Eric Steelberg ASC Posted September 9, 2006 Share Posted September 9, 2006 Tomorrow I start shooting a short film called MY WIFE IS RETARDED. It stars Sean Astin, Leslie Bibb, Gary Cole, and George Segal. Director is Etan Cohen. We're shooting HD with a planned film-out. I arrived at Plus 8 Digital yesterday to set my menus and was greeted with a brand new F900-R. I ordered a 900/3, but they have 5 Rs and are putting them on "promising" projects. My interest was piqued since I had heard about the dramatic reduction in noise and the extra latitude in the highlights. I also heard that the menus were new so I asked to speak with an engineer. I was introduced to their Chief Camera Engineer who began a 1 hour in depth show and tell of the new camera. He worked at Sony developing this camera before he came to the rental house. In the 'back', he set the camera up in their test booth which consists of lit charts, colors, fabrics, manequins, etc. Then they have monitors and scopes everywhere which they use to tweak the cameras. From all the testing he showed me, we arrived at a setting which most closely matches what I normaly do with a 900/3, with one exception...about a 1/2 stop more range in the highlights. If you underexpose a little, as I always do, you can even get closer to 1 stop more out of the top end. Noise has also been dramatically reduced. In my opinion thus far, this is a major update to this camera, almost requiring a new designation/name in my mind. I'll report back after the shoot on the performance with some frame grabs if possible. I was also impressed with the smaller size and weight. Closer to a Varicam, still heavier though. Report back on Tuesday. In case anyone is wondering, my camera package consists of the following equipment: F900/R Zeiss Digizoom 6-24 Zeiss 40mm & 70mm DigiPrimes 14" HD monitor Astro 3001 This is also my first time using the Zeiss' on a shoot, look forward to seeing how they perform for me in the real world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stephen Murphy Posted September 10, 2006 Share Posted September 10, 2006 This is also my first time using the Zeiss' on a shoot, look forward to seeing how they perform for me in the real world. Eric, You'll love the Digiprimes. Are you recording on board to HDcam or to a deck? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Steelberg ASC Posted September 12, 2006 Author Share Posted September 12, 2006 Camera was absolute pleasure. From an operators standpoint, it was quieter with NO tape noise and a fraction of the heat the previous model generated. The lack of heat is probably one of the contributing factors to the lower noise images. Yes, they have noticably lower noise, and I was only viewing a 14" HD monitor. As mentioned before, it performed better ouside as well. The highlights seem to roll off a bit more gradual and have about a half stop more of deatil in them. Doesn't sound like much until you see it. I'm so impressed with the new cam, that I'm going to try and book it for Wal-Mart's holiday commercials I'm shooting over the next two weeks. A word about the Zeiss lenses...incredible. The short zoom had no breathing and was incredibly resistant to flare. The two primes, great. The Sharpmax is also an interesting tool. The lenses are super sharp and have really nice contrast, probably in part due to the same coatings which help reduce flare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Jayson Crothers Posted September 14, 2006 Premium Member Share Posted September 14, 2006 Eric~ Thanks for the great info; I'm prepping a feature right now and was looking at carrying the 6-24 digizoom and then the 40mm and 70mm as well. Did you have any issues with matching the zoom to the primes; any thoughts about the combination at all for that matter? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Steelberg ASC Posted September 15, 2006 Author Share Posted September 15, 2006 Jayson, They might be the best matched lenses I've seen. I didn't MTF them, I just compared the waveform/vectorcope images and couldn't tell a difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Alessandro Machi Posted September 15, 2006 Premium Member Share Posted September 15, 2006 I ordered a 900/3, but they have 5 Rs and are putting them on "promising" projects. My interest was piqued since I had heard about the dramatic reduction in noise and the extra latitude in the highlights. I also heard that the menus were new so I asked to speak with an engineer. I was introduced to their Chief Camera Engineer who began a 1 hour in depth show and tell of the new camera. He worked at Sony developing this camera before he came to the rental house....... .......In my opinion thus far, this is a major update to this camera, almost requiring a new designation/name in my mind. Thanks for sharing. I just want to point out this is what I have found so infuriating about new technologies that actually always take 5-10 years to truly evolve yet are always touted from the get go as being the new poop. This has to be some form of business fraud when it's cutting into the existing margin of established companies such as Kodak and Fuji that I am presuming don't lie about their film products, or do they as well? By the way, the previous generation of this camera probably just took a 10-20 thousand dollar hit in value, maybe more, because of the "refinements/improvements" mentioned above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcel Zyskind Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 Hi Eric Have you used the HDW750 before? Do you