M Joel W

I might shoot S35 between 9.8mm and 480mm. S16 between 5.5mm and 240mm. 2x anamorphic on 35mm at 50mm and 75mm. And 4 perf 35mm between 18mm and 135mm Full frame would be nice but not necessary. Mostly interested in S16 an S35. Is there an affordable director's finder that works for all this?

Seems almost heretical to ask, but is there support for 2.8k ProRes 444 recording on the Convergent Design Gemini? (As opposed to ArriRAW.)

There's an excellent article somewhere on the cinematography of Atlanta, which I believe uses a similar technique. I worked as an AC on a feature where the DP would use the Alexa at 1600 ISO or 3200 ISO to get more of a gritty image (and better highlight detail), but I think on Atlanta they shoot at 800 ISO with custom viewing LUTs that push a couple stops, then then use those LUTs as the basis of the grade or a reference instead. Brandon Trost I believe used to rate the Red MX sensor a couple stops brighter than it really is and push in post for a similar effect, but I believe Red is metadata and Arri ProRes is not so there's some logic behind shooting at 800 ISO and rating at 2500 ISO. I wouldn't know what it is. In practice, it might not matter why. Someone already figured out something that works. Shoot with the Alexa at 800 ISO, underexpose by a stop and two thirds, push the image by a stop and two thirds in the grade.

It's set screws that are a pressure fit with a metal ring so it works the same but it doesn't scratch the lenses. https://rafcamera.com/adapter-arri-b-to-canon-eos I have like ten and I just need one or two. I have changed cameras from EF to PL mount camera so I'm ordering PL mount adapters instead. They don't work as well for very very heavy lenses, but for the Schneider primes they work fine and I just used a lens support for heavy lenses. I also have one Italian adapter that appears to be more traditional–all steel with grub screws, but the flange distance is intentionally left very short so you can go super macro or adjust flange distance I guess. I put it on an old Mk1 standard speed lens and was able to focus close enough to put an Aspheron on the front. It was like a 10mm MK1 standard speed. Not really useful to me ultimately.

If you have an EF mount on your Amira, I have way too many Arri B/Arri standard mount to EF mount adapters from rafcamera (and 3D printed lens caps for the deep rear element) that I can offer. They work well, flange distance seems accurate. They work well on the Schneider primes.

Hi Giorgio, I have a 35mm and 50mm I am thinking about selling. But I am in the US. Also a defective 28mm with element separation that is too bloomy for normal use. No worries either way. These lenses are especially beautiful, in my dreams I shoot a feature in 2 perf with them. You must have good taste.

I need to rewatch the Game and Panic Room. It was actually the Zodiac director's commentary of all places where I was impressed by Fincher praising his collaborators, Savides in particular, rather than getting into technical specifics as I expected him to... maybe I have something else in mind and am projecting. I might just be a film nut. It's only Zodiac and Collateral (and really oddball stuff that doesn't look traditionally "good" like Adult Swim or Speed Racer) that I thought looked better for being shot on digital. But I also can't imagine Bay or Fincher going back to film, so I dunno. I think Social Network underwent a Lowry denoising, too. I thought it was a stylistic thing, but I suppose the style wouldn't warrant it if the camera were clean enough on its own. Never even seen a Viper, I have no idea.

Zodiac is my favorite Fincher film but the fake anamorphic flares were the beginning of the end for me. I like how it’s lit, though, it feels naturalistic but looks so much better than actual available light would. There’s almost a hyperreal quality that matches some of the CGI-enhanced camerawork. Curious how to get that look and curious how much of it was shot on stages. Seems mostly top lit but with soft sources and bounce from below, mixed color temperature but in a controlled way that never goes too extreme, maybe that’s the basic idea. Whereas Seven feels more Classical to me, more like three point lighting almost or at least more dramatic. Someone was telling me how Rodrigo Prieto’s style is using a ton of light to create something that looks simple and natural. I’ve heard Savides kept it more minimal. So I am really curious how Zodiac was lit. I also really liked Social Network and Dragon Tattoo despite not caring for the Red MX sensor’s look generally. I think Dragon Tattoo is the best looking thing shot on that sensor. I prefer the Dragon sensor, but Gone Girl looked worse to me. And despite a beautiful pilot, I couldn’t deal with the anamorphic look on Mindhunter and tuned out. But I don’t like Netflix content that much. I am curious what the difference is between how Netflix develops something and how more traditional networks do. It’s great in theory that Netflix allows near-complete authorial control (over everything except camera choice, apparently), but there’s an almost amateurish quality to a lot of their content, even the expensive stuff. At least to me. I’m both ecstatic and really worried that they greenlit a David Lynch series. I didn't think the Return was beautifully shot, but I thought it was perfectly shot for the show. The again I was worried when I read it wouldn’t be 35mm (Indland Empire didn’t do it for me). Those worries were misplaced. Given the thematic importance of the passage of time in that show, the decision to use a contemporaneous style is perfect. But Inland Empire was not for me... And I do overall prefer the look of Fincher’s work on film (and know others who are more aesthetes than I am who shrivel at my love for Zodiac). And I miss Bay’s collaborations with Schwartzman. Starting with Robert Rodriguez (and maybe Inland Empire?), and I think culminating with a lot of the prominent Red early adopters (Bay, Fincher, Soderbergh), I think there’s been a lot of excitement about how digital obviates the need for a cinematographer–or at least gives the director more leverage and control. I actually like some of the stuff Rodriguez shot himself but I don’t like where this trend seems to be going. So maybe this is just a knock against authorial control in general. On the other hand, Fincher’s recent stuff is all better than Alien 3. And I agree about magenta skin tones… not for me...

