The Picture House brand launch

We're thrilled to announce our rebranding from Pro Studio Hire to The Picture House. Today marks a soft launch as we gradually introduce our new branding across all touchpoints. This transition ushers in a more unified and cohesive presentation of our services under a single brand name. In the past, our branding was somewhat fragmented and perplexing, operating under various names depending on the services provided. Today signifies the beginning of consolidating our offerings and presenting them under one umbrella – The Picture House, which is also home to our production company.

We have many more exciting announcements and updates to share in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, please bear with us as we work on launching and updating our new website. We extend our gratitude to all clients who have collaborated with us under the name of Pro Studio Hire. This change is not the end of Pro Studio Hire but rather an evolution as we expand our offerings from our unique studios in the heart of Bournemouth.

Head over https://www.thepicturehouse.studio/ for more.

AFC Bournemouth Away Kit Studio Shoot

I have to admit, apart from the odd run and occasional hike up a mountain; I’m not really a sporty person (could you tell?). I also don’t have much of a clue about televised sports. When my friends and family start talking football I’m completely lost. But, when it comes to local teams, particularly local Premier League teams, that is something I can get behind!

When AFC Bournemouth got in touch to shoot their 2022/23 Away Kit at our studio in Bournemouth and asked myself to collaborate not only with lighting design but work together on ideas for the set, along with gaffa for their production team, we were properly excited.

Head of Brand and Creative, Matt Payne and Lead Designer Chris Payne had a clear initial direction for the set based on what they wanted to achieve from their shoot. After throwing around a few more ideas for the set and lighting design, we came up with the idea of combining both colorama and washing our white infinity cove with colours similar to those featured on the kit.

I’m not sure if it’s noticeable from my recent shots, but I’m enjoying using a lot of colour, particularly creating gradients between two contrasting or complementary colours. So when I saw the kit was an awesome, eye-catching mix of purple, blue and pink, it really got me excited to go to town with these colours within our set.

For the background we used a pink ‘Carnation’ Colorama (2.55m x11m) which was placed within our white infinity cove. The colorama was placed ‘backwards’ on the stands in order for the bottom to curl back away from the front of the set, creating a subtle scalloped edge at the bottom.

Behind the colorama, the white cyclorama was lit from the right with one Aputure Nova P300c in HSI mode, set to similar pink to that on the kit. And again from the left with another P300c in HSI set to a similar blue colour. Together these two created a very pleasing gradient that mirrored the kits scheme. We also had a Arri SkyPanel S30 and Amaran F21c throwing a bit of blue light onto the pink colorama.

One of the challenges was creating a lighting plan that would work for both their photographer and their video crew. This meant trying to be as smart as possible with our combination of strobe and continuous lighting. Switchover times also need to be a minimal as possible, with limited time to shoot each player we needed to ensure going from stills to video was as quickly as possible.

With this in mind, I decided to keep almost all the lighting the same, except our key light and our kicker light.

For video, our key light was an Aputure 600D Pro with Light Dome Mini II, set to around 40% power. For wider shots (two or three players on set) we used the Light Dome II and Light Dome 150.

The kicker was another 600D Pro with 30x120cm stripbox. Our hair light was an Aputure 60d with barndoors on a Manfrotto boom.

For photography we kept the modifiers exactly the same, just had another duplicate setup but using Godox AD600 flash heads instead. Having double meant we could quickly wheel out the continuous light and wheel in the flash within a few minutes, keeping change over time to an absolute minimum.

The concept was to shoot in a ‘behind the scenes’ style format, which also meant areas outside of the set could potentially appear in shot. To prevent these areas beyond the cove from looking too dark or contrasting too much with our well-lit set, I placed a range of smaller RGBWW lights within the space, including Amaran T4c, T2c tube lights and Aputure MC. In the kitchen, behind our false window was a Falcon Eyes RX-120TDX flexible bi-colour panel.

The day itself was quite possibly one of the most fun shoots I’ve had the pleasure of working on. The team at AFC Bournemouth are a really great bunch with an excellent professional, yet relaxed and fun style of working. The players themselves were super-professional and they made working with them a laugh, which I think comes through in the shots and video content.

Also, it was a great opportunity to finally get the chance to throw some colour around the studio, something I’ve been itching to do for a long time! Consider that itch firmly scratched.

Thanks again to the AFC Bournemouth for having me involved and for using our Studio.

View more of the photography over on the AFC Bournemouth website by clicking here and check out the video by clicking here

Concept and Creative Matt Payne & Chris Payne

Lead Designer Chris Payne

Photographer Amy Maidment

Videography James Lewis Hart & Michael Gribbins

Studio Pro Studio Hire

Lighting Design & Gaffa James Williams

Canon EOS R6 - A new workhorse available for hire now.

We don't offer any hire equipment that we wouldn't use ourselves. That's why I'm pleased to say we have now added the Canon EOS R6 to our growing kit list of gear available for hire on location and in our studios. The R6 will also be my backup body to my R5 when I'm shooting. However, it'll also be my main body too. What do I mean by that? Well, the R6 is an interesting camera you see.

While it is an excellent backup to the R5, it's also a fantastic camera in it's own right. The R5 is a high resolution powerhouse, there is no denying that. But there is no perfect camera. With the R6 being lower resolution (21.4mp), the pixel pitch on it's sensor is 6.58 microns compared to 4.39 microns of the R5. So what? Okay, this is really nerdy stuff, but it means it's a different tool for the job. Being honest, 20 or so megapixels is actually more than enough for most use cases, 45mp just gives you more options in post. However, what bigger pixels (as opposed to higher pixel count) gives you is better low light and better high ISO performance.

More light reaches each pixel when there are fewer and bigger pixels. Being 21mp means the R6 has an excellent balance between resolution and the size of each individual pixel. So, when you don't need huge 45mp images, the R6 might be the way to go! Another plus of having a lower resolution sensor is 4K video, if you're not using the R5 HQ mode (which introduces heat issues) then the R6 has shaper, more detailed 4K video due to it down sampling it's 5.1K sensor to 4K, whereas the R5 needs to pixel-bin its 8k sensor to 4K.

Having said that, if you need sheer resolution and Cinema Raw features or 4K 120p, you can't beat the R5. But the R6 remains an excellent tool for many applications and a perfect backup to the R5 if you need that high resolution output. Its important to consider more than just sheer numbers when it comes to picking the right kit for your project, a higher number is not always better, there is a lot to take into account and there is never just one perfect camera for every job.

It’s worth noting too that the R6 is great for smaller budgets, but yet still being able to deliver outstanding results. This also most seem silly (and personal preference), but I also absolutely love the more old-school dial on the top to switch between modes, I’ve always found switching between video and photo modes on the R5 a bit clumsy, whereas the R6 is a simple turn of it’s tactile dial. Another minor note is it’s weight, it’s ever so slightly lighter. To be honest though, I’d, be impressed if anybody can really tell the difference once it’s loaded with a battery, card and lens.

What I am extremely grateful for though, is the button layout and ergonomics are almost identical to the R5. With the exception of the mode dial, as mentioned above, pretty much all of the other controls are as you would expect on an R5, which makes switching between the two cameras a very natural experience (if you’re used-to and comfortable with the Canon R5 that is). Personally, I’ve always considered Canon to be way out in front when it comes to ergonomics, ease of use and layout and both these cameras are no exception.

If you're confused what camera might be the right tool for the job, please get in touch before hiring and we can make recommendations based on your requirements.

Canon C70 - A great camera but not without its quirks

It’s always exciting getting new kit, I spend months and months reading reviews, comparing specs - but without getting your hands on a camera it’s impossible to truely tell if it will work for you and your clients. After long while, I finally decided the C70 ticks enough of the boxes to perhaps replace my aging but still very capable Canon C200, so I took the plunge and clicked the buy button. Yesterday I headed out to the forest to test it out and get some initial thoughts on Canon’s newest Cine camera.

This quick test film was shot in a couple of hours to very quickly gather some sample footage of the Canon C70 so I could get to grips with the footage this camera produces. Luckily I had a clear, bright day despite it being the middle of winter here in the UK. This gave me an excellent chance to test the 16+ stops of dynamic range Canon claims this camera can capture. For years now I've been looking to upgrade my C200 to the C300 MkIII. However, when the C70 came along with its RF mount I was very interested, for a few good reasons. It shares the same incredible DGO sensor as the C300 MkIII, but crammed into a much smaller, lighter body. Making it much easier to transport, carry, operate over long periods of time and also mount on to a smaller gimble with relative ease. It also features the new RF mount which means it can accept the RF lenses I have invested in for use on my EOS R5. But, the one reason I have been most excited about is the Canon Mount Adapter EF-EOS R 0.71X focal reducer. Essentially a speed booster, this adapter increases the light transmission by one whole stop, it also provides the same angle of view as if using a full frame sensor. When coupled to the C70, it means the CN-E 50mm T1.3 appears more like a 36mm lens on a S35mm sensor. The C70 registers the f stop value to be F0.9, which is absolutely bonkers.

I need to state now though, as with all cameras, the C70 is not perfect. In fact its far from perfect. And I have a few concerns - some of which may mean I might either send this camera back or get rid of it. Firstly, the lack of SDI output is a real killer. HDMI is fine, but it's just not a professional connection. It's not nearly as solid and reliable as SDI and even with a right angle HDMI cable, the plug sticks out awkwardly and it feels like it could quite easily get knocked and damaged. Side note; the camera does have SDI for timecode, but it cannot be used as an output source - why oh why didn't they make this a Timecode/SDI output that can be toggled in the menu? Or instead of HDMI, give us SDI output? But I guess this issue can be worked around with USB powered HDMI to SDI conversion box from the likes of Black Magic Design.

The control joystick is horrible. I don't know if its just an issue with my specific model, but sometimes you click the joystick and it just doesn't respond, then suddenly it'll jump two or three places in the menu on your next press. My C200 control stick is better and that camera is getting long in the tooth now.

I had to buy a small rig plate for the top, because with the exception of a cold shoe, it has no mounting points anywhere on the camera. Not even on the included handle. Come on Canon, if this is a 'Cine' camera then you should know professional camera operators need to attach accessories to their cameras, always. And a cold shoe is just useless to us.

