COMPONENTGEEK

Adventures in Indy Film Geekdom with Gary San Angel

Posts Tagged GH1

You Said – Wayne Hsu singing LIVE on the streets of Chinatown Philadelphia

Aug 17

Posted by Gary San Angel in C-Mount Primes on m4/3, Computar 25mm f/1.3, Kodak Cine Ektars, Kodak Ektar 25mm f/1.4, My Dalies, Wayne Hsu | No Comments

This MV is the companion piece to Nothing is Right. This song is a nice little ballad and I pretty much kept it a simple two camera shoot capturing Wayne's great singing and playing with the streets sounds all around.

When I asked Wayne to do an adhoc music video at 1am in the morning in the middle of March I didn't think he would say yes at first but I'm really glad he did. What we attempted to do was a live street recording with two contrasting pieces. "Nothing is Right" being more upbeat would be  the more polished MV. The limited b-roll I had by went to "Nothing is Right". So "You Said" became really a documentation of a live street performance. For both of these two songs I really wanted to stay away form the polish of the studio recorded version. I just wanted to show some of the rough edges. Some of which was unfortunately a little more rough in the audio. My Sanken COS-11x which I had taped to Wayne's shirt was not a good idea and we encountered a lot of handling noise. That's one of the elements that I'll learn from for the next time around.

I stuck with c-mount lenses on this shoot to experiment and see the kind of character they give to the natural street light. I'd say the Computar 25mm f/1.3 is a lens that really lends itself to the nightlife and low light street scenes. The Kodak Ektar 25mm f/1.4 also has that retro character with nice contrast and sharpness and interesting lens flares which we decided to just keep and use because it was halo-like and had a cool effect. Because most of the shots were static we only used the SNAP! Gear for b-roll and the opening shot. But it's been really great to be able to pull focus with such small lenses using this gear. The SNAP! Gear and SNAP! Collar help in that regard giving the possibility of pulling focus on c-mount lenses. The combo of c-mount and SNAP! Gear is really so amazingly light weight it's a blast to shoot with.

Please visit Wayne Hsu's site. His new album will be coming out very soon:

waynehsu.com
 

You Said
Wayne Hsu
WorldPop

Director: Gary San Angel
Assistant Director: Serena Perrone
Camera Operator: Rocky Kev

Filming Details:

Panasonic GH1
Computar 25mm f/1.3 lens
indiSYSTEM SNAP! Gear
indiRAILSpro MP

Panasonic GH1
Kodak Cine Ektar 25mm f/1.4

Sound Devices 552 Mixer/Recorder
Sanken COS-11x

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Nothing is Right – Wayne Hsu Live MV after Midnight at the Chinatown Arch with C-Mount lenses

Aug 17

Posted by Gary San Angel in C-Mount Primes on m4/3, Computar 25mm f/1.3, Kodak Cine Ektars, Kodak Ektar 25mm f/1.4, Wayne Hsu | No Comments

It is always an honor to work with Wayne Hsu. He is an amazing artist and is not only a gifted singer songwriter but also has an excellent ear as a studio engineer. The three of us won a trailer contest for the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival with Wayne scoring the music for our little 60 second animated film.

Last March, I gave a call to Wayne Hsu late one evening and said, "Hey, do you want to shoot a Music Video tonight?" Hey said, "Yeah, sure. You want to do it now?"

It was already 10pm at night and I said, "No, I'm thinking at about 1am in Chinatown in front of the arch." It was a very chilly night but he enthusiastically agreed since it was just around the corner from where he lived. I was itching to do a few tests with some c-mount lenses a newer industrial lens, a Computar 25mm f/1.3 and an older Kodak Cine Ektar 25mm f/1.4. I wanted to compare these lenses and see how well they work with just street lights and the light of the traffic driving by at night.

The concept was simple. I had Wayne sit on top of my Subaru Forester and we parked far enough so that he would be elevated above the traffic and we could see the Chinatown Arch in the distance. I wanted him to play live acoustic. Wayne is so good playing live. And in the "LIVE" I wanted to keep the environment a part of the piece so whatever happens in the moment happens. If we have a truck barreling down the road or loud late night pedestrian traffic so be it. Rather than do a MV where we were syncing to the studio recording of the song I wanted to keep the real elements alive on the streets of Chinatown and just show the beauty and simplicity of his playing.

