I just had a black magic cinema camera workshop with jack perry in the photo and video room. it was really informative and useful - I was able to ask specific questions I've had recently as well as learn a lot of technical specifics I would probably find hard to remember. I can't even remember the three settings of the ISO, aperture, and shutter speed sometimes. I guess it's all about experience. I said that I find it hard to edit videos cause I don't have the sensitivity for what I want yet and he says I just need more practice, and he's right, I'm always thinking too much beforehand before actually doing things, which just makes it harder for myself.
-why is it that the background is more blurred when the aperture is lower (so wider hole) (more light and shallow depth of field, popular in cinema nowadays): to do with how the light refracts through the lens.
-is it very hard to do long exposure shots? (thinking about dan holdsworth photographs) no, you just need to experiment. *Usually much lower lighting/ISO, let in less light because shutter speed is open for so long (he showed me in real time a 10 second shot. the first one turned out to be just white, because of the other settings. then you would see which of the other two you can change. the ISO is already lowest at 100, so he changed the aperture to close more, so higher the number) *also to use a tripod because if you hold it in your hand it will inevitably shake.
-jpeg is a compressed image which means there is less room for post production. change setting output to RAW, more space used but much more information in image to manipulate.
-there are lenses in the CLS that have a large zoom like 200mm.
"specifically about the 200mm lens. This lens is often used for:
- Wildlife - When you are on safari, or birding, your subject can be as far as 50 to a few hundred yards away, and if you still want to fill the frame of your image with that subject you need a hefty magnification. The 200mm helps accomplish that.
- Sports - Same as in wildlife, if you are standing on the sidelines of a sports game, you need good magnification to capture the action up close in your frame.
- Portraiture - This lens is also useful for portraiture, but it requires standing very far from your subject. Some professionals will do this to achieve a very dramatic effect and a maximal blurring of the background.
This lens is best used with a tripod or monopod because when you are using that much magnification, even the slightest bit of camera shake will significantly impact your image."
rough notes:
wider angle more exaggerated fish eye effect.
-white balance: candle flame is warmest. when sun is out, actually not very warm. Need more warm. use white balance setting to have a natural. where whites are properly white.
-dynamic range. our eyes can see, even detail in dark. even bright places at once. with cameras. (Smaller dynamic range in camera compared to eyes) (for Wimbledon cameras, a bit wider range.)
-exposure/ISO. lower - dark , higher, digital NOISE, pixels dance around
-shutter speed (video, rolling shutter, shutter angle 180 degrees) (when 25fps is 180degrees. Unless creative effect.)
-aperture-lens. the size of hole. lower eg 1.4 or 2, very wide open, let more light. image brighter but back blurry. higher aperture like F32 background is sharp. depth of field relates to brightness. Might be very over exposed if aperture is low.
lower aperture more blurry background bc how light is refracted...
-high dynamic range. HDR- new technology. for capturing shadows and highlights in rich colour. In the past the screen doesn’t have the ability.
-mp4. Is compressed. so smaller. more flexible to send. colour information less detailed. less you can do in lost production. what you see is what you get. changing the colour etc not much u can do. ideally make videos that are not compressed. with black magic cinema camera. more flexible. post production. more cinematic. have control over that. colours.
-black cinema camera: settings at top. shutter angle, white balance. attach lens for aperture setting. Red dot to red dot and twist, click.
-buttons and bottom. Letting in more or less light, aperture. change other things , main menu. in settings. shutter angle. make sure it’s 180 stay fixed. set ISO. to brightness. more grain. ideally 800 ish. but might be a bit too dark .
-second setting. sound controls. record sound separately. premier pro: internally. Bad quality. separately use a nice sound recorder. Match in premier. if plug in camera, there’s two microphone inputs.
-record format. different record options. compressed video. can’t do much, but this camera. two settings. -PROres 422. slightly better version of MP4. more space but more room to edit. although it’s nicer, it’s still manageable size. always first place to start. before moving in to next one. The best available is 2.5K RAW. very very big file, loads of space, so much room to play around in post production. In DSLRs RAW photograph better instead of JPEG. (Compressed) , bigger. // in this camera, the video, every frame will be RAW image.
-dynamic range. two options. film/video. film:image that is desaturated, toned will be closer together. can build up colours properly. video: more saturation, content of not doing a lot of colour grading. can be useful for deadline. send it straight away.
-not much options for frame rate: 24 or 25fps. Europe and America. would choose 25 personally.
-time lapse make sure it’s turned off.. or on. for eg sunset.
-cable:sdi out. to plug into something extra, monitor.
-aspect ratio. black borders. bottom setting is aspect ratio. frame guides. way in which we work out. should always 16:9.. so will show black border and decide if you want to crop. can also move the composition up or down.
-can also change opacity of border. changing between film and video, saturation.
-big box. cable. camera. Worst problem. is battery life is very low. always keep camera plugged in. will die in 20mins have to make sure bring right batteries. SD card reader that is huge. to take them off camera to computer. 480GB. in that SD card. another SD card that does 240. big slot on right.
-first time when I turn it on. format the disk. wipe everything off the camera. do it once at the start. Everything saved .
-lens good as well. camera comes with those bits but need other things. -battery. called V LOCK. Can put on monitor as well. -battery charger, will charge them one at a time on the two sides. -hold camera. battery,cage (for camera, protect and secure. Mount mibcroohones) bars, pad, weight at back: shoulder rig. allows you to walk around with it. -front: follow focus for lens, changes focus of image. closer or further away. need focus ring to tighten on lens.
-monitor. need to get out as well.
-cable for battery. For shoulder rig.
-bottom: numbers . 3:47 is three hours and 47 minutes. if RAW files (2.5k) only available on card 45 mins. so two SD cards.
-focus peaking. draws green like around object. not relying on eyes to tell you if it’s in focus.
-setting in top left, metadata. imbed info in files. eg whole film in a day. shots, imbed information in each file. you’re able to categorise.
-if on tripod , another slot. So hangs at back.
-SD card reader. will plug in simply...
-black border: standard. Will also download black borders. on google. PNGs. actually make video export so the borders are white... but if wall, black border..
-premier pro. pretty accessible. LinkedIn learning. basics. And if advanced. can ask them.
-normally with this camera the first time. have a chat about what you need specifically for your project.