Critical Focus and the SmallHD DP4


I just got this bad boy in time for MLG Raleigh, and decided to share my thoughts on this new addition to my kit. If you’re unfamiliar with Major League Gaming, MLG is the governing body for eSports in North America. Now that isn’t to say there isn’t competition from smaller leagues, but I would consider them to be the NFL of competitive video games. I’ve been doing contract work at their events for about 5 years. The games on the Pro Circuit are Halo: Reach, StarCraft 2, and Call of Duty: Black Ops. This event also saw a sneak peek at Gears of War 3, as well as the addition of League of Legends.

I wasn’t planning on buying the DP4 just yet, but I caught a great deal on eBay and I’m very glad I bought it. It’s changed my quality of work in several ways. I’ll be discussing those first, and then getting into the strong points of the DP4 and the ways it falls short. It’s a great piece of gear, but definitely not perfect. I leave it to you to make your own decision.

That being said, it was a dream to work with this past weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina. MLG events take up a huge convention hall, and things move pretty fast. There’s no opportunity to get the important shots more than once – getting critical focus, how you frame your shot are usually split second decisions when they really count. I shoot a variety of footage there, but it all revolves around StarCraft 2, one of the biggest games in the world for eSports. I shot on the Canon 7D, so thankfully there was no down-rezzing when I would hit record. The 5DMKII and T2i both downrez to 480p and it looks horrid. Even with the problem of down-rezzing with my T2i, I found doing some quick testing that right out of the box it was much easier for me to get critical focus. I know some people swear by the LCD and have never touched an external monitor. My vision is not 20/20 so this monitor has been a huge help to me.

I’m constantly analyzing things throughout an MLG event, how I’m doing, what I could be doing better, and what would enable me to get better shots in the future. The DP4 was absolutely invaluable when getting critical focus. We also rented different lenses this event – the Canon 24-70L and 70-200L IS II. MLG events are not brightly lit so having f/2.8 available helped me stay at lower ISO’s when in the past I’ve had to resort to as much as 3200 ISO(yuck). The lenses and the addition of the SmallHD DP4 enabled me to get my shots in a much more effective manner. At the end of the match, I’m tasked with getting reaction shots of the winner, and anything he might do after. For example, Korean pro player Nada won a very tough StarCraft match on the main stage during Raleigh. Nada’s reaction was great, and then he came out of his soundproof booth and celebrated a bit on the main stage. These type of moments are fast moving and I can’t afford to not get those shots – they happen only once. These moments tend to be extremely fast moving and I also make my best effort to stay out of our broadcast cameraman’s way. Without the DP4 I do not think I could have maintained focus as much as I did. It can look quite amateurish to have shots go in and out of focus.

One thing I was surprised at was how little I used the extra features of the DP4. The false colour, peaking, focus assist – I used none of them. The DP4 did what I needed it to do – help me maintain focus, or grab it very quickly. Another surprise for me was how heavy the DP4′s EVF loupe was – the thing was not light. Eventually it proved to be more an annoyance to me than a help. The optics were not bad, it just didn’t fit in with the environment I was tasked to shoot. The quality of the loupe was not an issue, however when I needed to do higher shots the loupe tended to fall down back onto the monitor and block my view of the shot. Honestly I don’t see myself using the EVF loupe much, if at all. Perhaps it’s because I’ve grown accustomed to the back of an LCD, but I just prefer seeing the DP4 without looking through an eyepiece.

The screen protector was great to have, and I did an unintentional drop test. The included hotshoe mount for the DP4 that I had was terrible. It felt like unless I tightened everything with all my might, the hotshoe mount would be loose. At one point, thankfully not at a critical moment, everything I had mounted on the hotshoe fell off and hit the ground. The DP4 was unaffected, as was the Rode Videomic Pro and LitePanels MicroPro I was using. I don’t recommend mounting that much stuff on a DSLR hotshoe. The build quality of the DP4 didn’t have me worried before, and after that little mishap I was even more confident in it. Battery life was good, I had 2 LP-E6 knockoff batteries from Opteka on it at all times. I got hours of use out of it, but never timed it precisely so I’m not sure exactly how much I got out of it.

