BSC Expo 2023. 5 kit highlights.
If you’re a tech nerd like me which let’s face it, if you’re working in a technical department, 80% of you out there are, BSC Expo is like walking into a toy shop as a kid. All of the major manufacturers are exhibiting, from Arri and Zeiss to Cooke, Aputure, Sony and Tiffen. There is so much to see, two days almost isn’t enough. I honestly didn’t know which stand to visit first and walked around the hall several times over the course of the day just to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I inspected, played with and touched every lens, camera, light fixture, dolly, tripod and Steadicam in the venue. For any family members of film crew that have been dragged along and have no interest in the inner workings of film production, know that you will be subjected to probably the most torturous day of your life. I did notice a number of babies in prams who instead of the wide-eyed wondrous look of a child, had the tired, drooping expression of someone trying to file their tax return.
Nevertheless, for me, it was a joy. In my previous blog, I spoke about the great seminar I attended with Ben Davis BSC talking about how he shot The Banshees of Inisherin. In this blog, I wanted to run through my top five pieces of kit that I’m very excited to get my hands on.
1. Aputure Infinibar
Aputure have been hinting a new release for a while but BSC Expo was the first opportunity the general public got to see the Infinibars. Whatever you do, don’t call them tube lights, these are special and utterly amazing. The Infinibar is Aputure’s first RGBWW full-color LED pixel bar. The selling point is the ability to link multiple infinibars together pretty much however you want using the kit of ten various connectors. Whether you want a grid pattern, triangles, hexagons, whatever you can think of, you can make it. It’s possible to operate multiple Infinibars using a single power supply when linked by the power-sharing connectors or use their internal batteries which have tremendous battery life considering the output. The Infinibars blending design eliminates visible gaps between fixtures so it’s possible to create seamless effects for, well, forever. When I examined one of the models I couldn’t see the individual pixels, even when holding the light 30cm from my eyes, it’s very impressive stuff. There are three different models, the PB3, 6 and 12 which are 30, 60 and 120cm in length, respectively. I can see the Infinibars being used by every music video DP under the sun very soon.
2. Arri Alexa 35
Where do I begin!? Arri has always been the giant of the industry, the only company that it is seemingly impossible to influence. They take their time and don’t tend to follow the trends, but when they make an announcement, you listen. The Alexa 35 was announced back in March 2022, but BSC was the first time I’d had a chance to get my hands on it and it was great chatting with the guys from Arri about this monster. The Alexa 35 is Arri’s smallest, fully-featured production camera ever. It sports a brand new 4.6K Super 35mm sensor designed by Arri from the ground up. In previous releases, such as the Alexa LF, Arri created a large format sensor by taking several sensors from the original Alexa and stitching them together. Cinematographers know the Arri look, so it makes sense not to change it too often, but with Alexa 35 the gap in technology was too great, so the team at Arri spent years working on a sensor with the best pixels possible to meet modern demands with an incredible 17 stops of dynamic range. Arri also said they’ve improved the sensitivity and noise floor of the camera, which now boasts an EI range from 160 to 6400 with no colour smearing or shifting throughout the range. Arri has also worked on a system called ACM or Advanced Colour Match where all Alexa 35 are calibrated under the exact same conditions meaning all camera bodies should match perfectly with no need for on-set tweaks. Arri has very subtly tweaked the colour science of the camera and the resulting images are astonishing, you could point this camera at anything with or without a lighting setup and it will look fantastic, there is so much depth to the image. The new side display allows you to make changes without a viewfinder so intuitively, and your assistants will fall in love with the body-mounted LBUS connector, hot-pluggable viewfinder and built-in serial port for distance measuring devices, plus the camera is covered in extra user defined buttons. All of these additions just make the camera quicker and easier to use. However, the biggest change for me is that everything this camera has to offer is built in with no need for additional licences. The Amira is still one of my favourite cameras but if you wanted the high frame rates or 4K resolution you need two additional licences to unlock those features, not with the Alexa 35. Out of the box, this camera can do everything, which is awesome. As ever, Arri is in the top spot and this is the camera I am going to want to film every project on. Sorry producers, you’re going to have to find more budget.
