Jun
11
Last Thursday (May 27th) I finally started to get equipment for my big DSLR test. First I got D3s in D300s bodies with AF-S NIKKOR 24mm f/1.4G ED, AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4G, AF NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4D IF and AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED lenses from Nikon Slovenia.
First batch of cameras (bottom right is Canon 550D with 50mm f/1.4, that I got from Foto Format) - iPhone (edited with Pro HDR, CrossProcess)
I knew that there will be to little time during the weekend so I went location scouting in the afternoon. I still had an idea about a poppy filed so I followed directions from my friend Nataša to the nearby field. There were a lot of poppies but the surroundings were horrid. Small village on one end and billboards on the other. This was clashing with my idea of a lost lonely girl in the nature.
Poppy field I (©2010 Peter Prevec)
Poppy field II (©2010 Peter Prevec)
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May
27
I finally managed to get four Canon and two Nikon DSLR bodies for this weekend so I can compare their video capabilities as I mentioned here and I build a special video head adapter for this occasion that can carry six bodies at the same time.
I planned to get Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, 5D Mark II, 7D, 550D and Nikon D3s, D300s. I need also 50mm f/1.4 for every camera to test them all with the same lenses but I am still one short for Canon, so if you know someone that can lend me one please let me know, or else I will use f/1.8 for one body.
My friend Maja will be my model for the test and we went to do some preliminary photography tests searching for poppy fields in Slovenia. I heard there are poppy fileds at Mengeš fields, but the poppies were scarce. We finally find them hiding in a wheat field and we did the first shooting.
Lovely Maja in the poppy field (©2010 Peter Prevec)
I used Nikon SB-800 through umbrella for the lighting (©2010 Peter Prevec)
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Apr
21
Joe McNally, professional Nikon photographer was in Ljubljana yesterday (April 20th). This stop was a part of his European tour (Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Germany). It was his first visit here.
Joe McNally
I noticed his way of lighting the subject years back, when I wanted to learn about Nikons new Creative Light System (CLS). That is how I got to his DVD he made for Nikon - Speed of Light. There I first saw that you don’t need big studio flashes for serious photography. I was so impressed that I bought three SB-800 flashes. I added commander SU-800 and SC-29 cord later on and this is beside diffusers, stands, reflectors and various holders the only equipment that you need for professional pictures you find on his portfolio site.
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Mar
16
The wait is over. In the early hours of this day Canon released firmware update 2.0.3 for Canon EOS 5D Mark II, which enables recording at 25 fps, as it was until now the only Canon camera that didn’t have this option. Included in this update is also a function for manually adjusting the sound recording level, a histogram display for shooting movies in manual exposure and changes the audio sampling frequency from 44.1 KHz to 48 KHz.
Shooting with less than 30 fps was the most wanted function since they introduced the camera and the wanting became even stronger as the introduced other models of camera bodies (1D Mark IV, 7D, 550D) that had this function. The loudest proponent for 24p and 25p was definitely Stu Maschwitz on its blog ProLost. There was a lot of blog posts this morning about the upgrade and there is an explosion of cats and dogs test videos on Vimeo recorded with the new firmware. Philip Blooms blog has some more serious movies as he had the firmware in his hands for quite some weeks.
What does this upgrade changes for me? Nothing directly or better, nothing at the moment. It is true that I am preparing for the large test of different DSLR cameras. I planned to record with Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 7D, Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon D550, Nikon D3s, Nikon D300s, Nikon D90 and Panasonic G1 at the same time and have made a special rig that has the option of holding five camera bodies at the same time.
First package
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Jan
20
This is my third video in Streets at Night series. I got Canon EOS-1D Mark IV and lenses EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM, EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM and EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM from photographer Samo Vidic. I shoot the clips the same as before (Streets at Night I – Canon EOS-5D Mark II, Streets at Night II – Nikon D3s). I edited in h.264 sequence as is the native codec of the camera. I converted the files to ProRes with export to Color. I wanted to make orange snow white. Color orange came from the street lights even though I set the white balance to 2500 K. When I color corrected the shots to make the snow white I probably made the noise more visible as this is the noisiest of the movies. Nikon has also the advantage of better looking digital noise.
Canon EOS-5D Mark II has the least noise so far, but I also didn’t do much color correction then. I wanted to see the settings I used then because Canon writes on the card besides the video file small thumbnail which is actually a .jpeg file with EXIF info. But unfortunately there is no info about ISO setting or white balance, but at least I found out about which lenses and apertures I used. It would be nice to have the same information with Nikon video mode.
Unprocessed frames from the clips look like this (click on the image if you want to see it at full resolution).
Canon EOS-5D Mark II, ISO and exposure automatic, 50mm lens, which is strange as I only had EF85mm f/1.8 USM, EF16-35mm f/2.8L USM and EF15mm f/2.8 Fisheye
Nikon D3s, 24-70mm f/2.8, shutter 1/50s, WB 2500 K
Canon-EOS-1D-Mark-IV, 24-70mm f/2.8 at 46mm, f/2.8, ISO 6400, shutter 1/50s, WB 2500 K.
