This week we’re talking with director, animator, and cinematographer Juli Jackson. Over the last 15 years, Juli has done everything from PA work to directing her own feature, 45RPM. Ryan worked as a camera assistant on Juli’s upcoming short film Delta this summer. They talk about what low-budget, small-crew filmmakers should keep in mind when shooting their own short films.

• Juli's website
• Juli’s films:
  • 45RPM
  • Delta
• Gear mentioned in this episode:
  • Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera
• The Lensrentals Podcast is a production of Lensrentals, founded by Roger Cicala. Our production staff includes Drew Cicala, Ryan Hill, Sarah McAlexander, SJ Smith, Julian Harper, John Tucker, and Zach Sutton. Other contributors include Roger Cicala, Joey Miller, Ally Aycock Patterson, Joshua Richardson, and Philip Robertson.
• Thanks to Jacques Granger for our theme song.
• Submit a topic idea, question or comment, leave us a voicemail at 901-609-LENS, or send us an email at [email protected].
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Ryan and Joey are joined by nightscape photographer Matthew Saville today. Nightscape photography is the art of shooting landscapes at night with particular emphasis on stars. It’s separate from the more scientific astrophotography but shares many of the same challenges such as extremely low light and very long exposure times. Optically it’s one of the most demanding types of photography imaginable. Just about any flaw in a lens is going to be more noticeable when shooting nightscapes so we’ll be covering Matthew’s go-to gear, how he decides what to take on a shoot, and his favorite techniques for capturing nightcaps.

• Find Matthew Saville all over the internet:
  • Matthew's Website
  • Instagram
  • YouTube 
  • Matthew's very cool low-light metering article
  • Matthew's articles on the Lensrentals blog
• Gear Mentioned
  • Canon RF 15-35mm f/2.8L IS
  • Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM
  • Rokinon SP 14mm f/2.4
  • Sigma 14mm f/1.8
  • Sony FE 14mm f/1.8 GM
  • Nikon Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S
  • Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8
  • Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 Di III RXD for Sony E
  • Sony Alpha a7R III
  • Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM
  • Slik Tripods
• The Lensrentals Podcast is a production of Lensrentals, founded by Roger Cicala. Our production staff includes Drew Cicala, Ryan Hill, Sarah McAlexander, SJ Smith, Julian Harper, John Tucker, and Zach Sutton. Other contributors include Roger Cicala, Joey Miller, Ally Aycock Patterson, Joshua Richardson, and Philip Robertson.
• Thanks to Jacques Granger for our theme song.
• Submit a topic idea, question or comment, leave us a voicemail at 901-609-LENS, or send us an email at [email protected].
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Ryan, Roger, and Joey are back with more of your questions, and some of our own too. Ranging from where to eat when visiting New Orleans to what cameras and lenses and optical arts will look like 50 years from now, we’re coving a wide range of topics with mostly questions about lenses in the middle.

• Mentioned on the episode:
  • Turkey and the Wolf
  • Blog posts about filters:
    • Front Element Lens Protection Revisited
    • Yet Another Post Aout My Issues With UV Filters
    • The Glass In Front Of Your Glass: All About Filters
  • Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS 
  • Diane Arbus 
  • Split Diopter Filters 
• The Lensrentals Podcast is a production of Lensrentals, founded by Roger Cicala. Our production staff includes Drew Cicala, Ryan Hill, Sarah McAlexander, SJ Smith, Julian Harper, John Tucker, and Zach Sutton. Other contributors include Roger Cicala, Joey Miller, Ally Aycock Patterson, Joshua Richardson, and Philip Robertson.
• Thanks to Jacques Granger for our theme song.
• Submit a topic idea, question or comment, leave us a voicemail at 901-609-LENS, or send us an email at [email protected].
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If you’ve read more than one or two articles on our blog you’ve likely seen images of MTF charts and heard us discuss testing lenses on the optical bench. But what on earth does that mean, and why do we do it? We’re breaking it down with the best people possible, Roger, Aaron, and our audience surrogate, Ryan.