But the biggest concern - and this in fact a HUGE concern; the reliability of this camera I have experienced so far isn’t up to scratch. This camera uses SD Cards for whatever reason. Perhaps to keep the reader size down and fit it into the hand grip of this tiny camera body. But the fact it uses SD Cards means that will always been the performance bottleneck. That's why the camera cannot record Cinema Raw Light, the data rate would be just high for SDXC. But that's okay, because it records in the amazing Canon XF-AVC 422 10bit codec which produces nice sized, easy to manage, good to work with, excellent quality footage - if you want Raw, get the C300 MkIII.

Now, Canon make it fairly clear that you need V60 cards for some footage, but the highest quality 4K footage and 4K 120p needs v90 cards to cope with the data rate and frames per second. I did some reading and according the Canon website, the Anglebird 128GB v90 cards have been verified to work with the camera without issue. So, you can imagine my concern and frustration when I constantly got the error message 'Buffer overflow. Recording was stopped.' and the camera just completely crashing and locking up to the extent that I needed to shut the camera down and boot it back up again.

It did this with both Anglebird cards I had in the camera and it did it at random moments. Sometimes it would record for half an hour or so without any issue, then without warning it would start throwing up the error code and then refuse to record again without throwing up error messages again and again 1 or 2 seconds into my recording. Frankly, this is unforgivable - it could be the cards or it could be the camera. But, to be honest I don't care - Canon to me represented reliability and dependability, rock solid work-horses that keep rolling whatever you throw at it.

Except, all I was throwing at it was a nice, sunny day in the new forest filming some leaves and horses. Imagine I was with a paying client or capturing a moment that only happens once; such as a live event, wildlife videography or the news gathering. What an embarrassment. For me, I can forgive the other shortcomings because these are conscious decisions from Canon which I assume they had to make for cost saving and space saving in order to make this camera a reality. And they can also be fairly easily overcome. But for the camera to fail at the most basic thing of recording footage is not good and it leaves me scared to use this camera for a paying client - not the feeling you want when investing in new equipment.

I have ordered some of the Sony Tough SDXC cards which I have read work perfectly with the C70, despite not actually being on Canon’s 'verified' list and I'm going to see how that goes - because if this issue can be sorted I can see myself loving this camera - the image is incredible from the DGO sensor, it's form factor works very well for a number of applications and the camera is actually a joy to use once you work around the rubbish joystick. I’m hoping and praying these new Sony cards fix this silly gripe because apart from that, Canon having created a truly remarkable camera in what seems like an impossibly small package.

Check back soon for an update on this. I'm also going to be reaching out to Canon for their help and support.

New Work - Kent Brushes

Kent Brushes are one of those brands that seem to have always been around, a household name that everybody knows. In fact, they were founded all the way back in 1777 and since then have come to be known as one of the finest hairbrush manufacturers in the world. Not only that, but they’re also one of the oldest British companies trading today and are a holder of a Royal Warrant for supplying the Royal Household for nine consecutive Sovereign reigns. Pretty incredible claims and rightly so.

If you know me, you might tell that my hair doesn’t often see a hairbrush, so my expertise in hairbrush manufacturing quality is very slim to say the least, however on holding and inspecting an object, sometimes you can just tell it is been SO well made that you really don’t need to know your onions in order to tell if something is high quality or not - and high quality these things are with many of them being handmade in Kent’s UK factory by skilled craftsmen using traditional methods.

But I’m sure you’re not here to read about the hairbrushes, as lovely as they are. Local creative agency Thinking Juice got in touch to assist with the production for this new content for their client Kent Brushes. We provided studio hire, lighting hire (continuous and strobe), gaffer, camera hire, video camera op and video post production services (video edit and VFX) . For photography, Thinking Juice commissioned photographer Amy Maidment.

We shot the bulk of this work in our main studio (Pro Studio hire) and the spinning brush VFX for the end sequence in our smaller Studio 2. For the background, Thinking Juice hired a beautiful hand painted Hapaca backdrop which we hung from a large scaffold pole on two windups.

When chatting through the concept and the look, Art Director Luke Bonner asked for a soft, even light source that would be flattering and also easy to work with. The concept consisted of shooting with ‘real people’ for our talent and we also wanted to make the shots felt authentic and natural, without feeling over polished, over lit or over produced. Relaxed subtlety was key. We intentionally excluded the use of a hair light to aid with this look - we wanted to celebrate the beauty and realness of our subjects without it feeling too forced or contrived.

The lighting concept and diagram was designed in Set.A.Light 3D, a piece of a software I absolutely love using when quickly trying to test and prove a lighting concept and experiment with different methods of lighting a scene. It also allows the client and other members of the crew to quickly understand what we’re trying to achieve and approve the look before even deploying a single light, saving valuable time on the shoot day. A few modifications were made to the set up which meant it differed slightly from the original proposed plan, but it was an excellent starting point which got us up and running quickly.

Our key light (right) was a book light constructed of a two polyboards as our bounce and a 8x8 Avenger Modular Butterfly Frame as our diffusion. For fill (left) I used a similar set up but much smaller with a large trace frame and one polyboard. Using two book lights gave us not only a beautiful soft light over a fairly large area, it also meant we could swap between strobe and continuous light in a matter of seconds, with both continuous and strobe fixtures being placed next to each other. Using the book light as our light modifier meant we could achieve a consistent look for both strobe and continuous without the need to swap heads around or spend a long time switching between stills and video. We decided to use strobe as it meant Amy (Photographer) could keep her ISO low, stop down to around f5.6 and freeze the action of the models interacting with product.

Excuse the very crude and rough nature of the BTS video, but it hopefully shows a little bit of how we set up our lighting! Also, please forgive me for the portrait video, I captured these little clips for IG Stories and forgot to get any landscape videos. Doh!

For continuous the Key light was two Aputure 600D Pro, both with F10 Fresnel. On the left was a Aputure 300D with 2x Fresnel. For strobe we used one Godox AD600 for our key and a AD400 for our fill. Keeping our set up simple like this meant not only we could achieve a soft, even, natural look but it also meant we could work fast switching between stills and video. It also made it possible to shoot with lots of different talent in a short space of time without much need to modify our lighting.

Video was shot on the Canon C200 with Canon CN-E 50mm T1.5 and was recorded in Cinema Raw Light 60p 10bit. All of the frames in this blog post are screen captures from the video footage. Colour grade and edit was completed in Davinci Resolve 16.

As many of us know, working with ‘real’ talent can present many challenges and uncertainties. When defining talent as ‘real’, I mean to say that (with exception of two models) practically everyone in this shoot was either a friend, colleague or family member of one of the crew. They weren’t professional models - now that’s not to say professional models aren’t ‘real’, but we just use that term to differentiate between the two. I thought best to clarify that because I personally don’t like the term ‘real’ when talking about professional vs non-professional models, we’re all ‘real’ people after all. But, it’s important to state that almost all of the people in this shoot had never modelled before.

As mentioned, it can present a number of unknown challenges when working with people who haven’t been in front of the camera before. If you’re not used to taking direction and being filmed, it can be extremely daunting, it’s very easy for even the most confident person to become self conscious and worry about how they appear on screen, naturally so. I’ve worked with many, many people over the years who are not used to being shot and I can honestly say this was the best bunch, everyone worked so well onscreen and really smashed it. Hats off everyone who made an appearance and also credit to everyone in the crew who helped make everyone feel as comfortable, confident as possible and made the production a real laugh!

Scroll below to check out a few more screen grabs and watch the Mens and Womens films.

For the ending sequence of each of the films, we were required to create a 360 degree spinning clips against the Kent Brushes Red brand colour. This was no mean feat as there were a number of challenges to shooting 360 degree shots these hairbrushes.

Firstly, If we decided to photograph the rotations, we would need 72 shots at 5 degree incremental rotations, with 7 products to shoot this would amount to 504 individual images that would need to be manually clipped out from their background. Of course, we could have outsourced the clipping, however this would have beyond out allowed budget and I worried about the ability to clip out the fine details of the bristles. And even then, 72 images wouldn’t create us the ultra smooth rotation we wanted.

Instead, I carried out a series of tests, filming the brushes against green screen in 8K on the Canon EOS R5 in Cinema Raw Light. Shooting at this resolution and quality meant it was possible to fairly easily key out the green from between the bristles without losing too much detail and definition. After a few tests and experiments it proved to be a success and we decided to go down the green screen capture route.

This only left the small issue figuring out how to keep these brushes perfectly upright on my turntable without it moving or toppling over while they turned throughout their 360 rotation. Luckily, I have a good friend who is a precision engineer at a major global manufacturing company, together (it was mostly my friend, to be fair) we came up with the idea of using a weight with a tiny threaded metal support section. Each of the brushes would be precision drilled into the handle with a thread, so they could in-turn be threaded on the metal support.

The 8K Cinema Raw Footage from the R5 was then keyed out in Davinci Resolve and imported to After Effects, where it was time remapped with keyframes to make it spin in the desired speed. With 30fps it meant the clip could be sped up and then slowed right down, modulating the speed through the clip to make it feel much more dynamic and interesting. Forced motion blur was then added to match a 180 degree shutter angle to prevent the clip feeling to digital and artificial when the product rotated at speed. Check out the results below.

Thanks for reading my behind the scenes / breakdown of our shoot for Kent Brushes, I hope it was interesting or insightful. If it was, please do let me know in the comments below.

Thanks again to the whole team at Thinking Juice and Kent Brushes for getting me involved with this production.

Agency: Thinking Juice

Client: Kent Brushes

Art Director: Luke Bonner

Photographer: Amy Maidment

HMU: Jodie Hyams

Producer: Beth Griffiths

Lighting / Gaffer / Camera Op: James Williams

Studio: Pro Studio Hire, Bournemouth.

Post Production: James Williams

We're two years old!

Where has that year gone? It feels like it was only a few months ago I was buying myself (well, my company) a birthday cake and celebrating one year since incorporating J.M.Williams Productions Ltd. But here we are again, another year has passed and the company is now two years old.

In that time I’ve also got married, navigated running a company through a global pandemic and the ‘New Normal’, moved into our new studio space at The Picture House and produced lots and lots of great work for our lovely clients.