The results were very beautiful. This year the Chinatown Arch dawned new lights .So from the distance as Wayne played, the Arch was brilliantly lit as a a backdrop to his playing. Both c-mount lenses really gave this piece character. The Cine Ektar 25mm was a touch sharper and had this unusual crescent shaped lens flare from the street lamp right above. The Computar  25mm lens being the faster lens was able to do very well in street lighting soft and low contrast working very well on the evening city streets. One stupid mistake I made was that I taped the lav to Wayne's shirt and you could hear the rustle of the shirt brushing up against the mic. It's less noticeable as the song progresses but it is very pronounced at the beginning of the song. Next time proper,  lav clip or vampire clip is a must. Other than that issue, we are really happy by the way the footage turned out.

Please visit Wayne Hsu's site.  His new album will be coming out very soon:

waynehsu.com

 

Filming Details:

Panasonic GH1

Computar 25mm f/1.3 lens

indiSYSTEM SNAP! Gear

indiRAILSpro MP 

Kodak Cine Ektar 25mm f/1.4 

Sound Devices 552 Mixer/Recorder

Sanken COS-11x

 

Nothing is Right

Wayne Hsu

WorldPop

 

Director: Gary San Angel

Assistant Director: Serena Perrone

Camera Operator: Rocky Kev

 

 

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Contax G 21mm and 28mm with Metabones Adapter- Cut the Legs! It’s Worth it!

Aug 15

Posted by Gary San Angel in Contax G 21mm F/2.8, Contax G 28mm f/2.8, Contax G on m4/3 | No Comments

Contax G 21mm and 28mm Rear

 

Now in order to use the Contax G 21mm and 28mm lens you'll first have to let go of the idea that cutting off the legs of your 21mm and 28mm Contax G lens will ruin them and the value of the lens. You will only have to cut 5mm from the tip of each leg just so it clears the sensor so it's more like a haircut than a surgical procedure.

Here's what you'll need:

Tools:

  • digital caliper or metric ruler
  • Scotch Blue Painters Tape
  • small hack saw with fresh blade
  • small file
  • X-acto knife
  • damp paper towel
  • Metabones Contax G to M 4/3 adapter
  • m4/3 lens cap

Directions:

  1. Use the Scotch Blue Painters tape and cover the entire rear of the lens except the legs. You want to especially cover inside the cavity of the lens between the legs and the rear optic. Fold over a piece of tape and roll it so that the sticky side is on the outside. Squish the little piece of tape down between each leg and lens. This is the area that is vulnerable to getting any debris so you want to make sure this crevice is covered up. Make sure you do not tape the black leg protectors! 
  2. Also, make sure to double up some tape on the rear optic where you will be making your cut. Basically, in case you use excessive force as you are cutting if the blade goes through, you will only cut tape and not the lens. You do not want to hacksaw the rear optics of your lens.
  3. Using your digital caliper or metric ruler measure out 5mm and use an X-acto knife to mark the 5mm measurement on each leg. If your digital caliper can lock a measurement, lock it to 5mm and mark the top the measurement starting from the very tip of the leg. Make sure you mark off both the right and left side of the leg.
  4. Now using the straight edge of your ruler or digital caliper, line up your two 5mm marks for each leg and score your cut with the X-acto knife. Do this for each leg.
  5. Now take your small hack saw with a new blade and line up the blade with the scoring mark. Firmly hold the lens, take a deep breathe and hold and concentrate as you apply pressure and move the blade back and forth slowly in a straight line. You will start to create a grooved slot. Take your time, applying pressure to the leg. If the blade binds, move it just one direction and carve out that groove. Once you get to the end, keep the pace steady and soon the leg will be cut off.Do not go fast, you will make a mistake and damage the lens!
  6. If you have a small file you can finish off the cut and round off the sharp edges of the newly cut leg.
  7. Use a damp paper towel to remove any debris near the lens.
  8. Hold the lens and tip the rear down while you remove the tape so that any debris will fall away from the lens.
  9. Pop your Contax G 28mm / 21mm on the Metabones mount following the appropriate instructions to line up and lock the mount.
  10. Use an additional m4/3 lens cap to protect your lens. The rear caps do not come with the Metabones Adapter.
  11. Place the Metabones and Contax G lens on your camera and start shooting away!

