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To the Dark Side… I ‘ve gone Canon 5D Mark III

Posted in Captain's Personal Log, Photography, Photojournalism, Reviews, Video with tags audio technica, cameras, D4, Diverse and Eclectic Productions, Nikon, photography, photojournalism, technology, video on August 30, 2013 by William Hooks

After much consideration, I’ve taken the leap to the Canon HD-DSLR system and sold my Nikon system except for the Coolpix S9100. Admitting that I miss the built-in intervalometer of the D600 and especially its ability to create in-camera timelapses…..

Key features of the Canon 5D Mark III (5D3) over the Nikon D600 —FOR ME
1- Tethered shooting with Lightroom 4 (no need to upgrade to version 5)-but caveat emptor…
2- Power aperture in LiveView
3- LV histogram
4- CF and SD cards; I prefer the durability and ease of writing on CF cards in general, and the ease of just inserting an SD card into my notebook’s built-in slot is there when desired
5- Native ISO of 12800 for video
6- Selected better specs for stills incl bracketing, 6FPS, AF points, advanced multiple exposure
7- Time code, including drop-frame and other features (record and playback); at the least this will be used for shot logging, and potentially for post (multicam sync)
8- Ability to manually adjust sound settings, ISO, and exposure while recording video-silently!
9- Accepts the same Hoodman Custom Finder Baseplate
10- Video can be actuated remotely with a $30 RC-6 IR wireless unit and tethered for video and stills via a free
EOS Utility software download (Nikon-it’s free)
11- Extensive video clip info available after recording
12- In-camera slow motion review
13- EF lenses compatible with a wide variety of dedicated, advanced cinema systems such as BlackMagic, EOS C
Cinema camcorder series, and RED. I anticipate at some point venturing into the C 100/ C 300 universe.
14- This camera is a current industry standard for HD-DSLR filmmaking. As such, there is free and paid firmare and software available which is uniquely designed for Canon/5D3 such as the free Technicolor and Marvel Picture Styles.
There are also a number of hardware items made by Manfrotto and other companies which are specific to Canon firmware, such as the Sympla Remote Controller.

Taken in totality, I found these and other considerations to be compelling. Among the other things I though about was the issue of normalizing or standardizing the cameras throughout my crew- and everyone else is already using 5D2, 6D, and 7D. Doesn’t necessarily mean I won’t use Nikons in the future, I ‘m a huge fan of their lenses and flash for example. Very likely I’ll be using a Nikon D5200 for backpacking and timelapses. But for now, I’m starting off very happy indeed with the 5D3.

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Interviews about the hopes of southern Californians re the ACA (Obamacare)

Posted in Photojournalism, Video on August 19, 2013 by William Hooks

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I was one of the speakers at the press conference outside the office of US Rep. Chu- Climate Change

Posted in Photojournalism, Video on August 16, 2013 by William Hooks

I spoke about the connections between climate change and some aspects of human disease.

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Mounting the Induro Hi-Hat and apple box on a slider

Posted in Photojournalism, Reviews, Video on August 9, 2013 by William Hooks

Another convenient feature of this Hi-hat/apple box combination is the ability to rapidly and securely obtain up to about 5-7 seconds of smooth truck/slider motion with my 8 ft slider, simply by dropping the combo onto the slider’s dolly.

I can secure the hat in 3 different positions to the drilled 1/4″ holes in the large apple box as shown, whether collapsed or extending the legs.

Here is the 8′ slider beneath the #2 lg apple box, bolted to the Hi-hat and camera

Sandbags are used to further stabilize the slider when appropriate

The #2 small apple box is used as a counterweight or to provide quick angled shots by placing beneath other boxes

The bolt holes are clearly marked in order to speed setup of the rig in the field

This makes it unnecessary to detach and re-attach the Hi-Hat, and it’s and easy to take off the camera via the quick -release baseplate camera to put it on a cinema rig, for example. This means that there are many more options for developing and executing shot lists.

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The Induro 75mm Hi-Hat and custom apple box- info and initial review

Posted in Photography, Photojournalism, Travel, Video on August 9, 2013 by William Hooks

This ingenious tool allows stable placement of the camera in very tight locations, such as vehicle interiors; it also doubles as a fully functional video tripod, achieving full height when put on a desk, table or other secondary support. A full, complex rig can easily be mounted onto this hi-hat as it is rated to withstand a load of up to 165 pounds.

I can put a wide variety of photo or video heads on the hi-hat; because of the 75mm bowl, it’s easy to set up Dutch angle shots and to level the head to the horizon- or to the included bubble level. The leveler can be used whether or not the bowl is employed, due to its location on the base.

Construction: build quality is excellent. It’s very versatile in terms of height options due to the adjustments possible in each independent leg, and the swiveling rubber mounting feet permit bolting or spiking of the hi-hat as shown below, when desired.

I highly recommend combining a hi-hat with a good fluid head to get the most out of both- they were born for each other and are a wonderful asset in addition to jib and slider for achieving the kind of camera motions which contribute to the production value of projects.