I’ve recently spent a good few hours testing a Canon 7D and workflows into Final Cut Pro 7. Our first production was a real test for the system, an observational documentary.
We were commissioned to shoot a short doco for Sydney dancer Louie George rehearsing his new show. The shoot was done at three separate rehearsal sessions. We shot rehearsals as they happened only once having to ask for second take of a dance we only had one angle.
The equipment we used comprised of four lenses, a Sigma 10-20mm, a Canon 17-85mm, a Sigma 70-200mm and for the interviews a Mamiya 645 55mm with Fotodiox adaptor. We a used a Steadicam Flyer for some shots, a perfect rig for the Canon 7D, as well as lots of handheld and a Manfrotto 504HD tripod that I’ve been asked to evaluate.
Audio was recorded on a Zoom H4, with Rode NTG 1 shotgun mike on one channel and Sony radio mike from Louie feeding the second channel. An output split from the monitor output of the radio mike was in turn sent to the Canon 7D via another radio mike for a guide track when post syncing with PluralEyes in post.
The Zoom H4 batteries drained very quickly when supplying phantom power for NTG 1. In future we’ll supply sound to the H4 with a mixer.
The only lighting used was for Louie’s interview. All the dance footage and Elizabeth’s interview were shot under available light. The Mamiya 55mm lens was used for both interviews at f2.8.
I made the decision to shoot all the footage at 720 50p as I was sure we’d use some slo mo. The slow motion shots were created by duplicating the original files of the shots required and conforming them to 25p in Cinema Tools. These shots were then slowed a further 50% in Final Cut with frame bending off.
Producer and sound recordist was my partner Alison Ray.
