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Lowe Pro 250 AW DSLR Video backpack and Manfrotto 502A video tripod/head

Posted in Photography, Photojournalism, Reviews, Studio Portraiture, Travel, Video on September 26, 2012 by William Hooks

These will help me when doing ENG/location interviews and studio/location cinema rig work, respectively.

The backpack is optimal for traveling with a D600 and up to 70-200 VR, compact microphone set, ZOom H4N audio recorder, shoulder rig, cables, SB-700 flash, headphones and some small lenses. The all-weather cover WILL be used!

The Manfrotto is designed to hold my RedRock cinema rig with provision to directly attach short monitor arms, freeing up the hot shoe on the camera for a light or other accessory. It’s very stable especially for its size and weight, and allows for Dutch angles by actually tilting the rig on it.
There’s a pan lock; I like the large size of the quick-release plate and that it can’t accidentally fall off- it attaches with 2 screws to the rig base, so there is no torque on the rig. The XY, pan/tilt friction controls are excellent. It’s a good fit with my smooth floor dolly which is mostly used indoors.

This way, I’ll use my smaller Weifeng 718 tripod/head for a camera with no rig (such as tutorial videos) or for a B camera.

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First day working with the Nikon D600 system, Rode Stereo Videomic Pro microphone

Posted in Photography, Photojournalism, Reviews, Studio Portraiture, Travel, Video on September 24, 2012 by William Hooks

I’m very impressed with the capability of the D600 and of the Stereo VMP, after setting them up for defaults in video and still work…. MUCH more to come as I gain more experience with them.

Unfortunately, I had to sell my coveted 200 mm f/2 VR Nikkor in the process. Maybe some day I’ll rent or obtain another if the need arises, but I hope that the low-ISO ability of this camera helps obviate that need since I still use a 70-200 f/2.8.

It is wonderful to be able to closely monitor audio directly from the camera with headphones!!! This should be a boon for remote field videography and run-gun interviews.

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Nikon D600: Hands-on Preview

Posted in Photography, Reviews, Video on September 21, 2012 by William Hooks

I had the camera for initial evaluation at Samys Camera, Pasadena this morning and was able to work with its AV and photo settings, with these impressions:

1-Audio capability seems very similar to that of the D800/D4 including-important to me- the ability to closely monitor sound levels with headphones directly from the camera. It appeared that the 20 level graph had a somewhat steep volume ‘cliff’ between the 2 highest and all other levels, at least with the on-camera microphone; I was not able to test with an off-camera mic yet. To access this function it seems necessary to get into menus, as with the other cameras. Playback volume was adequate through headphones relative to ‘optimized’ level settings for capture.

2- Aperture cannot be changed in Live View, unlike the D800/D4. Otherwise, similar capability including uncompressed HDMI (!!). I prefer the LV button setup to that of the D7000, it’s the same as on the D800/D4.

3-Build quality seemed very good by comparison, at least on a par with the D800.

4-Similar layout of left dial atop camera to D7000 but upgraded in appearance. Includes 2 user-defined banks (!) which I typically set to video and sports/PJ on the D7000. Frame rate similar to D7000, faster than D800- I consider it borderline adequate for typical sports at 5.5 FPS.

5-Overall ergonomics: Very easy to learn this camera from a D7000; controls generally intuitive. I would have added the battery pack if it were available- probably within a few weeks.

In summary: I believe that if you shoot Nikon for video and want to keep your camera budget under $2500 (body and battery grip), the D600 is a revolutionary camera- because of its combination of price and overall feature set. A bonus is its 24 mp
still resolution- which would allow me to do a great deal of cropping for sports and pj images.

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Nikon D600 for $2100 announced: FX format and full HD video in a very small body

Posted in Photography, Photojournalism, Reviews, Travel, Video on September 13, 2012 by William Hooks

This is an exciting prospect for my own work, as I travel and often shoot in field/remote locations. The form factor is important and especially at this price, I’m going to take a serious look at the D600. [Wish it had more high ISO performance, above nominal 6400!]

This camera is supposedly going to be available later in Sept 2012.

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New page: Alpine Mountaineering Equipment list

Posted in Photography, Reviews, Travel, Video on September 9, 2012 by William Hooks

Please take a look, if you’re exploring your options for participating in this wonderful sport!
I will amend it over time as my needs may change….

Enjoy!

