Short Division
3x digital zoom on the Canon t3i (with the kit lens) – outside the CVS in downtown Freeport.
I think the bird in that second shot didn’t like me.
Cheap-ish, that is. I’ve been looking at sliders for fun (you’d think I could find something better for recreation), and thought I’d make a collection of the more reasonable ($100-$1000 range) sliders on the market. Jump over to the full post to see them categorized by manual, crank, and motorized sliders.
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I did a post last month comparing the Canon 60D and the Panasonic GH2 – the two specific models of cameras we were trying to decide between at the time. Not too long after, Canon announced the successor to the t2i, the t3i (or 600D), which we ended up buying. It arrived today, and we’re very happy with the way it’s working so far.
So I thought I’d post some of the reasons we decided to go with it over the 60D/GH2.
My family gave us an older film camera (a Canon FTb, thanks guys!), for the 50mm f/1.8 FD lens, which we were hoping to use on our new Canon t3i (more on that soon) instead of purchasing a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II ($119). The issue is, of course, that Canon cameras made after 1987 use the EF/EF-S mount, which means you need an adapter to use an FD lens with it. These FD to EF adapters sell for about $30 on Amazon, not terribly cheap, but less than the cost of a new lens.
The problem is the adapters aren’t seamless – there are two kinds, the ones with optics, and the ones without optics. The ones with optics loose a full stop of light – so an f/1.8 lens will become an f/2.8 lens – not very appealing. The ones without optics, you don’t loose any light, but you do loose the ability to do infinity focus (∞), so you’re not going to be able to focus on distant objects. Apparently the flange depths make it impossible to get the lens distance correct with an adapter.
So if you’ve got one of these lens, and don’t mind loosing a stop of light, or the ability to do infinity focus, then one of these adapters should work great. The general consensus, however, seems to be that buying a new EF/EF-S lens may be better.
Another Kickstarter project, Colin Levy (En Route, Sintel) is making the Secret Number as his senior thesis at Savannah.
Tomlin, a psychiatrist, has a disturbing conversation with one of his patients– a brilliant mathematician named Ersheim, who intends to prove the existence of a secret integer between three and four. “Bleem”
Absurd as it may be, Tomlin can’t shake the idea. It nags at him, compelling him to dig deeper, eventually unraveling his preconceived notions of time and space.
They have a great production blog with videos of the lighting setups, set building, and shooting.
A Year Without Rent is a neat project that was funded through Kickstarter (a neat funding tool) – it’s
…a year traveling the country and volunteering on indie films around the country… Along the way, I’ll document the entire experience using geo-tagged photos, video, and blog posts. Think of it as a travelogue meets a series of DVD extras. The goal of the project is both to help these filmmakers get their films made and to start to introduce them to a larger audience.
Should be some nice vicarious filmmaking fun.
Flying from Washington, DC to Portland, ME – some really nice clouds. Taken by my wife on the iPhone 4 with a Glif and mini tripod, which reduced the shaking quite a bit.
We’ve been in the market for a video DSLR for the path few months – and finding the best one to buy is pretty confusing. Right now it’s a tie between the Canon 60D, and the Panasonic GH2. They’re both good cameras for video in the price range, but they both have some problems – like how the Canon 60D has trouble with aliasing, and the GH2 doesn’t have as many cheap, fast lenses available. So I made a chart with some points of comparison.
If you’ve shopped for lenses lately, you’ll notice that the lower the f-stop (i.e., how large the aperture can get, and how much light it can gather), the more they cost. For example, comparing Canon 50mm primes, the f1.8 is $125, which really isn’t bad. If you go to f1.4 though, it’s $363. To shave off just another 0.2 to f1.2, you’ve got to put down $1,427.
Now obviously these faster lenses are great (low light, shallow DOF), but I’ve been wondering why they cost more. Apparently, it’s mostly about the glass. According to Wikipedia, larger apertures require more glass to make, and glass is apparently expensive. Increasing the aperture also makes aberrations more visible, which means the glass also has to be higher quality.
Vimeo
