NATURAL HISTORY CINEMATOGRAPHY

[Pete Barden]

Pete,

You are welcome to check out our kit when ever you like, may be of some help deciding what to buy.

Best,

Dave

Thanks Dave. That's really kind of you. Adam gave me your mobile number a while back. I'm hoping to get up to Scotland in the next two weeks, Scarlet arrival depending! It's been allocated for shipping 1-2 weeks as of last week so fingers crossed. I'm a free agent now and am about any time from Tuesday. Is there any time in the next week or two that would work for you?

Many thanks,

Pete

[Christian Munoz D]

Thanks very much indeed for the reply Christian! Apologies for the long reply. I forgot to subscribe to replies to the thread and have just found your reply. That's really good advice, thanks. My Scarlet is due into the country in the next week so hopefully I'll get a chance to test it very soon with what I've got, but that sounds like good advice on the 150-600. The 100-400L is slightly flawed for video. The need for an extender means I could miss action/forced to change lenses often. Also it's push/pull so a lens support for the front of the lens will be problematic. Also, I was thinking of trying out a follow focus. Again, useless with a push/pull. I wonder how well something like the Sigma 50-500 f4.5-5.6 would hold up. I'm sure the optics won't be anywhere as good as the 150-600 so perhaps I'll go that root. All of my stuff will be 2k delivery.

Thanks again,

Pete

Not a problem Pete!

I have no experience with the Sigma 50-500, I believe will be good idea to do a little test....

Pete,

You are welcome to check out our kit when ever you like, may be of some help deciding what to buy.

Best,

Dave

There you go Pete!! Glad this thread is helping fellow wildlife filmmakers...Thanks Dave for your generous offer to Pete.

[paul engstrom]

I have used a Sigma 120-300 and been extremely impressed -- others tested this lens out too and were similarly surprised by how sharp and smooth it is...

So I would say try out that 50-500 Pete, it might be just the ticket!

[Sam Taylor]

Would you say that the contrast was different from a telephoto canon lens? On some of the shorter focal length sigmas that I have tried, the contrast was a bit too strong for what I needed, so it would be interesting to know if this is also the case for this lens, and the other Sigma long focal lengths?

I have used a Sigma 120-300 and been extremely impressed -- others tested this lens out too and were similarly surprised by how sharp and smooth it is...

So I would say try out that 50-500 Pete, it might be just the ticket!

[Sam Taylor]

Thank you very much indeed Christian for your help, you were very helpful, and I appreciate it! Sorry for my delayed reply, I kept remembering to thank you, but when I remembered I was not on the internet!

You are very welcome Sam.
The only advice I can give you is practice, long lenses are not hard to use as you may think. The main reason I use the telephoto zoom is because the added value of having two field of view of the same action. Focusing and framing is not an issue with long lenses after some time using them.
Now with Epic I don’t shoot 2K anymore unless is a specific shot at 240 - 300fps I rather keep the maximum resolution for future proof. I hate rebuilding my image bank every time we have a new camera on the market.



You are right about the Bomb EVF, it's full of problems at the moment, some issues can be resolved within the firmware others not at all, I rather to use the Red EVF or my favorite the 5,6” LCD. The 5” touch screen is problematic when you are in a bright location, the reflection on the screen looks like a mirror and definitely the Red EVF won’t work for you in cold weather.
I do not have experience with the 7”, so I can’t comment on that.

[Kyle Wullschleger]

Just wanted to share a quick piece I shot a couple days ago in Nebraska of the Sandhill Crane migration. The birds have just started to really move through in large numbers and I spent the night in a blind on the Platte river to get these shots the following morning. For now it's very much just a montage thrown together for the Nature Center to play in their lobby ona loop. I will be spending more time later in March shooting more content to pull together a mini doc about the birds migration through this area of Nebraska. I will be sure to share the finished piece here. For now, enjoy the montage!

[Joe Pontecorvo]

[QUOTE=I wonder how well something like the Sigma 50-500 f4.5-5.6 would hold up. I'm sure the optics won't be anywhere as good as the 150-600 so perhaps I'll go that root. All of my stuff will be 2k delivery.
[/QUOTE]

Hi Pete, I am currently using the 50-500 f4.5-5.6 Sigma on a film about snow monkeys. For flexibility it is a great lens, not as sharp of course as the Canon 70-200, but it does hold up. I am mostly shooting 4K. I will post some frame grabs a bit later so you can get a sense of how it looks. I also found the same problems as Christian about Bomb EVF, I use the 5" LCD with Hoodman, and because I am often shooting in snow I add a fabric lens wrap over the hood and stick my head in it when it's really bright out. It works pretty well actually- protecting the LCD from falling snow and blocking a lot of stray light.

[Pete Barden]

Hi Pete, I am currently using the 50-500 f4.5-5.6 Sigma on a film about snow monkeys. For flexibility it is a great lens, not as sharp of course as the Canon 70-200, but it does hold up. I am mostly shooting 4K. I will post some frame grabs a bit later so you can get a sense of how it looks. I also found the same problems as Christian about Bomb EVF, I use the 5" LCD with Hoodman, and because I am often shooting in snow I add a fabric lens wrap over the hood and stick my head in it when it's really bright out. It works pretty well actually- protecting the LCD from falling snow and blocking a lot of stray light.

Paul and Sam, thanks for the advice on the Sigma 50-500. I nearly went for it instead of my 100-400 last year. Perhaps I should have got it instead. Sam, some frame grabs would be very much appreciated. It seems a tricky business of weighing up best optics versus focal length range versus size of lens. Did you guys get a lens support (for the front of the lens) engineered for the 50-500 or manage to find something out there? I was starting to design a lens support for the 100-400 that could incorporate follow focus and allow for push/pull and addition of extender.

Also, I just tried out a whole load of follow focuses and really liked the Redrock Micro Blue. Most of the rest I tried had quite a lot of play in them. I figured for long lens work it might be a nice addition.

Cheers

Pete

[Pete Barden]

Nice Crane shots Kyle. Shooting at 120fps really makes a difference over 60fps with Varicam. Those are the kind of shots that make me wish my budget could stretch to an Epic.

[Kyle Wullschleger]

Pete, if you are talking about wildlife work specifically, shoot me a PM - I would consider collaborating on some outdoor work.