Mexico Footage

Hi Guys,



I shot this on a recent trip to Mexico. The description is on the vimeo page.

I have to say that I'm LOVING this camera! And it's cool that they're listening and making it better. I read that the new firmware will have variable frame rates, which was my number one request. Can't wait to download and install that.

Looks great! Which lens(es) did you use?

PS: Where did you read about variable frame rates? I thought it was just a time-lapse feature?

Even the airport looks amazing with this camera!

Love the shots..thanks for sharing!

Andrew this footage looks really stunning, not in a film way but in a comercial way, the colors are awesome.

Looks great! Which lens(es) did you use?

PS: Where did you read about variable frame rates? I thought it was just a time-lapse feature?

Thanks! Mostly the Sigma 8-16mm, but I also used the Canon 24-70 and 70-200 is II

Yeah, I guess it's not fully variable frame rates, but I read it was like 1-10 fps and also intervals in minutes and that more options were coming. This opens up many great possibilities!

Even the airport looks amazing with this camera!

Love the shots..thanks for sharing!

Andrew this footage looks really stunning, not in a film way but in a comercial way, the colors are awesome.

Thanks guys! I had fun experimenting with the various grades. That's the killer feature of this camera, uncompressed raw that you can grade in almost any color app you choose. It doesn't hurt at all the it comes with the best grading app either. I need to get my workstation in order and learn Resolve. I feel like I'll have much better control over the image in Resolve.

Yeah, I guess it's not fully variable frame rates, but I read it was like 1-10 fps and also intervals in minutes and that more options were coming. This opens up many great possibilities!

I thought it was 1 frame per 1-10 seconds? I hope I am wrong though, I'd really like some low FPS options.

Wow! Very talented, Andrew.

I am doing a road trip next summer with some friends travelling through 9 countries in 4 days and cannot wait to take this camera with me!!

Thank you for sharing.

Yeah, I guess it's not fully variable frame rates, but I read it was like 1-10 fps and also intervals in minutes and that more options were coming. This opens up many great possibilities!

I thought it was 1 frame per 1-10 seconds? I hope I am wrong though, I'd really like some low FPS options.

I guess I read what I wanted to see. You're right, it's 1 frame every 1-10 seconds. Still very cool, but I hope we can see 2-24fps included eventually. There are just so many things you could use that for.

Stunning. The dynamic range and detail in the image continues to blow me away. Especially when the next cameras with these kind of detail are $15-20,000.

Wow! Very talented, Andrew.

Thanks!

I am doing a road trip next summer with some friends travelling through 9 countries in 4 days and cannot wait to take this camera with me!!

Assuming you have your camera by then! Just kidding of course, just a friendly low blow from a guy who thinks that BMD has shown us the future of cinema cameras. It's a relief they'll be shipping in larger numbers soon. I know it hasn't been fun for them or for us waiting, but I can tell you that this camera is absolutely worth the wait! Good luck on your trip, that sounds really fun!

Stunning. The dynamic range and detail in the image continues to blow me away. Especially when the next cameras with these kind of detail are $15-20,000.

Thanks Nick, that's just the thing. I know how difficult the wait is, but what are you going to buy if you look elsewhere? Nothing even comes close in this price range imo.

Very nice Andrew. Love the colours! It can almost pass for a tourist board corporate video!

Have you intentionally made it washed out/over exposed in some areas? I would love to see what some of the shot footage would look like with the exposure dropped down by a few stops and the saturation increased a little to keep those beautiful colours you managed to get.

Nice job!

This footage looks fantastic. Even knowing how vimeo will compress it you can see the difference the 2.5K original makes. It's great to see what the camera can do out in the real world. And you did it all without expensive CP2 primes. A good camera and a good shooter gives great results.

Thanks so much for sharing this with the masses, Andrew. It is very much appreciated.

I can't help but wonder what Panasonic, Sony and JVC will have to answer the challenge Blackmagic is throwing out here. Although if BM can continue to deliver in larger quantities at $2995 it might not matter.

How is the BMCC on the Blackbird Stabiliser? Also, did you do any software-based stabilising as well in post?

Very nice Andrew. Love the colours! It can almost pass for a tourist board corporate video!

Have you intentionally made it washed out/over exposed in some areas? I would love to see what some of the shot footage would look like with the exposure dropped down by a few stops and the saturation increased a little to keep those beautiful colours you managed to get.

Nice job!

