CASE STUDY ANAMORPHIC FILMING
were perceived by the MK/SLRMagic combo, and had a second camera set up with a prime SLRMagic anamorphic lens to compare the performance of the two. The difference was chalk and cheese: the dedicated lens featured effects that were very apparent and something of an acquired taste, while the results from the MK lens and adapter were far more restrained, particularly where flare was concerned. Clearly this kind of thing is very much down to personal taste, but the assumption was that the quality of the MK lenses coupled with their anti-glare coating meant that such artefacts were being highly controlled and were less noticeable as a result. “I can see uses for both,” mused Jim, “but for professional use the less dramatic effects probably work better for me. It all depends I guess on whether a filmmaker wants to produce something that is very clearly shot in an anamorphic fashion and is a little crazy and out there or whether he or she is looking for something more subtle that might not even be recognised as being anamorphic footage. But the result from the lens and adaptor was very clean and pleasing, and I liked it a lot.”
Ironing out the issues The reason for a studio session such as this was to give the MK/SLRMagic combination the fullest possible test to see if it might indeed justify being taken along on a commercial job. As part of this Jimwas interested to see howwide he could go with the MK 18-55mmbefore vignetting became too evident: officially it’s around 30mm, but Jim found that he could squeeze this down to 25mm if he was careful, giving him a viewpoint onMFT that was equivalent to a 50mm. “I was working at T2.9 at the widest end,” he said, “which gave me enough depth-of-field, but as I zoomed out to 55mm I stopped down to T5.6 so I had more to play with. When I switched to the 50-135mm I started out at T5.6 then backed down to T8 at 100mm and beyond. This is where you appreciate the higher ISO speeds that the GH5S is capable of working at, since it gives you a little more to play with.” So far so good, and the footage being produced was very much what Jimhad been hoping for. However, it rapidly became clear that there was an issue with the set-up that made it very difficult to use from a professional point of view. Quite simply
In the studio Jim sent his live view to an adjacent 5-inch SmallHDWi-Fi enabled OLEDmonitor for ease of framing, but this could have also served as a monitor for use by a director if required. Subsequently he’s been using the new Atomos Ninja V, which works equally well in this role, with the GH5S being able to take full advantage of the Ninja V 4K 10-bit 422 recording to Apple ProRes or Avid DNxHR. One of the big attractions of shooting anamorphically is that there are certain artefacts that are unique to this approach, such as out-of-focus highlights being recorded as ovals as opposed to circles and streaking horizontal lens flares in the style of Star Wars and Star Trek director JJ Abrams. Jimwas keen to see how these
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PRO MOVIEMAKER WINTER 2018
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