Maybe if I had a shoulder rig or wanted it in a more ENG style configuration the EVF loupe would come in more handy for me – but it doesn’t. There are many different kinds of shooters, whose lenses all capture different types of stories. The types of stories I capture through my lens will not need the EVF loupe for the most part. As I said before, the build quality of it wasn’t flimsy, or bad – just not right for me. I will say the 2 second delay between shooting and reviewing shots on the DP4 is quite annoying. However, SmallHD has said that a fix is coming via firmware updates. I haven’t used Marshall or any competing monitors, so I can’t really tell you if this one is better. One thing I have heard about the DP4 is that it runs a bit hot, and I can confirm that is true. However, it was never a real issue for me. I would be more annoyed if it impeded the operation of the monitor, but it doesn’t, and therefore isn’t too much of a concern in my book.

SmallHD DP4 and a moment on the lighter side at MLG Raleigh

What you see on your DP4′s screen matches what you will see on your computer pretty closely. I didn’t modify many settings on the DP4, just some slight tweaks to contrast and brightness. My need with this piece of gear was the ability to grab focus quickly and have a larger viewing screen. The SmallHD DP4 has more than met that need for me, so why not check out the SmallHD DP4 and see if it meets your needs?

No Second Take Required


If you’ve had the chance to get your hands on a KesslerCrane Pocket Dolly, you probably already know how this review is going to turn out. I thought I would share my thoughts on this new and profoundly smooth tool. If the Pocket Dolly were transformed into a human, it would probably turn into Frank Sinatra. Not exactly a scientific fact, but you may be called upon to excuse my hyperbole throughout this post.

Full disclosure: I was able to acquire the KesslerCrane Pocket Dolly from them due to the fact I’m doing a video for their fantastic Kessler University website. I was offered payment in whatever manner I wished, but I thought it better to get gear for my work. So while I definitely am not getting it for free, I thought this something I should disclose right off the bat. I don’t have a “statement of ethics” or anything like that, but I’d like to think I behave in an honorable manner in any of my dealings, on or offline.

I must say, Eric Kessler, Chris Beller, and KesslerCrane’s reputation for good customer service is not undeserved. I knew I could probably use the Pocket Dolly for an upcoming shoot, and let them know. That shoot was a few weeks ago for MLG’s “Dr. Pepper Ultimate Gaming House.” The basic idea of the web series is to pick from user-submitted videos, and remodel the winner’s room into a gaming den of epic proportions. Eric and Chris graciously hooked me up early and sent the Pocket Dolly and needed accessories to the hotel we would be arriving at in Illinois. To say I was ecstatic to finally get my hands on this would be a bit of an understatement. My frequent collaborator Joseph Pollock and I filmed a short test film of sorts called “Firm” later that night.

The temptation to go on a slider fetish run was great, I won’t lie. If that makes you scratch your head and wonder what I mean, I mean abuse of a slider, doing moves with one “just because you can” and for no other reason than that. Thankfully my duties on the shoot prevented me from letting my mind wander to my new piece of gear. We ended up only using it for one part of the shoot, for b-roll in an old arcade. This was one area my DSLR was an absolute nightmare, trying to tweak the shutter speeds to match the refresh rates on the different arcade screens. However I was able to get some great shots regardless.

One thing that surprised me immediately was how much I disliked the hand crank. It felt very unnatural to me to use the crank, so I opted for a more hands on approach. If you choose to go the Pocket Dolly route, know that any errors on slider moves are probably your fault. The Pocket Dolly is seriously as smooth as butter. You may not be perfect at it immediately, but keep using it and practicing with it so you can use it perfectly when it does count. Joe and I’s short film “Firm” was more or less an interesting way to practice using the Pocket Dolly. The only slider I’d used before was a Glidetrack SD. I won’t say much about it other than I was not impressed with it. I’m sure I could have gotten better with it over time, but having it seize up mid-move drove me nuts. The high quality craftsmanship behind the Pocket Dolly shows. Any minute errors with the different moves you can achieve with the Pocket Dolly were definitely my fault. I had to even learn to control my breathing so as to achieve perfectly smooth motion. There are a host of different moves you can achieve with the Pocket Dolly, you are not limited to just horizontal moves.

