Those shots look amazing Phil. I notice you got hold of your wide adapter - how do you find it? My supplier still says he's waiting - I'll have to start chasing that up.

Paul.

Phil you are the winner........of the silly hat competition! ;)

Great pics there. I see you have the Sony wide angle adapter. Where did you get it from? I need one asap.

Was it a pain to be tethered to the sound man in such tight circumstances? Was there a reason he didn't record sound seperately? Cost? Post prod?

That is the coolest hat ever!!

Recorded sound in camera due to costs etc...no problems at all. Chris was very good. I didn't know he was there and we ran down trenches a lot!

Looking good there!

Fantastic as ever Phil: What gamma settings are you using now? I was just reading that the most latitude for post is got with Cine2 and always thought the opposite.

thanks! cine 1 i think, but i need to check. I use bill ravens settings.

Phil, that wide angle. Where did you get it?
Cheers
Steve

Mitcorp in Brentford

Thanks I will give them a call.

Steve you beat me to the Silly Hat comment. I like both the hats, especially the "helmet".

Great shots.

Thanks I will give them a call.


They're not in stock. I pre-ordered mine from Mitcorp in January and had an email last week to say they were expecting it the first week in March (when I'm away in Vegas - doh!)

they had some in beginning of last week, not many though.

Man, I like that Zacuto mount. Wish I could afford one.
Thanx for the reference.

honestly didnt think it would work but it did and very well too!

Their setup was based upon using an external monitor at the front, with the camera right on your shoulder making the lcd too close to use. I moved things around to what you see and it was perfect. Could have done with a focus puller or remote focus on the arm

Damn !! I wish i could get on a shoot like that,i'd work like a dog for no money.

Phil- Whose focus gear clamp are you using? Got some interesting footage with Letus from Prague. I will post next week when I get back. Working off a tripod is a pain, need to accessorize the Zacutto to a hand held set up.

still use the redrock gears and follow focus. works great. just need another hand when holding that rig, thats why i removed the follow focus and just used the gears.

personally I LOVE the tripod. How was Prague?

Phill, great picture as usual.

I saw you have a Marshall LCD.
Which model is it ?
how do you feed it, componant or SDI ?
I'm looking for one like this but SDI onces are far more expensives. Maybe the componant onces are almost same quality for a 7/8" ?

I ever worked with pricy LCD, like the BTLH-900 from pana or Astro Oscillos... have no experience with cheep models :)

it's the component one. Need an sdi one. Need a true HD one. The Clarion looks like my next purchase. One guy makes them. they look great

Focus puller? Someone needs to make a servo-drive with a control trigger on the left hand. I think Redrock was working on something like that. Just more weight for a motor, tho'.

Phil- Prague was / is wonderful heading back real soon, spent a week in the hotel, shooting a meeting and interviews with the Zylight.

Today for myself with the Letus outside. Running around like a madman trying to shoot stuff for the blog. There was just so much to see and do and plently of tourist from all over!

Tripod and hand held a love hate relationship, "having a extra hand priceless!"
The battle stuff looked great!

Phil,the cheap shoulder mount on your blog,i've got the same one,does work well.Best of all,i got mine on ebay,£18 plus £14 p&p.It came from china and got here in about 3 days.The translated instructions had me in stitches.
So if anyone else wants a stupidly cheap shoulder support that works well,get on ebay,it's well worth 32 quid.

@Paul,
thanks for the tip. I´ve been searching Ebay for the cheap shoulder mount but I cant find it. What do I have to search for? Do you have the name of the seller? How is it called and what brand is it?

@ Philip Bloom: Superb footage - thanks for sharing! Your work is very inspiring and I bought my EX1 because of all the stuff you posted.
I hope to get used to it soon as I never worked with a camera that small before.

regards,
Gerald

I bought one last week. There is one left and others listed.
http://photography.search.ebay.com/camera-shoulder-mount_Other-Camcorder-Items_W0QQbsZSearchQQcatrefZC6QQdfspZ32QQfclZ3QQfposZQ5AIPQ2fPostalQQfromZR2QQfsooZ2QQfsopZ32QQftrtZ 1QQftrvZ1QQsabfmtsZ1QQsacatZ23780QQsadisZ200QQsaobfmtsZinsifQQsargnZQ2d1QQsaslcZ2QQsbrftogZ1QQsofocu sZbs

Gerald, go to ebay and search for "Pro Shoulder Support Pad"
The vendor is in China. It should give you two to three different vendors.

oh man, that place is seeing a huge peak on their sales at the moment :)

Sami

Yes. I just bought one. $49.95 including shipping.

That little thing looks pretty cool for 19.95.

Have any of you guys tried just using a monopod? I have disliked the shoulder supports because they limit your mobility which is what I prize when handheld.

I've been using a monopod with a cheap manfrotto tilt head on the top that gets tucked into fanny pack on my waist for years now and I love it. The weight is well distributed and I've run for long periods of time with an HVX and a marshall mounted on the HVX. The tilt head is neccessary for flexibility

Nice thing is you can adjust the length easily. It has complete flexibility if you want to be low or even extremely high overhead. You can tilt at an angle (hard with a shoulder support) or do a little boom up with ease. I can drop it to carry at my knee level with no problem and it still helps to stabilize. I can put it down on a table or any surface and either rest or or shoot from there with no hassle. And I can carry it around while I'm working.

For long interviews you can drop it to the ground and triangulate with the weight off you.

I use a giotto quick release and then have the same on on my tripod so I can switch easily.

