Doug Jensen's Sony PXW-FS7 Master Class

[Bruce S. Yarock]

Doug,
The only other camera of that style which I own is the nx5u ( which you reccomended a couple of years ago).
I have a corporate event on the 22 and 23, where I'll be 45 feet back. Unless they're ok with a wide shot, I'll probably use the nx5.
On the 25, 26 and half of the 27th, we'll be shooting a pilot for a ocean cruise comedian show, and will use a couple of fs7's exclusively. But saturday night , we'll be shooting the actual show, and the main camera on each performer (one at a time) will be 30 feet from the stage. So I'll probably rent
1-Extender for the Canon 70-200, and
2-The Sony lens I mentioned with an Alpha to emount adapter.
3-Bring nx5
Actually , I'll probably bring both 1 and 2 to the corporate shoot also, and decide during rehearsal.
I know what you mean about one camera no longer being used for everything.
Bruce Yarock

[Olof Ekbergh]

I agree with Doug on this one. I would use a cam like the EX1 or EX3 or even a ⅔" cam with ENG lens for this type of shoot.

The large DOF makes it easy to manually focus in the changing scene. I often make mental Q-spots on stage or wherever I am shooting something like this and use my 15 cent follow focus to help nail the focus points (a Zip tie around a manual focus lens like the EXcams in full manual mode, and either a mental memory of the angle of the "post" or even a card behind it with marks) super easy for one person to run the camera and nail focus.

Even the Canon 70-200 f 2.8 is not parfocal so you can't use follow focus marks to nail focus.

AF can easily ruin a shot. With manual focus you are in charge, of course you can then only blame yourself for blowing focus. But blaming a blown shot on camera screwing up AF is a pretty lame excuse.

[Bruce S. Yarock]

Thanks Olaf,
Due to budget restraints, I'll have to use my nx5u, which has a deeper dof, zooms farther, and is easier to manually focus.
Bruce Yarock

[Svein Rune Skilnand]

Hi Doug.
May I ask what brand of lenses you are referring too? I have been looking at the same focal lengths and as far as I am aware Tokina is offering 11-16 and 50-150 mm

The Red 300 mm is interesting but I am currently using a Canon C300 with EF so guessing that would not work well. Actually not work at all.

Tokina

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

Jim, I agree with everything you've said.

I would start by deciding what focal lengths I needed and at what ranges where I want the focal lengths to overlap. That's very important in order to avoid constantly having to change lenses. Then I would eliminate everything that didn't have a constant maximum aperture of at least f/2.8 or maybe f/4 for longer lenses. And then I would decide what mount I wanted. And finally I would choose the best lenses I could afford that fit all the other criteria.

I can live with the following four lenses as my workhorses for 90% of everything I shoot:

11-16
15-45
50-150
300

[Doug Jensen]

Here are the lenses that I was referring to that get me through most of my shooting, but there are many other options out there that would work:

11-16mm Duclos f/2.8 PL
15.5-45mm Zeiss LWZ f/2.6 PL
50-150mm RED f/2.8 PL
300mm RED f/2.9 PL

--

I also currently own:

35mm Sony f/2.0 PL
50mm Sony f/2.0 PL
85mm Sony f/2.0 PL

25mm Schneider Cine-Xenar f/2.0 PL
35mm Schneider Cine-Xenar f/2.0 PL
50mm Schneider Cine-Xenar f/2.0 PL
75mm Schneider Cine-Xenar f/2.0 PL
95mm Schneider Cine-Xenar f/2.0 PL

17-35mm Nikon f/2.8
35-70mm Nikon f/2.8
80-200mm Nikon f/2.8
300mm Nikon f/4

55mm Konica macro f/1.8
28mm Konica f/1.8 (my favorite lens on the A7s)
40mm Konica f/1.8
70-150mm Konica macro f/3.5
(Konica to e-mount adapter for use on my A7s and FS7 only)

18-105mm Sony f/4 e-mount
20mm Sony f/4 e-mount

11mm Canon fisheye f/2.8
200mm Canon f/2.8

And it looks like I'll be adding a Canon 200-400 f/4 with built-in 1.4x extender by the end of the month.

Plenty of lenses!

[Brian Mills]

Message for Doug:

I am coming up on 6 months since I bought this training, and I am so sad to see it go!

This class is invaluable, but I hate that its a rental and not a purchase.

I learned so much from it, and I still refer back to it from time to time for clarification on a setting.

Is there any way to get an extention to access this material on Vimeo after we have paid $80 for it?

[Doug Jensen]

Hi Brian,

I'm glad that you liked the video series, and I did price it as a rental to keep the cost down. I think that for most people this method has worked very well -- and Vimeo only allows one pricing option. If it was possible to offer two options -- 6-months or 1-year at different price poitns -- I would have done it.

Unfortunately, as it stands now, I have no control over the ordering process or giving extensions -- that is all in the hands of Vimeo. I don't get any customer information, order details, or anything else, nor is there any interface for me to control anything at all regarding orders. All I get is a cookie cutter notice when someone places an order that doesn't even have the customer name.

BTW, if someone feels they need a long-term resource beyond six months I recommend they get the FS7 field guide book instead of the streaming. It is very convenient to carry in a camera bag and I use it all the time myself.

