Jack Kelly

Dear Jerry, I was fairly pleased with the results. I used a lighting setup something similar to my diagram above except I didn't put a light at the back (i.e. I used two 5400K fluorescent fixtures, one to either side of the presenter). I'm glad I used fluorescent fixtures instead of tungsten lights for several reasons: 1) I don't think the presenters would have liked the heat and harsh light produced by direct illumination by tungsten film lights 2) The fluoros didn't heat the room too much (The air con was off for sound, of course) 3) I was very pleased with the soft illumination created by the fluoros. Before the event, I had established that the projector had a colour temperature of about 6400K. I decided to try to light the presenters with 5400K light to try to match the projector reasonably closely, and also because the conference room had windows all along one wall which would let in some daylight (which I would not have been able to gel). I used 5400K fluoros to light the presenters. The venue had 3200K house-lamps built into the ceiling in rows extending from the front to the back. I put full-CTB gel on the front row of 3200K house lamps built into the ceiling (these lights were just to the front of where the presenters were and so threw a fair amount of light onto the presenters). This worked quite well. However, my colour-temperature decisions did have two negatives: 1) From the perspective of the audience members in the conference room (who were lit with uncorrected 3200K light), the "stage" of the room was bathed in a cool, quite unflattering light (because if you sit in the audience (with 3200K light above you) then your eyes calibrate for 3200K and hence the 5400K light illuminating the presenters looks cold and harsh) 2) Some of the uncorrected 3200K light from the middle of the room did find its way onto the presenter's faces, giving them a slightly strange (but perhaps slightly flattering) orange tint. To be honest, I think it may have been better to light the presenters with 3200K lights, put a camera filter in front of the projector to bring the projector's colour temp down to 3200K and gelled the front windows with CTO (there were no curtains). This would have been easier (it took a while to gel the lights) and it would also have meant that the entire room would have been lit with 3200K. Also, next time I think I'll try to impose stricter rules on where the presenter can/can't move. One of the presenters had a really irritating habit of pacing up and down whilst presenting! Anyway, the client was happy so overall it was a success, I suppose. But it was by no means perfect.

Dear All, So, my trusty DVX100Ae needs it back-focus adjusting at a service center. Does anyone know roughly how much the service will cost to fix the back-focus? Just looking for a ball-park figure. I'm based in London, UK. Many thanks, Jack

Dear All, So, my trusty DVX100Ae needs it back-focus adjusting. Does anyone know roughly how much the service will cost to fix the back-focus? Just looking for a ball-park figure. I'm based in London, UK. Many thanks, Jack

In terms of fluorescent tubes, in online forums I keep hearing about "GE Chroma 50"s and "DuroTest Optima 32s and VitaLite 55s" but I haven't been able to find any UK suppliers of these tubes. I've also read that KinoFlo no longer make their own tubes; instead they use DuroTest Optima 32s and VitaLite 55s.

Does anyone have any recommendations for good 5400K tubes? 5400K seems to be a fairly rare colour temp for fluoro tubes (but there are lots of 6400K tubes). The two 5400K tubes I've found are: * Philips Graphica Pro 950 (5300K; CRI=98%) * LUMILUX DE LUXE T8 (5400K; CRI=95%) I guess I should go for the Graphica Pro because it's got a nice high colour rendering index. Just wondering if anyone has any experience using these tubes for videography? Many thanks, Jack

OK!

Dear Ken, Many thanks for the reply. Good point, I should look into hiring an HMI or two for the day. Thank you. Thanks again, Jack

If using the paper or silk china balls, I'd be a bit nervous about covering the holes at the top and/or bottom because of the fire risk. Try running the china ball (with the top and bottom holes open) and notice how much air moves up through the china ball. I would have thought that most tungsten lamps would get dangerously hot without that airflow. Given that the original poster was talking about making "DIY" china balls, has anyone tried building their own china balls using fluorescent fittings? I'm thinking of somehow suspending a single fluorescent tube (with a protective plastic sheath) inside a china ball for a really soft, cool-running lamp (but, granted, it won't output a huge amount of light). Many thanks, Jack

Here's a schematic diagram of my planned setup: All 3 lights will be a fairly low-power fluorescent fixtures. Light3 will only provide a tiny bit of fill and shouldn't overtly affect the blacks on the projection screen (the room will be fairly brightly illuminated throughout the entire session as it's more of a workshop than a traditional lecture). Please do let me know if you have any better ideas or if you can spot any particularly stupid elements of my plan! Many thanks, Jack

...if I used the £8.50 ebay enclosures then I could do without the protective tubes and I could build a 4-tube dimmable light fixture for about £104.

Hmm, another option for the enclosure might be the waterproof twin tube enclosures which are available for £8.50 each from eBay.