Contax G 21mm and 28mm Rear (Closeup)

Here are a few sample pictures using the Contax G 21mm. Overall edge to edge sharpness is very good. A little vignetting and softness at the edges but very sharp and usable. I think it holds up very well. Probably my sharpest wide I have in a prime.

I took just a few quick run of the mill Philly landscapes at f/8 with the Contax G 21mm lens and just for kicks I attached my Raynox HD-6600PR055 wide angle adapter and I was pretty shocked at how well it held up too. When I pixel peep, theres a difference obviously and you can see vignetting and softness but I was expecting far worse. Both versions very useable to me. Very exciting stuff!

 

Philly Skyline & Schuylkill River Contax G 21mm f/8 & Raynox HD-660PRO55 & GH1

 

 

Philly Skyline & Schuylkill River Contax G 21mm f/8 & GH1

 

 

Fairmount Water Works Contax G 21mm f/8 & Raynox HD-660PRO55 & GH1

 

 

Fairmount Water Works Contax G 21mm f/8 GH1

 

Here's a few indoor shots just after I did the Contax G 21mm surgery to test for edge to edge sharpness with the Metabones adapter.

 

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B4 lenses now on GH1

Aug 6

Posted by Gary San Angel in B4 on m4/3, Canon J8x6B 6-48mm 1:1.7, Legacy Lenses on m4/3, m4/3 Revolution | No Comments

Bum Ki Cho B4 mount Pics

Bum Ki Cho a filmmaker and DVXUser member introduced folks to his B4 to Canon FD adapter that he helped get made from a manufacturer in Korea. I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase a couple mounts from him before he left to Korea and recently did some testing with it. With this new B4 mount you can attach it to any Canon FD to m4/3 adapter and have yet another way to make the m4/3 system shine.

Here's a picture of Bum Ki Cho's setup with a Canon SD YJ18x9B4 ITS IF PX12 B4 lens and the B4 adapter.

The B4 to Canon FD adapter mount is well machined and thinner than expected. When I place it on my Canon FD mount it adds only an additional 13.5mm to the front of the FD mount. So it's not that big of an add-on to the FD mount which is great. When you attach the B4 lens to both pieces it really feels like one complete piece. Strong and sturdy.

When I got the mount in the mail it was about 6pm so there was very little time for me to shoot. I jumped on the trolley and headed for Chinatown. Today's test was with the beautiful Canon J8x6B 6-48mm 1:1.7 B4 lens that I purchased from a DVXUser member in Alaska. This is not a cheap lens but I took a gamble and I have to say it's worth it. This is so far one of the best wide angle zoom lenses that I've put on the GH1. You must use the Canon 2x doubler in order to get a full image, engaging the setting on the widest angle would make the lens 12mm making its 35mm equivalent FOV of 24mm. My first words were "WOW!" I have a lot of legacy lenses and it was such a surprise to see a lens still hold its sharpness with the doubler. Overall, there seemed to be very nice sharpness from the center to the edge of the frame with very little vignetting.

One caveat is that I was shooting with no ND filters so I was stopped down to about f/5.6 so I'd still like to check over all sharpness wide open on a future test. As you go up to the higher focal range, it does soften up and darken slightly depending on lighting conditions. Shots are still very usable despite the slight softness there.

Overall, this is one of the best zoom lenses I've put on the GH1. It's fast and sharp and perfect for run and gun situations. With other legacy zooms you must use the digital zoom on the camera which degrades the image. Using the 2x doubler allows you to shoot full resolution. Because this lens is pretty sharp it still holds even with the 2x engaged on the lens. There needs to be more tests done obviously wide open and with NDs as well as to test the mount to see how well one can achieve infinity focus.

Since many of us already have FD mounts for our GH1 this B4 to FD addition was a good price point to jump on the wagon and I hope that Bum Ki's manufacturer in Korea can make more of these available. In the mean time, I hope that more folks can shoot with B4 lenses. This is so great to bring ENG lenses to the GH1. Many thanks to Bum Ki Cho for making this possible.

Here is a quick test shoot in one of my favorite spots in Philadelphia the beautiful Chinatown Arch.

Canon J8x6B 6-48mm 1:1.7 B4 lens shot with a GH13 in 1080/24P no native 24p on the hack. No grading. No tripod just the indisystem indiRAILS MP.

Unfortunately, I had no ND filters to really test sharpness at wide open. Most was shot at f/5.6.

