New lens! Canon 50mm f1.4 USM

When my nifty-fifty broke it exposed just how poor our 18-135mm lens is.

And, after stupidly watching the Canon 24-70mm f2.8 go extinct at 2/3 of the original price due to the release of the new one we had to make a compromise move because the new 24-70mm is way expensive.

Amazing bokeh and very sharp at f1.4

I looove looove this lens and it’s not fair to call it a compromise. It’s way better than the 50mm f1.8 and seeing as I almost always rent it out on gigs, having one fulltime has just opened up a lot of opportunities… my brain is ticking…

Here’s a side by-side comparison of the 50mm f1.4 and the 50mm f1.8.

‘The Cost’ 2nd pre-prod session wrapped up.

Thanks to this awesome team we’ve just had a successful pre-prod for my next short film – The Cost.

Tomorrow we’re doing a script  run-through with the actors. Amped up!

Testing Magic Lantern on my 7D

The few extra features Magic Lantern Alpha brings to the 7D transform this DSLR into a hybrid cinema video camera.

Some of my favourite features of this camera ‘hack’ are:

• Having a live Histogram and waveform
• Ability to select aspect ratio guides (cinematic wide anamorphic aspect ratio seen above)
• Focus peaking and zoom focus check, and of course
• Live audio meters

I’m working on a video to show some of these features and and why hacking your DSLR with ML is worth it…coming soon.

Make-shift studio

Since we're hosting a friend for 3 weeks I don't have the spare room as my studio.

So I brought the studio to the lounge. The setup & set-down effort is a bit much though.

Broken lens

Bad start to a shoot: I dropped my 7D and broke my nifty 50.

Camera got a dent but praise the Lord it still functions!

Covering a friend's wedding today

Taking photos @ Thabo's wedding & pushing the 5D mkIII to its boundaries (3200 ISO and beyond).

Errol Schwartz on 8ta adverts

It was very refreshing to  log on to Youtube today and be met with an advert featuring my friend Errol Schwartz.

Nice one Errol!

Sometimes it doesn't go according to plan

On Sunday we were scheduled to shoot a video with the HP Baxter media team and just as we finish setting up and are going through the script, security came to tell us we had 45min before we had to leave due to a show that was going to take place in the theatre...

The pain of setting this up for an hope them taking it down before using it.

Jason’s Jack Black party videos

Jason is turning 30 na dhe asked me to help him film some adverts for his Jack Black themed party since he kinda looks like Jack Black. Have a look at these hilarious vids:

It should probably be called the Nacho Libre party…

Magic Lantern on 7D

Footage of a working port of ML v2.3 runnig on a Canon 7D!

Noone thought it would be possible to hack a Canon with two  processors  like the 7D but finally it looks  like they have.

Magic Lantern pretty much transforms a DSLR by adding cinema camera features like zebras, focus peaking, vectorscope, manual audio controls, visible audio levels and piles more. If they succeed this could be the next best thing in the indie movie making world for a while!

Though I’m hyper excited I’m gonna wait until enough people have tested  the final version before I hack mine.

10 000 views on YouTube

My Youtube channel videos have been seen over 10000 times since April 2010.

Obviously, compared to regular Youtubers, who get over 1 million views per video, my 10000 total views is nothing but from my point of view : if it

wasn’t for YouTube where would I ever have had a chance to share my videos to people across the globe? 

Here’s to having a bigger international  footprint!

Finally integrated an Adobe CS6 workflow

Today I bought CS6 Production Premium which is Adobe’s professional video production suite containing one of the world’s best NLE Adobe Premiere and After Effects (a digital motion graphics and compositing software).

I’m super excited because this year I’ve been doing a lot of professional photography and videography to be able to afford this suite and it’s finally here! And man, After Effects?! What! There goes my already little sleep!

After working with the trial version of Premiere  for a few weeks it’s incomparable to its baby version Premiere Elements (which I had for a year and a half). What’s  also awesome was that in February (after my PC died – graphics card & motherboard) I bought a new and more powerful system in anticipation of CS6 (i7 3.4ghz quad, nVidia 560ti & 16GB RAM) and man CS6 responds very well  to this. Nothing feels wasted on the PC, CS6 really optimises system resources.

My Top Premiere features (discovered so far)

• The ability to import footage from nearly any camera without the need to convert or transcode.
• The ability to apply effects in real time while playing the video clip.
• True 64-bit support makes Premiere super fast. It’s I think of what I wanna do and with a few clicks it’s there almost instantaneously with no PC lag. On Premiere Elements, applying one effect could take up to a minute with the same PC

Integration with other Adobe software After Effects and Photoshop – the abilityto click ‘save’ in Photoshop and the change filters automatically to Premiere makes it feel like you’re editing in one giant piece of intuitive software. Premiere & After Effects share this link a s well. Fast editing – I’ve churned out so many videos in the past 4 weeks than I have in months from the sheer speed of editing with Premiere

Versus Final Cut X?
I don’t know. All I know is that in the last 12 months I’ve seen close to all the pros I follow (Vincent Laforet, Philip Bloom, etc) either move to CS6 or stay even further away from FCP after  their last release. All  I know is that NLEs don’t make movies, people do. Having  better gear doesn’t result in better movies. 

