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Shooting Fish

JanneJansson

JanneJansson

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Hi,

We have been making fishing shows for many years and have always been shooting on small DV, HDV and P2 cams. Now we are shooting next season on R1, and it have been working very good.

One major reason is the magical Sigma 18-250 !! compact zoom. A real crap lens, but for a run-n-gun fishing show it's perfect.

We are using B21 in 4.5K mode, prolock adapter and have custom power cables so we can hijack most power sources to power the R1.

f1.jpg


f2.jpg


f3.jpg


From the R1:
f4.jpg
 
Hi JJ,
How's the Pro Lock compare to to other Nikon mount, would you recommend it?
 
The ProLock offers two important features: a ring to tighten the mount (responsible for the name), and a ring to control the iris for lenses that don't offer their own manual iris control.

Word of caution: the mount has just been submitted to Red for approval, so until there is an official thumbs-up, use of this mount could void your warranty and make you ineligible for Epic-X / other upgrades.
 
This is just the second shoot I do with a Nikon adapter, I can't say if it's better or worse then any other. It's a good mount. Rock solid, just works. If you are using lenses that are controlled by the camera, then you need a mount that have iris control built in. But this makes the mount more complicated and more expensive.

If you use lenses like the fantastic Zeiss ZF that have manual control, then the RED Nikon mount is better.
 
ProLock features

ProLock features

JanneJansson said:
This is just the second shoot I do with a Nikon adapter, I can't say if it's better or worse then any other. It's a good mount. Rock solid, just works. If you are using lenses that are controlled by the camera, then you need a mount that have iris control built in. But this makes the mount more complicated and more expensive.

If you use lenses like the fantastic Zeiss ZF that have manual control, then the RED Nikon mount is better.
Click to expand...
I think that the PL locking feature alone is a big advantage-that was the initial issue with he original Nikon mount. The traditional style Nikon mount was simply not meant to accomodate lens control (focus, zoom, etc.) WHILE shooting-hence the image shift issues.
It was designed for still lens use when you compose the picture first(focus, zoom, etc.) and then shoot a frame so any image shift is simply not visible.

No matter how well made the traditional Nikon mount will always cause that.
ProLock was designed to deal with this issue and it does it very well. I have reports from users that some Nikons that had severe image shift issues before are stable and solid now- this is a sign that the ProLock is working as intended.
The Iris control was an additional feature that is necessary to use G-lenses that only allow for controling iris through camera. Without it the lens is stopped down permanently.
You can still use the iris ring on AIS lenses like the ZFs and such- just turn off the in-mount iris control. The G lens control in the ProLock does not interfere with the iris ring on the lens if so desired.
I must add that some users prefer to use the in mount iris control at all times because it's much easier to access than the on lens iris ring when lenses are mounted on camera.
Also the Prolock is really not more expensive- you'll pay more for the original Nikon mount if upgraded with the iris control feature.
 
Janne, so you're getting decent results with the 18-250? I was wondering about that lens for times when I just want to go around with a single piece of glass and yet still have a nice range of focal lengths.

The still looks really good.
 
OptiTek said:
I must add that some users prefer to use the in mount iris control at all times because it's much easier to access than the on lens iris ring when lenses are mounted on camera.
Click to expand...

I prefer this too. I think you made a great job building this mount! Just love it :emote_hippie:



Steve Sherrick said:
Janne, so you're getting decent results with the 18-250? I was wondering about that lens for times when I just want to go around with a single piece of glass and yet still have a nice range of focal lengths.
Click to expand...

Yes the 18-250 is a STILL lens, and NOTHING is linear or constant. If you set your width and focus, and then roll the camera, you get away with it, but zooming and racking focus is bad. Terrible breathing. The good sides are that the light is covering the sensor very nice, it's not heavy and very low cost. :crazy:

Expensive glass is nice, but I'd shoot through a toilet paper roll if it make me get the job done and the client happy.
 
JanneJansson said:
Yes the 18-250 is a STILL lens, and NOTHING is linear or constant. If you set your width and focus, and then roll the camera, you get away with it, but zooming and racking focus is bad. Terrible breathing. The good sides are that the light is covering the sensor very nice, it's not heavy and very low cost. :crazy:

Expensive glass is nice, but I'd shoot through a toilet paper roll if it make me get the job done and the client happy.
Click to expand...
99.998% of the time I never zoom, so that wouldn't be a problem for me on that lens. The heavy breathing could be a problem though, but I figure as long as I know it's a problem, I can choose to avoid the lens if doing lots of rack focuses. The other factor is the differences in stop from one end of the lens to the other, and the overall slowness of the lens. But when that isn't an issue, such as shooting outdoors then no big deal. As always, I would just use it when appropriate.

Thanks for the feedback about the lens.
 
I edit and produce "The Best & Worst of Tred Barta" on Versus (a hunting and fishing show), and I've wondered what it'd be like to shoot the show on a RED cam. We shoot the show on HDV right now. It looks like you're getting great looking material with the Red. Has it hampered your ability to capture the shots you want having come from smaller cameras?

-Benjamin Rowland
 
Tim Morten said:
The ProLock offers two important features: a ring to tighten the mount (responsible for the name), and a ring to control the iris for lenses that don't offer their own manual iris control.

Word of caution: the mount has just been submitted to Red for approval, so until there is an official thumbs-up, use of this mount could void your warranty and make you ineligible for Epic-X / other upgrades.
Click to expand...

It's approved now.

http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=28100&page=7
 
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