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Nothing new, Bell & Howell Co. advertised in the 1920s What You See, You Get. 🙂

You’re right, my one concern is that the S5 (and my R5) are full frame cameras with larger pixels than most. On the other hand, the GH5s delivers good results in low light, and has an even larger pixel pitch than the R5, although significantly smaller than the S5. The question is whether low light MFT sensors are commercially available off the shelf.

I’d love a WSIWYG film camera, but at the same time I do feel like the reason I shoot film is that the limitations make you a better cinematographer.

In the same spirit of the opening of Kane, Sapientia as well as other medieval plays (e.g., Nice Wanton) as well as early Shakespearean-era plays (e.g., Gammer Gurton’s Needle), and, also, Shakespeare himself (e.g., Romeo and Juliet), reveal the end of the story at the start, as if the plot is not the consequential part. The Spectator encounters Sapientia, and experiences herself and her children standing triumphantly in answer to evil, and this is the point, and that’s why the entire second half of the play may be slotted under torture porn. (This is the play for Gaspar Noe.) The Spectator experiences, as the overall and fundament of the narrative, ways of being. After experiencing the horror and defiance at the centre of Sapientia, the Spectator departs, their own personal code either reinforced and sharpened by the Artwork, or realigned and put in a new, more virtuous direction. The world audience is ahead of Hollywood at the moment. The world audience wants to see characters reacting to hard realities in a real-world setting. Why is that strategy so hard to follow in Hollywood? An abrupt intensification of Inhumanness in our time. Hemingway. How did I go bankrupt? Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly. In the 1980s there were films that teenagers crawling cable discovered but never watched, such as Agnes of God (1985) and Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981). Their vibe of adult seriousness has vanished from Hollywood. The Oppenheimer (2023) phenomenon is a Grecian monument in the wasteland.

I'm a director and I always trust my DP to know what he is doing. We discuss the lighting and atmosphere and how to achieve it. Going to see the rushes the next day and discovering that it looks often better than imagined is magical. Before digital, nobody would even think twice and nerve wrecking has only become an issue since digital "what you see is what you get" systems exist.

Hello everybody! I recently purchased a quartz controlled motor for my Arriflex 16 St, however unfortunately it's not working. Apparently this is a super rare motor made by ARRI (Quarz - Antriebs - System, Typ: A 16 St E), and there is little to no information about it on the internet. I wonder if anybody reading this forum has any documentation about this motor, preferably schematics. I managed to find somebody who's willing to fix it, but it would make our life a 100x easier if we had a starting point. Thank you. (1st picture is from a video on youtube by youtuber "Fresh Ground Pictures", 2nd is my motor)

I get you point, even though I think it must sometimes be more nerve wracking than fun for the director. But think of it a bit like composing a piece of music with the comfort of using a good synthesiser and then later, having it played back to you on a Steinway concert piano.

David Sekanina from Zurich who is a member of this forum he is working on a super 16mm camera with a anticipated delivery July 2025 https://www.yolk.org/about https://www.yolk.org/ also Logmar is working on another Super 8 mm camera https://logmar.dk/gentoo-s8/ which hopefully be available by the end of this year.

What is the fun in that? Part of the excitement of shooting film is that you don't. For me at least 😉

It's a really interesting question. Imagine if a completely new camera was designed, using modern technology, what a radically different camera it would be possible to make. Imagine that the ground glass of the optical viewfinder was replaced with a CMOS sensor. One would not only get a much better viewfinder and assist system, but it would be possible to actually use the videotap for focus and exposure. And by having predefined profiles on the CMOS sensor, it would be possible to exactly imitate the sensitivity, colour balance and grain structure of the selected film stock. One could also select simulation of different development and processing methods on the assist system, making it truly a "what you see is what you get" system. Imagine how much less mechanically complicated a film camera would be, if mirror, movement and magazine drive was made with highly precise digitally controlled, direct drive, stepper motors, all being kept in perfect sync electronically. Imagine using a stepper motor for the movement and a gate that was electronically adjustable. One would be able to select 2, 3 or 4 perf by the push of a button. Imagine how much lighter it would be, if structural components and magazines was made of carbon fiber instead of metal. I would love seeing someone having a go at designing a modern film camera from the ground up.

