A Busy Day

Way too busy yesterday...


Cinematographer Zach Zamboni on Creativity and Shooting with Just Two Primes
My interview with Zach Zamboni, a cinematographer on Anthony Bourdain’s series Parts Unknown has been published over at Filmmaker Magazine. Zach spoke at Rule Boston last month and it was a very interesting talk about creativity and filming (there's a link to a video of the talk there too.)


Phantom Anti-Jello Device

This arrived in the mail. I haven't been able to do anything other than take it out of the package. There's no instructions; but I think i can put it together!



Cooke Lenses
Went to an interesting presentation by Les Zellan, chairman of Cooke Optics and Jon Fauer, ASC (Publisher and Editor of Film and Digital Times) at Talamas last night.

Les gave a fascinating talk about how Cooke lenses are made, what the Cooke "look" is, and also some details on new technology they recently announced. I was fascinated by his descriptions of the Cooke look, and how that's achieved, as well as how the mechanism of the S4 lenses was designed, and why.

Jon gave two talks, one was an update on the latest technology from IBC, and the other was titled "Discover the History of Art and Lighting in 30 Minutes," in which he used the history of painting as a guide to lighting.



Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera
Ran into someone at the event (who will remain nameless unless he wants me to put in his name) who received a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera this past weekend. He had to go to two camera retailers to find a lens for the camera. Then he got home and discovered...the camera didn't work. So back it goes!



Sony Announcements
By the time this posts, Sony should have announced some new still cameras and E-mount lenses. It seems unlikely they'll announce a video camera (unless it's a consumer camera like a replacement for the NEX-VG30, though that camera is too new I think to be replaced.)

UPDATED: Sony has announced the first full-frame mirrorless, E-mount cameras; the 24.3MP $1,698 A7 and the 36.3 MP $2,298 A7R. All existing E-mount cameras have had APS-C sized sensors.

They've also announced the CyberShot RX10, a point-and-shoot with a 1" sensor ($1,298).

Also, new E-mount lenses; Sony 70-200mm F2.8 G SSM II Lens, $2,998, Sony FE 55mm F1.8 ZA Lens, $998, Sony FE 35mm F2.8 ZA Lens $798 and Sony 24-70mm F4 ZA OSS Lens, $1,198.




B & H Canon Deals
B & H says it's offering "after cart checkout discounts on Canon 5D Mark 3, 7D & T5I." What's an "after-cart" discount? I'm not sure. I tried adding the 5D Mark III to the cart but the $300 discount didn't appear. Maybe you have to actually get into the purchase part of the transaction (which seems a bit of a leap of faith, no?)

Anyway, the 5D Mark III is $3,099, the 7D is $1,299 and the T5i is $799.

Note: there's supposed to be a 7D Mark II coming, though maybe not until next year.