What the thread found

• The Canon 5D Mark II functioned as both A and B cameras for the production.
• Three Canon zoom lenses were used: 18-35mm, 24-70mm, and 70-200mm, all with f2.8 aperture and equipped with follow focus and Preston focus control systems.
• The Preston focus system proved problematic on these particular lenses because they lack hard stops, causing the focus ring to continue rotating uncontrollably.
• Recording onto 8GB CF cards yielded approximately 8 minutes of footage per card.
• A maximum CF card capacity of 16GB was considered the reliable limit at that time.
• Prior to firmware updates enabling manual exposure settings, exposure had to be reset after each roll by blocking light to force the camera to raise ISO to 3200, which would drop aperture to f2.8 and reduce frame rate until exposure locked.
• The click wheel allowed exposure adjustment within a ±2 stop range in increments of 1/3 or 1/4 stops.
• This manual exposure reset procedure was required for each take and false start, consuming significant production time.
• Stabilization equipment included a Redrock DSLR rig modified by cutting the top rails in half and repositioning the halves on the sides, skateboard dolly, Giraffe crane, and primarily handheld operation.
• A Flyer Steadicam rig was chosen over larger Steadicam gear to reduce transport burden across international locations.
• Dual system sound was recorded while also using the camera microphone for some B-roll footage.
• Firmware updates implemented partway through production resolved the manual exposure limitation.
• Battery changes sometimes required only two minutes, necessitating careful equipment configuration to allow quick access to both cards and batteries with multiple lens options.

Depends on

• The firmware limitation regarding manual exposure settings was resolved during production, so later portions of the shoot benefited from this improvement.
• The 16GB CF card reliability claim was stated without extensive technical backing.
• The Preston focus system issue was specific to lenses without hard stops.
• This was a specific production setup and may not represent optimal configurations for all DSLR filmmaking scenarios.
• The thread does not discuss final output frame rates or flicker mitigation strategies in detail.

Gear in this thread

HU3

Parts

Follow Focus

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