I’ve also invested a much as I could back into my business in order to offer the best possible quality of service I can while aiming to keep my costs as competitive as possible, with plans to invest more in 2022 to further push the quality of our output.

You might notice the use of I, We and Our in the previous sentences. That’s because over the last year we’ve been working closely with other highly skilled and talented freelancers ranging from designers, DOP’s, Gaffers, Art Directors and animators. I can’t take credit for everything over the last year and the people around me that I’ve chosen to work with deserve a some credit for a number of the projects we’ve worked on together. Although the core team hasn’t yet grown in the company itself (it’s still little old me running the show and I bring in freelancers on a project by project basis), 2022 is the year I intended to make the company into a WE.

However, having said that; from experience, I know the challenges of finding that right person (or persons) when growing a small team. That person will need to be a true multiskilled content creation ninja. The varied content I provide my clients, ranging from Photography (both on location and in studio), Video Production (including managing pre production and all post production), Motion Graphics and Animation and Creative concepting and Art Direction: this person will need a background that spans across a few of these disciplines.

So, if you’re interested becoming part of the team and growing the business, I’d love to hear from you

Project Nomad - Studio Test Shoot

When a friend of mine asked me if I would help him take some nice pictures of his rather spanking looking Ariel Nomad, naturally my cogs started to turn. Since we took over the studio in Bournemouth back in Feb 2021 I’ve been itching to get a car onto the infinity cove for a number of reasons.

Firstly, because I love cars (and automotive photography). Without a studio it’s pretty difficult to shoot anywhere except quiet roads, car parks and the such-like. I love shooting cars out in the real world, but it can be very tricky without the help of one or a few people to move the car, assist with lighting, keeping the car clean etc etc. Of course, you can just use natural light - but I’ve always loved the idea of shooting automotive in a much more crafted way.

Secondly, having never shot a car in our very own studio, I thought it would be greatly beneficial to go through the motions of actually getting a motor in here, moving it around, lighting it and shooting it. That way I can get a much better understand of the limitations of the space, the challenges and issues involved when shooting large subjects (such as cars).

Thirdly, for fun. It feels like it’s been months since I shot something non-commercially, just for the sake of enjoying photography. Sometimes you just need to go back to what you love and shoot for the sake of shooting.

Fourthly, equipment tests. I’ve made a few investments recently that I havn’t really had the time to really put through their paces. Most importantly being the Godox AD400/AD600 flash heads and also the Drop-in Filter Mount Adapter EF-EOS to RF with Polarising filter.

Finally, to help a mate out of course. I wanted to create some really lovely photos that would not only represent how awesome his beloved Nomad is, but also for him to treasure for the future and look back on with fond memories.

I know, there are lots of reasons there, but honestly shooting this car was so valuable and it was amazing to be able to experiment without limitations - that’s often when I found I learn the most.

So, about that first point. I love cars. Particularly performance cars. Personally I’ve always enjoyed cars with a healthy mix of performance, reliability and convenience. From a modified Golf GTI mk5, Golf R 7.5 and BMW M350i, the cars of my past (and present) are fun but fairly sensible. The Nomad from the Ariel Motor Company is anything but sensible however. It’s actually completely bonkers and how it’s even road legal boggles my mind. I’ve only had the joy of being a passenger, but I can tell you from first hand experience that this thing is an absolute weapon, but it does require driver skill. No ABS, no power assisted steering, naturally aspirated engine and the windows are optional; this car is a raw example of what was joyful about classic motoring before the days of traction control and sophisticated computers keeping you on the road (or the dirt track). It’s very direct, and visceral. It provides you with the kind of feedback that will tell you precisely what each wheel is doing, where the weight of the car is and how much traction you have (or don’t have in a number of smile-inducing moments).

The second point about having not shot a car in the studio. Well, it felt about time. I’ve shot lots of products in the studio, but never something as big as a car. I’ve shot cars for fun out in the wild and I’ve shot Marine commercially, but never in a controlled environment like a studio. For these shots I wanted to use the white infinity cove and have the car sitting on a white/light grey background in order to contrast against the black paintwork and to further make the red accents pop. I typically like to add lots of mood and drama to my shots by using extreme low key lighting and it’s a style I’d still love to explore with automotive, but for this set up I think it works. What do you think?

About the third point - not shooting anything for fun for a while. I mean, I consider all my work to fun - commercial or not. And I consider myself very fortunate to have a job that I love doing. However, there is something freeing about just shooting for the sake of shooting. Just to make something look awesome and to do it for the joy of photography. Both my friend and I had a really awesome time shooting this car, so I’d consider it a great success in that respect.

It doesn’t really matter what anybody tells you, your equipment does matter. Why else would studios, photographers, production companies etc invest millions of pounds in good gear to get the job done correctly? Having said that, there are areas where you can save a few pounds, but like everything in life it’ll come with a compromise. I was considering for long time investing a lot of money in ProFoto strobes. And I kind-of still am. But not immediately and the reason being is I’ve been so impressed with the Godox AD400/600 heads that I recently picked up. I’ve not carried out any truly scientific tests with the exception of measuring them with the Sekonic Spectromaster C800 for CRI, colour balance and tint, all of which were pretty damn impressive results for their relatively low cost.

However, I’ve used them a few times on jobs in the studio now and each time I’ve been very impressed and shooting the nomad was no exception. I don’t want this to turn into a review of these flash heads so I’ll put it simply: using them on this shoot they provided very consistent power outputs with excellent quality of light. However, on this shoot and previous shoots I have had a few issues with them which I did kinda expect based on their price point. The main issue is occasionally one head just won’t fire - and it seems to be totally random. It wasn’t just one head, it was random heads at a time. This issue is pretty infrequent, but when it did happen it’s very annoying and could only be fixed by turning the head off and on again. On previous shoots we’ve also managed to overheat them by firing lots of shots after another which resulted in them needing cool down time. For most of my work though these small issues can be overlooked when they costs as little as these Godox lights do!

The proof is always in the pudding and I really like how these images came out. That is a testament to the quality of these affordable strobes.

Scroll to the bottom for the full equipment used on this shoot.

The other gear I wanted to check out was the Drop-in Filter Mount Adapter EF-EOS to RF with Polarising filter. I originally purchased the drop in filter mount for the variable ND filter so I could adjust ND quickly when shooting video on the R5 without having to worry about fiddly ND filters attached to the font of the lens (which keep bloody falling off). This system seemed like a beautifully elegant way of adding ND filters and turning my R5 into a mini-cine rig. More on that another time. However, I also picked up the polariser just so I could check it out and compare it to my other Hoya PL filters. I’ll keep my thoughts on this quick and simple too - it works well. Very, very well. So well in fact that it has actually made me have a second thought about my RF lenses - I’m kind of gutted I’m not going to be able to use this attachment with my new RF glass! (for obvious reason being that this mount actually increases the flange distance required for EF lenses). I am glad I kept all of my EF lenses though!

Back to the shoot. We rolled the car in and positioned it for the first shot. I quickly realised that lighting cars with any kind of direct light was not going to look good. Even if it was diffused though a large softbox or otherwise. Bounced light was key to creating the unbroken sweeping lines of light that I wanted running along the bodywork (or lack of). The lighting was actually very simple and the Godox AD400’s were bounced off large polyboards on both sides which were then diffused through large trace frames with 1 stop lee filters diffusion. For the cove I lowered the ceiling and bounced two AD400 to fill the entire infinity cove. Another AD600 was left ready with another polyboard and diffusion for when I needed just a little bit more soft light.

Moving the car was actually very easy, the Noman is quite small and extremely light so we could push it around without any issue. With a studio full of lighting equipment however it did make me acutely aware that keeping on top of my housekeeping around the studio and putting surplus lighting stands in storage would have saved us a lot of time trying to fight our way around them and constantly needing to move them out the way. I think at one point we did a 30 point turn just to get it into position, ha!

Overall I’m happy with these images. Not just the images, I think they’re good, but I still feel I could have done a lot more with them and I’d like to get a lot more creative with the light. I’m more happy with what I learnt and how well the new gear performed. I’m also really pleased that my friend absolutely loved the photos and he’ll (hopefully) treasure them for years to come.

Shot on the Canon EOS R5 with Sigma 24mm, 50mm and 85mm f1.4 DG ‘Art’ and the Canon circular polarising filter.

Lit with Godox AD400 pro + AD600 pro.

Images captured and processed in Capture One. Retouch in Adobe Photoshop.

Shot at our studio, Pro Studio Hire in Bournemouth

Naim Audio Solstice - A look behind the scenes

I’m really pleased to finally be able to share this new work for Naim Audio. And I’m honoured to have been asked to create this content for a truly historic product which will undoubtedly leave an important stamp on the Naim Audio timeline.

Since the beginnings of Naim audio, founder Julian Vereker often considered a Naim-designed turntable. Tragically, he never realised his plans before his untimely death in 2000. Naim did however create the iconic ARO tone arm in 1989 which set a benchmark in terms of its natural, organic and lifelike musical performance. With learnings from the original ARO and their advancements in ultra high fidelity audio engineering, Naim have designed a one-of-a-kind turntable, next generation ARO tonearm, Equinox moving coil cartridge, solstice series phono stage, power supply and bespoke accessories set.

The Solstice turntable combines core Naim design philosophies, such as multiple levels of mechanical decoupling, with a celebration of beautiful materials. It features a magnetic bearing supporting a high-mass, highly polished aluminium platter, with a unique, self-calibrating motor drive system, meticulously delivering the Naim sound.

Legendary Naim Technical Director, Roy George, came out of retirement to work on the Solstice Special Edition project, explains: “I still often think about Julian, and how he would have regarded the products we have designed since he died." "I believe he would have very much approved of the engineering solutions and final performance of the Solstice Special Edition.”

- Naim Audio

Fast forward to today and to the inception and creation of Solstice, this new dawn for music promises a turntable designed for the highest possible reproduction of musical purity and the most organic, authentic and lifelike performance that can be extracted from vinyl.

Communications Manager for Naim Audio Angela Collins’ original brief was the kind you dream of as a creative. An invitation to create a piece of work that not only showed off this stunning piece of engineering and craftmanship, but one that honoured the brands history and had a more profound story to tell, inspired by its namesake.

