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Oron Cohen

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  1. Oron Cohen
    I really try and urge directors to do tests if possible, before setting out on a production. It could be a small test, like taking your DOP C100 to a rental house and shoot around the rental house side by side comparison with the BMPC, then apply all the plugins to both and decide, or if you got a bit more time, get one or all your actors and set out to the actual location you're filming and ( if possible) also bring lights to see the effect on skin tones, highlights etc. Personally and generally speaking, I disagree with your dop in the sense that every image sensor is a bit different, it's almost as if every digital camera imager is like a different film stock, and like with film stocks, you could match Fuji and Kodak pretty well but it doesn't mean they look the same or you can get every look you want with them. Also, I'm not sure if you could get the Blackmagic for free or not like you get the C100, it might have an effect on other important areas like art directing having more funds, which sometimes helps more than the camera.
  2. Oron Cohen
    Hello Everyone, There is no catch in the title, I have 8 rolls of Kodachrome super 8 from about 1999. You could still develop those rolls as B&W film. I'm just asking anyone that is interested to pay for shipping and shoot/use the films! I really want someone in this community to pick them up and make good use of them. I'll ship anywhere in the world, shipping cost will be payed via paypal only. Please PM if interested. Best, Oron.
  3. Oron Cohen
    Is it possible you upload a photo of the location? It'll be much easier to help that way. It's interesting how every DP look at things different. I sometimes like a tiny bit of green tint, specially if you could see the light bulbs in frame, in any case, film handles mixed lighting and skin tones great. As a student maybe it's also good to take some risks and push the stock as far as you can, I never had any problem with fluorescent lighting, sometimes, if the original bulbs are really old and got a nasty green tint, you can replace the actual bulbs for bulbs that are a little bit more accurate with their colour and got higher or lower intensity (you can get them at tesco's etc). For stock, without seeing the location and without any tests, I'd probably would go 500T and rate it 320asa, I usually don't use an 85, just shoot clean and time it in post.
  4. Oron Cohen
    Hi Ana, What I suggested is far from a professional setup, but it's a good setup, with amazing image quality (for the price) that could help you learn, as a Cinematographer I would always like good sharpness and even more important great Dynamic range, BMPCC has fantastic dynamic range, even better than some very expensive cameras that cost 5-10 times as much. The BMPCC+Speedbooster is not that more expensive from a 70D, for me DSLR were great 2-3 years ago, but now there are better Alternatives with better recording codec (Prores) and cleaner image. Having said that, a 70D is also a good choice, I think it's got two great benefits and that is the flip out LCD and the Auto focus function, but I almost never used auto focus, so it's not a big deal for me. As for computer, I (and 90% of filmmakers I know) edit on mac, so I can't really tell you anything about the computer you mentioned, I could tell you that any used 13" macbook pro from 2011 and up will edit prores footage easy, Louis CK edits all of his TV series Louie on a 13" macbook just fine, and many, many other editors friends of mine.
  5. Oron Cohen
    To be honest, 1500 Euro isn't much in the video world. With that in mind, the most important question is, what kind of films you would like to shoot? Documentary or fiction? Are you a Cinematographer or Director? Because as you probably know, a Cinematographer would like lights to learn the craft, so maybe in that case, it'll be good to plan a project or two for a weekend(or two), and rent some lights and camera? going back to cameras, assuming it's fiction you're after and referring to your first post, I would actually consider a video only camera. I would recommend you to push the budget up a little bit and get a used Blackmagic Pocket (about 600-700 euro) + Metabones speedbooster EF (500 Euro new), and try to get the best glass you can, at minimum something like Sigma 17-50 OS (350 Euro new or less used) the image stabilising will also help a bit with this camera. That will amount to 1700-1800 (including SD cards and batteries), and you could use the lens for photography on your other canon body. The BMPCC will get you good cinematic images. I think the simplicity of it, great dynamic range and small size would be a great tool for you to learn the craft of composing and capturing available light or working with practicals. just my 2c.
