In commemoration of the 25th anniversary of one of Singapore’s oldest bands ‘Jive Talking,’
The Pump Room and No Average Joe productions decided on shooting an indie docu/promo of the band, featuring its very talented vocalists and musicians.

Originally we planned on setting up the 12ft option, but due to space constraints, that would’ve gotten too close to the stage without capturing much of the crowd. The 8ft was better suited for the space. It’s good to have options. To compensate for the height however, we had to push the limits of the Manfrotto tripod a bit – fully extending the legs, which caused a little anxiety on my side. The night went by without a glitch but I will still probably upgrade to a sturdier and more functional K-pod in the not so distant future.

*Special thanks goes out to the experienced crew for helping out with the setup, calibration and tearing down of the crane. You guys really made things a lot easier and much more speedy!

I’ve been using this lens on some video work for a little while now. It is great for getting close-ups of bands when the stage is a little further away. However it does get a little shaky on a monopod when doing focus pulls. Best to have a tripod for this one, or at least the 561b video monopod. It may just be this lens but my observation is that this German-made lens is a little stiffer than the Japan-made ones. That said, both models still feel awesome. Visually it seems to blend well with my 85mm/f1.4 and other Contax Zeiss lenses. Can’t complain.

At f4 shooting video at night is more of a challenge if the location is short on light. Bumping up ISO will increase the amount of grain – I have to watch out for this especially more with this lens. Maybe I’m just too spoiled by the 85mm/f1.4…

Also, there are some reports that this one does not fit the 5d as the rear element goes too far in, hitting the mirror on the inside… (don’t plan on trying ) It is said only to fit the 1d and 7d. I’ll just go with that.

Here’s an online review of the lens

Will be mounting it on my Kesslercrane for upcoming shoots.
Looking forward to putting this to good use…