Cine Style zoom lenses on Scarlet 2/3"

[Andrew Rieger]

I watched The Hurt Locker recently (amazing film BTW) and noticed that in the footage, there were slight and often subtle zoom ins and outs that were not from the operator walking away from or closer to the subject. This obviously means that they are using a Super 16 zoom lens (I believe). Does this mean that they have two follow focus units on the rails? (one for focus and one for zoom?) I have never seen a camera set up with two follow focus units. Anyone know what I am talking about?

This is the type of lens I am talking about: http://cinematechnic.com/products/An...115-138HR.html

Here is a picture from the set of the film. All of the cams appear to only have one follow focus unit: http://www.aaton.com/gallery/album01...s_and_1_Cantar

 

[David Mullen ASC]

They probably just added a zoom motor to the rods when they wanted an electrical zoom, otherwise, they would let the operator do a manual zoom by hand. You may have just seen photos when only the focus ring motor was on the rods for remote focus-pulling. Or perhaps you were seeing the zoom motor in the photo and the focusing was being done with a traditional follow-focus.

Also, the zoom motor may have been on the opposite side of the camera from a photo taken.

 

[Andrew Rieger]

They appear to be double sided follow focus units. I don't think they used any kind of remote zoom or focus motors. I think that they used traditional focus units and then just zoomed by turning the lens barrel by hand. They did not need to worry about shake because that was the hectic, imperfect look they were going for.

 

[JonathanF]

They appear to be double sided follow focus units. I don't think they used any kind of remote zoom or focus motors. I think that they used traditional focus units and then just zoomed by turning the lens barrel by hand. They did not need to worry about shake because that was the hectic, imperfect look they were going for.

In the 16 films I've worked on, I think the configuration of the cameras must have changed about a bazillion times on each. You can't made any definitive judgment on what people used or didn't or how they worked from a production still.

Every shot has unique requirements and the state of the package is in a constant state of change. David's got many times either of our experience and I think he's probably got a pretty good idea of how you might want to go after a shot like that, even if it isn't how it was actually done.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

I haven't seen the film yet but generally you would be able to tell when a zoom was done manually by the operator versus a mechanical/electrical one using a motor. I wouldn't be surprised if a semi-documentary style included some manual zoom adjustments.

But as mentioned, throughout the shooting day, attachments go on and come off of cameras -- generally an operator only wants what's necessary to be added to a handheld rig, just to minimize weight.