Being located in Salisbury, only a few miles away from the World Heritage site of Stonehenge, Naim audio didn’t need to look far for naming inspiration for this very Special Edition, nor did they need to deviate from their own heritage: although Solstice is their first turntable, they have been venerating vinyl since the genesis of Naim in the late 1960s.

Solstice, a name that represents the maximum (or minimum in winter) declination of the sun and marks the longest and shortest days of the year is on it’s own loaded with important meaning. When linked to the culturally important monument of Stonehenge it signifies something much greater. Although, to this day, Stonehenge’s function is debated, it is without doubt a place that fascinates and implores a great degree of wonder. Simply trying to imagine how humans around 3000BC would have constructed such a site which aligned perfectly with the sunrise on the Summer Solstice and the sunset of the Winter Solstice boggles my mind. And without modern machinery, it’s nothing less that astonishing.

In order to try and capture the magic of the sun spilling through the stones at StoneHenge, we wanted to create Naim’s new turntable its very own space, one that represented somewhere that perhaps could exist in the realms of reality, but also felt somewhat unworldly. A space that would allow the product to be revealed by the rising of ‘the sun’ and would allow us to create a shaft of light that felt real and inherited that sense of the magic hour.

Working with visual artist and designer Nat Cook, we designed a set that would allow us to position the product within the sightlines of an aperture, big enough for us to cast light into the room revealing Solstice.

Once modelled we shared the designs with Naim and after a few tweaks started planning our set build phase. First we ‘chalked out’ the set in the studio using Polyboards for walls, a magliner for the sideboard and a set of Apples boxes for the stairs. I had intended to shoot the majority of this project on the Canon RF 50mm f1.2 for photography and CN-E 50mm T1.3 for video. Both lenses provide extremely high quality, but the 50mm focal length would give a more natural field of view without too much compression, which I feel can sometimes make things feel inorganic and thus not quite right for this project. Creating this mock-up set gave us a good sense for how big the space will be once constructed, allowed us to visualise the shots and ensure the set will be big enough to shoot with the intended cameras / lenses.

Click the below video for a short overview of some of the pre-production and set build process.

The set was built by Julian White over a four and a half day period, with Alex Rose (Et Al Interiors) taking care of the arches and stairs. On the last day we carried out a pre-light thanks to lots of help from Andy Cahill, before cracking on with the shooting. For our key ‘Sunrise’ light we used a Arri 5000W tungsten fresnel. Tungsten was picked not only for it’s warmth but for it’s outstanding colour rendering quality. It felt like the closest we could get to reproducing the magic hour glow of the sun. In order to get the movement of the ‘sun’, the light was mounted on top of a dolly track which enabled us to smoothly move our light source through the scene. Flags and blackout were used to cut the light before the point of ‘sunrise’.

Photography and filming was completed in two long days before we needed to strike the set.

I’ve never really minded seeing a set being taken down before, but for some reason I had grown quite attached to this small world we’d created for Naim’s new Solstice turntable, however it had to go, so the set was demolished.

We did ensure however that as little went to waste as possible. The MDF walls were repurposed within another building project, the stairs donated to a trader, the arches given to another production company as a background prop and the flooring kept for another shoot.

For the teaser I wanted to capture as much ambiguous footage of Solstice as possible, heavily backlighting the product. To emulate the moving light of the sun that we had in our large set build, I fixed an Aputure 60x to the Rhino motorised slider and programmed a simple movement behind solstice.

That about raps it up. Thanks for reading through and I hope it was interesting to see how we put together this production. Click the link below to view the full film.

Thank you to the following for being instrumental in bringing this to life.

Nat Cook - Set Design, Styling.

Andy Cahill - Lighting, Gaffa.

Julian White - Set Build.

Alex Rose (Et Al Interiors) - Building the Stairs and Arches

Adam Prosser - Help with inception of the moving light ‘sunrise’ concept.

Angela Collins and the whole Naim Audio team.

Photography shot on the Canon EOS R5 with RF 50mm F1.2. Macro shots captured using the Sigma Art 70mm F2.8

Video shot on the Canon C200 with CN-E 50mm T1.3.

Video edited and graded in Davinci Resolve

Studio Update: 14-06-2021 - Edit Booth is almost there!

Studio Progress update. The edit booth is, although still unfinished, starting to take shape. This 4.3m x 2.3m space has been designed to be separate from the studio, self contained, quiet and controlled space to edit video and for photographic retouch. It features neutral mid grey walls, fully controllable lighting including blackout, acoustically insulated walls, 100% sRGB 98% DCI P3 accurate colour calibrated screens and reference audio monitors. It was constructed with approx. 60% reused materials from previous photoshoot set builds to reduce waste. Further improvements in the near future will include a larger 65" wall mounted screen, improved acoustic treatment to the walls, new desks, a vocal booth and more seating. Being my main editing space it's in use a lot, but if your looking for space to edit or even review work in a accurate, controlled environment, please do get in touch for availability.

We bought a studio!

It’s with great excitement that I can announce we have acquired the amazing Pro Studio Hire facility in Bournemouth. Former owner Andy Cahill established ‘The Picture House’ over 26 years ago and it has become a creative hub not just for photographers and filmmakers, but many other successful companies and businesses. ‘The Picture House’ now becomes part of the Delahunty Property Management group, with Lisa and Simon Delahunty at the helm of the family run business.

As Studio Director, my main goal is to expand what this space can offer content creators, photographer and filmmakers. By listening to feedback from the creative community we hope to adapt the space and offer a studio that serves our clients in the best way possible. We’re also looking at simplified ways of understanding costs in order to make it easy for producers to costs projects, along with making an online available calendar available to quickly understand when you might be able to book your shoot!

Andy leaves behind an amazing legacy with The Picture House and Pro Studio Hire, which we intend on helping to grow and thrive. Andy remains as active as ever within the photography and filmmaking industry by offering his bespoke gaffa services.

For more information about the studio and the services, equipment and facilities we have available, head over to prostudiohire.co.uk

The Last Light of Autumn - DZOFilm Pictor Zoom 20-55mm T2.8

There is very little that can be deemed from reading specification sheets. Or to that point, hearing/watching other people read specification sheets. Specs are important, but the only real way to see the qualities of any equipment is getting real world, hands on experience with the kit.

This Pictor Zoom from DZOFilm is a bit of an interesting one. Breaking the mould of technically perfect, hyper accurate and (for most) unapproachably expensive cine zoom lenses available for EF mount, this 20-55mm T2.8 has an respectable RRP of £2,110.80 incl. VAT. Comparatively, this lens is cheap when you put it next to similar offerings from Canon or Carl Zeiss (between £6K -> £18K).

But that’s not to see it performs worse. It’s also not to say it performs the same, or better. In fact, it’s tricky to put into words exactly how this lens performs, apart from to say; the Pictor Zoom is clearly designed to create artful and beautiful images - not technically perfect images. This lens has some magic to it which is difficult to define.

I was lucky enough to get a beautiful clear day in the New Forest in order to shoot a bit of footage with this new lens and it was a great way for this lens to show its character.

The thing I noticed first was the edges of frame and how they seem to soften and even introduce some interesting chromatics whereas the centre of the of images remains moderately sharp and under control. It almost has the feeling of a anamorphic lens in some respects.

I say ‘moderately sharp’ as these lenses intentionally produce an image that doesn’t feel ‘oversharp’, moving away from the obsession with sharpness and focusing on a more subtle aesthetic.

Pictor Zoom captures crisp details while expressing organic look and cinematic texture.

-DZOFilm

Creating an ‘organic’ looking lens isn’t a excuse for producing an un-sharp lens however, on the contrary, as details are rendered well and sharpness is still good across the entire 20-55mm range and even wide open at T2.8. It feels like they’ve got the balance right here.

Shooting 10bit Canon Cinema Raw Light with this lens produced images with very pleasing colour rendition. Colours don’t seem too vivid and the tones feel quite neutral. However, when pointed directly at a light source, contrast and colours seemed to wash out a bit meaning I tended to want to bring back a touch of saturation in the grade.

In terms of flares, personally I love what this lens does both when shooting directly into a light source and when the light is casting across the front element. It seems to go from a pleasing warm glow casting across the frame edge into an almost anamorphic streak, before a purple glow makes it way into shot which tends to dance and flicker in the most satisfying way. Of course, lens flares are hugely subjective and the way this lens reacts to hard light may be off-putting to some.

When shooting directly a light source the flares offer a beautiful warmness with the only distracting feature being some small bright green orbs which can sometimes be seen and are more evident at certain focal lengths. This is to be expected of course though from a zoom and overall the image is very well controlled when shooting into a bright source of light.

Bokeh is beautiful, non-distracting and smooth thanks to the 16 blade iris. I can’t really a lot more than that, its simply stunning. What is really interesting is how the light tends to spill and bloom around backlit subjects in the most pleasing fashion, very reminiscent of some classic, well known cine primes.

All of the typical things you’d expect from a professional Cine Zoom are here. Minimal focus breathing and parfocal design. I would however comment that achieving perfect parfocal calibration requires some tinkering with the included shims in order to adjust the back focus. If you’ve not done this before (like I hadn’t!) then it’s worth allowing yourself a hour or so to play and get it right. It’s not a difficult task by any stretch and everything you need is including with the lens, it just takes a good amount of tinkering, testing and adjusting. If they had perhaps built in a backfocus adjustment directly into the lens in a similar way to Fujinon with their MK lenses, that would have just been the icing on the cake.

I typically shoot with faster primes, so I’m interested to see how I get on with T2.8, but overall, I love having this lens in my arsenal. It’s the kind of lens that I can imagine using a lot to achieve the look and feel I aspire to create for my clients. Something textural, organic, interesting and beautiful. And with the versatility of the excellent 20mm to 55mm focal length and T2.8 across the entire range, it ensures this lens is an excellent option for many projects.

DJI Mini 2 - First Quick Test Flight

The new DJI Mini 2 could almost be deemed a 'toy' it is so small and light. But with the continued miniaturization of gear, more and more people are being able to get their hands on affordable, good quality equipment which will literally elevate their production levels, pun intended. When I passed my Drone CAA PfCO over two years ago now and starting flying with the Mavic 2 Zoom, I though that was the pinnacle of small, nimble and affordable drones. But this little pup is another level. For big shoots I tend to insist on a dedicated drone op/crew using a serious bit of kit like the Inspire 2 or Matrice. But, not every production requires that level of quality.