  6. Oron Cohen
    Angenieux DPs 16-42mm and 30-80mm got beautiful image, I just love the look of them and the focal lengths are perfect. If you really need a lens more than 80mm you could always add a prime later. Only main drawback for me, they don't work on film cameras, which is a shame but if it's not an issue for you, so go for that. I haven't used the new Zeiss, but it seems like they have a lot going for them, but as you stated something in the focal length is strange...
  7. Oron Cohen
    Hi, Thanks for the info, all recent projects I did where with i-Dailies, so not that familiar with cinelab facilities. I have a lot of experience overexposing, in fact I almost always overexpose by 2/3 to a stop if I'm shooting Colour Negative film(Black and White is a different story), which tighten the grain. The only reason I'll not overexpose is if the director wants a 16mm grainy look purposely. If talking about your stock, 250D, I'll just set my light meter to 160 ISO and treat the neg as if it's 160 ISO. Hope it helps, it makes me so happy to hear young filmmakers still shooting film!
  8. Oron Cohen
    Good choice and great glass! Just remember to overexpose it. Could you please share where you're doing the telecine? i-Dailies? Cinelab? Would be great if you could post some footage or jpegs later on.
  9. Oron Cohen
    From my experience shooting in England in winter, I would defiantly skip the 50D as you might find yourself struggle to get good exposure in times when you want to close the lens to say T4 or so. I would actually consider shooting on the 200T which is really fine in grain or the 250D, and overexpose by 2/3-1 stop, getting tighter grain. Contrast is easily achieved in post, the differences between the stocks are not that great, If you like a slightly punchier stock maybe try the Fuji Vivid 160T, Frame24 are actually doing clearance on that stock and sell it very cheaply. Also, bare in mind that on 16mm or super16, sharpness is also important not only grain, and it's not only due to the stock but a lot of it have to do with the lenses used and in what T-stop. the Zeiss super speed primes 1.3T around 2.8T will give nice sharpness, but there are some other options (not too many actually).
  10. Oron Cohen
    From my experience shooting in England in winter, I would defiantly skip the 50D as you might find yourself struggle to get good exposure in times when you want to close the lens to say T4 or so. I would actually consider shooting on the 200T which is really fine in grain or the 250D, and overexpose by 2/3-1 stop, getting tighter grain. Also, bare in mind that on 16mm or super16, sharpness is also important, and it's not only due to the stock but a lot of it have to do with the lenses used and in what T-stop. the Zeiss super speed primes 1.3T around 2.8T will give nice sharpness, but there are some other options (not too many actually).
  11. Oron Cohen
    I fully agree with what Tyler and most of the others have said. I would add that actually I think nowadays if you go ahead and make a film, maybe it would be a good idea to shoot on 35mm as it could be something that could potentially differentiate you from the over-saturated crap movie makers you're talking about. It also not that more expensive to shoot 35mm if you shoot low ratio of around 5:1, you be surprised that if the film doesn't have special effects or anything fancy it wouldn't not cost much more then shooting on an Alexa/RAW workflow and might actually make your life much easier. Having said that, being a true filmmaker is first and for most about telling great stories. I remember seeing the behind the scenes of "The Celebration", looking at DOP Anthony Dod Mantle, which made an amazing job lighting and lensing a story with a really cheap consumer DV Camera. another and more recent example is "Frances HA" which was a shot on a 5D, but again the story telling... If you're a beginner though film could defiantly make you stand out from the crowd, and it a very very important tool in our Arsenal that I try to use all the time, and you be surprised how after a short talk with a director they suddenly change their mind and go for film. Here is a music video I recently shot on Super16: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGT5ltbsDg4&index=1&list=PL5_J1Agz7OTaheZiF1W-TG0oYvkGvlKcD it was so easy and intuitive shooting film, no menus, no buttons, optical view finder, just me and the camera...and I knew I could trust it, over exposing by 5-6-7 stops in the highlights, its film...it usually looks better than real life :-) and it does!