I regularly shoot at 12800 iso on S5 + atomos and that is almost 4 years old mediocre camera, nothing high end at all. And have used the end results for cinema release on 4k dcp (local run + festival stuff), works fine. I'm sure a newer sensor could handle basic high iso video tap use just fine when the modern sensors are so good that you could probably use the image for cinema release too even at very high iso 😄 the optical system before the sensor itself may degrade the image of course, mirror shutters have slightly uneven surface and may be just tiny bit out of balance or otherwise oscillating. but that might actually make the digital image more interesting by introducing small organic imperfections to it?

I suppose even if you rate 500t at 3200 ISO, and give only 1/16th the light to the sensor, digital sensors today can handle 51200 ISO. Not well, but you get a usable video tap image.

Audio advance Example : 6. ... And couch supine their beauties, lily (w)hite; Nor look behind, nor side(w)ays, but require Of Heaven with up(w)ard eyes for all that they desire. 7. Full of this (w)him was thoughtful Madeline . . . * Genius Move. Stanza 10 includes a duel between (w) and [m]— He ventures in: let no buzz’d (w)hisper tell: All eyes be [m]uffled, or a hundred s(w)ords (W)ill stor[m] his heart, Love’s fev’rous citadel: For hi[m], those cha[m]bers held barbarian hordes, Hyena foe[m]en, and hot-blooded lords, (W)hose very dogs (w)ould execrations ho(w)l Against his lineage: not one breast affords Hi[m] any [m]ercy, in that [m]ansion foul, Save one old belda[m]e, (w)eak in body and in soul. Which wins out? The (w)eak (i.e. bad news) or the fir[m] (i.e. good news)? 11. Ah, happy chance! the aged creature ca[m]e . . . And now Keats resolves the tension by fusing the two sounds within one association— Ah, happy chance! the aged creature ca[m]e, Shuffling along with ivory-headed (w)and . . . * * * meanwhile SAPIENTIA • Abiscum morientis filie caput amplec- tendo • impressique labris crebrius deosculando • con- gratulator tibi Christe • qui tantillule victoriam prestitisti puellule • SAPIENTIA • I embrace the severed head of my child • as she dies I kiss her lips again and again • I thank you, Christ • for giving victory to such a small and kindly girl •

Lol, anyone would think from reading this that Tyler is single handedly keeping film cameras working world-wide. I think he’s been doing it for about 4 years, compared to plenty of techs like myself who have decades of experience. It’s worth remembering that there are still quite a few movies and other projects being shot on film every year world-wide, plenty of rental houses that still rent film cameras and therefore techs that are maintaining them. I’m in my 50s, and not planning to retire for a good 20 years, and there are at least three other film cameras techs I know in Australia alone. Tyler often talks as if he has personally interviewed every tech in the world, but thankfully the world is a lot bigger than LA. In the US there are techs at Panavision, Arri, AM Camera, Visual Products, Du-All, TCS and no doubt other rental houses that have film camera inventories that need upkeep. I don’t know what expertise they all have. In the UK there are techs at Panavision and Arri still working on film cameras, as well as a few other places. There’s a few in Europe as well, and I know at least two young guys there who are learning to service Arriflexes and other things. The problem is that you do need expensive test equipment, tools and jigs, as well as the knowledge. That tends to mean rental houses are often the best places for servicing these cameras, as they have service departments with collimators, gauges, jigs and machine shops. That’s always been the way most techs learned the trade. They also often have inventories of parts left over from the film days, and manuals. You also often need one person for mechanical and optical issues and another to deal with electrical problems, as it’s beyond most people to master both. So a team of technicians rather than one guy. Expecting older techs to simply pass on their knowledge is difficult. You can’t teach camera service in a week long workshop. You can’t even teach it properly over a year working with someone in a service department. It takes minimum three to five years of mentoring, especially if you want to know how to work on more than one or two camera models. After over two decades I’m still learning things. What I have learned well though is how to avoid causing damage, and being careful not to upset certain settings that were factory set. And that’s the main issue I have with people rushing into fixing cameras. Some of the worst damage I’ve seen was caused by inexperienced, sloppy or over-confident service techs. My take is that filmmakers should be supporting rental houses, who are best placed to train a new generation of techs. But they need enough people renting their cameras and lenses to afford a service team. But hey, if there are ten people willing to pay for my time I’d happily do a workshop on film camera service!

Sony could make a film-digital hybrid camera using SLT tech. Film in the back, sensor above the mirror.