I feel like most directors' approach is to make the vfx look more like real life. And Fincher's approach is to make real life look more like vfx. Haven't seen Mank yet, and in the past (Mindhunter's anamorphic treatment) this style hasn't always been for me. Sometimes I like it (Zodiac, Dragon Tattoo) and I strongly suspect the uncanny quality is intentional if not downright "subversive." The Calvin Klein Rooney Mara ad seems to have a similar style, and I thought that was great. But it's funny with these titans. Maybe no one tells them no? I listen to how Vlado Meller mixes a Chili Peppers album (too much compression) and it sounds bad, there's no way this is intentional. But then Kanye and Rick Rubins mix their album super loud and the rumor is he knows what he's doing, he wants a louder album than Jay Z. Maybe as a creative you need to think outside the box, and entertain (and sometimes act upon) bad ideas. When is too much too much? Or is it just a matter of taste? My favorite Kaminski and Richardson movies would almost certainly qualify as having "too much" diffusion. When Domino came out I felt like the color work was a little much, but now it looks ahead of it's time to me, so I suppose it's also a matter of context.

Thanks, I was forgetting a little adapter to connect to VCT. That sounds right. Do you know if the Mini and Amira have better highlight detail than the Classic/Plus? Arri originally quoted +7.3 stops over 18% gray for ALEV III and now quotes +7.8. And I believe they changed sensor vendors: https://www.arri.com/en/learn-help/technology/image-processing But they also changed firmware a few times. And does ArriRAW have more highlight detail still? It's an interesting question (to me, a nerd, at least) what Arri will do with their new 4K+ S35 sensor. Dynamic range over 18% gray at a given ISO should be a product of full well capacity. A 4k sensor should have roughly twice as many pixels as a 2.8k sensor (and half the full well capacity) and a 5.7k "true 4k" sensor roughly four times as many (and one quarter the full well capacity) at a given ISO. So Arri should lose a stop or two of highlight dynamic range with their new camera if it stays at base 800 ISO. I'm pretty sure Red Helium, for instance, has a stop less highlight detail at a given ISO than the Dragon, and of course both have less than the Alexa. It'll be interesting to see if Arri works magic or if the new Alexa is 3200 Base ISO or something.

Thanks, that's really helpful to know. At some point I think I learned that but totally forgot! Separate question, but this seems like the right thread: is the base of the Alexa Classic the same as Sony VCT? Arri has these $900 or $1400 tripod plates and I'm wondering if I can just get a $300 Sony plate (or $150 Small Rig plate) instead.

Thanks, that's sort of what I feared. This battery is rated for 12A but the camera shut off with two bars remaining if I remember correctly, after which the battery read as empty. With a Gemini 4:4:4, I assume this will only get worse. Or it could have been a fluke. Are there affordable (and good) high capacity AB mount batteries out there? The 90Wh Anton Bauers seem widely available used, but I'm not sure how much sense buying like ten of them makes. Your post might speak to Berry's original question and the subsequent debate about the apparently non-linear correlation between Wh and battery duration. If there's a non-zero floor below which the camera won't operate, perhaps higher-capacity batteries do last longer (particularly lower quality ones) and it would make sense to own fewer high capacity batteries rather than more low-capacity batteries for high-draw devices. If so, yet another point for the Amira....

To what extent are more expensive batteries better than less expensive ones? (Other than durability.) I have a Watson battery that powers an Alexa Classic fine, but not for long. Then again, it seems none of the 150 WH batteries last that long...

