Back by popular demand… I talk to a camera, introduce a cool TV subject, shrink myself down into a little box in the lower right corner of the screen and explain what is going on.

I work in sports television using sick equipment. Using the insane television gear is often the best part of my job!

I hop on camera at Fenway a few minutes early to make sure all my gear is working properly before the game. I am paid to follow the action and I need help to do it. The equipment must be dialed in and balanced correctly so I can lock onto fast moving objects. Most importantly, the video engineers in the truck must properly control the camera. I can’t do it by myself!

I have been testing the Kessler Motion Controlled Timelapse dolly system for the last few days and I am very impressed with the results. The system is very easy to move around, is built well and comes in at a low price point. For the first time, you can achieve Ron Fricke and Tom Lowe quality timelapse movement using DSLRs, digital cine or video cameras capable of shooting interval frames or pictures.

Excerpt from “Chronos” – Ron Fricke shot over twenty years ago using custom motion controlled timelapse systems.

In the next few days, I will be post a very detailed blog about the CineSlider, Oracle controller and the Elektra Drive 500 series stepper motor. This stuff really works and works very well.

But for now, watch the quick video blog (at the top of this page) I shot last night in a spooky graveyard in Massachusetts. Please take the time to download the full res 1080p Apple ProRes 422 .mov file of the untouched timelapse rendered down from 446 .jpg images sRGB (5616×3744) from the Canon 5dmk2. You will see just how smooth this system works, moving very slow.

Camera settings: Full Manual, 24mm f1.4 wide open, one picture every 22 seconds for 2.5 hours. 20 second long exposure with white balance set at 5600 degrees. Manual focus, ISO 100.
Oracle Settings: Simple Timelapse Mode – 31.1 inches of travel over 5hrs. (not calibrated)

A few months ago, I was hired by COX communications to shoot a behind the scenes video of what it takes to get multi-camera live coverage of college basketball on the air. I normally operate a camera with this crew covering the action for regional television on ESPN or Big East college sports television.

The company is a big fan of my video blogs and asked me to create the mini-documentary in the same style I capture for fun on my website!

I made the suggestion that I shoot with the Canon 5dmk2 DSLR. I needed to shoot run-and-gun, with a single camera and be a one man crew. I found the DSLR to work very well in low light and the small form factor was easy to move around. I used a single Bogen mono pod for stability and tracking shots. I used only one lens, the Canon 16mm-35mm f2.8. I shot in manual mode and controlled exposure using the dial on the back of the camera. I tried to keep the ISO under 1600.

All audio was captured with a Rode video shotgun mic. This video was shot before the Canon 5dmk2 firmware upgrade, so I had to run the camera in auto audio gain with no metering. The sound is ok, not great. But keep in mind that it was just me, with the single DSLR to capture as much as I could. I asked all the questions and gathered all the footage.

The truck we used on this game is standard definition. It shoots 4:3 with Ikegami HL-59 hand held cameras and Ikegami HL-387 hard cameras with Canon and Fujinon box lenses. We use all Vinten pan heads. Cox also has a high definition truck for sports and is building an even larger HD truck with Sony HDC series cameras.

We also set a DVD to record the entire game with the director’s track. You will hear Mike Narracci calling the shots during the live broadcast towards the end of the video. Using multi-camera editing in windows on the screen helps to show you just how much is going on during the production.

Best part for me was storming the court with all the fans at the end of the game. I had the Canon 5dmk2 high up in the air on the mono pod!

Please post any questions below using the comment section of this page. I will try to answer them soon! Special thanks to John Parris, Ray Lepre, the Cox crew and editor Anthony Finucane.

You can read the Cox Sports blog with additional information be clicking here. If you want to see this truck set up from my point of view (using the ContourHD wearable HD camera) click here for the video blog.

I buy cameras with manual function control. All the cameras I use at work do not have a shred of automatic function on them. I want to be in full control at all times when operating a camera.

But what happens when you cannot be with your camera at all times? What happens when the shot lasts hours and hours? What happens when light changes, color temperature changes, distance from subject changes very slowly and it is impossible to adjust as time elapses?

