Nicholas Price, a Sydney-based DOP and producer who has made commercials, video clips, TV, documentary and short film. He is always striving to bring a unique visual style to any project he works on.

Nicholas Price 是一名悉尼的摄影指导兼制片人，他曾制作过商业广告、视频短片、电视剧、纪录片和电影短片。不论从事何种项目，他都努力使之呈现出独特的视觉风格。

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His work, After Nightfall, a dark web series about the murder of a gay teen, was inspired by Twin Peaks. It is set in a world where every character is flawed, corrupted and hiding something. There was never a doubt that it would have a dark, neo-noir look and, to capture it, he chose the Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon Full Frame Primes.

他的作品《黄昏之后》是一部讲述同性恋少年被谋杀的黑暗系网剧，其灵感来自《双峰镇》。故事中的每个角色都存在缺点、腐化堕落并有不可告人的秘密。毫无疑问，本剧有一种昏暗的新黑色氛围。为了捕捉这一点，他选择了Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon全画幅定焦镜头。

Choosing the Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon Full Frame Prime Lenses

选择Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon全画幅定焦镜头

With limited resources and a tight shooting schedule, big, elaborate lighting set-ups weren‘t an option, so a gritty noir look was both practical and the right aesthetic choice. After all, the noir films of the 50s were born of necessity; expressionist filmmakers with lower budgets were getting out of the studio and filming in dark gritty locations. With this in mind, Price decided to shoot at ISO 2000 on a set of fast, compact lenses – he couldn’t think of a better way to put the Xenon FF Primes through their paces.

鉴于资源有限且拍摄日程紧张，无法选择大型、精致的灯光设备，所以粗糙的黑色便成为即实用又符合美学的恰当选择。毕竟，50年代的黑色电影就是应需而生的——表现主义电影制作人因预算较低而走出摄影棚，到黑暗的地点进行拍摄。考虑到这一点，Price 决定用一套快速，体积纤巧的镜头，在感光度 2000 下进行拍摄——他认为这是测试Xenon FF 定焦镜头性能的最佳方法。

“I’d be lighting with practical lamps indoors, streetlights for night scenes and available light with reflectors and neg-fill for daytime scenes. The lenses would have to perform under some pretty harsh conditions and in the end they outperformed the camera as well as the conditions,” Price explains.

“我在室内拍攝采用场地本身的灯具照明，在夜间依靠街灯照明，在白天利用自然光照明并借助反光板和遮光旗板。这些镜头必须在一些相当苛刻的条件下拍摄，最终它们的表现好于摄影机，且不囿于环境，”Price 说道。

“The Xenon FF Primes are the first set of true cine lenses that I‘ve owned,” he continues. “With the diverse work I do – documentary, short film, run-and-gun and web series – I need a set of lenses that are compact, fast in T-stop and in ease of use and, of course, cinematic in their look. I love how smooth the 300-degree focus rack is and they have a lovely bokeh from the 14 blade iris. They also seem to have a less contrasty look than other similarly sized primes. For me, it is easier to add contrast than it is to take it away, especially when shooting with a harsh Australian sun.”

“Xenon FF 定焦镜头是我拥有的第一套真正的电影镜头，” 他继续说。“考虑到我所从事的项目五花八门，有纪录片、电影短片、即时跟拍和网络剧，我需要一套紧凑、快速T-stop、易于使用，当然还要有电影效果的镜头。我喜欢其 300度的平滑变焦行程，以及一个基于14叶片光圈的可爱散景。与其他尺寸类似的定焦镜头相比，他们似乎具有更小的对比度。对我而言，增加对比度比消除对比度更容易，尤其是在澳大利亚烈日下进行拍摄时。”

Price tends to shoot wide open on these lenses with at least a Schneider-Kreuznach 1/8 Hollywood Black Magic filter to take the 'video' look out, especially when shooting on the Sony F5 and F55 or similar camera.

Price 喜欢为这些镜头搭配至少一个Schneider-Kreuznach 1/8 Hollywood Black滤镜进行广角拍摄，以便凸显视频效果，尤其是在使用索尼F5和F55或类似摄影机进行拍摄时。

Technical equipment

技术设备

After Nightfallwas filmed on the Sony F5 on Cine-EI mode at 4K, which locks the ISO at 2000, and all the night scenes were shot at T2.1. In addition to the Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon FF-Prime Lenses, Price also used the Hollywood Black Magic Filters (1/8, 1/4 and 1/2) and the Schneider-Kreuznach 138mm Close-up Diopters (+1 and +2).

《黄昏之后》是用索尼 F5 的 Cine-EI 模式拍摄的，分辨率为 4K，感光度锁定在 2000，并且所有的夜景都是在 T2.1 下进行拍摄。除了 Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon FF 定焦镜头外，Price 还使用了 Hollywood Black Magic 滤镜 (1/8, 1/4 和 1/2) 以及 Schneider-Kreuznach 138mm 近摄放大镜 (+1 和 +2)。

“By this time, I had five of the Xenon FF-Primes.The 25mm quickly became my favourite lens on this shoot and was my go-to lens,” Price explains. “We’d put it on to watch the actors block the scene and rarely took it off. We shot everything on location, often in small spaces with a large cast, and on the Super35 sensor it was just a perfect focal length, giving us a lovely cinematic look. I love it as a wide lens and as a close-up lens, I love it handheld, off sticks or on a dolly. While the 25mm stood out, surprising me with how often I used it, the 50mm is the unsung hero of this project. I could’ve quite happily shot the entire series with just the 25mm and 50mm.”

