In-person trade shows might be on hiatus, but CineGear ON AIR brings industry luminaries together on Zoom webinars for free to the public. Let’s learn more! Image Credit: Arkansas State University, CineGear What Is CineGear ON AIR? Cinegear is a major filmmaker-centric trade show, taking place every year at the end of May in sunny Los Angeles, California. For obvious reasons, Cinegear 2020 was first pushed back, then canceled entirely. But that doesn’t mean they’ve just given up the ghost. CineGear in the past has presented two major things. The first are eye-catching product announcements and demos from newcomers and established players alike. The second are presentations, panels, and discussions from major industry figures and organizations. Product announcements are out for this year, but the industry discussions are still very much on the table. That’s where CineGear ON AIR comes in. Featured Topics and Speakers Right out of the gate, CineGear ON AIR will begin July 1st with a panel discussion named “Got Agent?”, featuring top agents from across the film industry. Listen in to learn if you have the right agent, how to differentiate yourself from the competition, and ways to get established. Jay Holben moderates the panel, and guests include Julia Kole—Artistry, Craig Mizrahi—Innovative Artists, Dan Burnside—DDA, Kristin Tolle-Billings—WPA and Brian Goldberg—WPA. Cinema5D has previously spoken with Kristin Tolle-Billings in our series “Cinema5D On The Go,” which you can watch HERE and HERE to get a flavor of the conversation. Don’t go thinking this is the only event CineGear is hosting. Future topics include “A CineGear Tribute to 100 Years of American Cinematographer Magazine”, Technology Close-Ups, Online Film Competition, CineGear Hall of Fame, and much more. The schedule of upcoming events and on-demand streaming of previous ON AIR programs will be available at www.cinegearexpo.com How Do I Sign Up? You can watch any and all of these panels, presentations, and workshops online over Zoom. They will also be recorded, so if you miss an event you can catch up on-demand at a later date. To register for upcoming panels and to watch past ones, just go to www.cinegearexpo.com. Do Zoom webinars meet your industry discussion needs? What panels do you hope to see at CineGear ON AIR? Let us know in the comments below!

Filmmaking is MUCH more than just about the latest gear, and we had the opportunity to talk with Sam McCurdy BSC about his work as a cinematographer on Lost in Space, Game of Thrones, and many other feature films and series. In the first part of this extensive interview, we talked about his career, film schools, and how you manage to shoot a Game of Thrones episode. Let’s take a closer look at it! Film School vs. Experience on Set Sam McCurdy is a British cinematographer that started his career in a traditional way. He studied art, finished a fine art degree in photography in college, with the goal in mind to work in the film industry. When he got his degree, he started working on film sets as a trainee, then moved up as loader, first A.C., camera operator, to finally become a director of photography. Back in the days when productions were still shot on film, one of the only ways to learn your craft as a cinematographer was to be on set – in fact, that is probably still the case. However, with a “traditional” film school education, Sam McCurdy thinks that times are changing. Image credit: BSC Film school can be useful for you to develop your storytelling skills, but it doesn’t mean that it’s a requirement to become a successful filmmaker. As Sam McCurdy points out, film schools are expensive, and with the money you save, you can buy a second-hand cinema camera and shoot your movies. The great thing with digital technology is that it allows anybody to shoot their film, publish it on the Internet, and let the audience decide if they are a good storyteller or not. If it works, then brilliant, if it doesn’t, you can try doing another film or determine whether a film school is maybe a better path for you. If you have a really good story, you can shoot it on everything, and people will watch it. – Sam McCurdy However, it doesn’t mean film schools are useless; they can be fantastic to make connections and finesse a talent you might already have. Storytelling is critical, and Sam’s advice is to give filmmaking a try first to see if you like it before going to film school. Image credit: BSC Perfecting your Craft Sam McCurdy grew up in the 70s/80s, with big American blockbuster movies. All these big scales movies like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and so on had an impact on Sam’s work. He started shooting low-budget horror movies during the late 90s, and found his style slowly moving along the productions. Nowadays, Sam McCurdy is also known for