In 1987, audiences were wowed by Predator; not just because of the muscled cast, gratuitous violence and cheesy one-liners, but for the special effects: the eponymous antagonists' technology - invisibility and thermal vision. Whilst invisibility is not yet possible, thermal imaging is not only real but is growing in popularity: in more recent years it has been notably featured in Sicario and Planet Earth II.
Everyone knows that primes are better than zooms. So why bother using zooms? There are some instances where a zoom might just be the better choice.
If proper cinema primes aren't usually expensive enough, cinema zooms are even more costly - often costing more than the camera they're mounted to. But all of a sudden, this year there's been a wave of budget cinema zooms introduced, aimed at the owner/operator market and priced accordingly.
This weekend I was invited with wildlife filmmaker Leanne Gater to attend the Wildlife Film Festival Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The festival boasted over eighty films, showcasing the best wildlife documentaries from around the world.