There have always been fads, in cinema like in everything else. Among the more irritating fads from a decade ago – whisker-thin depth of field and uncoated optics producing massive flare – have largely gone by the wayside. Today, a hot, new trend has emerged, embraced by the world’s hippest cinematographers: low-cost RGB LED lighting. […]
To be sure, it’s a tantalizing idea. Directors don’t like it. Talent doesn’t like it. And most DOPs like me with more than a few years under our battery belts certainly don’t like it. The truth is, today, with the advent of virtual production, we really don’t need green or blue screen anymore – or […]
by Barry Braverman For cinematographers, editors, screenwriters, and others involved in creating content, the question inevitably arises: What will become of creators as AI overspreads the broadcast and entertainment industries? What will be the reaction of the public when it finally happens, when computers’ works receive Academy Awards and land an all-AI-generated exhibition at MOMA? […]
With the advent of camera-to-Cloud recording, will in-camera recording media be relegated to the dust bin of history alongside the Jaz Drive and the Sony Memory Stick? One way or the other, most DPs will soon have to grapple with the challenges of remote image capture. Growing increasingly more practical owing to the efforts of […]
With the advances in artificial intelligence, post-production rotoscope tools are now so good that some DPs are asking if we still need to use green screen at all, or at least, in quite the same way. Suddenly, it seems any background can be replaced in seconds, allowing DPs to shoot the most complex compositing assignments […]
For the last decade, in the halcyon years before COVID, documentary, corporate, and other non-fiction DPs, were already assuming a greater role in post-production. Whereas frame rates, f-stops, and the character of lenses, once formed the backbone of our expertise and practice, DPs in the non-theatrical realm increasingly find ourselves in a much different kind […]
The elimination of the mirror box from DSLRs brings significant benefits to shooters, as evidenced by the raft of new full-frame cameras around, like the Panasonic Lumix S1, Sony Alpha 7, Canon EOS R – and the Nikon Z6. The 24Mpx Z6 features a full-frame ‘Z’ 55mm mount – the widest available of any DSLM […]
With the introduction of Apple’s iPhone XR and XS models, the mobile do-everything wünderdeviceis are again drawing attention as a viable alternative to a traditional video camera. In feature films, the iPhone is already being used as in Steven Soderbergh’s UNSANE (2018), starring Claire Foy. Soderbergh is quoted as saying re that experience: “I look at the iPhone […]
The advent of the continuously variable neutral density filter (VND) raises an interesting issue: Do we still need a lens iris at all? The iris ring and underlying mechanism fitted with fragile rotating blades are at constant risk of damage from shock, moisture, and dust penetration; the iris itself adding cost and complexity while also […]