having excellent expertise in shooting dark scenes. But, all projects are different, and he reminds us that it is essential to progress and perfect your craft on every job you take. You’ll make some mistakes, some things will not turn out how you expected, but you’ll learn something for the next gig. Never stop trying new techniques to finesse your skills, and go on set to deliver your best work. This is how Sam McCurdy landed a gig on Game of Thrones season 2 episode 9, also called the “Blackwater” episode. Shooting a Game of Thrones Episode Game of Thrones s02e09, “Blackwater”, is very dark, and the production called Sam McCurdy to shoot it as a cinematographer because of his expertise. Television schedules are much shorter than feature films ones, and they had only ten days to pull one hour of the television show. One advice Sam gave us is to be well-prepped during the pre-production process so that you can adapt to any change during the shoot. Game of Thrones Season 2 Episode 9. Image credit: HBO. There is an incredible amount of people and energy on a TV show, but everything has to be done quickly. You can’t spend three hours rehearsing or lighting for a scene, but it has to look as best as it can and as a feature film. It is essential to know where you want to go as a cinematographer to execute the vision of the director without losing your crew’s time nor energy. Game of Thrones Season 2 Episode 9. Image credit: HBO. Something cool to hear is that the director and cinematographer had total freedom to make the show look as good as they wanted. Otherwise, this episode received a lot of critics for being “too dark” (though not nearly as dark as season 8, episode 3, “The Long Night”), but as the producers told Sam McCurdy during pre-production, “Game of Thrones can never be too dark.” Also, a good reminder is that once the show was aired, it doesn’t belong to you anymore, and people will judge it as it is. Don’t be afraid of the critics, it is how it is, and like everything in life, some people will like it, some people won’t, and it’s a matter of taste. Game of Thrones Season 2 Episode 9. Image credit: HBO. In the second part of this interview, we will talk with Sam about gear, cameras, and lenses they used on Game of Thrones, as well as his work on Lost in Space. What do you think about this first of the interview with Sam McCurdy? Did you learn new things that you can apply for your next job? Let us know in the comments below!

The latest Frame.io v3.6 update has been released earlier this month, and we had a discussion with Emery Wells, CEO of Frame.io, about all the latest features. Let’s take a closer look at the new Frame.io Transfer App, notifications, the Watermark ID system, security improvements, and much more!   Image credit: Frame.io Emery Wells and Frame.io v3.6 Frame.io has been released earlier this year and if you missed it, you can read our entire article about it here. During the cinema5D Virtual Show, we had the chance to discuss with Emery Wells about all the latest features, and even get a personalized tour. Here is a quick summary of what’s new in Frame.io v3.6: Introduction of the Frame.io Transfer App to download large files, advanced folder structures, or entire projects with just one click. Watermark ID allows you to add text blocks directly over your video file with things like name, date, location, email, and IP addresses. You can now add folders to Review Links, which is easier for sharing assets. For Enterprise users only: the possibility to protect all your sensitive data and review links with Login-only access. A lifting of the Notifications system. The new “Offline Mode” for the Frame.io iOS apps allows you to make any file available offline. Then, you can review and leave comments that will be automatically synced to your project once you’re back online. A smoother After Effects integration of the Frame.io extension. Frame.io v3.6 introduces Frame.io Transfer. Image credit: Frame.io Frame.io Transfer App As Emery Wells states, the Frame.io Transfer App was scheduled for later this year. Due to the pandemic, Frame.io pushed the Beta version to the users earlier. This is a sweet and smart move from Emery Wells and a gentle reminder to all entrepreneurs that it’s better to push your product to the public as soon as possible. Even if it’s not finalized, you can get users’ feedback and make it better. I’ve been using the Frame.io Transfer App for a couple of days now, and it’s been working well. After you complete a download, the App even makes a checksum to make sure the size of the file you just downloaded matches what’s on Frame.io’s server. This is brilliant and saves us so much time. Did you already try the new Frame.io Transfer App? What do you think about all the new features? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!

