A. Whitehouse

I really don't rate Donnie Darko and its funny because my biggest problem with it is its total lack of clarity and misdirection. I was looking forward to Southland tales but suspected that its long period on the shelf wasn't a good sign but the cast looked so screwball I figured it might be funny. Richard Kelly's next film sounds interesting though, based on a twilight zone episode but I feel like I could give his first two a miss. Does anyone else feel a certain sense of hype about this young director, even if he's shown potential?

Hi Hal, Sort of off topic but can I ask roughly how much do you pay for a 35mm print and where do you get them? Ebay? Forget DLP it sounds like you're really building a home "cinema". Is there a lot of older prints out there? Which woody Allen's?

Penelope with the digital back? Hover skateboards?

It helps if you take the lens off and point the port at a bright source. Sometimes you can get it sharp enough to see grain in the groundglass. Remember to check it during the day as your eye will wear out. Good luck.

I think this is more a symptom of the internet than the product. Often fairly innocent comments can be pounced upon when the intention was never to insult or inflame anyone. I've seen it happen a number of times here where two people seem to be tearing into each other but are arguing the same point. I think internet forums lack the characteristics of speech and tone but still have an informality which means people don't feel the need to express themselves as precisely as they would in a letter or email. Instead they engage each other in a conversational style but this can lead to a laziness or shorthand which people can misconstrue and then react to. This is the internet on the whole though, I mean its a pretty aggressive place really. In the end who cares if people disagree about this camera, as long as no misinformation is being spread then I can choose whether or not I will continue to read a thread or someones posts. I mean the Red forum has to be one of the most active on this site now, more power to it. Even if most of it seems to be lacking in anything very substantive. If I were to complain (and Ive been coming here for 4 odd years or so) it would be about there being a lack of discussion about some of the more practical and artistic aspects of our work, I think its become far to focussed on the technicals. Id like to see more peoples work on here or setups and a discussion of ideas about lighting rather than gear and specs. More energy seems to be spent talking about this argument than actually arguing it.

2 subs? Bah... Try 16 http://blog.audiovideointeriors.com/208great/

I thought the HDV compression was more aggressive than 4:2:2 and that it was only available in DVC-ProHD on the HVX. I thought the XDCAM compression was more like 4:1:1 or 4:1:0. Can anyone confirm this? Are the compression schemes different for PAL? Thanks

Hi Phil, I'm a big fan of the book and Lynch film as well (game too, even though I'm sure no one remembers that...). I didn't like the first mini series at all. It felt all too made for tv and I thought the casting was awful but you may enjoy the second miniseries which roles a couple of the sequel books into itself and I thought was much better than the first. Unfortunately I predict an awful CG hodge podge is in the works, shot far from any sand dune inside a green screen studio near you. Fingers crossed but I wont hold my breath. Sasha

It would seem that they have triangular irises right through the range. Its funny because its not what Ive experienced with Mk IIs. Perhaps Ive been mistaken about which generation of Superspeeds Ive been using. Am I reading this article incorrectly?

From experience, I agree with everything Mike says. Put your money somewhere else, stick with superspeeds. And the Mk IIs do not have a triangular bokeh. Good luck.

Any other Cricket fans out there? There's a great tri-series on here in Australia at the moment and I'm really looking forward to the IPL but I doubt it will be broadcast here. Ive had a test or an ODI playing in the background for most of the summer. Since I grew up in the states I didn't really pick the habit up until I was older. Now I'm as close to a cricket tragic as you could get.

It looks great, reminds me of lego blocks. Where are these things kept before they appear on ebay? I mean is their a huge stockpile of privately owned cameras in Russia? Around the world? I wonder how much of a problem running kodak stock through it would cause. Presumably such a large viewfinder means it would be relatively bright?

Isn't the Pro 35 the same adapter? Ive worked with the Angenieux 25-250mm on the end of the P+S and in my opinion at T3.5 you're looking at something akin to wide open on 2/3 chips. Plus you've lost two stops and have to work at T3.5. Coincidently, we ended up renting an Optimo (Availability issues I think). Be prepared for how heavy, long and unwieldy this rig is. I hope this helps.

I just want to put another vote in for car interiors and small white rooms...

Ringu Anything by Hideo Nakata Ju-on

Even though he didn't shoot the film, doesn't Raoul Coutard appear in a scene from the Conformist?

The "Guillermos" in Hellboy. Blink and you'll miss it.

Yeah I think the "Cinealta" branding refers to the design team behind the product. Its also a marketing exercise. Looks like a great little camera, 1/2 inch chips make it interesting but its a pity that they haven't updated the HDV codec.

Regardless of whether you are shooting R16 or S16 if you want a 1:1:85 master then transfer in 16:9 to tape and do the slight crop on your computer. Think of it this way, if you do a 4:3 transfer and want to watch your widescreen project on a widescreen then the TV will have to zoom into that cropped 4:3 image to pull the 16:9 image out. If you are shooting S16 then I would be interested to know why your technicolour colourist said this. There are distinct advantages to doing a 16:9 transfer, no it doesn't have to be a weird format. You can do the do the transfer to anything you like. If you have the time then supervise your telecine. If your transfering to SD then grain is going to be far less of an issue.

Double post whoops...

Hi Tim, I totally agree shooting 16:9 is doable with a R16 camera, I've shot thousands of feet of R16 cropped on SR2s but given the option of an A-Minima with a Nikon lens set then R16 would definetly not be my first choice. The ability to neg match and print an optical 16mm print does not out weigh the benefits of shooting S16 on the Aaton. 16mm prints are not standard projection formats at festivals, period. Some festivals still offer it as an option but if I had to choose between screening of digi-beta or 16mm then I would go digi every time. I mean the sound is terrible on 16mm prints and thats if they can project it. At some point your neg is going to get telecined unless your cutting on a steenbeck and if so then your matched neg will need to be so that you have a video file you can author a dvd with and submit to festivals. If you add up the costs of going to optical 16mm print then its a total blowout. The A-Minima is a great camera and you have access to one for free, take advantage of that. I think Tim would agree that while you can produce good results on R16, its out weighed by the benefits of shooting S16 in most cases, though I don't want to put words in his mouth.

It seems a little archaic to me to require a 16mm print for assessment and if he means 35mm then it's either a very rich class or he's got very high expectations. There are very real advantages to shooting s16 on the Aaton over R16 on the Arri S.

Oh and the camera has this odd magazine system where you label a mag internally (A,B,C etc.) and then tell the camera which mag you've loaded. It will store the footage countings appropriately. If they have it get the powerbase as it allows for higher frame rates and a range of accessories to be attached. Pretty good split too.

Hi John, The camera is a pleasure to use (I really enjoyed hand holding it...) but the issues Ive encountered have generally been involved with the loading and threading rather than the cameras operation. Ive used it on projects where I'm in the field on my own having to load and shoot and everyone is waiting for me while I'm sitting cursing as I try and loop the figure eight. There are quite a few posts on this site about it so it might be worth doing a search. Off the top of my head the only two disconcerting things are that the mount is meant to move around like it does and it has a weird double tap rolling feature which I found to be a pain in the ass ( I think this is different with the newer software revisions?). But otherwise its a fun camera for the right job and produces a very nice image. Nice intervalometer aswell.

No they don't.