maclaine
Well-known
I've posted a few other "first this" or "first that" posts with this camera and some lenses in the last few weeks, but this one was the mother of all of them.
A friend asked me to take pictures on the set of his entry into the Boston 48 Hour Film Project. The basics of the project are, Friday night, all teams involved meet in one location, are assigned a genre, a line of dialogue, a character name, and a prop, and in the next 48 hours they have to write, film, edit, and score a movie up to 7 minutes in length. They all meet back at the same location on Sunday to drop off the final film, and then screenings are held for several nights starting the next night. It's exhilarating and exhausting, and while the quality of the movies that come out of it covers a VERY broad range, it's all a lot of fun. Much more info here: http://www.48hourfilm.com/
For my part, I only expected to take pictures all day on Saturday, which is when the shooting was happening, but of course, I ended up doing more. I helped set up and break down lights, ran the camera once, held the boom mic, and carried lots of heavy gear all over the place. I also took 9 rolls of film over the course of the day.
I had finally assembled my (current) dream RF rig, with a ZI body, and the 35/50/90 lens combo. I had a beautiful Nikkor 3.5cm f/2.5, a ZM Planar 50mm f/2, and a CV APO Lanthar 90mm f/3.5. It was the heaviest use I'd put the ZI through since I got it, and the first time I wasn't just trying out a lens or film or something but using it as I normally would without thinking of it as "new". For extra coverage, I also had my Olympus OM-4 with a 24mm and 135mm lens, but they didn't get quite as much usage. I most shot Tri-X, but had a couple rolls of Neopan 1600 and one of Portra 160NC. The genre we were assigned was "noir", so the black and white look worked great, and I even desaturated the Portra shots to make them fit in better with the other stuff. I shot the Tri-x at 400, 800, and 1600, depending on the roll and the light, and shot the Neopan normally. As a bonus, I also developed all but the Portra and one roll of Tri-x at home in HC-110, and with the exception of a semi-disaster with the Neopan (detailed elsewhere on the board), everything came out great.
Tech talk aside, the ZI handled like a dream. The AE was a huge help, and I love how it will retain the exposure setting even after the picture has been taken, so you can reframe/refocus and shoot again without having to relock the exposure. I'm also happy to have a full 35/50/90 setup. I shoot mostly with a 50, and f/2 is generally fast enough for me. I'd rather push the film than deal with tricky focus situations wide open. Having a 35mm and 90mm that are somewhat slower didn't present a huge problem, either. I prefer to travel light with one lens on the camera and the other two in either jacket pocket than have huge, bulky lenses just for the sake of bigger f stops.
Here are just a few highlights. If you follow the link in my profile to my Flickr page, you can see all of them. Thanks for looking.
A friend asked me to take pictures on the set of his entry into the Boston 48 Hour Film Project. The basics of the project are, Friday night, all teams involved meet in one location, are assigned a genre, a line of dialogue, a character name, and a prop, and in the next 48 hours they have to write, film, edit, and score a movie up to 7 minutes in length. They all meet back at the same location on Sunday to drop off the final film, and then screenings are held for several nights starting the next night. It's exhilarating and exhausting, and while the quality of the movies that come out of it covers a VERY broad range, it's all a lot of fun. Much more info here: http://www.48hourfilm.com/
For my part, I only expected to take pictures all day on Saturday, which is when the shooting was happening, but of course, I ended up doing more. I helped set up and break down lights, ran the camera once, held the boom mic, and carried lots of heavy gear all over the place. I also took 9 rolls of film over the course of the day.
I had finally assembled my (current) dream RF rig, with a ZI body, and the 35/50/90 lens combo. I had a beautiful Nikkor 3.5cm f/2.5, a ZM Planar 50mm f/2, and a CV APO Lanthar 90mm f/3.5. It was the heaviest use I'd put the ZI through since I got it, and the first time I wasn't just trying out a lens or film or something but using it as I normally would without thinking of it as "new". For extra coverage, I also had my Olympus OM-4 with a 24mm and 135mm lens, but they didn't get quite as much usage. I most shot Tri-X, but had a couple rolls of Neopan 1600 and one of Portra 160NC. The genre we were assigned was "noir", so the black and white look worked great, and I even desaturated the Portra shots to make them fit in better with the other stuff. I shot the Tri-x at 400, 800, and 1600, depending on the roll and the light, and shot the Neopan normally. As a bonus, I also developed all but the Portra and one roll of Tri-x at home in HC-110, and with the exception of a semi-disaster with the Neopan (detailed elsewhere on the board), everything came out great.
Tech talk aside, the ZI handled like a dream. The AE was a huge help, and I love how it will retain the exposure setting even after the picture has been taken, so you can reframe/refocus and shoot again without having to relock the exposure. I'm also happy to have a full 35/50/90 setup. I shoot mostly with a 50, and f/2 is generally fast enough for me. I'd rather push the film than deal with tricky focus situations wide open. Having a 35mm and 90mm that are somewhat slower didn't present a huge problem, either. I prefer to travel light with one lens on the camera and the other two in either jacket pocket than have huge, bulky lenses just for the sake of bigger f stops.
Here are just a few highlights. If you follow the link in my profile to my Flickr page, you can see all of them. Thanks for looking.
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chrishayton
Well-known
fantastic photos. Love the second from bottom the most but they all look great.
andreios
Well-known
These are great shots! Sounds like an interesting project!
Bogotron
Established
Great work. The Zeiss glass is very impressive in b & w.
hipsterdufus
Photographer?
Fantastic work. I'll agree that 2nd from the bottom is my favorite. My mind can't help wondering what is actually happening in that picture.
mathomas
Well-known
Really great shots. I also love second from last.
maclaine
Well-known
The same thing that seems to happen on most movie sets, i.e. hurry up and wait. We were outside the final location we were shooting at that day. The gent in the old Jaguar is Victor, the lead in the movie, and the fellow in the wheelchair is Adam, who was playing a messenger/angel of sorts. The two got along famously all day. Adam was incredibly patient, as his scene wasn't shot until the very end of the day, but he was around the whole day, which started at 7am. This photo was around 7:30pm, which is when we finally got to the location we were shooting his scene at. The two of them are just such an odd couple, it was easy to get great shots of them, as long as they were in front of the camera.
user237428934
User deletion pending
Great photos. The last two are my favorites.
tomalophicon
Well-known
Fantastic. Really great. 2nd and 3rd from last are so emotive for me.