WARNING: I am getting reports that when flying this thing around trees, you have no control of it. It is very easy to lose your camera so I must advise you practice in a field far away from objects like buildings or trees first. Dave and I made this look easy in the video blog and you assume all the risk when flying your camera!

I have been really busy with work in Boston TV and I have neglected my website! I have had a crazy idea for the last few weeks and I finally got out and tried it. I wanted to spread the word and I hope someone out there is able to get even better footy than I using this system!

I needed to get aerial shots for my mountain biking project I am working on. I was amazed at how people are mounting DSLRs inside remote controlled helicopters and getting awesome stuff. I looked into this, but the price is way too much for my budget, plus I would have to learn a lot before even thinking about taking an RC heli for a spin.

I had an inexpensive way to get a GoPro airborne and I finally got a day off to give it a go. I call it “skyfishing”.

The plan was to use Styrofoam as a base and use party balloons filled with helium to suspend the base in the air. I would cut out a small hole that would fit a GoPro camera pointed straight down. Next, I was going to tie the balloons to the base using string. I would use a fishing pole to control the cluster of balloons and also determine the altitude.

I was at Walmart and saw a cheap way to get helium. They sell a kit with 30 balloons and a 9 cubic foot compressed gas tank for $20. I found that this tank is just enough to fill about 30 balloons. These balloons provide just enough lift to get the camera and everything else off the ground.

I tested this theory with my friend, Dave at an athletic field in New Hampshire. The weather was perfect as far at wind goes, there was none! But, there was a low ceiling and the fog meant that viability was going to suffer. I must stress that it is not a good idea to fly this contraption in winds over 4 MPH. I tried to fly in 9 MPH light winds and I almost lost the entire thing!

A few interesting side notes when using helium. The gas leaks out of the balloons over time, so you only have a few hours of lift when using latex balloons. Also, temperature seems to effect the lift of the system. In colder conditions, the gas is not as “powerful”. I found that when using inside in warm temperatures the balloons could bring the camera to the ceiling. When I took the kit outside into 35 degree weather, the cluster could not carry its own weight once the gas inside the balloons chilled out.

Get out and try this, it really works well. I am amazed at how stable the shot cam out, even at very high elevations. Just be sure to ask permission if you plan on flying on private property. Also, watch for trees and powerlines, it is almost impossible to get the GoPro back when it get snagged. I will take no responsibility if your camera ends up in the stratosphere. Good luck and enjoy the video blog!

I am always happy when I get my GoPro back! Big thanks to Dave and his family for their hospitality and help shooting this video blog.

I am a tripod snob and I am very picky with fluid pan heads.

The tripod pan and tilt head is the most important part of the camera chain, in my opinion. If I put it all together in order of importance I would say, one tripod, two camera, three lens, and four viewfinder. Of course you can shoot all hand held, but for what I do and my style of shooting, the camera support is extremely important. The point I am trying to make is the fact that even if you have the best HD camera and biggest lens, you cant hold or compose a shot with a bad fluid head. The pan and tilt head then extends to slider, crane and dolly use as well.

When operating a television camera covering sports, the pivot point is most vital part. I need to know exactly what is going to happen when applying force to a pan arm. The pan head must be perfectly balanced and super smooth in tilting and panning, especially when doing both at the same time. The sum of these parts equals predictable and repeatable movement and the end result is exactly what I want.

The pan head I use to cover Boston professional sports is the Vinten Vector 70. I have been using the same Vector 70 for over ten years and it still performs like the day it left the factory. It is the secret to my signature shot, following the baseball super tight as it leaves the yard. The 70 model has been updated by the 700 and 750, but until the Vector 70 is taken away from me in Boston, it will be my personal favorite. (I actually wish Vinten re-releases the Vector 70TG …the “TG” stands for “Totally Great”, not what you may think…)

So…… there’s a brief glimpse into my tripod insanity. Until you understand the “feel” of the perfect pan head, you will continue to think I am crazy. Please read the rest of my blog before you watch the video blog review below.

I have said many times before that I feel the tripod is the one television tool that I could not live without. I use a tripod as much as I use a camera and I use both almost everyday to earn a living.

If I am going to carry around all the extra weight that a tripod creates, it is going to be the best. And simply put, Vinten is the best.

Over the years, I have used many brands. Cartoni, Miller, Manfrotto (Bogen), Satchler, O’Connor, and Libec. The only head the comes close to the “Vinten feel” is the Satchler. The Vinten Vector series for large studio cameras and Vision series for ENG cameras are as good as it gets. The UK based company knows what they are doing and best of all, they are listening to crazy people like me!

In addition to the perfect balance and buttery action of the Vinten is the fact that the company makes a very durable product. When taken care of, a good Vinten will be the last pan head you ever buy.

I was discovered by Vinten a few years ago because of this website and since that day, Vinten has sponsored and invited me to NAB twice. I have spent time with people who work for Vinten and now I consider them my friends.

