{"id":6988,"date":"2009-12-31T21:31:21","date_gmt":"2009-12-31T21:31:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/philipbloom.co.uk\/?p=6988"},"modified":"2010-05-28T19:48:02","modified_gmt":"2010-05-28T17:48:02","slug":"best-of-2009-what-a-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philipbloom.net\/blog\/best-of-2009-what-a-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Best of 2009. What a year!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"476x238bloombannerV1\"

\"zfinderADforBLOOMV3\"


\n\"\"

First off…Happy New Year as you may well be reading this well after I wrote it or \u00a0you are living in a part of the world that has already said goodbye to 2009 and the first decade of the naughties.<\/p>\n

I thought about doing a review of the past ten years but that is more like a book than a blog post.<\/p>\n

First off 2009 has been a really crazy year for me professionally, done lots of great jobs, started using a whole new breed of video cameras, spent months abroad, met some amazing people and a lot more. What I want to do in this post in talk about some of the gear and software that I have used this year that I love. Most of it came out this year but there will be a couple of things that came out earlier but I only got this year so bear with me on that!<\/p>\n

This list is in no particular order…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Canon 5DmkII<\/a><\/h1>\n

\"\"

Obviously the key thing for me this year was the Canon 5DmkII<\/strong>, although it was released in late 2008 I bought mine at the end of April this year after hesitating for some time about getting one. It arrived on May 3rd when I was in Hawaii!<\/p>\n

The lack of manual controls in video mode was the killer for me, but the ability to use my Zeiss ZF lenses with an adaptor which gave me manual iris control sealed the deal for me. Although it wasn’t until the manual firmware did come out with the ability to keep the same exposure between shots and actually select the ISO and more importantly the shutter speed that it became a really usable video camera for me and many others. Although the lack of any frame rate other than 30p still hampers it new firmware in, hopefully, early 2010 will fix this. But a FULL FRAME camera that can capture full HD video was utterly unique and really was a game changer, for me and many others. Couple that with\u00a0 affordability when taking into account what it is capable of image wise this was THE camera of 2009 and for most likely will be for 2010 too when that firmware comes out. Of course decent lenses are always essential when using any camera, that’s why I do recommend avoiding the slow kit zoom lenses if you can and look at the more expensive constant aperture F2.8 zoom lenses or some nice fast primes. This camera is killer in low light, but only when you have a nice fast lens to go with it.<\/p>\n

The short film that I made that had the biggest impact was just me going out with the 5DmkII and a zeiss ZF 50mm f1.4 and handheld shooting random people in the street. You can see the video below.<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

Sofia’s People: Canon 5dmk2 24p<\/a> from Philip Bloom<\/a> on Vimeo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I now have two of these babies and they have revolutionised my work in the past few months. I cannot recommend this camera enough. Oh…one more thing, this camera re-ignited my love of taking still photos, something I haven’t done seriously for years. The stills from it are mind blowing and I had my first paid stills job using this camera, a nice big billboard all over Bulgaria for M-Tel,<\/a> although I was also shooting a video commercial at the same time. That’s convergence for you.<\/p>\n

The piece I am most proud of that I shot on the 5DmkII was my commercial for Greenpeace that went out to around 1 billion people across all sorts of TV Networks this year. <\/a>
\n<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

Greenpeace: Voices of change. Shot on Canon 5dmkII<\/a> from Philip Bloom<\/a> on Vimeo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Canon 7D<\/a><\/h1>\n

\"\"

A camera that did come out this year and was also revolutionary was the Canon 7D. Cheaper by around $1000 that the 5DmkII. It had a smaller chip with the APS-C so not full frame but still massive in video terms. Very similar in size to the chip in the Sony F35 and the Red One but just $1600!<\/p>\n

Proper 24p, 25p, 30p in full HD and 50p and 60p in 720p we finally had proper frame rates in a Canon DSLR. It also had many improvements over the 5DmkII. Better weatherproofing, better autofocus in stills and much more. I also liked the dedicated video button, no more going through menus to make sure video mode is on. The crop sensor of 1.6x also meant that with an adaptor this camera was usable with Cinema lens, whereas on the 5DmkII you just got a massive vignette. \u00a0A big plus for filmmakers.<\/p>\n

