Steve Parker

If anyone's thinking of attending the BL&VF exhibition at London's Earl's Court later this week, you may be interested in the three lunchtime sessions I'm hosting for Showreel magazine. All three are going to be filmed for our internet TV station. The three sessions (all running from 12.15-1.30) are: Wednesday (30 Jan) ? Reel Show Question Time. Non-partian audience participation panel discussion on camera gear and issues in cinematography. Thursday (31 Jan) ? Reel Show Question Time Stereoscopy Special. As above, but covering 3D movie making. Friday (1 Feb) ? Reel Time. Live recording of our magazine show, with test and user reviews of the Red camera, Grass Valley Infinity, Sony EX, a look at the use of the MK-V AR steadicam on Dark Country, 3D on a budget, as well as discussions on other areas of film and TV production. For the first two sessions, we'll be taking questions from the floor, but if anyone is going to be there and wants to email me with a question in advance, please feel free to do so (steve@showreel.org) Our stand is B5, and as well as the magazines, we'll also have a 3D rig there and a Red camera for some of the time, although times for that haven't yet been confirmed. All the best Steve Parker Editor, Showreel

In response to "what's wrong with the lens on the camera?" ? nothing if you want to shoot wedding videos, or even news and fly-on-the-wall stuff. If you want to do high-end drama or anything where you might want a film-out, you'd be advised to look at one of the cine adaptors. Most HDV camera lenses breathe quite heavily, the 1/3in chip means you are limited to wide DoF shots, and the optical quality could be bettered. There are a number of different models available. In the March/April of Showreel, we looked at the P+S Technik Mini35, the Red Rock Micro M2, the Cinemek (Guerilla 35) and the Movietube from South London Filters. We used them variously with the Sony Z1, JVC HD100, Canon XL H1 and the Panasonic HVX200. The tests were carried out by DPs Taylor Wigton and Rodney Charters (24's DP) on the set of 24 during the shooting of season five. The test (parts one and two of a three-parter, the third looking at post issues with HD/HDV) are currently on our website, with part one free to read (part two is available to subscribers only until all our magazine and site subscribers have had chance to read it). However, if there are any specific questions, I'll ask Taylor if he might address some of them here. Steve Parker Editor, Showreel magazine steve@showreel.org articles at: www.showreel.org/memberarea