Ospreys at sunrise

[Ofer Levy]

Hi all,

Here is a short clip a got a few days ago. This is not a short film so no need to comment about the story etc. Used my Sony PMW EX3, captured to Flash XDR, with the following Nikon lenses mounted on the EX3 via Mike Tapa's adaptors: Nikon 200-400 f4 G VR, Nikon 600 ED f5.6 and Nikon 800 ED f8 (both good old manual focus lenses).
Resizing and uploading the clip on the website really hurts the quality which is very high in the original. Please note that the signal was captured to CF cards of the Flash XDR at 4:2:2 colour space and 100 Mb/s as opposed to the native 4:2:0 and max 35Mb/s the EX3 is capable of. The difference in quality is quite dramatic.
A major issue I got when shooting from such distances (60-100 meters) is the haze. I realise there are a few factors determining the occurrence and magnitude of this phenomena. Some days it is so bad that I can't get any decent footage and in others I see very little of it.
Would appreciate input from people with some experience in long telephoto video work regarding this phenomena.

The clip can be found in here: Video Gallery

Thanks,
Ofer Levy Photography

[Jonathan Ramsey]

Hey buddy - those are beautiful shots! Nicely done. Did you have a wind blind set-up or something? With an 800mm -- effective, what, 4000+mm!! How did you avoid wind shake?

What I most love is the parallel forms of the bird and the dead-standing tree. The tree looks like an osprey with its head on the left and its wings lifted up as they do when they are drying them. You can REALLY see that in the very first frame when the right-most bird is landing and is frozen in that formation. I love that stuff!

- Ramsey

[Jonathan Ramsey]

As to the haze, I know what you mean -- I have that problem and, often, heat wave problems. And with Osprey it'll be worse because they are so often near water. As the temp of the air increases (i.e., the sun comes up), water molecules are "lifted" up and will increase the haze factor. Of course, depending on where you are shooting, air pollution can be a factor. You are also inadvertently exacerbating the problem because you are shooting at such high resolution, as your post aptly describes. So you are going to recognize that haze far more readily in 4:2:2 100mb/sec. I even noticed this back in SD days when shooting 4:2:2 vs 4:2:0. Now it's even worse.

Have you tried shooting with a red filter as used in B&W photography? Not sure but isn't there a theory out there that this helps mitigate haze? Could be wrong -- just now having my coffee. The question would be, is what causes the haze effect evident most prominently in a particular part(s) of the spectrum. And, if so, which filters in production (or, potentially in post) would minimize those wavelengths?

If you like that trajectory... any ideas where to get the answers?

Ramsey

[Ofer Levy]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Ramsey

As to the haze, I know what you mean -- I have that problem and, often, heat wave problems. And with Osprey it'll be worse because they are so often near water. As the temp of the air increases (i.e., the sun comes up), water molecules are "lifted" up and will increase the haze factor. Of course, depending on where you are shooting, air pollution can be a factor. You are also inadvertently exacerbating the problem because you are shooting at such high resolution, as your post aptly describes. So you are going to recognize that haze far more readily in 4:2:2 100mb/sec. I even noticed this back in SD days when shooting 4:2:2 vs 4:2:0. Now it's even worse.

Have you tried shooting with a red filter as used in B&W photography? Not sure but isn't there a theory out there that this helps mitigate haze? Could be wrong -- just now having my coffee. The question would be, is what causes the haze effect evident most prominently in a particular part(s) of the spectrum. And, if so, which filters in production (or, potentially in post) would minimize those wavelengths?

If you like that trajectory... any ideas where to get the answers?

Ramsey

Thanks Jonathan! The haze issue looks to me as quite complicated with a few factors involved. I have done a lot of shooting of Grebes over water from about 30 meters and never saw any haze problem - even in hot days. I am still learning this matter - hopefully will have some more ideas soon.
Cheers,
Ofer

[Ofer Levy]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Ramsey

Hey buddy - those are beautiful shots! Nicely done. Did you have a wind blind set-up or something? With an 800mm -- effective, what, 4000+mm!! How did you avoid wind shake?

What I most love is the parallel forms of the bird and the dead-standing tree. The tree looks like an osprey with its head on the left and its wings lifted up as they do when they are drying them. You can REALLY see that in the very first frame when the right-most bird is landing and is frozen in that formation. I love that stuff!

- Ramsey

Yes, I have to use a hide in order to avoid the wind shacke as even the slightest breeze will cause severe vibration with such long effective focal length.
Cheers,
Ofer