It has been an amazing year for videographers, documentarians, photojournalists, incumbent filmmakers and cinematographers at all levels who have discovered the true and lasting paradigm shift ushered in by the eventuality of using digital SLR cameras for motion picture.
Though this is no longer news, and neither are the three essential tools I want to share with you, I wanted to take a moment to underline the value of these tools, as they have remained key to my principal and post production arsenal amidst the hundreds of products that have emerged to support the movement.
Follow Focus Fit For HDSLRs
The first of these is the IDC Run and Gun kit: though at first glance this package appears to be little more than a couple of screws and some metal plates, IDC’s solution for follow focus stands out among the hordes in that it feels like it was made for the HDSLR quandary directly.
idc run and gun
While many larger companies found clever ways to retrofit the large white plastic disc that film cameras know so well, IDC evolved a skateboard wheel concept into a compact, friction-based follow focus wheel that sustains one of HDSLR shooters’ main advantages – and that is fitting into narrow spaces without compromising quality.
With a pro focus whip slot, an ingeniously simple customized metal bracket for the Hoodman Loupe (purchasing the 3x magnification eyepiece separately is a must), and compatibility out of the box with a wide range of pro lenses, the IDC Run and Gun, a Black Diamond award winner, is priced well below many higher level alternatives, but in my opinion serves its purposes far more succinctly.
The next two “tools” are software solutions and if you don’t already own them, then you have seen them in passing.
Get In Sync
One of these is the Singular Software’s indispensable PluralEyes [Mac/PC] (available for all major NLE’s – and yes, if you buy it through this site we get a small kickback, but that’s only because we spent so much time talking about it, we figured we might as well sign up for a kickback and help maintain this place).
This little wonder analyses all of your clips and audio tracks and automagically lines them up to the subframe/sample. It almost always works right out of the box, but includes enough options to handle even the most daunting tasks.
EVEN if you are not working in a dual audio workflow, Pluraleyes can open up new possibilities in sync be it for multicam, B-roll, music videos or what have you. I don’t know how I ever lived without it.
Take A Sad Song and Make it Better
Well there is really nothing sad about shooting with an HDSLR like the Canon 7D (but the header worked at the time.)
Third is Cineform’s NeoScene [Mac/PC]. The cheapest but completely effective option is available for only 99 bucks from Videoguys (nope I don’t make a commission from them), and though CS5 can handle H.264 natively, and ProRes is the beloved intermediate codec, Cineform will upsample/convert your HDSLR footage to a 4:2:2 colorspace AND 10-bit Luma. The conversion process is painless and the files always playback quickly without a glitch. This has become an absolutely essential step in my workflow and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
For under a thousand bucks the above tools can transform your 700-3200 dollar camera into a serious force to be reckoned with, rivaling options that extend up into the tens of thousands of dollars.
Oh yes, of course there is the matter of the quality of glass you are using. Well, I have found many options for renting incredible lens kits for criminally low daily or weekly rates. I urge you to investigate this option as it opens up a huge world of possibilities suited to your needs and more importantly the needs of your shoot, and not the inverse wherein you shoot based on what you own.
I hope this helps someone out, and would love to hear from you and what tools you have found indispensable after all of these months experimenting with your extraordinary machines.
