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.

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

I am working on a mountain biking film shot mostly in New Hampshire using high speed cameras. I was inspired by the guys at “Life Cycles” and their artistic style they bring to biking films. I have been granted the opportunity to use Fastec Imaging HiSpec high speed cameras and a Phantom HD GOLD to capture New England riding for an upcoming film called, “The Missing Link”.

Nick Keating and I are currently in production on this film shooting at Highland Mountain Biking Park in Northfield, New Hampshire. I am also shooting at Attitash Mountain in Bartlett, New Hampshire. We are working with local riders on this project and hope to have it completed early 2011.

More information to come, but check out the trailer at the top of this page. Special thanks to Dave Hand and family for giving me a place to sleep at night while shooting in the mountains! Big thanks to Matt at Fastec Imaging, Eric at Kessler Crane and Mike at Rule Boston Camera for equipment support. Also, thank you “Spunky” for your voice on the trailer.

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 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.

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 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.

UPDATED 2/26/10: Red ONE RAW R3D Footage now ready for download at the bottom of the page.

I have been talking about buying a camera for months. I am selling a house to buy it. A $65,000 investment.

I have been looking at the Sony PDW-F800 and was nearly certain that would be the right choice for me. It is a broadcast camera and I work in broadcast television. So it is an easy decision? Right??

But then I shot with the RED. Everything changed. The RED camera is unlike anything I have ever used. Two of the most amazing things I learned about the RED is that the sensor is 5000 degrees kelvin and the ISO is 320. To adjust the ISO and COLOR TEMP you are simply changing metadata. These corrections can be done on location, for proper looking visuals or done in post with enormous freedom. The only thing you must be aware of is clipping the whites. Once you clip a white, no metadata adjustment in the world will save your detail in post. In fact, the RED camera laughs at you because the white clip is a ghostly green in the blown out area!

I rented a Nikon RED mount for this camera so i could use my old Nikon manual glass. The mount was very tight and worked very well, but if I do this right, I will buy RED lenses with PL mounts. I will not use any old Nikons.

I also learned that you must set the viewfinder to REDSPACE so that you can see the ISO change on the screen. I was shooting in RAW viewfinder mode very confused for the entire first day. Nothing changed in my screen when I added ISO! But, thanks to Twitter, I got the help I needed.

The color is amazing. I love color grading and you could spend months just grading a single shot. Plus, this camera works very well in low light with great detail.

Then there is high speed shooting. I was so excited to shoot “overcrank” 60p on my PMW-EX1 when I first got it. But the resolution was just 720p and 60 FPS was not enough frames for me. A phantom is too expensive, but the RED ONE shoots 2k at 120 FPS, still not enough for me but much better.

Over the last few days, I have figured out this camera to be comfortable with it. I had to return it to my friend two days ago. I already miss it. I shot non-stop for three days without stopping to eat and with minimal sleep. Since using it, I have already landed a paid gig with a major production company shooting stuff at 120 frames per second 2k! I have clients asking me to run the RED before I even own it. So, second week of March, I will rent a RED for the gig because I am not quite ready to be a RED user (isn’t that a website?).

I am very lucky to be in a position to be able to afford a camera and a very expensive kit of cine lenses at this stage of my life. I knew it would happen eventually, because television is my life, but I never thought I would buy into digital cinema. But as we all know, with the explosion of shallow depth of field HD SLRs converging into broadcast television, there is a place for this type of camera system in my craft.

I am buying a RED because it will put me on a path to creative television. No more shooting sports from a fixed location, with limited responsibilities. Commercials, promos, live events, documentaries, natural history, experimental work are all possible with a RED camera.

This RED can lead to the MX sensor, allowing me to shoot up to 250 FPS. Then the RED path will take me to EPIC and all of its offspring (scarlet).

The only problem is getting the RED to fit my ergonomic obsession for perfection. The thing is a pig. Plus, I only see a few more solid years with a strong back, so it is now or never. It may be a pain shooting with the rig, but when you sit down in post and work with the raw R3D files, it all makes sense.

Take a look at this video blog I shot on the first day really using the camera. I have no idea how to operate the camera properly, but the more hours I put into it, the more easy it becomes. The key is to take notes on settings and look at them in post with a keen eye for improvement.

Also on Vimeo here: http://www.vimeo.com/9568996

This video was de-saturated because I was shooting in RAW viewing mode and unaware that I was clipping video information. I hated the “green clip” on the white snow. I was not using a matte box and will do so in the future to help control this. Plus now I look at the histogram! Oh, and I need a follow focus and an AC.

I am currently working on a skateboarding short titled, “Boston Skate” to be edited shortly. This past weekend, I used the RED, Sony PMW-EX1/Letus Ultimate and Canon 5dmk2 to shoot a quick documentary about five Boston Skaters. Stay tuned for that.