I reckon, in an  over simplified way, people  who love Nike say Nike is the best and those who love Adidas will say Adidas is the better…

The Alienist (Short Film)

Came across this short film from one of the guys I subscribe to on YouTube - Chester See

This is the kinda movies I wanna do. Hmm but I’m thinking of extending this into a 3 or 5 part mini-series…hmmm

DIY Camera Stabilizer Rig sample footage

This is sample footage shot using self-build fig rig/handheld stabilizer for DSLR and camcoders.

Shooting handheld often leaves you with shaky footage that is unusable. This is why I’ve searched the net for simple  ways to improve camera stability. This is one  of the rig’s I’ve built and again I went with the easiest and inexpensive design I could find.

Here’s my “How To” video that gives a break down of how to build this rig.

Humshkin Films Crew

Humshkin Films exists because of a dream I have to shoot & produce top-notch films as an independent filmmaker in Africa. Having a crew is thus of utmost importance to any production and I’m so blessed to have this team of friends who elevate the production value of the vids  I do. Introducing the dream team…

Humshkin

The one and only Mario: Key grip & sound

Filming with the Glidetrack

Tomorrow’s shoot is about motion, motion and motion.

 
Canon 7D on the Glidetrack – Yes I did a mini-photoshoot for it :)

Glidetrack	Subtle motion tracking
Skateboard dolly	Walking-pace motion tracking
VW Polo dolly	Running-pace motion tracking

We’ll be telling a story of growth  & multiplication by filming a set of feet (wearing shoes) that start walking; meet other pair of shoes, give the new shoes one of its red shoes laces; they start walking together; meet two more shoes, start running together etc etc. Once the people start running we’ll drive alongside & film them from the Polo’s window.

I’m doing a birthday shoot today so I hired the Glidetrack & Canon5D MKII , so I’m super stoked that ‘shoes’ shoot is  tomorrow so will be using pro gear all the way.

Canon 7D with 24-70mm f2.8 USM L lens & Canon 5D MKII with 24-105mm F4 L IS USM lens ready for tomorrow! (photo taken with a Galaxy  S2 phone)

I’ve just done some testing with this 2 meter Glidetrack and ya this is the real deal. This is one piece of filming rig that I have no DIY solution for, so sooner or later it’s gonna have to be acquired somehow.

Footage shot with my DIY Jib Crane

This is absolutely the hardest rig I’ve ever built!

Theatrical feature film shot on $15000!

This is the story of Gareth Edwards, a British film director who wrote, directed, shot and edited his own film for $15000 which then earned him $4.8million in sales.

This dude is my hero: he took 7 people with him in one van, drove to Mexico and shooting his movie with two prosumer cameras all the way there and back and created the visual effects for the entire movie on his personal computer in his bedroom. His movie ended up winning several top awards including Best Director, Best Technical Achievement, and Best Achievement in Production awards at the British Independent Film Awards!

Source IMDB

Here’s the  trailer to his sci-fi movie, Monsters:

This optimises the fact that these days a person’s limit is his/her mind. In fact I think it shows how if you allow your passion the space it can drive you to do what seems impossible.

And, with software like Adobe Premiere, After Effects & Photoshop Hollywood is really at our fingertips. Here Gareth talks about how  he  used these Adobe editing suites for his movie:

These are the kinds of stories that inspire me to make films that have a strong message and can reach millions through mediums like Youtube. The latest news is that through this film, Gareth has scored himself the role to direct the upcoming Godzilla movie!

Source: Wikipedia

Funny Destiny Man magazine adverts

These adverts made me laugh. This dude is brilliant at acting lame.

Where in the world did they get this guy? I need him for my films!

Hillarious Canon 5D vs 1D video

Canon 50mm f1.8 MKII vs Canon 50mm f1.4 USM

This a lens comparison to see how much better the more expensive 50mm f1.4 USM lens is to my cheap 50mm f1.8. In a nutshell I can sum up my experience as: from the very first picture I shot with the 1.4 USM I literally wanted to throw my f1.8 away.

It was shocking to discover how sharp the image is even when it’s wide open at f1.4 whereas with my f1.8 is barely  sharp at its widest f1.8.

