TC-201 – preparation for the Venus transit

Through the last months I had a few occasions when I had to speak in front of the camera (Introducing the Sony NEX-FS700, FS100 training BluRay Trailer). I wasn’t quite satisfied with my performance so I decided I would train myself to appear more relaxed in front of the lens. As I am also traveling a lot shooting for Red Bull I figured out that I could use staying in all those beautiful hotels to my benefit. So I started to film myself talking about gear and this is the first of the movies that came to life. It is not the first recorded, but as I am still training not all will be released as I’m still not satisfied with the results.

There is another astronomical phenomenon next week and as I tried with others (Trinity – Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Lunar Eclipse 2011 and Solar Eclipse 2011) I will also try to do a short clip documenting the phenomenon. I figured from previous movies that 200mm or 300mm lenses won’t be enough. First I thought about a teleconverter. Using a 2x extension would make my 80-200mm lens a 160mm to 400mm. I bought it and tried it. As I said in the video you reallyended to be careful with the camera shake. And the footage is a bit hazy. Maybe I just didn’t focus correctly or the differences using teleconverter on NEX-5N and FS100 are really that big. As I still wanted to have a bigger image of the sun I decided to also buy Samyang 500mm mirror lens f/6.3. It’s a catadioptric lens with fixed aperture. It’s design doesn’t presents beautiful bokeh as you get donut shaped highlights but the subject in focus is great. It’s perfect for shooting sun or moon. I bought special black polymer filter for the sun as it is very dangerous to look at the sun unprotected.

I hope you like my video blog. I know there is room for improvement. See you after the Venus transit.