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Netflix’s Bloodline


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"One other related similarity: for Outsiders and for season two of Bloodline, Reynoso shot with Vantage One T1 lenses. These unique lenses deliver a distinctive visual fingerprint affected by uncorrected spherical aberrations, the kind of personality cinematographers desire given today’s nearly flawless digital imagery."

 

I heard someone say, ‘With these lenses, it’s no longer ‘which eye do you want in focus?’ It’s now ‘which eyelash?’ And I was intrigued. I went to Keslow Camera, and I put up two lenses. I fell in love with them right off the bat.

“I had been looking for a lens that was imperfect, with optical artifacts, but also sharp,” he says. “I had been using older lenses, but then you lose on the sharpness. The Vantage Ones are the best of both worlds. They’re sharp when you need them to be, and you can soften them up when you open the iris. If you’re at a 1.4, they’re less soft, and the edges fall off really interestingly. When things go out of focus, they blend very nicely. If you need something more crisp, you can close to a 2.8, and they gain sharpness. Sometimes I’ll play with the irises, even in the same shot, to modulate the flavor of the Vantage Ones.”

The Vantage One glass offers excellent close-focus capability, which comes in handy, according to Reynoso. The depth of field characteristics fit with his fresh approach to coverage and focal length. “What it does is give you a long lens feel on a wide lens,” he says. “By being wide open on the iris, you can isolate the characters from the background, even at a 17.5. And the way that everything falls out of focus so quickly allows you to use wider lenses. It seems to add some mystery and dreaminess to the image.”

I would generally take one of the cameras on my own shoulder, bring small monitors for the director and the focus puller and we’d just go and drive,” said Reynoso. “Because John drives a pick-up, we were able to put an electrician tied to the back with a broomstick with two different color fluorescent tubes. And he would sweep the exterior of the car, alternating colors, trying to augment what naturally happens out there. I found that very easy to do, very quick to set up and very effective. I could get very tight with a 25mm lens and pull out.”

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46 minutes ago, Manu Delpech said:

"One other related similarity: for Outsiders and for season two of Bloodline, Reynoso shot with Vantage One T1 lenses. These unique lenses deliver a distinctive visual fingerprint affected by uncorrected spherical aberrations, the kind of personality cinematographers desire given today’s nearly flawless digital imagery."

 

I heard someone say, ‘With these lenses, it’s no longer ‘which eye do you want in focus?’ It’s now ‘which eyelash?’ And I was intrigued. I went to Keslow Camera, and I put up two lenses. I fell in love with them right off the bat.

“I had been looking for a lens that was imperfect, with optical artifacts, but also sharp,” he says. “I had been using older lenses, but then you lose on the sharpness. The Vantage Ones are the best of both worlds. They’re sharp when you need them to be, and you can soften them up when you open the iris. If you’re at a 1.4, they’re less soft, and the edges fall off really interestingly. When things go out of focus, they blend very nicely. If you need something more crisp, you can close to a 2.8, and they gain sharpness. Sometimes I’ll play with the irises, even in the same shot, to modulate the flavor of the Vantage Ones.”

The Vantage One glass offers excellent close-focus capability, which comes in handy, according to Reynoso. The depth of field characteristics fit with his fresh approach to coverage and focal length. “What it does is give you a long lens feel on a wide lens,” he says. “By being wide open on the iris, you can isolate the characters from the background, even at a 17.5. And the way that everything falls out of focus so quickly allows you to use wider lenses. It seems to add some mystery and dreaminess to the image.”

I would generally take one of the cameras on my own shoulder, bring small monitors for the director and the focus puller and we’d just go and drive,” said Reynoso. “Because John drives a pick-up, we were able to put an electrician tied to the back with a broomstick with two different color fluorescent tubes. And he would sweep the exterior of the car, alternating colors, trying to augment what naturally happens out there. I found that very easy to do, very quick to set up and very effective. I could get very tight with a 25mm lens and pull out.”

Thanks Manu! Great information. My wife and I have gotten  hooked on the series during this COVID-19 hostage crisis. I actually guessed that they were Hawk lenses. They sport all of the hallmark characteristics such as an overall softness, veiling and flaring. I personally am not a fan. If the DP wanted imperfect optics, he got them! But the show is awesome and overall looks terrific. I feel for the focus pullers since they were tasked with an almost impossible job of keeping these T1 lenses in focus. They did a very good job considering their compromised position with these lenses. Cheers to them!

G

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20 hours ago, Gregory Irwin said:

Thanks Manu! Great information. My wife and I have gotten  hooked on the series during this COVID-19 hostage crisis. I actually guessed that they were Hawk lenses. They sport all of the hallmark characteristics such as an overall softness, veiling and flaring. I personally am not a fan. If the DP wanted imperfect optics, he got them! But the show is awesome and overall looks terrific. I feel for the focus pullers since they were tasked with an almost impossible job of keeping these T1 lenses in focus. They did a very good job considering their compromised position with these lenses. Cheers to them!

G

Robbie Ryan used them in a beautiful movie called Ginger & Rosa, worth watching it

The ones I'd love to use are the MiniHawks, all the advantages of spherical lenses but with an anamorphic touch!
https://www.vantagefilm.com/en/news/minihawks-ready-10629

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5 hours ago, Miguel Angel said:

Robbie Ryan used them in a beautiful movie called Ginger & Rosa, worth watching it

The ones I'd love to use are the MiniHawks, all the advantages of spherical lenses but with an anamorphic touch!
https://www.vantagefilm.com/en/news/minihawks-ready-10629

Thanks for the info as well Miguel.  I've never used the mini Hawks and would love to test them sometime.  As for the rest of the Hawk lenses, the excessive flaring and the inability to handle any amount of sourcey backlight (such as a bright window in the bg) drives me crazy.  They are also just too big and heavy.

G

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