- Posts: 44
- Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2012 2:14 am
Tue Aug 27, 2013 3:49 pm
After waiting for my MFT since last September (and subsequently switching to a 4K model) I finally had my first chance to shoot something on the BMCC EF model, borrowed from a friend. I thought I would post a few thoughts on working with it.
First the kit-it was pretty straight forward. BMCC, shoulder mount, anton bauer power, alphetronic VF, follow focus, mattebox. All my lenses are out of town at the moment, so I borrowed a few different lenses, but ended up staying on the Sigma 17-70.
The camera is fantastic to work with, and odd compared to most cameras. I basically reverted to my normal MO when working with film. When watching the footage it is odd to see an image that is flatter than your eyes. Most of the lighting was dramatic and contrasty, yet to see it on the VF it looked flat and boring. I had expected that, but it was a little unnerving. At least with film, your seeing the image on a ground glass with your own eyes.
I can't stress enough how useful a light meter is with this camera. I normally keep one on me, but generally only use it to check the key light, so I can light to a stop without needing to check monitor all the time. Contrast is usually done by eye, and checked on the monitor. However with the BMCC, there was no joy on the monitor, since there was essentially no contrast. So I went with normal values I have worked with in film to double check my eyes. As an added bonus it helped me to match values on turn around and relights.
I also did not want to follow the ETTR method, since it was explained to me as setting zebra to 100 and stopping down just below clipping. Seems like a simple method, but in video and in film I always like skin tone value and key light to hit the same point on the exposure curve. This is very hard to do by eye on the BMCC. In film mode the difference between exposure and a stop or two under or over is very slight. To be able to consistently hit proper exposure would have been difficult without a light meter (although I did set the alphetronic VF to 50% zebra and used that as a skin tone check if I ever wanted to check my over/under).
I should note another similarity to film-rating. In film I would usually rate my film 2/3 stops below its actual rating. After doing some tests with the BMCC I decided it was necessary to rate the camera at 400. I shot raw, set at 800, but treated it in all respects as 400. This method worked out really well, and looking at the waveform in the dailies grade, it gave me quite a fat negative, so to speak.
Workflow wise, it is all quite straight forward. We shot about 4 mags a day (3x250gB, 1x180gB). That was transferred on set to hard drive, off set was backed up, then footage came home with me for dailies grade. In grade I added a look to get to where I want it to land in the end. Using a light meter I feel really helped this process, all the exposure was dead-on consistent, so I could basically do a one-light and apply that to all the clips. I must admit however I did some tweeking set-up to set-up to see what was possible with the image. As most of you already know, it is amazing.
I exported the dailies as quicktime H264 files, these will go to the editor, then conformed in resolve for final grade and deliverables. All in all the process was quite pleasant. One thing I had to laugh about was some early reports that said the camera was heavy. At 3.3lbs it was featherweight to what I am used to. Thankfully fully loaded with the whole rig and the Hytron 140 batteries, the camera weighed in at a well balanced 20lbs. Enough to give it heft and mass in its handheld quality, but light enough to shoot 12 hours a day with.
I don't want to post any grades or footage until the director approves it, but until then I suppose I can at least post a pic he's put public of the camera sitting on the set. shows off the rig nicely.
First the kit-it was pretty straight forward. BMCC, shoulder mount, anton bauer power, alphetronic VF, follow focus, mattebox. All my lenses are out of town at the moment, so I borrowed a few different lenses, but ended up staying on the Sigma 17-70.
The camera is fantastic to work with, and odd compared to most cameras. I basically reverted to my normal MO when working with film. When watching the footage it is odd to see an image that is flatter than your eyes. Most of the lighting was dramatic and contrasty, yet to see it on the VF it looked flat and boring. I had expected that, but it was a little unnerving. At least with film, your seeing the image on a ground glass with your own eyes.
I can't stress enough how useful a light meter is with this camera. I normally keep one on me, but generally only use it to check the key light, so I can light to a stop without needing to check monitor all the time. Contrast is usually done by eye, and checked on the monitor. However with the BMCC, there was no joy on the monitor, since there was essentially no contrast. So I went with normal values I have worked with in film to double check my eyes. As an added bonus it helped me to match values on turn around and relights.
I also did not want to follow the ETTR method, since it was explained to me as setting zebra to 100 and stopping down just below clipping. Seems like a simple method, but in video and in film I always like skin tone value and key light to hit the same point on the exposure curve. This is very hard to do by eye on the BMCC. In film mode the difference between exposure and a stop or two under or over is very slight. To be able to consistently hit proper exposure would have been difficult without a light meter (although I did set the alphetronic VF to 50% zebra and used that as a skin tone check if I ever wanted to check my over/under).
I should note another similarity to film-rating. In film I would usually rate my film 2/3 stops below its actual rating. After doing some tests with the BMCC I decided it was necessary to rate the camera at 400. I shot raw, set at 800, but treated it in all respects as 400. This method worked out really well, and looking at the waveform in the dailies grade, it gave me quite a fat negative, so to speak.
Workflow wise, it is all quite straight forward. We shot about 4 mags a day (3x250gB, 1x180gB). That was transferred on set to hard drive, off set was backed up, then footage came home with me for dailies grade. In grade I added a look to get to where I want it to land in the end. Using a light meter I feel really helped this process, all the exposure was dead-on consistent, so I could basically do a one-light and apply that to all the clips. I must admit however I did some tweeking set-up to set-up to see what was possible with the image. As most of you already know, it is amazing.
I exported the dailies as quicktime H264 files, these will go to the editor, then conformed in resolve for final grade and deliverables. All in all the process was quite pleasant. One thing I had to laugh about was some early reports that said the camera was heavy. At 3.3lbs it was featherweight to what I am used to. Thankfully fully loaded with the whole rig and the Hytron 140 batteries, the camera weighed in at a well balanced 20lbs. Enough to give it heft and mass in its handheld quality, but light enough to shoot 12 hours a day with.
I don't want to post any grades or footage until the director approves it, but until then I suppose I can at least post a pic he's put public of the camera sitting on the set. shows off the rig nicely.
- BIR.jpg (213.46 KiB) Viewed 5334 times
Michael Collier, II
Cinematographer - Gaffer - Camera Operator
http://www.RandomAcronym.com
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3075740/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
Cinematographer - Gaffer - Camera Operator
http://www.RandomAcronym.com
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3075740/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