Yeah, I chose to lift the blacks in many of the shots. I like the feel this can give footage.

What shot specifically do you want to see at a lower exposure and more saturation? I'll give it a go.

This footage looks fantastic. Even knowing how vimeo will compress it you can see the difference the 2.5K original makes. It's great to see what the camera can do out in the real world. And you did it all without expensive CP2 primes. A good camera and a good shooter gives great results.

Thanks so much for sharing this with the masses, Andrew. It is very much appreciated.

I can't help but wonder what Panasonic, Sony and JVC will have to answer the challenge Blackmagic is throwing out here. Although if BM can continue to deliver in larger quantities at $2995 it might not matter.

Thanks James. NAB will be interesting, but honestly I just want to shoot with my bmcc and try to shake the "new gear" syndrome for awhile.

How is the BMCC on the Blackbird Stabiliser? Also, did you do any software-based stabilising as well in post?

The bmcc is great on the blackbird! I did stabilize a handful of shots but none that were on the blackbird. I stabilized some hand held shots, some boat shots, and some driving shots.

How is the BMCC on the Blackbird Stabiliser? Also, did you do any software-based stabilising as well in post?

The bmcc is great on the blackbird! I did stabilize a handful of shots but none that were on the blackbird. I stabilized some hand held shots, some boat shots, and some driving shots.

It does look good! Do you by any chance have some longer shots done on the Blackbird stabiliser?

How is the BMCC on the Blackbird Stabiliser? Also, did you do any software-based stabilising as well in post?

The bmcc is great on the blackbird! I did stabilize a handful of shots but none that were on the blackbird. I stabilized some hand held shots, some boat shots, and some driving shots.

It does look good! Do you by any chance have some longer shots done on the Blackbird stabiliser?

Yeah, they're all actually longer. I had to shorten the clips to fit the song and to squeeze them all into 4 min or so.

I'll try to upload something with longer stabilizer takes sometime, but don't count on it soon.

Hi Andrew,
The sky seems a little over exposed in some shot e.g 2:35. Does lightroom have the facility to select certain section of the picture ala Resolve to reduce the exposure of certain parts of the picture? Also, as you stated the blacks seemed a little raised in sections.

I know this might be asking a lot, but I like the pictures so much could you possibly do a correction for me with black just above 0v (guessing you have a waveform monitor in lightroom?) and the exposure lower with more saturation?

Thanks
Costa

It all looks quite nice indeed.

I am curious about the last scene at the airport, where you are sliding along a corridor looking out a window at a United plane. There is some kind of unusual fine grain-type effect in that shot that is not in the other shots. The effect is present across the entire frame, and I don't know what it is. Did you do something different with that shot? Any ideas what that is?

wow, brilliant.

I imagine most of these shots were just run and gun captures right? Like you didn't have time to sit there and figure out exact setups for each shot?

this camera is definitely delivering some amazing images...now if only I could get the camera delivered!

Hi Andrew,
The sky seems a little over exposed in some shot e.g 2:35. Does lightroom have the facility to select certain section of the picture ala Resolve to reduce the exposure of certain parts of the picture? Also, as you stated the blacks seemed a little raised in sections.

I know this might be asking a lot, but I like the pictures so much could you possibly do a correction for me with black just above 0v (guessing you have a waveform monitor in lightroom?) and the exposure lower with more saturation?

Thanks
Costa

That shot is a little hot isn't it? You bring up a good point though, you can bring more detail from the sky, but it results in an image that is a less accurate representation of the scene. It was one of those days with cloud cover and direct sun hitting the clouds. Looking at the sky was difficult because of how super bright it was. It's the type of shot that on another format you would just let it clip completely. At least in the shot there is detail up there so if you choose to bring it back there's something to look at. Other shots from that day had a super bright sky with almost zero detail in the clouds.

Anyways, here are a few different takes. First with a secondary to show more sky detail, then the version in the film, and then one along the lines of what you requested. I really like the one with the most sky detail, but again it's the least accurate to the scene. How much that matters is a personal preference. I'm not one who requires the grade to look exactly like real life. That's kind of impossible I think, but this version does make it seem like a darker day than it actually was. Even though there were clouds, it was a really bright day!

When I reprocess this image, I'll bring the exposure down a bit, and if I do it in Resolve add a secondary to show a bit more sky, but probably keep the lifted blacks. It's a look I feel works really well for the shot.

It all looks quite nice indeed.

