wildlife footage/nature

Hi everyone... I just registered in this forum...
I am planning to shoot some wildlife footage.. nature, outdoor stuff. I haven't seen much done in this specific field with the BM cameras. The new G2 BM, seems to have a few specs that made me interested in this camera to perhaps consider it. I know the ISO is not the best for outdoor shooting, but the RAW high resolution & the high frames per second, (150 in 4K), made it appealing some how.

Again I haven't seen any footage out there when it comes to wildlife... and nature. Does anyone knows or any DP or director out there is shooting this kind of material with these cameras. I also know that the G2 is not shipping as of now.. perhaps justa few out there.
Any suggestion, comments or links would be very much appreciated
TY, Gabriel\
NY-USA

Hi there,
In between jobs i like to unwind in nature and take my cam along and shoot footage (mostly birds) in the forests and wetlands.
I sometimes do jobs for NGO's and can use this footage to illustrate stories about nature.
I'll p.m. you a link with some material i use as a demo. Most footage is shot on the Ursa Mini G1 60fps. Lens is a sigma 150-600 sometimes using a x2 extender. Focussing is hard without a good EVF, i use the Zacuto grammatical eye. Cheers Tom

Actually there is wildlife footage the guy named Garth de Bruno Austin shot some

Hi Gabriel,

I am not a full time wildlife cinematographer, but I do spend a lot of time filming nature-related content, both client-based and also a lot of personal natural history projects. I've spent the last three years using the Ursa Mini 4.6K for this, but have recently been relying more and more on our 4K pockets.

The Ursa Mini is an incredible camera for wildlife, especially with the wider dynamic range (as compared to the pockets). The G2 will certainly prove to be even better with its 120 fps in 4K+.

Most of what you see in the following link was shot with the UM46 (except for the first video and the spider, that was all with the BMCC/Original Pocket):

http://www.theunderstory.co/natural-history

Here are a few stills from various projects, shot on the original Ursa Mini.

Hi Fabian, don't want to go off topic here, but I was wondering if you could share some wildlife stills or videos you did with the Pocket4K as a comparison? Thanks!

Most of what you see in the following link was shot with the UM46 (except for the first video and the spider, that was all with the BMCC/Original Pocket):

The moulting spider is amazing! I've watched lots of arthropods shed their exoskeletons but never a spider. I had a friend who shot wildlife films for the BBC and she described it as something like 160 hours of boredom punctuated by 40 seconds of unforgettable action. You must have been really patient or really lucky (or both) to get that shot.

Lots of lovely footage overall.

Most of what you see in the following link was shot with the UM46 (except for the first video and the spider, that was all with the BMCC/Original Pocket):

The moulting spider is amazing! I've watched lots of arthropods shed their exoskeletons but never a spider. I had a friend who shot wildlife films for the BBC and she described it as something like 160 hours of boredom punctuated by 40 seconds of unforgettable action. You must have been really patient or really lucky (or both) to get that shot.

Lots of lovely footage overall.

Thanks for the note, Brad. The tarantula in ecdysis was certainly a little bit of both-- some patience (about a year looking for clues so I could be prepared for it), and even more luck in that I happened to be around when the process was about to start. They build a "bed" of web several days before shedding, and then they flip over on their back right before the process begins. The process lasted several hours and I had a BMCC and the original pocket in timelapse mode and walked away. I only wish I had built a more naturalistic enclosure for her to avoid getting the plastic container in the shot.

Cheers!

Hi Fabian, don't want to go off topic here, but I was wondering if you could share some wildlife stills or videos you did with the Pocket4K as a comparison? Thanks!

Hey Alessandro,

Here are three recent stills with the pocket-- I believe I was at braw 12:1 in 4K. There is certainly something about the Ursa Mini that renders a texture that I have not been able to replicate with the pockets, but the benefits of the pocket's size and flexibility certainly make up for the differences, in my mind.







Also, here's a little piece I cut recently after a day spent on the coast (temporary grade). Also on the pocket in braw.

https://vimeo.com/335648945/e3be9404f1

Fabián - some great images you have there. As I'm also interested in doing some wildlife shots with the BMPCC 4K - mainly small mammals and birds - can I ask what lenses you use for these type of shots?

At the moment I'm on quite a low budget, so in terms of 'value' I'm thinking of getting a used four-thirds Olympus 50-200mm f2.8-3.5 off ebay and using an micro 43 adaptor with it. This will give me a 35mm equivalent reach of 100 - 400mm.

Fabian your work looks amazing, would love to see your grading process.

Oh my, you guys have shot some incredible things!
I recently took a hike with a friend. we carried an UMP with the tripod and accessories, 9km in each direction on foot, just to take some shots of vultures. It didn't turn out very good, here's the clip:

shot with a cheap 55-250 Canon lens and Sigma 18-35.

Here's a fun project I did on the BMPCC4K with the Sigma 150-600mm (nikon mount) and Olympus 60mm Macro.

