Hier ein Hintergrundbericht des Ballon-Filmers:
“I shot the ‘Balloons’ camera test at Temecula in California, where we could really push the dynamic range of this new 4K camera. I have shot balloons in Kenya before, so I knew it would make a really great test shooting from dawn until midday. When you’re in a balloon it is super bright, which is challenging to get the right exposure. So this was going to be a very good test of the power of this camera.”
“One of the briefs was not to move the camera around too much, because Blackmagic Design’s CEO hates shaky handheld footage. So that immediately triggered me to constantly break that rule and move the camera around all of the time! In fact, this is where the idea to use a steadicam came from. I agree with him, footage on smaller cameras can look like a tourist shot it.”
“However, my plan was to put the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K into a MoVi so I could go whizzing around the balloon on a Onewheel electric skateboard. Just like I was a super charged human dolly! Balloon setups can be pretty boring, especially when the launch is from a parking lot. I know from shooting balloons before, that you have to be able to move as the balloon moves. So movement and speed is everything, which you could do with a camera this size. If you don’t move super fast you’ll end up with a bunch of scenes that just look like stills shots.”
“I wanted to get every interesting opportunity there was. So I was trying to hover around the balloon as fast as I could, trying to catch every bit of action. It is a lot to coordinate having a 4K camera on a gimbal and balancing on a Onewheel. But I could do all of that because of how light this camera is. And that’s how I got the girl doing the ballet pose, which was something that just happened.”
“This was all shot very early in the morning just after 5am. I was using my Rokinon 24 Prime T1.5 lens, so I had to be very careful with the focus. I wear reading glasses as well, so I decided to mount a Blackmagic Video Assist 4K as a second 7” monitor to the rig. I shot those scenes at F4 using ISO800, and with a polarizer. When you are moving fast like this, I hate it when I have too much in-focus. It can sometimes work against you, but then again, that’s how you get beautiful shots! I was mostly shooting these scenes at 23.98 and then 60 for the slow motion stuff, which was then played back at 24fps.”
“The camera Blackmagic Design supplied for the test came with Olympus Micro Four Thirds lenses, but I used my own Rokinon Primes because I wanted it all manual. I also have a vintage set of Leica Primes I converted to EF mount, but I decided not to bring them in the end. When I first looked at the camera, I kept thinking to myself, why do a small camera with a micro four thirds sensor instead of a bigger sensor? However, I soon found the results of this camera in 4K were so good! The 4/3 mount is truly great, because you can so easily go from EF or even PL lenses with an adapter, which is another phenomenal thing about this camera.”
“There were four of us in the basket for the flight, so it was an incredibly small space with absolutely no place for a tripod or any sort of rig. Everything had to be shot naked. Because we were all so close I used my Rokinon 85 and 50 to do all of the intimate stuff. I was also trying to catch some of the other balloons in flight in the background, so these were all super challenging shots because of how bright it was up there.”
“What I found was that the range of this camera is truly phenomenal. I was totally amazed at what that micro four thirds sensor could handle. I think it was the same quality as the URSA Mini Pro with the full sensor! I was shooting 60fps in the air with the lens right open. This is a challenging environment for any camera, because I was constantly shooting into the light, or with the sun directly behind people’s faces. The results were incredible. You can actually see all the detail in their faces, including the sweat on the pilot, while still seeing all of the detail in the background. I love shooting directly into the light, and with this camera you could safely do that.”
“My wife was wearing these very reflective Chanel glasses. When you look at those shots you can actually see reflections off the ground, the balloon above, and the sky in the background. This was an interesting one, because I had to light on her and hope the background would not blow out. There is so much detail there. The camera really did capture everything I was seeing.”
“I was also very surprised at how well the back screen performed in that bright sunlight. After my assistant adjusted it to super-bright, it was really very good. I could see all of the detail. The OS too was super easy and much the same as the URSA. You can change things very easily and quickly with this camera. One of the really nice things is how you can slide for ISO and aperture, which is a great improvement. Having the same size touch screen on this camera as my URSA, was also another surprise.”
“While we were in the balloon basket, I used a monopod with a very good fluid head. This is a really good marriage for this camera because it takes full advantage of its small size. I found that I could quickly jump around, getting some really nice shots this way. A good fluid head makes it easy to get great movements as well.”
“My background was originally shooting TVCs where I had a team of five assistants and a 35mm Arri camera. But with the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, I can easily achieve everything I had then, with just one assistant! I have never liked small cameras before, because I love really big cinematic shots. I found by building a rig around this camera, I could shoot it like a big camera. Then when you put it on a steadicam it becomes incredibly powerful. You can easily glide it through the air because it’s so lightweight and small. You can now put everything you need in a 1510 Pelican Case and you have a whole film system in one box!”
“It will be a very good camera for interviews and low light situations as well. I know I wasn’t there to test the low light abilities, but it was truly phenomenal. I did test it at my house at 3am and I was amazed at what you get with 25600 ISO. Although the camera looks like a DSLR and will shoot stills, it never felt like a DSLR to me. I respected it as a 4K camera, like a smaller version of Blackmagic Design’s URSA Mini. When you are shooting on the go you have a powerhouse in terms of capabilities with this camera. I was shooting using Apple ProRes 422 HQ, so you can only imagine the quality if I had shot in 4K RAW!“
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K
Apple ProRes 422 HQ
ISO800
Rokinon 25, 50, 80 T1.5 prime lenses
