Foto Care at GEAR2: The Show

Foto Care's staff and friends (including Pat from Canon and Cliff from Profoto) setting up our booth.

This past Sunday, April 21st, Foto Care participated in GEAR2. GEAR2 is a mini trade show that featured video and cinema vendors, equipment and rental houses. We were very excited to be able to show all of the amazing Canon equipment that we rent and sell!

Ryan sets up rig

We had a lot of Kobold lighting as well as some light modifiers from Broncolor, like the Parabolic Umbrellas!

Daniel from Rentals was able to get some great photos of the show. Enjoy!

Photo by Daniel Orren

Photo by Daniel Orren

We had a lot of Canon equipment to show, including the 1D C, C100 and cinema lenses.

Photo by Daniel Orren

Photo by Daniel Orren

Photo by Daniel Orren

The booth looked great all set up! Photo by Daniel Orren

Photo by Daniel Orren

This great Rotolight set up provides flattering lighting for video. Photo by Daniel Orren

Daniel took this photo of Ryan using the Rotolight above! Photo by Daniel Orren

Rental Manager, Fred was at GEAR2. Photo by Daniel Orren

Richard from the digital department of Foto Care talks with attendees. Photo by Daniel Orren

Photo by Daniel Orren

Foto Care Featured Studio: elk rentals

We're loving elk rentals in New York City! Located at 164 W. 25th St. (SE corner of 7th Ave.) on the 12th floor, this quaint studio is a perfect place to shoot. With two natural light studios, a kitchen, Foto Care rental equipment, skylight and black out options, elk is diverse and convenient.

Foto Care: When was elk rentals established?
elk rentals: We opened our renovated top floor studio in Summer 2012, shortly after constructing our corner cyclorama.

FC: Where is elk located?er: We are located in Chelsea, specifically 164 W. 25th St. (SE corner of 7th Ave.) on the 12th floor. Most closely accessible by the 1, C, E, F, and M trains at 23rd street,
but the N, Q, and R are within walking distance as well from 23rd street.

FC: What kind of studio space is available? What amenities are included in these studios?er: There are two spacious shooting studios, one with a corner cyclorama and both with blackout capability and skylight option, as well as a kitchen that can be used for shoots, plus two bathrooms.

elk rentals serves as a space to cultivate ideas and create outstanding visuals. The design is bright, natural, and airy, influenced by the space’s exposed beams, factory windows, and industrial skylights. Sliding barn doors, with exposed hardware, close off the studio, charmingly highlighting the historic feeling.

Amenities include: Two studios, totaling 2,400+ square feet shooting and prep space. Two bathrooms, a kitchen and prep areas. Full blackout capabilities and optional skylights. Unobstructed southern and western exposures.

FC: What equipment is available?er: Equipment rental plus full pre and post production services are available. We have editing suites, makeup tables, expendables and, through our partnership with Foto Care rentals, a full range of lighting, grip and photographic equipment - all of which we can have waiting for clients onsite when they arrive to shoot.

FC: Why should photographers choose elk rentals?er: elk rentals was founded by a two-person shooting team who really understand what's needed in studio rentals, since we shoot ourselves.

We are a collective of like-minded creatives offering comprehensive photography, design and production services. Our creative studio serves as a space to generate ideas and create exceptional visuals. It is a warm and welcoming environment.

Many portrait and fashion photographers (shooting for Amex, New York Mag, The New Yorker, etc.) are drawn to the space for high-profile celebrity shoots not only because of its privacy, but also because of its intimate, warm feeling. We are a boutique photography studio, so we take the time to get to know our clients and establish long-standing relationships.

Whether it's for photography, video, casting, events or something else, elk rentals is the perfect place for clients who enjoy working with us as much as we do with them. Put simply: we're more than just a place to shoot.

elk rentals is truly an amazing space with a lot to offer. Check out some photos of the elk rentals space below:

Testimonial from photographer Chris Anderson: “Daylight, Daylight, Daylight!  I shoot at elk rentals because of the intimacy of the space.  It really puts my subjects at ease and lets them open up."

For more information about elk rentals, visit their website at http://elkrentals.com/
Phone: 212.252.8550
Email: rentals@elkstudios.com

Thaddeus Harden on Transitioning to Video

Video has become an important tool for photographers as more and more cameras are capable of shooting high-quality video. From the 5D Mark II to the C500, many photographers are beginning to experiment with shooting video to add another element to their work. Photographer Thaddeus Harden is doing just that. Harden has recently created "Motorcycle Mason," the adorable tale of his son, Mason taking to the town on his bike for a fantastic adventure. We asked Harden to tell us about his experience diving into video and shooting this short:

Motorcycle Mason from Thaddeus Harden on Vimeo.

Q. What inspired you to get involved in shooting video?
A. I bought a Canon 5dIII and 1DX in August 2012 from Foto Care specifically to add video productions to my arsenal of skills. Doing a video of my son was a great way of getting my feet wet and gain some experience with the cameras. I bought the bike for my son's second birthday in May. He immediately took to it as if he was born to ride. He's on it nearly every day and, as you can see in the video, he loves every second of it. This is my first "Action film!"

Q. What equipment did you use for this particular shoot? What kind of crew was involved in creating this video?
A. The main camera was the 5D Mark III and we used the 1DX as a secondary, camera B. Both do an outstanding job. And it was great to be able to have a second point of view (Camera B) while covering some of the scenes. With a 2.3-year-old child, we had to be as efficient as possible, and on a few shots we didn't get a second chance. My favorite lens was the 14mm. Great, undistorted perspective, very close-up focus while still wide angle and staying sharp with the bike moving in and out at a variety of distances. We used a light weight flat-form dolly truck to do a lot of our moving shots while hand-holding the camera. This turned out to be a fantastic tool. All real "Man"ual labor, push and pull. Small, but we were able to be very quick and mobile with it. We also used a Cinevate Atlas FLT 35 for a few of the scenes.