I am curious about the last scene at the airport, where you are sliding along a corridor looking out a window at a United plane. There is some kind of unusual fine grain-type effect in that shot that is not in the other shots. The effect is present across the entire frame, and I don't know what it is. Did you do something different with that shot? Any ideas what that is?

Ah, good eye! Yeah, I was playing around with the idea of adding grain later and was using the LR grain function to preview the look. I forgot to turn it off on that shot. Since LR isn't meant for motion, the grain doesn't actually move from frame to frame. I didn't notice until I was cutting it and was just too lazy to go back. I'm going to update the film with a few minor changes including that sometime.

wow, brilliant.

I imagine most of these shots were just run and gun captures right? Like you didn't have time to sit there and figure out exact setups for each shot?

this camera is definitely delivering some amazing images...now if only I could get the camera delivered!

Yeah Sean, it was just me with my camera on a trip to Mexico. Pretty run and gun, but I tried to work out most of the shots before I hit roll. That's one of the benefits of shooting raw and having such limited space to record. It really made me slow down and find the shots I wanted. Many times I'd do a test run without recording just to see if it was the type of motion I wanted in the shot. I had no way of downloading or formatting my SSDs on this trip. It makes you shoot differently than when you have a virtually unlimited amount you can shoot.

Ah, good eye! Yeah, I was playing around with the idea of adding grain later and was using the LR grain function to preview the look. I forgot to turn it off on that shot. Since LR isn't meant for motion, the grain doesn't actually move from frame to frame. I didn't notice until I was cutting it and was just too lazy to go back. I'm going to update the film with a few minor changes including that sometime.

I did exactly the same mistake when playing around with John Brawley's DNG footage in Lightroom a few months back By the way, what did you export the frames as before putting it all together, JPEG?

Thank you for posting this video Andrew!

A quick question about working with the raw files in lightroom.. I'm not sure if either of my 2 Mac's will work with Resolve.. so Lightroom might be my Go To program for working with the cinemaDNG files.

First off I've never used lightroom.. so could you briefly explain how you bring the files into lightroom? then how you output the files into a video codec? Also.. does the audio follow the video into lightroom? or do you have to sync it up in edit?

Any help is appreciated!!!
Thanks!

EDIT: I was checking the Adobe site and see that Lightroom 4 is enabled to work with video.. nice!!

Thank you for posting this video Andrew!

A quick question about working with the raw files in lightroom.. I'm not sure if either of my 2 Mac's will work with Resolve.. so Lightroom might be my Go To program for working with the cinemaDNG files.

First off I've never used lightroom.. so could you briefly explain how you bring the files into lightroom? then how you output the files into a video codec? Also.. does the audio follow the video into lightroom? or do you have to sync it up in edit?

Any help is appreciated!!!
Thanks!

When editing John Brawley's DNG files using Lightroom, I thought it worked surprisingly well considering you're editing "a moving image" using photography tools. To be honest, coming from a photography background, I actually felt at home with this workflow. You import the frames as if they were a series of photographs and deal with the RAW frame files separately, then synchronise the colour grade to the other frames of the shot. During my tests, I exported the finished frames to JPEG at 1920x1080 resolution and 100% Image Quality, as well as post-sharpening set to "Low". I then used a freeware Mac application called Time Lapse Assembler to create an editable video file: http://www.dayofthenewdan.com/projects/ ... sembler-1/

The resulting quality blew me away and it shows that even using the most primitive editing tools (in relation to actual moving image editing software), you can achieve ridiculously good looking results. This is certainly an acceptable way to grade 2.5K RAW BMCC footage on something like a MacBook Air, which wouldn't run Resolve anyway.

I did not try the workflow using any audio, but since Lightroom has no way to "attach" sound to the images, I suppose the audio will need to be kept separate and synchronised when doing the video editing. Lightroom has some very very limited actual video features which are mostly organisational (e.g. importing h.264 footage from DSLRs together with the photographs) and playback/trimming related. You can do some very minor colour changes to h.264 footage, but since it's 8-bit compressed footage, the results aren't great.

Hi Andrew:

To follow-up on an earlier conversation: Did you figure out a reliable way to use ND filters with the Sigma 8-16mm lens without using a matte box & rails?


-

I haven't got any professional thoughts to offer, but some of the shots in this are staggering. The city shots starting around the 28 second mark look amazing (the colored flags really set it off), especially the detail on the buildings.

