Rich Steel

Vocas MB-350 Matte Box. Excellent all-rounder. www.vocas.com

Star Wars....nuff said (I was 7 years old at the time)

Swing in a small chinese lantern on a dimmer.

go to www.steadicams.com and get in touch via my website

I can confirm that "The Office" was definetly shot on Digi-Beta. Did a couple of days pick ups for the show.

Super16mm

P&S Technik do an adaptor for B4 mount camcorders to accept PL mounts. It's called a Pro35. You'll lose a couple of stops at least so make sure you have a fairly fast lens. The Pro35 retains focal distance's of the lens you use and the depth of field. Haven't used one but have heard both positive and negative comments about the Pro35.

I think your missing the point here Eric. I had no intension of buying this equipment. This guy was asking $6500 (US) for all this stuff, he had no ebay track record and he emailed directly, not through ebay so I instantly smelt a rat. I continued a bidding war with another ebayer. We had a bit of fun, I think we actually had the bid amount at $2,100,000 (US) at one point. We informed ebay and they had the item withdrawn. I'm just letting others know that if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. I almost split when he replied to my flange valve question. For the record I don't believe there are any flange valves in the sekonic 508c but I believe they'll be introducing them on the newer model 708c......(LOL)

Just won the following on ebay: Arri SR2 HS, with full set of zeiss lenses, mags, extension viewfinder, Follow Focus, MatteBox, Filters, sekonic 508 Meter etc etc etc.... Anyway, this joker asks me to wire funds to western union branch (you know the scam). I send him an email asking for serial numbers but apparantly everything has been packed good for shipping so can't provide any. I then send him the following email: Before I send money. Can you tell me how many Flange Valves the sekonic 508 has, is it the one that has 4 or the factory standard one that has 3? HIS REPLY: Dear Richard, This one has 4. I'll wait for you to wire half of the money. As soon as you'll do that please send me the payment confirmation(mtcn, sender's name and address, reciever's full name and address, and the amount transfered or the scanned paper) so i could be able to proceed with the delivery Thank you, Beware JUST FOR THE RECORD HIS APPARANT NAME IS "RICK TEAS" and HIS EMAIL IS: mountainloverteas@yahoo.com

Hi Folks, Need to complete my set of arri VP lenses and require a VP1. Anyone out there need to off load any or know of any rental companies willing to off load their VP1.

I've owned and operated the larger sony DSR-570 camcorder, worked with both the XL1 and the PD150/170 and I've recently down sized to the DVX100a. REASON: The panasonic blows everything above out of the water, regardless of the bigger chip set on the 570. Personally, I think the DVX100a is probably the best camcorder out at the moment for $ value, nothing and I mean nothing comes close to the results of a (and this is the key to all good cinematography) well lit and composed shot using the DVX100a. As for focus problems, well there's some real clever work arounds from chroszeil and other manufacturers, do a search on google. Why not shoot 25P? regardless of the end use/output. Better res. etc, etc, etc I've had a huge mountain to climb convincing existing clients that I can get AS GOOD if not BETTER results using the smaller camera. Unfortunately first impressions last and YES the DVX100a doesn't look professional unless you add on Matte Boxes and the like but as the saying goes......It's not what you use, it's how you use it. I believe the early models of the DVX100 had some sound issues and well touch wood the one I have seems to work perfectly well. In fact I've had several sound people one of which worked on "The Mission" remark on how fantastic this little camera is, he almost passed out when told the cost. Finally, I'm waiting for the MOVIETUBE Guys in Germany to get their fingers out there asses and launch their new products. This then opens up even more artistic possibilities. Of course there's also the P&S DooDa that you can use too but the MOVIETUBE specification just looks so much better. Finally, Finally, at the end of the day, I'd recommend trying out any and all camcorders that suit your budget before making any commitment. Just my 2c's worth, for what its worth. Almost forgot, remember, your not just buying a camcorder, you have to look at a half decent tripod, flightcasing, batteries, Matte Box, Follow focus, LWS Bars etc, etc, etc.

Interested to know why you invested in a sony PD170? instead of an XL1 or DVX100?

Mr Nash, WRAP does means your finished for the day.......ALL OVER THE WORLD. But it's history is based on an ancronim in the business way way back in the misty past. When WRAP was called on set......This told everyone that shooting was finished for the day because you Wound the Reel and Printed. You learn something new every day.

Does anyone have any knowledge and or opinion about renting personal equipment to strangers? YES, DON'T, IT WILL EITHER GET TRASHED A DAMN SIGHT QUICKER OR WORST LUCK STOLEN, NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN. PEOPLE DON'T LOOK AFTER KIT IF IT'S NOT THEIR OWN. AS FOR RENTING TO STRANGERS, GET SOME SORT OF HEAVY DUTY DEPOSIT OR PAYMENT UP FULL AND ALWAYS GET SO PUKKA I.D. I MEAN WOULD YOU HONESTLY HIRE A $5000 CAMERA TO A STRANGER. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE INSURANCE IN PLACE. If that hasn't put you off and if you still want to rent out the camera to serious players then you'll have to make a significant investment in a complete package (i.e Decent Tripod, Matte Box, Follow Focus, Light Weight Support Bars, Batteries, Field Monitor/LCD, Flight casing etc). So your initial investment of say $5000 (US) for the camera Balloons to $10,000 (US) and if your really serious about renting consider the following: 24/7 Support Back-up Equipment (yet another huge investment) Insurance

'Turn Over" is a very common term here in the UK and I'm getting really anal here but I believe WRAP stands for Wind Reel And Print.

