Braving the Bloom of Canon V35s, a Conversation with Robin Fox

DOP Robin Fox has shot documentaries, commercials, and last year his first feature film. The project was for the Wilkinson Sword and Atlassian Williams F1 Team’s “Partners in Smooth” campaign, in which Wilkinson Sword’s Blade Master character serves as Williams’ first “director of smooth,” working with team principal James Vowles to help drivers Carlos Sainz, Alex Albon and Luke Browning get race ready. As Fox describes, the brief was “to make it in a kind of documentary vein, blended with a TVC.” Documentary grit and commercial polish, in the same frame. For this, he utilised VMI’s Canon V35s, tinkered CN-E primes by Northwest Camera Co and Duclos Lenses.

His test? Half an hour with VMI. The night before the shoot. “I don’t advocate that,” he laughed, “because that doesn’t fill you with confidence going into the shoot.”

Fox mentioned the location was full of Venetian blinds, with light streaming through constantly, a factor to consider. “The ceiling panel lights in VMI were blooming a lot, and that made me slightly nervous,” Fox said. “But at the same time, I kind of wanted a distinctive look. You just gotta go for these things sometimes.”

“They bloomed, but not as much as I thought they could do.”

That gamble paid off. On set, the V35s handled the blinds, the LED office tiles, and even a sword catching hard light throughout the day, without the bloom tipping into something distracting.

“They did a great job and weren’t too overbearing,” Fox said. “There was an office scene with the Venetian blinds, but there was also a scene with some tactile LED tiles. And they bloomed just the right amount as well. They didn’t look over the top.”

He’d noticed something while inspecting the lenses, too: “We looked at the back of the lenses and you could see that there were some sort of gold speckly elements, which were very similar to a sort of gold diffusion effects style filter.” That detail connects to something he’d been reading about separately, that older “lead” lenses had a chemical in their lead linings that gave vintage glass its warm tones, something modern lenses can’t replicate now that lead is off the table. As Fox put it, “there was something about the V35s, that’s why they’re a warmer diffusion, to try and replicate that.”

The V35s were paired with an Angenieux EZs for crash zooms, with a heaviest glimmer glass to match the look between the different lenses, itself a sign of how much built-in softness the V35s carry. For close-ups, the V35s did the heavy lifting, and that’s where Fox noticed its strength most.

“It had a really nice sort of… I don’t know,” he said, searching for the word. “I don’t want to say ‘painterly,’ sounds sh**, doesn’t it? But like that sort of washed over his face.” He landed on it a moment later: “There’s a nice fall-off to them, and also slightly lower contrast, which always looks nicer on faces. Not too sort of crunchy blacks. A nice roll-off in the contrast.”

What makes the result more impressive is the conditions Fox was shooting in. With the Williams drivers (Carlos Sainz, Alex Albon and Luke Browning) available for about an hour each, there was zero time to control the light. “There was no lighting for any of the close-ups, or controlling anything,” he said. “So what we got was kind of what we got.”

That included the sword, throwing reflections and hot highlights across the frame all day. “Things like it catching the blade, it worked really nicely. It caught the light just right,” Fox said. “It’s not a harsh highlight either, with so much bloom.” According to him, “it just softened it all just right.”

You can read more below, or just watch the commercial to see them in action.

“I’d definitely use them again.”

Asked whether he’d reach for the V35s again, Fox didn’t hesitate: “Yeah, I’d definitely use them again. They give a really distinctive look. They’re great for beauty shoots because the skin tones are so fantastic.”

His pitch for who should consider them: “Beauty commercials would be absolutely perfect. And any sort of drama productions where you need a different kind of feel and look, something slightly diffuse. You don’t need to hire any diffusion filters if you get them, that’s for sure,” followed by a slight chuckle.

There’s one thing worth flagging, though. “You definitely have to be careful shooting into light,” he warned. “They do sort of wrap around with too much backlight. But that could be used to an advantage, I guess, if that was kind of a look you were going for.”

On the experience of working with us, Fox was equally warm: “VMI have got a fantastic selection of lenses, and had I had a bit more time, I would have loved to come down and try them all out. But it was great just to be able to come down, speak to the guys and grab them. Great service.”

He’s not wrong. We do have a great selection of lenses, and we offer a quality service to match. So, consider hiring the Canon V35s, rehoused and ready, available from VMI. Unlike Robin, you’ve got time to test them properly first.