The above video is a (very) quick test of the DJI Mini 2 in the forest near me. This little thing is a lot of fun. Conditions were not fantastic, I had about 40 mins before it started raining and it was gusting about 20-25mph at around 150ft above take off altitude. But the Mini 2 managed to cope pretty well. There were a couple of times where I needed to switch it into 'Sport' mode to prevent it drifting and getting thrown around, but for the most part it did a great job in the less than ideal flying conditions.

Sometimes, just being able to stop and throw a drone up in the air for a few minutes to grab one or two establishers can transform a production. The big drones require so much more time, cost, crew and faffing around that often just cant be afforded. So that's where this little chap steps (flies) in, at less than 250g it falls under a lot of the stricter regulations (but still the law must still be abided, of course!). Small enough to throw it in the camera bag and barely even notice it, I'm hoping the quality and versatility of the Mini 2 will enable some more options on location.

Its size and ability means it draws very little attention and can be deployed in seconds, which I love.

The footage is okay. When I say okay, I mean for its size its actually pretty impressive. But this tiny drone will definitely only be employed for fast turnaround, lower budget, when you just need a few simple drone shots on location or for a bit of fun. But that's what it's designed for. Don't expect images worth printing or blowing up any bigger than typical social sizes. And don't even bother pixel peeping, the raw files at 100% look a bit mushy and details are soft.

I can certainly see myself upgrading soon and getting a Mavic 2 Pro again after the laws change at the start of Dec / next year.

But, to just throw it in the bag for quick run and gun jobs this thing is a hoot. Nice work DJI.

Canon EOS R5 4K 120p - Real World Test Film

Come rain or shine, there is always time to make a brew.

The goal was to test the Canon EOS R5 shooting 4K 120fps and the idea was very simple. Genna is out on a hike and she finds a spot to make a cup of tea. However, even the best made plans can go awry. We drove for about two hours and hiked for another hour to get to this spot by the lake. And when we did, the heavens opened. The rain made filming and lighting a fire an almost impossible task. However, this test did inadvertantly provide and excellent test for the weather sealing of the Canon EOS R5 coupled with the Canon RF 28-70mm f2L USM. The camera and lens operated without issue in the pouring rain. The camera got SO wet at one point my fingers were slipping off the controls, yet all functions continued without fail and even the touch screen worked covered in droplets!

Anyway, the film wasn't exactly the romantic look and feel I had imagined, but it does prove that the Canon EOS R5 really is a workhorse designed to operated in challenging and unforgiving environments.

Let me know in the comments what you think of the footage, despite it being such a dreary and miserable day!

Canon EOS R5

Canon RF 28-70mm f2L USM

Freewell Variable ND 2-6 stops.

Shot in 'High Frame Rate' mode 120p 4K.

Colour and edit in Davinci Resolve

Canon EOS R5 - Real World Test Fim - Hiking Snowon

A test of the Canon EOS R5 in a real world, uncontrolled environment.

The idea was to shoot this almost like a run-and-gun documentary style film, relying purely on the camera and lens to deliver the goods. I intentionally wanted to avoid using any other equipment on this shoot, grip or otherwise for the sole purpose of getting to know this camera and see how well it copes in this kind of environment without any aid from other gear.

It impossible to get a sense of any piece of equipment's strengths and weaknesses until you've used it in the field, so this short film was designed to throw the EOS R5 and RF 28-70mm f2L USM into the rough and challenging mountain conditions on a hike up Mt. Snowdon in North Wales.

Originally shot back in early September, but due to the amount of work recently this project kind of got pushed to the bottom of the to-do list.

No overheating issues where exhibited during filming.

Camera: Canon EOS R5

Mode: Filmed in '4K Fine' HQ Mode (8K Down sampled in-camera to 4k). 422 10bit.

Lens: Canon RF 28-70mm f2L USM

ND: Freewell 95mm Threaded Hard Stop Variable ND Filter 2 to 5 Stop & 6 to 9

No post stabilisation applied, only a colour grade in DaVinci Resolve Studio.

Naturally, as with every video on YouTube, the quality gets destroyed on upload, please keep that in mind. You can download a 10bit HEVC version by clicking the link below.

And if you’d like some of the CLOG HEVC footage straight from camera then that is also available on the links at the bottom of this blog post.

I'm currently in the process of pulling together my thoughts on this camera after using it professionally now for over 3 months, subscribe and hit the bell to be notified when that video goes live.

In the meantime, how do you think the camera did? Let me know in the comments what you think of the footage.

Further thoughts (and test) of the Canon RF 28-70mm f2 L USM

There is no doubt in my mind, Autumn is my absolute favourite season. The colours, cooler weather, moody skies and the slower pace that this time of year brings. There is simply nothing better than spending a Sunday walking in the forest, admiring the colours of the season and coming home to cook a roast dinner. Beaut.

But it’s also my favourite season for heading out with the camera. With the later sunrise and sunset times and the sun being generally a lot lower in the sky, I prefer how the light looks this time of year (when it’s not raining of course).

These shots were taken in the Blackwater Arboretum, New Forest, Hampshire. on the Canon EOS R5 with Canon RF 28-70mm f2 L USM, an excellent combination for traveling light. I say light, but this camera lens combo is well over 2kg. However, Canon touts this lens as a lens with prime quality, with the convenience of a standard zoom. I personally don’t quite agree, it’s a pretty bold claim - I mean, what primes are we talking about here? I would say it’s not quite as good at all focal lengths even comparing it to relatively affordable Sigma Art primes.

But, that’s not to say it isn’t an outstanding lens. Because it is. It’s incredible in fact and a lens I’m very glad I invested in. No, it’s not prime quality. Nothing will ever beat a prime in my opinion, however this lens does have some beautiful qualities that just get me excited about shooting with it. And it’s a zoom, which for me is a very novel thing. I rarely use a zoom as I just love the images I can get with primes and although the 28-70mm f2 might not achieve the look of a prime, it has a look that is very distinctive and artful. Canon have done a fantastic job to even make this lens a reality, let alone make this lens stand out with such a distinct and stunning image quality.

Back to the weight thing. No, it’s not light. But if you compared the weight of carrying around a 28mm, 35mm, 50mm and maybe an 85mm then you’d have a backpack that weighs FAR more than 2kg. And that is something I have to do fairly often and it can really slow things down and make working in the field much harder (and sometimes impossible).

I’d never buy a zoom lens if it wasn’t something special - after all I want to give my clients a look that is unique and gets them excited too. The Canon RF 28-70mm f2 L USM does exactly that.

So what is it about the 28-70mm f2 L USM that makes me say ‘it’s not quite prime quality’? To test this, I have taken a few photos of a horrible old paint can in my garden in the midday sun - quite possibly the worst time and subject, but lets see how this goes.

Please keep in mind these points are (mostly) subjective. They are reasons why I would still reach for a prime (specifically a Sigma Art Prime) over this lens if I had the choice, they are not reasons to decide against renting or owning this lens. They’re purely points I’ve noticed from using it for over a month now personally and on a range of commercial shoots along with some of the very basic tests I’ve carried out.

Bokeh - it just isn’t as smooth and in some situations can be slightly disruptive. This is completely subjective, this lens renders out of focus areas beautifully, but I just prefer the look compared to my Sigma Prime . The below images are from the Canon RF 28-70mm f2 zoomed in to 50mm and the Sigma Art Prime 50mm. Both captured at f2 with all settings exactly the same.

Canon RF 28-70mm f2 L USM @ F2

Sigma ‘Art’ 50mm f1.4 @ F2

The first thing that you’ll notice is that the Canon RF 28-70mm (top) is slightly wider compared to the Sigma Art 50mm. I imagine this is to do with how much breathing occurs when focusing the mammoth piece of glass that the 28-70mm f2 is, the Canon is also slightly warmer (notice the grey on the paint can is warmer on the Canon). I think this is a common trait of Canon Glass, they often render images on the warmer side and are therefore great at rendering skin tones. The warmer tone of the paint can is actually more ‘visually accurate’ and represented close to what I observed by eye. But apart from that, the images are VERY similar which is quite astonishing. Well done Canon, you’ve made a zoom lens as good as a prime!! …well hang on, lets take a closer look.

Now this really is pixel peeping, but if Canon are going to claim this is a do-it-all standard zoom that offers prime quality, then we should be pixel peeping. The reason I shoot primes is for the image rendering quality after all. Plus, with the cost of this lens (around £3,000) we should be extra critical against Canon’s claims of ‘prime’ quality.

The above examples show a close up of the out of focus area on both the Sigma 50mm f1.4 and Canon RF 28-70mm f2, set to f2 and all other settings matched. I personally far prefer the out of focus area on the Sigma (bottom). The Canon seems to have some very defined circles around the bokeh balls and some strange texturing to them also whereas the Sigma seems to be much smoother. The Canon also has lots more ‘bokeh balls’, which (for lack of a better phrase) look like lots of bubbles whereas the Sigma seems to softly blend them together to create some very soft, pleasing defocused areas. In some situations, the Canon can really over accentuate these bokeh balls and it can easily look very fussy and distracting to the point where the subject can get a bit lost, like the example below.

Canon RF 28-70mm f2 L USM out of focus areas are beautifully artful, but can sometimes be a bit distracting and can take away from your subject.

Don’t get me wrong - it still renders out of focus areas with an incredible look and feel - it’s beautiful! But it’s something I’ve noted for future reference. If I was shooting a subject and I didn’t want all these very evident bokeh balls and I wanted the smoooooothest and buttery-est bokeh ever, I would more than likely reach for the Sigma Prime. It’s worth keeping in mind also that you (or other people/your client etc) may actually prefer the look of the Canon RF 28-70mm f2’s out of focus characteristics. It’s all just opinion anyhow.

Chromatic Aberrations - The Sigma Prime just simply outperforms it. See below. This was some very hard midday sun, so it’s an extreme example. For the most part this lens does an incredible job of controlling chromatics. However, not as well as a the Sigma 50mm prime lens.

