Meet My Lenses For Every Occasion - From Modern to Vintage Glass / September 21, 2023 by Tom Kelly

Lenses are usually seen as better investments then cameras as they are for the most part made using physics and glass rather then computer chips. So a great lens made in the 1970s is still a great lens today but might just have a different look to it. What is better is much more down to personal preference of the user or that particular project.

Below I will take you through my lens collection and give a brief explanation of why I bought them and what kind of projects they would be suited for.

Canon EF Glass

24-70mm F2.8 II, 14mm F2.8 II, 35mm F2, 100mm F2.8 Macro, 50mm F1.2, 70-200mm F2.8 II, 2x Extender III

These lenses are the ones I use the most and often with my Canon C70 camera. They are full frame and work on all my cameras with an adapter. The star of the show being the 24-70mm F2.8 II which I have shot whole projects with just that one lens. It has a useful range from wide to medium with nice smooth bokeh wide open at 2.8.

Canon RF Glass

I have only just bought these as I have been quite happy using my EF lenses with adapters. I got these purely to use with my Canon R5C camera as thats my small B cam for gimbal work. I wanted to have better autofocus performance and lose the need for the adapter which adds to the lenses length. Both these lenses are much more compact and lighter weight then their EF equivalents and benefit further from better autofocus and not needing to use an adapter. They are also pin sharp if thats the kind of look your going for. I have no plans to replace all my EF lenses with these new RF ones however as the EF mounted ones are much more adaptable to different cameras.

Carl Zeiss 1975 Vintage Lenses

25mm F2.8, 35mm F2.8, 50mm F1.4, 85mm F2.8 & 135mm F2.8

This was my home project during the covid lockdowns. I researched these Carl Zeiss lenses (originally with Contax mounts) and how to adapt them to EF mount and for cinema use by adding focus gears onto them. I decided I wanted a whole set from the same year, 1975. They also all have the same filter size of 55mm so they make a great set. It was very nerve racking taking these old lenses apart to re-mount them but they all work great. To finish the kit off I bought a 1970s briefcase and hired a company to adapt it into a lens case. I am quite proud of this set and they are often used on music videos and vintage fashion films. Here is a link to a film shot using this set. - Vintage Clothing Fashion Film with Khari Holland

Canon CNE Cine Prime Set

These are the lenses I lusted after for around 5 years before I could afford them. They are the lenses I use for my most important projects and the ones that impress clients the most. I love them and despite many offers, I would never sell them. Here is a link to my short film shot with this set - Terror London

Vazen X1.8 Anamorphic RF Lenses

I window shopped for anamorphic lenses for years and years before finally this year opting for the Vazens. They have true anamorphic character with a slight vintage look and come in RF mount which fits all my cameras I own currently. I love the 28mm as its small and light enough to be used on a gimbal while the 65mm big brother has really beautiful anamorphic bokeh for head-shots. The Vazens have the iconic Sci-fi horizontal blue flares and I can’t wait to use them on a project. I think they would be most suitable for feature films but any project that wanted that distinct anamorphic look could benefit from them.

Leica R Lenses

My newest purchase bought mainly to go with my new ‘1981’ Leica film camera. These lenses are famous of course and for good reason. They sit between my 1975 Carl Zeiss lenses and my 1990s-early 2000’s Canon EF glass for their look. The 90mm is late 70s and the 28 and 50 are from the mid-1980s. They still look vintage like the Zeiss but have a warmer and more refined look to them. They have a very long focus throw and have half stop aperture clicks. They are also just beautiful objects in their own right. I bought them mainly for stills but can put them on any of my video cameras with my Leica R to EF adapter giving my clients another option to shoot their projects on Leica glass.

If you have any questions about my lenses or if your interested in renting them please get in touch via info@tomjkelly.com

TJK.

THE FLEET - MEET MY DIGITAL CAMERA COLLECTION / July 13, 2023 by Tom Kelly

Lots of professionals say the camera is just a tool and it doesn’t matter what one you use if you have talent. I agree with the sentiment of that but I have loved cameras since I was very young and a camera will always be more than just a tool to me. They are magic boxes capable of capturing beautiful memories both from the real world and also from our imaginations. I love holding them and I love owning them.

Below im going to take you through each digital camera I own, going through why I bought it and how it fits into my productions and workflow.

Canon EOS C70

I bought the C70 during the covid lockdown at a time when I was trying to downsize my kit. This camera replaced my Sony FS7 as my workhorse camera that has a great image, XLR inputs for good sound and most importantly internal ND filters up to 10 stops. I was shooting Canon EF glass on my FS7 with a speed booster so moving over to a Canon camera with its better out of camera colours and useable autofocus was very much a no brainer for me. I use this with the speed booster making it a full frame EF mount camera. 75% of my work is done using this camera.

Canon R5C

This camera was bought mainly as a B camera for the C70 seeing as it shoots the same colour profiles and file types. As a bonus it also finally replaces my Sony A7R2 camera that was stolen in Ecuador 3-4 years ago as my main high resolution stills camera. When filming, this camera spends its life on a gimbal or motorised slider mostly. It does shoot 8K so would become an A cam for any projects that demand that kind of resolution but im yet to shoot any 8K on it.