My crew was all family. My main assistant was my nephew and he's grown with me quite a lot over the years. My wife, besides being a great Mom on the set, also added some unique ideas of her own with some great perspective shots. Mason deserves a considerable amount of credit himself. He was outstanding throughout the shoots. Very patient, very easy, and as you can see, very cheerful. We really did ask a lot of him, and a few of the days were fairly long going from one location to the other. He not only followed directions incredibly well, he also gave us some of his own personality that we didn't expect and no way could have directed.

Q. How long did it take you to shoot and edit the video? What programs did you use for postproduction?
A. We shot about 15 days of footage, but plenty didn't make it into the final. Using Adobe Premier, we spent about the same amount of days editing, fleshing out some of our ideas. Working in Premier we had plenty of power, speed and tweaking all within the program. We've barely scratched the surface of what all is possible with it. The entire production took about 3 months in-between jobs, and two bikes. The first bike was "compromised" after some hard riding in his beginning days. I watched the bike closely over the shoot, and at one point, while doing some rehearsing (without Mason on the bike) we managed to total it. Though most of the story was pre-visualized, we did have a lot of the shots develop on the fly as we explored the city.

Q. Do you think you’ll be delving a little deeper into the world of video?Absolutely! This was just the beginning....

Q. When can we expect movie star Mason to bike on in to Foto Care to sign autographs?
A. Mason actually goes with me on a lot of my run-arounds in the city. He's definitely one of my best buddies. I bring him into Foto Care a lot. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to scribble out a few!

We think that this is a great first attempt at shooting video, and we are looking forward to what Harden, and Mason, come up with next!

Foto Care 2012 Holiday Party

Last night was Foto Care’s Annual Holiday Party, and it was quite a success! More than 425 people joined the Foto Care staff for dancing, photos with Santa, food and drinks.

We want to thank HasselbladBron, Think Tank, Tether Tools, Omega Brandess, Manfrotto, Mac Group, Fujifilm, LacCie, Expo Imaging, Lumiquest, HP Marketing and GoPro for donating some awesome equipment for our door prize raffle! 

Here are some photos of the party as well as a fun time lapse of Santa!

We all had a lot of fun and we hope our customers and guests had fun, too!

Happy holidays everyone!

Julian Bernstein on the Canon C100

The Canon C100 is one of Foto Care's newest additions to the rental department, and we've been pretty excited about it. The C100 has gained a lot of it's popularity in the video world for it versatility and portability and seems to be changing the way photographers deal with video. Our friend, Julian Bernstein, recently rented the C100 and shared some of this thoughts on the camera system as well as the Cinema lenses that accompany the camera.

Q: Why did you choose to rent the Canon C100 (versus the 5D Mark III, C300, C500)?

A: The project we were shooting was for web only and didn't have much post so HD was fine to shoot in. We shoot with the  5D Mark III regular and its great! But the UI and form factor make it a little tiring, also the lack of waveform is kind of a pain. When I tested it out in rentals I found it very intuitive I got the feel for the C100 and its functions right away (which was great since I was shooting the next morning.)

Q: You mentioned that you liked the Cinema lenses. Why did you like the Cinema lenses so much? What were the benefits? What lens was your favorite to work with?

A: They are FAST, t1.3 is awesome! It pulls focus very smooth. We were shooting a pretty contrast scene with the subject brightly lit with BRON Lightpipe (awesome light BTW) on a black glossy background and everything holds

up beautifully.

Q. What was your favorite feature of the C100 (i.e. the ND filters, programmable buttons, etc.)

A: The cineform profile and the waveform. The C100's button's are organized very well too!

Q: I see that you has quite a set up on that camera, what equipment did you add to it?

A: My setup for the C100 was fairly simple, compared to my usually 5d rig. I had to 7" monitors (1 with passthrough), the Redrock double follow focus (I operate the camera from either side depending on the setup and I dont have to remount it), I had all this mounted on a Zacuto base and rails (making easy to balance), then I a had it on Fred's Combo jib and rolling sticks.

Q: Any other comments or opinions?

A: Just that it was a fun camera to use. Its a lot more smooth of a work day than using a 5d and lot less gear hanging off rig.

Q: Would you rent the camera again?

A: TOTALLY!

Here are some behind the scenes photos from his shoot!

The C100 is available to rent at Foto Care for $275 per day/weekend and $825 per week. The rental staff will gladly show you the ropes to help you get shooting.

You can also purchase the C100 at Foto Care for $6,499 (body only).

Canon 1DX

Canon 1DX - $195/ Day Rental

As usual Canon has built this series tough with the right stuff to perform in a changing shooting environment. I personally like the range in ISO (50 in L Mode - 204800 in H2 Mode) especially because of the improvements in noise reduction; up to 3 more stops than what we are used to now. Continuous shooting up to 12fps Raw (14fps JPG) also available in Mirror LockUp, and improvements on AF are of the most notable. The hardware behind this amazing tool of imagery is what makes it all possible, particularly the 3 processors.

The Digic 4 processor dedicated to Auto Focus and Metering Sensor is my favorite.  It’s faster and more accurate, and for available light, sports and event shooters, this means a lot. Then there are the Dual Digic 5+ processors handling advanced noise reduction and the rest of the innermost mechanics of the camera. 

For more in depth points of interest please come in or call us. We personally take the new stuff for a test drive first!

            Features:

•   Full Frame
•   18 mp
•   Dual CF Card Slots
•   USB 2 Out
•   Ethernet Out
•   Mini HDMI Out