Dale Sood, a Toronto based Director and Cinematographer, recently collaborated with ROMONA, an award winning women’s wear and luxury bridal brand founded by Romona Keveza, for the launch of their latest line of gowns at New York Bridal Fashion Week. We hear from Ian Macmillan, the Director of Photography on the project about his thoughts on the SIGMA CINE lenses.
Shot on the Arri Alexa Mini and SIGMA Cine Primes
Dale and Ian utilized the SIGMA Cine FF Primes on this shoot, paired with the Arri Alexa Mini, shooting in Open Gate 4K 16:9 @ 60 fps.
“Because we were looking to show off the long flowing dresses, we tended to stay within ‘wide’ and ‘normal’ focal lengths. Often using the 50mm for detail work and sending back to the 24mm or 20mm on the wide end. The 35mm was a trusty middle ground depending on the location we were in for a given setup.
In the exterior scenes, we sat on longer lenses, often using the 35mm or 50mm as our wide-angle lens and moving up to the 85mm and 100mm for close up work. This helped us compress the background and use the stunning landscape surrounding the location to its fullest.
The great thing about the Sigma primes is how well the different lenses match throughout the set. It meant that there was never a “weak link” as far as the set of lenses. We could confidently make the choices of lenses based on the scene we were photographing without being concerned about a loss in quality.”
– Ian Macmillan, DOP
On Set Stills
The team shot on location at Lune 1860 in beautiful Goderich, Ontario.
“For filtration, we would keep a circular polarizer on the camera at all times. This is quite typical in my work, as I always like to be able to control reflections and sheens in the image at the camera side. Also depending on the lighting environment, I would use various densities of UltraCon filters and additional ND and ND grads.
In close ups we would use some obstructions, like cracked glass, and prisms, and generally tended to sit with the lenses as near to wide open as possible, to allow for the subtle additional softness created by having the iris wide open.”
– Ian Macmillan, DOP
“For a relatively inexpensive set of the lenses, the Sigma Cine Primes are extremely robust, have a wonderful soft contrast while remaining nice and sharp. They were the perfect choice for us to show off the elegance and beauty of the dresses and our models in wide flowing frames, but also the intricate details of the dresses in tight close ups.”
– Ian Macmillan, DOP
Credits
Director / Exec. Producer: @artsandrec
Creative Director: Jefre Nicholls @jefre
Producer: Carla Hutchinson @carla_mariahut
DOP: Ian Macmillan @imacdp
Campaign Photography: Nick Merzetti @merzetti
Gaffer: Guillaume Cottin @guillaume.cottin
Key Grip: Artur Vetstein @wedontfightonsundays
Swing: Jeff Becker @designeronthelam
1st AC: Godfred Adjei @goddop
Photo Asst: Brandon McEachern @brandonjamesmc
PA: Kate Panagakos
PA: Colin Wigle
Hair: Anna Nenoiu @annanenoiu
Makeup: Helen Kenny @_helenkenny
Editor: Nick Yumul @nick.yumul @marriedtogiants
Colourist: Zach Cox @builtbylightcolour @victorysocialclub
Model | RNY: Zhanna Red @zhanna.red @plutinomodels