Thursday, August 18, 2011

Home stretch for Studio C, and revving up for Studio A

Currently the Dad, myself and the Keena & Company team is wrapping up the loose ends in Sam Houston’s Studio C. This week, Dad and I installed the cameras and fine-tuned the lighting to finish up. Our team in conjunction with SHSU decided to go with 3 Canon XF305s. This is a great 1080p HD camera, with 4:2:2 pulldown, HDSDI out and genlock to jamsync the cameras for multi-camera shoots, this will be a solid edition to the studio. 




Background lights

Hanging blades to flag unwanted light and green reflection to camera.

Talent back lights


Comparing light quality of hard and soft for the talent backlights. 

Hanging flags to keep unwanted spill from camera lens.



We have officially started upgrading Studio A as well, SHSU’s flagship studio, where they teach multiple classes, support student projects and shoot their weekly news broadcast.

Starting now, the Dad, myself and team of professionals and specialists will begin coordination and installation of, lighting instruments, grip equipment, and programing / broadcast equipment. The project will be installed in stages, so the studio is not down for an extended period of time.

Many thanks from Dad and I to all of the suppliers, contractors and SHSU personnel for keeping these projects running smoothly. 


Thursday, August 4, 2011

Busy, Busy!


Lots of things going on! Sam Houston State is still in full swing with our Studio C update, I picked up a new Zeiss lens and got a Canon 60D!

The Zeiss lens is a 50mm 1.4, and the glass is immaculate! I knew the lens would improve the quality, but I didn’t realize how much. Zeiss has an entire line of still lenses. I purchased this lens specifically for video with the DSLRs, but I’m using it for stills as well. Some people complain about there being no autofocus in these lenses, I have yet to have a problem with this since, quick fast action focus usually isn’t needed in what I’m shooting. The biggest advantage shooting with the Zeiss lenses it that they have the same glass as Zeiss' Cine Lenses. 



I also purchased a Cinevate adapter for Nikon to Canon. This is a nice purchase for $50, since I just got a 60D.



The Canon 60D is a great camera I was able to take to it “like a duck to water”, which I wasn’t so sure about, but relieved when I found out. I purchased the 60D for various reasons. I LOVE the fact that the camera has a flip LCD, GREAT feature! The 60D not only shoots 1080p (which my D7000 doesn’t) the 60D shoots slow motion. This is a fun addition to have as a filmmaker! Sadly, I have not had the opportunity to utilize the slow motion YET! I will soon. As well as some time-lapse photography I have been meaning to play with.


More to come!

Punko (AKA Mitchell Loper)