Summary - This is an extremely unfair (and unscientific) test. But, to be honest I think for Canon’s marketing to say “The RF 28-70mm F2L USM offers the kind of image quality you’d expect from a prime lens” is a little bit unfair in itself. The marketing should say “The RF 28-70mm F2L USM is a really, really bloody amazing lens. It weighs a ton, but it looks lush. In fact, it’s SO lush that it’s almost as good as a set of prime lenses, but features the really handy convenience of a zoom lens.”

Okay, maybe that needs a bit of work. But you get the idea. I love this lens. It’s possibly one of the only standard zooms I’ll ever own, purely as I just don’t really like the look of most zooms (L series or otherwise). I love shooting with primes and that won’t change, but for jobs where I need outstanding performance but I’m unable to change lens on-the-go, the RF 28-70mm f2 will be my go-to.

The fact that Canon have managed to develop this lens at all is amazing, it is a massive feat of optical and technical engineering.. With a bright f2 across the entire zoom range, beautiful colours, sharpness and stunning all round image quality all the way from 28mm to 70mm. This is a game changing lens and one that many other of Canon competitors will be working hard to release something that will even come close.

Canon EOS R5 - Real World Tests - Climbing Snowdon

This is the first in a series of ‘real world’ tests I’ve carried out with the Canon EOS R5. Apart from shooting with it in the studio and a handful of times for client work, I’ve not really fully pushed this camera to discover its strengths and weaknesses.

With every bit of equipment I invest in, I like to test it in a bunch of scenarios. A large portion of my work involves me capturing subjects as they happen and reacting to the environment and setting. It also happens that my girlfriend and I both love hiking, so we decided to put the R5 through its paces capturing a hike to the summit of mount Snowdon.

This allowed me to see how this camera will respond in near darkness, low light, sunrise and harsh light (midday). It also allowed me the chance to see how it will fair when being thrown around a bit, being turn on and off repeatedly, switching from photo to video mode often and how the autofocus will react throughout the day.

As I always like to mention; this is not a review - these are my thoughts having used the camera. If you want a full review of the camera then there are plenty of better deep-dives dotted around the internet.

Early Morning, a test in darkness.

The following shots were taken in complete darkness, before sunrise at around 5am, with only a small amount of torchlight for illumination. It’s clear to see that the Canon R5 is extremely capable when the ISO is pushed very high. But it has it’s limit, of course. And it is definitely not a low light monster like some of the lower megapixel Sony competition. This is to be expected and is evident in the below image taken at ISO 160,000 where the image noise destroys this picture. Lets be fair, this is ISO 160,000 which is far beyond the realms of any ISO setting I would choose to shoot at. In this situation, if I needed to shoot commercially in this low light situation I would bring some small lights with me, but it’s nonetheless interesting to see the limits of the camera. Interestingly, the camera was able to focus on Genna despite there being almost no light what so ever (I could barely see without a torch).

Noise is very evident at the ridiculously high ISO setting of 160,000.

EOS R5 with RF 28-70mm f2. ISO160,000, f2, 1/25mm

As the light started to come up I was able to bring the ISO gain down to a more sensible setting. The following images show the camera is able to capture incredible dynamic range, colours and keep image noise under control even at higher ISO settings. It’s also worth noting that the IBIS was a massive help in keeping images sharp when the shutter speed was dropped.

Canon EOS R5 w/ RF 28-70mm f2 - ISO 1000, f2, 1/80s

Canon EOS R5 w/ RF 28-70mm f2 - ISO 640, f2, 1/13s

Canon EOS R5 w/ RF 28-70mm f2 - ISO 500, f2, 1/80s

In these early morning shots its clear to see this camera is pretty happy with little or no light. But at the time it was hard to tell how these would turn out just by looking at the back of the camera and I did worry they would exhibit too much noise or the colours would wash out.

However, once I got back to process the images I was astounded. I haven’t even really pushed these too far and there is tons of highlight and shadow data left to play with. One thing worth noting however, although the camera was very impressive in being able to autofocus at all in almost no light, it did throw the occasional tantrum and just start hunting. To be expected of course, our mere human eyes could barely see at all let alone the camera’s autofocus system be able to detect critical focus. When it did start hunting, switching into manual focus was swift, however I did hate the focus by wire on the RF 28-70mm f2. It just lacks that tactile and predictable manual focus feeling. It might be that I’m not use to it yet or it may be that I need to adjust the settings on the camera for how manual focus operates, all I knew at that moment in time was I would really love a standard manual focus lens.

Canon EOS R5 w/ RF 28-70mm f2 - ISO 250, f2.5, 1/50s

It wasn’t long before the sunlight was starting to creep around the mountains just enough to bring the exposure settings into a space that didn’t give me image-noise-related-anxiety. It also meant that autofocus was really playing ball and tracking without any hiccups or issue.

It was this point in the hike where I could really see how the camera was playing to its strengths. We stopped for a quick bite to eat and to take a few images. Autofocus was remarkable to the point that I stopped needing to even thinking about it. When Canon said they used ‘deep learning’ to program the new Dual Pixel Autofocus II, I can honestly see why. No matter what happened, the autofocus system would detect Genna and track focus. Even if the wind blew her hair in front of her face or she turned to face away from me.

I also gave the camera to Genna to see how she would get on with it, bearing in mind Genna is not a professional photographer. The result? Take a look below for yourself, yes - unfortunately the image where this time I am the subject. Perfectly in focus, with zero user interaction. Remarkable.

Canon EOS R5 w/ RF 28-70mm f2 - ISO 125, f2.5, 1/60s

Canon EOS R5 w/ RF 28-70mm f2 - ISO 125, f2.5, 1/60s

Rare image of yours truely. Captured by Genna D. Canon EOS R5 w/ RF 28-70mm f2 - ISO 125, f2.5, 1/60s

Canon EOS R5 w/ RF 28-70mm f2 - ISO 125, f2.5, 1/60s

Canon Colours, oh Canon Colours

I’m not about to get scientific on you. That’s not my style nor my interest. And as I’ve mentioned before I’m not going to bash another camera manufactures ‘colour science’. However, I do want to take a moment to harp on about the colours this camera can capture. There is something extremely smooth and beautiful about the transition between colours which just create these wonderful gradients which appear gloriously rich. It really is a massive step up from the 5D MkIV and canon have done an impeccable job here.

Skin tones are honest and real feeling. There is tons and tons of data in the raw files that it makes processing the images very satisfying should you want to push the images to the extreme.

Please keep in mind that the images you’ll see below are compressed for web and therefore the lush smoothness and rich colours of the camera will not be fairly represented. But, you won’t have to just take my word for it. I’ve uploaded a few samples to my dropbox so you can download them and check them out for yourself. Link at the bottom of this post.

I also should mention the RF 28-70mm f2

A camera is only as good as the glass you attach to it. So it is only fair that I do just send some praise and criticism in the direction of the Canon RF 28-70mm f2.

Before buying, I read a number of articles about this lens, saying that this ground breaking, world first f2 constant zoom is prime quality but with the versatility of a zoom.

Personally, I wouldn’t call it prime quality. There is always a trade-off somewhere. However, it is pretty damn close to being prime lens quality with just a few drawbacks. I want to keep this blog post on topic of ‘real world’ use case of the R5 and not focus too much on the lens, so I’ll wrap this up quick.

Pros: Colours are stunning. Versatile as hell with 28-70mm being an excellent all round focal range. Super fast, constant f2 aperture for a zoom. Bokeh is lovely and appealing, but not quite as smooth as a high quality prime. Autofocus is near silent and extremely quick, quite possibly the fastest autofocus I’ve ever witnessed. Weather sealing. 9-blade rounded aperture. Min aperture of f22.

Cons: VERY heavy. At 1430 grams this lens on the R5 will really drag you down and give you a neckache after a few hours of being on location, specially if you’re hiking or traveling large distance with the camera out of the bag. It’s also not subtle in the slightest, in fact I had a number of people actually comment on the size of my camera (I knew they actually meant the lens, as the R5 is actually fairly small. But I wasn’t going to be pedantic and correct them). As I was heading down the mountain one lady even said to me “Wow, fair play to hiking to the top with THAT camera! Look at the size of it!”. She wasn’t wrong, the damn thing definitely made things a little tough going. However, for the image quality and versatility it was an even sacrifice. It’s not prime quality. Don’t buy this lens if you want it to replace your set of high quality primes, buy it as well as your primes for it’s versatility. I did a small test vs my Sigma Art f1.4 35mm and 50mm and the main difference being the out focus areas are just SO much smoother with the primes and lens flares much less fussy. I also really miss 24mm, I know it’s only 4mm difference between the 24-70mm f2.8, but there were a few occasions that I really wanted this lens to just be that tiny bit wider.

Bags of Dynamic Range

As the morning went on and the daylight became brighter (as it does), it was a good chance to check out the dynamic range. The brighter daylight between around midday is a really hard test when it comes to retaining both shadow and highlight information. The R5 did surprisingly well, but with some clear limitations, nothing that isn’t to be expected however. The thing I have come to notice though is at sunrise/sunset, the camera has so much more DR than the 5D MkIV that it is not longer necessary to capture multiple exposures and composite as a HDR in post, which I’m extremely grateful for. Highlight roll off is very smooth even in the most extreme examples and shadow detail is retained beautifully without any noticeable noise.

I did notice on a few occasions during this harsher light that the autofocus was starting to get a little confused. It seemed to pickup on the odd random object in the background rather than track my subject. This was a very minor issue and would only happen for a few shots before it quickly figured out the subject and began tracking again.

The Summit.

As we reach the summit at around 11am it was getting to that point of the day that most photographers avoid. The light was harsh as hell with only a little bit of defence from a small amount of atmospheric haze. Still, it’s a great way to show off the camera’s ability during these conditions. Processing these images it took out some off the harshness in the highlights, this camera does tend to have very nice roll off in the bright areas so after some playing around in capture one I actually quite liked the shots, despite the light being the worst!

Wrap up and final thoughts

For me and what I will be using this camera for (mostly), the Canon EOS R5 has been (so far) an excellent investment. On this test shoot it was able to capture images that I wouldn’t have even attempted with the Canon 5D MkIV or I would have had to contrive and re-shoot a number of times, then review on back of camera to double, double check I nailed the shot. The biggest draw for me is the image quality and autofocus. It’s just glorious.

