BSC Equipment Show

[Max Jacoby]

Just got back from the BSC Equipment Show. There's a few items that I hadn't seen on previously yet.

 

Cooke introduced the 300m T2.8 S4 lens. Close Focus is around 7 feet I remember.

 

Panavision had their 40-80mm T2.8 anamorphic zoom lens on display. They have 3 in London and they have been used on quite a few features already (among them 'Batman Begins', 'Miss Potter' and 'Inkheart'), but this is the first time that I got a look at it. The basis of this lens is a stills lens (they didn't know which one, maybe a 17-35mm Nikon, but that's just my guess) that they added a front anamorphic element to, making it a 'real' anamorphic lens, unlike all those other zooms that add an anamorphic element at the rear of a spherical zoom. Looking through the viewfinder I could see some distortion even at 80mm, but from my experience distortion is always less bad when you see it projected, compared to looking through the viewfinder, so I'll hold off my judgement until I see it on the big screen. I'd definitely like to test this lens, because it offers the possibility of combining a real anamorphic look with the ability to zoom during the shot, at the same stop (T4) that one shoots primes at. Also I was told that Panavision have some more front anamorphic zooms (that are not in the catalogue), but they are of older design, and basically one offs that are not used much. One is apparently 50-95mm, but they are not as fast as this one new one.

 

I finally learned the secret behind JDCs spherical X-Tal Express lenses: they are rehoused Russian Elite lenses where they changed the focal length ever so slightly (14.5mm, 17.5mm, 21mm, 27mm as opposed to 14mm, 18mm, 22mm, 28mm), with improved mechanics.

 

I was pleased to see that Arri Media already carry the Hawk V-plus anmorphic lenses. They also had the 15.5-45mm lightweight zoom on show, as well as the Ultra 16 lenses.

 

And finally Fuji introduced their new Eterna Vivid 160T stock, which has a bit more contrast than the rest of their line.

 

My favourite give-away was of course one of Kodak's 'Film Forever' pins.

[Guest Stephen Murphy]

Hi Max,

 

Was there any footage from the New Hawks projected? Id be particularly interested to see their flare characteristics.

 

So is the new Fuji stock as contrasty/saturated as reversal or just more so then the current crop i.e normal:(

[Max Jacoby]

Hi Stephen

 

There was no footage from the Hawks. But the V-plus are basically the same lens design as the Vs, except that there are several mechanical improvements. For instance there are three masks inside the lens now (at the front element, in front of the anamorphot, at the rear element) that cover the glass surfaces that are not used, reducing stray light and increasing contrast. Obviously such an approach is only possible with anmorphic lenses, where you only use one apect ratio, as opposed to spherical lenses that need to cover all eventualities.

 

The Fuji stock is not like reversal, it just has a bit more punch than all those flat stocks.

[Guest Stephen Murphy]

Did the V-plus series seem any lighter then the V series?

[Max Jacoby]

According to the brochure they are 20% lighter. But the size seems to be the same.

[John Holland]

Max i just got back from Elstree , wish i had met up with you , Fuji Eterna Vivid 58543/8643 has high colour saturation and a higher contrast than whats available at the moment . I have been offered some to test ,when its available end of this month . Also spent a long time with the Genesis, 1st time i have got my hands on one , i was impressed .

[Matthew Buick]

Ohhhh!!! :(

 

I would have loved to be there, sound like such a wonderful place of cinematography education.

 

Was David Watkin BSC there?

[John Holland]

No David Watkin wasnt there , but lots of other well known DPs.

[Max Jacoby]

Max i just got back from Elstree , wish i had met up with you , Fuji Eterna Vivid 58543/8643 has high colour saturation and a higher contrast than whats available at the moment . I have been offered some to test ,when its available end of this month . Also spent a long time with the Genesis, 1st time i have got my hands on one , i was impressed .

Hi John

 

Yeah too bad, unfortunately I was gone again by 2pm. Didn't see any famous Dops, but then again I got there early and I don't even know what these British Dops look like anyway.

[John Holland]

i got there after you had gone then . the famous DPs have their name pinned to them . :)

[Jon Kukla]

I know that Remi Adefarasin and Nic Knowland were there last year. IIRC, they came on the Saturday, though.

 

Matthew, if you really want to catch Watkin, you have far better odds at Camerimage. Watkin probably wouldn't be caught dead at an equipment show - it's not the kinda thing he's interested in.

[Max Jacoby]

i got there after you had gone then . the famous DPs have their name pinned to them . :)

Oh I hate those name tags! I always stuff mine into my pocket, makes me feel like I'm on display...

[Jon Kukla]

Remi was there again this year. All in all it was a nice show - saw a lot of old friends, played with some cool equipment, and just had a good time. I was most impressed with the 2-perf movement which Arri have finally released - Arri Media plans to have them available for the Arricams and the 235 within a few weeks. I thought I heard someone say the 435s as well, but the official press release doesn't include them. Well, now I don't need to worry if the Penelope will be released soon...

 

No Eterna Vivid stock or footage available yet - just a promise of test rolls available next month. As for the Hawks V Plus series - the 40mm is HUGE! Imagine a Master Prime and then think even bigger. I know it's anamorphic, but still... I think it's the width of the front element that really threw me. Also, Panavision reps were talking about how they had the feeling that the Genesis was likely to be supplanted by a new model within the next year or so.

[Max Jacoby]

As for the Hawks V Plus series - the 40mm is HUGE! Imagine a Master Prime and then think even bigger. I know it's anamorphic, but still... I think it's the width of the front element that really threw me.

Yeah, the 40mm is a beast, but it's the biggest of the wide-angle lenses. The 50mm is already much smaller.