Enter: Green Square and the use of a timer remote controller.

I first experienced the convenience of the full auto mode (located on top of camera via dial setting) on the Canon 5dmk2 DSLR camera when I shot a three week, day to night time lapse at Newfound Lake in New Hampshire. I wanted to capture “Ice-In” as the lake froze over. I needed a camera that could capture the stars at night and expose a bright cloudless day, without me being there!

The only manual setting I used was to slide a switch on the lens to “MF” for manual focus. I did not want the focus drifting at all in the low light.

Take a look at the video below. This time lapse was a true, “Set-it-and-forget-it”:

People on time lapse forums across the internet are looking for the “Holy Grail” of day/night time lapse settings. If you use Green Square auto, you run the risk of annoying flicker. There are post NLE filters for this, but I have never used them and do not own any. And so far, I am very impressed with the Canon 5dmk2 in full auto mode. For those of you who do not know anything about DSLRs or how to set them up, this camera in green square mode might be a perfect fit to shoot image-sequence time lapses.

Using manual settings are a must when shooting astro-timelapses. I set the Canon 5dmk2 to snap a photo every 40 seconds throughout the seven hours of darkness. The 5dmk2 is set to long exposure to take in what little light is in the sky. My exposure settings are as high as 30 seconds, but sometimes less if I want to take a photo every 20 seconds.

The video below demonstrates what happens when you take a photo every 40 seconds throughout the night with a 30 second “sensor burn” exposure. At the end, you will see the video go white. This is not a transition. The sun has broken dawn and since the camera was set to full manual, the settings forced the camera to continue taking a 30 second exposure with locked aperture blades.

I am running tests shooting day to night astro-timelapses for an epic video project that I will be releasing this fall. I am using the Green Square with some great results. I am also using the Kessler Oracle and Elektra Drive stepper motor system on my CineSlider dolly. Very impressed with this kit.

Yesterday, I set up the Canon 5dmk2 on a Bogen Magic Arm attached to the railing in the left field roof Coke-a-Cola corner. I work the large broadcast camera in that position so I was able to watch the 5dmk2 during the six hour timelapse.

I set the camera to snap a 21.1 mega pixel .jpg picture every seven seconds. I locked the focus to manual, but everything else was factory default using the dial set to “green square”. I weather proofed everything with zip-lock bags. The power was provided by the Canon a/c adapter and I used the Canon remote timer to trigger the camera to snap the pictures. The lens I used was the Canon 16mm to 35mm f2.8 “L” series lens. The lens was locked at 16mm. The shutter speed, iso, white balance and aperture fluctuated as the day turned to night and the stadium lights fired up.

I was quite impressed how the 5dmk2 camera tracked iris, iso, shutter and white as the night progressed. I had shot with my Sony EX1 in timelapse mode in the past using full auto and it did not work out as well. I had issues with the EX1 shifting color temperature.

Check out the video below for the tester six hour timelapse boiled down to a minute and a half. I did not add any de-flicker filters or grading to the clip. Music is by Nine Inch Nails.

As you are reading this, I have the Canon 5dmk2 setup to shoot a 24 hour timelapse in green square mode from the high home camera basket at Fenway Park. Great cloud formations happening as I type this blog during my dinner break in the media room! What happens at Fenway Park at night when the lights go out? Lets hope the green auto mode works as well as it has in the past. The one thing that I cannot get the camera to do in auto mode is longer exposure to add some motion blur to the action as people move around in the stands. Suggestions?

UPDATE April 26th, 2010:
I have finished up the 24 hour time lapse at high home at Fenway Park using the “Green Square” mode and auto focus. The test below was entirely shot in automatic mode where the 5dmk2 and the lens made all the decisions for focus, exposure, iso, aperture, and white balance. I wanted to try an experiment in full auto mode just to see what would happen. I have not found the “holy grail” for day to night timelpasing yet, but the green square mode works ok. NEVER use auto focus. I knew this going in using video cameras for time lapse, but wanted to test it out on the DSLR. Set your focus on a point in the frame and lock it down with a bit of gaff tape.

