"Shadows exist in real life."

"Shadows", as in deep, dark, impenetrable blackness, that utterly contrasts with what's actually visible in the scene.

Hello guys sharing this video, I’m usually a gaffer, I directed and I shot for the new competitor of blackout. Tell me what do you think of the video. You may know me as come.nolo on instagram I make breakdowns

Is this a good idea to try to light an exterior of a whole house as background on an overcast day to create fake sunlight? How much light should I use?

Hello! I'm a 22 y/o cinematographer (self-taught), and I'm looking for some feedback on some stills I shot for a 30 seconds commercial narrative piece. The goal was to emulate the look of Christmas Eve (warm tones, lighting motivated by the Christmas tree). This was pulled off in less than a week of planning and on no budget, any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hey friends, working on an upcoming budget and client agreed to getting a probe lens for the project. I'm looking at the Direct View straight on lens vs the 35 degree lens. I like the direct view as it seems more intuitive to me as it functions like a regular lens, however the 35 seems interesting in that you can do more angles I think from over unders and using it just like a direct probe with the right angle...I guess not straight though things as much. Anyone have some experience with either and what their preference is?

hi everyone,

currently own a hollylands mars 400s transmission kit , looking to sell to upgrade.

run the system through s5iix and S5ii (A & B cam setup)

have seen the hollyland pyro hdmi kit isnt a huge amount more to spend to upgrade , weighing this up and then maybe later grabbing the pyro 7.

to be able to switch betere the two cameras on set would be a useful feature of this setup.

I Currently own 3x 5 inch monitors so a 7 inch monitor would be usedit , is this a good idea or is there much better options I should consider within similar budget , I’m aware accsoon also got plenty of products on the market,

the main purpose is for setting up on rigs to go correct to directors monitor , but ideally focus pulling also on the cards as have new cine lenses that would benefit from this.

biggest thing I don’t want to do is sell the 400s to not really get any improvement from the upgrade.

future proofing is also ideal as well.

any help would be super appreciated,

use cases would be drone to directors monitor , events ,documentary and short films etc

Thanks

Ive shot a small mini project with my s24 log, and have converted it and regulated WB and exposure thanks to davinci and some helpful youtuve tutorials.

But I dont understand how to give it a colour "style "

Tutorials tell me to work with the 8 : 8 spiderweb and give it a "orange/teal" look, but it just looks really bad on my clip.

What should I do to make this look, well, film worthy I guess

Pardon the quality of image, real image is UHD

Ps: the entire mini project is shot in the same area as shot above

I'm looking for a well-priced, all-around camera that could do well in docs, commercials, and narrative. Could be mirrorless or a cinema body; I'm not picky. I like shooting raw and 10 bit, timecode, and I like a fast rolling shutter or global shutter. I'm game for any recommendations if you have any, but I'm more curious about what you look for in a camera when you're looking to own it? Thanks!

In a short film I will be shooting soon, there is a scene with 4 characters talking around a table. I haven’t shot a scene like this yet but I’ve heard how complicated they can get, so I tried to find some similar scenes to reference.

One scene I found was this one from Breaking Bad: https://youtu.be/sjfQ6soLSAU?is=Gr6wwLP2DaQItiJM

Same amount of characters as mine. I noticed they cross the 180 line several times in this interaction, but it never feels disorienting. Does anyone know how this was done so effectively? I feel like if I do that, the sense of space will be all over the place. Any advice on how to approach this would greatly appreciated!

I really love the way the lighting looks in these 2 shots, how do I recreate this lighting style? What specific lights do I need and watts? Were these done with fresnels?

My filmmaking showreel. This includes many projects I’ve worked on as director, DOP, gaffer, colorist and editor. Please let me know what you think and I hope you enjoy!

Has anyone ever used this lens for video / doc work?

Not really wondering as much about live zooms but more just about working with a push-pull zoom

We’re potentially trying to find a nice copy that we can then “cine-mod”

Shot this on some mirrorless camera (I don't know the name tbh) since it was rented by a friend

All the shots were spontaneous and shot on manual mode, haven't really graded the shots and left it raw.

Kind of happy with how it all turned out considering had no shots nor story in mind, all done within an hour.

Would love some reviews on how we can do better next time! (Attaching the link to it in the comments)

I purchased a 400x assuming all my light domes and lanterns I've been using on the 600 and 1200's would be compatible (thank you google ai overview 🤦), but it has a proprietary mount. I haven't found any aputure brand softboxes on B&H that says they work with the 400. Does anyone know any that do? Is there an adapter for it? Thanks!