The cinema5D Virtual Show is a great occasion to discuss with colleagues such as Barney Britton, senior editor at DPReview. During this conversation, we discussed camera manufacturers, the state of our industry, and freelance photographers/filmmakers.  Image credit: Barney Britton DPReview and Barney Britton Barney Britton has been in the camera industry for nearly 15 years. He started his career as a journalist for magazines in the UK before starting to work for DPReview. DPReview is one of the oldest and established camera review websites on the Internet. Indeed, they started their journey back in 1998, doing in-depth camera reviews. In 2007, Amazon acquired DPReview. In 2010, Barney Britton and the entire DPReview staff moved to Seattle in the US. Nowadays, our colleagues at DPReview don’t only do in-depth camera reviews but news and stories around the photo and video industries in general.   Image credit: Statista Camera Industry – 87% Drop in Sales in a Decade The past few years have been difficult for every camera manufacturers. The compact camera market, for example, is not what it was back in 2007/2008. Indeed, in just a decade, camera sales dropped by a whopping 87%. How can we explain that drop in sales? There are a couple of reasons; cameras are getting better and better every year (more reliable and last longer), and on top, smartphones are becoming a legitimate tool for taking high quality pictures and videos. Lots of R&D is invested in developing the camera side of smartphones. Recently, we have seen that many camera manufacturers are trying to implement more features in their DSLR/Mirrorless cameras to try to “get the market back.” As Barney Britton said, “smartphones are inevitable,” and it took years for manufacturers to realize that they are not a competitive product to “traditional cameras,” but more of a complementary product. However, there is still growth and profits for companies in the camera industry. Also, not every territory is the same: sales in China are going up as opposed to Europe and the US, where the markets are shrinking. The Coronavirus pandemic is probably causing one of the biggest hits the camera industry ever faced. While there is always danger, Barney Britton made a good statement by saying that most of the “major” camera manufacturers like Canon, FUJIFILM, Nikon, and so on make most of their money from other products and divisions such as medical, paramedical, printers, scanners and so on. Image credit: Barney Britton Freelancers and Pandemic Finally, we talked with Barney Britton about what freelance photographers/filmmakers are facing during this pandemic. For Barney, freelancers that have the most robust relationship with their clients are doing ok. On the other hand, creatives that are just starting are having a much harder time and must make short/long term adjustments to their business. One key point in this conversation is customer satisfaction and customer service. With this pandemic, this is more important than ever, and it’s probably going to change how you should/must treat your customer relationships forever. On a bright note, the crisis is showing the value of our community and the mutual aid we give to each other. Indeed, not only in our photo/video community but in the world and every industry in general. In general, how often do you upgrade your primary DSLR/mirrorless camera? How is your freelance life being impacted by the pandemic? Let us know in the comments below!

The cinema5D Virtual Show is not all about new gear and pieces of equipment, but also about incredible filmmakers and technicians sharing their experience. We had the opportunity to catch up with the English documentary Director of Photography Ben Sherlock to talk about his evolving filming career starting as a wedding filmmaker and all the way to present time when working as a documentary filmmaker for the BBC’s on “Sacred Wonders”. In this interview, we cover his work on episode “The extraordinary final test to become a Shaolin Master”. The happy days of wedding filmmaking. Image credit: Ben Sherlock From Wedding Filmmaking to the Iraqi Conflict Zone Ben Sherlock is a 31 years old English Director of Photography that started his journey as a wedding filmmaker. For four years, he perfected his craft but also worked on independent documentaries. Then, one day together with his colleague and friend Anthony Jarman, they finally got a permission to film an artist who specialised in painting in war zones. Ben describes the occasion in his own words: We struck gold: an incredibly talented artist who specialised in painting in war zones. It took us three years but eventually we convinced him, and the US military to let us go out to Iraq and document the Iraq conflict, so in 2011 we were embedded with the US armed forces in Iraq. That project marked a massive shift in my carrear, all of us knew we wouldn’t go back to our normal lives and would pursue adventure and documentaries relentlessly from that point. This Iraqi mission was the starting point to pursue his goal to shoot cinematic documentaries. Image credit: BBC / Ben Sherlock The BBC Shaolin Master Documentary Ben Sherlock started to work for BBC’s Sacred Wonders series of cinematic documentaries all over the world. Here is how he describes it: Sacred Wonders ticked every box I ever dreamt of as a young filmmaker, so more projects like that are what I am always on the look out