  12. Oron Cohen
    I wouldn't recommend Secced that much, they're okay, not bad, but not reliable as Aapo stated, they are basically a Chinese Sachtler knock off, you're better off with a used good condition Sachtler 18. One really good and really cheap head is Ronford F4, it's old, but is quite small and build like a tank, it's a steal if you could find one. here is one for sale I found, but sometimes people or rental houses sale them with sticks: http://www.visualproducts.com/storeProductDetail02.asp?productID=505&Cat=3&Cat2=49 I also second Adrian recommendation for O'Connor 50D (or anything made by O'connor ).
  13. Oron Cohen
    Just from skimming through the comments, I also have to disagree with the OP. If a film is good it's good, I remember watching the celebration and the idiots and how much I loved those films, even though everyone that knows me knows how much of a film fanatic I can be. Having said that, I watched those Dogma 95 films on film, 35mm prints, and I still prefer to watch films on film. The other night I've watched a not so good Romanian film by a very talented director called: "When Evening Falls on Bucharest or Metabolism". It was shot on 35mm film but the screenings was digital, and from the worse kind, I'm almost positive that this was not even a DCP and they just played it off of a MOV file or something, this happen a lot recently with low budget art house films that are screened around the world and just been send for a one off screening. This is worrying as the standards for screening are going down, in the past those films would always get a 35mm screening, now days many producers in Europe are cutting costs when they send your film to a film festival. I immediately thought on how much close to a plain home projection this looks and even if it was DCP it usually still leaves me disappointed. Regardless of that I was also not really impressed from the Cinematography in the film, even though it was shot on 35mm film, I couldn't care less, which actually made me think that this all thing is really more complex than film vs digital and got many other factors. It's tough out there at the moment for art house filmmakers...
  14. Oron Cohen
    As Mr Mullen said IRND are almost never used when shooting film. As for digital, I wouldn't necessarily just get IRND's, it really depends on the camera you choose. Nowadays, most pro super35 cameras either got internal ND's (Sony F5/F55/FS7, Canon C300/C500, Arri Amira and more) and some like the RED Dragon don't need IRND's. Also some that does, like the Alexa (at least older models) you could use IR cut off filter on top of normal ND's if I'm not mistaken. That leaves us mainly with Blackmagic Cameras and some DSLR cameras and even then mainly when using ND's over 0.9 or even 1.2 depends on the camera really. So the main question would be, do you want it for General purpose use or for a specific camera? If General, I'll actually think if you really need more then one or two ND's and probably go for normal once not IR as a long time investment. Also, because Many cameras today already have internal ND's I would consider to get some ND's plus one or two Soft FX filters or similar that cut out some of digital edge from the image, that could actually be more useful. So for example getting: ND 0.6+1.2+Soft FX 1 or 0.6 +0.9+IR cut off+Black Promist etc etc) Hope this helps.
  15. Oron Cohen
    Hi Axel, I'll be up for a meeting in central London in the next few weeks. Anyone else? :-)
  16. Oron Cohen
    I'd love to come, are you going by car by any chance? It's takes about 2 hours to get there from where I'm in London, which is pretty remote compare to i-Dailies in Acton.
  17. Oron Cohen
    Actually, I don't agree. What I was trying to say is there is no one camera or best camera overall. Also, I'm not sure if you already shot on Dragon, but there are many benefits of sooting it over Alexa as there are benefits shooting Alexa over RED. Even though I have to say the benefits of shooting Alexa are less then what they were before RED Dragon.
  18. Oron Cohen
    1. yes. 2. depends on film grain, kodak 200 ISO too grainy, so considering that: 100ISO. 3. depends, if test could be shown online and looks good so 2-3, no tests online: 1 4. 5 cans every 6 months. 5. Maybe, if it’s easy to use.