3. Da Vinci Resolve for tablet
Blackmagic has been killing it recently with the updates to Da Vinci Resolve. The recent update to v18 introduced so many game changing features that many colourists and editors are leaving Adobe Premiere Pro as they simply don’t need it anymore. Personally, I haven’t opened Premiere in months and am very close to abandoning Adobe entirely, it’s literally only Lightroom that keeps me hanging around. Da Vinci simply blows Adobe’s offering out of the water these days and if you’re on a broadcast show you’ll be using Avid Media Composer anyway (hint, hint Adobe). This latest release which introduces Da Vinci Resolve to tablets brings them ever closer to desktop computers. This isn’t some toned down or simplified version, you get the full Da Vinci experience on an iPad and it runs like a dream, it’s crazy! Using a stylus, editing and colour grading your films is so intuitive. I was completely engrossed at the Blackmagic stand using the tablet version that I forgot I was at a trade show, it’s just so much better and really made me think about how bad ergonomically computer mice actually are. Using Blackmagic’s cloud technology any projects you start on a desktop Mac or PC are instantly synced to your tablet, so you can ingest the footage with your DIT on set and then on the train journey home have a play with the grade and create rough edits, all before you get home or to the post house. As I use an iPad on set for use with Aputure’s Sidus Link, which controls all of my light fixtures, having Da Vinci also on the iPad means I can do everything I need to on set from one device on the fly. It means I’m in complete control of how my images are going to look at every step of the production.
4. Cooke s8/i FF Lenses
I have always loved ‘the cooke look’. It’s sharp, subtle with nice contrast and is naturally pleasing to the eye. With the s/8i FF series, Cooke assured me that they have retained many of the elements of the s4/i S35 series thereby retaining the iconic look, but this time the lenses are not only full frame like the s7/i FF series, but are faster with a max aperture of T1.4, smaller with a 104mm front diameter and crucially only contain spherical elements. The mantra Cooke is going with is ‘Work wide open’. Bokeh blossoms beautifully and looks smooth and natural. It’s perfectly round in the centre of frame and takes on a cat’s eye oval shape when off-axis. There’ll be no onion artifacts in these lenses. The consistency across all the focal lengths is remarkable with similar bokeh across the range. I really look forward to getting a chance to use these on the project.
5. Sigma 65mm T1.5 Cine Lens
Image Credit: CVP
I have been a fan of Sigma lenses for a long time. The ART series of stills lenses and the high speed cine lenses (which are optically identical by the way) are so incredibly sharp and provide a clean, clinical and near optically perfect image with very little distortion or chromatic aberration. The newest lens in Sigma’s lineup is the 65mm T1.5. At first, this seems like a bit of a strange focal length, it’s not that much more than 50mm so you may wonder what the point is, but it does a good job of filling the gap of, let’s face it, the void between 50mm and 85mm. The 65mm is neither a standard view nor a telephoto, which is what makes it interesting. It gives you a perspective you don’t often see. A surprising feature is the minimum focus of 0.65m which gives you a near-macro look when you get close to a subject. Having a lens with that much versatility is always useful and lets you work a little more on the fly. A lot of prime lenses don’t have great minimum focus, so are quite restrictive. The bokeh in this lens is gorgeous and with the fast minimum aperture of T1.5, I can see plenty of scenarios for dreamy backgrounds when shooting at night in urban environments. As with all the Sigma primes the focus throw is 180°, meaning these lenses are great if you are solo operating or without a follow focus as it’s not difficult to get accurate focus, unlike some cine lenses with a 300° throw which are very cumbersome without a focus puller helping you out. Overall I think this is a great addition to Sigma’s lineup and certainly one I hope to add to my inventory.
