Some of my new gear

Right after the post last week with the video and photos I shot on my first day with the new camera I have spent everyday since then working with it.

Its great, few little things that seem a bit weird like the punch in button being on the left side of the screen now not the top right ? But other than that its great.

I had a lot of people ask me to put up some more info on the screen shots of the footage before and after grading, on what lens's where used to shoot it, what slider I was using etc etc so this blog is to address most of those really... and as everyone loves a good gear blog don't they, being nosey and wishing...

Here's the last one I did for the rest of my gear not mentioned in this post:



http://jacobgibbinsdotcodotuk.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/my-gear.html

So first up lets start with the bags I use.

Camera bags are something you cant really have enough of, they all do different jobs, fit different things in, are better for urban shoots, riding with , carrying all your gear, looking incognito, flying with etc etc so a few weeks back now I got a bit more involved with Lowepro. They are the biggest camera bag producer in the world so its no surprise they know whats up, and after working with them and knowing the guys involved for the last few years it just seemed the next step...

So we have:

The Nova 170 AW, great for basic kit, walking, easy access etc, the bag I took up Kilimanjaro.

See the post on that here: 

http://jacobgibbinsdotcodotuk.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/what-camera-gear-do-you-take-to-20000.html

The fastpack 150 AW , great for minimal gear and riding with on rides.

The Flipside 500 AW , fits 80% of my gear in, great to ride with, tough bag.

Vertex 300 AW , the main bag, fits everything in, has everything you would ever want...

So that's the bags... between those lot I have something for anything I need and when I go away I take the Flipside as chargers/cables/computers/hard drives/spares etc and the Vertex as the main camera/lens/flashes bag...

Now Its been quite a big change for me this new camera business, not just thanks to a new camera but the fact that I made the big switch. From the Nikon camp to the Canon one, many reasons for this but the jist of it is a lot to get used to and a lot of new glass to get... so what to get!? Photo and video work, lots at races, low light etc

Canon 2.8 15mm fisheye, for biking I shoot a lot of fish stuff, its sharp, fast and just amazing...

Canon 24-105 F4 L IS , great all round lens on a full frame body, and with the IS which is a must for video...

Canon 50mm 1.8 , F1.8 and it cost £50 who doesn't have one!?

Canon 70-200 2.8 L IS , the big dog , but a must for every shooter and the IS makes video possible hand held...

As well as all that I have the 2 body's I now use, I used to use a Nikon D300s and D90 as back up, and now have a Canon 5d3 with 550D as backup... pretty good but now I have one full frame and both cameras shoot full HD video...

The only thing to get is a grip for the 5d3 but I'm going to wait for some cheap Chinese ones to hit ebay in a month or so rather than shelling out hundreds on Canons own one... 

The 5d3 on the left an the backup 550D gripped on the left

Now a few other bits of stuff I have got in the last month, a small slider for video and a magic arm...

Both are great, the slider adds a new kind of shot to the videos, slicker and higher production values, and when I saw this, light, small, fits in my bag or small suitcase for when I travel, and the magic arm to use once in a blue moon to get those kind of angles that just stand out against the crowd. I have yet to give any real time playing and testing the magic arm, but that's another blog post that is!

The Opteka slider, small, light, tripod mounted, smooth enough with a light body and lens on, and all for £100

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Opteka-GLD-200-Camera-Slider-Stabilization/dp/B00519QXKG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332875435&sr=8-1 

The magic arm, bloody sketchy and will no doubt cost me a lot of money one day, but fun non the less...

Anyway that about wraps this up, I will be doing another blog post in the next day or so with a bit some of the screen shots from the 5d3 test edit to show the lens's and the grading on it and how much you can claw back with the 5d3 footage, so stay tuned for that...

Ta J

First day with the Canon 5d3 ( photos and video )

Right as anyone that follows me on facebook or twitter will know I have been trying to work out what camera to upgrade to for the last 3-4 months, with word of Nikon bring out the D4 and D800 and Canon with the 5d3 just round the corner I thought it best to wait a few months and see how it all panned out.