  19. Oron Cohen
    Hi, I shot on both, both great cameras. If your aim is buying, I would consider a few things: For RED: 1: RED Dragon is about half the price, even after adding accessories which could clear some money to buy lenses! 2: Dragon shoots 6K which could be handy for composing in post. 3 : Dragon is much smaller camera, making it suitable for all kind of light weight rigs etc. For Alexa: 1: it's the industry standard. 2: better highlight rendering. 3: smother and easier post workflow with ProRes. Last thing, did you consider an Amira? With the UHD upgrade it got + new ProRes Codec, it's actually the prefect camera for TV commercials and short films, it's much lighter and a joy to use, it's around the same price point of Dragon but it's a true pick up and shoot camera, I'm kinda of in love with it. Also it really depends on your market and what people like to use and also which camera feel more comfortable to you and which look you like better. This is why I prefer renting, as you choose the camera for the project. just my 2. p.s - probably someone will tell you that you need to write your REAL first and family name per forum rules.
  20. Oron Cohen
    Hi Alex, I suppose you're renting lenses? If so, and you're using C300 on the shoulder I would highly recommended getting a couple of lightweight zooms or even one. You have few great options: - Two Angenieux Optimo DP: 16-42mm and the 30-80mm. They are great lenses! lightweight and to my opinion look as beautiful as Cooks. - Fujinon Cabrio 19-90 , I personally not a big fan of the look of this lens, Angenieux look much better to my eye, but I did used it, and it's very helpful as an all around lens. - The Canon 17-120 Cine, I haven't check it out yet, but could be a great option as well. I think a lot of people that are starting out don't pay much attention to zooms, but modern Cine zoom don't really fall in quality from what prime lenses has to offer and many DP's and director prefer using zooms over primes if possible from various reasons, so do check them out.
  21. Oron Cohen
    Hello everyone, 
 I've a Zacuto Universal plate V3 with 12 inch rods for sale in very good condition, works great with Sony F5, F3, F35, FS700/100, Red Epic, C300, C100 and more. 

 price is only: £100/170$. 
as a bonus I'll also add 2 Lensse Carbon Fiber 40Cm/15inch rods in almost new condition. 

 The plate is in Central London, local pickup are more than welcome! This is a chance to save £100 form the list price. I was planning to use it with a camera I didn't buy eventually. International buyers would need to pay Shipping and payment could be made by Paypal but I do prefer UK buyers. 

 Feel free to pm or email me at dop@oroncohen.com

 Thanks, 
Oron.
  22. Oron Cohen
    Hi Henrik, Although I'm not even close to Mr Mullen knowledge I could tell you my experience. I also love the Kodak Portra 400 and use it a lot with my Rollei 6x6, I also recently used the Fuji Vivid 250D with great results on a Music video. I think kodak Portra is the best colour Negative film I ever used. The way this film can handle overexposure and underexposure while staying super sharp and giving you amazing blacks is unmatched IMHO. From my experience Fuji stocks are not as good with overexposing as kodak Vision 3 films. But Fuji got this beautiful look that many love even though technically is not the best, it's also very good with mixing daylight and tungsten. So, to your question, I would definitely rate the film 125ISO or 160ISO, as it will reduce the grain and get you slightly better look overall, but I won't count on it to behave like Kodak Portra or even Vision 3 regarding overexposure (it's still amazingly good, just not as good as the Portra).
  23. Oron Cohen
    I read the thread on DVXuser, it's a really good forum for videography, camera operating (mainly small cameras) and tons of technical stuff, but less about proper cinematography, art and film (as in film stocks). in other words, it's not the home ground for such a talk in the first place IMHO, they don't get what you guys are trying to say, and go back to spec sheets, numbers and forgot about the art all together. I would say most Cinematographers with proper training in lighting and film as opposed to Videographers (which I highly respect and appreciate) , won't need this debate, as they know the qualities of Negative film and how , why and when they would like to use it.
  24. Oron Cohen
    Hi, You could use Nikon manual lenses as you would with a 5D Mark II, I've also used Zeiss contax, Ziess ZF2 and Samyang on the C300 and C100, all look great!
  25. Oron Cohen
    Hey, Nice work! like the colours, it's looks like you used a chocolate filter, but I guess you just did all the colour grading in post. What lenses and lights did you use? Did you do both directing and cinematography? also wonder where the beach location is? so many beautiful beaches in England that are still unused for filming :-)
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