You will see the image “pulse” in and out as the camera is taking out of focus frames. I used an “L” series 16mm-35mm f2.8 and it did not track as well as I hoped. Again, NEVER use auto focus when time lapsing.

In my next tests, I will take the advice of many people who tell me that “Aperture Priority” is the best way to avoid flicker, and the camera adjusts well to drastic light changes. The “AV” (aperture value) mode on the Canon 5dmk2 dial locks the iris and uses shutter speed to correctly expose the picture. I am not certain where I will run the aperture, but I will have to run it at f2.8 wide open to expose anything at night. It will be interesting to see what happens at f2.8 with full sun!

More test to come on this page from Fenway Park.

I am about 80 percent television technology guru and 20 percent sports fan at the moment. I love using the top of the line high definition camera equipment that costs more than my house. I get pulled deeper into the job when a newer camera is given to me or I see a Phantom high-speed or 3D camera entering the game. Sports is a breeding ground for new television tech and I am on the top of the wave. The problem is, I’m shooting the wrong subject matter! I want to be 50 percent television technology and 50 percent natural history documentary creator.

I’m not complaining, but I’m defiantly not living my dream!

I work atop the left field roof at Fenway Park covering the Boston Red Sox. The perch is on the fifth level and it is the most exposed position in the entire ball park. I track a mating pair of red tailed hawks as they search for food and build a nest. I watch storms move in from the West. I am the first to see lightning and the first to run from the roof when I witness the buildings around me getting struck. That part is fun.

But I am at Fenway to cover a baseball game, not in Africa waiting for an animal to appear at a water hole.

I am one of 10 cameras inside the ballpark that bring the action into your living room and we are documenting sports history. I am paid to track the ball through the play and lock onto players in the dugout or on the field as the announcers talk about them. I have shot nearly 800 games.

Take a look at this ten minute video blog I shot over the summer of 2009 from the $100,000 Sony HDC-910 broadcast HDTV camera with 75x Canon telephoto zoom lens. You will understand why I often stand behind the camera at the ball park wishing I were covering wildlife in the middle of nowhere… with the same camera.

My director, Mike, gives me a lot of freedom as a camera operator as I shoot the game. I must thank him for letting me try new things and shoot stuff other than what is happening on the field.

Video footage courtesy of New England Sports Network.

I was hired by a good client of mine out of Rhode Island, Cox Communications, to DP a short spot for the Newport Skating Center. I had a few rough storyboard emailed to me and I was asked to shoot the project using my EX1, Letus Ultimate and my PVC skateboard dolly system. We shot outdoors at a skating rink and I used all natural light.

I knew the job was going to be a fast shoot, so with the help of two Cox interns, we were able to knock out each shot very quickly. I am mastering the use of the PVC pipe dolly and it works effectively with little setup time. The entire commercial was shot within two hours. Very simply spot, nothing flashy here.

I enjoy directing kids. The secret is to give them hot chocolate, tell them to act natural and never look at the lens. When the hot chocolate runs out, the problems begin!

One thing that helped me rush through the setups was a bit of insight from one of the Cox people. I was told that the “Digi” costume was designed only to be worn for ten minutes. Apparently, the white bubbly-headed mascot did not have any air holes for breathing! Just a little obstacle you can sometimes run into on location.

I used the Letus Ultimate and the Sony PMW-EX1 because the client likes the XDCAM EX work flow. I just transferred the footage at the end of the day using my Mac Book Pro onto a Cox external USB hard drive. The producers took the drive back to the station and dumped the footy into their NLE system. I had a backup of all the files on my external drive and held on to it for a few weeks, just in case.

I could have shot this using the Canon 5dmk2, but I am still making a lot of money using my XDCAM and the Letus 35mm lens adapter. Plus, I love the look of the old Nikon Nikkor lenses and the Letus Ultimate!

