Alfred Hitchcock once said, "I don't make slices of life, I make slices of cake." Well, I am interested in slices of life.

As a documentarian and gorilla independent filmmaker, it's important to be a self-sustaining entity. One of the ways I do that is by occasionally being my own cinematographer. A way to set your work apart from the rest is to find your own unique shooting style which develops over many years of doing. Hardware should cater to that style, not the other way around. So as a documentarian who does a lot of talking about life, I'm also not above the occasional shallow tech wonk post. Especially to highlight the last anamorphic rig build!

The who, what, where, when, why of that style of hardware and shooting can be found in this previous post. But here are the exact deets on the update you see here:

Panasonic GH5 + Metabones Speedbooster 0.67X + Helios 44-2 lens + 49mm to 52mm adaption ring + Rapido v2 Clamp + Kowa for Bell & Howell + HTN Lock Ring + Rectilux Hardcore DNA + 86mm to 95mm adapter + 95mm Bower variable neutral density filter + (optional not seen) Vivitar series 1 close focus diopters. Most of those major items are a bit difficult to acquire.

The key I have always found is small and lightweight is Queen. Behind the quality of the image of course - which is King. As a self-shooter, I need to get into places where you otherwise wouldn't be able to easily access with a giant rig. I've previously discussed this in a prior video essay, but to simply, the more you can strip down the better. Thus you do not have obstacles your way in terms of mobility, so you can truly be gorilla tactical.

Many thanks to Ben Wong, Tito Ferradans, Jim Chang, and John Barlow for their help bringing this into manifestation.