I genuinely have very little to say about this camera that isn’t good. And I know that may make this seem slightly unbalanced, but after using it in this way on location, it was just remarkable. Canon, well done!

I want to note also that I used one battery on this whole shoot. I captured 1286 images in total and around 286 video clips in 4K Fine 24p. Honestly, I think that’s amazing. When I did come to charge the camera when we got back to the hotel, instead of getting the Canon charger out of my camera bag, I simply plugged the camera into my Pixel 3 XL USB C fast charger while we went for much needed dinner and a pint. By the time we got back to the room it was fully charged and ready for another adventure. That might be a small thing, but it does mean that you can either charge on the go (on location) with a portable battery bank or it means you can go on location and not have the charger taking up valuable space in your camera bag.

As for video, I’m going to leave that for another blog / vlog coming soon. Teaser: it didn’t overheat (Shock!) and it was in fact pretty bloody awesome. Stay tuned.

That kinda wraps up my thoughts of my camera on this ‘real world’ test on Mount Snowdon. I owe a massive thanks to my very patient and awesome girlfriend Genna for being my model (again!). Thank you!

Like to see some full resolution .jpg samples? Click below to download.

Canon EOS R5 - First Test Photos (with full resolution samples)

First things first, this is not a review. There are plenty of excellent, in-depth reviews of the new R5 for photography and video. These are just my first thoughts on using the Canon EOS R5 professionally and in my spare time. Everything here is just opinion and experience first hand with the R5. I’m going to do a series of blog posts and videos over the next coming months with my thoughts. This first blog is my initial thoughts after using the camera for 3+ weeks.

I’ve shot with it in my free time and its been used on two commercial shoots so far, so my experience is limited and its for that exact reason I don’t want this to be seen as a review. I honestly don’t think you can provide an accurate review of any equipment or recommend/dissuade anybody from investing in kit until you’ve been using it for a long enough period to know said gear VERY well indeed.

Now, with that out the way, let me say the most important thing first to those who are considering the upgrade from any of the Canon 5 series DSLR cameras, most specifically upgrading from the Canon 5D MkIV (just as I did). This camera is a true evolution of the ‘5’ series of camera. It’s everything the EOS R should have been and if you’re coming from a background of Canon 5 series cameras, your fingertips will fall precisely onto the controls like an extension of your hand. The controls have moved around a bit to make more sense of the mirrorless system. But after a few days getting to know where things are I learnt to appreciate how well thought out the camera is for fast and efficient use. The new dedicated dial for ISO is great and the additional control on the RF lens is a bonus. I don’t tend to use it personally (yet), but its nice to have the option to program it to whatever function you’d like.

Anyway, moving away from the body. Image quality is outstanding. The jump to 45 megapixels is very welcome and with some degree of magic Canon have managed to cram that many pixels onto a sensor without hurting image noise at all. Infact, I think the noise is better than the 5D MkIV with its 30 megapixels and once you start cranking the ISO up the noise is very well controlled - they have even managed to create a sensor where the noise is actually fairly appealing whereas I found the noise on the 5D MKIV camera before it were always a bit patchy, blotchy and with some crazy colour noise once you really start gaining it past ISO 800.

Now, I know banging on about ‘colour science’ is the new cool thing. But I’m not going to even pretend in saying that I can categorically say the colours from the EOS R5 are better than Sony colours or Nikon colours etc etc. Colour science is a hugely subject thing and whats important is if the camera serves yours and your clients requirements. What I can say with certainty is for me, from my tests so far in the studio and shooting outside, the colours are absolutely stunning. From shooting in the studio, colours are honest and rich with plenty of data to push/pull them wherever you like. When shooting outside, again colours are honest and appear pretty accurate but what was most obvious was graduation in the colours across the sky are so smooth, the transition between colours is seamless and pleasing to look at. Skintones appear very smooth without any obvious blotchyness or unpleasant colouring.

Staying on the subject of the sensor, not only have the found a way to achieve the aforementioned, but they also managed to implement one of the most mind boggling autofocus system I’ve ever experienced. It’s fast as hell with both RF and EF glass (I’ve tested with RF 28-70mm f2 and EF Sigma Art 24, 50, 85mm and 70mm Macro). Apart from being fast, the tracking modes will find your subjects eye and stick to it no matter what. If it can’t find the eye (if the subject is obscured or they turn around and show you the back of their head for example) it will just track the head / face or switch to focusing on the body. It just knows what you want to focus and you can trust it to take care of the autofocus so you can turn your attention to composition, exposure or working with your talent. One less thing to worry about when shooting is always a good thing. It also has an innate ability to read my mind, if you want to focus on a vehicle, boat, bird, rock, welly boot or anything for that matter, simply point the camera, think about what you want to focus on and BAM!

I jest, of course - but you get the gist and hopefully my enthusiasm for this system is clear. I honestly think this autofocus system is SUCH an improvement that it’ll change how I shoot and what is possible with this camera.

There are times you need to switch it off and go back to single point, landscapes for example it will tend to focus on something nearby rather than infinity or the horizon. But it’s not designed for that…and who needs autofocus when taking landscapes?

These final images really show off how the IBIS in this camera can change what would normally be possible. As the light faded, I wanted to expose to the left to keep the mood and atmosphere, so I kept the shutter speed at 1/60, ISO 100 and wide open at f2, from pixel peeping there isn’t even the tiniest bit of motion blur. However, 1/60 isn’t really slow for 28mm, how about a more extreme test? The below image was shot at 0.6 of a second, ISO100, f3.5 at 28mm. Yes, over half a second. Being honest, I felt like I could have got away with more, but I was pretty impressed with that. Is it sharp? Take a look for yourself by downloading the images below. Punching into the centre shows the image is plenty sharp with enough detail. However, looking at the corners shows a fair amount of softness which is interesting to know. I’d be tempted to know if this the lens being soft in the corners at f3.5 or an effect of the slow shutter and the IBIS only being able to correct and stablise the centre portion of the image. Something for me to test in the future!

Canon R5 with Canon 28-70mm f2 - ISO100 0.6sec f3.5

So I moved on to a even more extreme test. As the daylight completely faded I wanted to see if night photography was possible. Answer. Yes, kind of. In order to get an acceptable exposure (but yet, keeping it a bit underexposed to retain the mood) I had to crank up to ISO 640, which on this camera is very acceptable.

That evening I had my Manfrotto 190 legs (carbon) and MHXPRO-3WG Geared head strapped to my backpack and I didn’t even use it once. I mean, typically I would have it with me for landscapes in the evenings, particularly if I wanted to use ND’s and slow the shutter to smooth water etc. But what was most amazing to me was the ability to capture these images at such low ISO with these shutter speeds with a lens that didn’t feature stabilisation. I can’t imagine what it’s like if you combine a stablised lens with the IBIS! It just opens up the ability to get shots in scenarios where you just cannot take a tripod or don’t have one to hand.

The Bad

I can’t finish writing this without some negatives to balance this out. On two occasions I had the R5 just randomly turn off. Once on this shoot at Chapmans Pool and another the day I got it. Totally random and unexplained, I had to power it off and back on again and it was fine. Not a big issue at all, I’ve had my Fujifilm X-T3 and my Canon 5D MkIV do the same, but worth noting and something I’ll be keeping an eye on.

Battery life when you’re not using the new LP-E6NH batteries isn’t great when you compare it to something like the 5D MkIV. But that is to be expected, after all the camera is always in ‘live mode’ effectively and it’s been designed to use the new batteries. But, having said that; the battery life with the new battery is amazing. For this whole evening shoot (from about 6pm until about 8:30pm) I shot 231 images, about 6 mins of 8K raw video and about 20 mins of 4K video and I still had about one bar remaining. The downside is the cost of the batteries. Canon are charging £115 each which I think is crazy. And (at time of writing) you can’t even buy them yet, they’re still only available to Pre-Order. Ridiculous, come on Canon.

RF Lens price is very high. I mean, VERY HIGH. I absolutely respect that good glass costs good money. And the cost of R&D that went into developing these incredible and in some case class leading lenses is very high indeed. But my 28-70mm f2 used to shoot these images is currently £3,029. Don’t get me wrong, I love this lens and I don’t regret buying it. But, looking at the other RF glass like the 85mm f1.2 at £2,799 and the 50mm f1.2 at £2,329 I can’t help but think it’s going to put a lot of professionals off and will be totally unrealistic for a lot of enthusiasts and hobbyists. Sure, they have the ‘budget’ lenses such as the 35mm f1.8, but that lens is still £509. When you compare that to the brilliantly performing Sigma Art 35mm f1.4 which can be picked up for a little bit more at £619 (or used for £360) I think it’ll be difficult to persuade a number of photographers away from their EF bodies and over to the new RF system. If Canon really wanted to make it an easier transition for some photographer who have invested heavily in EF glass then they should include the EF/RF mount adapter in the box, gratis.

It is worth noting, currently they are giving one away for free with every R5/R6 purchase after you register on their CPS website. Then it takes two weeks to be processed then however long arrive. If you’ve just invested in a new camera, you’re not going to wait almost a month+ to be able to use it with your EF glass, so most people will just go and buy one, like I did.

Dual card slots. Sorry Canon, but Sony really nailed you with this one. Their new dual function 2x CF Express / 2x SD Card slots are genius. Having only one of each in the R5 is a shame as I imagine a number of photographers will really struggle to justify the expense of buying the CF Express cards (one 128gb card is around £250). And if I’m only shooting photos I’d love the option of two SD card slots. I’d expect to see this in the R5 MkII.

This is me nit-picking of course, but points I consider important when investing in a new camera system.

So those are my first thoughts on the Canon EOS R5. We’ve planned a week long trip to Snowdonia NP to fully test this camera to its limits and learn more about it. Expect that post in a few weeks.

I won’t talk about video modes in here either, that will come in another post coming later this week.

If you’d like to download the full 45mp photos in 16bit .tiff files then click below

New Work - Naim Audio for Bentley

Dream projects only come along every-so-often, so you can imagine how excited I was when I was offered the opportunity to pitch for a project which brings together two brands that I am not only huge fans of, but also are the most prestigious in their industry. Naim Audio, Focal and Bentley Motors.