Hi Andrew,
The sky seems a little over exposed in some shot e.g 2:35. Does lightroom have the facility to select certain section of the picture ala Resolve to reduce the exposure of certain parts of the picture? Also, as you stated the blacks seemed a little raised in sections.

I know this might be asking a lot, but I like the pictures so much could you possibly do a correction for me with black just above 0v (guessing you have a waveform monitor in lightroom?) and the exposure lower with more saturation?

Thanks
Costa

That shot is a little hot isn't it? You bring up a good point though, you can bring more detail from the sky, but it results in an image that is a less accurate representation of the scene. It was one of those days with cloud cover and direct sun hitting the clouds. Looking at the sky was difficult because of how super bright it was. It's the type of shot that on another format you would just let it clip completely. At least in the shot there is detail up there so if you choose to bring it back there's something to look at. Other shots from that day had a super bright sky with almost zero detail in the clouds.

Anyways, here are a few different takes. First with a secondary to show more sky detail, then the version in the film, and then one along the lines of what you requested. I really like the one with the most sky detail, but again it's the least accurate to the scene. How much that matters is a personal preference. I'm not one who requires the grade to look exactly like real life. That's kind of impossible I think, but this version does make it seem like a darker day than it actually was. Even though there were clouds, it was a really bright day!

When I reprocess this image, I'll bring the exposure down a bit, and if I do it in Resolve add a secondary to show a bit more sky, but probably keep the lifted blacks. It's a look I feel works really well for the shot.

Cool - shot one is the one I was aiming for you to accomplish. It looks very nice and thanks.

Thanks for the lightroom workflow Andrew! If Resolve doesn't work on my machines I know Lightroom will work!

Thanks for the lightroom workflow Andrew! If Resolve doesn't work on my machines I know Lightroom will work!

FYI: There's additional Lightroom (and AfterEffects) BMCC-related info in Stu's latest ProLost.com blog post, titled "Let's Cook".

Fantastic! Thanks Peter! Now to get the camera!

Thanks for the lightroom workflow Andrew! If Resolve doesn't work on my machines I know Lightroom will work!

Are you on a Mac by the way? If you don't use something like Time Lapse Assembler, I suppose you can always put the JPEG sequences in a timeline and go from there.

Ah, good eye! Yeah, I was playing around with the idea of adding grain later and was using the LR grain function to preview the look. I forgot to turn it off on that shot. Since LR isn't meant for motion, the grain doesn't actually move from frame to frame. I didn't notice until I was cutting it and was just too lazy to go back. I'm going to update the film with a few minor changes including that sometime.

I did exactly the same mistake when playing around with John Brawley's DNG footage in Lightroom a few months back By the way, what did you export the frames as before putting it all together, JPEG?

Yeah LR is pretty awesome with the BMCC, but sometimes you're reminding that it was never meant to work with motion. I hope adobe makes a LR for raw video.

I exported to JPEG. Do you have any suggestions for better quality? I didn't want to deal with the file sizes of tiff and figured a high quality jpeg was pretty good after doing the major color adjustments.

I've played around with the idea of exporting compressed DNG's from LR4. They are lossy and I believe only 8-bit, but they still allow many of the adjustments you can make to a raw file like setting WB.

Thank you for posting this video Andrew!

A quick question about working with the raw files in lightroom.. I'm not sure if either of my 2 Mac's will work with Resolve.. so Lightroom might be my Go To program for working with the cinemaDNG files.

First off I've never used lightroom.. so could you briefly explain how you bring the files into lightroom? then how you output the files into a video codec? Also.. does the audio follow the video into lightroom? or do you have to sync it up in edit?

Any help is appreciated!!!
Thanks!

EDIT: I was checking the Adobe site and see that Lightroom 4 is enabled to work with video.. nice!!

Hi Bill, With LR I just import all of the individual frames, color, sync setting across all frames, and then export to high quality jpeg. You can then import those jpegs into a number of editing programs as image sequences. They will act just like any other footage in your NLE.

The audio is recorded as a separate wav file and lives in the same folder as the DNGs. You could left align the audio clip with the video clip as long as you have the entire video clip. If you were dealing with a lot of audio and following a workflow like I used, you might import all of the jpegs into After Effects as image sequences. Create a new comp for each, and then left align the audio with each clip, and export as ProRes.

Check out Stu's new post about the BMCC for some good post workflow tips using Adobe products.

http://prolost.com/blog/2012/12/19/lets-cook.html

I thought it worked surprisingly well considering you're editing "a moving image" using photography tools. To be honest, coming from a photography background, I actually felt at home with this workflow.