I asked the Vinten team last year if they were thinking about making a pan head for DSLRs. I was not totally happy with the feel of the Vinten ProTouch range they were marketing for light weight cameras. The ProTouch heads, in my opinion, were similar in design and feel to the Manfrotto 501 and 503 heads. I did not like the stick and slip feel of the ProTouch range when using cameras like the Sony EX1 and Canon 5dmk2. But, these heads were priced very low, so you get what you pay for even if there is a Vinten logo stamped on the front.

Avoiding the ProTouch range, I was using my expensive Vinten Vision 3 with the smallest user-changeable spring available to make it work with a DSLR. It did the job, had the “Vision Feel” I was after, but was not the solution for light weight cameras. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Vision 3!

I wanted a Vision range pan head that worked with lighter payloads, but could still be adjusted using the perfect balance knob (when the camera got heavier with accessories) and perhaps, was a bit cheaper. The HDSLR market may not widely adopt a pan head over $1000, no matter how perfect it was. But, the demands for a nicely balanced and professional level tripod head were present since the Canon 5dmk2 DSLR was being used in high end production. These DSLRs weigh in at about a pound when not loaded with accessories. So what tripod can perfectly balance such a light weight?

Vinten answered with the Vision Blue. This head is affordable and just under $700. You get a lot for your money here. This inexpensive Vision Blue model functions with a DSLR like a $5000 Vision head functions with a Sony F900 HDCAM! This opens the market to lower budget professionals who can finally spring for a professional tripod.

You can go to Walmart and see just how hard it is to pan and tilt a non-fluid head. If you are just using the tripod as a locked off shot, fine. But you can also use a rock or tree stump for that.

The next step up is to spend a few hundred bucks and get a fluid head that is not really that “fluid”! If you have been using an inferior tripod fluid head for years and you get on location with a Vinten Vision, you will finally understand the point I am trying to make. Once dialed in, It will change the way you use a tripod and the words “finesse” and “silky” will come to mind.

If you are a Kessler CineSlider or Pocket Dolly user, you will have a blast preforming pans and tilts as you dolly left and right. One of my favorite shots in television and film is when you focus on a subject, move the camera down dolly track and pan with the subject keeping it centered in the frame. It is possible to do this with the Vision Blue because of the perfect control you get. There is no sticking or slipping in this head and as you apply pressure, the move remains consistent all the way through the tilt or pan. The weight of the camera as it moves on the head is canceled out by the inner spring in the Vision head.

I have been using a Vinten Vision Blue prototype with my Canon 5dmk2 DSLR for about a month on various shoots. I am very impressed by the Vision Blue and I am happy Vinten is offering it at a lower price. I am also using a Petrol PCBP-1 hikers backpack to get the gear in and out of locations. For the first time, I used a magnifying eyepiece on my Canon 5dmk2 made by Letus called the Letus Hawk.

At the time of this blog review, the price at BH Photo and Video New York for just the Blue head is $697. The cost of the head and the 75mm tripod, floor or mid-level spreader and soft bag is $1199.95. This is much cheaper than the $2,300 I spent seven years ago on my Vision 3! And… I had to change my own springs inside the head when using different cameras!

I tested the head with very little weight, just a bare 5dmk2 with battery and small prime lens. The Vision Blue’s perfect balance knob was set to its lowest point and just managed to balance the less than one pound camera. The only way you could find a problem with this is if you had a camera that weighed half a pound. The Vision Blue would still work, but you would feel the spring push back a bit. Not a big deal, but this tripod system was not built for the iPhone!

The tilt friction control was a bit tough to roll into when I got up around seven, eight or nine. This is also a problem with other Vision heads I have used. You can still get up there, it just takes a little more force to roll the dial. This has never been a deal breaker for me and part of the internal design of the head.

It is not necessary to buy the legs if you already own a set. The Vinten Vision Blue head is the most important part. You could use any 75mm sticks made of aluminum or carbon fiber from another company. I really like the Manfrotto telescopic carbon tripod legs. You can find them by clicking here.

When I tested the Blue with a matte box, monitor, Letus Hawk viewfinder and larger lens, I had plenty of spring left to match the added weight. The head counterbalance system canceled out the change in center of gravity when tilted up and down. The force I applied to the pan bar was equal though out the tilting action and it was very smooth.

This is all a big deal because until now, there was no Vinten Vision range pan head that could handle a tiny camera and still have the perfect balance. This is the first time the internal spring works with you and does not fight back.

Post any questions you may have to the comment section of this blog.

This video is also available on Vimeo. Click Here to view it.

First of all, I must say I am exhausted. I have not slept for days. Every waking hour I think of shooting something in high speed. All of my attention has been directed at the Vision Research Phantom HD GOLD high speed digital cinema camera. If you read my blog, you are the type who would understand this “sickness”. And if you got your hands on this camera package and the assortment of expensive lenses I had access to this past weekend, you would fight sleep as well.