Red Komodo

I have owned many Red cameras over they years as I always like using them on feature film projects as I love their RAW workflow and colours. This Komodo replaced my Red Gemini as I no longer wanted to own a camera worth £25K and also liked the Komodo as it was smaller and lighter so fitted into my downsizing ideas. I use it with the Canon speed-booster which gives me a slightly larger then full frame (large format) look. I jokingly call this camera my Mini-Monstro. I have shot 3 feature films so far with this and it has paid itself off many times over. The first Red I have ever owned to do so. Great camera!

Fujifilm X100V

This camera was mainly bought as a compact high quality stills camera with cool film simulations that could be used as a ‘Behind the Scenes’ camera on larger film productions. Its a great fun camera to shoot with and gorgeous to look at. However in all honesty I have only used it as a travel camera so far but for that purpose, it could be my favourite stills camera I have ever owned. Have never shot any video on it although shooting video with the Fujifilm Eterna simulation would be cool.

GoPro Hero 11

I have never been a huge fan of GoPro’s and feel they are often overused. However there’s no denying that for anything near water or mounted to a car or other fast moving object in bright daylight they give you images easily that are hard to get with other cameras. As long as they are never used at night the image is not awful and has improved over the years. Im in love with the hyper-lapse mode which I use a lot.

DJI Mini 3 Pro

And finally….How this camera fits into my workflow is fairly obvious…….aerial shots. I had a Mini 2 for a while and crashed it flying backwards into a brick wall in London so the Mini 3 caught my eye as it has front and back sensors to stop that happening. Since flying it I have managed to crash sideways into a tree. So hopefully the Mini 4 will have side sensors as well! I do still have a certain amount of flying anxiety with all the rules and ease of which drones are to crash. However I only use it on my own productions and never advertise myself as a drone operator. I have got it out for simple shots on commercial jobs Im DOP on as one quick aerial shot can add value to a project. I love the images coming off this drone and its also great for stills especially with its vertical mode. Being under 250g means the rules are a lot more relaxed for flying as well.

Thats a quick breakdown of the cameras I use on my productions. Next I will take you through all the different types of lenses I use including vintage glass! Take care and thanks for reading.

TJK

Perfect New Ways for Being A Hybrid Shooter in 2022 / June 30, 2022 by Tom Kelly

There are certain jobs I do that are very much ‘one man band’ jobs where I need to turn up with everything I need and shoot some nice content for a product or company. Often on these shoots I am asked to shoot stills along side filming, supplying the client with more digital content to cover the event along with a 30 second video scissor-reel. This is the norm for many people who are true hybrid shooters but only happens occasionally with me. This is often due to the need to create different types of content to feed the needs of the many social media and marketing content platforms people use today. It can be tricky to get your head into two ‘quite different’ disciplines of stills shooting and video shooting but I have recently found a good solution.

The Rotolight NEO 3 mounted onto the Canon R5C

I have recently bought the perfect hybrid shooter combo that makes shooting video and then switching things up into a photo-shoot very simple and intuitive. These two products are both very new and only just finding their way into the hands of creatives as of June 2022. The first is a camera called the Canon R5C which is arguably the first ever true hybrid video/stills camera. This is because the interface completely changes when switching from photo to video which not only gives you the features you need for each discipline but also really helps in getting you into the right headspace. In fact apart from poor battery life in video mode there seems to be very little comprise at all with it being a hybrid camera. It's effectively a Canon R5 with a Canon cinema camera bolted onto it.

It couldn’t be more simpler to switch between the two modes.

The second part of the combo is the Rotolight NEO 3 light. This is suppose to be the most powerful toplight that mounts onto the camera ever made so can be used as a fill light even when filming outside without the need to keep moving a large light and light stand around. The NEO 3 is battery powered so can be placed anywhere if desired and of course the continuous light can be used for stills as well but in true hybrid spirit it can work as a sync flash and offers double the output in that mode. This can be used with a wireless receiver or more simply with a PC sync cable that connects directly into the Canon camera. When shooting stills this can be useful for the power output as i said previously but also for battery life as you are not constantly draining the battery as with continues video lighting. Icing on the cake is provided in the form of the RGB chips on the NEO 3 allowing the camera to use any colour you can think of in both video lighting and also flash lighting modes so carrying gels with you is no longer necessary. For video, light effects are also included which can be useful at times depending on the project.

The NEO 3 is battery powered and had a really user friendly interface.

It is great, the way these two products from different manufacturers can work so well together. In one moment I could be shooting with a model for a fashion video for on the Canon R5C shooting in video mode in 4k resolution and 120fps ‘slow-mo’. While the NEO 3 attached to the camera via the cold shoe mount is giving me a nice fill light and attractive round reflections in the models eyes. Later in the day I can switch the R5C over to photo mode and turn the model towards the sun to use as my key light. Putting the NEO3 into flash mode I can use a long sync cable to place the NEO 3 just behind the model using it as a rim or hair light with the greater light output. Doing all this with a camera and light that fits into a small backpack does feel like a bit of a game changer for hybrid shooters or any shooters that sometimes have to operate on their own. Let me know what you guys think below……..TJK Equipment List