For anyone needing one, the specs for an Arriflex SR belt are T2.5. 160 x 4mm

I assume you did a search at theasc.com ? https://theasc.com/search?q=paul+thomas+anderson At a glance, not sure if they went in-depth on anything other than There Will Be Blood.

Sony had another go at the pellicle for their later Alpha stills line, calling it SLT for "translucent", before it jumped on the mirrorless bandwagon. It works very well. I've had an A55/A58 since 2016. Sensor dust is almost a thing of the past. Only drawback- it doesn't work in pinhole mode because the super-high DoF extends right back to the pellicle and sees every bit of the surface like a microscope. It's like photographing through measles.

Aubrey’s Romance The women have several Magical Secrets handed down to them by Tradition, for this purpose, as, on St. Agnes Night, 21 Day of January, Take a row of Pins, and pull out every one, one after another, saying a Pater Noster, or Our Father, sticking a Pin in your sleeve, and you will dream of him or her you shall Marry. Ben Jonson in one of his Masques, makes some mention of this. And on sweet Saint Agnes Night Please you with the promis’d sight, Some of Husbands, some of Lovers. Aubrey, J., Miscellanies (London, 1696), 104. * Humanness in the hand Scrooby just lowered a book to his lap—The Eve of Saint Agnes by John Keats, printed by A. C. Curtis at the Astrolat Press, 1903. Printed (letterpress) on handmade paper with untrimmed edges, this book is light; it seems to float in the hand. The physicality of the book accords with the delicacy of the poem. (The handmade paper, yes, feels frosty; vibrant, not featureless under the fingertips.) The handmade book is heavy with humanness. Generations are held in the hand, and exist that close. Holding the book is a holding of the hand of the past. * What’s poetry? In The Eve of Saint Agnes consonants and vowels appear, at face value, in the same way as they appear in this sentence. But in the poem the continuum of letters is not exclusively a linear phenomenon. If, say, the (p) sound reappears in this particular sentence of Scrooby’s, this happens because that’s the way it happens in language—sounds repeat themselves willy-nilly. So what, right? But in The Eve of Saint Agnes Keats uses consonants and vowels as leitmotifs. If a consonantal sound reappears in a stanza, it’s often on purpose. In poetry—as far back as Virgil—the letters of a poem are fractal. —Fast Eddie advising the English language : Be yourself, but on purpose. That’s poetry. * Poetry = Cinema In The Eve of Saint Agnes, the overall outlay of consonants and vowels is equivalent to the lensing of a film. The specific distribution of consonants and vowels (in, say, a stanza) is equivalent to a scene’s lighting. * How to Read Poetry : an introduction by Scrooby Examples of letter distribution in Stanza 1. St. Agnes’ Eve—Ah, (b)itter chill it was! The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold; The hare limp’d trem(b)ling through the frozen grass, And silent was the flock in woolly fold: Num(b) were the (B)eadsman’s fingers, while he told His rosary, and while his frosted (b)reath, Like pious incense from a censer old, Seem’d taking flight for heaven, without a death, Past the sweet Virgin’s picture, while his prayer he saith. St. Agnes’ Eve—Ah, bitter chill it was! The (o)wl, f(o)r all his feathers, was a-c(o)ld; The hare limp’d trembling thr(o)ugh the fr(o)zen grass, And silent was the fl(o)ck in w(o)(o)lly f(o)ld: Numb were the Beadsman’s fingers, while he t(o)ld His r(o)sary, and while his fr(o)sted breath, Like pi(o)us incense fr(o)m a censer (o)ld, Seem’d taking flight f(o)r heaven, with(o)ut a death, Past the sweet Virgin’s picture, while his prayer he saith. St. Agnes’ Eve—Ah, bitter chill it was! The owl, (f)or all his (f)eathers, was a-cold; The hare limp’d trembling through the (f)rozen grass, And silent was the (f)lock in woolly (f)old: Numb were the Beadsman’s (f)ingers, while he told His rosary, and while his (f)rosted breath, Like pious incense (f)rom a censer old, Seem’d taking (f)light (f)or heaven, without a death, Past the sweet Virgin’s picture, while his prayer he saith. St. Agnes’ Eve—Ah, bitter