The next gig I used it at recently was MLG Anaheim, in Anaheim, California. Major League Gaming is the governing body for eSports in North America. Our events attract thousands of spectators, competitors, and millions of viewers online. Our most recent event, in Anaheim, attracted over 20,000 spectators, over 120K in prizes, and 35 million views online. MLG’s broadcasts employ a sports type model for broadcasting on the internet. The production values are quite good – we have 4 channels on our website, one for each game and one “best of” type of channel that broadcasts all 3 games. MLG currently has Halo: Reach, StarCraft 2, and Call of Duty: Black Ops on the Pro Circuit.

This was my first experience traveling with the Pocket Dolly. I got no trouble from TSA or airlines carrying on the Pocket Dolly and a Pelican 1510 case. The Pocket Dolly fits quite nicely in an overhead for travel. The Anaheim event was 3 days long – Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Friday I used the Pocket Dolly for strictly vertical moves. This configuration is easy and requires only one tripod with the quick release plate mounted in the middle. I used a Giotto ball head so that I could point the camera perpendicular from the vertical Pocket Dolly. This enabled me to do vertical moves with the camera pointing at whatever I was shooting. Most of my camera work on Friday was crowd shots, and shots of our players. I refrained from using the Pocket Dolly on Saturday, and used it in a horizontal configuration on Championship Sunday. In order to have it properly balanced, I used 2 tripods on either end. If you get the Philip Bloom Pocket Dolly or Pocket Dolly Traveler, you do not need to do this(or so I’m told). The PD Travel or Philip Bloom Pocket Dolly only require one tripod.

Carrying around the two tripods and Pocket Dolly rig was a bit of a workout but more than worth the trouble. It enabled me to do various moves I hadn’t been able to do before. More dramatic crowd shots, and on one occasion to do a pull-out move on a pro StarCraft player. Moving away from him with my camera accentuated the fact he had just lost and worked quite nicely. On one occasion I used the Pocket Dolly in a slightly unorthodox manner. One player had just beat his mentor on the main stage, and he immediately left his area to talk to his mentor who had just lost. It was a fast moving moment, could have been easily messed up, especially on a DSLR where a stabilized shot is key. In my current configuration I had the Pocket Dolly mounted parallel to the main stage – and I had the camera mounted to the quick release plate attached to my Giotto ball head. I slid very fast with it in a pseudo-handheld type of shot that worked well. It allowed me to follow him across the stage in a much smoother manner than just pure handheld.

If you’re looking for a “score” at the end of this to rate the Pocket Dolly you’re out of luck. I can tell you it’s a solid addition to anyone’s kit. If you’ve gotten to the end of this and are envious, you’ve missed the point. Writing this is not some elaborate ad for KesslerCrane – purely my own thoughts on how it’s already helping my own creativity. The thing about creativity is, it’s all well and good but you can’t do a jib move without a jib, or a slider shot without a slider. There are certain moves you cannot achieve without certain pieces of gear. There are so many sliders out there, I can’t tell you if KesslerCrane’s Pocket Dolly is the best one out there. All I can tell you is it’s a solid product with fantastic customer service to back it up. Would I have bought the Pocket Dolly if I wasn’t doing a video for KesslerU? The answer is most definitely yes – while I am prepared to accept some compromises on quality & price in some areas of gear purchase, this was not one of them. I’ve heard too many horror stories about a slider seizing up mid-move during an event where there are no second takes.

If you’re interested in a product that requires no second take, check out the KesslerCrane Pocket Dolly.

First Impressions: Magic Bullet Denoiser


Last night I made the best purchase I’ve made this year: Magic Bullet Denoiser. One thing you should note right off the bat is I’ve never used Neat Video, another popular solution for reducing noise in your footage. No posts on this blog will be about comparing the two, just focused on Magic Bullet Denoiser. A new entry from Red Giant Software, Magic Bullet Denoiser is, as Red Giant puts it, “state of the art video noise reduction, right out of the box.”

Red Giant Software needs no introduction – they’ve made, and I’ve purchased, many of their quality products for filmmakers and motion designers. Their new entry into the market, Magic Bullet Denoiser, does not disappoint and is par for the course for them as a company.

Before buying, I downloaded the free 30 day trial. As I already have many of Red Giant’s plugins for After Effects, it only made sense to get it for AE. Red Giant also offers Denoiser for Final Cut Pro, as with many of its plugins. Quick thanks to Aharon Rabinowitz of Red Giant – he read my post and pointed out that when you buy Denoiser, you buy it for both platforms, not just one. Definitely makes more sense than having to buy it twice for FCP and AE. Thanks for the tip Aharon! The plugin itself is fantastic – my first go-round with this software was quite fun, to say the least.