My good friends at Rule Boston Camera set me up with the Phantom. Rule is a TV/Film rental house located in Boston, Massachusetts. They have an extensive stock of gear and the people who work there are top notch and understand the business. I recently bought a $60,000 Sony F800 CineAlta camera package from them and I had an excellent experience throughout the purchasing process. In fact, Rule even gave me a loaner 17x Fujinon HD broadcast lens for my F800, for free, since my purchased lens was back ordered!

I have been shooting with Fastec Imaging HiSPEC2 720p high speed cameras for the past few weeks. I am working on a New England mountain biking film called “The Missing Link” with fellow downhiller Nick Keating.

The Fastec cameras I have been using are small metal boxes with a lens attached. Very compact and can take g-forces, so they are perfect for extreme sports coverage. However, the HiSPEC2 camera that I used had to be hooked up to a PC laptop at all times. You can read more about this by clicking here. These cameras are inexpensive to rent and work quite well. Check out the lacrosse commercial I shot mocking the real Paul Rabil Maverick spot shot by NFL Films camera guys on the Phantom HD GOLD. You can see my version here shot with the cheaper alternative Fastec camera.

After spending this past weekend with the Phantom, I was able to draw a few quick conclusions regarding image quality using the cheaper high speeds verses the ridiculously expensive Phantom. The Phantom excels in resolution, speed and stops of latitude between brights and darks. Dust kicked up in bright sunlight by a mountain biker has detail on the Phantom and blows out on the HiSPEC camera. Keep in mind the fact I was using a $60,000 lens with the Phantom and a $50 Nikon prime with the Fastec camera.

The Phantom does not need a laptop in the field. Very little time is needed to “render out” the high speed sequence on the Phantom. The HiSPECs need extra time between takes. The Phantom can be operated like an ENG broadcast television camera. Even off the shoulder! But I was able to shoot with the HiSPEC hand held with the computer as the viewfinder and got good results. One big surprise was the fact that the light sensitivity between the HiSPEC and Phantom was about the same. You need a lot of light to shoot high speed.

All that being said, I would still recommend the HiSPEC cameras to anyone on a budget. If you are shooting a Jaguar commercial use the Phantom. If you want a few sick shots for broadcast TV or the web perhaps the $500/day rental at Fastec Imaging is perfect for your 720p high speed needs.

Now lets talk Phantom HD GOLD and an insane assortment of expensive glass for the rest of this blog. Rule Boston Camera let me take almost anything I wanted, as long as it was not being rented for the weekend! You have a lot of reading to do, as I got a bunch of stuff to say. And the big payoff is the fact you can download a file at the bottom straight off the Phantom camera… 1050 frames per second in 1080p ProRes. Enjoy that!

I grabbed the Zeiss Super Speed prime lenses. This kit included the PL mount 18mm, 25mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm lenses all at f1.2 (or in film talk t1.3). These lenses were super fast, lightweight, had built in follow focus treads and a silky smooth focus barrel and iris ring.

I asked for a telephoto lens and Brian brought out a Nikon Nikkor 200mm t2. Beautiful lens with an aperture blade system that must have consisted of a hundred little blades. I had never seen anything like it. Plus the outer element was huge, allowing for a ton of light to get into the lens and onto the sensor.

I wanted a cine zoom lens. I had used the Angenieux Optimo 25mm-250mm t3.5 for a job with the Boston Celtics a couple years ago. The TV station rented the lens from Rule and I attached it to my Letus Extreme (PL Mount) attached to a Sony EX1. You can read more about that here. I knew Rule had the super sweet 17mm-80mm t2.2, but I figured it would be rented out or off limits. My buddy Mike at Rule, somehow secured it and I was good to go.

The Phantom HD GOLD included a color Sony HDVF-C30W viewfinder. When I bought my F800, I thought about this LCD color viewfinder for use with my new XDCAM. But, I had never used it before and worried that the LCD would not meet up to my picky standards. Plus the C30W costs over $11,000! So I decided to go with what I was use to on my F800, the Sony HDVF-20a black and white CRT version. We use these to cover broadcast sports everyday and they are tack sharp. Plus these high resolution b/w viewfinders cost just over $3,000. Who needs color in a viewfinder if you set up the camera properly in the first place!

I was pleasantly surprised at how sharp and vivid the color C30W was on the Phantom. I never liked the RED ONE LCD version. But the Sony was much better. It was easy to focus, clear to see and there was no trace lag in the LCD image when whipping around. I was very happy with it and had slight buyers remorse with the 20a version I bought.... but wait, I needed another eight grand to upgrade to color?!

The HDVF-C30W had a specially modified connector to plug into the Phantom. This connector stuck out quite a bit and was defiantly a possible point of failure if the camera's weight fell on the connector. In fact, on my first day of using the Phantom, the cable connector was intermittent. I should have found this problem while setting up the camera at Rule, but it worked at the time. During my shooting on location, I had to pull the connector on a slight angle to keep the viewfinder powered.