Well as I'm sure you have guessed by now I went for the last of those options, switched from Nikon to Canon, got a whole new bag of gear ( and a bag for that matter, thanks Lowepro ) and went for the 5d3.

Now there where many reason for this but in short they where:

• Great low light
• Decent FPS ( , its all you need really )
• Amazing video
• Full Frame
• Canon glass ( everyone uses it so good for borrowing stuff from friends )
• Price ( OK OK 3k is a lot, but its not 5k for the Nikon D4 ) 

So those where my main reasons, and after just one day using it I'm very happy with my choice...

With all that in mind, I made some calls, got myself one of the first Body onlys in the country, and gave my mate and Wideopenmag rider and all round pinner and dream rider to film Jay Williamson a call, got him to drop what ever he was doing and come and crash lots and push up even more so I could play with my new toy... No real idea of what I wanted to get, just try some stuff out, see what the new glass was like, try all the new things on the 5d3 over my old D300s, try out my new slider etc

Here it is in video mode with the Rode mic, slider, headphones , LCDVF etc and all packed neatly in to my Lowepro bag

Anyway few photos first:

Lent over - ISO 400

Trying out the new IS pan mode on the 70-200

Great dynamic range from the FF sensor

Not really showing anything camera wise off, but look how low he is!?

Making sure the Nikon flashes work with the Canon gear, they do!

Trying out the new 15mm fisheye, nice and wide on the FF, gota make sure your feet don't get in the shot

Same spot but this time no flashes, dark woods, natural light ISO 6400! SO CLEAN!

Shit photo, but ISO 12,800 and its still very usable! WHAT!?

Another 6400 mind bender, dark woods can fear me now!

So yeah, its pretty amazing in low light, ISO 6400 is the new 400!

On my old Nikon D300s, which was not shit in low light by any means, 800 was the last usable ISO, 1600 at a push, that push with the 5d3 is now 25,000!!!!! SAY WHAT!?

O and the video:

 

All this was shot and edited in one day ( really an afternoon ). Started at 11am , home for 6pm , 2 hours editing.

All shot on the 5d3, 70-200 2.8 IS , 24-105 f4 IS and 15mm fish 2.8 , slider , tripod and one very willing rider!

Want to know anything else ?

Want to see more photos ?

Leave a comment below!

Ta J


ADDED EXTRAS!

few 100% crops of the high ISO shots, these have been edited, dodged, burned, compressed etc but they are 100% crops from the images in the above blog:

First os the normal riding shot, ISO 6400!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jacobgibbins/7004246683/sizes/o/in/photostream/

Second ISO 12,800

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jacobgibbins/7004244865/sizes/o/in/photostream/

The last month or so in photos...

The last month or so for me has been pretty busy . The start of the year around new year is normally the down time in any business and yes, December was pretty quiet but Jan/Feb have been far from it.

In Jan I started off with a fair bit of free time, so as most will know if you follow me on facebook I'm a rider first, and that's been the case long before cameras ever came in to the picture (excuse the pun)

Bike, Tools and camera all ready for a day in the woods

So I took this time to have some fun, ride my bike but also be productive in building some new tracks near me with the intention of shooting on them when the time/rider/project all falls in to place. Drifty, steep, loamy, fast, just the kind of stuff you can put a top rider on and get some golden footage and shots. One of those tracks got a little bedding in by a few of my mates Si and Jimmy, they wont light the WCs up, but they are good riders...

Jimmy Smith tearing the fresh loam up

Devon Winter Loam on pinkbike.com


















Shooting Wideopen rider Jay Williamson on some Cornish Coast path stuff was great, photos I have had in my head for some time now and was good to finally get them realised...cant put the final ones up just yet thanks to them being used places but here's a peek I tweeted at the time...

Not a bad office eh ?

And a peek at one of the final shots...

 Then it was on to the London bike show for Pinkbike, a good few days there, lots of new stuff seen, networking, shooting, just good times staying with my mate and fellow rider/Filmer Chris Seager.

Blake Samson booting out of the dirty little ramps

Olly Wilkins on the pump track at the London bike show

Canary Wharf at sun set

While down there I took a day or 2 out to be a tourist in London and shoot some photos and Time lapses...

