weiming

Hi all, anyone has the same experience of the pro35 backfocus running everytime u change a lens? i had this experience, and we had to constantly adjust the backfocus with every lens change. we ensured that the pro35 was mounted properly onto the camera and all support rods were in place. Camera used was a varicam w/ ultra primes and a chroziel light-weight follow-focus. One other thing i noticed was that when u racked focus, the pro35 unit would shift slightly. is this normal? thx for your help!

Hi all, i have a few questions which i would like to ask: I downloaded the depth of field tables for both cooke(S4) and zeiss(ultra primes), and realised that at a given aperture and focused distance, the depth of field was slightly different for both brands. furthermore, when i compared both tables to the PCAM software on my palm, they were also different... So should we ignore it because in the real world the difference is negligible? Next, what proper etiquette should we observe when using a laser distance meter, for example: leica disto, to measure a subject's distance from camera? Thank You!

Hi all, to digress a bit, when u guys use a laser distance meter to measure a person's distance from the camera, do u point the laser at some part of his/her face (of course not the eyes) for example the nose; forehead etc. ? will the talent be irritated by it? if so how should we go about doing it, and get the most accurate measurement at the same time. Thanks!

Hi all! Have any of u guys used a 2ft 4 bank kino with a ballast set at the 4ft function? i read from the kino manual that it is not recommended as it will cause a green spike(does green spike just mean that the light will be greener?) and increase the heat generated. In that case, do any of u still use it at the 4ft setting and are there any things to watch out for? thanks! weiming.

Hi all, let's say u are shooting with the varicam in an enclosed room lit only with tungsten lights(3200k) and there is no sunlight seeping in at all. should u switch on the 3200k filter wheel or should u white balance instead? Are there any pros/cons with either method? thanks:) weiming. p.s i think this applies to other video cameras with filter wheels as well; does it?

hmm... at first i was just curious to know whether this was true or not; but now that u mention it, i think it would affect focus pulling if u did not apply this 'rule' then again, after reading the other posts, can i safely say that for most of the time, u need not worry about this arc thingy? except maybe when using wide angle lenses? thanks:)

Hi all, i was browsing through cinematography.net and read that; let's say u focus a camera at a certain distance, the area that is being focused on exists as an arc around the camera. i always thought it was a straight plane. anyone have any ideas? thank u very much:)

Hi all, just like to find out if any of u more experienced ACs' have any tips or guidelines as to pull focus successfully. recently tried to pull focus on a P+S mini35 / XL2 with an 85mm, aperture wide open, and it was damn hard to get the subject sharp. the shot was a MCU of a person sitting down talking, and she was moving her head back and forth as she spoke. other than using a smaller aperture, are there any other tips which i can follow? thank u : )

Hi all, after playing back tapes on the JVC BR50 from a recent short film, shot on the HD100(can't remember the exact model), i noticed dropouts/artifacts in every single tape. These dropouts/artifacts looked like strange rainbow-coloured lines that run horizontally across the frame, and lasted for a few frames. luckily, they did't appear on the good takes, and only occured once or twice for each tape. we used one of the most expensive sony master tapes. anyone has any idea why such things still happen, and ways to prevent this from happening? thanks, weiming.

okok i understand clearly now. Thanks all for replying. hmm, but something just occured to me. won't that mean that u have to roll the camera with film stock inside before u could adjust the pitch? in the process u could lose about 5-10secs of film, depending on how long u take to adjust... guess it's supposed to be done sparingly.

Hi all, i know that the 2mm and 1.5mm sizes(diameter) are useful on cameras such as SR3(adjusting pitch, shutter angle). what other sizes do you guys mostly use, and on what equipment? i just started out in this line as camera assistant/grip, and want to buy a set of commonly-used hex drivers. thank u very much:) weiming.

Hi, according to the SR3 pdf manual: 'with the new pitch adjustment you can adjust the camera to optimise the running noise level when different types of film stock are used.' what does adjusting the pitch physically change, that reduces the running noise level? does using different film stocks in the SR3 create diferent noises/ noise levels? Anybody have any idea? thanks:) weiming.