Scarlet #00006 - Tests (including R3Ds)

[Brandon J.F.]

A few stills from last night...

 

[Brandon J.F.]

Everything was shot with my 22MM LOMO and lit with a Cool Lights LED 600, a cheap small LED and whatever light was available where we shot. Oh, and we used an iPhone flash as an eyelight sometimes.

There was 0 prep time, talent was an hour late and we ended up with less than 45 minutes to prep, light AND shoot.

 

[Philipp Straehl]

thank you for providing r3d's with this interesting lens. Unfortunately, they are no more available, the file hoster is blocked. If you could upload them again it would be nice, but I understand if that is too much trouble. Thanks anyway, the intention counts.

 

[Brandon J.F.]

I'll look for another host so I can upload some more r3ds for people to play with.Here are some stills from some tests today...

 

[Les Hillis]

I like the softer image quality of these lenses (and whatever post-processing you're using), when used on well lit portrait type shots, as seen in the pictures you've been posting lately (and in comparison to the earlier landscape shots). I could be wrong, but I think I'm seeing here too some examples of the benefits of having a degree of softness captured at the point of recording as opposed to only adding it in via post-processing effects. I think you'd have to know what you're doing though (as you obviously do) and be able to control all the elements within the shots in order to avoid having those lens qualities work against you. So, yeah, having people turn up late and having no time to prepare really wouldn't suit this kind of image-making. It's not exactly your typical point and shoot kind of stuff.

 

[Brandon J.F.]

Thanks for the comments Les. What I am posting are just tests and experiments. It's all about learning the camera, the lenses, and how far I can push things both during the shoot and in post to achieve the type of look I want. These lenses are a bit whacky, but that's why I got them. I like the imperfections and the "character" they add to the image.

As far as post-processing goes it's all over the map. It's a mixture of RCX-Pro, Adobe Camera Raw, Photoshop and Davinci Resolve for Windows. I have a new Sandy Bridge-E workstation, but the video card I have doesn't play well with RCX-Pro (it's a known bug that will be fixed) so I'm starting on my laptop. Unfortunately the mobile CUDA card I have is not recognized by RCX-Pro so I'm somewhat limited there too (slow and certain features are not enabled). I quite like what I've done in Resolve for Windows, which will run ok on my new workstation, but anytime I export a still (tiff, jpg) it looks quite a bit different than what I was seeing inside Resolve. I have no idea if this is user error or just a beta issue. I expect that over the next month or so the workflow issues will be resolved. Both the issues related to using beta software and those related to user error

I'm going to go out and shoot some more landscape stuff soon, but with proper ND and IR filtration. I also have a lens test chart I am going to shoot with each lens. I'll post the results.

 

[Les Dittert]

Forgive me Steve, but could I not take that image with my phone ?
( the resolution is low, and the dynamic range is easy )
Just sayin.
( I think you posted it in jest, actually ... I get it ! )

Quick and dirty

 

[Brandon J.F.]

Forgive me Steve, but could I not take that image with my phone ?
( the resolution is low, and the dynamic range is easy )
Just sayin.
( I think you posted it in jest, actually ... I get it ! )

Feel better?

 

[Les Hillis]

Edit - Removed response to LD and rest of conversational response to BJF deemed useless. Moving on.

 

[Brandon J.F.]

Just thought I'd fix that for ya.

Amazing the number of assholes on this forum...

This was a camera test shot out a window. I was critical of it myself and in this very thread. These are not finished works. These are tests and experiments. I'm all for constructive criticism, but there is nothing constructive about what he said nor was there anything of use in your last comment. I kindly ask you both go pollute another thread.

 

[John Brennick]

Best most natural grade thus far. This frame looks really nice. Awesome job Brandon!

 

[Arnold F.]

Did I miss the videos of the brown, cardboard boxes being opened?

 

[Brandon J.F.]

Thanks John.

No video of that was made Arnold

Below is a short video clip of one of the shots I posted a still from. I'll be posting a second longer video clip of a different shot soon.

I shot the wide landscape shots below yesterday and I was really not pleased with the results. LOMO lenses are amazing for people and faces. I love the results I am getting with these types of shots. But for wide shots, especially where there is a lot of detail (e.g. trees) the quality is just not there. My plan now is to rent proper cine glass, master primes or ultra primes, for the wide establishing shots I need and shooting the rest with the LOMO lenses.

 

[Brandon J.F.]

LOMO 35mm wide open (T1.7). A quick grade in Premiere Pro CS 5.5.

 

[Brandon J.F.]

I accidentally uploaded a version of this shot with some bad image stabilization. Here it is without any.

 

[Andy White]

Are you always shooting wide open? You might get a much sharper and more precise look for your wides by shooting at a higher T-stop.

It might be worth checking the lens collimation too, sometimes, the closer to infinity these lenses get, they can get soft - this combined with wide open shooting might be giving you the softness you don't like?

Getting the lenses checked out would be a wise move before starting on your feature - and may save you having to rent lenses

 

[Brandon J.F.]

No, not always. I'm not wide open on any of the wide shots. In fact I'm fully stopped down on the first ones I did (T16) and was even then overexposed. I will get the lenses checked out because they are soft at infinity like you describe. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Andy White]

No problem You may want to shoot some test charts to confirm where your focus goes soft. Another thing that might be slightly 'off' is the OCT19 to PL conversion - a mm can be a big distance on a lens.

This remounting, if not done really well, often ends up in loosing infinty focus... so it might be a case of shimming or re-mounting... but again, if this helps get your set working fully, I think you'd be better off shooting the whole project on the same lenses. It'll have a consistent look and make grading simpler.

Keep updating and enjoying your tests

 

[Harrison Diamond]

Also don't forget by stopping down past about f/11 you're going to have softening from diffraction. That could be part of the issue.

 

[Brandon J.F.]

Andy, I do have a lens chart, but haven't shot it yet. I will do it this weekend. I'm also going to try to find someone local that can test, and if need be service, the lenses. Thanks again for the help.

Harrison, I didn't realize that. I will definitely look into this as well. Thanks.