know how the 900/r and 750 compare in terms of fan noise? I believe the body now is the same weight, I just need to know the noise level. I'm prepping a film where a lot of the film will be shot indoors in a quiet house. We had penciled two 750, but the rental house now say that they can provide two brand spankling new 900/r's. Thanks Marcel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Steelberg ASC Posted September 15, 2006 Author Share Posted September 15, 2006 It seemed to be to be much quieter than the 900/3. You should however go down and see for yourself since something like that can be subjective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Elhanan Matos Posted September 16, 2006 Premium Member Share Posted September 16, 2006 I've been really interested in fully testing the new F900R, I got to play with it at one of Sony's open houses and it kinda seemed like they made it more ENG-like, adding that turbo gain button and giving it the same menu structure as the 700's... I really hate that menu structure... and as for the digiprimes... I miss them so much... I've been on a TV show with Panavision lenses, which are good, but they don't really come close to the digiprimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Steelberg ASC Posted September 17, 2006 Author Share Posted September 17, 2006 I'm not a fan of the new menus. There are just so many of them. Sony should really make them easier to navigate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Alessandro Machi Posted September 19, 2006 Premium Member Share Posted September 19, 2006 I'm not a fan of the new menus. There are just so many of them. Sony should really make them easier to navigate. Everytime I see the title of this topic post, I like it less and less. How about renaming the movie... "Only a retard would have married my wife". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Kevin Zanit Posted September 19, 2006 Premium Member Share Posted September 19, 2006 Everytime I see the title of this topic post, I laugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jan von krogh Posted September 19, 2006 Share Posted September 19, 2006 (edited) Hi Eric Have you used the HDW750 before? Do you know how the 900/r and 750 compare in terms of fan noise? I believe the body now is the same weight, I just need to know the noise level. I'm prepping a film where a lot of the film will be shot indoors in a quiet house. We had penciled two 750, but the rental house now say that they can provide two brand spankling new 900/r's. Thanks Marcel its the same. We opted for 750 instead of 900-3 years in the past, for the exact reasons some people prefer the 900r/750p over the 900-3 now. less/no noise, less heat, less weight, less battery-hungry more creative options in the menu and in the hardware (intervall, slowshutter etc), less external add-ons needed (hd-sdi out) etc. In the USA it might be a MUCH harder pitch between the 900-3 and the 750, as the US 750 only does 30p, the euro 750 does 25p and we are shooting for cinematic release all the time with it at 25, in the USA 30p wouldn´t be an option for this. Everytime I see the title of this topic post, I like it less and less. How about renaming the movie... "Only a retard would have married my wife". LOL! Edited September 19, 2006 by jan von krogh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcel Zyskind Posted September 22, 2006 Share Posted September 22, 2006 Hi Thanks guys. We decided to stay with 750's. The new 900's are not easy to find yet in the UK and there is not enough time to test them before the shoot. All the best Marcel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Tim J Durham Posted September 22, 2006 Premium Member Share Posted September 22, 2006 In the USA it might be a MUCH harder pitch between the 900-3 and the 750, as the US 750 only does 30p, the euro 750 does 25p and we are shooting for cinematic release all the time with it at 25, in the USA 30p wouldn´t be an option for this. We have a HDW-730 which is switchable between NTSC and PAL. Is that not the case with the 750? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jan von krogh Posted September 22, 2006 Share Posted September 22, 2006 We have a HDW-730 which is switchable between NTSC and PAL. Is that not the case with the 750? sonys marketing & sales gives you 25p/50i on EURO 750, 30/60 on USA 750. Goal is to rip more money of the cinematic & international buyers and forcing them to the 900. Doesn´t work as well in Europe as many cinematic releases are done in 25 anyhow. Thats one of the disappointing businesscultures of sony. HDCAM VTRs playing back all 1/2 tape, recording only HDCAM etc are other examples of this monopolistic way of thinking. wont last forever anyhow, as propietary formats have seen their best days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Allein Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 "My Wife Is Retarded" might be the best title for a movie since David Oderkirk's movie "The fu** Up" two years ago. (I dont even know if it got distributed). I would go see it, sight unseen, based on title alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Drury Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Can someone please tell me how I can find this movie? I have searched every rental place, and checked every movie site, and even youtube, but can not locate this film. I appreciate any assistance you can give me. My e-mail is charles@reapersride.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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