I agree. It feels very natural since I'm used to LR and the files from the BMCC are as good or better (with lower resolution of course) than still frames from DSLRs I've used.

I need to dive deeper into Resolve. I'd love to see a program that mixed some of the tools in LR with all the power of Resolve. Resolve is a powerful beast, and while I've gotten up to speed with it, I feel it will take time to master. With LR I've already put quite a bit of time and it's refreshing to see the BMCC files work just as I'd expect them to in that app.

Hi Andrew:

To follow-up on an earlier conversation: Did you figure out a reliable way to use ND filters with the Sigma 8-16mm lens without using a matte box & rails?


-

Not quite yet. I didn't use any ND on the 8-16mm for this. On the Snow Canyon shoot I did with the camera, I assumed that the BMCC adjusts the lens' aperture in 1/3 stops. I later discovered that it's actually done in 1/4 stops. This meant that I wasn't stopping the lens down as far for the first shoot as I was in Mexico.

Since I want everything to be sharp and in focus when shooting ultra wide angle, I don't mind stopping the lens down, but I am cautious not to go too far. Ideally with this camera and lens I don't want to go past f11 to avoid diffraction making my image soft.

At f11 I could shoot at a comfortable shutter speed even during the day. Sometimes I'd go a little beyond f11 or use a slightly fast shutter speed than I'd like, but mostly it worked well.

I am looking at filter options for this lens and am leaning toward options that will let me use filter on it even when used on a larger sensor. It's nice to invest in things that are a bit future proof.

Here are some options I'm looking at. The filters are all HUGE and will be quite expensive, but what can you do?

http://www.stockholmviews.com/sigma_8-1 ... lters.html
http://fotodioxpro.com/index.php/wonder ... -lens.html

I'm leaning toward the Fotodiox Wonderpana with 66 upgrade.

I haven't got any professional thoughts to offer, but some of the shots in this are staggering. The city shots starting around the 28 second mark look amazing (the colored flags really set it off), especially the detail on the buildings.

Thanks Paul! Yes, the shot of the church with the flags is one of my favorite!

Thanks for the lightroom workflow Andrew! If Resolve doesn't work on my machines I know Lightroom will work!

FYI: There's additional Lightroom (and AfterEffects) BMCC-related info in Stu's latest ProLost.com blog post, titled "Let's Cook".

Peter you beat me to it!

Thanks for the lightroom workflow Andrew! If Resolve doesn't work on my machines I know Lightroom will work!

Are you on a Mac by the way? If you don't use something like Time Lapse Assembler, I suppose you can always put the JPEG sequences in a timeline and go from there.

Quicktime Pro might be another good option for assembling image sequences.

I can't help but wonder what Panasonic, Sony and JVC will have to answer the challenge Blackmagic is throwing out here. Although if BM can continue to deliver in larger quantities at $2995 it might not matter.

This kind of footage shows you the difference between a spec sheet and final result.

I think it will be a while before the other guys can catch the "look" that BMD have been able to create for their camera. They have really done a great job nailing the colour science as well as putting a lot of DR into the image.

Yes, it's a RAW camera with everything that implies, but there is something remarkably good about the way this camera looks that goes beyond what simply shotting raw high bit depth images suggest.

As much as I love the specs sheets of the Sony cameras I've tried over the years, I've always been underwhelmed by the end results. I keep hoping I'll be turned around because I do like the way they innovate, but the pictures are the most important to me at the end of the day. I've tested many times with Sonys and never been able to choose them for a shoot.

Isn't it great to have options though ? There will be features for some shooters that are essential and that the BMCC won't do well.

I think the BMCC will become known for its image qaulity and unadulterated look, and that's why people will choose it to shoot with despite whatever shortcomings it might have for them.

It seems the same thing happened with the accidental success of the 5Dmk2. A lot of people hated the form factor after coming from "real" cameras, but the unique look meant that people found ways to work with those limitations.

JB.

I am using an iMac and MacBook with both FCP7 and FCPX.. I'm hoping Resolve will work on my iMac (no illusions it will work on the MacBook).. but I have a suspicion that it might not.. so it's nice to have options.. Of course I would rather work with complete video clips rather than thousands of still images..

I do plan on shooting most of my projects in ProRes which will work just fine in FCP.. but I also would like to shoot raw on special films..