Hi Folks please find below a list of equipment I have for sale. Email for more info and images: Sony DSR-570 (PAL) Camcorder (BRAND NEW) Fujinon BERM 14x Broadcast Zoom Lens with x2 Doubler (USED) Fujinon BERM 8 x 5.5 Broadcast Wide Angle Zoom Lens (USED, But has just had a £5K Service) Fujinon Zoom Controller for Lenses (USED) Flight Case for Wide Angle Zoom Lens (USED) PortaBrace Shoulder Cover for Camcorder with attached Rain Jacket (USED) Chroszeil Light weight Lens Support system with 15mm Bars (NEARLY NEW) KATA Soft Case for Camcorder (USED) Reason for the sale: The camcorder is new because it's an insurance replacement as is the lens service. I have since decided to down size my gear to the DVX-100a and Arri Variable primes and need the cash to finance the new lenses. I want to be as transparant and fair as possible therefor get in touch via email to get more info.

I've recently downsized my gear from having a Sony DSR570 Camcorder with Lenses etc to becoming the owner of a new DVx100 Camera and have the following extra's that all work really well as a system. In my humble opinion, with the set-up below and shooting 25P it blows away the DSR570 images regardless of the chip size difffrence. Chroszeil Light weight Bars System Chroszeil DV Follow Focus Vocas 350 Matte Box with Bars Support P&S Technik mini35mm Adaptor Arri Varaible Prime Lenses (VP2 & VP3) The vocas works really well with the DVX100 lens. It's not the cheapest but isn't the most expensive either. It offers up 4 trays to take filters. 2x 4.5x4.5's and 2 4x4's, has built in eyebrows for flagging. The only downside to using the system complete with F/F and Matte Box is that it does become very front heavy. If your doing alot of hand held stuff I'd invest in a cheap monopod to give your arms a break once in a while. I believe Vocas do a range of Matte boxs it's just that the 350 is particularly good with wide angle lenses.

I'd recommend using some software like Magic Bullet. It de-interlaces (merges the fields) to give the progressive feel to the image. It's not cheap though, expect to pay around £900 (GBP) for the software and dongle. It not only does the de-interlacing really well but has some really nice film type filters. Crushing contrasts, saturations, bleach bypass type effects etc.... Like anything in this game, you get what you pay for. Oh! and expect some horrendous render times when you do apply the effects. I recommend "War & Peace" as a good read to pass the time whilst rendering. Regards

Hi Folks, I've been asked to do a green screen shoot in June with motion control. I've done green/blue screen before but not on this scale. The production wants to paint the whole studio green, including the floor. My question is what lights would one recommend to minimise multiple shadows on the floor. I was looking at a couple of BAG O LIGHTS but not sure if this would work. I've used kino's in the past for 3/4 length shots but as previously mentioned haven't done studio green screen. Any suggestions? Oh! forgot to mention I have a limited budget of £1000 per day for renting lights. cheers Rich Steel

Hi Phil, Let me know what your kinda after and I can speak to an electronics engineer I know to see if we can bang heads together. Your thoughts?

Hi Folks, Has any other manufacturer got anything similiar to the Pro35 Unit? It's just that £16K (GBP) is very expensive so thought I'd ask to see if there were other contenders after NAB2004.

Hi folks, Can anyone shed light on the performance of the VP Lenses. I've just won a VP2 and a VP3 on ebay and what I paid for them seems overly reasonable. The winning bids were $10K (US) for each. They are brand new and never been used and were sold by a reputable Arri agent. I thought those things retailed at around $30K (US), am I wrong on this one or have I just done the deal of the century??? Many Thanks Rich Steel Steadicam Owner/Operator

I've been FCP Based for over 4 years now and have had time to experiment with diffrent export codecs etc.... The best one to date that seems to retain what I see on the Broadcast Monitor is the following: In FCP Export your Timeline (In-Out) as a reference movie. Open the reference movie in QuickTime Pro. Go to movie properties in Quicktime and Check the High Quality Box. Then Export your reference movie as an MPEG2, bit rate set between 6 or 7 within Quicktime Pro. Anything higher than this can cause problems when you start encoding in DVDStudioPro. If you do have issues with the encode there's a fix for it. Email off board and I'll reply with details.

Hi Folks, Just found some interesting gear on ebay for sale. The only problem is that I don't need all of the kit. I'm interested in the aaton a-minima system only but if anyone else is interested in the other bits n' bobs then maybe we could all chip in and do a group purchase? Your thoughts and comments? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...5&category=4691

Hi Folks, Was wondering if anyone has used the SX900 on any shoots lately? Interested in your thoughts etc....and Mitch, I know you like the camera but care to share any and all experiences setting up the unit? One last quip, I'm trying to hire some swanky Zeiss Digi Primes here in the UK but Arri Media quoted me over $2000 (US) per day to hire the full set of 8. Looks like I'm gonna have to run with the P+S Adapter and some arri primes instead, bugger.