Music is from Grammy Award winner Daniel Ho with his song Pule Nahenahe (Soft Prayer) from his album Pōlani.

Here is some additional footage shot in University City and Center City Philadelphia with the main goal of doing a general test to check edge to edge sharpness, vigenetting on the wides, and contrast for both tight and wide shots.

You will notice that on the opening footage of Calvary Church you can still pick out the sharpness of the right street sign (maybe not in the H.264 file but in the Prores transcoded file it is clear.) The 48th street sign is a little less sharp on the wide shot. Overall, pretty impressed with the overall edge to edge sharpness for using the 2x doubler on this lens.

Also, on all the wides you'll see the matte box on the right edge of the frame when removed the picture is clear from edge to edge. It was a little unusual that I did not see it on the left side and only the right side.

One not so great thing is that the lens flares are right dead center and you'll see that in the opening shot.

In the Center City footage the Reading Terminal sign is nice and sharp and even the outside shots under the over hang where I was wide open was fairly sharp on the neon signs wide open. When you are at the farthest end of the zoom there's softness there and the image does darken but not as much as I'd expect it to be.

The shot with the little boy near the trolley and public art space was wide open. There is very little contrast and you sort of enter into a slightly "dreamy" look at times wide open. Again, No ND filters so your seeing footage straight from the lens.

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Tester13 gives rebirth to GH1

Jun 12

Posted by Gary San Angel in m4/3 Revolution | No Comments

tester13

 

I have been absolutely dumbfounded by the amazing work of tester13 at DVXUser forum who has created a firmware hack that has given a rebirth to the Panasonic GH1 with the help of testers and filmmakers all over the world. What tester13 has done is made the GH1 the camera it should have been right out of the gate a mud free DSLR with the capability of recording amazing images and film. I am still trying to catch up and figure out the daily updates to the hack but you can see for yourself first hand that the GH1 may become the camera of choice again and I look forward to incorporating the new hacks on my current GH1 and adding my testing results to the community pool as well.

Here is the very super long thread at DVXUser on GH1 firmware research

Other very good threads to read up.

AVCHD Mudfree footage

FAQ Tester13 firmware

Michael Pappas has some very nice results with MJPEG settings

Now get your GH1 or if you sold it cuz you thought the camera was lacking get it back and shoot some tests!

If you are as impressed as I am please donate to tester13

I'm sure this is just the beginning…

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Wherever There Is Water Parade – Fleisher Art Memorial – GH1 with Computar 25mm f/1.3 and Raynox HD-5050LE wide angle converter

May 3

Posted by Gary San Angel in C-Mount Primes on m4/3, Computar 25mm f/1.3, Legacy Lenses on m4/3, Pink Martini, indiSYSTEM - Studio4 Productions | No Comments

Artist in Residence George Ferrandi led a beautiful community based art making project and parade involving stories, sculpture, paper mache, and LED lights at the Fleisher Art Memorial in South Philadelphia. Inspired by Catholic Saint processions, "Wherever There Is Water" was a unique community parade led by Huberta one of the main characters of the story and surrounded with her are a sea of paper mache LED lanterns and animals. I got to to the event as the parade was returning back to Fleisher but I was still able to capture part of the celebratory atmosphere and community spirit of the event.

I'm still doing some more testing with c-mount lenses on the GH1 using indiSYSTEM's SNAP! Gear and Collar this time with a Computar 25mm f/1.3 lens. This is a fairly fast lens and a very small lens. Because this was a night time shoot I thought this lens would be good to bring out of the bag. I also wanted to add something interesting to the mix on this shoot by adding a Raynox HD-5050PRO-LE .5x wide angle converter to the Computar 25mm lens which would make the focal length of the Computar 25mm lens a 12.5mm lens with the addition of the .5x Raynox converter. Now in order to know what focal length that would be equivalent to on a Full Frame camera we would multiply 12.5mm by 2x and we would have an equivalent field of view of a 25mm lens.

A few folks have been exploring wide angle converters simply because one of the challenges with this format is finding a good fast wide angle lens. I looked around and saw the Raynox wide angle converter which interested me because of its low image distortion as well as being very small and light weight. And with the rear thread size of the Raynox being only 37mm, I could easily attach it to the front of many of my c-mount lenses including my fast Computar 25mm f/1.3 lens. Using a 40.5mm to 37mm step down ring, I was able to attach the HD-5050PRO-LE to the front of my Computar 25mm lens with the combined weight of the lens and adapter being less than my Canon FD 50mm lens. 

