Month: April 2013

Getting back together

michaelmerto

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Couldn’t pass up a sweet deal for the Sony Nex 5n. Needed a pocket sized camera that did 1080p60. Sony and I are reunited! The image is sweet, better than the a77 I had (no crop in video mode!).

It’s better in low light that my Canon 7d. Holds on to more details at iso 3200 but I would’t go past 1600.

Wish there were half stop iso adjustements.

Camera has overheated and shut off several times, bummer.

Lack of manual controls sucks for paid gigs where quick changes are needed.

I mounted the camera on my 7d and the Canon definitely looks more cinematic until I take the 5n footage and conform it to 24 frames. The slow motion is super clean, I forgot how impactful slow motion is. Even taking it to 10% with optical flow in final cut X yielded clean results. That’s why I got it.

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Could the Metabones Speed Booster be on my horizon?!

It’s all about the lenses?

michaelmerto

70200s

I count five. Maybe six conversations I had with myself on the drive up to purchase the Canon 70-200 2.8l is ii. I had the mark i version. It was heralded, legendary and considered the best. The mark ii was considered better, more consistent sharpness throughout the entire range but was nearly twice as expensive. Also, we’re talking stills. This would probably be a no brainer, resolving power for a lens can be seen easily when looking at a raw still file. Would I be able to tell the difference when shooting video, which is what I use all my gear for. Could lenses make a difference on an image that isn’t even really true 1080p?

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From the pictures above I think it’s safe to say yes. The top one was the original mark i. This was shot at 200mm on a 5d mark 3 wide open. I took a screen shot from the .mov file. The mark ii is sharper with better microcontrast. Now that the most pressing question was answered a new one propped up. Could I have saved the money and just sharpened the image in post. I loaded the clips into FCPX and ran an unsharp mask and a sharpen filter on top of that.

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It’s closer, but not quite. If I sharpened it further, I would have gotta some pronounced, sharpened noise as well. The mark i is the top one by the way.  The 70-200 range is great for getting that cinematic compressed background look. The mark ii focuses closer which comes in handy indoors. I couldn’t tell the difference when it comes to stabilization ro build quality. Lastly, you can still sharpen the mark ii.

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Good call on the upgrade, right? Mike, hello?

The Frat TV Season 1

michaelmerto

frat

I have to bite my hand to keep from laughing, shaking the monopod and ruining a shot. Everytime I film these guys. Everytime. They are the some of the funniest, off the cuff, wittiest people I have ever met. They are music producers. They are the Frat.

This is the trailer. We have 5 episodes in the wraps. They will be released 2 weeks apart from each other. It was and is a great privilege to work with artists that I myself would listen to, without having that connection. Most of all I like to laugh and they make me.

They are a serious bunch when it comes to music and I believe they are super talented and on the rise. Please stay tuned, like, subscribe and support them.