I mostly used the fast Nikon 55mm f1.2 and the super sharp Nikon 105mm f2.5. I shot on my Vinten Vision 10 AS tripod and used ten foot spans of PVC pipe under my skateboard dolly. I also used a set of Vinten babylegs on the dolly for the low sliding moves. All the stuff shot on the ice was done handheld.

Antony Finucane at Cox Communications edited the spot using Final Cut Pro. I found it interesting that he decided to use two-frame dissolves instead of cuts for all the transitions. Softens up the look I suppose. I really liked the use of a wipe when the white cups of hot chocolate sweep out of focus across the frame. That was not part of the storyboards. I was hoping the editor would pick up on that!

Special thanks to John Parris for sending me this video file to post.

The 2010 NHL Winter Classic is finally over. Time to thaw out. Strike was just under three hours, not that bad.

The Bruins beat the Flyers in overtime at Fenway Park today 2-1. Not the best hockey, but a storybook ending for the Bruins and all the hockey fans that packed the ballpark.

I had a great day shooting for the CBC (Canada). The weather was perfect, just below freezing. My camera was a Sony HDC-1500 with a great viewfinder and nice 21x lens. I had a nice little spot on the right side at ice level with a clean piece of glass and a chair to sit on. My utilities worked hard and helped to manage my cable when I was asked to move around to get different shots. I followed the Bruins off and on the ice and shot interviews ice side. The video guys and truck engineers were very helpful and worked hard to make my job easier!

One problem I had was a frozen cap on a SMPTE fiber cable. I unplugged my camera and ran to grab a shot of the Dropkick Murphy’s on stage, but my stage cable was useless. I had a separate cable run for the performance because the set was far away from the rink. I could not get the protective metal cap off the thing to save my life. Quick thinking and with the help of two utilities, I was able to get my ice cable (game position) run out and just managed to reach the stage as the band turned toward me. This adaptation only delayed me about two minutes…live television can be stressful when an issue like this pops up.

I then shot the Canadian and US national anthem as James Taylor delivered a great rendition. If you watched the game in Canada, you saw my neck breaking tilting twist as I tracked the bomber jet as it ripped through the Boston sky as James left the stage.

During the game, I got a few replays and the director liked to cut in the low camera, so I was very busy.

I was distracted all night by the thoughts that other camera guys where capturing the action in 3D and at very high frames rates. I was only shooting 1080i HDTV!

The 3ality Digital folks where shooting for NHL Network with a single over/under (pictured above) rig from four different locations. They positioned a O’Connor film tripod at the right back corner at ice level, at the blue line right side, at the bench for player shots, and right near the crowd. They also had a second 3D camera at the high first baseball position. Not sure if they had a third 3D setup somewhere else, I was too busy with my own stuff.

As I shot the action at 30 frames per second, just a few feet away from me the NHL Network was also capturing the game at very high frames rates. They were using this super sick Phantom HD GOLD camera with a Angenieux Optimo 21x 24mm-290mm f2.8 film zoom lens. The operator had a follow focus and a servo zoom demand mounted to a rear pan handle. The viewfinder was a Sony color hi res. They were using a drive mounted on the top of the camera body to capture the data. The entire thing was powered by Anton Bauer lunch box brick batteries.

NHL Network also had a RED ONE on the other side of the rink. The footage from these cameras will be used in high-end projects like commercials and promos for the NHL. But this is also just an experiment and I look forward to working with the NHL as they begin to implement this exciting digital technology into the sport of hockey. Real nice people over at the NHL Network.

Patrick and I wandered out onto the ice at the end of the game. I pulled out my Panasonic Lumix camera and shot a quick video while standing on the Fenway Park ice with my broadcast camera on my shoulder. Wish I had brought my skates!

Sorry this blog was rushed, I can’t stop to take pictures when other people are working for me! This was a wild sports broadcast.

You can read more about the set day for this production and a video blog I shot early in the process by clicking here.

I just got back from Fenway Park and threw together a quick video blog from earlier today. I only shot video when it was snowing during a break in the setup. The day was long and the Canadian CBC show I am working on is quite large. We ran a bunch of cable today, some of it not working properly. We then had to run more cable. I have no idea how all this stuff will make it back to the truck when we tear out after the show. The hockey game being played tomorrow in Boston is like the “Superbowl of Hockey” as far as television goes.

