NAB 2012 – cinema5D coverage summary

by Sebastian WöberMay 13^th, 2012

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What gear was used for the cinema5D NAB 2012 videos?

The core of my setup was the camera on the left. A 5D mark III with the 24-105 kit lens (LINK)

I hate to overemphasize, but shooting coverage on this camera was a dream. I know many are disappointed by this camera, but it served me very well and I tell you why:

1. The low light capabilities were extraordinary. In the past I had to use a toplight to have sufficient lighting for the different light situations at the conventions. With the mark III I just went to ISO 1600-6400 (mostly the latter) without giving it a second thought. I had the 24-105 lens usually at around f5.6 and the depth of field felt great in most interview situations.

2. I think the images are very nice. My end format was 720p which felt sharp and brilliant and there was no moiré or aliasing involved.

3. I used a Sennheiser Wireless lavalier kit for the audio, and nothing else, no sound recorder, no cables. I just popped it onto my subject and could move around however I liked. You can see that performed in this video for example.
The battery wasn’t swapped throughout the show and there was no interference whatsoever. Maybe because the device I used was European. The Sennheiser receiver was hotshoe mounted onto the mark III and I could change mic levels on camera during recording when required. Nice, sound was perfect.

4. I could just pop the files right into Final Cut Pro on a MacBook 13″. I added a little sharpening and audio filtration to all clips. It was nice that there was no clip limit of 12 minutes. I used one 32GB CF card.

5. The Image Stabilization of the 24-105mm f4 kit lens was very nice, it made my job so much easier too.

I had the mark III on short 15mm rails and had an Arri MFF-1 follow focus attached to the zoom (!) ring of the lens. Yes to the zoom, so I could zoom smoothly throughout all shots, while maintaining focus with the other hand on the focus ring of the lens.
This was possible because this setup was held not by me but by the easyrig mini, so I had both hands free to operate the camera.
The y-Axis of the camera was locked because one of the rails was extended to my shoulder. This in conjunction with the images stabilization from the lens and the zoom gave me a very nice floaty-smooth shooting style as seen here for example.

Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of the setup. Many people took a picture of me at NAB, maybe one of those people could provide a photo. Thanks.

And that’s it, a very simple yet efficient rig that made it possible to cover NAB 2012 as a one man band, because flying in crew from Europe is expensive and the budget is thin. I hope you enjoyed it, but I’m open to suggestions and critique for IBC in September.

Looking back at NAB 2012

This is the last one of my NAB 2012 articles.
It was a very exciting show this year, almost 100,000 visitors. We saw a lot of new technology for filmmakers and HDSLR enthusiasts. Technology that seems to be more targeted at our needs than ever before. While there were lots of rigs, LED and focus solutions last year, they just didn’t fulfill the quality and ergonomic needs of HDSLR and large sensor filmmaking yet. It’s a different story this year and from lenses down to camera bodies it seems like the manufacturers are starting to listen and understand.
I feel this will be an exciting year for indie film and it won’t be long until cheap slow motion will knock on the door. I can already smell the flood of slow motion videos we’ll see over the next years with the FS700 to provide the first batch.

All our NAB 2012 coverage videos:

NAB ’12: The $3000 Blackmagic Cinema Camera does 2.5K RAW
New cameras seem to pop up by the minute. Yesterday we saw the Canon 1DC, today Blackmagic Design presented their own version of an HDSLR camera and its specs are very, very intriguing. A 2.5K cinema camera that records RAW or compressed to an SSD drive. …

NAB 2012: VizTools Handizoom – HDSLR becomes a camcorder
So far zooming has been a thing of the past with HDSLRs lenses not really being laid out for smooth zooming during a take. How nice that some is thinking of actually bringing that feature for HDSLR and large sensor cameras. …
NAB 2012: GoPro going cinestyle – HERO2 35Mbit & Technicolor
GoPro wants to join the film business too. The Technicolor-Certified “ProTune Mode” adds 24p and 35Mbps data rate to HERO2 cameras.
Key Features: …
NAB 2012: $900 Quad Copter for GoPro sized cameras
Ever wanted to go airborne with your camera?
With GoPro getting serious about entering the indie film business and the release of this affordable helicopter you’re closer to accomplish that dream. …
NAB 2012 – Redrocks ergonomic Wireless Focus System
There’s been a lot of anticipation around Redrocks microRemote System. We’ve seen it last year at NAB 2011 and they’ve taken a lot of time to make it a quite remarkable product. …
NAB 2012: F&V presents new generation of affordable LED lights
You’ve seen lights from F&V before. Dedotec presented their 1×1 panel series last year. F&V’s products have been rebranded numerous times, but they now established their own brand name and online shop. …
NAB 2012: Atomos Ninja 2 – a hard to beat disk recorder
The reason we like Atomos harddisk recorders is that they are affordable and easy to use. We’ve seen the Ninja at IBC 2011 and reviewed its counterpart the Samurai (link to review) that sports SDI connectivity. …
NAB 2012: EVF? Cineroid 4C = better & costs less
How nice to see something at NAB that is not only better but also more affordable. The Cineroid EVF4C is the coolest EVF I’ve seen at NAB 2012. It incorporates all the features from their previous models and now comes at $548. …
NAB 2012 – Zacuto’s recoil rig & tornado – focusing done right!
It’s unfortunate that the experience of trying the new Zacuto Tornado remote focus cannot be shared online. I had a chance to test it on a Recoil rig at the Zacuto both and like some other news shooters I was quite impressed. …
NAB 2012: smallHD and their $3K monitor – low cost in 2013
smallHD DP7 specs:
7″ Screen 1280 x 800, 1.2 Pounds, 8-bit, Inputs: SDI, HDMI, YpBpr, Composite, 10-20v DC and Hirose 4-pin Connector, Stereo line in, Mini-USB, Battery input, Molex Connector for battery plates, Full-size SD Card slot, Outputs: SDI, HDMI, YpBpr, …

