VMI – Taking Stock

It has been ten days since RD took over at VMI, and what a whirlwind it has been. A lot of people have got in touch with me across the … Read more

Sustainable Film Competition

CALLING ALL SUSTAINABLY MINDED FILMMAKERS! Our sustainability film competition was so successful last year, that VMI and Sustainable Film decided to repeat it again this year, offering a prize to … Read more

Mid-range cameras don’t mean compromise

At VMI we’ve noticed a recent trend among filmmakers and wondered if you agree? We’ve spotted that a significant number of productions are ‘trading down’ from using traditional top of the range cine-cameras…

New generation of Auto Focus lenses now available with E and EF Mounts

Auto Focus is here to stay and whilst this is not a panacea to force all focus-pullers to retrain, the increased adoption of Full Frame (which necessarily makes focussing more critical than S-35 or APSC formats) and the enhanced development of the technology, makes this functionality more useful and as a result, we are noticing an increased interest in it.

What real world Cinematographers think about using Infiniprobe lenses

The Digital Cinema Society presents an exploration of Micro/Macro cinematography with three DPs including Bill Bennett, ASC, James Mathers, and Cameron Cannon.
The trio photograph a variety of shots in order to evaluate these exceptional lenses and also share their insights in behind-the-scenes coverage.

Macro and Micro Cinematography

We all love to see images of extreme magnification to show a world which we can’t experience with our own eyes but just like all cinematography, this is hard to do well.
The choice right lens for the specific shot is key and this article aims to explain the differences between Close Up, Macro and Micro photography/cinematography and in particular, to introduce the cinematographer to a relatively recent new type of lens, which are called Nelsonian Lenses made by Infinity Photo-Optical and which use microscope techniques to create unique images which are not possible using traditional optics.

Beginner’s Guide to Depth of Field

This article is written mainly for those who want to know the very simple concepts which allow camera operators to manipulate the Depth of Field in order to make them look more cinematic.

A Filmmaker’s Guide to Sensor Sizes and Lens Formats

This article aims to help questions such as:
– “Will this lens work with my camera?”
– “Will this lens cover 8K?”
– “Will this lens cover full frame.”
– “What will full frame lenses look like on a S-35 sensor.”

HDR vs SDR

HDR reality and monitoring – a DOP’s Perspective

THESE ARE SOME EXCERPTS OF A CML THREAD ABOUT HDR AND MONITORING HDR, WHICH I HAVE REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION FROM GEOFF BOYLE AND ART ADAMS. IT WAS REALLY INTERESTING AND IS ABOUT HDR FROM THE DOP’S PERSPECTIVE.

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