The Computar 25mm f/1.3 is an industrial lens that is rather fast and is one of the few c-mount 25mm lenses that I've tested that almost fills the image sensor of the GH1. Many m4/3 still photography users have picked up this lens and have had really good results but I wanted to use it in a film context and see how well it does in an evening shoot and I thought the "Wherever There is Water" Parade would be perfect to test and see how all these combination works together.

I was really astonished by how well the Raynox wide angle converter worked with the Computar 25mm c-mount lens. There was really minimal distortion and light lose and compared to other wide angle adapters that I have tried before including a Century wide angle adapter, the 5050PRO-LE can really trick your eye to think that you are shooting without a converter. Upon close inspection, I can see the light fall off and softer focus around the edges but it is much less pronounced than what I've used with other wide angle adapters and this is really quite exciting to see. I'd like to shoot with this same setup in the day just to see how well the Raynox adapter works with the Computar lens. One down side is that the wide angle lens does flare a lot and you can see that in the test footage where the street lamp light shines into the lens. It's a cool effect but it is something to be aware about.

The indiSYSTEM SNAP! Gear and Collar worked quite nicely allowing me to pull focus much better than with my Ektar II 25mm lens that I had tested previously. There's a shorter distance that you have to go from close focus to infinity and that gives you greater control. I am continually blown away by the ability to pull focus with small c-mounts lenses. There's a freedom in a way that I find so much fun. Just a few years ago, I was shooting with my back breaking my HVX or EX1 rig with 35mm adapter. And this is night and day to be able to scale down your setup and achieve similar results.

Overall, this was a fun unexpected test to see some real nice results with this combination of fast prime c-mount lens, wide angle adapter, and follow focus system in an all in one run and gun setup.

Many thanks to George Ferrandi, Fleisher Art Memorial and the Philly community for sharing their beautiful creations. Hope this captures just a small taste of this wonderful community celebration.

Featuring music by PINK MARTINI – Ou Est Ma Tete? from their new album Splendor in the Grass. (My favorite band!)

For more information on the "Wherever There is Water" Parade please visit:

fleisher.org/exhibitions/water.php

If you liked the music please buy Pink Martini's new album:

pinkmartini.com/

(Possible submission for PINK MARTINI Video Contest)

This was shot with the Panasonic GH1 1080/24P and a Computar 25mm f/1.3 c-mount lens with Raynox HD 5050PRO-LE Wide Angle Adapter.

The indiSYSTEM SNAP! Gear and Collar was also used to test pulling focus with this smaller c-mount lens.

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indiSYSTEM’s new SNAP! Gear & Collar can even work on your small c-mount lens.

Apr 28

Posted by Gary San Angel in C-Mount Primes on m4/3, Kodak Cine Ektars, Kodak Ektar II 25mm f/1.4, Legacy Lenses on m4/3, My Reviews, indiSYSTEM - Studio4 Productions | No Comments

 

It's been a rather busy spring so I'm just playing a little catch up and wanted to post this quick demo using the new indiSYSTEM SNAP! Gear and Collar on a Kodak Cine Ektar II 25mm f/1.4 c-mount lens. I've been talking with Tim Ovel from indiSYSTEM about creating a geared solution for cine c-mount lenses and the SNAP! collar was a very simple addition to the SNAP! Gear and will work with most c-mount lenses. I gave Tim the front lens diameter of some of my lenses and he constructed a SNAP! collar that would essentially fit into the SNAP! Gear. With the help of some "squish" between the lens and the collar, the setup works very nicely and gives a nice secure geared fit.

This is just a simple demo that I did very late at night so please forgive the uncleaned lens of the footage but I wanted to show folks how the SNAP! Gear and Collar fit on the lens and it's use with a follow focus. Actual footage is currently being edited and will follow shortly.

Overall, pulling focus is very smooth with this system and here are a few key points to consider to use this with your lenses.