[David Mullen ASC]

Yeah, the 40mm is a beast, but it's the biggest of the wide-angle lenses. The 50mm is already much smaller.

 

That's interesting because I think the 50mm Primo anamorphic is bigger than the 40mm.

[Max Jacoby]

Yeah, the 50mm Primo is over 7 kilos. The Hawk 40mm is still lighter than that.

[John Holland]

Shame you couldnt spend a bit more time there , i had a fantastic couple of hours talking with John Lee , as in Lee Lighting , but nothing to do with him anymore . The Lee brothers { Benny died a few years ago } at one time apart from the lighting company ,owned Panavision and Shepperton and Wembley Studios , he has had a stroke ,but you wouldnt really know , a fantastic bloke a real lover of film and still very inspiring . Still has a lighting company called Leelium , lighting balloons , before Airstar . Not to impressed with HD loves anamorphics , JDC his favorite , they are good mates. Anyway spent ages talking about David Watkin and the "Wendy " light which hey built for him and first used on the backlot at Elstree on " Hanover Steet " on the huge set . Back lot now a large Tesco . thats enough for now i think . :rolleyes:

[Peter Martin]

Yeah, the 50mm Primo is over 7 kilos. The Hawk 40mm is still lighter than that.

 

We have slightly modified the optical design of the new Hawk V-Plus 40mm/T2.2 lens compared to the V-Series 40mm in order to get the weight down. The weight has been reduced by nearly 1 kg to 5.5 kg. The image quality has been further optimized.

 

Details of the new Hawks will be available on our website by the end of this month.

 

Peter Martin

Lens Design - Hawk Anamorphic

Vantage Film

 

www.vantagefilm.com

[Chris Clarke]

I worked on the 2nd unit of Inkheart and was really impressed with the 40-80mm zoom. As Max says it really is a proper anamorphic lens. I believe they were built for Wally Pfister for the Batman film?

I got a chance to do quite a bit of focus pulling in the end and really liked the markings on that lens. It's pretty small for an anamorphic and allows the camera to balance very nicely. We even used it handheld on a couple of occasions.

At the end of the film we had two of them on our unit for some big scenes, we were very careful!

[Max Jacoby]

Chris

 

From what I've heard, it was initally called the Bailey lens, after John Bailey ASC for whom the lens was build. Not sure which film it was, but that was before Batman Begins. After that shoot they've build some more, but they are still quite rare.

 

What anamorphic primes did you shoot with and how did the zoom compare? And what were the stops you used mostly on interiors? Was there a minimum stop that Roger didn't want to go under?

 

If you're doing any more days on Inkheart, please say hi to Jenny Shircore.

[Matthew Buick]

Matthew, if you really want to catch Watkin, you have far better odds at Camerimage. Watkin probably wouldn't be caught dead at an equipment show - it's not the kinda thing he's interested in.

 

Oh yeah, I see your point, what a funny guy. Hates cinematography, but is one of the worlds best. :huh:

[Chris Clarke]

What anamorphic primes did you shoot with and how did the zoom compare? And what were the stops you used mostly on interiors? Was there a minimum stop that Roger didn't want to go under?

 

We were using the E series Auto Panatar primes. From memory we had the whole lot except the 85mm. On occasions we carried a 55mm Macro that I think was a C series. We also shared a 360mm with the main unit. I don't know what glass was in this but it looked like a rebodied stills lens with the anamorphic element on the back. Quite a badly marked lens, 10' - 20' is too close together considering that's where a lot of the action can take place on that lens. Maybe you know more about it?

 

On interiors we generally didn't go under T2.8. I do remember shooting inside a van at T2 1/2 a few times. I would say our average stop for interiors was a T2.8/4 split. Sadly I never got to see any rushes but from looking through, the zoom matched very well to the primes. Similar focus breathing (squish!). During downtime we had a play with maglites etc to see what sort of flares we could get and to be honest all the primes and the zoom behaved differently.

It might be of interest that we did a couple of shots on the 100mm at about 4'. You can eye focus that lens down to about 3'8" but it doesn't really bite. I'm sure it's there because you can focus through it but it never quite seems sharp. 5' is definitely where it starts working. Poor focus puller... Starting inside the minimum focus, handheld at 2.8!

 

It's been a while since I worked with anamorphic and really forgot what beautiful lenses these are! I think it's all their faults that create what we love about them.

Inkheart has wrapped now but next time I see Jenny I'll say hi!

[Max Jacoby]

It might be of interest that we did a couple of shots on the 100mm at about 4'. You can eye focus that lens down to about 3'8" but it doesn't really bite. I'm sure it's there because you can focus through it but it never quite seems sharp. 5' is definitely where it starts working.

The shorter E-Series (anything under 135mm) were designed with a close-focus of 5 feet. Over the years there have been some modifications, to make them focus closer, but since the lenses were never corrected during the designstages for these distances, the quality drops, as you've seen.

 

You can basically make any lens focus closer that it was initially meant for, but it always comes at a price. The best option is to use macro lenses, because they work better at these shorter distances, but obviously that's not always possible.

[David Mullen ASC]

The 5' minimum focus is one reason why I have avoided the E-Series lenses except above 100mm (for which there are no Primos anyway.) I read articles on "Last Action Hero" about Semler using diopter filters on E-series in order to shoot close-enough to the actors, which sounds like a nightmare for focus-pulling.

 

There is one C-series lens that only focuses to 7' -- I think it is the 180mm -- which screwed me on a short film. Ever since then, I always carefully check all the MOD on each lens.

[James Steven Beverly]

There is one C-series lens that only focuses to 7' -- I think it is the 180mm -- which screwed me on a short film. Ever since then, I always carefully check all the MOD on each lens.

 

What'd you end up doing to compensate?