Adam Howden

Hey, just wondering if this is still for sale?

For those of you that are interested. In September 2012 I was contacted by FJS International and Gregorgy Mirand of Lumatech. To cut a long story short I eventually received a full refund, though delayed by many months this chapter has finally come to an end. I agreed to removed my tests from Vimeo and let sleeping dogs lie. A small victory, but receiving my nearly $3.5K back was truly welcomed.

Thanks Dom, I totally agree with you. However I think given the costs of these lenses it's fair of me to expect them to perform to at least a certain level. Regarding the Ultra's yes I intend to, I'm sure I'll get many years of beautiful work out of them :-)

Thanks for your thoughts Don, I wouldn't describe my feelings as outraged but I was disappointed on quite a few levels. I literally begged and pleaded for a more reasonable outcome with both the broker (FJS) and the owner of Lumatech, I was willing to accept some collateral damage but not to the extent of which it cost me. To my knowledge there was no other set of these lenses in the country (Australia) and the only way that I could've tested them was to fly to the states, perhaps I should've. I completely understand that lens design is ultimately a set of compromises but honestly my my $400 Nikkor looked a lot better than the equivalent $6000 Illumina? If you've looked at the tests you would see that the softness and distortion is just as bad at 2' as it is at 6'. Personally I think my expectations and level of disappointment are warranted. Hence I returned the lenses and invested in a set of Ultra Primes.

I thought people might be interested in a recent negative experience I had with Lumatech and there Illumina S35 lenses. https://vimeo.com/36791058 Have a look at the vimeo link and a read of the information below... ----- This is a test of a set of Illumina S35s that I purchased early this year (2012). I ended up sending them back for a refund. But due to a re-stocking fee I received only 90%. And because I also cancelled my order of the 135mm I ended up loosing, with shipping close to $5000 Australian dollars. For me, the lenses didn't perform. The 18mm & 25mm show severe edge distortion and softening - too much to be considered in the same league as Arri, Zeiss or Cooke. Distortion that wouldn't smooth out until as far down as T5.6. Personally I don't see the point in having a T1.3 rated lens that doesn't perform until way past T4. This is in fact the 2nd test I shot, to try and rule out the possibility of a back focus issue with the first test, let me assure you there was no back focus issues. The Red & the Alexa were supplied by a national camera rental company with a long and respectful history of serving the Australian film industry, they checked the back focus for me knowing the test that I was about to perform. Also, the lenses taped out to where they were supposed to ie. 5'6" hit right on the lens mark. But the edges - well disappointing to say the least. It was a sorry outcome for a set of lenses that I'd hoped so much for, I really wanted them to perform but I felt the edge distortion unacceptable, the build quality was suspect and the illumination was patchy. I even had a lens tech at Panavision Australia look over the test and he said "I can see is that the centre is sharp and the edges are soft and there is a little distortion as well in your test. This is Field curvature, the inability of a lens to hold focus from centre to the edge of frame; distortion is the inability to reproduce image shapes accurately". He then added "When compared to the Zeiss I can see the Zeiss has much better Field flatness". The lenses were sent back to the broker and the manufacture for testing, they re-tested and claimed the lenses looked good? I was amazed that they could make these claims. I shot tests on 3 different cameras and even cross checked them with a Zeiss Superspeed MkIII just to make sure I wasn't going crazy - I wasn't. The Red One, The Alexa and even the poor old Sony F3 revealed the incredibly poor performance of these lenses. Ultimately I was pretty disappointed by the attitude of the owner of Lumatech, it was an expensive lesson for me to learn and unfortunately with a small amount like the amount I lost it's hard for me to justify the expense of a lawyer, although I've discussed the situation with several, but the costs are prohibitive. I would urge anyone thinking about these lenses to think again, I certainly won't be buying anything from Lumatech ever again.

Hi All, I've got to do a shoot with some UV light and UV Paint to complement a scene that already has some glowsticks and a small amount of ambience in it? I've already tested the UV light (400w) we have access to with my 7D, we will however be shooting on a Red One-MX. The quick test showed a little bit of glow but not overwhelmingly, it was just UV Paint on a white piece of paper, in the darkened corner of a warehouse? Am I missing anything? Thanks in advance for any input :-)

Hi All, I recently came across a company in China that is re-housing lenses for cine stuff. Here's a couple of links: http://www.pchood.com/film%20lens http://www.pchood.com/zoom%20film%20lens From what I can understand looks like they completely re-house or re-package at least the front section of the lens and then mark them with accurate focus markings using some Leica test equipment? Thanks, any thoughts?