Shooting time lapses at tower bridge

And on the underground

London night time lapse...

While I was down in that part of the world I also took a few days out to go and shoot with a mate of mine who also happens to be DMR pro rider and all round shredder Olly Wilkins and also Berny Kerr and Sam Reynolds...Few good shots from all that as well, again, cant put much up but " here's one I tweeted earlier "

Olly roastin some trails at his mates place

Olly again tearing it up on the short trav

Boosting the shit out of a hip you may have seen in some recent videos...

From there there was a day in a friends studio helping him with some Uni work and playing about with some mates and shooting a local race at Tavi woods...

My mates Joe and Chris getting a bit weird " HAHAHAHA take a photo now! NOW! "

 Feb saw a nice trip to south Spain with Wideopenmag and RoostDH, big hills, sun, no need for a coat, good mates, even better house and uplift...whats not to love there?!

See that? Sun, dust, mountains, the beach, bikes...all good....

The view from my office for a week

Bit of shooting in South Wales with Rowan Sorrell for a few things, a bike race round the world in Greenwich in London again, Icebike, Woburn with Blake Samson for Saracen and racing in my first DH race in 4 years...all in all, not a bad few months...now March, bring it on!

Blake Samson doing some small no footer kinda thing

Rich T taking 3rd in the race I got 30 something in... 

Anyway that about wraps this up, another post with some recent tear sheets coming up as well as a few new edits and some shots from last season I just found...

Ta J

Wideopenmag issue 17/Taylor Vernon Video from Spain...

Few things in this post, bit of info and screen shots from the latest Wideopenmag and a short video interview I did with young UK ripper Taylor Vernon while out in Spain this last week with Wideopenmag and RoostDH...

First off the new WO, as with most issues, its a banger, packed cover to cover with great images, stories and content...take half an hour to sit down and have a read, its worth it.

Few tear sheets of my work that I am really happy with in this new issue...

Cover shot, Paul Raynor shredding down in Portugal

Mears at the BDS finals getting it sideways

Peaty dropping through the woods at the BDS finals

A few shots of Portugal, bikes beers and Paul

The stunning beach we had a crack at surfing on...

This mental moto rider down there was a guide, fell off on the way to the track and burnt his arm real bad, instead of going to hospital just wrapped it in a dirty bandage and rode like an animal all afternoon...props!

Check out the full issue Here:   http://wideopenmag.co.uk/magazine/issue-17

On slightly different news, while out in Spain this last week we stayed with RoostDH. While there there was also a few Welsh lads staying there on holiday, Tom Lloyd, Grant Boyce and Taylor Vernon. Now even after just one afternoon riding with Taylor it was clear he was worth pointing the camera at. He is 15, rides moto like a demon, and is just one of those riders who's got style oozing from every pour...

Stuck a camera in his face, asked him some questions and put the odd riding clip in...

Thats it for this post, more to come soon. Got a few edits in the works and a few photos from various shoots...

Ta J

Devon Winter Loam - Photos/Edit

Weathers cold, wet, and when you can find some loam all those things equal damn good riding...

With that in mind me and a couple of my mates Si and Jimmy hit up this track and did a bit of building, few full runs and I did a bit of shooting to try out a few ideas I have had in the editing department.

I just got Magic colour grading software, so wanted to try that out, I know this is a quite a heavy grade but Its what I had in mind. I also wanted to try working slightly more carefully with audio which if you listen carefully to a few shots in this I have tried to do. More of that to come in my show reel soon...

Anyway enjoy a short video, and a few photos...

 

Locals2 - In full Both Parts

As I'm sure if your on this blog you already know , but this off season I made my second full length free web video - Locals2.

With it all wrapped up etc and well on its way to 100,000 views it did alright.

Anyway Thought I would update my blog with part 2, and also embed part 1 so you can watch them both back to back nice a easily...

Locals2 - Part 1 on pinkbike.com

And Part 2 ...

Locals2 - Part 2 on pinkbike.com

Let me know what your thoughts are and what I should consider for Locals3 ( if it ever happens )

Ta J