for! It combines unique inspiring stories in extraordinary places across the globe, and they are often hard to reach, hard to film but immensely rewarding to pull together. Thanks to the Sacred Wonders series, during 2019 Ben had the opportunity to fly to China to film the story of a Buddhist warrior monk at the Shaolin Temple. The plot of this extraordinary story is pretty simple, as it follows the hero prepping himself for a test that could change the course of his life forever. If the monk fails the test, he’ll not be able to pass it again for three years. Image credit: Ben Sherlock Camera Equipment For this shoot, here is a partial list of the equipment Ben used: Main camera: Canon EOS C300 Mark II. Second cameras: Canon EOS R, Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, Panasonic GH5. A Miller tripod, DJI Ronin M gimbal, and a Syrp Genie II for timelapse shots. Lenses: SIGMA Cine Primes. Monitoring: SmallHD Bolt wireless monitors. Slider: Drone shots: Done by a local crew with a DJI Inspire 2 The Canon EOS 5D Mark IV on the Syrp Genie II shooting time-laps. Image credit: Ben Sherlock As Ben’s describes it: We had to be nimble, the C300 MII offered us the highest quality image in the most modular and small packages. I didn’t want to rig lots of things onto it, even the sound feed from our sound recordist was velcroed on to keep it light weight. The gimbal camera had to be similarly flexible, and the Canon EOS R offered me the best option on that front. Its a light weight body so even with a 35mm Sigma Cine Prime I could easily run around with it all day if necessary. The Canon EOS 5D Mark IV is an excellent backup system, and a great camera to run time lapses on as it can be left out in lots of adverse weather and still relied upon to survive! The Panasonic GH5 was there for the situations when other cameras wouldn’t survive. It is a camera that I have put through some truly horrific environments and it always comes out kicking, so when I needed a camera that could take a beating I wanted to have that to hand. It’s interesting to hear that most of the show was not shot in any flavor of LOG picture profile, as Ben prefers to have a look baked in with for greater control on the final image. Image credit: Ben Sherlock Sound and Lighting In terms of lighting, Ben packed a couple of diffusers, reflectors, clamps, and light stand. Most of the Shaolin Monk film was shot using natural lighting, with no additional artificial light, except the night Temple scene that was lit with practical candles. Sound-wise, the production had a professional, experienced sound recordist on set, so Ben could focus only on making incredible images. We mentioned it many times before, and it is always important to remind this valid point again, the sound is one of the most critical parts of a film, and you don’t want to mess it up. Packing Your Gear To wrap up this article, here are Ben Sherlock’s top tips for packing your gear: Make lists no matter if you are new to traveling with kits or been traveling forever! Always have backups for your backups when it comes to cables, hard drives, cameras, everything, paying the excess luggage fee is a small price to pay when it means you know you can dig yourself out of trouble when something breaks. Take as much hand luggage as is humanly possible, I always try and take on the plane everything I need to shoot for two days minimum. Pack neatly, have bags within bags to separate your kit, and label everything; it may not be you digging through the bag for something essential. Keep your cables organized, have bags for each different type of cable and label those bags, these days, I even travel with a label maker so I can adjust the names of containers on the fly. Always travel with dry sacks, also when you’re not going to somewhere that you are expecting rain, dry sacks are invaluable, they have lots of uses! Below is the entire film if you have not seen it yet. You can find out more about Ben and his work by clicking here. What do you think about this interview with Ben Sherlock? Do you like this kind of conversation? Let us know in the comments down below!

Edelkrone recently launched its new Edelkrone JibONE – compact, motorized jib which can be controlled with an app. The jib supports cameras up to 11lb/5kg and has a maximum length of 1.64ft/50cm. The Edelkrone HeadPLUS, which has been in the market for a while already, is a two-axis, pan-and-tilt motion-control programmable head. Together, the rig can carry camera setups up to 5lbs/2.3kg and it can be fully controlled with the Edelkrone app for repeating shots and more. Nino interviewed Alper Furkan Ozturk from Edelkrone to hear more about this setup. Edelkrone JibONE and HeadPLUS. Image credit: cinema5D Edelkrone JibONE The JibONE from Edelkrone was launched in January 2020 (for more information, check our news article about the JibONE). It is a compact jib made from machined CNC aluminum. When collapsed, it measures only 61 x 17 x 15cm which makes it fit into Edelkrone’s backpack. Fully extended, the Edelkrone JibONE offers a maximum travel length of 1.64ft/50cm. It weighs 12lb/5.5kg with one counterweight of 2.2lb/1kg. Like every other jib, you need to put counterweights at the back of it to balance the whole setup. The JibONE comes with four 1kg counterweights so that you can balance camera setups up to 11lb/5.5kg. Edelkrone JibONE and HeadPLUS. Image credit: cinema5D At the