Samyang cine lenses getting my head in a tizz

Urgh.. I hate not being able to make up my mind about what equipment to get, as it is so hard to tell without good experience and field testing, getting to know the kit before you buy it. I'm having this problem with the Samyang Cine Lenses. They look fantastic, well constructed lenses, fully manual in a range of focal lengths and de-clicked apertures from T1.5. This however is the question; would it be better to buy the Samyang Cine Lens kit, or a 24-70, 70-200 f2.8 IS (with the samyang 14mm and 85mm)???

I'm predominantly a videographer, but I enjoy having the flexibility of zoom lenses, especially for ENG style work, live event filming etc, and the fixed aperture and stabilization is key for video. So, a couple of fast zooms seems sensible to keep in the kit bag for everyday use.

However, what about for those sharp, cinematic, shallow depth of field shots that can only be achieved with a cine lens..

Any advice, please share! Ooh and check out the link below for a similar situation if you are stuck like me!

http://bit.ly/19kUk8I

What do YOU want to know about Video, Editing, Graphics, Audio, Live?

I've had my fair share of experience over the last couple of years, working in many different situations from audio engineering at the London 2012 Olympic Games, to single filming the Prime Minister of Kuwait, to weddings, to motion graphics and more. I can write about pretty much any of the above situations, the camera skills and techniques used as well as anything else really, but I want to hear from YOU so you can learn from this blog!

What do you want me to write about? Do you have any questions about the video and media industry or its practices?

Contact me so I can help!!

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Adam Plowden @ IBC 2013 - New Tokina Cine Lenses Video

https://vimeo.com/75340958 Here is the video with Chris from Tokina, talking about the new range of T3 cine lenses!

Tokina's NEW Cine Lenses!

At IBC 2013, Tokina announced a new range of cine lenses for Super35 and Full Frame sensors which include a full line up from 11-16mm, 16-26mm and 50-135mm, all at T3, and all manual.

I had a chat with Chris, the General Manager of Tokina about the lenses at their booth. He was just as excited as I was about the release of the new range, the 11-16mm especially. This is due to the small sensor size of the Black Magic Cinema Camera, which has a 2x (+-) magnification factor. This causes a standard 16mm lens to be multiplied to around 40mm, so achieving wide angle shots becomes rather difficult.

However (and I had no idea people had been converting the already famous Tokina 11-16mm ATX for Super35 mounts) Tokina saw the potential and grabbed the chance to deliver a sharp, accurate and very bright lens. The build quality is fantastic, and the resulting image is a wonderful wide angle!

Chris also talked about the range including the 16-28mm and 50-135mm which is to be released in November this year, I cannot wait to get my hands on one! They did not have the 50-135mm on display, but as you can see from the size of the 16-28mm it will probably be a beast of a piece of glass! I am expecting a separate lens barrel stand or some kind of rig-rail to keep it on the camera!

I'm in contact with the guys over at Tokina so I will keep updating on the progress of the lenses and new models!

Back to normal for freelance videography

A week since IBC, things are pretty much back to normal for here in Epsom. I have been furiously emailing the companies and people I met to get my foot in the door for some videography or digital media content production.. We shall see! Oh yeah, immersive experience, here is what I am listening to - http://8tracks.com/monkcoco/amsterdams-jams

I have been working on an edit for a video of a day trip around Amsterdam city, just a few shots of what I though was worthy of being included! ("You only get one" quote from Glen Symes). It is currently taking a looonngggg time exporting in Adobe Media Encoder due to down-res'ing from 1080p to 720p for the web, as well as some heavy grading done in Magic Bullet, which always takes time anyway.

Here is a couple of photos from the edit, and the grade to show you how :)

What can I say, do your clients pay for render time? XD

I'm going to upload the video of Amsterdam later today, so keep updated as I shall post it on here! I used Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 to edit the video, and Red Giant Magic Bullet to grade. I did a couple of timelapses so just sped them up and used 'Frame Blending' to create the smooth motion blur. I shot most of it on my Canon 60D and Tamron 17-50 F/2.8, also using Sams GoPro Hero3 for the other shots. I chose Zero 7 "Destiny" for the backing music as it is chilled and ambient, just like the culture over there!

In the meantime I am developing my marketing strategy for the videography business I am trying to get funding for, through The Start Up Loans company (James Caan), but that hasn't been at the top my list, although it really should be.. If you've got any tips for start ups and writing business plans then please forward them this way!

I am also working on videos in the edit suite which include interviews with F&V, NHK, Tokina, Ikegami, and NanGuang, so keep updated for those too!

Ciao for now :D

My experience of IBC 2013 Part 1

I had never been to IBC before, I wanted to go a couple of years ago but I was a little last minute with extremely expensive prices, but now after all the hard uni work and starting myself up as a freelance videographer, a trip to Amsterdam for IBC 2013 was just what I needed! It was also the first time I've been on a plane in 11 years, so I was super excited, and acted rather like a tourist for the first couple of days.. But, I have no regrets!