Another thing to remember is never point the viewfinder into the sun. CRTs can take more heat than LCDs. Just a few seconds of diopter magnified exposure to the sun and the LCD can be destroyed. Point those diopters DOWN!

The guys at Rule asked me if I needed a tripod and I said no. I wanted to use my Vinten Vision 10 AS. This tripod has served me quite well and I am a huge supporter of Vinten. But... this camera system with Optimo lens weighed in at nearly 60 pounds! The Vinten was rated for about 45 pounds. This extra 15 pounds of weight was a bit scary at times and I was unable to get perfect balance because I exceeded the payload rating of my tripod. I still came back with good stuff tho and made sure my assistant, Nick, was always standing next to the camera when mounted to the tripod.

Let me take a second to talk about the weight of this beast. I found it impossible and down right stupid to try to carry the Phantom by its handle with the heavy Optimo attached to the PL mount. I HAD to use two hands at all times. One hand on the bottom rods and the other on the top handle. This made carrying batteries and a tripod difficult, so strapping them to my back was the only answer when working solo. The waterfall footage in the video blog was shot by me alone at Profile Falls in New Hampshire. Not a long hike, but still a hike.

The Phantom is a power hungry camera system. It pulls nearly 75 watts of power. I tried to power it with my Anton Bauer charger and it did not have enough juice. I could have used Anton Bauer high current batteries, but I did not have them with me.

The camera did come with an a/c power supply, but I could not hike a generator with me into the mountains.

Rule sent me out with six car-like lead acid batteries. These bricks weighted in over ten pounds each and they had four pin XLR connectors on them. They were designed to power older film cameras. Each battery had two sides of power, so once one side died, I move over to the other side. I got about 30-40 minutes on each side. The biggest problem was the fact they had no gauge on them. I had no idea if the camera would die during a RAM to CineMag data transfer. When the battery died, you lose the buffer in the camera. If the buffer did not make it to the CineMag storage in time, you lost the take forever! Happened 5 times over the weekend and I cursed so loud the fifth time it occurred, birds few out of the trees above me to get away.

That leads me to storage. CineMags are the solid state devices that snap onto contacts on the top of the Phantom. These mags are filled with high speed transfer memory and I had two 256GB and one 128GB CineMag.

Let me explain how this camera records something in high speed. First of all, I have the camera set up to buffer the footage and take the clip post trigger. This means that when the Phantom is recording 1050 FPS at 1080p, I have a looping buffer of 4.1 seconds utilizing the internal RAM memory. This has nothing to do with the CineMag. The RAM is internal and built into the camera.

For example, I hit record filling the buffer, a mountain biker rips past me and just as he leaves the frame, I have my AC, Nick, push the remote trigger button. The recording loop stops and you get 4.1 seconds of time prior to the trigger. Get it? The data lives on the internal RAM memory. You do not want to lose power now or the RAM will be lost! Gotta get that footy over to the Mag.

Next, I look inside the viewfinder and set in and out points in the clip. I take only what I want because the 4.1 second is like 3 minutes of video at the 1050 frame rate. Finally, I save the clip to the CineMag. This happens so fast that it only takes seconds. The transfer rate of this memory and CineMag is crazy. Now the clip is on both the RAM and the CineMag. Once you set the camera back to record, the RAM clears out and you repeat the process for the next high speed event.

I need to mention here that one of the 256GB CineMags was not loading at times when snapped into place on the Phantom. I got a "Mag ERROR". I figured out the issue, dirty contacts. I used a cloth to wipe the large array of tiny metal pins and metal contacts on the mag and got the thing to scan and load.

All high speed cameras need cooling systems because the sensor heats up. The Phantom HD GOLD has an exhaust fan in the back that speeds up when the temperature rises. The camera also has a sick looking copper heat sink on both sides of the camera. Be careful with these, they can bend easily like the fine fins on the back of an air conditioner.

Since the camera and sensor heats up, you must black balance before every shot (or very often) to keep the black levels correct. They tend to get grainy and move towards purple when left alone. It is easy and fast to preform a black balance. Just cap the lens and execute it. The white balance seemed to hold well over time and even with battery changes.

The sensor in the Phantom is big. Not sure the dimensions, if you find them post a comment at bottom of page. A lot of amazing stuff has been shot with the Phantom sensor. Shark Week on Discovery Channel, Air Shark, BBC Planet Earth and LIFE, to name a few. Even Hollywood films are using this technology.

Looking for buttons? There are only two of them on the entire camera. Plus a knob that you can also push in to execute a command. You can adjust frame rates, ISO, resolution, trigger points, black/white balance, in and out clip points and a few other necessary procedures. You can defiantly control a lot using the simple four page menu inside the viewfinder, but to really get the camera dialed in, you hook it up to a PC laptop via gigabit ethernet. But like I said before, when in the field, you do not need to tether a computer to this high speed camera.