bottom of the jib, there is a 3/8″-16 mounting port so that you can attach it to any tripod. Also, there is a locking mechanism to lock it when you need to move it or change your shot. A nice feature of the JibONE is a built-in tilt mechanism that allows you to put the jib at an angle – up to 22.5 degrees (9 different angles) – to get a diagonal type of shots. Edelkrone App. Source: Edelkrone The Edelkrone JibONE can be operated either by hand or via the Edelkrone app, which is both Android and iOS compatible. Once the jib is connected to your smartphone via Bluetooth, you can program and repeat shots as you like. You can also connect your camera to the Edelkrone JibONE with a 2.5mm shutter trigger cable to shoot time-lapses. Edelkrone claims that the JibONE is ultra-silent. Edelkrone JibONE and HeadPLUS. Image credit: cinema5D In terms of power, there are battery plates (sold separately) for either two Canon LP-E6 type batteries or two NP-F style batteries. According to Edelkrone, the expected run time with two Canon batteries is two hours. Another option is to plug the jib to AC power or a V-Mount/Gold Mount battery via the 2.1mm barrel connector. Edelkrone JibONE and HeadPLUS. Image credit: cinema5D Edelkrone HeadPLUS The HeadPLUS from Edelkrone has already been on the market for a while. For more information about the head, please check our news article from August 2018. In short, the HeadPLUS is two-axis, pan-and-tilt motion-control head that can be programmed with any video or time-lapse movement with the Edelkrone app. Edelkrone JibONE and HeadPLUS. Image credit: cinema5D When combined with the JibONE, the whole system can be controlled with the app. Users can control – and repeat – a jib shot while the camera is panning/tilting at the same time. There are also various in-app shooting modes, including target tracking shots, live target switching, and Sequencer Mode. There is also a laser module available for the HeadPLUS, which equips the head with additional functions. With the laser module, the setup can keep track of a selected subject more easily. With the focus motor, the Edelkrone setup will even pull focus accordingly. Edelkrone JibONE and HeadPLUS. Image credit: cinema5D While the HeadPLUS itself can carry payloads up to 10lbs/4.5kg, when mounted together with the JibONE the total maximum payload of the setup is 5lbs/2.3kg as the jib needs to carry the head and the camera. Pricing and Availability The Edelkrone JibONE is available now and the base price is around $1,300. The Edelkrone HeadPLUS is, of course, also available already and the price is around $1799/1699€. There are now, however, significant discounts on both devices on B&H – check our links below the article. What do you think about the Edelkrone JibONE and HeadPLUS? Do you need a motion control device such as this combo for your filmmaking work often? Let us know in the comments underneath the article.

Check out this cinema5D virtual interview with the LA-based cinematographer Kacper Skowron who recently filmed a short movie called “The Sit Down” for Panasonic with the LUMIX S1H paired with the Cooke Speeds Panchro S2 anamorphic lenses. What does he have to say about working with this camera? The Sit Down – Shot with the S1H. Source: Panasonic Last year, Panasonic unveiled its flagship mirrorless camera for filmmakers – the LUMIX S1H. This full-frame camera is capable of recording in up to 6K resolution in 10-bit color depth and it offers some very useful features including the 3:2 mode for anamorphic lenses. To refresh the memory about this camera, make sure to check our articles – First Look with Full Specs & Details, S1H Lab Test, and the S1H Review. Nino did a virtual interview with the cinematographer Kacper Skowron who is based in Los Angeles. Kacper recently filmed a short movie called “The Sit Down” for Panasonic with the LUMIX S1H. What does he have to say about working with this camera? Shooting a Short Movie with the Panasonic LUMIX S1H As Kacper told us, he mostly shoots full-length feature films and occasionally documentaries and short films. He never worked with Panasonic cameras before on a movie, but he heard many good things about their cinema cameras, like the Varicam line, so he was excited when Panasonic approached him to shoot a short movie with the S1H. The Sit Down – Behind the scenes. Source: Panasonic He shot “The Sit Down” together with the director David C. Smith during only six hours. It was a basic script featuring two men having a confrontational conversation sitting in a cafe – so there was only one location. As Kacper told Nino, the first two shots of the movie (exterior with the pool and the shot with the french fries) were the most difficult to execute. Kacper decided to shoot this film with a vintage and unique glass set – the Cooke Speeds Panchro S2 anamorphic lenses. The vintage anamorphic lenses kind of suppressed the overly sharp and not forgiving look of such a modern camera like the LUMIX S1H. The Sit Down – Shot with the S1H. Source: Panasonic He shot the film with a very high ISO of 3200 with the S1H and he was very surprised how clean the image was. The very clean output at high ISO enabled Kacper to work with fewer lights, use a smaller crew, and be more flexible and faster on set. It would not have been possible to shoot the film so fast and with such a small crew if they used another camera that is not so so light-sensitive. The