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Preliminary review: Adobe CS6 Master Collection

Posted in Music, Photography, Reviews, Video on August 7, 2012 by William Hooks

Following several weeks of intermittently working with the components of this collection, these are my observations:

I have so far found that Premiere Pro, Encore, and Audition seem generally to be functioning more smoothly than the preceding versions. In particular, moving between Pr Pro and Audition using Dynamic Link has been smoother and more reliable and Encore has performed better for output to DVD, without crashing. I like several of the new features of PrPro, especially hover scrubbing in Program panel, advanced keyboard-based edits, and adjustment layers.

I’m not happy that the presets are missing from PrPro’s and Encore’s templates, requiring and additional download with its attendant steps.

Recently, After Effects has started freezing upon startup- I’m currently exploring a fix for this other than re-installation…. when it was loading properly, it seemed to be functioning normally.

For my workflow, Firewords/ Illustrator/Flash are not especially useful but some of the new features in Photoshop are welcomed. I have taken advantage of the new video editing to output available there, as well as 3D capability, content-aware tools, and more speed via the Mercury acceleration I’ve grown accustomed to in PrPro.

The jury’s out as to whether I will work much with Prelude, but it may become a more usual part of my workflow if it proves easy to organize bins and truly contribute useful metadata in a way I would find more tedious in PrPro. Speedgrade seems promising for advanced grading, but I have not worked long enough with it to form a clear opinion as to whether it’s a major upgrade from PrPro’s capability for my projects.

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Backpacking in the Sierra Nevada for 3 days next week

Posted in Photography, Reviews, Travel, Video on June 17, 2012 by William Hooks

We will be traveling as a group of seven, heading initially to Yosemite NP on Monday morning to see if we can get a walk-in permit for Happy Isles to Little Yo Valley. If not, south to Kings Canyon or Sequoia NP’s to try to get in there… I plan to begin shooting for my next adventure sports documentary on backpacking and mountaineering on this trip.

My production group will be using Adobe Creative Suite 6 Master Edition for impending projects- we’re anxious to see if the newest version of Encore is more reliable than was version 5.1!

REI, Adventure 16 and Nomad Venture stores in southern CA will be showing the posters from RIDDLE OF MONZONITE, and I anticipate screenings of it this July-Sept in several stores.

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General audience Prescreening of THE RIDDLE OF MONZONITE next Saturday

Posted in Music, Photography, Photojournalism, Reviews, Travel, Video on May 27, 2012 by William Hooks

We will have the event at TriCommunity School of Photography in Covina, CA on Saturday, 2 June 2012 at 1PM. The telephone number for the school is (626)-974-6816 and it’s located  at 252 West Puente St, zip code is 91723.

If you ‘d like to attend, we’ll have you use a questionnaire to make any comments you wish about this 30 min version of the documentary. We may also show a trailer.

 

And happy Memorial Day!

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Returning to Joshua Tree NP for, additional climbing and documentary shooting

Posted in Photography, Reviews, Travel, Video on May 20, 2012 by William Hooks

I spotted what appeared to be an outstanding route with an easy approach on the northeast aspect of Chimney Rock in JT last week, and plan to return there to climb next Wednesday with some crew. We’ll shoot more takes for a special effect I want in the piece, as well as HDR and timelapses.

My videography and photo equipment has held up very well in the heat and taken the abuse out there, with the exception of 2 older light stands which were destroyed by fractures of the aluminum tubes near the mounting ends. I suspect that was due to twisting (torsional) stress while repeatedly positioning and adjusting them.

 

 

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Second crew meeting completed for JTNP climbing documentary today

Posted in Photography, Reviews, Travel, Video on April 8, 2012 by William Hooks

I really appreciated the long battery life provided by my Nikon EN-EL3e batteries for use in the 5″ Marshall HDMI monitors assigned to 2 of the video cameras for this shoot. I find that 5″ monitors are an excellent blend of visibility for several reviewers, image quality, feature set with peaking and false color filters as well as flip-image (very useful on the jib/minicrane cam), and reasonable pricing.

 

The sound quality from the Rode NTG-2  shotguns has been excellent.  These are highly recommended for EFP projects in particular, working very well whether on booms or blimps. Cost-effective solution for a wide variety of uses, including dramatic pieces as well as sports, interviews and other recording related to documentary style.

 

With a crew of about 11, and 2-4 climbers, the project is progressing very well. We’ll be refining some technical issues next Wednesday at another crew meeting, involving both Units ( audiovideo and stills).

Some of the Canon camera users on this team are wishing they had built-in intervalometers for timelapse work- as we Nikonians have!

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