Key points for a successful SNAP! Gear and Collar setup:

  • The space between the SNAP! Collar and your lens should not be more than 7mm. Anything larger does not give you a secure fit. I've done a number of tests and it seems the ideal is to have 2-3mm of space but no larger than 7mm. Again, this space is pre-squish material.
  • C-mounts with focal rings at the front or middle of the lens work best. Though I have tested a Cine Nikkor 10mm where the focal ring is at the rear of the lens but you have to turn the gear at an angle in order to make it work. Surprisingly it still works well. I'll be doing more testing to see if this technique works on other lenses where the focal ring is at the rear of the lens. Again, this is more for clearance of the gear and the camera.
  • Take the time to test out the "squish". The best technique is to place "squish" between the lens and the collar first and then compress the SNAP! gear and collar together with the lens. There should not be any play with the lens, if there is some play then you may even need to place a tiny bit of "squish" between the collar and the actual SNAP! gear itself.
  • Once the SNAP! Gear and Collar is secured to the lens, rotate the SNAP! Gear back and forth making sure that the gear does not slip. You should be able to firmly spin that gear from close focus (MFD) to infinity and back again with no problem.
  • Make sure you choose lenses that have a smooth focus ring, you may need to find a lens repair guy to overhaul your lens and use a light grease on your focusing helicoid. Lenses with rough focus will force the gear to work harder and with the added torque the lens will unscrew itself from the mount.

I'll be posting some sample footage later this week to show real world usage of the SNAP! Gear and Collar on c-mount lenses. It has been extremely fun to use and with the new Panasonic AG-AF100 micro 4/3 camera just around the corner I think the reality of using c-mount legacy lenses and these SNAP! Gear and Collars will be extraordinary and a must. The exciting thing is that we don't need to wait for that camera we can use it now with the Panasonic GH1. The reality of a digital 16mm world using old school beautiful c-mount lenses is a dream come true.

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Mosaic’s Pennsylvania Station another happy film accident

Mar 28

Posted by Gary San Angel in C-Mount Zooms on m4/3, Legacy Lenses on m4/3, Pennsylvania Station, Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon 1:2/18-90 | No Comments

I recently went up to New York City to meet a film collaborator friend of mine in Times Square. It was the first sign of spring after a series of blizzards in the Northeast that trapped everyone indoors all winter so I thought it would be a nice day and a perfect opportunity to test the SNAP! lens gear from iniSYSTEM. My goal was to try to be as low profile as possible and to carry light with only my bike messenger bag to hold my camera gear. I decided to take with me my GH1 and Schneider 1:2/18-90 C-Mount zoom lens and the indiRAILSpro MP with a 75mm SNAP! gear.

Most of my footage was just quick tests pulling focus with the gear and seeing how well you could rack focus. Overall I was really pleased with the performance of the SNAP! gear with the indiFOCUS20. With the right amount of squish in place between the lens and gears I was able to pull focus very solidly and with the MP and GH1 it looked like I was just shooting stills in Times Square.

When I got home I was initially just going to cut the footage as quick tests showing the smooth focus of this combo but when I looked at some of my opening shots I realized I starting filming at Pennsylvania Station and a light bulb went off in my head. 

Whenever I think of Pennsylvania Station I think of Mosaic aka Glenn Suravech who is an amazing artist, producer based in Los Angeles. Mosaic released his ambitious debut album in 2007 entitled "Through the Eyes of A Woman" collaborating with independent  artists and musicians from across the nation. One of my favorite tracks is his song Pennsylvania Station which my amazing sister Jenny San Angel who is also a singer/musician in her own right is also featured.

So I thought hmm..

Maybe I can use some of this test footage to make a music video for Pennsylvania Station.

Because I was literally just shooting what I saw that either grabbed me visually I was not focusing on any particular shots I was really just focusing on the SNAP! gears usability factor. I was not thinking end result at all so this really was kind of a challenging prospect.

But I decided to go for it and sat with the song for a while to listen to the lyrics and to find the heart and emotion of the song. For a few weeks I would play random images with the song in the background to see what relationships I could find to tie in the right image to the music. There was an Asian bike messenger who was sort of contemplative and calm among the fast flowing walking New Yorkers and tourists of Times Square. I sort of focused on him from far away and shot a quick sequence of him preparing to get on his bike and then riding off into the crowd. When I found that section and played it with the first verse of the song I knew that we could make something from what was meant to be just a simple test.

I tried a number of variations and combinations of footage literally squeezing every bit of good footage I had to make this work. The last scene of Times Square was shot with the very common peephole effect you get from using c-mount zoom lenses. From a technical aspect it's generally frowned upon because you want to use a lens to cover the full frame of the sensor. In this case, I liked it and left the imperfections. I wanted to use what was a visual flaw and make it work. It still had the right feel and moment.