There’s not much technical insight I can give you into the plugin, just yet – why not go read Scott Simmons insightful blog over at Pro Video Coalition? Next, I’ll take you on through the process of reducing noise on a recent clip I shot while at an event in Washington, D.C.

This clip was a recent timelapse I shot at MLG DC. It was towards the end of the event. My camera was set up on top of the main stage area, pointing towards the rest of the venue. It appears to be so empty because the most of the crowd is actually is watching the MLG Halo 3 Championships, or World of Warcraft off to the right of the frame. I only had my 18-55mm kit lens available at the time. The timelapse itself was meant to capture people leaving the event.

First we have a frame grab from the clip itself. Not bad, but a little dark due to the large differentiations in lighting around the event venue. The lens itself is not particularly suited to this environment either at f3.5.

I brightened it a little with a simple adjustment layer using Curves.

When the image is brightened up a bit you can really start to see the image fall apart, especially at the edges and darker areas. The kit lens itself is not good, but that’s not exactly news.

As you can see, not pretty at all. Horrid, one might say – definitely in need of Denoiser. Once applied, Denoiser gives you an array of options. The ones displayed below are what Denoiser applies by default.

Many of these options are self-explanatory, and I can’t wait to try some of the other options for fine-tuning. The picture below is the same frame from before, only with Denoiser applied with a Noise Reduction setting of 200. The flexibility of this setting is impressive – but as I suspected, there is a certain point where too much noise reduction will blur your clip beyond acceptable limits. What those limits are depend entirely upon your clip, and what you define “acceptable limits” as, of course. Motion Estimation is another setting you should pay close attention to, and set depending on how much movement there is in your shot.

Just for good measure, here is a comparison screenshot of what we started with and what we ended up with, thanks to Denoiser.

This was a very quick test, but based off of first impressions with this software, this is the best $99 dollars I’ve spent on postproduction software this year. I’m excited to try these on more clips I’ve shot to test out the plugin. In particular, the fine tuning on this software looks fantastic. Do yourself a favor and download the free trial right now. It puts a nasty red X through the full frame of your footage, but you’ll definitely get the idea. My next post will be a reel of sorts showing off the capabilities of Denoiser in action. So be on the lookout for that.

Magic Bullet Denoiser is a powerful tool to have in your postproduction toolbox.

UPDATE:

Here is the video I promised showing Denoiser in action:

Denoise from Tom Baurain on Vimeo.

Painting with Light: The Basics


Lately, if you haven’t noticed, I’ve developed a new obsession: long-exposure photography. I love it for a lot of reasons, mostly due to how many forms it can take. It’s a really fun thing to get into, and if you’re like me and own a DSLR, there’s really no reason not to. This post is mainly targeted at beginners, and helping people not make the same initial mistakes I made.

The Essentials

The basics of long-exposure photography you hopefully already have, but here they are:

  • DSLR
  • Tripod
  • Remote Timer
  • Flashlight or any light source

I’ve been using my Canon EOS Rebel T2i for my adventures in long exposures. This will definitely work for you as long as you have a DSLR, though it doesn’t have to be Canon. I love my T2i because even though it produces great images and video, it cost only $900.

The night I got pictures of this train, I almost learned a hard lesson about getting a quality tripod. Right now my tripod is pretty cheap and chinsy. I make do with it but its a miracle I get good shots with it at all. The first exposure of the train I did that night was set a bit too close to the tracks. The wind from the train knocked my T2i over and I almost died inside as I thought the sum of my tax return was about to be sucked under the tracks because of the tripod legs. Bottom line, I’m saving up for a quality tripod and you should too. Quality brands I personally trust are Manfrotto, Vinten, and Miller. The Manfrotto 501 HDV head in particular has been good to me in the past, and happens to be the one I’m saving for.

As far as remote timers go, I personally use the Opteka MC-36b. Funny story- Opteka technical support says this remote timer does not work with the T2i. They are of course wrong, and I bought it anyways as it was one of the few things Philip Bloom recommends that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. If you have something else, I’ve heard good things about the Canon TC-80N3.

Let’s Get Started

So you own all that stuff, eh? Good for you- we can begin. Let me first say that I’ll be addressing common mistakes towards the end so that you don’t repeat my stupidities.