Here are a few shots from REDCINE-X (free download click here) to show you how much you can grade RED ONE RAW R3D files. Again, I am stunned that ISO and color temperature are metadata and can be manipulated freely in post.

RAW RED R3D FILE DOWNLOADS
These files are straight off the RED hard drive as recorded by the RED ONE camera. All I did was change the name of the file. These are native RAW files at RC36.

Wide panning shot of frozen lake at sunset (8 seconds each, 16mm f2.8 fisheye Nikon Nikkor manual film lens used in all clips):
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I was unable to get the camera to record 4k 16:9 29.97fps for some unknown reason. When I tried, the camera showed “media too slow” errors on the viewfinder. All other RED ONE camera recording resolutions at 29.97 fps are covered above. Sorry this stuff is not very exciting, but explore the amazing color, image size and sharpness of RED RAW video files. Please download REDCINE-X (early beta) from the RED website to view these files and change the metadata grade.

Wide panning shot at Boston University’s Agganis Arena (5 seconds each, 16mm f2.8 Nikon manual fisheye lens used for all clips):
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720p download of video blog for better viewing…
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A lot of cameras can shoot “time lapse”, but few can shoot “time warp”. That is what the Discovery Channel people like to call it when using digital technology to slow down a high speed event and make the invisible, visible.

I purchased a small Casio point and shoot camera to replace my beat up Panasonic Lumix camera. The $228 DMC-ZS3 Lumix is an awesome camera, and I will continue to use it, but it is tricky to frame and dial in the menu since i dropped it out of a window by mistake. The camera still works, but the four story fall to the ground below cracked the LCD.

I was very close to buying an exact replacement when a new camera caught my eye, the Casio EX FC150. The Casio took 10 MP stills, shot 720p video (.AVI files not AVCHD) and it was about the same size. But what really caught my eye was the fact that the “Exilim” FC150 was able to shoot high speed video.

If you would like to buy the $350 Casio EX FC150 High Speed Camera, Please go here:

CASIO EX FC150

I get a percent of the sale since I am a BH Photo and Video Affiliate!

FROM BH WEBSITE:

The Casio EXILIM EX-FC150 Digital Camera utilizes a high speed 10.1 megapixel CMOS sensor to capture quality photos and video. Automated Best-Shot and Face Detection technology keep all of your subjects looking their very best. Even fast action subjects are easy to capture with the EX-FC150. With a continuous shooting rate of up to 40 frames per second, you’ll never miss the moments that matter.

In addition to being a fantastic stills camera, the EX-FC150 captures breath-taking HD and SD Video! With capture rates up to 1000 frames per second, dramatic recording effects are at your finger tips. Additional features include a sharp 5x optical zoom lens, powerful Sensor-Shift Image Stabilization, and 85.9 megabytes of internal memory.

With the Casio EXILIM EX-FC150 Digital Camera, creating quality photos and video is as easy as point and click.

10.1 Megapixel Imaging
The high-speed CMOS sensor of the EX-FC150 captures images at 10.1 megapixels for high-resolution photo printing. Quality imaging and fine detail are retained in beautiful prints up to 20 x 30″ in size.

5x Optical Zoom Lens
The high quality 5x optical zoom lens has a focal range equivalent of 37-185mm, providing excellent performance for everything from wide angle landscapes to portraits of friends. For distant subjects, a 4x Digital Zoom brings the cameras total zoom power to 20x.

Sensor-Shift Image Stabilization + High ISO 3200
The EX-FC150 incorporates a CMOS shift anti-shake mechanism that makes it possible to capture beautiful, blur-free images, even when shooting at maximum zoom. High ISO Sensitivity (up to 3200) provides flash-free photography under poor lighting conditions.

Advanced Face Detection Technology
Casio’s latest Face Detection Technology keeps every face in focus. Even in low light or backlit situations you can expect consistent sharpness and rapid response autofocus.

40 Frames Per Second Continuous Shooting
From the first kick-off to the winning touchdown, children at play to birds in flight, you’ll never miss any of the action with the EX-FC150’s incredible Hi-Speed Burst Mode. With a capture rate of up to 40 frames per second, you’re sure to capture the perfect moment every time.

Serial Picture Recording
High-speed Anti-shake mode uses serial picture recording to combine multiple frames into one optimized photograph. High-speed Night-time mode utilizes this process for quality low-light photography.

2.7″ Super Clear LCD
Framing your photos couldn’t be easier than with the EX-FC150’s bright, crisp 2.7″ LCD. Warm, accurate colors and a wide viewing angle make the screen easy to use, even under bright sunlight.

HD Video Recording
The Casio EXILIM EX-FC150 records amazing 720p High Definition Video. With super fast frame rates, action subjects are captured in smooth, seamless motion at the highest quality possible.