With the (hopefully final) announcement of the Blazar Talon for L mount in December, i’m heavily considering buying the Talon 35, 50 and 75 as a set with the pre order discount.

My question is, has anyone bought from Blazar directly outside of the USA or China? I live in the UK and am wondering if it’s a guarantee that’s ill get slapped with an extra £1,000 for custom/duty fees on top of my order when it arrives 🙄

Insanely boring question, sorry!

I work for a record label that’s trying to get the budget in order for next year. We shoot a lot of documentary/music videos/interviews/live videos/general social content for our artists. They’ve asked me to make a list of wants to add to our production gear. I’ve got lighting/grip/sound stuff under control, but they’ve asked if I’d like to add a cinema camera to our lineup. Obviously, if I’m not buying— sure, why not?

Currently, we’ve got 2 Sony A7s iiis and 1 A7 iv. We’ve got a 50mm, 17-28, 24-70, and 70-200mm lenses. My inclination is to kind of keep us within the Sony E mount ecosystem, but an FX6 is just out of budget. We’ve discussed the FX5, but it does seem kinda overpriced for what it is. I’d go FX3, but I’m kinda stuck on wanting open gate, since we do a lot of vertical deliverables (and I like the 3:2 aspect ratio a lot, too).

I’ve also looked at the Pyxis 6k (leaning PL mount), having used a BMPCC 4K as my personal camera workhorse for years and years— which is initially much cheaper than FX5, but then we’re sort of investing in a whole new lens system— which I’d prefer to make PL vs getting a Canon C50 and getting stuck in their world. PL seems more versatile as far as having lenses if we opt to rent an Alexa or whatever for the biggest shoots. I know we could buy a Pyxis and probably a few lenses for our budget. We’ve basically decided to ask for $8k, in the hopes we’ll get $6k, but they’re all in on content right now, so we might get the full 8! Never know with these people!

We do utilize auto-focus a lot during live shows, so that’s another reason I’m leaning Sony— but I also think our current lineup does totally fine for that, so I’d rather get a camera than can be our A cam for the interview/doc work, and supplement the more run and gun stuff with the A7s.

It’s been a decade since I remotely cared about keeping up with camera specs, so not really sure what way to lean. It’s sort of a “use it or lose it” situation, so definitely need to make a choice, but there seem to be so many cameras in the market right now that are all basically “very good”. I did used to like shooting with REDs too, but haven’t done that in a decade and their naming scheme is bizarrely confusing, so haven’t even looked into that— but should I?

Looking to buy some Ultra Primes - happy for them to be in used used condition.

24mm, 32mm, 50mm, 85mm, 135mm all interest me and not after buying all at once.

Best places to look or contacts?

Hello everybody,

I asked myself what would happen if the nfl player crash full speed into the camera ? He was sooo close haha. This was an arri alexa mini ? Would the insurance pay for that or what would happen. My second question is how is the job called that the guy behind him does ? He pulled him away...

I am from Europe and am trying to get a Shotdeck subscription, but I can only see the payment options for americans. It says on the site that you can pay with Google Pay but I dont see that option anywhere

Quick question my fellow cinematographers, I’m shooting day exterior in an open field, across a few days. Narrative wise, in the script, it’s just one scene and happens in real time within 10 minutes so logically, the lighting needs to remain the same and consistent. How do you prepare and plan for the moving sun throughout the day? What are some lighting/diffusion/truss rigs that you use, and what fabrics do you prefer the most for diffusion?

PS:
-the shooting area is about 40 feet by 150 feet and since it’s an action scene we’re practically shooting 360 degrees.

-we already created a truss setup for an overhead diffusion with Silk but the silk shines too much under the harsh sun and when the wind blows, it creates a lot of unwanted moving shadows on the ground and on the characters.

I am building an app for filmmakers to manage the entire production in one place. What features would you want in an app like this for it to be usefull for you?

For those who have worked on commercials, features, Narrative TV and music videos in Los Angeles during the "busy years" (let's say, between 2009 and 2019, and again for the post-covid boom of 2021), would you say that NY/NJ is actually as busy right now as LA once was? Are you getting called left and right for jobs and being booked out weeks in advance in NY?

For those who moved to NY from LA in recent months, how many NY director/producer contacts did you have before you made the decision to move?