David Carstens

You may want to research a periscope attachment to help you with both macro focus and low framing. The only source I'm familiar with is Innovision Optics http://www.innovision-optics.com/prod/hdprobe.shtml As for the bubble, if you want to catch the pop, I'd think you'd want to think Phantom as 120fps won't catch much action on that tight a scale.

The concept and look are quite good, though I found the dramatic music a bit monotonous. Perhaps if the introduction had more of an action tone, then either transition to more comedic themes or stop entirely when the phones are introduced, the dramatic music would have more impact once we return to "serious reality" at the end. An overall tighter edit could definitely benefit the spot.

I own a set of six with both EF and PL mounts (I presume you want EF), which includes 18, 21, 28, 35, 50, and 85mm. Feel free to shoot me an email: dcarstens@gmail.com

The Hawaii Film Office has a good website that lists most resources any production would need. For camera and equipment, here's a listing: Hawaii Camera and Equipment Rentals

Here's a noise floor comparison between different ISOs and DRS settings if anyone's interested. Granted, the video has been compressed for vimeo, but I feel it's useful information for anyone wondering what breaking points are in the electronic gain settings. Keep in mind that these were done with gamma in Cine-D, which raises the toe more than the other options. http://vimeo.com/18359615 I've been testing my AF100 out with a HotRod PL mount and Zeiss CP.2s, and the overall quality is impressive at its price point. The big sticking point with me is the lack of pixel-to-pixel focus expansion found on RED and Canon DSLRs, or even a pop-in focus assist found in the Panasonic HVX/HPX series. Instead, the AF100 offers a "focus in red" for sharp contrast areas of the picture which, while useful, still makes me long for pixel-for-pixel zoom. As for the noise floor, unfortunately I have not found any settings that give me as clean blacks as I'd find in either R3D or Alexa footage. The AF100 does give pleasing looking blacks all the way up to 800 ISOs when shooting clean exposures, but boosting the shadows will inevitably reveal a good deal of artifacts. This is not surprising to me, though many Panasonic enthusiasts seem to insist that the noise is not there. Regardless, I find the camera to be a great value, especially in its compact form- while I love working with RED raw, the light weight of the AF100 makes working with a smaller footprint far more feasible.

I've outfitted my rig with a Hot Rod PL kit, which runs about $1700 USD. While the PL is suited for my Zeiss CP.2s, I've also been getting good results using lightweight manual F-mount and EF-mount lenses via Novoflex MFT adapters, which run about $50. Either way, I think the AF100 has a lot to offer at its price point.

A variety of LED lights running off batteries will be quite handy, as the venue will likely be quite dark and traditional lights would be difficult to rig (often way too crowded) and kill the ambiance. Some Roscoe litepads would be ideal to tuck/velcro behind a speaker or even the DJ's laptop/turntable, at least giving you a constant rim or fill, which you'll likely need to check focus since I'd imagine you'll be shooting quite wide open on the 60D.

There is a reason the entire department changed its name from "School of Cinema-Television" to "School of Cinematic Arts". From what I've gathered from students currently in the program, intermediate and advanced class projects that used to be shot on 16mm (Arri-S and SRIIs) are now shot on Sony EX3s, sometimes with Letus adapters. Earl Rath's advanced cinematography class is still 35mm on a Panavision GII, thankfully, so the students who specifically want to study camera still have some access to film.

Thanks, the K5600 Crossover looks very handy- I'll be sure to check it out in person.

I'm definitely happy with my set- the bokeh is very pleasing and the housing performs great with focusing. It's also very convenient to add a multiple cameras when shooting with DLSRs since they're everywhere, whereas I'd otherwise be limited with bodies if I went with a modified DSLR body. If anyone wants to shoot a test card in Los Angeles, I'm always happy to give them a demo.

Since I started using a beauty dish with my strobes for still photography, I've absolutely fallen in love with the combination of softness with snooted controllability when used in conjunction with grids. Is there any type of modifier that can be used with continuous lighting? I'd tested out my 22" beauty dish with a Lowel Pro Light, but doubt the dish could stand up to the heat of anything larger. I certainly wish I could achieve the soft yet spotted effect without a forest of flags!

Darn it! I guess Deakins is far too classy a guy to bother responding to such behavior... It's loss for the rest of us.

I'm looking to figure out a way to shoot a tray of muffins rising as they bake inside an oven, a la Pillsbury commercials. How is this done- a specially built oven, or just through a very clear oven door?

-disregard, Mike's already posted all the best info!

While the focus plane on lens adapters are "supposed" to be the ground glass, the build on many of them are usually sub-par out of the box. I've found that the collimation of various mounts often needs to be tweaked- the Letus doesn't have the same level of engineering of P+S's micro/Pro35 units. Just make sure shoot a full set of focus tests or you may find a good deal of soft shots going solely off of tape measurements... Even then, I'd feel better with an on-board HD monitor to keep my mind at ease!