Sit Down – Shot with the S1H. Source: Panasonic When it comes to lighting, they used many tungsten practical bulbs – they can be easily replaced, do not create a lot of heat, and they are consistent. In addition to those, the crew used three additional lights: 1-by-1 Astra bi-color LED panel Quasar Q5, Q10, Q20 Li-Ion LED Light tube 2-by-4 flexible LED panel, which was the largest light source they used Important thing was that all lights were battery-powered and easy to operate and attach, the Quasars have magnets, so they can easily be attached where necessary. Both characters in the movie are hairless, so the light design had to be adjusted to that. The Sit Down – Behind the scenes. Source: Panasonic Would Kacper use the Panasonic LUMIX S1H again for his movies? As we were told, he likes to have safety options on set and to have smaller B- and C-cameras to complement the main large cinema A-camera on set. They are very useful for situations, where a small camera is vital to get a certain shot or where the camera may get damaged (he mentioned a situation where he had to jump in a pool with a camera to get a certain shot). For these cases, he would certainly use the S1H again as its 4:2:2 color space makes it much easier to match it with other cameras while grading. The Sit Down – Behind the scenes. Source: Panasonic Last, but not least, Nino asked Kacper what he has been up to lately during the COVID-19 pandemic. He decided to start a Youtube channel called It’s a Blissful Day that is focused on kindness and positivity as he was always attracted to these topics from the eastern philosophy. What do you think about the short film? Do you like the look of the S1H paired with the vintage Cooke anamorphic glass? Did you work with the Panasonic S1H already? Let us know in the comments underneath the article. Full disclosure: This interview has been financially supported and promoted by Panasonic. cinema5D however retained full editorial control on the content of the interview. 

Our filming industry is one of those to suffer from the current situation. All over the world productions are put on hold or canceled, and colleagues/friends are sitting at home. But what about the manufacturers? As we all know, camera sales are slowing down and competition is fierce. In that regard, the current event came at the worse possible timing anyone could have expected. So we took the initiative and approached some of the leading Japanese camera manufacturers in order to hear from them about how they are coping with the situation – especially if new products are involved. Toshi Iida-san at the FUJIFILM Omiya Office – Image credit:cinema5D It’s the beginning of April and I’m heading to FUJIFILM’s offices in Omiya where I’ll be meeting Toshi Iida-san. The last time we met was during the launch of the GFX 100 and, to be honest, with the current sequence of events it feels like this event took place in a completely different world. (See our 2 parts documentary on how the GFX 100 camera was born by clicking here and here). Back to the present time, in this 20 minutes interview, I had the opportunity to talk to Toshi-san about the current phase and challenges our industry is facing, the upcoming X-T4 and cover the subject of lenses. Here is a transcript of our interview: cinema5D: Toshi-san, I’m catching you at a very delicate time. The Coronavirus is all over the place, places are shut down, many people lost their jobs. So this is a very delicate situation, kind of unstable, also for our industry. But I want to start from a point of view of when everything is finished and we are back to kind of normality. How would you see the industry then? Do you think that things will go back to normality? Or this industry will change forever? Toshi Iida-san: Before I start telling you, I’d like to say I’m very sorry for the loss of the people who passed away by COVID-19 and I do hope for a quick recovery for the other patients who are suffering. And I also feel sorry for all the photographers and videographers, they may have lost some business because of the situation. So, I’m really sorry for all of them. And yes, many global events are now postponed or canceled, such as the Olympics Games recently. It must have a huge impact on all the imaging industry. At this moment I can’t predict, I cannot say it’s short term or long term, but I totally believe that at some point all the people will go back to normal. But I cannot think how quickly at this moment. cinema5D: And, as a manufacturer, as a Head of the Division, are you making any certain plans, like Plan A, Plan B, or are you actually monitoring the situation every day just to see how things are developing? Toshi Iida-san: Yes, of course, you know, that the COVID-19 is affecting my business in many ways. First we started to get impact at the China factory for manufacturing and procuring the components. That happened probably in February, early February. Then we started seeing the impact on the demand for cameras. So it’s too early to say, plan B or Plan C, but at the moment I’m just focusing the same way with it, to keep our product development. cinema5D: This situation is really the worst time for the industry in general because we know that sales went down and the competition is extremely stiff. Are you as a manufacturer, together with other Japanese manufacturers, discussing the situation? Are you trying to get united, do something together in order to improve the situation or come up with solutions, especially now? Toshi Iida-san: I’m not sure how the manufacturers can be united or work together, if there is any way we can do such a thing. At the moment, I don’t know. I do believe individual companies, including FUJIFILM, are working hard to go back on the situation by their own efforts.  