I did not capture how much equipment is currently inside the ballpark because I was caught in the Fenway Magic as the snow began to fall and the Bruins took the ice for the first time. It was just awesome. I wished that I had the day all to myself…just me, a camera and a lens with shallow depth of field …and maybe some dolly tracks…

I am looking forward to covering the event tomorrow from the low right ice level hand held position for the Canadian broadcast feed. I will have the NBC shooter on my right and a Phantom high speed 12.1 camera on my left. I will be using the Sony HDC-1500 30FPS HDTV camera, but I wish I was doing puck follows at 1000 FPS with the Phantom!

Plus, about thirty feet to my right will be two HDC-1500 optical block T-cameras mounted over/under using a prism to capture stereo 3D high definition television. Look at this blog if you are interested in reading more about 3D cameras for broadcast and the innovative company, 3ality Digital by clicking here.

Lets hope the weather holds off and the stuff falling from the sky is snow, not rain. Thanks to Patrick, Pizza, Tom, Bob and Andre for making this video blog a cinematic success.

You can watch a behind the scenes video blog about the Sony HDC-3300 HD Super Motion camera that I had the honor of operating for three years by clicking here. The camera was sent back to the rental house because of the $20,000/month rental fee!

I am currently using a Sony HDC-930 that shoots at 30 frames per second for the New England Sports Network to track a hockey puck. I shoot off the shoulder behind the glass at ice level and I am using the super sweet Canon HJ21x-7.6 digital drive zoom lens. Take a look at a Bruins goal I shot tonight at the very end of my 21x lens “backside”. We need more frames!

The camera has just a bit of shutter, 1/100 and I am able to see the action because of the best electronic black and white CRT multi-scan HD viewfinder ever made for a hand held camera, the Sony HDVF-20A. But I had all this shooting supermo and I really miss it.

I will be working the Fenway Park Winter Classic the next two days and I will shoot a quick video blog during setup tomorrow. I will also take a ton of pictures to show you the amount of television equipment that is being used to cover the historic event. I will be operating a hand held camera field/ice level for CBC (Canada). I don’t think it will be a high speed camera, but I do not know for sure yet.

The weather will be very interesting. If it rains on game day (this Friday), the game might be postponed until Saturday. But we are suppose to get some snow on Saturday. It will be fun!

Stay tuned to my Twitter account @tomguilmette for more information right from Fenway Park as I cover the event. I will chat all about sports broadcast television.

Currently, I am working on a few timelapse projects with the Canon 5dmk2. One of them is capturing the four seasons in New England from different fixed locations. This is not a new idea, it has been done before. But I might be one of the first to use an as-seen-on-tv invention to make a camera cradle!

I ran a test using the Sony SR11 and the .7 wide angle conversion lens. I wanted to shoot a timelapse that would show the four seasons in the Northeastern USA, but I did not want to leave my camera locked down on a tripod for 365 days! I started this test almost one year ago and returned to the fixed mount shooting location half a dozen times throughout the year. I used the Sony SR11, because, at that time, I did not own a DSLR.

I thought of using the “magic putty” product that is sold on TV. I found a similar product at Home Depot called “Fast Steel“. This soft putty turns to concrete after about an hour once you mix it together in your hands. I figured that if I could find a flat and solid surface, I might be able to use the putty to build a mount that would force the camera into a locked position. This mount would stand the test of time and the elements. By creating this hardened bowl of putty, I could simply place the camera into the mount each time I visited the location and hit record for 30 seconds. I made sure to remove any dirt or ice buildup when mounting the camera and the molded putty forced the camera into the same position every time.

It worked out quite well and I have been shooting video from other locations using this type of mount in the wilderness with the Canon 5Dmk2 camera. I will release more timelapses as I finish them.

Check it out and try it for yourself. I would love to see an entire year from your backyard! And maybe you can include the fall foliage portion that my video lacks. I deleted that single file by mistake!!!