• Mentioned this episode:
• Imatest
• See the MTF bench in action!
• In this older article, you can see an example of a single slice of MTF, combining 4 quadrants to an average, and developing a range.
• General MTF training article.
• This scientific paper contains images of how we map out the MTF across the field of the lens.
• The Lensrentals Podcast is a production of Lensrentals, founded by Roger Cicala. Our production staff includes Drew Cicala, Ryan Hill, Sarah McAlexander, SJ Smith, Julian Harper, John Tucker, and Zach Sutton. Other contributors include Roger Cicala, Joey Miller, Ally Aycock Patterson, Joshua Richardson, and Philip Robertson.
• Thanks to Jacques Granger for our theme song.
• Submit a topic idea, question or comment, leave us a voicemail at 901-609-LENS, or send us an email at [email protected].
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Gather round y’all, it’s time for another gear rodeo where we shoot the you-know-what talking about our experiences with gear from our inventory. Today Ryan is talking to the Lensrentals Onboarding Supervisor, Ally Aycock Patterson, and LensProToGo’s Dom Boisvert about which of our newest video products we’re excited about. We nerd out about products that may be a little more unexpected too, like switchers, gimbals, and even batteries if you can believe it.

• Videos mentioned:
  • Blackmagic ATEM Mini Extreme ISO: Overview and Live Demo
  • Live Demo: ATEM Mini HDMI Switcher by Blackmagic Design
• Gear mentioned in the video:
  • Anton Bauer Titon Micro 90 V-Mount Power Kit 8-Pack
  • Titon Base
  • Blackmagic Design ATEM Switchers
  • Soundcraft Ui24R 24-Channel Mixer/Recorder w/Wi-Fi Control
  • Soundcraft Software Demo
  • Tilta Nucleus-M Wireless Lens Control System
  • Teradek Bolt 4k line
  • Blackmagic Design Ursa Mini Pro 12K Premium Kit

Ryan, Joey, and Roger are back in the studio and excited to answer your questions! Today questions range from what’s the best camera and lens combination, to how our Black Friday sale can help those looking to buy gear, to what simple items we recommend keeping in your camera bag.

• Getting Started Podcasting resources:
  • Beyond the 5 W's What Should You Ask Before Starting A Story
  • NPR Guide to Starting Your Podcast
  • Lessons Learned from Selling Podcast Ads
  • Submitting Your Podcast to iTunes
• Gear and Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
  • Shure MV7 Podcast Microphone 
  • Podcast gear we rent 
  • Sony MDR-7506 Headphones 
  • Adobe Audition 
  • Zencaster
• The Lensrentals Podcast is a production of Lensrentals, founded by Roger Cicala. Our production staff includes Drew Cicala, Ryan Hill, Sarah McAlexander, SJ Smith, Julian Harper, John Tucker, and Zach Sutton. Other contributors include Roger Cicala, Joey Miller, Ally Aycock Patterson, Joshua Richardson, and Philip Robertson.
• Thanks to Jacques Granger for our theme song.
• Submit a topic idea, question or comment, leave us a voicemail at 901-609-LENS, or send us an email at [email protected].
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Today is all about the RED Komodo! Workflows, pros and cons, accessories, Ryan, Dom, and Ally stop just short of writing a full love letter to this camera. Dom and Ally each spent some time using the Komodo to discuss for this episode and spoiler, both of them were sad when it was time to return their rentals.

• Mentioned in this episode:
  • Dom's Komodo video
  • RED KOMODO Brain 
  • RED KOMODO 6K Special Edition 
  • RED RAVEN Brain 
  • RED RANGER Monstro 8K Vista Vision Production Camera 
  • DJI RS2 gimbal with a focus motor 
  • DJI RS 2 Gimbal Stabilizer Pro Combo
  • ATOMOS Ninja 
  • RED DIGITAL CINEMA KOMODO Expander Module 
  • SmallHD INDIE 7 On-Camera Monitor w/ RED KOMODO Control 
  • SmallHD FOCUS Pro OLED 3G-SDI Monitor w/ KOMODO Control
  • RED DIGITAL CINEMA KOMODO 6K Camera Production Kit 
  • RED DIGITAL CINEMA KOMODO Outrigger Handle 
  • Canon RF 15-35mm f/2.8L IS 
  • Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8L IS 
  • Canon RF 85mm f/1.2L DS
  • Vazen 28mm T2.2 1.8x Anamorphic (Canon RF) 
  • Vazen 65mm T2 1.8x Anamorphic (Canon RF) 
  • Vazen 40mm T2 1.8x Anamorphic (Canon RF)
• The Lensrentals Podcast is a production of Lensrentals, founded by Roger Cicala. Our production staff includes Drew Cicala, Ryan Hill, Sarah McAlexander, SJ Smith, Julian Harper, John Tucker, and Zach Sutton. Other contributors include Roger Cicala, Joey Miller, Ally Aycock Patterson, Joshua Richardson, and Philip Robertson.
• Thanks to Jacques Granger for our theme song.
• Submit a topic idea, question or comment, leave us a voicemail at 901-609-LENS, or send us an email at [email protected].
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Ever fantasized about working for National Geographic as a photographer? Tom O'Brien is the Photo Engineer who engineers the solutions needed so  NatGeo photographers can get the shots they want. Trained as a Mechanical Engineer, Tom has been tasked with figuring out how to record video from half a mile up a cliff face, how to get a remote camera into a robotic paper mâché sage grouse, and even how to design a case that can’t be destroyed by elephants. 