cinema5D: You mentioned just before that obviously there is some impact on manufacturers in China. When you say impact, what type of impact are you describing? Is it a shortage of components, a lack of manpower? Toshi Iida-san: Yes, both. Lack of laborers, lack of components. So, I was actually told by the government first to extend the Chinese New Year holiday until the 10th of February. So, we had to extend the closure time. I was just really worried about it because at that point we were supposed to start some production for the XT-4, so, I was really worried about it in early February, but luckily enough our factories went back to normal as soon as the government allowed us to start things in February. So at the beginning, of course there were some restrictions, because of laborers and component shortage. But they quickly caught up. So at the moment I have no worries about the manufacturing side. cinema5D: Early samples of the camera were actually made in Japan and some were made in China. Only the samples were made in Japan? Why the decision to take the production out of Japan? Toshi Iida-san: For the XT-4, we haven’t changed our plan. From the beginning we set up the production capacity of the XT-4 just in China Factory because we see there is such a big demand. In order to meet such a big demand I think that China is the best place to manufacture. cinema5D: Again, some of the questions, of course, I have to tie up to the situation and let’s say that you are able to manufacture the amount you want, but then there are other obstacles in the way. Big vendors are actually either closed or they try to sell online but there are some other restrictions. Sometimes, you can’t even send the cameras to the customers or whatever. And on top, and this is maybe the hardest part, maybe people lost some enthusiasm to buy stuff. Not because they don’t want to, it’s literally because if you lose a job you have less money, and your priorities are completely different. How do you navigate as a manufacturer, since you just introduced a new camera to the market and a very capable one? It has the potential to be very popular. How do you navigate in these circumstances? Toshi Iida-san: We should be worried about the actual demand being also affected by this situation. However, we already started collecting pre-orders from customers. So I think the customers are still willing to buy, to have a good product, but of course we have some restrictions in terms of logistics. For example, the warehouse it’s not 100% operational and the shops are closed, but people still want to buy the XT-4. People buy online. cinema5D: So, you haven’t really noticed a drop in cancellations of orders, that’s not the message that you get from some vendors? Toshi Iida-san: As long as the XT-4 is concerned, we don’t see such a situation. cinema5D: Due to the situation, did your managing style change? Your people are still working from the office, am I right? FUJIFILM didn’t ask the people to work from home. Toshi Iida-san: Yeah, we’re not recommending the staff to work from home, but maybe now I need to adjust my management style. But the majority of my management style shouldn’t be changed. I really like to still focus on the speed and product innovations. Otherwise, as a manufacturer it has no point, so I still really focus on the same pace of the product development. FUJIFILM X-T4 Image credit: cinema5D cinema5D: Let’s talk a little bit about the XT-4. It seems like the product was developed in a very short time. I think the XT-3 was in the market for about over a year? Toshi Iida-san: Slightly longer, about 1 1/2 year, I think. cinema5D: This is a bit faster than normal, am I right? Why was that? Because the XT-3 next was a good camera, and obviously you felt that something was missing, and I guess you kind of asked your people to devote more time and come up with the XT-4. Toshi Iida-san: I tell you this: we introduced the XT-3 18 months ago. Immediately after our interview we launched the XT-3, we started getting such a positive feedback especially for the speed and the video quality. So we are very proud of that, but at the same time we immediately started getting the requests, especially for IBIS, for a bigger battery. So we thought maybe we should respond to the customers’ needs and requests as quickly as possible. And as for the sensor and the processor, we already established, so it’s a matter of time how quickly we can develop a new IBIS unit. This is a small IBIS unit. Previously we had an IBIS unit for the XH-1. The XH-1 was a little bit big, heavy camera. Our R&D team learned a lot on how to make a small IBIS unit, which is 20% smaller and lighter. So to make this IBIS unit we also developed a new mechanical shutter. And also, we developed a new longer life batteries. So we had those key components, we thought we satisfied the customer demands almost 100%. So our passion was to make the XT-3 even better. So now for stills and movies, … cinema5D: Will you continue to sell the XT-3, by the way? Toshi Iida-san: Yes, probably at some