Los Angeles cinematographer William Hellmuth recently shot a camera test using a classic 1950s Bel Air car. Given the PYXIS 6K is now completely mountable, William’s idea was to test the balance of the PYXIS on gimbal, car-rig and handheld shots.
“Given this is a classic car, we had to take it slowly getting to the location arriving around 2pm. When we got there the sky had a little bit of smoke haze from recent fires, which gave us perfectly diffused sunlight! It wasn’t until after 3pm that we finished the handheld shots and could then move on to the car-rig shots. Being late in the afternoon we needed to rig the car quickly before the light faded. I have never rigged a car this fast before, which is a credit to the Tilta Hydra’s electronic suction system and the form factor and balance of the PYXIS 6K. They were the perfect combo. I also chose Zeiss Contax lenses because they are vintage full frame and light-weight. Our PYXIS 6K has the L-mount, so I simply added an EF adapter with internal VNDs, which worked out great. My Nano follow focus system also works off an internal battery; but I didn’t need it as the PYXIS 6K has a USB-C port on the front which can be used for power. It’s those simple things that make the PYXIS 6K so quick to rig. I also wanted a bunch of ‘follow the car into the sunset’ shots, but sadly we couldn’t restart the Bel Air and had to get it towed! However, I did get to test the Ronin Pro gimbal with the PYXIS 6K the day before, which I gotta say was perfectly balanced.”
Below there are links to where you can download clips from the test shoot.
50s Windshield
“I thought this shot would be a great opportunity to test the PYXIS 6K’s latitude, especially when shooting Open Gate 3:2 at 6K. So this scene was all about checking for rolling shutter and latitude with a car-rig setup thrown in for good measure! I have seen people saying that 13 stops of dynamic range is not enough these days, but honestly when I shoot with this camera I feel all 13 stops of latitude inside the BRAW file are completely useable. Which is saying a lot.”
- Camera Blackmagic PYXIS 6K (L mount)
- Codec Blackmagic RAW Constant Bitrate 5:1
- Sensor Open Gate 3:2 6K (6048 x 4032)
- Lenses Zeiss Contax Cine modified 21mm @ T2.8
- FPS 36
- ISO 400
- Shutter 180 degrees
- White Point 6000K
- Color Science Generation 5 Color Science
- LUT Blackmagic Gen 5 to Film
- NDs Variable mount L‑EF (2‑4 stops)
Shot on Tilta Hydra Alien car-rig
Download Camera Original File (12.5 GB)
Download Graded File (45.3 MB)
Getting Really Wide!
“This scene was all about using the 21mm with a full frame sensor. It’s about getting really wide and having some fun with the shot. Being able to get this perspective would usually be extremely difficult because the camera would have to be so far off the car to get this field of view. But the PYXIS 6K has a huge image circle of 43mm, which meant that all I needed to do, was hang the camera right off the nose of the car! And because this camera is so compact, it was so easy to safely rig.”
- Camera Blackmagic PYXIS 6K (L mount)
- Codec Blackmagic RAW Constant Bitrate 5:1
- Sensor Open Gate 3:2 6K (6048 x 4032)
- Lenses Zeiss Contax Cine modified 50mm @ T5.8
- FPS 36
- ISO 400
- Shutter 180 degrees
- White Point 6000K
- Color Science Generation 5 Color Science
- LUT Blackmagic Gen 5 to Film
- NDs Variable mount L‑EF (2‑4 stops)
Shot on Tilta Hydra Alien car-rig
Download Camera Original File (13.9 GB)
Download Graded File (46.2 MB)
Over The Shoulder
“When I started out in the industry, this kind of shot would have been a nightmare to try to figure out. But when you look closely at the BRAW file, the PYXIS 6K is really holding everything from the highlights on the roof to the interior of the cabin. There are no external lights here, we are just capturing whatever we have to work with. I will say it helps that the light is now falling in the same direction as I was shooting. So we were getting plenty of illumination inside the car.”
- Camera Blackmagic PYXIS 6K (L mount)
- Codec Blackmagic RAW Constant Bitrate 5:1
- Sensor Open Gate 3:2 6K (6048 x 4032)
- Lenses Zeiss Contax Cine modified 21mm @ T2.8
- FPS 36
- ISO 400
- Shutter 180 degrees
- White Point 6000K
- Color Science Generation 5 Color Science
- LUT Blackmagic Gen 5 to Film
- NDs Variable mount L‑EF (2‑4 stops)
Shot on Tilta Hydra Alien car-rig
Download Camera Original File (7.2 GB)
Download Graded File (46 MB)
Classic Pose
“This was my favorite shot out of the bunch, because we’re seeing him in real life and also in the reflection. Just being able to capture both of those viewpoints with so much detail, made this scene a lot more fun. It’s the way in which I was able to draw focus on him, and still be able to have the swirly bokeh in the background. I love this sort of thing! The PYXIS 6K was awesome at accurately capturing his skin tone along with the real color of the car.”
- Camera Blackmagic PYXIS 6K (L mount)
- Codec Blackmagic RAW Constant Bitrate 5:1
- Sensor Open Gate 3:2 6K (6048 x 4032)
- Lenses Zeiss Contax Cine modified 21mm @ T2.8
- FPS 36
- ISO 400
- Shutter 180 degrees
- White Point 6000K
- Color Science Generation 5 Color Science
- LUT Blackmagic Gen 5 to Film
- NDs Variable mount L‑EF (2‑4 stops)
Shot on Tilta Hydra Alien car-rig
Download Camera Original File (6 GB)
Download Graded File (45.4 MB)
