5 Useful stranger things for Cinematographers
Light Meter
There are many tools for calculating exposure now but few are as consistent and reliable as a light meter. I take mine on every job because you can’t always trust what you see with false colour through the camera.
Pocket Torch
Random but probably the most useful bit of kit for those early morning starts and late night wraps. Make sure you get one that’s light, bright and rugged. Most will come with rechargeable batteries but if they don’t pick some up and feel good that you’re saving the planet.
Sunseeker App
Easy to use and essential for location scouts and planning ahead. The app allows you to see the suns path throughout any given day in any location. Brilliantly simple and once you start using it you’ll wonder how you ever shot without it.
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/sun-seeker-tracker-compass/id330247123
Shotdeck
Created by award-winning cinematographer Lawrence Sher ASC, ShotDeck is soon to be the biggest movie frame catalogue online. Endless reference and inspiration the website works like Google for movie frames. They are always looking for people to help catalogue imagery so hit them up and join the party.
Many leather bound books
I love collecting books. Technical guides, photography books, books on my favourite painters. In an age where everything is available online I just like to sit down and grab a book from time to time.
But don’t waste hard earned cash on expensive photography books unless you want to of course. Instead jump over to Pinterest and curate your image library there. It’s free, there’s a tonne of amazing reference and you’ll have it with you all of the time.
But if you do fancy picking up a few books then a good place to start are the cheaper and smaller (photog books are massive) Photo File or Photo Poche (French version) series.