The workflow of this camera is tricky and I cannot really explain it in great detail on this blog because I do not totally understand it. But, I will tell you what I do know and how I am getting the footage into Final Cut Pro. Phantom does not offer free software like RED does for viewing RAW clips or accessing camera controls. Rule was unable to give me the Phantom programs for me to install on my own laptop, so they gave me a rental Mac Book Pro running Windows XP.

The CineMags hold files with the .cine extension. They are RAW Phantom files. I have never dealt with these files and do not plan on to at this point for my project. I have no way of editing them and cannot get the software easily. So I found a work around that will work with my mountain biking film and for the content in this video blog.

I take the HDSDI out of the back of the Phantom and feed it into an AJA KiPRO portable recording device. The KiPRO takes the 1080i HDSDI signal from the camera and transcodes it realtime to Apple ProRes 422 HQ. The KiPro has a built in hard drive where the files are stored. The biggest problem with doing this is the fact the camera only plays out a clip or MAG at a time! So I have to sit next to the camera and KiPro and manually play out each clip. Keep in mind I filled all three CineMags! This took forever and to make matters worse, I ran out of time and did this grueling work at 4am. I was hallucinating from lack of sleep and accidentally deleted part of my video blog on my SR11 camera at 5am. Story for another time...

I know I'm not editing with the master RAW .cine files, but the footage still looks amazing and the Apple ProRes 422 HQ codec is high bit rate. For the time being, the .cine files will sit on a hard drive at Rule for my future children to try to sort out and edit them!

In the video blog at the top of this page, I tried my best to show you how this camera works. I shot the demo in such a way that it would answer my own questions had I stumbled upon the video before I met Phantom. If you have further questions, please post them at the bottom of this page and I will try to answer them.

Also, be sure to download the high speed waterfall footage in 720p XDCAM HD 1080i for smooth playback. I am also including an Apple ProRes 422 HQ file straight off the camera. The picture of the green leaves above is a grab from the 1080p 1050 FPS footage I shot with the Phantom. This was the very first thing I ever shot using this camera system. Not very exciting, but great color and DOF. Plus, I cant post the best stuff til the film is done!

Here are a few behind the scenes videos shot on a blackberry on the slope style course at Highland Mountain Bike Park during the filming for “Missing Link”. Big thank you to my AC, Nick Keating, for using his BlackBerry to record these. Wish we could have used his 5dmk2 more, but we were both focused on carrying car batteries!

And here are a few screen grabs from the mountain biking footage shot at Attitash Mountain and Highland Bike Park. The film should be done next summer!

Big thanks to the guys at Rule Boston Camera, Mike Sutton, John Rule, Dave Kudrowitz, for giving me this chance to test out amazing gear. Also thank you Nick Keating (taking behind the scenes pictures and video) and Dave Hand for your help on location this weekend.

I have been testing out a HiSPEC2 camera from Fastec Imaging that shoots crazy fast frame rates at 720p 16:9. The camera is a small cube with a Nikon mount. It is powered by a 12 volt battery using an inverter and I must have a PC laptop tethered to it at all times to make it work. The PC controls all aspects of the camera, white balance, frame rate, and pulling down the large uncompressed .avi files from the camera’s internal memory.

If you are interested in renting these cameras, please visit Fastec Imaging. I do not have any information on pricing or availability.

I shot a quick test video and a video blog showing you how the camera works with the Sony VAIO laptop. You can watch it here.

I am using this camera to shoot a downhill mountain biking film. I took a few hours after an epic day on the hill to shoot a small brook in New Hampshire. I have always enjoyed shooting moving water at 60 frame per second using the Sony EX1. Now, with the Fastec Imaging camera, I can shoot many more frames and really get a close look at how the water in the river is acting.

I found that you get the “screen-door-effect” artifacting (in the blacks) when shooting in low light. I used mostly the Nikon 55mm f1.2, the fastest Nikon lens I own to capture these images. You need a lot of light when shooting high frames rates.

Keep in mind that this is a small brook. The resulting images make this place look like a raging torrent… maybe even class VI rapids! More high speed footage to come in future blogs.

This video is also available on Vimeo. Click Here to view it.

I have been given the opportunity to test out Kessler Crane products for review on my website. I am very excited about some of the new stuff Eric Kessler is designing in Indiana. The gear is well built, easy to use, and fills a void in both price range and tools for creating awesome camera movement. Please go to the Kessler Crane website for availability, pricing and kits. Some of this stuff is sold separately.

The Kessler Shuttle Pod is going to be released in the next few days. I had a prototype unit to play with and test over the summer. I am very impressed with the dolly system.

The Shuttle Pod is a “skateboard-like” dolly carriage that runs down the truss from the Kessler Crane. If you own the crane already, you have track. If you do not, Kessler will offer a scaled down bare-bones version of the track just for use with the Shuttle Pod. The system is much like a friction-free PVC skateboard dolly, but I found it to be much more versatile. But the best part is the fact you can hook up ElektraDRIVE motors to the Shuttle Pod and do some amazing things with the Oracle controller.