The 720p 50p\/ 60p mode gives you the ability to do in camera slow motion but does suffer a bit more of the moire that plagues the Canon HD-DSLRs. But it is very effective and way better than filming at normal speed and then slowing down in the edit.<\/p>\n

The day I got the 7D I was on my way to Dublin to do a DSLR masterclass for F-Stop Academy. I didn’t get a moment to look at the camera until around midnight but I had to do something so I knocked together this utterly bizarre little short film of me shaving all done in 50p slowed to 24p.<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

Shaving It Back: Canon 7d<\/a> from Philip Bloom<\/a> on Vimeo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the end of workshop we went out to celebrate with a few drinks. Of course my camera was with me and the end result was some nice 24p footage called “Dublin’s People” that went down pretty well too…it’s currently my most viewed film on Vimeo. Far from my favourite though…<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

Dublin’s People: Canon 7d 24p<\/a> from Philip Bloom<\/a> on Vimeo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 7D really is a superb stills and video camera. Same limitations as the 5DmkII has with sound, rolling shutter, compression etc. But capable of beautiful images and can be used in many versatile ways.<\/p>\n

Pana<\/a>sonic GH1\/ GF1<\/a><\/h1>\n

\"\"

Hampered by a low bit rate recording codec, this is Panasonic’s first venture into HD video in their G line. I tested out the GH1 for about 3 weeks and thought it was lovely, the lens was great with the best autofocus I have seen on a video camera, it tracked faces smoothly but it was a bit slow, I have since switched to using fast primes only with it and love the result.<\/p>\n

It also had full manual controls for the\u00a0camera. A big deal. It also had an articulated screen and an EVF. The 1080p mode was a bit weak at 17mbs but the 720p 50p mode was great. It’s a shame that the camera records 25p in the EU embedded in a 50i stream and 24p in a 60i stream rather than straight out of the camera like that, so it meant a bit more post. But I really liked the camera. Very easy to use, very light. Now if they can just up that bit rate…I asked Panasonic to release the camera in body only and they listened to my advice and have just brought it out. I thoroughly recommend body only with the pancake 20mm F1.7 lens.<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

Joshua Tree: Panasonic Lumix GH1<\/a> from Philip Bloom<\/a> on Vimeo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Shot with stock lenses and some Zeiss Ultra Primes.<\/p>\n

PL mount adaptor supplied by hotrodcameras.com<\/p>\n

Mattebox was supplied by Genustech.tv<\/p>\n

Filters supplied by Tiffen Filters<\/p>\n

Ungraded.<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

\"\"

Later this year Panasonic released the GF1, a stripped down version of the GH1. We lost the EVF (there is an add on EVF but it’s rubbish resolution), the articulating screen, the full HD mode, th<\/p>\n

e 720p 50p mode (now 24p or 25p), the mic input, the stereo mic BUT it’s smaller and that is great. Same great stills. The video too is still very good but for some odd reason they have removed the manual controls. PLEASE Panasonic put it back in. The GF1 is such a great camera, it’s the one I carry around with me every day but I want manual control for video please.<\/p>\n

You get such great high quality stills from this micro 4\/3rds camera, the size of the chip is equivalent to around a 16mm sized or 2\/3″chip.<\/p>\n

SONY Cyber-shot DSC-WX1<\/a><\/h1>\n

I haven’t talked about this camera yet anywhere as I have only just got it, but it was pipped to the post the Lumix TZ7 and FT1, both wonderful compacts that I love. The FT1 is waterproof and the TZ7 has a nice long optical zoom, both shoot 720p video very well. What I love about the Sony is the new Exmor R chip in it which makes for cracking low light ability. It also shoots 720p video but just at 30p. It has a great low light mode and even does a cool sweep panorama mode where you simply move the camera in\u00a0 a horizontal movement and it takes 10 photos very quickly and instantly stitches them together. Very impressive. It’s also nice and small, has a great LCD screen on it. Shame about those damn memory stick duo things! The lens is a superb 24-120mm and is F2.4 at it’s widest. Very nice indeed!<\/p>\n

\"\"