When I finished I sent it to my sister Jenny and to Glenn as a little surprise. I knew that if they liked it we could post it as a music video online and if they didn't it would be just some nice test footage. When I got their e-mails that they loved it I was really floored simply because I never thought the outcome of the footage would be a music video for Pennsylvania Station.

In Glenn Suravech's e-mail to me he shared a little bit about the background and meaning behind his creation:

"When I was putting this song together for Jenny back in 2006, I imagined her standing and walking amid a ocean of people (just as you depicted in this video). While most of your shots were overground in Times Square, the setting for Pennsylvania Station is underground in the subway stop located beneath Madison Square Garden. There is a huge lighted corridor there where people seem to walk expressionless past rows of store fronts. Your video captures all of that in the song except that it's overground, outside."

I'm proud to put together a visual interpretation that complements this beautiful song and to use Times Square as it's backdrop. I went for simplicity and rawness allowing the imperfections to come through. The visual imperfections of me trying to focus from one scene to the next as well as the human ones, the images of real moments of people passing each other by, walking uptown alone, a city worker collecting garbage, a bike messenger on his way to his next destination or just friends and loved ones in a group going "uphill" though the "ocean of people". These are moments that we don't see because we are so busy going to our own destinations. In this piece, we can take a moment to see where they may be going and see our own connections to these random travelers.

Many, many thanks to Glenn Suravech and Jenny San Angel for allowing me to put this little piece together.

 

Pennsylvania Station

Written and Produced by: Mosaic

Lead vocal: Jenny San Angel

Lead guitar: Shin Kawasaki

Acoustic guitar, bass and keyboard: Mosaic

Drums: Harvi Kato

Special Thanks: 

Gary San Angel– for your love, support and inspiration.

Tim Ovel, indiSYSTEM – www.indifocus.com

David Lin

 

© 2007 Mosaic Sound Recordings

 

www.glennsuravech.com

www.jennysanangel.com

www.componentgeek.com

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We Will Be Missing You – Steve Calvarese

Mar 19

Posted by Gary San Angel in C-Mount Zooms on m4/3, Legacy Lenses on m4/3, Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon 1:2/18-90, Steve Serota - Classic Camera Workshop | No Comments

Over the course of this year, I will be creating special shorts with each one of the lenses that Steve Serota restored for me. 

The first is called, “We Will Be Missing You” written and performed by Spoken Word artist Steve Calvarese.

Steve Calvarese is an emerging artist based in Philadelphia who has really been growing and developing his craft. With the help of Michelle Myers, who is one half of the famed Yellow Rage yellowrage.com,  Calvarese has been sharing his take on the Spoken Word form integrating personal, community, and social issues.

Calvarese says "We Will be Missing You" tells a story about gun violence in the city of Philadelphia. At the same time, the story is grounded on the belief that understanding is key, thus it opens our minds to multiple perspectives.

This footage was taken using the Panasonic GH1 with a Schneider 1:2/18-90 C-Mount zoom using the indiRAILSpro MP and a new indiSNAP gear.

Sound was captured with a Sound Devices 552 Mixer/Recorder and Sennheiser SK2000 wireless system with a Sanken COS-11D lavalier.

This version of We Will Be Missing You is set at the Christa Lewis Memorial Tot Lot in Russo Park Philadelphia.

This piece is dedicated to Steve Serota who used to run Camera Care in Philadelphia and later his online repair shop Classic Camera Workshop. This Schneider 1:2/18-90 C-Mount Lens was overhauled and repaired by his hands. Whenever I shoot with this lens, Steve Serota will always be remembered. His work was amazing and brought back to life every lens I brought him. He was a storyteller, a perfectionist, a great family guy, and he loved his work and was passionate about classic cameras and lenses. He will be missed. 


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indiSYSTEM’s new focus gear has got a lot of SNAP!

Mar 14

Posted by Gary San Angel in C-Mount Zooms on m4/3, My Reviews, Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon 1:2/18-90, indiSYSTEM - Studio4 Productions | 2 Comments

 



As those of you know once you get your lenses and your new DSLR you’ll find that manually focusing by hand is fine in the beginning but when you want to push your work to more professional results it’s best to use a follow focus and focus gears on your lenses in order to have the ability for more precise focus, the ability to rack focus, and to lessen camera lens shake on your footage.