Hey Jason, Thanks for your response, it's a tricky one when trying to make a stills camera into a movie camera. I think I've come up with a solution, which is mounting the follow focus upside down on a set of top rails when using the primes. I'm yet to try it but am thinking of running additional 15mm rails either off a cage or off the hot shoe some how. I'll give an update when I sort it :-)

Hi All, I've recently set up a Canon 7D kit with lots of additional bits and pieces. However I've run into a problem with the Genus Superior Follow Focus I bought, I'm using my Nikon primes (24mm, 35mm, 50mm) via and adapter and essentially I'm running out of room on the 15mm rails for both the follow focus and the Matte Box (Vocas Mb-255). My 80-200mm is obviously fine, as there's lots of room there. So I'm wondering if other people have run into a similar problems and how they solved it. Are there any decent follow focuses that have thinner profiles? P.S. I'm using a Zacuto Fast draw kit. Thanks for your thoughts :-)

Hey All, I'm doing a shoot on the phantom next week and need to work out my lighting package. It's a limited budget so I can't just ask them to bring a big truck and go for it. So I've specified some 12K (tungsten) Dino/Maxibrutes/Dinettes they're all similar as far as I can tell just called different things depending on who you speak to. 12 x 1K globes...Several 5K Tungsten's and down from there. Will also have some 4K HMI pars around - just incase). So I'm trying to find some specific figures in the foot candle department for these kinds of lights. Does anyone know what the output or type of these 1K globes, or the total of the 12K? Any help would be greatly appreciated :-)

Hey All, I'm doing a shoot on the phantom next week and need to work out my lighting package. It's a limited budget so I can't just ask them to bring a big truck and go for it. So I've specified some 12K (tungsten) Dino/Maxibrutes/Dinettes they're all similar as far as I can tell just called different things depending on who you speak to. 12 x 1K globes...Several 5K Tungsten's and down from there. Will also have some 4K HMI pars around - just incase). So I'm trying to find some specific figures in the foot candle department for these kinds of lights. Does anyone know what the output or type of these 1K globes, or the total of the 12K? Any help would be greatly appreciated :-)

Hi All, I've been shooting a lot on the 5D and 7D this year, mainly for web corporate interview stuff but am venturing out onto my first music video shoot with a 7D next week. It's a decent kit with a Zeiss MkII, Matte Box, Filters Etc Usually for a shoot like this I'd go with the Red and have been trying to get one with the new Mysterium MX sensor but to no avail unfortunately. So hence the 7D option. So it's obviously for a TV finish at at least 720p as we'll be doing a fair bit of 50 frames stuff. Should I be worried about this camera for a TV finish? House, Califonication etc have been using it so maybe my worries are a little unnecessary...? But I'd love to get some feedback on people's thoughts regarding any traps that I might find myself in regarding ISO settings (noise) rolling shutter and what not... We will be doing some day exterior into late dusk, I'm planing on using a high ISO setting here like 640 or 1250 - is the base noise level of the 7D the same as the 5D ie multiples of 160iso? Will also be doing, interior night stuff and some interior coffin stuff. Finally any additional advice would be appreciated :-) Thanks in advance! Adam Howden Cinematographer E - info@adamhowden.com

JB! Yes am good thanks, keeping busy with a fair bit of corporate work. But have like 3 shorts and a music video on the go so keeping well. Have been checking out Lowdown the last couple of weeks, good work dude, great show too! Thanks for your thoughts on the Blue Screen thing, am looking forward to seeing those Super Blue's in action. So really I should be spot metering the blue screen if thats the case and setting it like half to one stop under key? Cheers, AH :-)

Hi All, I'm shooting a job on Tuesday with a Red Camera and a blue screen. I'm aware of the Red Camera insensitivity to blue light when used with tungsten fixtures. So knowing this I'm wondering wether it might be worth doing a couple of things like adding a 80C or 80D filter on the lens just to help it along a bit and possibly compensating by adding a 1/4 or 1/8 CTO on the key lights for the subject. I also have access to some Super Blue Kino's for the 20x20' Blue Screen which might mean I'm worrying about nothing. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! :-)

