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Long Telephotos for Nature Shooting on the BMCC

https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6983

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Long Telephotos for Nature Shooting on the BMCC

PostPosted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 3:23 am
by ChrisBarcellos
I tried out some test shot of a 500 mm Rokinon F 6.3 Mirror Lense today, and find that it may work just fine for nature shooters. See test sample clips here:

Re: Long Telephotos for Nature Shooting on the BMCC

PostPosted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 4:13 am
by Peter J. DeCrescenzo
This is a topic I'm curious about, so thank you very much for sharing. Your footage looks quite good. Although I kept wishing a bird would appear. :D Cheers.

Re: Long Telephotos for Nature Shooting on the BMCC

PostPosted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 4:21 am
by ChrisBarcellos
edited and removed due to inadvertant double post.

Re: Long Telephotos for Nature Shooting on the BMCC

PostPosted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 4:26 am
by ChrisBarcellos
ChrisBarcellos wrote:In the bright daylight, may be an issue because the lens is fixed aperture, and I have not been able to locate rear NDs for the lens. But I will go to local bird sanctuary this weekend for some shooting, I hope. Will post some results.

Re: Long Telephotos for Nature Shooting on the BMCC

PostPosted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 4:42 am
by Benton Collins
The footage does look good overall. But my main gripe with using a mirror lens is the odd ring shaped highlights it produces. When these show up, it makes for a very distracting bokeh.

Re: Long Telephotos for Nature Shooting on the BMCC

PostPosted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 4:55 am
by Rakesh Malik
Benton wrote:The footage does look good overall. But my main gripe with using a mirror lens is the odd ring shaped highlights it produces. When these show up, it makes for a very distracting bokeh.


It can be distracting, but it can also look like a painted background. You just have to be careful about how you frame your shots to account for the oddball bokeh and take advantage of its unusual nature.

Here's one example:
http://whitecranephoto.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/North-Creek-Park/G0000q0UM0tkfh3k/I000082AOMCLXBxg/C00005guAwBnfQPc

I shot this on my Nex-7 using a Minolta 500mm f/8 mirror lens. I am hoping to use this lens for similar sorts of photography with my Black Magic cameras :)

Re: Long Telephotos for Nature Shooting on the BMCC

PostPosted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 1:00 pm
by Joseph Ciccarella
Tamerlin wrote:
Benton wrote:The footage does look good overall. But my main gripe with using a mirror lens is the odd ring shaped highlights it produces. When these show up, it makes for a very distracting bokeh.


It can be distracting, but it can also look like a painted background. You just have to be careful about how you frame your shots to account for the oddball bokeh and take advantage of its unusual nature.


I kinda like the bokeh. May not work in all situations but I agree with you that it has a painterly effect, almost impressionistic.

Re: Long Telephotos for Nature Shooting on the BMCC

PostPosted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 1:06 pm
by Rakesh Malik
Thanks :)

I agree, it doesn't always work, but what else is new in photography? :)

Re: Long Telephotos for Nature Shooting on the BMCC

PostPosted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 10:14 pm
by ChrisBarcellos
Peter J. DeCrescenzo wrote:This is a topic I'm curious about, so thank you very much for sharing. Your footage looks quite good. Although I kept wishing a bird would appear. :D Cheers.


Per your request Peter. Had some time to go out to local bird preserve and shoot some more footage with the 500 mirror lens to give a better feel. Clips provided are lightly graded. With the bright conditions, had to shoot at 45 degree angle and still had slight zebras in birds white areas. This footage shows some good, but also shows need to sandbag or weight the tripod.

Re: Long Telephotos for Nature Shooting on the BMCC

PostPosted: Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:27 pm
by Rakesh Malik
The image quality is promising, especially for an ungraded, unedited series of test shots. My mirror lens is an f/8, so I might look into that Rokinon one :)

Every little bit of movement feels huge when you're shooting at 500 mm. Even a moderate breeze can jostle a shot quite a bit!

Re: Long Telephotos for Nature Shooting on the BMCC

PostPosted: Mon Apr 15, 2013 2:13 am
by Peter J. DeCrescenzo
ChrisBarcellos wrote:
Peter J. DeCrescenzo wrote:This is a topic I'm curious about, so thank you very much for sharing. Your footage looks quite good. Although I kept wishing a bird would appear. :D Cheers.


Per your request Peter. Had some time to go out to local bird preserve and shoot some more footage with the 500 mirror lens to give a better feel. Clips provided are lightly graded. With the bright conditions, had to shoot at 45 degree angle and still had slight zebras in birds white areas. This footage shows some good, but also shows need to sandbag or weight the tripod.



Hi Chris: Thanks for that! I sometimes shoot with a GH2 in ETC (sensor crop) mode with a 300mm lens, so I appreciate the "reach" in your clips!

I notice some of the bird's white feathers are over-exposed. You can set zebras to 100%, and then reduce exposure so no zebras are displayed while recording to avoid clipping.

Your video reminds me why I pre-ordered a BMPC-4K: Global shutter = no "jello". :-)

Re: Long Telephotos for Nature Shooting on the BMCC

PostPosted: Mon Apr 15, 2013 3:20 am
by ChrisBarcellos
Peter J. DeCrescenzo wrote:I notice some of the bird's white feathers are over-exposed. You can set zebras to 100%, and then reduce exposure so no zebras are displayed while recording to avoid clipping.

Your video reminds me why I pre-ordered a BMPC-4K: Global shutter = no "jello". :-)


Peter:

First, the mirror lens is fixed aperture. No adjustment of exposure except by ISO/ASA or shutter. In this case I had it set at 45 degree shutter which is minimum shutter exposure, and at 200 ASA which is minimum ISO speed. I did not have an ND for the front side or rear of lens, so that was a low as my exposure would go. I was stuck with that as the best exposure I could get.

As far as jello and other rolling shutter effects, I noticed in the early days of 5D that the so called jello effect would be greatly reduced in most situation by shooting at lower shutter speeds. This is counter intuitive to still photographers because they believe faster shutter speed mean sharper image. Motion blur is part of motion picture technology and shoot at 1/48 (180 degrees) in a 24 fps setting will greatly reduce the jello and stacatto effect.

Re: Long Telephotos for Nature Shooting on the BMCC

PostPosted: Mon Apr 15, 2013 4:08 am
by Peter J. DeCrescenzo
If you can find a suitable step-down ring, perhaps you can fit a large-diameter, quality vari-ND filter (such as the Genus Eclipse) to the front of your mirror lens.