The Pocket 4K is a great camera for natural history specially if you need to trek a long way. The Broadcast Ursa does a great job too but I've ordered the G2, the high 4K frame rate will make a big difference to how I work.

Taking a bit different approach:
Pocket 4K with 100mm Tokina Macro Lens at 120fps 1080p24 - HANDHELD

I used Braw Q0, ISO 6400 (high range), f8 and 1/5000sec shutter speed. There is no noise reduction here although it does do a nice job. There is various motion stability and some motion blur added.

and
Pocket 4K with 100mm Tokina Macro Lens at 48fps 2160p24, Braw Q0 - HANDHELD
delivered 1080p24

Note seeing the bug then the bird's head turns to follow. The next one becomes a snack. With a typical shutter angle the bug would not have been seen. But fast shutter speed (small shutter angle) give staccato effect. My objective was to get a staccato sharpness for the stabilization and then to add motion blur to the moving things. However, motion blur did not work so well here as the moving objects were too small or too far (fast) between frames. What would happen with motion blur of the bug was that in the leading and following frames the bug would be added half opaque on either side of the flight path of the bug in frame. (three dots... dim, full, dim would appear.) What I want is the bug to be a dash with a length related to the shutter angle of the motion blur.

Anyways, as I said, another consideration for wildlife (being mobile.)

Really loving all these examples from everyone. My former career was in herpetology, so I especially enjoyed the toads sequence. The pocket is certainly a little powerhouse.

I recently took a hike with a friend. we carried an UMP with the tripod and accessories, 9km in each direction on foot, just to take some shots of vultures.

Thanks for sharing. That's always the hardest obstacle to overcome-- the exhaustion. But it's almost always worth it, isn't it?

I'm also interested in doing some wildlife shots with the BMPCC 4K - mainly small mammals and birds - can I ask what lenses you use for these type of shots?

Thanks, Tim. I shot most of these with Canon and Sigma EF lenses. My telephoto lens has been a Canon 70-200 L MK2, and a Metabones speedbooster to take advantage of the IS. Recently, I've been using more all-manual MFT glass on the pockets and I absolutely love shedding all that weight. I'm giving up IS, but I'm also rigging up our pockets more fully so I'm not missing the Canon's stabilization. I also got to see a friend's Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 12mm-100mm F/4.0, and was impressed by its build and versatility. For wildlife, the f/4.0 speed also gives you a little more room to nail focus, and it's a stabilized lens.

Fabian your work looks amazing, would love to see your grading process.

Hey Andrea, thank you very much. I am not a professional colorist so I have much to learn, but my process usually includes a balance node + transform node (usually BMD's extended video LUT) + secondaries (usually HSL, saturation and other color adjustments) + vignette or power windows. Sometimes I'll use a creative LUT like FilmConvert or other film emulation LUTs near the end of the chain, but usually not at 100% gain (key output), usually in that order.

Not that I feel good enough to play with you pros, but this is my very first bmpcc4k test with the Sigma 150mm 2.8 APO Macro DG HSM with non-optical K&F Concept Nikon->MFT adapter ...
Filmed with 24p and BRAW 8:1, colors where fixed via Datacolor SpyderCheckr

Some bees and other insects in our garden. Love my new cam and rig
greets
Mike

Beautiful macro work, Michael; thanks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Fabián, what FilmConvert LUT do you use. I really like the warm look of your images.

Fabián, what FilmConvert LUT do you use. I really like the warm look of your images.

Thanks, Pete. I usually stick to KD Vis3, but it's usually not at full strength. All my saturation and hue controls are done primarily via HSL curves and wheels.

Hi Gabriel,

here is some more nature footage I shot today on the BMPCC4K and Ursa Broadcast. The Broadcast is a great Wildlife camera, the sensor crop on Nikon and Canon lenses really helps to get in close. I used the Sigma 150-600mm (Nikon mount) and Olympus 40-150Pro lenses.
The Sigma looks really beautiful on the Broadcast.

Like you I've ordered the Ursa Pro G2 primarily for the frame rates. At the moment I'm limited to 120fps at HD on the Pocket4K as the highest rate for the Broadcast is 60FPS.

Beautiful work Fabian and nice to see you have not overdone the Slo-mo. Lots of hours work there for sure.

How do you learn to take such pictures? Is it some kind of talent or?

I shoot all my personal natural history footage with the mini 4.6k. Been doing so for years and I like it a lot. I'm hoping for a 6k high frame rate pro to be announced and would definitely upgrade to that. I use Reds on most commissioned work since it's the default that production companies want and they have pre roll (huge plus) and better high speed. But, nothing wrong with BM rigs in the wild! Here's a clip from last week with the mini 4.6k.

Nice work Garth. Oh don't I wish the Ursa had pre-roll!

some nature clips from this summer on the channel eleni999. Pocket 4k camera and cheap photography lenses.