20 AFV Winter 2013.pub - Federation of Australian Movie Makers

By Ian SimpsonA Zoom Lens with a Prime Lens’ Asset.Once upon a time, zoom lenses had variable maximum lens aperturesdepending on the selected focal length and these maximumapertures were small because of the limitations of cost, weight andlens technology. Now Sigma Corporation (www.sigmaphoto.com),have announced the Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM Art lens. Thisis claimed to be the market’s first zoom lens to achieve a maximumaperture F1.8 throughout the entire zoom range. So for aDSLR or video camera with a APS-C size sensor this lens has afocal range of 27-52.5mm (in 35mm standard speak). So for bothstill photographers and videographers Sigma have produced a lensthat is ideal for those low light situations whether it be for landscapes,portraits, still-life, studio, close-up and casual photography.Want a small non-threatening, high image quality, High Definition camera for about $1000?Of course we all dream of such an entity. Well now Blackmagic has made one appear at NAB (the National Associationof Broadcasters in April at Las Vegas). It is called the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera. For under $1000USyou get a solid magnesium alloy chassis which will accept Micro Four Thirds (MFT) lenses, has a Super 16 size sensorwith 13 stops of dynamic range and will record the images in high quality ProRes 422 (HQ) and lossless CinemaDNGRAW file formats. The ProRes footage is captured at 220 Mbps thus allowing 50 minutes of footage on a64Gb SDXC card which is also just about the duration of the charge of the battery. The excitement around this cameracomes from the unique combination of low cost, large selection of MFT lenses and the high dynamic range of thesensor, and not forgetting the bundling of DaVinci Resolve Lite colour correction software with the camera. For PCusers it is almost enough inducement to desert to an Apple iMac and FCP X(?)The Hobbit at Double the Standard Frame RateEver since 1927 the standard for shooting and projecting a motion picture was 24 frames per second. But then alongcame digital 3D cinema and New Zealand director Peter Jackson. He recently shot The Hobbit at 48fps so as to givea clearer image for 3D projection. Jackson commented about the new frame rate that, “Film purists will criticize thelack of blur and strobing artefacts, but all of our crew–many of whom are film purists–are now converts. You getused to this new look very quickly and it becomes a much more lifelike and comfortable viewing experience.” It hasbeen commented that 3D at high motion can cause certain people to feel sick: and during a recent viewing of TheHobbit in 3D I noticed that many of the pans at the beginning of the movie did appear odd and very fuzzy. I couldsee how some people could become motion sick. So in these few pans the doubling of the frame rate has not improvedthe situation.Page 28 AUSTRALIAN FILM & VIDEO—VOL 20 WINTER 2013