FD Lens resource

FD Lenses, at least the Canon ones that I have, are cheap and potentially of beautiful vintage quality.  I usually use this website as a cross reference to check the specifications.

This, ebay, youtube and vimeo are a great way to research a lens I think :)

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/canon/fdresources/fdlenses/index.htm

Canon 55mm f1.2 FD -> EF Conversion

Getting an FD lens to work on an EF camera:
http://www.ganymeta.org/~darren/photo_f1.2_conversion.php

Walters Camera Repair Shop - Downtown Los Angeles

www.walterscamerarepairs.com/

Walter seemed like a very experienced, knowledgeable, honest and friendly guy.  Haven't used him yet as he talked me out of a repair, but would certainly consider working with him.

New Sensor Technology

Very impressive leap in sensor technology.  Bye-bye noisy low light footage?  Here's hoping.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8580372.stm

Success beyond expectation!

Well isn't this a turn up for the books.  After many months of trying I have finally won an Iscorama 54.  Or rather more specifically, an Isco-Optic 16:9 Video Attachment with a 54mm rear optical port.  Not only that, the person I bought it from turns out to be a true gentleman, kindly giving much valuable advice.

Essentially, this would appear to be the perfect adaptor, in my view.  It has a 1.33x horiz squeeze (on account of it being intended to turn 4:3 to 16:9.  Of course this means that it turns a 16:9 native camera like the Lumix into a 2.35:1 device.  Perfect!  I didn't even know these existed.  It is optically wonderful.

You set the taking lens (FD Primes in my case) to infinite focus (or sometimes just under) and then focusing to your heart's content using the Isco's focus ring, which is smooth and controllable.  The adaptor even has a locking system to allow you to orientate the anamorphot so that it's correctly vertical.   That's really really useful.  No more messing around with tape on the ring threads to change the bite point, or using a star filter with the glass smashed out to give you rotational freedom.

Honestly, I couldn't be happier.  It's a heavy so and so, but sturdy and the camera/lens assembly deals with it well, though will probably get a rails/rod support system at some point.

But anyway, I'm a very happy bunny.  I just wish I had two cos I'm permanently paranoid about dropping it!  If you find one of these, get it.  No thought required.

Connected - post apocalyptic short film

A thoroughly inspiring and thought provoking film.  Great visuals and story.  In my humble opinion losing more of the far cityscape to dof blur a little more would have helped believability a little, plus perhaps an over-cranked camera look to slow things down and add some weight would have been nice on a few shots too.
http://www.ov43.com/

Gorgeous fluid based animation

Superb fluid dynamics work with Real Flow.  It's come a long way since I used it first in 2001!

http://www.realflow.com/n_cs_aparadise.htm
and then there is..
http://www.fubiz.net/2010/03/05/nokta-animation/
and not to forget this..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev9XpmS6Ugs

trade. - A Splintersilk Film (our first short film)

 

"It can be great when you try to find your­self. It's a dif­fer­ent mat­ter when your­self comes look­ing for you. "

So here it is, our first short film.  Filmed on a couple of early mornings in my appartment building.  It came about as a result of a few things, including some visual iconography that I find disturbing but intriguing.  We tried to keep them subtle here - see if you can spot them.

I toyed with using a song called Choke by Hybrid as the audio, but despite loving the tune it really didn't work.  It was too upbeat defeated some of the narrative.  I ended up doing the sound design from scratch using the same tools I use for music.  Ended up being great fun, except one particular sound component kept scaring the crap out of me and found I had to work on it during the day hahah!  I know..  Very sad, but woefully true.

The first shot in the whole thing was conceived as a result of a good friend sending me youtube links in our hunt to validate lenses and cameras (in this case the Panasonic Lumix GH1 and Canon FD 135mm/f2.5 lens) as used to (I think) beautiful effect here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykYA7TUd8hk (go to 0:56)
In fact I used the same combination in the corresponding part of trade.

Anyway, enough blabber.  Hope you enjoy :)

Noktor - f/0.95 aperture

Beautifully fast low light response, hideous bokeh at $750..

Solution a) spend $11,000 and get a Leika f/0.95 instead
Solution b) wait for a better camera with higher iso but as flexible and alias free as the GH1
Solution c) use this lens when it's appropriate and don't when it's not.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/theleggett/sets/72157623527995554/
vs
http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2010/03/03/more-noktor-0-95-and-e-p2-samples/

by
http://www.noktor.com