Video: The Last Ride - a passion for steam [merged]

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Two earlier threads on this film:

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m-type-240/307397-video-last-ride-passion-steam.html

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m-type-240/310264-m-video-daimon-xanthopoulos-transcontinenta.html

 

Note the links to the director's article on the film, which was made with the support of the Dutch Leica distributor.

[Paulus]

The last time Piet Lubbers drives his train. The story is about a man who has worked with steam trains all his live, with great passion. On 17 may he shall make his last ride, because he is very ill, from cancer. In the film he describes his feelings about the steam engines and the friend who work with him. His friends work hard to get the train ready in time to give him this present: his last ride.

 

His last words sounds so wonderful: " You can't drive on the coals of yesterday, You must drive on the coals of today. If there are still coals tomorrow, nobody knows. Today you must drive on the coals of today. " In the titles you can see that Piet passed away.

 

It's a wonderful film with a wonderful story. I'm sorry there are no subtitles for you.

[Paulus]

 

Note the links to the director's article on the film, which was made with the support of the Dutch Leica distributor.

 

maybe, because he is a professional and talented filmer, who buys his Leica stuff in the Leica Store they asked him if he could use the M?

 

I know he is a Leica photographer as well.

[brill64]

I didn't understand a word of it but I didn't need to. Wonderful! Who doesn't love a steamtrain & what it represents. I certainly do so it's great to see. If only the passengers could have switched off their mobile phones & worn period costume as well..anyways, Lovely stuff, much enjoyed.

[Guest redge]

maybe, because he is a professional and talented filmer, who buys his Leica stuff in the Leica Store they asked him if he could use the M?

 

I know he is a Leica photographer as well.

 

I don't know whether the Dutch Leica distributor proposed that Xanthopoulos use the M or whether he proposed it to them. Either way, I'm glad that the film was made. It shows a lot about what the camera's video mode is capable of. The film also shows how the use of an external sound recorder and microphone, instead of using the camera's internal mic, can greatly increase the quality of a soundtrack.

 

Xanthopoulos's article on the distributor's site (there's a link in one of the earlier threads) is well worth reading, and Google translate does a pretty good job at translating the Dutch to English.

[brusby]

Note: reposting here because posted originally to the wrong thread. Please excuse the duplicate.

 

 

I just sent a friend of mine, who is a professional video editor, a link to Daimon Xanthopoulos' video, asking him what he thought about the Leica M240. He hasn't seen the whole video yet but here is his initial response, sent just a few minutes after he got my email.

 

"Jesus, that's beautiful

What's impressive- and I don't know how much extra gear they had, however I am guessing it was a utilitarian shoot, and here is why:

 

The color retention is quite impressive, especially when they are shooting from inside the engine, because you can see certain parts of the image are blown out from the sunlight. What's amazing is that all the stuff does not look blue… It just seems like an aesthetic instead of difficult lighting conditions"

 

I'll supplement if he has any additional comments.

[satijntje]

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Impressive quality!

When looking to this film, I get the feelings that I should start making video as well

 

Any idea what lenses were used for this brilliant production?

 

John

[Guest redge]

Any idea what lenses were used for this brilliant production?

 

That information is contained in the article about making the film: Filmen op de Leica M | Leica in Nederland

 

It is under the heading Beeldkwaliteit.

[pico]

The video simply shows shows how hardware is secondary to objective. Leica fanatics - eat it.

[satijntje]

Thanbks,

A whole bunch of optics was used for this movie

 

 

"Ik gebruikte in de film een grote diversiteit aan Leica objectieven van de Apo-Telyt M 3.4/135mm in de trein tot de Super-Elmar M 3.4/18mm in de werkloods. De interviews zijn gefilmd met de altijd waanzinnige Summilux M 1.4/35mm Asph, Elmar Macro M 4/90mm en een Summicron M 2/50mm. Wanneer ik uit de hand werkte, gebruikte ik vooral de Summicron M 2/28mm Asph of de nieuwe Super-Elmar M 3.4/21mm Asph."

 

John

[Guest redge]

The video simply shows shows how hardware is secondary to objective. Leica fanatics - eat it.

 

While there may be some truth to your suggestion that hardware is secondary to objective (result?), this film doesn't demonstrate it - it was made with some fairly sophisticated hardware and software, and it shows.

 

For example, among other things the film is a lesson in on what is to be gained by recording sound dual system with a quality sound recorder and microphone. While the recorder used in the film costs a lot more than one has to spend (off the top of my head, I think that the Swiss Sonosax recorder costs about US$5000), the microphone costs US$1200 and its performance shows. Why don't you hear wind disturbance on the mic in the outdoor scenes? Because the mic is inside a zeppelin windscreen on a shock mount at the end of a boom pole (add another US$1200).

 

Then there's a quality tripod, slider for camera movement, etc, etc, etc.

 

You might find it interesting to read the article about making the film.

[jaapv]

Well, it also shows what a good videographer can do. I recall some posts a year back that the M could not be considered a decent professional videocamera, given its specifications.

[Guest redge]

Well, it also shows what a good videographer can do. I recall some posts a year back that the M could not be considered a decent professional videocamera, given its specifications.

 

Absolutely.

 

My decision to buy the M was dependent on belief that it could produce good video results.

 

The early reviews on this question were highly negative. Indeed, they started with a participant in this forum who wrote that he not only knew nothing about video, but hated it. This did not stop him from publishing a video, made with a Noctilux of all lenses, that demonstrated that he did not know what he was talking about. So apparently as a result of some blowback, he then got involved in bringing in a videographer pal who apparently had the camera for less than a day, and then did a hatchet job of a review.

