Tom Lowe

Seeing The New World in the theater was probably the most magical experience I've had in a theater since I was a little kid watching Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back. The opening moments of The New World:

It's great to see all the love for Malick here. Indeed, Tree of Life and Voyage of Time have the potential to change cinema. It would not even be humanly possible to be more excited about a forthcoming film than I am about these from Malick.

I shot this around 8AM this morning, just straight, with some direct sunlight. Had I shot it about 20 minutes earlier, it would have been a little better. This was the result. It's a screengrab from the 1080p file from the 5D Mark II. Probably around 100mm f/6. Obviously the sensor is FF35mm. What do you guys think? The left side of his face is a little hot, from the sun.

John, the rumor is that Iron Man, for example, has 5D2 with new firmware that allows 24p shooting. Perhaps some other upgrades as well. Certainly this would provide Canon with some serious bragging rights if it all works out.

The 5D2 was not used on Slumdog. It wasn't even out yet. I believe they used a 1D Mark III, for some undercranked shots. The only reason to use the 5D2 on Iron Man or Potter would be for extreme low-light shots. The 5D2 has remarkable ISO/ASA sensitivity. With super-fast lenses, you can practically shoot in the dark. Or maybe if they needed tiny cams for cramped angles in a car or something.

Damn! No ducks? There goes my dual-use purchase... Anyhow, I set up a test this morning in the early coastal fog, and that actually looked very nice. There is always a marine layer here until about 10am, so I think I will shoot the interview straight, in the morning, with no grip or anything. The huge FF35 sensor on the 5d2 really makes the subject stand out beautifully against his well-gardened backyard. :lol:

If sheets are too thick, what type of shower curtain to get for a silk? I found a way to rig the thing.

I guess what I need is a frame or some way to hold up the shower curtain or sheet. I have no c-stands or anything like that. Any ideas? thanks for all the quick help, guys!

Yeah, not really possible, because then we'd be looking at his house, not his lovely backyard of flowers and fountains. :)

The trouble is, this is a last-min request by the producers and I have no grip gear like silks. The sun will be front-lighting the guy, so I don't think bounces will work. Plus I have no grip gear to even hold the bounce board! The sun will basically be behind the camera. I was going to put him under the umbrella so he's not sitting directly in the harsh light. This is my first time shooting this type of outdoor interview, so I'm kind of clueless about it.

I need to shoot a sit-down interview with a guy in his backyard. The yard has a huge hill right behind it, with fountains and flowers, which will be the backdrop. I don't have any grip gear, but there is a large umbrella I can sit the guy under. This means that the hill is going to be much hotter than the man. What kind of cheap, simple light and bulb can I pick up from Home Depot or Walmart to shine on the guy at close proximity to light him? What color temp? This will be at 4pm in the afternoon. I'm shooting on the 5D Mark II.

Sigma Nikon G 50-500 on the 5D2, with a lever-actuated manual iris ring control.

Lol, Shatner. :lol: The torch has been passed to a new generation. It's time to move on. But it was awesome to see Nimoy do the handoff.

BTW, I recently received my 16-9.net Nikon G>EOS adapter. Nice little gadget. I got the lever-controlled one, so I don't have to twist the lens. I tried it out on a Nikon-version Sigma 50-500 (basically a G lens), and the results are very nice! The "throw" on the iris lever is short but as along as you're not trying to ride iris in the middle of a shot, it's fine. I'm still praying that a firmware update will fix the 24p issue. And although I know it's very unlikely, anything Canon could do to fix the moire issues and other artifacting caused by line skipping would be incredibly helpful.

What about the big pictures, though, like Transformers?

For most major blocksbusters like Terminator 4 or Transformers 2, etc, would the effects typically be done at 2K or 4K. Just generally speaking, I am asking? I thought they usually did effects at 4k?

IMO, they would be incredibly foolish to post and finish at 2K with no 4K FX and master 4K.

David, where is your Star Trek review? :lol:

Wait a minute! They only did a 2K DI?? You've got to be kidding me. Why on earth would they bottleneck a brand-new, huge-budget picture like this at 2K? Does this have anything to do with FX? To me, this is madness. They should be future-proofing a movie like this at 4K, IMO.

I thought, visually, that the film took a few cues from Revenge of the Sith. Which is a good thing. Revenge of the Sith is a visually stunning film.

Good movie. I enjoyed it. I read no spoilers before seeing it, so there was one casting surprise for me -- a very happy one! Okay, so now that the gang is all introduced, let's get some new movies from this franchise with big ideas and grand, epic plots and adventures.

I'm heading out tonight to see it! Very excited, because there are so few good sci-fi flicks that ever get made. I'm not a Star Trek fan, but I'm really looking forward to this. May the Force be wi... oh wait. Never mind.

Sorry, I meant Canon not Sony. Won't let me edit it now.

The sad part for Sony is, either way, they come out looking bad. If they purposefully and nefariously left 24p out because of some business conspiracy, then they suck at pleasing the customer. But if they are so clueless that they did not expect a FF35 camera that shoots 1080p with top-of-the-line still lenses at ISO 3200 for $2700 to be popular with filmmakers, they must be living on Mars, or just so utterly clueless that it's a massive embarrassment to their entire company and management team.

Like what? Which lines do they need to protect? If Canon made a 2K or 3K RAW S35 or FF35 cinema camera at prosumer prices, they would sell like hotcakes and blow nearly everyone else (including Sony) out of the water. I think some new cameras will be announced before next year's NAB that will compete with RED's offerings. These companies might not have had their stuff ready for NAB this year, but they simply cannot afford to wait another 12 full months. Jim Jannard will eat their lunches, and heads will roll at Sony, Panasonic, and Canon's corporate headquarters.