Super Slow Motion – Reinvented We all remember the super slow motion shot of the Great White Shark Attack from Planet Earth’s first episode “From Pole to Pole”, back in 2006. Super slow motion, which … Read more
VMI’s Scalable Portable AC Power Station Technology Without local site power or polluting generators, until now, your options were limited. Either you could use portable battery stations with limited capacity or expensive, heavy systems, (some were so large, that they were built into a trailer). However a new cost-effective modular and scalable option now exists, which uses small, portable battery power stations connected to a hotswap device featuring an auto changeover feature to offer uninterrupted power across multiple batteries to extend their performance.
Is 4K or 6K Enough. Do we even need 8K or more? Cameras, Media, DIT and Streaming This article aims to explore that there are further considerations to make when considering the image size and CODEC, which means more data, more transfer time, more media resource and in post, more render time, ultimately costing production more money. However, there is also a sustainability argument which becomes relevant, since more data also means more energy usage and a greater carbon footprint.
Easyrig – all you need to know Grip This is a short article to explain the principles behind the Easyrig concept and to introduce the product range of models with advice to their suitability for various camera configurations.
Power to the People Cameras, Lighting, Technology You can have the best camera kit in the world but if you can’t power it because your batteries have failed you, then you are really stuck. This article explores the battery standards which exist today and how to make the most out of every type of technology.
Shooting Anamorphic in Full Frame and S-35 Lenses Everyone appreciates the cinematic quality of shooting anamorphic. With the popularity of Full Frame, it made sense for VMI to make more options available for capturing in both anamorphic and Frame. This is a new article to explore these options.
Judgement Day – VMI Publishes Lens Comparison Videos Cinematography, Lenses In a break from tradition demos, VMI invited 40 camera department professionals to come and shoot their own tests across full frame lenses from Cooke, Gecko, Tribe and Sigma on either Sony Venice or ARRI Mini LF. No agendas. No hard selling. Just creative people doing what they do best.
The Creative and Technical Differences between Full Frame and S-35 Cinematography Fully Updated Article, April 2023: To shoot Full-Frame or S-35? Are there really artistic reasons for shooting on FF? What are the advantages and what gear will I need?
Phantom VEO 4K demand scales new heights Super Slow Motion Read how in the 5 years since VMI pioneered stocking the Phantom VEO 4K, it has become the go-to camera for many genres including natural history.
Shooting Large DoF with InfiniProbe lenses Cinematography, Lenses @vmitv New VMI blog post: A considerable effort is given to creating a shallow depth of field (DoF) to create a more cinematographic look, however there are occasions when a large DoF is needed. Here’s how to achieve this.
Vintage Lenses are Still Cool Lenses To reflect that VMI’s wide range of vintage and vintage-look lenses, we have redefined the vintage category on our website to now includes 14 different types of sets of Vintage/Vintage-look … Read more
Is This the End of 8K TVs? Technology 8K TVs are so power-hungry, that they are now about to be banned from the European Union, so does this mean that the quest for higher and higher resolution monitors will now cease? My private 4K TV is in the A+ efficiency category but 8K sets are currently classed as G, so is 8K doomed?
Too much lighting choice? Let’s cut through the confusion Lighting British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan made an optimistic speech in 1957 that “we have never had it so good” and the same can be said of lighting today! With so … Read more
Mid-range cameras don’t mean compromise Cameras 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…
VMI’s Latest LED lights to join our fleet Lighting This is a short article to profile the very latest modern low-energy lighting fixtures that we have added to our fleet, most of which will be available to see at our 2022 lighting workshops.
VMI is Infinity’s Prime UK Rental House Lenses VMI has a long-standing relationship with Infinity Photo-Optical who makes the Infiniprobe TS160 probe lenses. Barry Bassett, VMI’s Managing Director, has been recognised as being their ‘Nelsonian Award’ winner back … Read more
VMI replaces all Sachtler Video-18 & 20 Tripods to latest Flowtech Design Grip VMI has replaced its entire fleet of Sachtler Video 20 tripods to the latest Sachtler Video 20S1 heads with the newly designed Sachtler Flowtech 100 legs, since they are faster to setup, are lighter, easier to carry and offer greater stability.
WORKING RESOLUTION: CONSIDERATIONS & BEST PRACTICES Cameras, Media, DIT and Streaming Netflix have published a very useful article, which takes an in depth look at the concept of a working resolution and outlines the best practices for image scaling throughout the production lifecycle…
New generation of Auto Focus lenses now available with E and EF Mounts Lenses 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 Cinematography, 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.
Brand New VMEDIA on-line database V2 Media, DIT and Streaming, Technology With so many different recording formats, memory card types, media sizes, compatibility issues and upgrade requirements, it can be a challenge trying to find compatible memory cards or SSDs for your camera or recorder. However, Lewis has been extremely hard at work to make this easier for you with the VMEDIA Online Database V2 which is organised into the most popular brands and sortable by camera model, which gives details on compatibility, data rates and approximate recording times too
Some S-35 zooms already cover FF (you just didn’t know this!) Lenses This is an extremely brief article to help to explain a lesser-known but extremely valuable tip. In summary, film zooms designed to cover S-35 sensors, will also cover Full Frame as well IF used with a 1.5x extender and this is built into several zoom lenses already, such as the Canon Cabrio zooms.
Netflix Approved UHD 4K cameras Cameras, Technology Here is a list of Netflix approved UHD cameras as of November 2020.
Macro and Micro Cinematography Cinematography, Lenses 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.