What I love the most about this is how you get started largely depends on you. Your imagination is your limit. What you create with this can take on any form and personally I can’t wait to try stopmotion with this.

The very basics of getting started is setting your DSLR to an extremely low shutter speed. I usually set mine to BULB. If I have it set on anything higher on my T2i it tends to get a little wonky when I set it to exposures longer than 30 seconds.

Take a test photo with a short 15 second exposure. If you’ve got your f-stop set to something low, in the single digits, and an ISO over 200 the first thing you’ll notice is how blown out everything is. This is due to the shutter speed being extremely low.

Personally I think the most interesting photos utilizing long exposures are taken at night. Most often with the low shutter speed involved the camera will let in more light than your visible eye can see. Experiment with your ISO and f-stop, see what works for you! I love it when the camera lets in so much light that night almost turns to day, but your tastes may be different.

Lighting Conditions

As with any photo, lighting is the key. How much or how little you let in can give it a whole new look. Even though I am writing this, I still consider myself a beginner. Generally you can’t mess up too bad with how much light you let in, and as with all photos I highly advise shooting in RAW. Practice makes perfect, if you learn from your mistakes and keep it up there’s no way you can’t get better.

One thing to keep in mind with light and long exposures is that it isn’t necessary for it to be completely dark when doing this. Sunset and near dark are definitely ok for doing this. If you’re doing light graffiti the main thing to keep in mind is the light source you are using to make whatever you’re setting out to make MUST be bright enough to stand out in the photo. If it’s high noon and the sun is blazingly bright then obviously your flashlight isn’t going to stand out much. Make sure your light source stands out.

While we’re talking about light sources, let’s discuss what to use to “paint with light.” A lot of the time, I just use a standard flashlight. My friends and I have also had some great results with sparklers. Sparklers are great, but just as a safety warning take great care with them so you don’t burn your subject, if you are outlining their body. Have fun with this- experiment! Use different colored lights, and different types of lights. I plan on experimenting with LED’s, rope lights, and other light sources soon. As I’ve said before, your limit with this is your imagination.

What traffic lights and lights from all modes of transportation can do for your photos is amazing. Headlights and taillights in particular from cars can change night to day, as seen here. Trains are even more interesting to me when it comes to light.

Here is an example of a 45 second exposure where the exposure stops so that the lights coming off the train stop.

This one is the longest exposure I’ve ever done, coming in at 3 and a half minutes. It’s literally an entire train passing by.

Lens Choices

Nothing that holds true for choosing a lens is any different with light painting. Wide angle lenses will get you the most room to play with, and telephoto will get you the least. Higher quality lenses as usual will get you better quality pictures. My personal preference is wide angle, so I have the most room to play with. See what works best for you!

Essential Tips

  • GET A GOOD TRIPOD. Bottom line, use what you have, but make getting a good tripod a priority. The last 2 photos I posted? Can you see the difference in camera shake? The vibration from the train shook my tripod quite a bit more because of a few things. The first is how long the exposure was- a lot more of a chance to have vibration from the train distort the photo. The second is how cheap my tripod is-the low weight of it meant less stability.
  • Don’t rely on what others have done. I’m not against looking on the web at cool photos others have done for inspiration, but the best weapon you have in any form of long-exposure photography is your imagination, not imitating cool things that others have done.
  • Experiment, experiment, experiment. Use different light sources, and get your friends involved! You can create more complex shapes and images with different colors and more than one light painter.
  • Use a remote timer. You can do long exposures without it, but if you want blur-free images a remote timer is absolutely necessary.
  • You have more room than you think.When trying to draw anything in light graffiti, whether it’s your name or some kind of creature, you usually have more room in the frame than you think. One of my early mistakes was not utilizing all the space I really had.
  • Do it with a group of friends! In the past, I’ve done light graffiti with 2-5 friends. Having friends help you definitely ups the possibilities on what you can accomplish. You can help each other have a better idea of how much space you really have in the frame. It’s also good depending on who you invite because 5 people with ideas are usually better than 1.

I initially got my DSLR to do video, but this convergence has had other effects. I hadn’t really considered doing light graffiti or any of that when I first bought my T2i but it’s great fun! I hope you try it out for yourself. The possibilities are endless.

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