In the video at the bottom of this page, I explain what the Shuttle Pod is and how to set it up. I also go into great detail showing you how to set up the belt driven motor system. It is very simple to do and requires NO TOOLS in the field. I also show off some awesome video we shot using the system and a Canon 5dmk2 in Indiana.

Eric and I set up a sliding motion move in the Oracle controller and played it back multiple times. By resetting the carriage to the exact same start point on the truss, we were able to get perfectly repeatable complex dolly moves over and over. We were able to create a moving scene where I pop in and out of concrete pipes kinda like a “whack-a-mole”. We also used the Shuttle Pod to drag the camera up into a tree and later, capture some epic motion controlled astro-timelapses.

For more information on the Shuttle Pod and to order the system when it is released, please click on my affiliate banner below:

This video is also available on Vimeo. Click Here to view it.

I am having a lot of fun up in New Hampshire testing out a high speed camera. The camera is not very easy to shoot with, no viewfinder, very shallow depth of field and requires a lot of light. Plus, you must have a laptop connected to it at all times! But I love a good challenge so I am going to shoot a few things for my website.

My friend, Matt, at Fastec Imaging, is letting me play with one of the high speed cube cameras that were used on the Discovery television show “Time Warp“. I am not here to sell these cameras, just to share my first impressions shooting in the world of high frame rates. Also, everything looks so damn awesome in super slow motion!

I will be using the camera to shoot a short downhill mountain biking film this weekend. I will be working with a few talented riders knifing berms, dusting the track, ripping down rocky terrain and jumping full suspension mountain bikes. I have shot MTB films before, but never like this with hi speed capture. I am so stoked to have the opportunity to use this Fastec Imaging camera this weekend shooting a sport I love.

It will be tricky dragging a laptop computer up the hill and trying to figure out how to power all this stuff in the field, but that is what this test day was for! Thanks to Eric Kessler at Kessler Crane for the carbon fiber sticks and the battery system.

My buddy Dave, lives in New Hampshire and he is a big fan of lacrosse. He played in college and now his son Dylan is into the sport. I figured that capturing a single high speed lacrosse move from a few different angles would make for a nice test. I needed to see how shallow the DOF would be in different lighting conditions. I also wanted to make sure that my power system for the camera (using a battery and inverter) would provide enough juice for a full day on the mountain. Then, later in post, I needed to understand how to edit the content.

Dave and I started late in the afternoon talking about the four shots in the “lacrosse shot” sequence. We were running low on daylight! The shots we decided on were: a wide shot of Dave, tight shot of Dave, shot looking into the goal (over Dave’s shoulder) and a shot from behind the net (ball fired at camera). It took only one or two takes to get the first three shots. The final shot was tricky because it required a skill shot with great accuracy for Dave to hit a certain spot in the net. I setup on sticks behind the goal and made sure the lacrosse ball could not actually hit the cameras. I also made the crazy attempt to “rip” focus to follow the ball from the stick strings to the net strings. Very difficult to pull off in .25 seconds, but we got it after about 15 shots!

The Fastec Imaging camera did not have a model number, I will find out what it is later. I really don’t care, it looks like it was pieced together from spare parts! I only care what the little silver box can do. Also, I do not know the price of this system. Remember, I am just playing with this thing! Check out the Fastec Imaging website for more information.

I used all Nikon old lenses. The same lenses I used on the RED ONE and with my EX! and Letus Ultimate. They worked very well and the focal length matched up too.

Surprisingly, I really like this camera and the workflow. It was missing some important things, however. I must use the laptop for my viewfinder, I knew that going in. But the camera and the software (made by a third party) worked perfectly. Nothing crashed the entire test day. I was able to watch the 718 FPS footy before rendering to an uncompressed .AVI file in real time. The render time was less than thirty second when I chose to keep a shot. When editing, I just dragged the AVI files into Final Cut Pro and rendered them on the timeline as ProRes 422. Not a big deal.

Why 718 frames per second? Because that is the fastest frame rate this camera can shoot in 720p. It does shoot higher than 718 FPS, but the resolution drops off. I do not plan to test that out this weekend.

Check out this 720p downloadable .AVI file of the WD 40 fireball. Don’t try this at home!
Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.

A bit more info on the camera:

This camera body is all controlled by the laptop. White balance, Frame rate, record trigger, and shutter. The camera has built in RAM memory for the many frame capture. I do not know the buffer size, only that it runs about 13 seconds in a loop. You pull this 13 second “high speed event” data off the solid state internal memory to render it down to an AVI in the computer. Only PCs, no support for mac that I know of.

It does not shoot 2k or 3k or even 1080p. But 720p is enough for me. Remember, I work in broadcast tv. We deal with 720p content all the time. If the price is right to purchase a high speed camera at the 720p level, I think it would sell well. I wish I had the option to shoot up to 2000 FPS for special occasions tho. And maybe make the thing with a viewfinder!?