Nice thing is you can adapt it also to use with a 2/3" size camera also and it will still help considerably.

Cost - about $150 with the quick release. This has saved my back dozens of times.

(just posted this on your blog as well Phil.)

Lenny Levy

Phil,

It looks like the battle footage was all shot using only available light, and given the cloud cover, it doesn't look like there would have been much.

Were you challenged in getting such beautiful footage in those conditions?

Yes Gerald,as the others have pointed out,it's on ebay,i've just looked again myself,on ebay .co.uk and .com.
Just type in "shoulder support" in the search bar.

Paul.

thanks gentlemen! I just ordered this shoulder support.

regards,
Gerald

The edit is up on my blog. It's just a fun edit. NOT the finished short film, that is being cut by the director and will be about 7 minutes long. This is just a 2 minute fun tease!

better version now up with nicer sound and a couple of changed shots. 720p version to follow

Another new version up with better grading. I do think the adaptor and non adaptor footage match quite well.

Available in letus section as well as blog.

Much better colour correction Phil. I didn't like the sky blue in that silloette scene before as the blue was too rich. Now you have toned it down dramatically it looks much more realistic. Less is always more.

Leanard, I also use a monopod and swear by the Manfrotto 561B. Its got a quick release Manfrotto tilt head head and is made for Camcorders.

It has three pull out feet at the bottom and a gimbal down there for tilts. Very smooth, takes the weight and gets completely rid of camera shake.

I own the cheapo shoulder brace and it works fine and is great value. But if you are fairly stationary, but want to move quickly from one spot to another without filming on the move, this beats the shoulder brace by a distance.

http://www.dvcreators.net/?s=561B

I second that. The Manfrotto 561B has become my favourite support to use with the EX1 (I also have this cheap Chineese thing, and the PAG Orbitor).

Oh, and Phil: marvellous job, as usual :)

I think I'm using the same monopod but i don't have the one with the little feet at the bottom. Always wondered about that option - maybe mine is a 560?

I tried about 10 shoulder mounts at NAB 2 years ago and hated all of them because they limited my mobility. Then I was on a long handheld doc and another cameraman turned me on to to a simple monopod. The tilt head is what made it work though, I didn't like it without a tilt head.

Steve I didn't quite get what you use the cheap shoulder brace for. I'm wondering if it would be worth it for me. I don't mind walking with the monopod braced in my fanny pack.

I think I'm using the same monopod but i don't have the one with the little feet at the bottom. Always wondered about that option - maybe mine is a 560?

I tried about 10 shoulder mounts at NAB 2 years ago and hated all of them because they limited my mobility. Then I was on a long handheld doc and another cameraman turned me on to to a simple monopod. The tilt head is what made it work though, I didn't like it without a tilt head.

Steve I didn't quite get what you use the cheap shoulder brace for. I'm wondering if it would be worth it for me. I don't mind walking with the monopod braced in my fanny pack.

the cheap shoulder brace takes the weight of the ex1 letting you operate it at the correct height for prolonged periods of time and is very light. you can even let go

Phil, you didn't answer one question :

was it shot with ambiant light only ?

my question :

Did you changed something on the explosion shot ? Did you changed the shutter speed so it is charper ?
Do you like this "action effect" ?
Did you try to get it with normal settings ?

and one more for the road :-)
Are the slow motion 720p@60fps ?

Phil, you didn't answer one question :

was it shot with ambiant light only ?

my question :

Did you changed something on the explosion shot ? Did you changed the shutter speed so it is charper ?
Do you like this "action effect" ?
Did you try to get it with normal settings ?

and one more for the road :-)
Are the slow motion 720p@60fps ?

Yes all available light!

All the clean EX1 stuff was shot with 1/250 shutter in. Including the explosions. Yes, it's the look I love and suggested to the director for the action shots and no we didn't shoot with shutter off just in case and we had limited explosives.

All slow motion 720p @ 60fps although some slowed down to 50% using twixtor on top of that!

Phil,i know thw slow motion was shot in 720p,what about the rest ?
Was that 720p/50p also ?
Thanks.

no it was shot 1080p 25

Phil thanks.
Whenever i shoot in 25p,(1080 or 720) shutter off the picture doesn't look smooth when i pan,not like yours. Any advice ? I use vegas pro 8.
Thank,Paul.

Phil thanks.
Whenever i shoot in 25p,(1080 or 720) shutter off the picture doesn't look smooth when i pan,not like yours. Any advice ? I use vegas pro 8.
Thank,Paul.

Maybe you should not shoot shutter off, but shutter 1/50 (if 25p) or 1/60 (if 30p).

Phill, do you really like the look of a 1/2xx shutter speed ? It's getting borring to have all action movies having this "so clear and stobbing" look.

Whatever, I will shoot a fight next week and have a try with a high shutter speed, but I don't like it... maybe a 1/100 would be a good compromise...

Do as Sebastien says!

And yes, I wouldn't shoot it like that if I didn't like.

many thanks for the precision Phil.

I just tried 1080/25p with every shutter speed,none of them look as smooth as 1080i or 720/50p.
That's just the raw files played back in clip browser and mxf files played in VLC player.

I don't have problems with it. But yes it will never be as smooth compared to interlace or 50p

Thanks Phil.
Was begining to think something maybe wrong with my cam.

it's the downside of 25p/24p etc...Next time you go to the flicks watch a pan and see how crap it looks!

I've already noticed the pans at the cinema,wish i never looked cos now i can't stop looking !
It's like the EX1 720/50p is toooo smooth !

Paul.