Filmmaker Philip Bloom has decided to document the Coronavirus situation around his hometown in Richmond, London by using his Kinefinity MAVO LF. Besides the exceptional documenting stuff, we’ve earned another great opportunity to examine the cinematic quality of the MAVO LF.

The MAVO LF as a cinema camera

The Kinefinity MAVO LF (Large Format) constitutes as an affordable option to capture cinematic footage on a large sensor. Recently Kinefinity cut the price of the MAVO LF by 33% as a result of tough competition by other large format solutions, especially on the cinema cameras segment. We found this camera as a fascinating piece of gear, and thus, we’ve covered it from several aspects, by interviewing filmmakers who used it for their specific purposes. For instance, read our article about the first film that was shot on the Kinefinity MAVO LF by filmmaker Raafi Rivero as well as tips for ideal execution by filmmaker Benjamin Cotton. 

Kinefinity MAVO LF as a documentary camera

As this unprecedented crisis caused by COVID-19 is forcing us, filmmakers, to stay at home under social distancing regulations, this is a rare opportunity for documentation. Fortunately, Philip Bloom, who is a well-experienced documentary filmmaker, has decided to document the Coronavirus situation around his hometown in Richmond, London. Philip shot two videos on the MAVO LF. The first video was shot in the night and the second toward evening (but in daylight). Let’s have a look at those videos and try to get some conclusions and insights regarding the MAVO LF capabilities as a documentary camera.

Important: It’s crucial to emphasize that Philip is well familiar with filming in dangerous places. DO NOT do this if your country/ city forbids it.

Night shoot: 6k at 50fps

The first video was shot in the night in 6K at 50fps and high ISO (12,800) by using entirely long lenses, (Canon 70-200mm F2.8 IS L II and the Sigma 105mm F1.4 ART) keeping the social discussing regulations. According to Philip, this video was filmed 3 days (19/3/20) after the Prime Minister asked the public to avoid pubs, restaurants, and bars. Philip says that the video was graded with the new Film Convert Nitrate using the ARRI ALEXA profiles as the image is very similar to them. 

Watch it below:

Day shoot: 3K 195fps

The daylight video was shot on the Kinefinty MAVO LF as well in 3K 195fps in an aspect ratio of 2.4:1. This was filmed in Richmond, Kew, Chiswick, Hammersmith and Ealing between 5 and 6 pm (still daylight). According to Philip the lens used was the Laowa 12mm EF mount: “I used the normal adaptor for the shots including Chiswick then from then on the Kinefinity enhancer (like a speed booster) as at 3K the image is cropped from full-frame to micro four-thirds. With the enhancer, I was able to get around a 1.3x crop” he adds regarding the crop factor. The video was filmed on 24/3 (Lockdown day 1).

Watch it below:

Insights

The examples above can be used as a good reference for the utilization of the MAVO LF as a documentary camera. Furthermore, these are fairly good resources for how this camera functions in a day and night environments. In my opinion, the night shots are truly amazing. The highlight roll-off looks fairly good and the dynamic range is impressive. The camera does well even with complicated shots (for instance, shooting drugstores from outside in a dark environment). The delicate slow motion (50fps) helps to tell the story. The only lights are the street-lights which grant the footage a creamy and soft cinematic look. I really enjoyed watching this. By the way, you can download the whole 6K video via the Vimeo link. As for the second video, it looks less impressive regarding footage quality, however, it was shot in 3K while driving which are not ideal shooting conditions. Nevertheless, I’d say that the MAVO LF sensor is utilized a way better in street lighting conditions. Would you agree? We’ll keep updating the post when more videos are published. Stay tuned.