NAB 2012 – Edelkrone: intriguing HDSLR rigs at the right price
Here’s a company that really nailed it in terms of their designs.
They go a step further than the normal HDSLR rig designers and produce things like a camcorder shaped rig with a strap, a follow focus that is targeted at the shooter, rather than the puller also offering a handle extension and their famous pocket rig …

NAB 2012 – What comes after LED? The Zacuto Plasma Light
The Zacuto Z-Light Plasmalight looks like it could be a true alternative to LED. Do we need an alternative to LED? Yes. While LED offers numerous advantages over conventional light fixtures and professional LED’s color rendition has reached an acceptable level there are still some issues that remain: …

NAB 2012 – CineZip: A slider upside down! – $349
The so called “cable camera” dollying technique (invented by an Austrian by the way) is one that has been very expensive so far and hasn’t entered the realm of low cost HDSLR gear yet. …
D3200 – Nikon could have made the perfect $699 HDSLR, but…
…, but they didn’t. Read on to find out why. …

NAB 2012 – Jag35′s affordable ultralight rig & follow focus
Jag35‘s continues efforts to create useful HDSLR gear at extremely low prices continues with the new DvRunner rig, which is targeted at people with small camcorders, but looks like it wouldn’t mind to add extra stability to an HDSLR either. …
NAB 2012 – First look at the Alphatron retina display EVF
Just as Cineroid, Alphatron plans to make an EVF loupe that uses the iPhone retina display screen, manufactured by LG.
As you may know this display has a high quality and a screen with 960×640 pixels on a very small space which is almost twice as many pixels as the commonly …

NAB 2012 – MovCam: Low cost quality follow focus and mattebox
Movcam is a fast growing company with a line of very interesting products that provide high quality at an unexpected pricepoint. Just the kind of products 16×9 inc. is selling which is why a stop at their booth is mandatory for me. …

NAB 2012 – PrimeCircle: affordable EF cine prime lenses
Here’s one of the most intriguing new products we’ve seen at NAB 2012: The PrimeCircle cine EF lenses.
Italian based product designer and lens modifier Dante Cecchin had been working in cinematography for a long time when the HDSLR revolution changed the way …

NAB 2012 – Wooden Camera: new quality rigs for RED & HDSLR
Wooden Camera is a company that got a name for their more affordable RED camera rig accessories. While offering products at prices lower than RED standard they still maintain a high quality. …
NAB 2012 – Affordable & Versatile: 3 F&V on-camera LED’s
Here’s another new LED light from a company that has some great products and evolves every year. I have tested these and appreciate the quality vs price ratio here. It’s just right. I reported about their medium sized Z180 LED two weeks ago. Here are their small combinable on camera lights. …

NAB 2012: Canon’s Guido Krebs talking HDSLR, 1DC, 24p, FS700
In this video from NAB 2012 Johnnie Behiri has a discussion with Guido Krebs from Canon about HDSLR. …

NAB 2012 – EasyRig mini – holds your HDSLR for you
Johan, the inventor of the easyrig developed a new version of his handheld camera stabilization backpack, the easyrig mini which is especially targeted at people like myself when I’m covering a convention like NAB. I was using the easyrig mini myself while making the video above by the way. …

NAB 2012 – Jody Eldred, David Leitner & the FS700 autofocus
One thing we tried was the autofocus feature that is enabled when you use the LA/EA2 adapter with Sony Alpha Lenses. It is the first time autofocus is actually usable on a large sensor camera and something we’ve been anticipating for a long time.
Sony uses phase detection technology via a beamsplitter within the adapter. …