Danyal Khan Niazi Posted July 10, 2024 Posted July 10, 2024 Hey guys, Shooting a film coming up with a fair amount of coverage on an old school CRT TV playing VHS footage. We’re shooting super 16 on an arri 416 plus. I’m looking for input on minimizing flicker from the TV. Back in the film/video era I know there were proprietary pieces of kit to help sync shutter to NTSC video feeds, and that involved looking through the gate with the magazine off with a special tool to check refresh and shutter sync. I’m wondering if there are any other easier ways to get this done in the digital era or if anyone had any tips as I approach testing this. Thanks! -Danyal
Robin Phillips Posted July 11, 2024 Posted July 11, 2024 the synchro devices are still out there. they're sometimes used now to jam video walls when shooting on film. https://cinemaelec.com/products/filmvideo_synchronizing_control the Arri ESU-1 was the Arri specific synchronizer, and is the one that the 416 manual calls for. there is one on ebay right now for $500, which aint bad. you could always buy it, then flip it after you're done. no affiliation with the seller btw but heres the link https://www.ebay.com/itm/155829714150 IIRC an alternative is to set your shutter angle to 144 and then phase the camera while its running to eliminate any dark bar on the tv. Hopefully someone whose done this more recently or recalls better can chime in.
Danyal Khan Niazi Posted July 11, 2024 Author Posted July 11, 2024 1 hour ago, Robin Phillips said: the synchro devices are still out there. they're sometimes used now to jam video walls when shooting on film. https://cinemaelec.com/products/filmvideo_synchronizing_control the Arri ESU-1 was the Arri specific synchronizer, and is the one that the 416 manual calls for. there is one on ebay right now for $500, which aint bad. you could always buy it, then flip it after you're done. no affiliation with the seller btw but heres the link https://www.ebay.com/itm/155829714150 That’s great info - I’m running the job through Arri so I’ll talk to them about what they have in house - with these tools is there still the necessity to check that you’re at the correct sync through the gate with the mag off? Seeing as checking via the ground glass would provide an inaccurate representation?
Karim D. Ghantous Posted July 11, 2024 Posted July 11, 2024 From what I've seen on the Web: as Robin said, get your shutter angle to 144 degrees if you're shooting NTSC with 24fps 16mm. It won't be perfect but it will be pretty good. The bar will be only one line thick. Of course, using the special sync unit is better. But if you can't do that, there are options. Note: I have not done this before, so I'm not speaking from experience. Here is a comment from 2008: 1
Premium Member Steven Jackson Posted July 11, 2024 Premium Member Posted July 11, 2024 I have an ARRI FSZ synchronizer for sale cheap if that is useful
Robin Phillips Posted July 11, 2024 Posted July 11, 2024 11 hours ago, Danyal Khan Niazi said: That’s great info - I’m running the job through Arri so I’ll talk to them about what they have in house - with these tools is there still the necessity to check that you’re at the correct sync through the gate with the mag off? Seeing as checking via the ground glass would provide an inaccurate representation? I dont believe that is how you do it. as I recall, if you have it in sync then at most you'll see a non rolling slim dark bar though the viewfinder. you want to then phase the camera while it running till the bar leaves the screen. this should put it at a minimum outside the TV safe area of the tube and just wont be visible. remember the TV is refreshing at 60hz, more than double the speed of your camera at 24fps, so that bar should be there regardless of your shutter timing. its not an off/off frame like shooting blankfire and seeing all the flashes in the viewfinder and thus you captured none on film. however, if Arri is the rental house you should be talking to them. they should be able to provide you with an ESU-1 and give you instructions on how to use it. if they have the remote pickup module for the CRT that should take care of you. you might (should) also be fine if you break off the TV input signal into the ESU-1 or CE box. this all being said, if the rental house isnt helpful I'd bring in a small CRT and shoot a test.
Premium Member David Mullen ASC Posted July 12, 2024 Premium Member Posted July 12, 2024 If the monitor is NTSC running at 59.94 fps, then the only way to have no roll bar is to run the camera at 29.97 fps (you’d still need to adjust the phase.) Or you run the camera at 23.976 fps, set the shutter to 144 degrees to make the roll bars thin, then use the phase box to either put one line in the center, or two lines in the upper and lower third of the screen. Or you get a 24 fps playback company to provide a 24 fps CRT monitor and 24 fps video playback… 2
Danyal Khan Niazi Posted July 22, 2024 Author Posted July 22, 2024 Thanks for the replies everyone - I just ran some tests with Arri, with all of the info shared here. Looking forward to the results!
Karim D. Ghantous Posted July 23, 2024 Posted July 23, 2024 8 hours ago, Danyal Khan Niazi said: Thanks for the replies everyone - I just ran some tests with Arri, with all of the info shared here. Looking forward to the results! Share them if you can, and tell us exactly what you did. 🙂
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