Welcome to Union Glacier from Studiocanoe on Vimeo.
Temujin Doran sent me a link to his latest video. It’s a documentary shot with the Panasonic GH3 in Antarctica. This is his brief report for 43rumors:
In 2013 I was the filmmaker attached to the Scott Expedition – the journey that completed Captain Scott’s final, ill-fated expedition from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole and back again. Our team passed through Union Glacier Camp on route to the starting point of Scott’s Hut at Cape Evans, but after becoming stranded at the camp and working with the staff there; I decided to make this documentary. The whole film was shot on a Panasonic GH3, with some additional shots done with a GoPro.
From a technical side of things – I’ve been working with m43 Panasonic cameras and lenses in the Arctic and Antarctic for several years now. Whilst all camera’s suffer in the cold, these have never given me problems whilst filming and have been used in temperatures as low as -40˚C. Battery life is somewhat diminished, but I carry lots of spares and have close to my body to keep them warm.
During the making of this documentary I never once put the camera in it’s bag. If I wasn’t using it, I just left it in my tent., which isn’t that much warmer than outside. The same went for the lenses – I used the Lumix 12-35mm F2.8, the 35-100mm F2.8 and the 100-300mm F4.0-5.6. For sound I used a Rode Stereo VideoMic Pro with a Dead Kitten in an attempt to block most of the wind. Most of the shots were on a Manfrotto 190XPROB tripod.
I’m currently working on the Scott Expedition documentary. The two members of the team each took with them a Panasonic GX7 with a Lumix 14mm F2.5 lens for capturing photos, video diaries and footage from the ice. During the expedition, the batteries were charged via solar panels,
If you’re interested, you can see all the short films I made for the Scott Expedition here – http://studiocanoe.com/expeditions/
As this is a camera blog – I’m almost certain that someone is going to say that I’ll have to go back and do it again, because it wasn’t shot in 4K. 🙂
29 Responses
That’s terrific.
Tssk, it wasn’t even shot in 4K. Go back and do it again, properly this time.
very lame joke
But it had to be made (see last line of article).
ah so you did it for the sake of pleasing him 🙂
Great film !
When I was a student, I was always thinking appropriate job for me would be alongside Jacques Cousteau ! Well, Cousteau is dead, and Calypso sank.
Working on this film is probably second best job after that !
I spent 3 winters working in the Alaskan Arctic and NWT Canada. Taking pictures in that sort of cold was a real pain!
The first year I used a Contax G2 and had no problems with it working properly, despite regularly being around -40 outside. One of the keys was definitely to leave the camera outside, that warming/cooling cycle was hell on the batteries and the oils. I also had to be careful loading the film as the the leads could get very brittle, and I never shot more than single shots for fear of the sprockets tearing. I tried a Yashica TLR as well as I could better control the film advance speed with the manual crank but that camera hated being in the cold.
I switched to a compact digital later (a Nikon) but that would regularly freeze and not work at all, usually after about 10m outside.
Glad the pro/semi-pro recent offerings by Panny/Oly are much more robust!
Thanks for sharing, seems very interesting document indeed. Will check it out later today.
Great stuff… I repeatedly attempted to share news about the Scott Expedition with Admin many months ago when it was happening in real time and daily clips from a GX7 in the Antartic were being posted. Was totally ignored and no mention was every made of it.
Did you mail me for that??? Wondering how I missed it…
Yep, loads of times 🙁 maybe they ended up in your junk folder or something….
Odd. I do remember watching GX7 footage and thought it was here. 🙂
admin you better post it now….its still not late…there was this btw http://www.43rumors.com/tested-panasonic-gx7-works-fine-in-antarctica/
this has a Wes Anderson feel
Indeed. The symmetry is beautiful!
Rolling Shutter effect at 38:40…
IF he had used a A7s for the shots, then you wold have seen a real rolling shutter effect. 🙂
except for the shaky camera, that doesnt bother
It’s like watching “March of the Penguins” and some guy in the cinema decries the penguins’ toenails.
A great film produced with a great camera!
“As this is a camera blog – I’m almost certain that someone is going
to say that I’ll have to go back and do it again, because it wasn’t shot
in 4K. ”
4K is old news. You should ask Panasonic for a 6K cam for your next visit. 😉 🙂
I suggest they skip it directly to 8K, just to be sure. 😉
GH3 is still an awesome camera…….flagships never lose their honour, they just pass their status to their successors
What a lovely piece of work, made with great sensitivity and thought. Loved the music choices. This deserves an award of some kind.
This film was so absorbing and well done that I forgot the gear connection, got lost in the story and didn’t remember to want for shallow DoF! 😉
+1
Trips to Antarctica cost an arm and a leg. Who is so stupid to waste one with a Nano Four Thirds?
exactly.
since they can / have to buy a lot of gear, it should be possible to invest in any camera they choose. So why did they go for m43? Because it serves their needs very well.
only stupid thing was your comment.
sweet! It’ll work in Winnipeg!