Zeiss ZF.2 Prime Lenses

My friend recently purchased three Zeiss ZF.2 lenses - 50mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.4, 100mm f/2. He picked them up on eBay from a store in Hong Kong. He said they were a little bit cheaper than B&H.

They are indeed well designed lenses. Solid construction, flawless mechanics and great aesthetics. the picture quality is second to none. 9 aperture blades provide very smooth bokeh. accurate colours and rich tones. Film makers like to go with the ZF.2 nikon mounted variety because of the manual aperture ring. The only issue when using cheap lens mount adapters to fit Canon bodies is the play cause by the adapter. This becomes even more frustrating when using lenses with the kind of precision of zeiss primes. 

Something to note about the 100mm which lived up to its high billing as a terrific image-producing lens is that when it focuses the entire front section (about half the length of the lens) rotates and moves forward. This forward movement causes two issues 1) when using a matte box the front of the lens will rn into the filters 2) the lens belt will move away from the lens gear. also, when focusing, the lens rotate more than 360 degrees causing an issue with lens belts that clamp on via screws as they will collide with the lens gears.

Camelion Batteries for Canon 5d mk2

I picked these after market batteries made by Camelion from E-Infotech for $40 each. They power the camera but do not accurately display their level of charge. A2Z stock a battery made by Swit for $70 that do, so I would suggest going with those. The Canon LP-E6 goes for $115 at the same store.

kingston Ultimate 16GB 266x CF cards

I picked up a couple of these cards from E-Infotech in Glenfield. They are selling them for NZD$100 each. I had seen them on B&H for about USD$34 or NZD$42. I asked The guys at E-Infotech about the huge price difference and they explained that bought them in NZ and they paid a high price for them too. They offered me a discount on my next purchase. E-Infotech has been usually around the cheapest in the NZ market but it shows that it always pays to shop around.

The cards work fine with my 5d mk2 and are still loads cheaper than the Scandisk CF cards. Stay away from the 133x as they will not allow you to record the maximum duration clips.

Proaim DSLR full kit (from India)

Proaim from what I can tell is a company based in India. Their DSLR accessories range closely mimic the much coveted but over-priced Zacuto products. My friend has just received his DSLR kit including shoulder mount / camera and tripod base plate / follow focus / lcd viewfinder loupe / matte box / 7 inch monitor. He paid something like USD $1400 from www.thecinecity.com which is cheaper than the www.cincity.co.nz website.  Unfortunately I had already placed my order for a shoulder mount rig unknowingly from the latter website which I will review shortly.

In general the gear is pretty solid. The engineering may not be as precise as the genuine article but fully functional never the less.



This is an off-set shoulder mount with counter-weight. It feels reasonably comfortable with the ff mounted on the right as most of the weight fall on the left hand grip. The tripod base plate / rails are not adjustable since the rails do not go through but is comprised of four pieces that screw into either end of the base plate. With the rails included we could not fit a zeiss zf 100mm without hitting the matte box.



The view finder looks very similar to the zacuto z-finder and is very well made (possibly the best value item in the kit).



The quick release system has been well designed though there is a bit of play between the connecting parts after tightening.  The follow focus is solid but lacks a quick release system taking longer to adjust. There is no play in the gears. 5 lens gears were included three of which were two big to fit on any of the zeiss zf lenses.



The matte box is attached from the bottom (not swing-away) and feels a bit flimsy. the filter trays are made of plastic.



The 7 inch monitor has 800 x 480 resolution. there are minimal display options comparable to monitors made by Liliput. it uses a standard sony battery mount with small sony battery included. HDMI input, in-built speaker and so on.

note. The packaging is rough and the rig comes with an alarming amount of dust and grime on it. after putting together my hands were thoroughly dirty. It's kinda gross but it I like the romantic picture it triggers in my mind of the industrious if slightly chaotic Indian factory where it was produced. I'm not a label basher and welcome alternative products at competitive prices. Go the Indians!

links to helpful tutorials

Here I will post a selection of tutorials I have found helpful. Enjoy!


# Why record in LOG:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUF8xkjOnAI

# Colour correction in After Effects / Photoshop:  http://vimeo.com/14396098

# Time Lapse Flicker issue:  http://www.granitebaysoftware.com/Support/Tips/TipFlicker.aspx

HDR Timelapse

I had a go at an HDR Timelapse today. HDR or High Dynamic Range is when you take multiple shots at variable exposures and combine them later using photoshop or similar.  Here's one I took some time ago near Ponsonby road, Auckland.


In this shot I combined two exposures and pasted them together manually in photoshop. This is the most basic of HDR and there are a number of programs that do it automatically. I was a bit reluctant to try an HDR Timelapse because I hadn't figured out a efficient workflow and the thought of so many files was a bit intimidating. So I googled it and I came across this tutorial. Apparently it's pretty easy...



I added a step of importing my photos into Adobe Lightroom (which is part or my normal workflow) and exporting them with a 16:9 crop factor at 1080 X 1920. I'm assuming reducing the images will have cut down the processing time in Photomax. In Photomax I used the Enhancer - Painterly preset. Finally in QuickTime 7 I added a little contrast on export.

Photomax Lite costs US$39, Photomax Pro US$99. Download a trial version of Photomax Pro 4.0.2 for mac here.  

Update: have updated the clip. here are some other images I have been foolin around with.

Magic Lantern AJ5.0 for 5D mk2

This morning I have been testing the Magic Lantern AJ5.0 firmware on my 5D.

Magic lantern is a free 3rd party firmware developed to give 5D users greater functionality. Originally designed by Trammell Hudson, this latest version has been developed by an A J Newman. This video outlines the firmwares features.




The most valuable features from my point of view are the audio monitoring. This does work but because it is an a/v output when I plug in my headphones only one channel comes through at once. If I want to hear the other channel I have to pull the plug out slightly but then the other side disappears. I did find this product has just been released to combat this exact issue. Also the signal is very faint and doesn't give you the audio quality you need to make critical decisions. It is also nice to be able to see an estimation of how much recording time is remaining.

To install, download the firmware and copy the downloaded files to your CF card. On your 5D got to Menu > Select the Firmware Version 2.0.4 >  Select Magic Lantern 1.7 > Go into Live View and the Magic Lantern firmware will automatically boot up. Hit the Picture style button to get into the Magic Lantern Menu. Use the Multi-Controller to navigate the menu and push the Multi-Controller to select a positive or negative value then use the Shutter button to change the value.

Note: Magic Lantern will not work on Canon Firmware 2.0.8 you will need to go back to version 2.0.4.

On one hand the firmware is absolutely awesome with a lot of valuable features that really enhance the camera as a professional tool. Massive respect to the guys who put in a lot of work to create it.  On the other hand there are still way too many bugs that cause the camera to lock up which requires the battery to be removed in order to reset it. I had to do this about ten times in space of about an hour. Removing the battery however means the Magic Lantern Firmware must be re-installed. Actually it needs to be re-installed ever time the camera is powered down. The re-install only takes about 30 seconds and your setting can be easily saved.

So it is really up to the user if they are willing to put up with the frustration of an unstable firmware for the addition of some pretty cool features. On a professional shoot when time is precious and I am already dealing with a number of work-arounds to make this camera work I doubt I have the patience to be fiddling around with things like this that really shouldn't be an issue.

Having said that I am very excited about the direction such inventions are taking us. Canon have a powerful product in the 5D but have not allowed us its full potential. These innovators are pushing the technology and the spirit of co-operation by releasing it for free. Great stuff.