Z5U and Z7U 2 camera shoot

Shawn Lam · March 19th, 2009, 12:20 PM

I'm editing a figure skating show right now and thought I'd share some footage from one of the performances. The center camera is the Z5 and the ice level camera is the Z7. Even with fast moving skaters and quick pans the CMOS sensor holds-up and skew is not an issue.

Sunset Ice - 2009 Figure Skating on Vimeo

Steve Renouf · March 19th, 2009, 06:27 PM

Nice one Shawn. The cameras match well.

Paul Miley · March 20th, 2009, 08:56 AM

Lovely clip! Elegant, fluid, well paced and delivered - and the skaters were good too!

Cheers

Paul

Stelios Christofides · March 20th, 2009, 08:59 AM

Shawn, What white balance settings did you use? Also did you use auto focus?

Stelios

Shawn Lam · March 20th, 2009, 09:58 AM

Thanks for the feedback guys. Just goes to show you the value of a true fluid head tripod. I used a Vinten Vision 3 on the ice level camera and a Manfrotto 503 for the center ice camera.

I decided to leave the white balance to the indoor preset as from our positions and angles the manual balances were dialing-in differently. I think the overhead lights were those mercury ones that take a while to turn-on but we only had 3 of the 15 banks turned-on and then a pair of follow-spots to make the skaters pop.

Focus is manual, as always. I only ever used the Z7's auto focus once, by accident, and it was not able to keep-up or do an adequate job on the soccer game I was filming. The players were too small relative to the pitch so the camera was constantly jogging in and out of focus until I realized that someone had switched my lens to auto.

In order to keep the skaters in the depth of field area that is in focus I simply crash focus to the farthest spot on the ice from the camera. When they are closer I will naturally be wider than when they are farther away and with the wider shot my depth of field area increases. Even diagonally across an entire sheet of ice the skaters were in focus the entire time, regardless if they were at the farthest corner of the ice or right in front of the lens. The center camera was the same thing but less dramatic as it only had to cover 1/2 the distance and the ice was 15 feet from the camera position.

March 19th, 2009, 12:20 PM	#1
Shawn Lam Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Port Coquitlam, BC Posts: 28	Z5U and Z7U 2 camera shoot - figure skating I'm editing a figure skating show right now and thought I'd share some footage from one of the performances. The center camera is the Z5 and the ice level camera is the Z7. Even with fast moving skaters and quick pans the CMOS sensor holds-up and skew is not an issue. Sunset Ice - 2009 Figure Skating on Vimeo

March 20th, 2009, 08:59 AM	#4
Stelios Christofides Trustee Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Nicosia, CYPRUS Posts: 1,080	Shawn, What white balance settings did you use? Also did you use auto focus? Stelios __________________ My Blog: http://steliosc.blogspot.com "I hope for nothing, I fear nothing, I am free" Nikos Kazantzakis

March 19th, 2009, 06:27 PM	#2
Steve Renouf Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Jersey, GB Posts: 182	Nice one Shawn. The cameras match well.

March 20th, 2009, 08:56 AM	#3
Paul Miley New Boot Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Dorset UK Posts: 21	Lovely clip! Elegant, fluid, well paced and delivered - and the skaters were good too! Cheers Paul

March 20th, 2009, 09:58 AM	#5
Shawn Lam Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Port Coquitlam, BC Posts: 28	Thanks for the feedback guys. Just goes to show you the value of a true fluid head tripod. I used a Vinten Vision 3 on the ice level camera and a Manfrotto 503 for the center ice camera. I decided to leave the white balance to the indoor preset as from our positions and angles the manual balances were dialing-in differently. I think the overhead lights were those mercury ones that take a while to turn-on but we only had 3 of the 15 banks turned-on and then a pair of follow-spots to make the skaters pop. Focus is manual, as always. I only ever used the Z7's auto focus once, by accident, and it was not able to keep-up or do an adequate job on the soccer game I was filming. The players were too small relative to the pitch so the camera was constantly jogging in and out of focus until I realized that someone had switched my lens to auto. In order to keep the skaters in the depth of field area that is in focus I simply crash focus to the farthest spot on the ice from the camera. When they are closer I will naturally be wider than when they are farther away and with the wider shot my depth of field area increases. Even diagonally across an entire sheet of ice the skaters were in focus the entire time, regardless if they were at the farthest corner of the ice or right in front of the lens. The center camera was the same thing but less dramatic as it only had to cover 1/2 the distance and the ice was 15 feet from the camera position.