JSD Labs: DJI Mavic Air, iPhone 7 Plus, and Cherry Blossoms in Japan

2018 Apr 01 By answer 0 comment

A few weeks ago I finally got my own drone. The Mavic Air came out at the right time and had the right specs for my needs, so I picked one up. I have flown drones plenty of times in Japan, either rentals or client’s drones, but this is the first one I have owned. It’s a different experience flying something that you personally have something invested in. One wrong move and it could be gone. So I haven’t done anything crazy with it. Drones are banned in Tokyo, which is a shame. I have been working in Tokyo…

May Showers, iPhone 7 Plus, Mavis

2017 May 13 By answer 0 comment

(Vimeo) Still working on a lot of things at the moment, but I had to go out and film/upload something in the meantime. It was pouring rain today. I have a high-quality camera that is water resistant that does slow motion. Let’s put it to use! The whole video was shot on the iPhone 7 Plus using both cameras. It’s attached to a selfie-stick (I get these things for free from distributors all the time. I have 4 of them) and filmed at 1080p 120 fps using the Mavis app. Edited in Adobe Premier and lightly color corrected. Music…

JSD Labs: Zhiyun Smooth II, iPhone 7 Plus, and Mavis in Yoyogi Park

2017 Feb 05 By answer 0 comment

A few weeks ago I got a deal on a new Zhiyun Smooth II, the updated version. I had read, though I forget where, that it has really strong motors that let you use clip-on lenses on big phones. While the DJI phone gimbal seems to have good features, I had also heard that people had issues adding extras on their phone. I jumped on this one while I had the chance. That said, the Smooth II does not lack in features at all. In fact, in this video I only used a small fraction of them, the main…

JSD LABS: IPHONE 7 PLUS NIGHT ANAMORPHIC VIDEO TEST

2016 Dec 26 By answer 0 comment

(vimeo) It’s been awhile since Mavis updated their app to take use of both of the iPhone 7 Plus’s cameras. I had a bit of time, so I went out to try filming some night shots with the iPhone anamorphic rig. Some key differences and changes now are better PID settings on the Beholder for this rig, the ability to shut off the OIS, and the ability to lock things like shutter speed and ISO. I wasn’t trying for perfection for this shoot, as I wanted to see what ISOs worked on the iPhone. It’s not really known for…

JSD Labs: iPhone 7 Plus Anamorphic Video Test

2016 Sep 26 By answer 1 comment

(vimeo) After a week of waiting, I finally received my iPhone 7 Plus from docomo on Saturday. With little time for tests and setting up, I ventured out to Hakkeijima in Kanagawa the next day to shoot some video with a rig that I wasn’t even sure was going to work. Because none of the manual camera control apps worked with the dual lens setup yet, I decided to do this first test with just the Camera app. Keep it basic, no color correction just to see what the rig can do. I had tested the setup with my…