• Find Tom O’Brien on:
  • National Geographic 
  • The National Geographic Podcast
  • Instagram 

• Gear mentioned:
  • Lomo LC-A+ Camera
  • Minitar-1 Art Lens
  • Nikon D850 
  • Fujifilm X 100S  
  • Profoto B10 Plus 
  • DJI Inspire 2
  • Canon 1DX Mark II 

• Resources Mentioned:
  • Kenji Yamaguchi 
  • Gail Patricelli’s prior work on sage grouses using disguised robotic cameras
  • Nature episodes that inspired the funky bird train, 1 & 2
  • Charlie Hamilton James article about sage grouse
  • Rashod Taylor
  • Free Solo 

• The Lensrentals Podcast is a production of Lensrentals, founded by Roger Cicala. Our production staff includes Drew Cicala, Ryan Hill, Sarah McAlexander, SJ Smith, Julian Harper, John Tucker, and Zach Sutton. Other contributors include Roger Cicala, Joey Miller, Ally Aycock Patterson, Joshua Richardson, and Philip Robertson.
• Thanks to Jacques Granger for our theme song.
• Submit a topic idea, question or comment, leave us a voicemail at 901-609-LENS, or send us an email at [email protected].
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We're taking a little break to work on upcoming episodes. Stay subscribed because we'll be back!

• The Lensrentals Podcast is a production of Lensrentals, founded by Roger Cicala. Our production staff includes Drew Cicala, Ryan Hill, Sarah McAlexander, SJ Smith, Julian Harper, John Tucker, and Zach Sutton. Other contributors include Roger Cicala, Joey Miller, Ally Aycock Patterson, Joshua Richardson, and Philip Robertson.
• Thanks to Jacques Granger for our theme song.
• Submit a topic idea, question or comment, leave us a voicemail at 901-609-LENS, or send us an email at [email protected].
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Today our guest is Sam Wiles, a Color Engineer at FilmConvert. Since the very beginning of digital cinema, people have been trying to get video to look like film, and that’s a very difficult thing to get right, at least at a professional level. It’s not a matter of applying a color filter, response curve, dynamic range, highlight roll-off, grain, and so many other traits of a film image have to be taken into consideration too. FilmConvert is trying to simplify this process by designing film looks tailored to specific digital sensors and log profiles, which entails a ton of testing on various cameras and film stocks. Sam and Ryan talk about how this testing contributes to a more accurate film image and how CineMatch,  FilmConvert’s new project that more easily matches color between pieces of footage shot on different cameras.

• Mentioned in the episode:
  • FilmConvert free trial
  • CineMatch
  • Sigma FP
  • ARRI Alexa
• The Lensrentals Podcast is a production of Lensrentals, founded by Roger Cicala. Our production staff includes Drew Cicala, Ryan Hill, Sarah McAlexander, SJ Smith, Julian Harper, John Tucker, and Zach Sutton. Other contributors include Roger Cicala, Joey Miller, Ally Aycock Patterson, Joshua Richardson, and Philip Robertson.
• Thanks to Jacques Granger for our theme song.
• Submit a topic idea, question or comment, leave us a voicemail at 901-609-LENS, or send us an email at [email protected].
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