Fastec Imaging may have a refined version of this camera coming out in the future. I am going to try to blog about it if it becomes available. I don’t know about you, but I am sick of waiting for the RED SCARLET.

This video is also available on Vimeo. Click Here to view it.

Foolish I know, this blog war. It is a real waste of talent and resources. But it is fun and entertaining too.

I have been on the road with a bunch of Kessler gear and I have shot a ton of cool stuff in the Pacific Northwest. Exciting content like the Pacific coastline, the California Redwoods, a gorge covered in lush ferns, a short subject on a guy named Harvey who works with wood and I even spend the day shooting a Banana slug with a macro lens.

I will eventually edit those videos and post them to my site. But this trip has been half driving and half film making, so the edit time got put off. This was my vacation so I had to have a little fun too!

But, all my spare time has been spent defending myself from Philip Bloom. You know, the guy who put poison in my beverage during that Eric Kessler fishing trip in Key West Florida!?

So this is my move, my left hook back at Sir Philip. I decided to continue with the boating theme for this battle.

I spend the last few days with Paul and Marnie Reynolds, their kids… hey Garret… in Oregon white water rafting the McKenzie and Deschutes Rivers. These guys own a rafting outfitter company called Wild Water Adventures. If you are ever in Oregon and want to have a good time, look these guys up. They are fun to be in a raft with and have plenty of skill to keep you alive! At least anyone NOT with the name Philip Bloom.

Enjoy the video! I’m looking forward to Philip’s next move. He does not have a sense of humor, but I think he might find this entertaining. See you next Tuesday Philip, or at your Boston meetup, whichever comes first.

This video is also available on Vimeo. Click Here to view it.

Just a little side note, the audio in my interview was done inside the Canon 5dmk2 using the 1/8 inch microphone jack on the side of the DSLR. I did not use a separate sound recorder like the Zoom H4 and then link the video with audio in post.

People think the audio circuitry is useless in the 5dmk2, but I am not thinking it is so bad anymore.

I really like the Sony wireless system UWP-V1. Click on the BH video banner on the upper right of this page and search for the gear. It works very well with the 5Dmk2.

Paul and I used Fuji point/shoot and GoPro Hero HD cameras for the underwater footy.

Tomorrow and Tuesday I will be renting a Trek Session 88 Downhill Mt. Bike. Yes, I am at Whistler mountain in British Columbia Canada. I am meeting up with the guys at Faultline TV, a small BC based production company that shoots MTB films. Looking forward to riding the same trails that I have watched to pros pin in many bike movies.

Don’t expect me to be shooting any movies myself up here, I came to ride!

I have known an English fellow, Philip Bloom, for about two years. Lovely human being, but something is fishy. I can’t put my finger on exactly what it is, but I think Philip has declared war. You can read his blog here.

I am currently in beautiful northern California in a small town called Ft Bragg. The hotel I am staying at is cheap, but right on the Pacific Ocean. Fog, is in fact, rolling in right now as I type.

I am free to do whatever I want for the next 9 days up here. I am on vacation. I have my two Canon 5Dmk2 DSLRs with all my Canon “L” series glass. I have a Vinten Vision 3 tripod on carbon fiber legs. I also have my Kessler CineSlider.

I managed to pack an ElektraDRIVE motor and Oracle controller so that I can use the CineSlider to preform slow dolly moves and motion control action in timelapses.

JetBlue charged me $25 for the second bag and $75 for the third! Thinking about using UPS to ship the gear back to Massachusetts! Will be cheaper!

Tomorrow, I will be walking with the forest giants. The Red Woods. I have always wanted to see them and a National Geographic magazine a few months ago stoked me up to get out and do it! I can’t wrap my head around the fact the only 5% of the original old growth Red Wood forest remains today.

And, I managed to pack my downhill mountain bike helmet, pads and armor to shred A-Line on Whistler Mountain in Vancouver BC. For those of you who don’t know, Whistler is a mecca for downhillers and a dream ride for me.

But back to the pressing issue. Sir Philip Bloom. Phil tweeted out that he had posted a video “Revenge” blog to his site. I was wondering what I had done to deserve it? I’m the one who drank the poisoned beverage on the Kessler Fishing Trip! The beer was tampered with by Philip himself!

To make a long story short, here is a short video of me watching the first few minutes of Philip’s retaliation. War has been declared and this is just the beginning.

I personally think Mr. Bloom is upset that I own a “dot com” and he is stuck with the inferior “dot net”.

This video is also available on Vimeo. Click Here to view it.

I have been in beautiful, sunny Key West for two very short days. I am joining forces with Philip Bloom, Jon and Christina from Canonfilmmakers.com and Eric Kessler on a Kessler Crane sponsored meet up and equipment demonstration. We are also shooting short films from the colorful streets and people who call this small island home. Jon and Christina will be shooting behind the scenes short videos for Eric and Phil to be posted later.