YouTube Capture Mode
Sharing your videos on YouTube is easier than ever before. Record your video content in YouTube Capture Mode and upload with Casio’s YouTube Uploader software. Shoot. Upload. Share. It’s just that easy.

I knew that the Casio EX F1 Camera was able to record at high frame rates, and I was not impressed. The F1 could shoot Hi-Speed video at 300FPS at 512×384. The video resolution was horrible. The F1 did shoot nice 720 60p video (from what I saw on the internet), but the high speed feature was quite lacking.

The new FC150 is able to shoot high speed at 480 resolution, that is a first. But do not go any higher than 240 FPS, the quality is terrible after that. What is the point of shooting 1000 frames per second if the picture is the size of a thumb tack? You could never re-size a piece of video shot 224×64 into a 720p time line!

But, as I read the specs on the new little Casio camera, I was surprised the see that it is able to record at 120 frames per second in 640×480 resolution. It would be possible to scale this footy to 720p with out the image degrading to the point of distraction. The camera also takes digital stills and has other features that I will not be testing in this blog. I will only be talking about the high speed video feature on the camera.

The EX FC150 point and shoot is able to shoot in the following resolutions:

30 frames per second in 1280×720
120 frames per second in 640×480
240 frames per second in 448×336
420 frames per second in 224×168
1000 frames per second in 224×64

You must all understand that this camera cripples the resolution of the CMOS sensor when shooting in high speed. The reason for this is processing power, memory space and price tag. If this little camera could shoot 1000 frames per second at HD resolution, it would max out a 2GB card in a matter of seconds and it would cost a lot more than $350!

I found that shooting at 120FPS was quite impressive. It is basically standard definition 480p 4:3 video. I set Final Cut to scale the videos 300 percent to work on my 720p timeline. The 240FPS videos had to be scaled to about 360 percent to fit the window. You do see quite a bit of artifacting when scaling this much. You will see it in the video blog below. But this camera is cheap and lets you shoot at high frames rates. No other camera lets you do this except a Red One or a Phantom and both of those are quite expensive.

The FC150 also has a great little in-camera video editing feature. If you record a lot of extra stuff before or after the “high speed event” takes place, you can trim the in and out point of the file. This way, you can save space on your memory card and not have extra useless video date inside the camera.

The lens on the Casio FC150 was not as wide as the lens on the Panasonic ZS3. The Casio has a 6.4mm lens and the Panny has a ultra wide 4.1mm lens. This is a big deal, because I really like shooting with a wide angle using my little point-and-shoots as “life-documenting cameras”. Often times, I point the camera back at myself to shoot video blogs or other adventures.

A few other differences between the cameras is the default video picture profiles. The Lumix is very contrast heavy with deep blacks and bring colors while the Casio is very flat. This flat feature allows you to color grade in post much more easily with the Casio. But the Lumix has a better picture in low light and in auto mode. The Casio seems to struggle with focus and the manual mode is a bit fiddly. I tried to shoot mostly in manual mode, setting the ISO to 100 and shutter to 30, but the Casio camera was still drifting a bit. I will need more time with the camera to figure it all out for sure. There are ways to adjust sharpness, contrast and saturation inside the Casio, but I have not tested that yet.

The sound on the two camera (internal mic only) is about the same and quite good when about 2-3 feet away from the sound source. They both record onto SD cards, but the format that the Casio camera uses is .AVI files for video. The Lumix used h.264 AVCHD files which always crashed my Final Cut Pro if not transcoded to Apple pro res. The .AVI files do need to render, but they work much better nativity on the time line (I can scrub in preview).

A great use for this high speed pocket camera would be to bring it along to a RED ONE or Phantom site survey. You can learn real quick if a certain lighting source will flicker at high frame rates.

Take a look at the video blog below. I have only had this camera for a few days and I have been busy working. I shot this real quick before I headed into Boston to cover a Bruins game. Thanks to all the guys I work with for helping me shoot high speed stuff on my lunch break. Please download the sample files at the bottom of the page and test them out with your computer. If you have any specific questions, please comment below the video.

Please download these original .AVI files taken directly off the Casio EX FC150 memory card and uploaded to the server. Have fun with them and see how they work with your NLE. You can also watch this video on Vimeo by clicking here.

Below is some footage from a locked down shot of the goalie at the 2010 Beanpot Hockey Championships. All shot at 240 frames per second at the Boston Garden.

RAW FILE DOWNLOADS

720p 30 Frames Per Second
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640×480 120 Frames Per Second
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448×336 240 Frames Per Second
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224×168 420 Frames Per Second
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224×64 1000 Frames Per Second
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3648×2736 Still Image
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More Downloads:
1280×720 @30FPS (MP4 H.264) version of video blog posted on this blog. TRT: 9min 34sec, 208.4 MB
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