sammi needham : cogitate

I’m a self-confessed and utterly obsessed early adopter, band-wagon-jumping, gear-head. This is something that im try to settle down on, but after being a Pentax guy for about 4 years I’ve finally sold / traded in all of my gear and switched to a Canon system. This is where i’m going to stay, safe in the comfort that i’m using a really good quality system and i’m compatible with all my friends. This is my story…

I originally picked Pentax when i was working at Sputnik, we had CR Kennedy as a client and my CD and i got a great deal on the K10D back in the day. It was touted as the best camera Pentax had made in 20 years and it probably was. It did everything i needed at the time and was a nice slide back into the world of SLR where i had been vacant since my days as a photography assistant for Nick Osborne at Osborne Imaging. After an unfortunate accident at a VJ Xmas party the K10D was retired for a new model, the Pentax K20D which was a bit faster, a bit bigger and a bit higher resolution. Then came the dawn of the Video DSLR and Pentax had an answer for me there with the K-7. After getting well-stuck into this scene, investing in a few lenses and being very comfortable with using the Pentax system for many years i was pretty happy… but something incide me was never completely convinced that i was walking the right path.

Everywhere around me people were using these fancy Canons and Nikons, and although i was proficient with my Pentax, i couldn’t help being just a bit jealous of their gear (and their ability to share gear with one another). One of the reasons i got the Pentax K-7 was it’s ability to shoot 720p HD video, but my biggest gripe with the K-7 was that although you could manually control the aperture, it would automatically ramp the shutter speed to keep the light consistent once you set it. This caused a few problems; Not being able to maintain one set exposure when moving in and out of light sources seemed a bit amateur and then not being able to avoid flicker from the refresh speed of lights when they matched the camera was the killer. I have some tungsten lights that i use for interview and portrait setups and the K-7 always seemed to match the refresh rates and caused a really nasty flicker unless i set the camera to automatically set the iso in movie mode (when then changed the exposure when they lights changed). For me, the tipping point was seeing all the great results my friends were getting with their Canons, It was all a bit much. I’ve now taken the plunge.

I decided to sell all of my Pentax gear, 2 camera bodies, 4 lenses (and a trusty old 3 chip MiniDV camera that i’ve had for ages) and just start buying Canon. After a months worth of trading between friends, selling on Gumtree.com.au and eBay i’m finally left with no more Pentax in my life, and a week ago i headed down the road and picked up a Canon 7D kit with the 15-80mm lens, a 30mm f1.4 Sigma, a 50mm f1.4 sigma and a Canon Speedlite 580EXII flash. I feel like i need a longer zoom coming from having an 18-200 which granted wasn’t the best quality but was a good all-rounder, but the Canon L Series 70-200mm seems a little decadent after getting all this stuff. Xmas is just around the corner though. All said, done and purchased, I feel like a new man.

First of all, the 7D feels like a big solid chunk of quality. It’s a fair bit heavier than the Pentax, but i don’t mind that as i’m totally strong. It’s taken a while to get used to a new layout and all new controls. The Pentax had a great still-shooting setting (P) which would allow you to set an aperture and it would auto-adjust the shutter, or set the shutter and it would auto-adjust the aperture. A bit like a combo of av and tv modes on the fly. The canon doesn’t seem to do this in the same way, but i’ve gotten used to shooting full manual now, as the metering is very accurate and the controls are nice to use. Below is my favourite shot from Friday night, this guy is the cleaner at work, he’s got a lovely smile and a great face. I have no idea who that crazy scot is behind him though.

I’ve never really shot with an external flash before, but have found myself needing one more and more. After playing around in the lounge room, i’ve resulted in a bouncy way of achieving nice, natural light while using the flash. This purchase really was inspired by the amazing results that my friend Ty gets with his flash, he’s opened my eyes and i’m totally on board now.

One massive advantage that the Canon’s have is that the movie mode is fully integrated into the camera and so instead of switching to 1 movie mode that does everything for you, the movie mode can be enabled on any other shooting mode than the camera offers. This is an absolute godsend and very intuitive, allowing a bucketload of versatility. There is a dedicated switch on the back of the camera to switch between stills and movie mode and a button for enabling live view in stills mode, or on/off rec in movie mode. You can still hit the shutter and take a still shot while shooting video though. Dave has been getting some amazing results out of his 5DII and we’ve been going back and forth talking about the merits of Canon’s range and the available lenses. Obviously the best advantage of shooting video on cameras like this is the fact that you can achieve beautiful images if you’ve got the right lenses and know how to use them, getting gorgeous short focus shots that look more like film than the movie mode of a stills camera. One of the main disadvantages is the shakiness that is hard to avoid when hand-holding these camera. Places like Red Rock Micro and Zacuto (among others) have some great gear attempting to alleviate this issue and i’m hoping to try out some of that stuff one day. But for now, i’ll just shoot pancake sunday(below) in slow motion and that should hopefully make my jittery hands look a bit less jittery.

Next project: home-made steadycam.

The latest instalment in Van Diemen’s Land’s ‘behind the scenes’ series.

“A sexy beard. A poetic beard. A beard that will meet you more than half way in a fight..”

It’s another insightful look into the serious world of filmmaking brought to you by the serious filmmakers of Van Diemen’s Land.

– Van Diemen’s Land Blog Feed

A mere 2 weeks out from the official launch now and Jonathan has just headed up to Sydney for their fancy theatre launch showing… thing. So please join the facebook group, send it to your friends, twitter about it, etc… we need as many bums on seats as we can get on September 24th and all that week.

Also: Empire magazine have just given the film a 4 star review, sweet!

Behind the scenes of van diemen’s land the movie.

I’ve just returned from the premiere of my mate Jonathan Auf Der Heide’s film Van Diemen’s Land. It was a fun filled 3 days in Adelaide, of which the Adelaide part was much less fun that the actual film premiere celebration. Well done to all involved, it was a bit of a nerve-racking night (well, only by association for me, really) but a really great move about a past that Australia has yet to really explore properly on film.

Van Diemen’s Land
In 1822. Maquarie Harbour, a remote prison camp guarded by miles of impenetrable wilderness, was feared by convicts banished there as a fate worse than death.

Sentenced to slave labour, a work party of eight Irish, English and Scottish thieves attempt the impossible in an infamous bid for freedom.

Totally unprepared for the arduous journey ahead, their escape into the harsh Tasmanian wilderness becomes a futile battle between man and nature.

As supplies dwindle and tensions amongst the group escalate, they soon contemplate the unthinkable.