dc chavez – the BLOG

Its spring cleaning time around my house and I have decided to sell my super clean XH-A1 video camera. Haven’t touched it for video production since I purchased my 5D Mk II’s.  Let me know if you know anyone that is interested. This is now live on E-Bay.  Full description of package below images.

Here is the text from the auction:

The pictures in the listing that you are see are my photos of the actual camera and accessories that are up for sale.  This is a low-use, super clean, scratch-free, 100% fully functional, Canon XH-A1 for sale.  To date, I have only recorded a total of twenty-three (23) 63 minute tapes with this camera (roughly 24 hours recording time). I purchased this camera new from Samy’s camera in LA in August of 2008.  Since then I have used it for various projects up until the time I got my Canon 5D Mk II cameras. Since then the XH-A1 has been sitting in its Pelican case for over a year and a half without use.

Recently I had the opportunity to take the new Profoto Batpac out for a spin. I wanted to create photos with a Bohemian feel on location, as most of my non-automotive work has been in the studio.

I coordinated with clothing designer Kareenas Trends, makeup artist Evelyn Sanabria and models Diana Butova and Klaudia McDonald to make this happen. I am very pleased with the way this shoot turned out thanks to the hard work of everyone involved. Full blog posting soon to come on the Profoto Blog.

Diana Butova- Profoto Batpac Shoot

Klaudia McDonald- Profoto Batpac Shoot

Diana Butova- Profoto Batpac Shoot

Klaudia McDonald- Profoto Batpac Shoot

Recently I was hired to do shoot behind the scenes video footage for a NOS Energy Drink commercial. The commercial was based around the driving skill of 2009 Formula Drift Champion Chris Forsberg. For those not familiar with drifting, it is a judged motorsport that calls for drivers to control a high horsepower car while it slides sideways at high speed through a marked course. It is similar to rally racing, but is done on a closed course and judged on execution and style rather than who finishes the course fastest.

BHD3 in use

Click here to read the rest and see video!!!

So the other day I ran into an old friend that does some work with Contour Cameras. He mentioned he had seen some of my videos and wanted to equip me with some of the latest and greatest POV cams on the market. I gladly accepted and looked forward to seeing what these cameras could do and how they compared to my Sony XHR-MC1 POV camera. The street price of $329.95 made these a lot more user friendly than the Sony- which cost about 10 times more than one of these cameras.

A few days later I had a knock at the door from the UPS man with 3 pretty large boxes for me. I was FLOORED when I opened the boxes and saw TONS of goodies from Contour Cam. Here is what the spread looked like:

Contour HD 1080P & Accessories

Click here to see a breakdown of the parts and VIDEO!!!

So I just finished a new blog posting about the new Profoto D1 monoblocs. I give a bit of behind the scenes info on a shoot and lots of technical lighting info. Take a look and let me know what you think!

http://blog.profoto-usa.com/?p=1642

Behind the Scenes - Profoto D1 Shoot

Profoto D1 - A closer look

So after some late nights of working, the first blog post for Profoto is done. This first post focused specifically on the the old vs new zoom reflector and the Softlight reflector.

This post is a very controlled side by side comparison of the lights and light shaping tools.

Here is the link: http://blog.profoto-usa.com/?p=290

Thanks to everyone at Profoto, Samys Camera, Southbay Studios and Stephanie Sawyer for making this possible.

Wow, time flies when you are busy… Thankfully things have calmed down a bit, and life in starting to get back in order. So many things to post, so here are the highlights of the past month.

Old vs. New

So while I was at RMR filming the Genesis being built, Cole went to the swap meet in Huntington Beach and came across these gems:

Old Camera Gear

Okay- so maybe just the ones on the right… What are they you ask? Well the camera is a Kodak Vigilant Six-20.  Some of the info:

“medium format camera was manufactured between 1939-1949 and originally sold for US $38 (about US $560 in 2007).”

Some more photos:

Quite a contrast from my new Canon 5D Mk II..  More on that later…

The other find was a General Electric Dw-58 light meter:    Made around 1946 and at that time sold for $26.50.

Once again- quite a contrast between that and my Sekonic L-358 meter.  I have yet to try them out side by side, but from what I can see, the GE meter is still in working condition, just like the camera.  Thank you Cole for such an awesome purchase…  I can’t wait to load it up with 620 film and shoot some interesting pics.

OK- now for the new toy- the Canon 5D Mk II.  Wow is all I can say- for so many reasons: razor sharp photos, 1080P HD video, HUGE file sizes and being able to see down to people’s pores when  you take photos.  It is seriously amazing…  One major gripe- the old 5D battery grip does not fit this cam, and the batteries are different too.  Oh well, get to drop $400 on new batteries and a battery grip- but one problem…  The batteries are not available anywhere…  :(  I feel awkward shooting vertically with my hand twisted all around- yes, a stupid complaint, but once you are  use to having the vertical grip, its hard to go without it.

Here are some shots from a recent shoot for Hyundai of the cam in action:

Here is the first video I put together using the 5D Mk II and a 70-200 2.8L- IS.  Nothing special, but the video I am putting together as we speak will show some cool depth of field and crazy fisheye shots.

Speaking of new video- another piece of gear that I got to help out in the video making process.. Sony HXR-MC1

Got a chance to use it at Formula D Long Beach and testing at El Toro.  WOW this thing is awesome.  Full 1080 video and it records onto Memory Stick Pro cards.  I will splice some of this video into the new cut as well.

Ok- time to get back to work.  Hopefully I will not neglect the blog like I have been…