puller will not be tearing his hair out or constantly calling for retakes due to soft shots.
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