I'm planning to build my own dimmable fluorscent lamp. Bellow are my plans. Please do shout with any opinions. For example, I'm a little worried about my choice of enclosure but I can't find anything more suitable here in the UK. I would consider fabricating my own enclosure from scratch (using a sheet of metal (earthed!)) but I can't find any suitable lamp fittings. All prices including VAT. The tubes Fluorescent T8 Northlight 965 18watt 2ft. 6500K. CRI=98. No UV output. £6.10 each Tube sleeve T8 2 Foot Clear (25mm Diameter). £7.68 each. The enclosure 4x18W fluorescent recessed modular fitting. Pre-coated steel body with aluminium louvre in mirrorbrite finish. Louvre reeded opal polycarbonate diffuser included. Takes T8 tubes. £26.97 The Ballast Osram 18 Watt T8 Dimmable High Frequency Quad Ballast QTI4x18DIM. Dimming system=1-10volt input. 94% efficient. More specs. £62.98 Controlling the light level The ballast claims it takes a 1-10v analogue input to define the light level output. I'd plan to make my own little controller which will output 1-10v. I'll probably use XLR connectors between the controller and the lamp so I can extend the distance between the fixture and the controller using audio XLR cables. Other notes Total cost (excluding delivery, the corrugated plastic or the controller) = £145.07 I'm planning to encase the entire system in corrugated plastic (6mm thick), possibly using a simply wooden frame to give it rigidity and hinged barn doors. I'll also have to make a simple mount to allow the fixture to be used with standard lighting stands. Oh, and I'll also make some of my own sand bags!

I'm going to take a shot at making a dimmable flouro fixture and I'm wondering whether to use T5 or T8 tubes? As far as I can tell, the differences between the two types of tube are: T8: 8/8th of an inch in diameter. T5: 5/8th of an inch in diameter. Wider choice of high-CRI bulbs. More output per watt than T8. Runs cooler than T8. So it sounds like T5 tubes are the way to go. Does anyone have any other opinions on the "T5 versus T8" issue? I'm planning to use rigid plastic sheaths to protect each tube.

Bother, sorry - I seem to have posted exactly the same thread twice. PLEASE DO NOT REPLY HERE! Please reply to this duplicate: http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/in...showtopic=34417

I'm due to video a lecture soon and I'm eager to get any advice at all! I've filmed a few lectures before but I've never been entirely happy with the lighting so I'd like to try upping the game a little this time. The venue is a large meeting room (i.e. there isn't a "stage"). There will be a front-projected PowerPoint presentation shown on a screen on the front wall. The presenter will be free to walk the width of the room, including in front of the projected image (i.e. it's entirely possible that they will spend some time illuminated by the projector). I'm very limited in where I can position lights because my lights mustn't spill onto the projection screen. Neither must my lights distract the audience or the lecturer. Ideally I'd like to illuminate the lecturer to a level similar to the level to which the projector will illuminate the lecturer if they stand in the projector's light (i.e. I'd like to fix the exposure and I don't want the image to clip horribly if the lecturer stands in front of the projector). My current plan is to use two KinoFlos: one to each side of the front wall pointing directly towards the lecturer (i.e. if the lecturer was standing in the middle of the front wall facing towards the audience then he will be illuminated on both sides of his face by the two KinoFlo units). There are several reasons why I'm thinking of using this setup: I want to use large, soft sources to illuminate the lecturers I like the idea of using lights which wont run hot for two reason: a) safety and b) we'll have the aircon off for sound and it will get hot in there if we run bit tungstens or HMIs. It should be relatively easy to use the doors on the kinos to prevent the light from spilling onto the projection screen or from blinding the audience too much My biggest concern about this setup is that the level of illumination on the lecturer's face will change quite dramatically if the lecturer moves around a lot. One possibility I'm considering is building my own "Kinos" using high-frequency dimmable ballasts and I'd control the light levels on the two "kinos" from my camera position. I'm shooting on a DVX100a in 16:9. Any thoughts would be great! Many thanks, Jack

I'm due to video a lecture soon and I'm eager to get any advice at all! I've videoed a few lectures before but I've never been entirely happy with the lighting so I'd like to try upping the game a little this time. I mostly film sit-down interviews for corporate videos. The venue is a large meeting room with quite a low ceiling (i.e. there isn't a "stage" and there's no opportunity to suspend lights from the ceiling). There will be a front-projected PowerPoint presentation shown on a screen on the front wall. The presenter will be free to walk the width of the room, including in front of the projected image (i.e. it's entirely possible that they will spend some time illuminated by the projector). I'm very limited in where I can position lights because my lights mustn't spill onto the projection screen. Neither must my lights distract the audience or the lecturer. Ideally I'd like to illuminate the lecturer to a level similar to the level to which the projector will illuminate the lecturer if they stand in the projector's light (i.e. I'd like to fix the exposure and I don't want the image to clip horribly if the lecturer stands in front of the projector). My current plan is to use two KinoFlos: one to each side of the front wall pointing directly towards the lecturer (i.e. if the lecturer was standing in the middle of the front wall facing towards the audience then he will be illuminated on both sides of his face by the two KinoFlo units). There are several reasons why I'm thinking of using this setup: I want to use large, soft sources to illuminate the lecturers I like the idea of using lights which wont run hot for two reason: a) safety and B) we'll have the aircon off for sound and it will get hot in there if we run bit tungstens or HMIs. It should be relatively easy to use the doors on the kinos to prevent the light from spilling onto the projection screen or from blinding the audience too much My biggest concern about this setup is that the level of illumination on the lecturer's face will change quite dramatically if the lecturer moves around a lot. One possibility I'm considering is building my own "Kinos" using high-frequency dimmable ballasts and I'd control the light levels on the two "kinos" from my camera position. I'm shooting on a DVX100a in 16:9. Any thoughts would be great! Many thanks, Jack