price gap. The XT-3 is a good camera. Some customers buy the XT-3, at a much more affordable price point than the XT-4. cinema5D: So, if we have to summarize, because you said you already have the sensor and the board to support the sensor. What was the most challenging part of the development of the XT-4? Toshi Iida-san: I think the IBIS unit. How to make a this small IBIS unit without compromising the performance or even improving the performance. So this IBIS can work for up to 6.5 stops compared to the 5.5 previously. So it is a stronger more stable IBIS unit than before, even for a small package. And this is more durable, much more powerful and at the same time it’s smaller. Toshi Iida-san with FUJIFILM GFX100- Image credit: cinema5D cinema5D: We also have on the table the GFX100, which is, of course, a medium format camera. And the video capabilities it’s very nice in terms of quality, but this is a rather expensive camera and this is first and foremost a photographers’ camera. And you declared in a very clear open way, that medium format is the full frame format for you. Toshi Iida-san: Yes. cinema5D: The only thing is that full frame cameras are kind of dropping in price. And they’re doing quite a good job. Do you think in the future you will be able to also bring the price down of a medium format and accommodate the needs of filmmakers, something that is a bit more cost-effective and that can compete also price-wise with full frame cameras? Toshi Iida-san: Of course we’re fully aware about our competition. And we already started doing GFX50 at a very attractive price point already, but the response is great. So it’s always our ambition to make the GFX a mainstream product. To make the GFX a mainstream product we need to continue our effort to make it more affordable and probably smaller and lighter. So this is one way we’re focusing on. cinema5D: You always cook something, you always cook another product which hopefully will be a bit more capable and a bit more affordable. Toshi Iida-san: This is just my ambition to make the GFX a mainstream product, ok? cinema5D: When it comes to video functionality, obviously it became a very very important feature to you and to feature film in general. The thing is that current cameras, in general, they’re quite good, and personally I think and I feel that maybe adding features or new features is simply not enough anymore to capture the attention of the user. Maybe sometimes a completely new concept can be thought about. What is your opinion, are you doing anything in this direction, is there anything you can share with the audience? Toshi Iida-san: As you know, we are a quite late comer to the cinema camera, I think our journey just started with the XT-3, I say. But we’re quickly learning and catching up and this XT-4 we get it to a higher level. So our journey will never end. So we are listening and we’re learning more, what the filmmakers, videographers, what features, what design, what usability, what accessories should be compatible, we are always looking for the next step. cinema5D: Toshi-san, you’re obviously pushing forward with the video capabilities of the cameras. How about the lenses? Because you have the nice MK lenses, which is good for Super-35. Obviously, you have medium format cameras, and other manufacturers are moving to full frame. Anything that you can share with us about future plans? Toshi Iida-san: As a late comer, we have thought, how do we differentiate ourselves from the competition in an already crowded market? We turned out to find what the customers were expecting from us. It is the lens and color reproduction. So, with the lens, actually we are in charge of a very broad variety of lenses, including the very big broadcasting lenses, Cine Zoom lenses. And based on that kind of very high spec professional lens, we can copy such technology to more mainstream lenses. MK you were mentioning, that is one example. And even for the GF lenses and the XF lenses, those are interchangeable lenses. We can introduce that technology to make good video capable lenses. So the lens and color reproduction, color rendering, the film look color rendering, those are two core advantages. I think that we really like to expand, invest for the lens and the colors for video as well. cinema5D: Out of curiosity, because again we talked about finding the unique points and to do things maybe a little different. Anamorphic lenses are becoming extremely popular because everybody looks for that identity when they’re filming. They don’t want everything they do to look like others. The thing is that is either very very expensive, and if it’s not expensive maybe there’s a lack of identity to the footage coming after filming with the lens. Do you sometimes dream at night about anamorphic lenses? Toshi Iida-san: We do have lots of requests about such a lens. However, we just introduced two cine zoom lenses called Premista, which is a large format cine zoom lens. The market reaction is very very positive. And we really like to focus on our current project before we’re looking at anamorphic lenses. Maybe in the future, but at the moment we are quite busy with the current project. cinema5D: Toshi-san, thank you very much for your time. So here we go, the first in a series of interviews we are about to conduct. If there is a specific manufacture you would like us to feature, please let us know in the comment section below.