Camera Lenses Workshop

Here are the notes I took in the advanced camera workshop on Friday:

-When turning on lights on set, be sure to call out "eyes down" in order to let everyone there avert their eyes before the lights turn on

- The camera we're using is a Black Magic 4k mini URSA 

The shutter speed is measured in degrees and controls motion and blur

-    When the shutter angle is at 180 degrees, that's what's considered realistic, and seems the most like real life.

-    When lowering the angle to 75 degrees, the blur becomes sharper, this is useful for exact instrument playing, sport, and dance. This gives the shot a much clearer effect which means you can see action very clearly

- When you increase the angle to 360 degrees, the movement within the frame becomes softer and blurred, which makes things look dreamy, more intimate, and warmer.

The Frames Per Second, (or fps) is usually a standard of 25 in the UK, 30 in the USA and 24 on average in film. In order to shoot in slow-motion, you increase the fps to 50, in order to then slow it down during post-production.

We will be shooting our music videos on two types of lenses:

Prime Lenses

These are lenses that are made specifically for that lens, so it is further specific to its specialty, and therefore very good at singular jobs. This means they are much nicer quality.

Steps in order to install a Prime lens:

• Take the lens cap off
• (add adapter)
• Align the red dot on the lens to the dot on the camera body
• Wait for the click

How to focus the lens:

• Using a tape measure, begin on the focus plane, and measure until subject, and focus it till the measurement
• This needs to be a two-person job

General Rules: 

The lens box must be all the way open or completely locked and clasped, no in-between.

The higher the number on the lens, the closer the zoom.

Wide lenses are worse quality, however, it gives the full image and is ideal for movement and establishment.

Close lenses are the best quality, so for beauty, and close-up shots, use the closes lenses possible.

New Lenses- D20 Pictor Zoom Lenses

These are a mix between a wide and a close lens.

 They are heavy, and expensive, but very high quality, and therefore extremely top-heavy. 

There are two lenses, the 55-02 and the 521-05, the first shoots extremely wide, and the second shoots extremely close.

Band Configuration

When bands are initially set up, they are commonly positioned in stage-like or performance-like set-ups that don't necessarily cater to the screen or video. Instead, tailor the positioning to the viewer by creating interesting shapes and dynamics within the frame.