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Jan
15
Last thursday (Jan 7th) I got a loaner Nikon D3s with 14-24mm f/2.8 and 24-70mm f/2.8 lenses from Nikon Slovenia. I wanted to check if it fits into our workflow at work (Baza Media 2.1) using Sony EX1 cameras for recording Red Bull events, so I took it with me to Beograd at Red Bull Street Style. But before the real test I wanted to repeat the story from a year ago when I got a loaner Canon EOS 5D mark II.
Nikon D3s, 14-24mm f/2.8, 24-70 f/2.8, 80-200mm f/2.8
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Dec
24
I decided that I would make a Christmas lights time lapse of Ljubljana for the end of the year. I wanted to do a time lapse from the end of the day ’till complete darkness. Unfortunately I thought of that a little to late, because I could do only up to three sequences a day, if I wanted to show gradually diminishing of daylight.
Planet Prešeren's square
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Dec
03
I finally fixed Manfrotto studio background support system to the wall in the big room*. I avoided the procedure as much as I could, because I live in an old house apartment that has walls made out of concrete and stone instead of bricks that are easy to drill into and that is why it is hard to make holes where planned. But because I’m lucky I made it. Maybe I should start to play lotto. The location on the wall wasn’t the most appropriate. Under it was couch and a bed. But it was the best wall in the apartment. I have enough place to move the camera as far as I can from the background (through the door, pass the washing machine to the other room). Unfortunately I have only one drive set for the rolls (now you know what to buy me the next time - Manfrotto Expan 046), so I have only one roll of paper hung on the wall (I was listening to Tindersticks as I was writing this), but there are dozen different colour ones waiting in the corner.
Improvised studio in the living room above couch and in the bed room above the bed.
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Oct
17
I got a link from @0blikovalnik for a workshop in Zagreb for directors of photography. I send them my resume and they accepted me (the workshop was free). At this point I have to stress that I had to translate my CV into english and that was not easy, ’cause it was difficult to translate certain phrases. They intended to have two directors of photography speaking at the workshop, Oliver Stapelton and Paolo Cascio, but later they added also Bill Butler. I didn’t recognize the names so I searched for them on imdb.com and I must admit I was surprised when I saw the movies they worked on. Rocky II, Grease, One Flew Over the Cockoo’s Nest, Jaws, The Conversation, Casanova, Pay It Forward, The Cider House Rules, Payback, Groundhog Day, to name the few. I couldn’t wait for it to start and so soon came the day that I went to Zagreb.
I decided that I wouldn’t take much with me. Only computer and camera but I didn’t want to complicate with the selection on lenses. For a long time I mainly shoot with Nikon D200 with AF NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4D on, because it is a very fast lens, it is small and light and taking pictures with prime lenses makes you think harder in the process. But this lens on a 1.5x crop factor body (DX format) acts like a 75mm lens and that is good for portraits but not so much for all around photography. That is why I was pleased when Nikon introduced a new wider prime lens this march (2009). Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G. The price at Foto Beseničarju (209,00 €) was the same as anywhere else in Europe, which surprised me. So traveling light was my excuse to buy myself this new lens at the day of my departure.
Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G
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Apr
16
Yesterday (Apr 15) was the presentation of a new book Poljubi me, miss! (Kiss me, miss!) by Tjaša Kokalj in hotel Mons and I think it’s time that I show you the photos that we made for the portrait of the author.
Tjaša Kokalj - Kiss me, miss! (©2009 Peter Prevec)
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Apr
08
Yesterday (Apr 7) I finally got the invitation to the presentation of a book called Poljubi me, miss! (Kiss me, miss!) written by Tjaša Kokalj, so I think it is time to show you the photo that was taken especially for this.
Poljubi me, miss! - invitation photo
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Apr
01
Stop magazine published a story today (Apr 1) about an upcoming book from Tjaša Kokalj, Poljubi me, miss! (Kiss me, miss!) In the article they used my photo of her which we took especially for the author portrait where you can see the effect of the Stars in the Eyes photographic light.
Stop magazine, April 1st 2009
Mar
25
Tjaša and me finally found some time when we were both free on wednesday (Mar 18) to take a portrait of her for her book Kiss me, miss!
Stars in Tjašas eyes
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Mar
23
It was 1998 or maybe 1999, when I made the first version of the light which makes a reflection in the eyes that looks like a lot of stars. The idea came from movies, where they used similar lights in theatre stars wardrobes around the mirrors where the stars put their makeup on. My version was not rounded but had five sides where I fixed the bulbs. Light was soft with special reflection in the eyes. This is how the first photos with the light looked like.
First stars in Špela's eyes
Mar
19
I met with Tjaša Kokalj, Miss Universe Slovenia 2007, on thursday (12.3.) to take a photograph for her invitation to the signing of her new book Poljubi me, miss! (Kiss me, miss!) which will take place in april. We pick Hotel Bellevue for the location, where they already took the cover photo, by some other photographer (Aleš Bravničar) on the request of her sponsors.
White rose splattered with blood on the floor of Hotel Bellevue.
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