I was lucky enough to serve as the technical advisor on AbelCine’s Behind the Lens project, a web series looking at 11 professional zoom lenses covering the indispensable 3x wide-to-tight range, perfect for handheld shooting in run-and-gun documentary situations. New York-based cinematographer Matt Porwoll graciously agreed to helm Behind the Lens: A Look at Documentary Zooms, which launched in April. We just posted the final episode in the series and wanted to look back and highlight some key findings about each lens.

Spent: Looking for Change, from Academy Award-winning executive producer Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth, Waiting for Superman) and cinematographer Greg Ephraim (All Cheerleaders Die) premiered online on The Young Turks' YouTube and Hulu channels. The film was shot by Ephraim on the Canon C300 and the EF and cinema lenses; the camera’s small profile and ease-of-use helped the filmmakers capture an intimate look into the lives of four American families wrestling with the costs of living outside the traditional financial system. Greg Ephraim takes us behind the scenes on his film-making experience on the documentary.

Delve into Canon's CINE-SERVO Zoom Lens to learn it's functionality and features, along with the future of of the company and it's other new products.

by Bradford HillThe Canon XA25 Pro HD Camcorder is a compact 1/2" inch CMOS Sensor Camera with a lot of great and unexpected stand-out features. To start, its full auto & manual modes, its two XLR inputs, and an HDSDI slot packaged with the ability to shoot 1920x1080 at 59.94p are notable. While traveling on shoots, I was impressed with the capability to be able to record 1080p at 60fps within a moment’s notice. This frame rate is a new feature to the Canon line of cameras, which gives this camera a competitive edge. It is also easy to manage when set to auto mode, which comes in handy if a novice needs to use the camera on a small crew shoot, or to simply capture any ‘run-and-gun’ footage.