chi(l)(l)it was! The ow(l), for a(l)(l) his feathers, was a-co(l)d; The hare (l)imp’d tremb(l)ing through the frozen grass, And si(l)ent was the f(l)ock in woo(l)(l)y fo(l)d: Numb were the Beadsman’s fingers, whi(l)e he to(l)d His rosary, and whi(l)e his frosted breath, (L)ike pious incense from a censer o(l)d, Seem’d taking f(l)ight for heaven, without a death, Past the sweet Virgin’s picture, whi(l)e his prayer he saith. St. Agnes’ Eve—Ah, bi(t)(t)er chill i(t) was! The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold; The hare limp’d (t)rembling through the frozen grass, And silen(t) was the flock in woolly fold: Numb were the Beadsman’s fingers, while he (t)old His rosary, and while his fros(t)ed breath, Like pious incense from a censer old, Seem’d (t)aking fligh(t) for heaven, without a death, Pas(t) the swee(t) Virgin’s picture, while his prayer he saith. St. Agnes’ Eve—Ah, (b)i(t)(t)er chi(l)(l)it was! The (o)w(l), for a(l)(l) his (f)eathers, was a-c(o)(l)d; The hare (l)imp’d (t)rem(b)(l)ing thr(o)ugh the (f)r(o)zen grass, And si(l)en(t) was the (f)(l)(o)ck in w(o)(o)(l)(l)y (f)(o)(l)d: Num(b)were the (B)eadsman’s (f)ingers, whi(l)e he (t)(o)(l)d His r(o)sary, and whi(l)e his (f)r(o)s(t)ed (b)reath, Like pi(o)us incense from a censer (o)(l)d, Seem’d (t)aking (f)(l)igh(t) for heaven, without a death, Pas(t) the swee(t) Virgin’s picture, whi(l)e his prayer he saith. Please note how line 4 is a sonic summation and climax to 1–3; the compression effect of the many primary sounds evokes the density of the shut-in animals. Note also how the word flight is enhanced through its aggregation of primary (t), (l), and (f) sounds set up in 1–2. * St. Agnes’ E(v)e—Ah, bitter chill it was! The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold; The hare limp’d trembling through the frozen grass, And silent was the flock in woolly fold: Numb were the Beadsman’s fingers, while he told His rosary, and while his frosted breath, Like pious incense from a censer old, Seem’d taking flight for hea(v)en, without a death, Past the sweet (V)irgin’s picture, while his prayer he saith. * * * PASSIO SANCTARUM VIRGINUM • FIDEI • SPEI • ET KARITATIS quas earundem veneranda genitrice Sapientia • preasente • et maternis admonitionibus ad tolerandas passione hor- tante • Diocletianus imperator diversis suppliciis interfe- cit • quarum etiam corpora martirio consummata sancta mater Sapientia collegit • et aromatibus condita • quinto ab urbe Roma miliario • honorifice sepelivit • Ipsa quo- que quadragesima die • iuxta earum sepulchra • finita oratione sacra spiritum premisit caelo. THE SUFFERING OF THE HOLY VIRGIN • FAITH • HOPE • AND CHARITY Their one venerable mother • in her presence • as she implored them to bear their suffering • Emperor Hadrian killed them all with diverse tortures • Then, their bodies consummated in holy martyrdom, Sapientia their mother gathered them • and preserved them with spices • and gave them solemn burial outside Rome, at the third milestone • She herself, after the fortieth day • of their burial • by their graves • her holy prayers completed, sent her soul to Heaven. Sapientia, a play by Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim, ca. 900s * * * Mr Clarke Conwell, The Elston Press, Pelham Road, New Rochelle, New York / Sir Galahad, A Christmas Mystery / December, MDCCCCII. From the prospectus : 180 copies; with large initial letters by H. M. O’Kane (Helen Marguerite O’Kane, Clarke’s wife); the full size of each page is ten by thirteen and one-half inches. The price is ten dollars, or two guineas. This is colour and texture and precision you have to see to believe. A photograph of its artistry may as well be previsualization. * Handling the book is equivalent to handling a lover; and Art Never Dies.

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Anyone got id on American cinematographer issues that discuss PTA films?

Great, thanks! Will try them out.

Yes, I just bought a pair of waterproof trekking shoes specially for this shoot.

All excellent tips Aapo, thank you very much! The tip about the knee pas especially, I haven't considered that at all. Sounds like you've been on some fun shoots 🙂