Myself outside Amsterdam Schipol Airport, great smoking area with all the sunflowers, how Dutch!

Just had a quick thought, for you readers to enjoy your experience reading my blog further, you can listen to what I am listening to while I write it, having withdrawl symptoms from Amsterdam lead me to searching for "Coffeeshop" "Soul" on 8Tracks, hoping for a chilled result :) So here is the playlist you can listen to while reading! Street Cues Sound Clues Amsterdam Withdrawl Playlist on 8Tracks

Amazing Mexican restaurant called 'La Margarita' just off the canal, near Amsterdam University (https://plus.google.com/105150292043799825469/about?gl=uk&hl=en) They do great cocktails too, definitely recommend it.

Amsterdam's coffee shop culture is something to be admired, the liberal and relaxed lifestyle suits me perfectly, and I'm not going to pretend I disagree with coffee shops, because they are awesome. I met more friendly people and generated more work in coffee shops than I do in Starbucks in The UK. In the photo you can see The Bulldog, and further down is the original coffee shop. I did pop in to these, but both were really busy so I skipped off to another in the pouring rain. (https://plus.google.com/112706500562557581286/about?gl=uk&hl=en).

This rather lovely looking church turned out to be a brothel.

Taken from outside The Greenhouse Seed Co Coffee shop, near Dam Square. Sitting outside having a drink by the river is so cool. We had a couple beers over there on the first evening, Duvel! (Cafe Rock Planet)

The view from my hotel window, the Pathe Cinema! (Rembrandtplein).

On the Friday (13th) myself, Amy and Sam made our way to the Amsterdam RAI. We jumped on the tram outside our hotel on Rembrandtplein which took us all the way to IBC, very convenient although it was rammed with suited business-people attending the show! IBC provided free tram travel for the duration of the show which was great for getting around town, until I lost mine.

We made our way to The IABM stand, near the Future Zone in one of the 14 halls of this massive place, where we met Steve Warner and Sam Hawkins and were presented with the prize money. We also met the other Engineering Student Award winners who came from across the world for IBC; Zoe Wyeth of the University of Salford, Julian Theis of the RheinMain University of Applied Sciences, Adam Plowden and Amy Tinker of Kingston University, Pierre Hamme-Gerome and Antonin Morel of the Université de Valenciennes, Kathryn Savage of Southampton Solent University, Lennard Bredenkamp of HTWK Leipzig, and Evgenii Smirnov and Anna Nikolaeva of St. Petersburg State University of Film and Television. (Photos are coming from The IABM in the next couple of days).

The rest of the day was spent wondering around, wowing and touching all the amazing new technology and equipment, which I will upload the photos of soon! There will also be video blog entries uploaded very soon too, including interviews with manufacturers, designers, and a film of Amsterdam too, yes 'Ive been busy!

BlackMagic Design had a fantastic booth exhibiting many of their Cinema and Pocket cameras in different set-ups, as well as demonstrations of the new 6G production switcher, and the newly released DaVinci Resolve 10. As I am looking to upgrade cameras, the BMCC is definitely an option for me, as the price of the unit and features weigh it up considerably as a mid range cinema camera, rather than a simple DSLR upgrade. Also, as I discovered, Tokina had been hard at work on an 11-16mm T3 cine lens for Super35 sensors, demonstrated on a BMCC at their booth; finally opening up wide angle shots which had previously been restricted due to the 2.2x mag factor. More info on the NEW Tokina releases can be seen in an upcoming video with the Director of Tokina himself!

There will be much much much more coming soon, I just have to get through the video editing and chuck it all together, but please be patient, they are coming :)

As for future work and plans, I was due to produce a couple of videos for some classic RV's, with Joel from London Event Photography however thanks to the terrific English weather it was called off. Also got some top secret work with a manufacturer coming up, as well as a possible booking to go back to Amsterdam for the end of November.. IE.. My 22nd Birthday!! We shall see..

All the best for now you wonderful people! If you haven't checked out this kind of teaser video then please do :)

http://vimeo.com/74469276

Photos from International Broadcast Convention, Day 3!

Here are a couple of snaps from the booths at IBC this year at the Amsterdam RAI. Impressive developments include the Arri Amira (2k, 200fps ENG camera), JVC's tiny 4K camera, Tokina's fantastic new 11-16 T/3 ultra wide cine lens, now perfect for the BlackMagic Cinema Camera, and many many more! Videos and photos will be uploaded later, today I'll be chatting to manufacturers and distributors so if you have any questions please ask! I will also be chatting to the guys from Vice later, which is just incredible as Vice's grassroot journo style is just my thing!

More to come from IBC Show 2013 soon!