 

Meanwhile, Steve Huff and others, who acknowledged that they knew nothing about video, were busy doing things like putting footage on YouTube taken at night that demonstrated precisely nothing.

 

Leica made a big mistake by failing to contract with some competent people to make some short films with the camera and instead letting so-called Leica experts shoot their mouths off about a subject that they knew nothing about.

 

I believe that the Dutch Leica distributor understood the problem and that that is partly why this film was made.

 

Meanwhile, the "Leica expert" who "hates video" has been uploading videos of his own to Vimeo. The most polite thing I can say is that one of them consists of 12 ½ minutes of a photographer taking stuff out of his Louis Vuitton bag. And of course, because this Leica expert is such an important guy, it is copyrighted - you know, to get royalties from all those people who want footage of some photographer emptying a Vuitton bag.

 

Yeah, it's a good thing that the Dutch distributor and Xanthopolous made this film, and it was definitely a factor in my decision to buy the camera.

[Bernhard K.F.]

There are some questions above about the techniques used to make this film.

 

There are answers in an article that Mr. Xanthopoulos wrote for the Leica distributor in the Netherlands, which appears to have been involved in the production.

 

The article, and some interesting photographs of the gear used, is at Filmen op de Leica M | Leica in Nederland

 

It is in Dutch, but Google Translate does a pretty good job.

 

Cheers

 

Fantastic! And many thanks for that link

[Guest redge]

Tweet from Daimon Xanthopoulos (@daimonx) this morning:

 

"The film about Pete is now with english subtitles. It's filmed exclusively on the Leica M system".

 

Here's the link:

[hamey]

It was just lovely, really enjoyed the steam the story and Leica M operation.

 

Well Done.

 

Ken

[wlaidlaw]

The thing that amazes me is how well everything is kept in focus and I understand he was using standard Leica lenses, not specialist movie lenses with a focusing lever and super fine focus.

 

On a somewhat related subject, I was watching Michael Portillo’s Great Railway Journeys last week. He is exploring what has changed from the time that Bradshaws railway guide came out about 140 years ago to today. He visited one of the oldest established camera lens makers in the world Cooke Optical in Leicester, who started in 1894 but are a sister company to Taylor Hobson, that goes back to 1886. They were showing some of their cine lenses being calibrated and I was interested to see how fine the focus was. On the part of the lens in view, every foot between 10 and 20 feet was marked.

 

Wilson

[Guest redge]

The thing that amazes me is how well everything is kept in focus and I understand he was using standard Leica lenses, not specialist movie lenses with a focusing lever and super fine focus.

 

On a somewhat related subject, I was watching Michael Portillo’s Great Railway Journeys last week. He is exploring what has changed from the time that Bradshaws railway guide came out about 140 years ago to today. He visited one of the oldest established camera lens makers in the world Cooke Optical in Leicester, who started in 1894 but are a sister company to Taylor Hobson, that goes back to 1886. They were showing some of their cine lenses being calibrated and I was interested to see how fine the focus was. On the part of the lens in view, every foot between 10 and 20 feet was marked.

 

Wilson

 

I'd love to have an opportunity to discuss this film with Mr. Xanthopoulos, but here are some impressions...

 

I think that very few of the shots in this film required a change in focus.

 

Except in close-ups, I think that he was using small apertures and therefore quite deep apparent depth of field.

 

Three things stand out for me:

 

The story is compelling.

The sound carries at least half this film. The sound recorder did a first class job, the choice of music is excellent and the mix is very well done.

Whoever did the colour grading knows what he's doing.

 

Picking up on your comment about focus ... If I have a criticism of the film, it's the shot at 4:47 that runs seven seconds. It looks like he used either an improvised dolly or a Steadicam/Glidecam rig. In any event, it's disorienting and in my view should have been cut.

 

But that's a minor criticism of a film that is both very nicely made and important as a demonstration of what the camera can do.

[daimonx]

Thank you all for the kind comments. Let me react to a few questions. The whole production was shot on the leica M. I have made no color correction on the film (only one shot was corrected). Most shots where filmed on tripod and when shooting handheld I used wider lenses to compensate for movement. I was focussing and re-focussing a lot during shots. The good thing about filming with a M camera is that you can use the rangefinder for accurate focussing during filming. This makes it possible to follow focus someone even on f1.4. The second good thing is that I have a digital viewfinder that fits in my pocket (evf). The downside of this is that I can't use the audio jacket at the same time. That's why I made a small windfur over the M microphone surface. The M sounds pretty good for a camera mic (better than other brands). Audio was recorded separate on a sonosax recorder. We used diffrent kind of microphones to enhance the sound quality. This is the best working way in any film setup. The good thing is that I'm not attached to a cable and can focus on my story and images. My sound man makes sure everything is recorded at the same time. We use handclaps and the internal audio as reference. Very easy in practice. The entire production equipment fits into a small domke bag. (except the tripod with slider). I love the look and way of working with the M. There is no other system I could follow someone at f1.4 and do a movement so light weighted. Also the small system keeps the intimate atmosphere with the subject. We are not a mega filmcrew (except the boom pole). if we want we skip the boom pole and work low profile and still cinematic, even in difficult areas. Only downside is the sensitivity for dust on the sensor during lens changes. Thanks all for sharing the film. kind regards

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[fore]

Lovely story albeit sad. Mr. X., not sure of the dates, did Mr. Lubbers make his final ride? Was the May date in 2013?

 

Thanks

Chris