Hi there, I have a nice Sony PVM-14L4 monitor which I feed via component YCbCr from my Blackmagic Decklink HD Extreme card. When I'm editing HD projects, the Decklink card down-converts the HD to SD while I'm editing so I can still use my SD monitor to edit and grade HD projects. However, should I be worried about colour-space issues (i.e. HD uses rec.709 whilst SD uses rec.601)? To confuse matters further, as I understand it... rec.709 and rec.601 are standards for the digital encoding of HD and SD video (respectively). i.e. there's no such thing as "rec.709" or "rec.601" once you're in analogue land. In other words... do I not need to worry about colour space issues when monitoring HD on my SD CRT because my monitor is being driven by an analogue (YCbCr) connection? I'm confused, I admit it! Any help would be greatfuly received! Many thanks, Jack

Hi Phil - thanks loads for the reply. I'm a keen reader of your articles in Showreel. Great stuff. Yes, the more digging I do, the more worried I'm getting about the HV20's rolling shutter in conjunction with a car mount. I'm starting to think it'd be quite daft to buy an HV20 for use on a car mount. Instead of getting a cheap car mount and an HV20, we might instead get a more expensive car mount and use our FX1 / Z1. I am right in believing that both the Z1 and FX1s use CCDs instead of CMOS sensors, aren't I? Many thanks, Jack

Hi there, We're doing a documentary destined for broadcast here in the UK. This doc will include a lot of footage of cars and of people in cars - the doc is partly about cars. As always, there's very little money. We're thinking of purchasing a small car mount and a Canon HV20 to go on the car mount (we shoot most stuff on a Z1 or DSR-500). The kit has to be easy to travel with - it will be flown around the world quite a bit while we're shooting the doc. We're probably going to buy the car mount listed at the top of this page. Are there any issues we should be wary of? For example, will the vibration of the car cause lots of tape drop-outs and/or cause that nasty "jelly" effect you sometimes get when you expose a CMOS-camcorder (with nasty rolling shutter) to high-frequency vibration (as discussed at length here)? Some example shot ideas: 1) Camera mounted on car bonnet, looking towards the windscreen for a two-shot of the driver and passenger. 2) Camera mounted on side of car, pointing forwards to get low-angle footage of the car driving along 3) Camera mounted on inside of the windscreen, pointing towards the driver with the driver's window in the background of the shot. Any thoughts would be most welcome! Many thanks, Jack Kelly London Camera/Producer

Great, thanks loads for your replies. I will check out DV Rack! Thanks, Jack

Hi there, What are the dangers of getting an old, 2nd hand monitor? Do monitors slip out of calibration with age? I'm thinking of buying a Sony BVM-1410P (specs PDF). Thanks, Jack Kelly London Dir/Prod/Camera

I'd like to buy a waveform monitor and I'd love some advice. Here's what I'd like to use it for (in order of importance, most important first): 1) Monitoring whilst shooting DVCAM, DigiBeta, HDV, HDCAM etc 2) Monitoring whilst doing colour correction on my Color Finesse setup 3) Hooking up to my TV and keeping an eye on the waveform / vectorscope whilst watching broadcast TV and DVDs (don't laugh! I think it'd be a cool way to gain a little extra experience whilst relaxing!) Needless to say, I don't have a huge amount of money to throw around so value for money is of utmost importance to me. Are there any great deals to be had on eBay? Are hand-held monitors extortionately priced? Are there any decent software scopes that will run on a Windows XP laptop (I read about one that analyses a DV signal from firewire.... but I've forgotten the name!)? Are there any clever break-out boxes that will allow a laptop to take the following inputs: composite SD, composite HD, SDI & HD-SDI? Thanks loads for your help, Jack Kelly Dir/Prod/Camera London

Hi Laurent, Thanks loads for the very kind words! I'm really glad you like the article and the site! Thanks, Jack

Hi, I've recently written an article on Shooting Super-16mm On A Low Budget over on UKFilm.org. If you get a chance, I'd really value your feedback and opinions about the article. The article first considers some of the reasons why you might want to shoot Super-16mm instead of tape for even a low budget film. It then looks at some ways to make your film for the least amount of money. Here's the link: Shooting Super-16mm On A Low Budget Any thoughts or feedback would be most welcome. Warmest regards, Jack

Yeah, that's probably your best bet. Good luck. Thanks, Jack