I'm out of my depth here, but I have found that on an overcast day bead board and silver reflectors throw enough light for a decent offside key for CUs and then you can set up a solid on the other side and as close to the talent as will still be out of frame for close ups to give a bit of shape to the light. Even a 4x4 floppy will probably get the job done I think and be fast to move? Bring it right to the edge of frame and it should do quite a bit. Of course contrast filters will also be an interesting option for black and white. I think Schindler's List and the Lighthouse used quite different, possibly opposite, colors for a romantic vs more masculine and dreary effect. Nicely shot movies lol. I have been working a bit with Schneider Cine-Xenons (the poor man's Cooke S2) and their rendering is dull on overcast days. So you might want to use a matte box and mattes as they're intended to be used to bring back some contrast as those old coatings that look so nice in high contrast scenes will wash out in the day. In my world this means gaff tape around the lens lol, but a matte box and mattes would be good, too. Again, out of my depth and coming from a guerrilla background, but it might be impossible to achieve a 4:1 contrast ratio on an overcast day. And even if you can only do this in close ups, it will not match the wider coverage. So I would just do what you can. Lastly, composition is more important than lighting in most cases. Of course the two are related but if you can compose the images nicely and control the light relatively well that will probably be fine. A hard light like the aputure might prove too sourcey to intercut nicely. Try that really reflective bead board (they sell it here at Home Depot and at grip shops) and the silver side is very punchy. You can bounce into that or try putting it close to the subject and use the sky as bounce. It really works. For sunny days I put the sun behind the character (or just off to the side to avoid lens flares) and then cheat the characters slightly in close ups to improve the angle of the sun on their face. Again I am from the super guerrilla world but rather than using a frame to diffuse the light I like to bounce it back from the opposite side, and not even entirely as fill so much as slightly opposite the light so it has a 3/4 back light look. You can also put a bedsheet below the actor for his close ups to fill a bit more, too.

Here it is... was very difficult to get a photo.

I have two lenses where they have one tiny little patch of fungus. As soon as I got them, I isolated them from the rest of my lenses. Is it safe to store them with my other lenses? If I zap them with high power UV will it kill the spores?

Also I believe there's less negative area than 3 perf Super35 cropped to 2.4:1? Because the native aspect ratio of 2 perf when using the sound strip is 2.67:1? So you need to crop the sides a bit.

There's a $7k SR3 Advance on RedUser, but that price seems much too good to be true.

William, I'm impressed by the work on your website. What approach do you take to halation? Is the reason everyone is using an Alexa because it has the second most dynamic range to film? The first image looks more like film to me.

PM'd you

Yes, I recently have been using the EVA1, S1H and S1. Panasonic seems to have an edge on ASIC processors. The image is very good from all of them and they don’t consume much power. It’s pretty amazing. A7SIII also looks amazing. Dynamic range is on par with cinema cameras. Pretty impressive what you get for the money now.

Looking for 9.5mm, 12mm, 16mm, 25mm in AB mount. Okay if you don't have a 12mm, I already have one, but might just buy the whole set. Not in a rush to buy. No PL mount adapters wanted. Also interested in 50mm f1.4 Contax in Aaton mount.

I am no longer in the market for a camera such as this, but I was recently thinking about it. I think my dream camera would be somewhere between a K3 and an A-Minima, only quieter, and compatible with daylight spools. I was also thinking how useful and affordable Tokina's APS-C 14-20mm f2 zoom or 11-20mm f2.8 zoom would be on an EF-mount adapted K3. But of course the K3 is too loud for sync sound and is not crystal sync. I wonder if it's possible to manufacture an Aaton mount to Nikon adapter compatible with gelded lenses such as the Tokinas and use these on Aaton mount XTRs for instance. Anyway, I'd love something like that designed to take 100 foot daylight spools but also quiet enough for sync sound and with some sort of timecode or guide track for sound. Because I think once you get to the level of an XTR or SR3 it's already a larger production so forget competing with that (or 200 foot or 400 foot magazines) unless you're really planning to go all out. But a quiet b camera even with a digital finder like the Logmar could be nice. Maybe I just regret missing out on the Ikonoskop A-cam when it was available. It looked pretty cool to me. It is interesting how expensive reflex Bolexes are today. I was looking at a REX-5 and converting it to super16, but the prices were too high and I went with two other cameras instead. But I think this reveals that there is a market for small S16 cameras if so many people are looking at REX-5s. There's no way to make this quiet enough for sync sound I imagine? That would be really cool. I also want a dSLR form factor Amira lol. I want things that don't exist.

No. The film grain pattern is too random. You won't have issues with moire as you might with a digital camera where it's a grid shooting a grid. However, if you are shooting mosquito nets or something where there is moire visible to the eye, it will appear on film, too, of course.

The new Xelmus lenses look really nice and probably a lot cheaper than some bespoke solution at $12k each.