Camera Technology

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I’m not sure if anyone’s interested in learning about the technology behind Dead Men Hiking, but if so this post is for you! (Warning! This post may seem somewhat technical if you’re not familiar with shooting video on a DSLR)

I used a Pentax K-x dslr to shoot Dead Men Hiking. Lens-wise, I primarily used a Pentax 18-55mm lens for wide shots and a Yashica f:2 50mm prime lens for closer-up shots because of its super-shallow depth of field.

The advantages of the Pentax K-x for filmmaking were:

  • 720p video at 24 frames per second (24fps is the standard framerate for movies–giving the movie a film, not television, look)
  • APS-C sized sensor, which is close to the size of super-35mm film. What’s so special about that, you may ask?  Well, what this boils down to is that the Pentax K-x mimics the look of real film quite nicely in terms of dynamic range.
  • Another advantage of the K-x is that it has in-camera optical image stabilization, which means that no matter what lens I’m using or whether I’m shooting stills or video, I always have stabilization. This is a big plus for me!

The disadvantages of the K-x are practically the same as those of any DSLR:

  • serious rolling shutter/jello-cam problems because of the way CMOS sensors scan images
  • moiré problems
  • no audio inputs
  • camera must be focused manually more often than not
Okay, to sort of cap this off, here is an audio-less video I took a few days ago with my K-x and 50mm prime–completely raw and unprocessed. Hope you enjoy (be sure to crank up the video quality settings before watching)!

-Jack-

4 thoughts on “Camera Technology”

  1. Ooooo, I love fire! No, really I do! I like building fires and watching fires…but I’m not a pyromaniac, just a fire bug! You were right; your post aimed right over my head, so I just scanned it, but I enjoyed the soundless video. As I watched it, it froze in the process of loading, and at 14 seconds in when it froze, the blaze looked just like a dragon!

  2. Yes, I’m not a pyromaniac either, but I do find fire somewhat…mesmerizing in a weird sort of way.

    I think Mertens Creations’s next production will definitely have to have fire somewhere in it–even if its just a campfire. Needless to say, safety will have to be paramount–we wouldn’t want to go burning down a forest!

  3. Thank you for the info. about cameras. I’m glad I can go back to this post and read it again. Yes, I can see how the camera made the fire look choppy. It doesn’t look as smooth as it would if you were actually watching a fire.

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