On December 17, 2024, the short film Sven: Life in Front of the Lens made its premiere for Osprey Packs, highlighting the long career of Sven Brunso, often cited as the most photographed skier in history. The film was a long time coming not just for Sven – who is capping off his career with this retrospective – but also for filmmaker Gabe Rovick of F4D Studio, and Sven’s long-time photographer, Liam Doran (who just happens to be a SIGMA Ambassador).
While the film beckons to be viewed thanks to its beautiful, picturesque mountain backdrops of Colorado, another important part of its visual appeal comes from the tools used to capture it. The entire production (except for some drone shots) was filmed with SIGMA lenses!
The film’s director, Gabe Rovick, tells us below about the project and how his SIGMA gear performed.
So who is Sven Brunso?
“Sven is an athlete, but he’s also like a photographer that doesn’t use a camera – he sees these images and puts himself in the scene before it’s even captured.”
“Sven’s been published more than any skier in print – and he’s been doing this for 30 years – but for the last 10 years or so he worked with Liam Doran who is a SIGMA Ambassador. So after seeing Liam’s shots of Sven, I asked ‘Hey, what gear are you using?’ After learning he used SIGMA lenses for all his action shots, I was inspired to try them for this project, which looks back on Sven’s entire career.”
The cameras
“Our main camera for this film was the Sony FX6, and our secondary cameras were a Sony A1, A7 IV if I needed to mix it up or go smaller. Actually, most days I had one mirrorless camera around my neck with a smaller SIGMA zoom lens, and one in my pack with the SIGMA 70-200mm already mounted to it, so if I needed a quick, unique shot I could just use one of those cameras instead of taking out the cinema camera.”
Go-to lenses
“For my style of shooting, my main go-to is the 24-70mm. I almost never take that off one of my cameras. The 70-200mm and the 16-28mm would be my other main lenses.”
“The 70-200mm – I need this lens all the time! The athletes are always far away from me, or I might want to get close-ups right in their face, so that I tried to keep that lens on the camera as much as possible, ready to go so I could handhold it or throw it on a tripod real quick.”
“As for the 16-28mm, I love that wide look, but the thing about that particular lens is that it’s so lightweight. I could just walk around with that in my hand all day long and not worry about my arm getting tired while I’m hiking up and down mountains. And it’s still super sharp. And honestly, I love the feeling of a real heavy-duty lens – like ‘I’m a badass photographer’ – but there’s something to be said about that compact feel.”
“I also used the 150-600mm a few times for some long-range shots. One day we set up this scene where Sven skied this huge couloir, and I was on a completely different ridgeline very far away. That lens worked out so well. He must have been a mile away from me, and I got him, full frame, hiking up the mountain, so I mean that lens is epic. And I was excited to have a use case for it outside of its traditional use, taking pictures of birds or wildlife. I got to use it in an action scene, which was a lot of fun.”
Autofocus performance
“I shot this project pretty much 100% autofocus – sometimes in lower light I’ll throw it into manual – but for the most part I used autofocus, and the responsiveness of these lenses with all my Sony cameras was awesome, even in scenes where there’s lots of snow flying everywhere, or shooting in slow motion.”
Working in tough conditions
“So I don’t baby my gear, I really put it to the test. I want my gear to do its job, and I want those dramatic shots where I’m up close and personal. These lenses held up great. One day it snowed a foot in about three hours, and I was brushing off the lens every time we did a shot. But even with all that snow, they did a great job. I didn’t notice fogging or anything like that, and at the end of the day the inside of the camera was clean. Even at night when it was freezing cold, I set up a time lapse in the snow at 12,000 feet elevation and left the camera out there, came back in the morning and it’s still snapping photos and the lens is holding up, and tack sharp.”
“I might be different than other people – I value my lenses for sure – but they’re not made to sit in your bag. You gotta get out and use them and get the shot!“
Overall experience with SIGMA lenses
“I love having like a wide range kit in my bag, and being able to work with SIGMA for this project really elevated my cinematography because I could choose a different lens for each scenario that matched the look I was going for.”
“If you’re just starting out, one of your goals should be to build your lens kit up, because that’s really what’s going to define the look of your work. You can probably accomplish that with just two or three lenses, maybe the 24-70mm and 70-200mm, and the 16-28mm for an inexpensive wide option. That’s a great three-lens kit, and every lens serves its purpose.”
“Those three zooms are such quality lenses, and so sharp, and the autofocus is so good, that you don’t have to stress. You can pretty much do anything with them, and less stress always leads to a better product in the end.“
Shop for Gabe’s go-to SIGMA lenses!
Above lenses available for Sony E-mount and L-Mount camera systems