Yesterday, Eric invited us all to fish five miles off the mainland in a chartered fishing boat called “Sea-Clusion”. We were greeted on the docks by Captain Chuck and first mate, Steven. They got all the bait and gear ready for us and we headed out into the deep blue sea to fish for Dolphin (not Flipper, but Mahi Mahi), a not-so-edible species of Tuna and the elusive Sailfish.

Eric was really excited to go and he wanted to land a Dolphin fish. I was stoked to shoot a video blog on the small boat in the 5 foot rollers and warm tropical air. Plus the thought of drinking Corona and hanging out with Philip Bloom only sweetened the deal.

But things went horribly wrong. We caught fish, that was not the problem. And nobody fell overboard. The issue was not entirely clear, at least the cause of the issue.

I got very sick. I was spending most of the second half of the fishing trip “hanging the food rope” over the side of the vessel. Captain Chuck said that the food bits or “chum” was good and attracted the fish. I was not so sure.

How I got sick was called into question. When I was editing the video blog footage today, I found inconclusive evidence that my Corona was tampered with by Mr. Philip Bloom. I cannot be sure, but I ran with the story anyway.

I assume that Phil was trying to get back at me for a video blog I posted a few years ago from his first ever “official meet up”. You can refresh your memory of that night by clicking here.

As for the video blog posted below, you decide for yourself. I almost never get sea sick. I have slept on a boat for three nights with very little issue. I worked on a large ship excavating a pirate ship off the coast of Cape Cod for Nat Geo with zero problems. How can this isolated incident be explained?

Sure, I had a concussion (from a nasty downhill Mt Biking crash) a few days ago that required an ER visit for XRAYs and a neck support. I cannot imagine how this could be related to the sea sickness and my hands and legs going numb on the boat in the rough seas. All joking aside, head injuries are not to be underestimated and I need to keep an eye on the recovery for sure. Just glad to be off that boat.

You can also view this video blog on Vimeo. Click here to see it!

If you are interested in a charter boat in Key West, check out Captain Chuck and ride “Sea-Clusion”. He is cool and has no problem if you puke off his stern. Click here for his webpage.

You can read Philip Bloom’s blog entry from the meet up yesterday at the Reach Resort by clicking here.

This video blog was sponsored by Kessler Crane:

ETHICS STATEMENT: I was given this system to test. I have used it on jobs and do not want to give it back. I hope Eric Kessler lets me keep this system or will sell it to me as used…haha! That being said, I feel it important to be honest and tell my readers this before you tackle the blog and watch the video. Eric is a friend of mine and after meeting him for the first time at NAB 2010 in Las Vegas, I respect him a lot for running a good business and making great products. I am very excited about this motion controlled system because it works very well and fills a gap in my production tool kit. I am a Kessler Affiliate, so if you decide to purchase this equipment, please click on the banners in the blog. I get a percentage of sales!

When I first started working with the Kessler CineSlider a few months ago (see full blog demo here), it changed the way I think about producing television. For the first time, a simple dolly move did not involve a large amount of hassle, people and time to set up. I am very impressed with the portability and durability of this Kessler product and the idea of using it runs through my head when chatting with a client about a project.

I have been working on an astro-time lapse project for the past six months. I have been using motorized telescope heads (removing the telescope) to move a camera very slow while time lapsing with ok success. The system was flawed and I had no idea what it would do. Sometimes it worked, and other times entire nights were wasted. I attempted to make a DIY motorized dolly but it kept breaking down. Just trying to get a camera to run down a dolly track during a time lapse very slow has been a big challenge for me. Until now…

I am very impressed with this motion controlled system. The time lapses I have been capturing with the Canon 5dmk2 (taking a picture every 5 seconds) are amazing. I feel that the price is very fair for this system (yea, I know I did not pay for it). It has good build quality, a ton of accessories, loads of menu options for simple and advanced control. It is modular and upgradeable. You can get different geared motors like the ElektraDRIVE 200 series. Faster and quieter! Yes, there are cheaper options out there, but once you use them and get hooked on motion controlled timelapsing, you will find yourself ordering this system. Plus this stuff has a lifetime guarantee!

Please order through the banner below if you are interested:

I posted a preview blog a few days ago and I offered a Apple ProRes 422 file for download. Please feel free to copy it to your computer and see how smooth the Kessler gear operates.

Take a look at the video blog I hosted, shot and edited myself. This kit is very portable and precise. Let me know what you think and please feel free to post any questions at the bottom of this page.

You can also watch this 23.5 minute video on Vimeo by clicking here.

UPDATE:

The bit I am using to mount the Manfrotto (Bogen) Magic Arm to the Kessler CineSlider is from the BH Video kit. The receiver stud can be removed off the little floor tripod that comes with the kit. This stud is not totally necessary since the built-in stud on the magic arm has a small 1/4 20 screw hole in the bottom. You can simply attach the magic arm directly to the CineSlider carriage.

you can find the magic arm kit (w/ floor tripod and receiver stud) here: Manfrotto 143 Kit