If I hadn’t mentioned before (I’m sure I have, many times) I take a huge interest in automotive and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t spend time listening to music. I own a range of HiFi equipment and I’m a little bit O.T.T about sound quality in our home, often to the frustration of my Girlfriend. Good (and VERY good) sound equipment is something I love to geek out about, I truly believe it makes the difference from just listening to music or being immersed in the sound stage and imaging the artist and producer originally intended.

So after sending in my proposal, I honestly wasn’t expecting to actually be awarded the work. A project with these two brands, it would be just too perfect. When I received the call from the lovely team at Naim to give me the good news, I was a little bit dumbstruck.

Naim Audio and Bentley Motors

Naim Audio are a British Hi-Fi manufacture based in Wiltshire, a neighbouring county to my home in Dorset. They were founded in 1973 by Julian Vereker MBE, a racing car driver, entrepreneur and self-taught engineer with a deep passion for music. Naim have a rich history of producing some of the worlds greatest Hi-Fi separates and professional audio equipment.

The relationship between Naim and Bentley spans from 2008 to today. The two brands shared an 18 month development project to produce the Naim for Bentley in-car system which is available as a custom extra on all Bentley models.

Following a 2011 merger with French loudspeaker manufacturer Focal, Naim is owned by VerVent Audio Group, a French company. As part of the project, focal also produced a

Bentley less of an introduction. A household name and known the world over for their extraordinary, luxurious cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England and founded 1919, both brands have a distinguished British heritage and a passion for engineering excellence.

Naim Mu-So for Bentley Special Edition and Focal for Bentley Radiance.

To celebrate the partnership between the brands, Naim, Bentley and Focal have worked together to design some limited, special edition products.

The best in acoustics, electronics and luxury motoring have been combined: Focal, Naim and Bentley have developed a collection of unique products to provide an exceptional listening experience in the car, at home and while travelling. With the Focal for Bentley Radiance hi-fi headphones and the Naim Mu-so for Bentley Special Edition wireless loudspeaker, the three luxury brands have excelled.

Mu-so for Bentley Special Edition

With unique design, aluminium and wood skin, a volume control reminiscent of classic Bentley styling, and signature Focal speaker drivers, this multi-room ready system wirelessly streams a world of music with class-leading performance, functionality and usability.

Focal Radiance Headphones

These closed-back headphones incorporate a combination of the best Focal technologies; they are created, developed and made in France to offer a natural sound that will captivate you within the first few musical bars. Evoking the styling cues of Bentley car interiors, the grilles blend harmoniously with the other carefully selected components and quality materials.

The brief required photography of Mu-So on black, white, 360 photography and a range of creative photography, along with video and lifestyle photography on location.

Creative Direction

My aim for the studio photography was to create images that had a sense of atmosphere, using light that had an enhanced, natural quality. The focus was to use one, strong key light creating dramatic, well defined shadows and high contrast scenes which was to be reflected in both the film and lifestyle imagery. The effect being almost chiaroscuro in aesthetic, directing the viewers attention along with enhancing the products richness of materials and colour. Gobos were also used to further create the a sense of natural light.

Studio Photography

Shot on the Canon 5D MkIV with Schneider PC TS Super-Angulon 50mm f/2.8, Sigma Art 50mm f1.4 DG, Sigma Art 85mm f1.4 DG.

Macro images shot on the new Canon R5 with Sigma Art 70mm f2.8 DG Macro

Lighting used was a mixture of Joker 2 Bug 800w, Sky Panel S30 and Dedo LED Bi-Colour. with a range of modifiers.

Colorama for the colour shots is LL CO117 Cardamon.

Shot at Pro Studio Hire in Bournemouth. Thanks to Andy Cahill for his help as Gaffa.

Lifestyle Photography

Mirroring the studio photography, I wanted to ensure the images looked and felt like they were lit with natural light that was simply manipulated to enhance how the product looked in the environment. To achieve this we used one Arri M40 HMI PAR with a 4K bulb to produce our ‘sun light’ through the large window to the left of camera. To the right we used an Aladdin 3x3ft with diffuse to provide fill light.

The aim was to keep the lighting simple and avoid over-lighting and the risk detracting from the sense of natural light in the scene. Thanks to all to the great crew on the day, to the client for their amazing input and thanks also to Bentley Motors for supplying the stunning Bentley Flying Spur featured in some of the images and video.

Styling - Nat Cook

Gaffa - Andy Cahill

Lighting Assisting - Alex Pillau

Production Assistant - Genna Delahunty

Shot on the Canon EOS R5 with Sigma Art 50mm f1.4 DG, Sigma Art 85mm f1.4 DG.

The Film

Taking inspiration from automotive commercials, the aim was to create a level of suspense and excitement which would build before revealing the product.

Using the supplied footage from Bentley Motors I crafted a visual narrative which shows two impassioned people driving home to enjoy spending time with their other passion; music. The first section up until approx 1 minute showing only dreamlike visualisations of Mu-So and Radiance, part of their imagination in anticipation of getting home. The second part, using less and less dreamlike imagination shots, and more real lifestyle clips showing the realisation of being home as they get closer to their goal.

The short clip of the Mulliner Bacalar overlaid with Mu-So is a nod to the relationship between the design language which is shared between the brands, with the light sweeping across the elegant lines of both the car and the Mu-So front grill. This is again reminiscent and relates back to the automotive commercial styling. Further design cue links are peppered throughout the film to reiterate the theme.

Thank you to Bentley Motors for supplying the footage of their Bentayga V8, Continental GT and Mulliner Bacalar along with the sounds of their glorious sounding W12 which can be heard in a number of sections in the film.

Shot on the Canon C200 and Canon R5 with Sigma Art 24mm f1.4 DG, Sigma Art 35mm f1.4 DG, Sigma Art 50mm f1.4 DG and Sigma Art 85mm f1.4 DG.

Filmed in Canon Cinema Raw Light, DCI 4K, 23.976p.

Edited and Colour graded in Divinci Resolve 16.

Thanks again to the great team at Naim for having me shoot this work for this campaign.

Learn more over on the Naim website: Click here

New Work - Rockay Apparel

It’s been a while since I’ve updated the blog with any news from the front, luckily i’ve been keeping busy to the extent that I’ve not had the free time to catch up my house work (blog, YouTube, Instagram all included!).

I say ‘Luckily’ as I do feel very fortunate to be able to get back to work shooting photography and video for my clients in these challenging and uncertain times. These images and video were shot over the course of two separate days in July and August, as and when the new Rockay Apparel range became available. During the course of the shoot we did everything we could to ensure we were sticking to the government guidelines for safe working during Covid-19.

I’ve mentioned Rockay in my previous post a few months back, but incase you missed that; Rockay are a high-performance running clothing company, well known for their blister free, sustainable and feature packed running socks which are used by elite athletes all over the world. With the success of their running socks, Rockay have taken what they’ve learnt about producing high performance, sustainable gear and applied that same focus to their new apparel range.

The new range includes T-Shirts, shorts, Tank Tops, Tights, Windbreakers for both men and women. And for Women the inclusion of a Sports Bra.

Client Rockay

Art directed by Matt Turner.

Models Iman Jouali, Max Black, Jelka Lepever, Samuel Daweson (Source Models)

Hair & Makeup Jess Robinson

Gaffa Andy Cahill.

Shot at Pro Studio Hire.

Equipment used

Photography shot on the Canon EOS 5D MkIV with Sigma Art Primes (50mm and 85mm f1.4).

Video shot on the Canon EOS Cinema C200 in Canon Cinema Raw Light with Sigma Art Primes (50mm and 85mm f1.4).

Lighting - Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 1000 with Elinchrom Litemotiv 190cm parabolic

New Work - Sontronics Podcast Pro Lifestyle Photography During Lockdown

There is no denying the absolute tragedy of most stories relating to the Coronavirus pandemic. It’s a challenging and difficult time for families, business and the economy. However, there are some stories that are positive and provide a sense of hope and joy to some. One of those is the many successes that some businesses are witnessing based on the demand for their products or services during lockdown or where people are isolating and shopping online.

Sontronics new Podcast Pro was selling like hot cakes before the pandemic, which was a testament to the quality of the product. However, since lockdown these sales have increased where people are turning to podcasting, producing videos, live streaming, video conferencing or recording radio shows from their own homes - all of which are made possible or greatly improved with a high quality microphone.

“In order to achieve this shoot during lockdown, my partner Genna was happy to step in to model for this shoot, our home was used as the shoot location, lighting and camera equipment was used from the gear stored at my home studio, some props came from our own equipment and additional props and the products from Sontronics were dispatched contact-free to adhere to government guidelines. ”

The Podcast Pro was designed with exactly these use cases in mind. It’s been designed and engineered in a way that reproduces the human voice with outstanding depth, clarity and presence. It offers incredible side rejection and an internal windshield, enabling incredible recording quality without any fuss.

“Frankly, The Podcast Pro is a work of art in both form and function. ”

Podcasting, streaming and recording from home has been on the increase in the last few years and many of the big audio brands have responded to this by creating products catered specifically to this market. But Sontronics have stepped into this market with a big point of difference. A complete and absolute focus on quality and componentry, hand built and individually tested in the UK and sporting the brands unique, beautifully considered design that sets it apart from the ‘vanilla’ look of many products on the market. Frankly, The Podcast Pro is a work of art in both form and function.

In order for Sontronics to help further market the Podcast Pro and increase awareness in a marketplace already saturated with podcasting products, Sontronics got in touch to shoot a range of lifestyle photography of the Podcast Pro in a typical use case scenario with the aim of using the photography across social, magazine advertising and online.

In order to achieve this shoot during lockdown, my partner Genna was happy to step in to model for this shoot, our home was used as the shoot location, lighting and camera equipment was used from the gear stored at my home studio, some props came from our own equipment and additional props and the products from Sontronics were dispatched contact-free to adhere to government guidelines.

Client: Sontronics

Model: Genna Delahunty

Shot on the Canon 5D Mk4 using Sigma Art Lenses; 50mm f1.4 and 35mm f1.4.

Lighting: Aputure Light Storm COB C300d ii and Arri SkyPanel S30C.

Post Production: Adobe Lightroom