Doug Jensen's Sony PXW-FS7 Field Guide Book

[James R. Wilson Sr.]

I'll echo Doug's suggestion, the FS/7 Field Guide is a perfect companion to the on line intensive course. I refer to my guide all the time and the phraseology is identical. The book has the added advantage of not needing to be plugged in, online, within wifi, it's 100% reliable "old school" analog and I like that about it.

I get the initial push back on the 6 month rental, but that course anywhere else would have cost hundreds, and it's worth that and more, so signing up for another six months is still a good deal for what you get.

[Jeroen Wolf]

Really looking forward to Doug's training videos on the FS5 ;-)

Any chance they're gonna be out before the camera ships, Doug?

That way I'd get to enjoy and know the camera before it's actually in my hands...

[James R. Wilson Sr.]

Well Doug, seems the new Sony would be a perfect fit in my equipment list for those tight air to air shoots where the rigged out FS/7 is a little unwieldy. A cursory look tells me that if you are familiar with the 7, the 5 wouldn't be much of a transition.

Hope you are having a great time on your road trip!

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Jeroen Wolf

Really looking forward to Doug's training videos on the FS5 ;-)
Any chance they're gonna be out before the camera ships, Doug?

Sorry, due to my schedule and the amount of time it takes working with the camera, I don't expect my training video to be ready until January. Also, I can't use pre-production cameras because there are often too many last minute changes by Sony -- sometimes based on my own feedback. I can go ahead and get familiar with a prototype and making preliminary notes, but the real production of the video cannot start until the final cameras are shipping. Thanks for asking!

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by James R. Wilson Sr.

Well Doug, seems the new Sony would be a perfect fit in my equipment list for those tight air to air shoots where the rigged out FS/7 is a little unwieldy. A cursory look tells me that if you are familiar with the 7, the 5 wouldn't be much of a transition.

Hope you are having a great time on your road trip!

I agree, the FS5 would be perfect for the tight confines of air-to-air.

My annual road trip shooting 4K wildlife and national parks stock footage is going great. Glacier, Roosevelt, Yellowstone, and now Grand Teton. My only complaint is the skies are too blue and boring, and the weather is way too warm for this time of year. But nevertheless, I'm getting good footage and, more importantly, enjoying do it. I may reverse direction and head back to Yellowstone if the weather cools off or we get some cloudy skies.

[Peter Walsh]

[QUOTE=Doug Jensen;1886157]I With Universal-1 you get the benefits of S-LOG's dynamic range and highlight handling, but the grade is a lot closer to finished right out of the camera.

I too shoot with you Universal-1 scene file after taking your online class. It's working great for me. I still enjoy the rush I get when I put on a LUT and see how amazing and different the pictures can look from LUT to LUT.

Recently, three friends / colleagues of mine have purchased FS7s and are shooting with Cine EI mode. I mentioned that I took your course and shoot Custom with gamma S-Log3. They asked me what the difference is between that and CineEi mode and other than the fixed iso and many setting/controls turned off, I didn't know.

What ARE the major differences picture wise, and is anything gained with Cine EI over Custom with Slog3 gamma?

Thanks so much for sharing you knowledge online.

[James R. Wilson Sr.]

That's a great question Peter. I'm sure Doug has solid reasons for preferring Cine EI, but , even with all of Doug's help, I switched to Custom a few days ago just because I wanted to see something nice come from all the money I have invested. I realize that it's my inexperience, not the FS/7, but my post processing skills are just not up to Cine EI yet it seems. Shot some beautiful Custom clips this week, so I'm feeling a little better.

Where is Universal 1? Can you point me in that direction?

[Doug Jensen]

Jim pretty much answered the question for me already.

If you want to record the the cleanest, least adulterated signal possible (without shooting RAW) then Cine EI with S-LOG is the best choice. This gives you maximum flexibility in post and you don't have to worry about any settings except exposure and one of three white balance presets when you are shooting. Everything else is locked down and fool proof. But the trade off is that it takes more time in to process the footage in post, you need to use a dedicated program such as DaVinci Resolve to grade the footage (not an NLE), and you better have the skills in Resolve to make the footage come to life.

The Custom Mode is best if you want to shoot WYSIWYG video that will require hardly any, or maybe even none at all, processing in post. Hopefully the video will be ready to use right out of the camera. And if some adjustments are necessary (such as when using my Universal-1 scene file) they are simple enough that they can be done in your NLE. With custom mode you also get full white balance control, noise reduction, and better access to the camera's exposure monitoring tools -- so grading can be skipped or greatly simplified. But the trade off is that you better be shooting with a good solid Scene File that already comes 90% of the way to providing a finished look in the camera because that look will be much harder to change in post than if you shot Cine EI.

So the bottom line is that if you already know how you want your finished video to look, choose Custom and use a Scene File. But if you want maximum flexibility in post and have good grading skills, monitors, and time on your hands -- then Cine EI might be best choice.

Two very valid but different ways of working with the FS7, F5, and F55. But most cameras from other manufacturers simply don't have the processing horsepower to have a Custom option. With Custom, the camera is basically tgrading the footage on the fly as it is recorded. But other brands of cameras cannot do that, so those cameras have to be used with neutral settings and then the footage graded in post. Sony gives you both options!