“到这个时候，我已经有了 5 个 Xenon FF 定焦镜头。在这次拍摄中，25mm镜头迅速成为我的最爱，也是我的首选镜头，” Price 解释道。“我们使用该镜头进行拍摄，并很少把它取下来。我们始终选择外景拍摄，通常空间狭小却演员众多，而在 Super35 传感器上，它的焦距恰到好处，带来了一种可爱的电影效果。” 我喜欢把它当做广角镜头和特写镜头使用，不论是安装在支架、摄影车上还是手持拍摄，效果都很好。虽然 25mm 镜头表现出色，其使用频率之高，令我也感惊讶，但 50mm 堪称该项目的无名英雄。我非常高兴仅用 25mm 和50mm镜头就完成了整个项目的拍摄。”

 “Roughly two months after wrapping the series, we decided we needed a few pick-up shots for the first episode. The new 18mm arrived on the morning of our scheduled evening of pick-up shots, so there was a chance of using the 18mm on After Nightfall,” enthuses Price. “We filmed three exterior shots that night, two of them on the 25mm and one on the 18mm. The moment I put the 18mm on the camera, I was blown away. It was my new favourite lens!”

“在拍完这部剧大约两个月后，我们决定为第一集补拍一些镜头。补拍时间定在晚上，而 18mm 的新镜头早上便已到达，所以我有机会在《黄昏之后》的拍摄中使用 18mm 镜头，”Price 兴奋地说。“当晚，我们拍了三处外景，其中两处使用 25mm，一处使用 18mm。在我把 18mm镜头装在摄影机上的那一刻，我被震撼了。这是我最喜欢的新镜头!”

Working with the Xenons

使用 Xenons

“It's amazing how quickly your relationship with new equipment changes. When the lenses first arrived, I practically wrapped them in cotton wool. Twelve months later, I'm standing on the lens box to get the perfect shot,” says Price. “The lenses are tough, I've travelled with them, regularly sat, kneel and stood on them. I've shot in dusty, rugged conditions, hot weather and with both experienced and beginner camera assistants, and the lenses have performed through it all. The image is super-sharp and looks great wide open. In fact, wide open is my favourite way of using them. I also love to shoot straight into the sun or practical lights, letting them flare, which they handle beautifully. When we shot straight into a set of headlights, we found the lenses looked great but the camera couldn't handle it and reflected the sensor back onto the image. Apparently, this is a common issue with the Sony F5 when its heavily back-lit.”

“你和新设备的关系变化之快令人惊讶。镜头刚到的时候，我几乎是用棉布包着它。12 个月后，我站在镜头盒上拍下了完美的镜头。” Price 说 “镜头很结实，我带着它们旅行，并经常坐着、跪着、站在上面。我曾在尘土飞扬、崎岖不平的环境里，在炎热的天气中，在经验丰富或初学摄影助手的帮助下进行拍摄。所拍图像非常清晰，视野十分开阔。事实上，我最喜欢使用他们拍摄宽阔的镜头。我也喜欢对着太阳或实用灯光拍摄，他们产生的光晕非常漂亮。当我们直接对着汽车大灯拍摄时，我们发现镜头看起来很棒，但摄影机表现不佳，并将传感器反射回了图像。显然，这是索尼F5严重背光时的常见问题。”

where we tilted up off a table and an empty whiskey bottle to an actor lying on a couch, then racked to his ghost son watching through the glass door,” says Price. “It was shot at night, wide open at T2.1 and there is little or no breathing or distortion on the image at all.

“我们有很多从前景到背景的调焦过程，其中有一个片段是我们从一张摆放空威士忌酒瓶的桌子上仰拍，镜头对准一个躺在沙发上的演员，之后再将镜头对准正透过玻璃门看着他的幽灵儿子。” Price 说。“这是以广角模式在夜间拍摄的，曝光级数T2.1，但几乎不存在呼吸效应或失真情况。

“Possibly the best praise for these lenses comes not from me, but from our colourist, Keiran Lee, who mentioned how well-balanced the shots were across each scene. In other words, once he graded the first shot of a scene the others all fell in line. I'd love to take credit for this, but I think it comes down to how well colour-matched these lenses are. Basically, I'd light a scene for the wide shot and then make minimal adjustments as we moved in for tighter shots.”

 “也许对这些镜头的最佳赞誉并非来自于我，而是来自于我们的配色师Keiran Lee，他提到了镜头在每个场景中的良好平衡度。换句话说，在他为某场景的第一个镜头调色后，所有其他镜头都会保持一致。虽然我很乐意把这归功于自己，但我认为这取决于镜头的良好配色。基本上，我会以广角模式开始一个场景，然后在我们进行更紧凑的拍摄时进行微调。”

About After Nightfall web series

网剧《黄昏之后》介绍

When an 18 year old boy from a small town is murdered, everyone is a suspect. His family, his drug-dealing uncle, his boyfriend, his ex-boyfriend and conservative parents, the town thug and the sleazy local bookshop owner...

当小镇上的一名18岁男孩被谋杀后，每个人都有犯罪嫌疑，包括他的家人、他的毒贩叔叔、他的男朋友、他的前男友和保守的父母、镇上的流氓和卑劣的当地书店老板…

After Nightfall is a six-part web series that asks the question: ‘Who Killed Troy McLeavey?’ The second season has been shot and is in post-production. Again, it was shot with the Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon Full Frame Prime Lenses, but this time on a Red Monstro 8K camera.

《黄昏之后》是一部六集的网络剧，它提出了一个问题：“是谁杀死了Troy McLeavey？”第二季已经拍摄完成，正在进行后期制作。第二季也是用Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon全画幅定焦镜头拍摄的，不过这次采用的是一台Red Monstro 8K 摄影机。