Ole, Great to hear from someone down south. How much 5222 do you have? I would be interested in purchasing some? Thanks let me know :-) P.S. I'm in Sydney... Sincerely, Adam Howden Director of Photography M +61 (0)415 947 360 E - info@adamhowden.com W - http://adamhowden.com/

Hi Hal, Mate, THANKYOU sooo much for getting in touch with Doug Hart (1st AC on Hannah & Her Sisters). It is truly amazing for me as a young cinematographer (32) to get information like this - sooo very helpful. Not only helpful but yet another fantastic example of the nurturing professional attitude of great cinematographers and camera department people. I can't thank you enough and can hopefully return the favor one day! Sincerely, Adam Howden Director of Photography M +61 (0)415 947 360 E - info@adamhowden.com W - http://adamhowden.com/

Howdy all, I'm shooting a short set in Italy in the early 70s. Although it's not strictly a black & white period. We want to shoot B & W, I often use Kodak Tri-X for my art stills and love it. You can only buy Kodak Double-X in boxes of 5 rolls and I want to get a hold of a pretty fresh short end roll to shoot a couple of tests on. Process normal as well as a push 1 stop etc Does anyone know where I can purchase a short end of around 250'... Any help would be greatly appreciated! :-) P.S. I need Super 16mm stock!

Thanks Hal, I managed to track this down today and think it's pretty much what we're after. It was great to be able to show the director to get him on the same page, he's pretty keen for it now, so thanks Hal. Any other ones anyone can think of? Adam :-) P.S. Thanks Adam Frisch, yes I think you are a bit negative...

The first thing you need to do is go to China as this is where the best China-men hats are... Secondly, you need to go to Mercury, this is where the best Mercury Vapour is... Finally you need some Vapour, maybe from you bung hole? Ha Ha Ha Ha, see ya this morning buddy, I'm sure Nicky Two-Tone is gonna ROCK!!! Ads :-)

Hi All, I'm looking at shooting a scene with 3 people talking. Actually 2 girls chatting and putting make up on a main character. I'd like to cover it on a circular track and do a series of close ups. The director and I are just a little foggy on co-ordinating action to the camera moves or wether we just roll up going from one person to the other and see what we get, then work it out in the editing room? So we'd like to try and find some good examples of where this kind of thing has been used. Dinner parties or board room type scenes... Can any one out there think of any...? Many thanks in advance! Adam Howden www.adamhowden.com

Hi Dom, The Grade was done at Digital Pictures, in Melbourne, Australia.

Hi All, I just finished my first TVC shoot on super 16mm, it was a three day shoot with 4-5 TVC cut from the footage. I was of course wraped to get the opurtunity to shoot it. Whilst some of it looks great other parts don't look that great - I'm sure I'm just looking at it through from an overly self critical perspective but was just wondering if anyone had some advice on it. I was uable to attend the final grade and essentially it looks the same as the one light with a bit of the saturation pulled out of it. Personally I feel like the final grade is really safe overall. But there are a couple of shots where the light was dropping quite quickle outside and I had to keep dropping the light inside to keep up with it. This was of course all happening at a pretty radip rate near the end of the day, essentially the interior looks lit, I personally think that with a bit of tweaking, like bringing the mids down etc the shots would be fine. Whats the protocol on this, it goes out to tape tomorrow and I'm not sure if I should say anything to the producer? Any thoughts, Sincerely, Adam Howden. Melb, Australia.

Hi All, I just finished my first TVC shoot on super 16mm, it was a three day shoot with 4-5 TVC cut from the footage. I was of course wraped to get the opurtunity to shoot it. Whilst some of it looks great other parts don't look that great - I'm sure I'm just looking at it through from an overly self critical perspective but was just wondering if anyone had some advice on it. I was uable to attend the final grade and essentially it looks the same as the one light with a bit of the saturation pulled out of it. Personally I feel like the final grade is really safe overall. But there are a couple of shots where the light was dropping quite quickle outside and I had to keep dropping the light inside to keep up with it. This was of course all happening at a pretty radip rate near the end of the day, essentially the interior looks lit, I personally think that with a bit of tweaking, like bringing the mids down etc the shots would be fine. Whats the protocol on this, it goes out to tape tomorrow and I'm not sure if I should say anything to the producer? Any thoughts, Sincerely, Adam Howden. Melb, Australia.