F23 camera a first for New Zealand
New cameras put to the test on Skyrunners, the first original movie for the new U.S. Disney XD cable channel…
Panavision
Being the first production to bring a new type of camera into New Zealand can be a worry in an industry where you are as only as good as your last show.
But when Panavision New Zealand introduces new camera technology it comes with a level of support that means you can be confident with it before heading out to set.
“There are a lot of different cameras from different manufacturers within the worldwide Panavision group, and we can tap-in to the expertise and support around those cameras,” says Martin Cayzer, head of Panavision in Australia and New Zealand.
This approach to new cameras was put to the test on Skyrunners, the first original movie for the new U.S. Disney XD cable channel, explains Cayzer. The production shot for 20 days in Auckland during April.
Because there had been no Sony F23 cameras previously for rental in New Zealand, the camera wasn’t on DP Rob Marsh’s radar at first.
“We were looking around at other cameras and the director Ralph Hemecker, had just done a job in the U.S. on a Sony F23 camera so we went to Panavision Auckland and sure enough they got us Panavision Sony F23s,” he says.
Marsh became interested in the digital camera because it shoots Full HD and records to Sony HDCAM-SR tape at 4:4:4 RGB. This is the highest quality tape media, but it will also record to Panavision’s Solid State Recorder – a type of digital magazine.
The variable speed range of 1 to 60 fps gave Marsh creative options.
As a 2/3″ sensor camera the Sony F23 fits into the Panavision digital camera line-up below the flagship Genesis 35mm sensor camera, but – thanks to better sensors, processors and variable speed – well ahead of the Sony F900 which is itself a benchmark for TV drama in HD.
The high quality 4:4:4 RGB recording makes the camera ideal for digital EFX or screen work.
Used for shooting Johnny Depp as John Dillinger in the latest Micheal Mann directed major feature Public Enemies, the camera has a growing list of major feature film and TV commercial credits.
But despite the big movie credits Marsh knew it was going to be versatile enough for fast moving TV drama thanks to the experience within the Panavision network.
“We did some pretty elaborate tests because no-one had shot with an F23 in New Zealand before,” says Marsh.
This made access to experience and knowledge essential.
“We liaised with expert technical guys like John Virtue at Panavision Australia to see what they could tell us about the camera,” he says.
According to Marsh the camera is highly configurable and has an enormous number of menus and options. But they were on a tight schedule and needed to eliminate the chance of errors on set.
“We really wanted to simplify the camera set-up so it was user-friendly for me and user-friendly for the assistants. With Panavision we set the cameras up with the S-Log configuration which basically puts the camera into a film mode.”
Marsh says they selected a range of convenient Arri-type accessories and monitors to go with the two main cameras, and used smaller Panavision Sony EX1 cameras for confined spaces and insert shots.
“Panavision had everything we needed so it worked out pretty well,” he says.
But the images are what tell the story, and Marsh was impressed.
“The latitude is amazing; it really handles under-exposure really well. After we did some lighting tests we found we needed a third of the amount of light to shoot with.
“Going into our night shoots we thought instead of using a 12K, a 4K would be plenty. We were actually taking light out – we had too much of it.
“It was good for production because if you don’t need that much light it saves on the budget.”