 

indiSNAP! magnets

indiSNAP! gear

Tim Ovel and his team at indiSYSTEM have been hard at work again this time on their new SNAP! gear.

 

This new design is a very nice upgrade to their previous focus gear rings. What makes indiSYSTEM’s new design quite unique is that their focus gear is split in two halves and connected together with super strong magnets.

 

 

What this allows is the ability to place the SNAP! gear ring on your lens and then remove it in a snap.

 

Snap! gears are sold in a set with five different gear sizes to cover most of your lenses:

indiSNAP! gear set 70mm

 

70mm / 75mm / 80mm / 85mm / 90mm

 

 

At only $100 bucks for these set of five gears it's a pretty sweet deal. And for those who need just one you can purchase the 70mm for $30 each.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each set of SNAP! gears comes with “squish” as Tim likes to call it, or thin self-adhesive foam.

indiSNAP! with squish glued

indiSNAP! gear with extra squish

The squish looks like poly foam weather seal tape that you use for weather stripping your home. It rests between your lenses and the focus gear and does a good job of making up the difference if your lens diameter is a few mm smaller than the focus gear. In my case, I tested the 70mm with my Schneider 1:2/18-90 c-mount and the lens diameter was 65mm so I had to make up the difference by doubling the squish.

 

In my initial tests the adhesive just wasn’t strong enough so Tim is sending some thicker “squish” and I look forward to using it and seeing if it will show better results. In the mean time, I doubled up on the squish that was already sent to me and secured it using some gorilla glue and and now the SNAP! gear fits nice and snug on my lens with no play between the lens and the SNAP! gear.

Here are just a few initial impressions so far.

(+)

  • You gotta love the "snap" the magnets make. They are surprisingly super strong.  Once you have the proper squish, you literally snap the gear on and your ready to go in seconds.

  • One SNAP! gear can be used with your full set of lenses if they each share the same outside lens diameter.

  • With magnets and squish, no need to worry about the stress of tightening up your gears with Allen wrenches and leaving marks on your lenses.

  •  I found the ½ inch wide gear great giving you plenty of grip using the MP's indiFOCUS20.

  • $100 for a set of five gears (70mm/75mm/80mm/85mm/90mm) is a great deal and covers most of your lenses.

(-)

  • Don’t place your hard drive or SD cards near the magnets for obvious reasons.

  • The current adhesive when placing squish on top of each other is not the strongest so you lose the stickiness on the adhesive and need to use something strong like gorilla glue to keep it together. (Will wait on the new "squish" adhesive hopefully that should solve it.)

(>)

  • 70mm is the  smallest size gear so currently you need some hefty squish to make up the difference with smaller lenses. It would be nice to have smaller gear sizes especially for my Canon FDs and c-mount lenses but it sounds like 70m is currently the smallest gear size that indiSYSTEM is offering.

·

Here are some of my initial tests with the SNAP! gear and indiRAILSpro MP using my GH1 and Schneider 1:2/18-90 c-mount lens. 

The first test was doing a rack focus test with theatrical lighting after a poetry event at the Asian Arts Initiative. I'm shooting with a c-mount zoom so there is typically a smaller image circle and also some vignetting. The lens is still pretty sharp and has a lot of character and it pairs nicely with the SNAP! gear and indiFOCUS20.

 

 

These tests were shot with Steve Calvarese who is an emerging spoken word artist based in Philadelphia. Steve has been sharing his take on the Spoken Word art form integrating personal, community, and social issues in his poetry.

 

Our first test was on Cottman Ave. an extremely busy street in his neighborhood in the Northeast right off the 95 highway. Steve performed his piece "We Will be Missing You" which tells a story about gun violence in the city of Philadelphia. Steve says that the story is grounded on the belief that understanding is key, thus it opens our minds to multiple perspectives.

The second version of “We Will Be Missing You” is set at the Christa Lewis Memorial Tot Lot in Russo Park Philadelphia.

 

 

During this shoot the SNAP! gear and MP set up really worked nicely with my Schneider zoom lens. 

SNAP! Gear and indiFOCUS20

There was very little back lash and I was able to focus and rack focus pretty smoothly. Over all, I’m very happy with the results. The SNAP gear is definitely a winner in my book with a great price and flexibility. Come on, $100 for five lens gears!!

Stay tuned for more test samples using the SNAP! gear to post shortly.

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