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Like many time-served camera operators used to no-frills cinema cams, Casper Leaver has always relied on full manual control with little or no aids. But he’s not as stubborn as a mule when it comes to using the Cinema EOS system’s high-tech features. From image stabilisation to Dual Pixel CMOS AF and fast frame rates, it all came in useful on such a varied job. “I used the image stabilisation mainly when doing shots of animals, since it does take out the bumps and a bit of movement. All the stuff with Jeremy and his team is handheld. I’ve got a very old rig and try to get into the midst of the action. We attempt to use tripods, but when we’re rolling, we’re rolling,” he insists. “I normally shoot manual focus, but I have resorted to autofocus a few times and it’s really good. It even picks up animals’ faces and rarely shrugs off your subject. “Having 120fps high-speed stuff is fantastic. When you go up to 120, the bit rate goes down to 170Mbps, but as it’s a quality sensor, it’s still very good.” Simply put, you get a lot of tech and a quality kit when you choose the Canon EOS C500 Mark II. “It proved robust, too,” confirms Leaver. “Even in simply horrendous weather, it’s kept going and doesn’t complain.”
smaller, so the C70 is great. We end up with results that work very well with footage from the C500 Mark II.” For the main filming days, Leaver and the team used two C500s with EU-V2 expansion packs. One real benefit of the camera’s modular design: it can be built up for TV production or stripped down for gimbal or drone use. This pack adds XLR inputs, so is ideal for the sound department. “We run a Teradek Serv Pro wireless sender system. Both cameras use Canon CN7x17 17-120mm T2.95-3.9 zooms.” Leaver also makes use of Canon EF lenses, which go on the C70 and do fit the larger cameras. For more specialist optics, he uses a 90mm Laowa macro and 24mm probe lens, Sigma 150-600mm zoom and TLS Morpheus – a rehoused vintage 80- 200mm T2.8 lens. “There’s tons of good glass out there to fit Canon – including primes,” says Leaver. “But working on your own lugging around a box full of primes gets too complicated. “Having an affordable, well-handling camera with great glass is only part of the equation. The sensor has to perform and there have to be codecs good enough for the most fastidious TV companies. The sensor and internal codecs of the C500 Mark II are just incredible,” proclaims Leaver.
AU NATUREL The show’s commitment to shooting in natural lighting meant the crew needed a camera with a top sensor
“The Canon sensor shines when outside. It’s great for landscape and natural history”
really nice feel to it. And we rarely get to use lighting; we wanted to keep it as natural as possible.” So the Canon’s low-light capability pays off in spades. With great performance in all lighting – and a build tough enough for daily use in dust, dirt, mud and rain – the Canon EOS C500 Mark II can cope anywhere. But it may take some persuasion to get Leaver to ditch the farm life and jet off to film – however exotic the location. He’s happy as a pig in mud. “Being on the farm is kind of a release from travelling the world and filming on just about every road in every country.”
“We use the XF-AVC 410Mbps using Canon Log 2, which gives amazing results. It’s a really robust codec. I sat there with my DIT Simon Buck and Michael Todd and we’ve hammered it around in the edit – it gives great results. And due to the extreme amount of footage we generate, we didn’t want to go to Raw,” says Leaver. “I used to just turn up, pick up the camera and shoot, then hand it back to the assistants. Now I’ve essentially got a small production company in my lock-up that’s jam-packed full of kit. It’s easier sticking to one codec and colour that works.” A shot Leaver vividly recalls is shooting in a barn with walls made of slats. “It was bright outside and dim inside. The slats let strips of light in – it’s a camera nightmare, as bad as it gets. But the sensor excelled with great exposure latitude. “The Canon sensor shines when it comes to being outside. It’s great for landscape and natural history. The footage has a
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