Here’s my side-by-side shots:

Setup: Canon 7D, f1.8, 1/60 shutter, ISO 200, standard picture profile, no flash & no retouching.

 

Hopefully you can see why the f1.4 USM is more than twice the price of the f1.8 MKII. There’s minimal spill, the bokeh  just has a better definition and the sharp areas are really sharp.Of course, there’s the Canon f1.2 L lens which far superior and with superior price tag as well (3 times more the f1.4 USM).

For the next shots I set the ISO at 800 to see how they handle the colour. These are highly cropped images.

Look how beautiful this 5D MKII looks at f1.4. (click the image for a bigger size).

I now hire out the f1.4 USM every single time I need a good low light lens.

Conclusion:

Canon 50mm f1.8 MKII
The bad
It’s barely sharp below f2.5 thus not useful for production-level work in low light
A lens doesn’t get more plastic than this – I used it at the beach once for like 10min and dust particles went into the lens mechanism adversely affecting the focus motor.
Very slow to focus
Light spill-over: it struggles to hold colours in high contrast situations

The good
It’s the cheapest Canon lens on the planet – take it as is and you’ll love it!
The cheapest way to achieve very shallow depth of field

Canon 50mm f1.4 USM
The Bad
More than twice the price of the f1.8

The good
Super fast & silent focusing due the ultra sonic motor mechanism (USM)
Very sharp even wide open at f1.4
Has a pleasing & smoother bokeh

Verdict?
For me it depends on what you want to do with them. For professional work where image quality is key the f1.4 USM wins hands down.
However, for the aspiring film-maker on a shoe-string budget this should be one of the first lenses to buy. Yes, film-making is more than shallow just depth of field but it’s what can elevate any production by hiding poor background and  emphasising the subjects in focus.

That being said, it’s goodbye f1.8 for me. F1.4 means 2/3 more light than f1.8 and that’s just too good to ignore with along with other pluses.

Even I don’t look as bad @ f1.4

Humshkin Films a registered company!

Finally, I’ve managed to register Humshkin Films as a film company. YAY!

This is a snippet of the official registrations certificate:

For now, I’m the director and secretary of my own company, LOL!

My DIY Jib - Version 2

It’s with almost tears that I announce the resurrection of my self-built jib!

Well…technically the first one was never alive because it never really worked so this is really the first working jib. The first jib was flawed because I tried to connect two 2m tubes because I was obsessed with having a 3.5 meter rise that could film past a house’s roof for those cinematic Hollywood establishing shots. This caused the jib to be too heavy and unstable until it eventually broke the ‘tripod’ legs on my 3rd attempt to use  it on a production.

 

Enter the new and simpler design. I simply used one of the 2m poles and viola. A light weight and easy to use jib! This jib balances my 7D plus lens with 2.5Kgs of weights at the back. I’ll be posting a “how to” video soon.

Version 1 of the DIY jib:

DIY: How to build a Skateboard Camera Dolly

Finished building a doorway skateboard dolly @ 5% the price of the retail version!

Thanks to Domingo who helped me piece it together my doorway dolly is finished! I’ve already used  on two sets and I think I can say this is going to be a  permanent feature on my  shoots!

Here’s a “How To” video with instructions to build  one:

 
Compared to the real deal:

Black Bear Dolly $1400 (R11000)

Mine: $70 (R600 )

If you can’t afford to buy it, build it.

Thanks Domingo and Sakhile for your help with this project.

Canon introduces continuous autofocus in DSLR video recording

Canon has just announced a new DSLR: the T4i/ 650D that features continuous auto focus when recording HD video! Since the launch of the 5D MKII there’s been many models featuring HD video recording and continuous auto focus has always been something missing from these great cameras.

First moments with a Canon 5D MKII

I’ve just had my first encounter of the legendary Canon 5D MKII camera which shoots full-frame HD video. This is all thanks to Greg Chapman who is travelling with Rice Brooks and filming their experiences in Cape Town.

Death by editing

Last week saw the end of my beloved nVidia graphics card which died due to excessive HD video editing which honestly was was over its capability. Needless to say, we’ve had to make some major shifts to ensure I can edit anything. Enter the nVidia GTX560…

If You Don’t Like What’s on TV… Change it

Hi!

Thanks for dropping in. I’m an aspiring filmmaker and director. This is where I’m going to post all my films and my other video projects plus behind-the-scenes footage. My Youtube channel: youtube.com/humshkin has all my vids too. I’ll also be posting ‘HowTo’ videos and photos of rigs that I’ve built and that I’ll be building in future since I’ve gone the DIY route in terms of acquiring film gear.

“If you don’t like what’s on TV then change the content.” - That’s one of my motivations behind making films and video productions.

 

More than anything, this is my hobby and one of my passions. It’s my idea of having fun!