A. Whitehouse

Isn't that a fiddly operation. I ended up doing it mostly with my pinky. After twelve loads I never quite got a hang of it. Quite a bit of trial and error, I might just try a stick next time.

I was surprised when I saw this post because I had an experience yesterday on set with a kit of these (which Ive used before with no problems) where an electric standing next to me had a very very bad shock from a faulty plug. It was really quite frightening and because of the electricity he was unable to let go of the head and it was several seconds before someone turned it off at the wall. He was fine eventually but it was the first time that I had been on set and someone needed to be taken away in an ambulance and it was a real eye opener for me about safe practices when dealing with worn equipment. Looking at the kit afterwards we never would have plugged them in, taped together switch housings, molten plugs etc... but at the time while we were setting it up none of this was going through our minds we just had to get the pre-light done quickly before the band turned up. All I could think afterwards was that it could have been any of us and I'm not sure that my body would have stood up to the shock as well as his did. Luckily he was a fit guy and fine after being released from hospital several hours later but it was a major fright for everyone involved. I don't want to make cast any aspersions on these lights as this particular kit was not well maintained but I was surprised to see this posting after yesterday. In my experience Ive always found these lights to be hot and difficult to use and as someone already pointed out when pointed directly without some form of diffusion they are little more than shop lights. Earlier this year I ended up turning the whole unit around and just using the diffuse light that punches through the back side of the umbrella because it was far from what you would call a subtle light. I am fond however of the Lowell Softlight, the one with the hood which is I think a 1Kw light. Its incredibly punchy and when a 4 bank 2 foot Kino wouldn't do the job it lept to the occasion. I don't about what price would be fair, perhaps a kit of Arri 650s would be more useful? I hope this helps. Sasha

Where's that port on the west coast of Africa where the ships have just been run aground and abandoned and now theres dozens of them like rusting carcasses. There are a few abandoned cities in China that were evacuated to make way for the three gorges dam. Some of them would be under water by now. And just about any commercial district is usually pretty empty on a sunday. Can be very ghostly...

Hi Victor, Where are you based? I would be interested in seeing your rig when you finally get it finished but I wasn't sure if you were in Australia yourself. I'm in Melbourne and was also interested in who you'd talked to about post work flows for 2-perf in Australia. But then you may not be based here... Thanks, Sasha

I don't know what gear Thomas works with but in my experience, when pulling with 35mm adapters, I really agree with him. None of the distances, measured on the lens, are ever spot on or as marked and the difference changes between lenses. The adapters can be terrible like this and you have to check the focus on the ground glass regularly while no one is looking. Sometimes Ive put a lens back in the case because I just can't get it to focus. Pulling with the P + S on a HVX Ive found the HD split invaluable and since everything gets shot wide open theres a lot of chasing focus anyway. I haven't worked with any 2/3 inch HD imagers and on S16 I'll measure and mark it out but with the adapters there is a huge difference between having a onboard HD and SD LCD and it turns up in my work. I know its a pretty specific example and a little off topic but I thought I'd just add my two cents to what Thomas was saying. Sasha

I turned down the elites, for a set of superspeeds, on a music video last year. Mostly because I hadn't heard of them; and am now prepping something else and regret not having given them a go. I'd like to hear some more peoples experiences with them. I know this sounds odd but one thing that put me off them was their size, from memory them seemed smaller than zeiss lenses but that may have been because I was shooting with a mix of 16mm lenses and 35mm superspeeds, I cant quite remember. I thought they might be a bit finicky on the front of a A-Minima. I would like to do tests with them when we check the camera and stocks but time is so compressed it never seems to happen till like a day before. Are they pretty consistent through out the whole range? The superspeeds can be a little weird. Does anyone know whats been shot with them? The website is pretty spartan. I can generally see the difference on the big screen when something is shot with Zeiss or Cooke but with the SD telecines I finish on I wonder if its worth the X2.5 in rental price? Sasha

Hi Oliver, A lot of successful shorts are shot on R16mm and projected on the big screen. Some have had a lot of success even shot R16mm cropped to 2.35 and blown up to 35mm prints. Not that they look flawless but a real testament to making do with the resources at hand. These newer stocks are really opening up possibilities. Sasha

Why aren't there more Viking movies? It seems like fertile ground for stories...

People are bidding...

You're on a bold and wonderful journey. A good online resource for Japanese cinema is www.midnighteye.com which will cover some of the contemporary stuff that I love. I'm a big Takashi Miike fan but its something of an acquired taste. There is a BFI film about Japanese cinema which might give you some pointers as well. There are a lot of great samurai films made by other directors besides Kurosawa so its worth checking them out as well. Also there are some great Japanese co-productions which you might enjoy like "Hiroshima Mon Amour" or even the somewhat dated but strangely enjoyable "Shogun" tv series. There's lots to see but as I understand it most of it goes fairly unwatched in Japan. From China it might be worth having a look at the films of Fruit Chan who sometimes flies under the radar a bit but his feature from a few years ago "Dumplings" is an all time favorite of mine, and its shot by Chris Doyle. If you can find the short its probably the stronger of the two though. Hope you get to see some of this stuff and don't be afraid to watch the films from the 50's and 60's or some of the erotic stuff which can be really good as well, just a little weird. Oh and a teenage angst bully film (modern) called "Blue Spring" is well worth seeing. Something like the american film "Brick". Sasha

Again I haven't used it but I would imagine that since it is video gear it would have a bit of flex in it yes. And it does look big but only compared to the hvx. I mean how small can a handle bar rig really get? The only reason it really caught my eye was because it looked like a fairly sturdy arm for the lcd which is a big plus. Sasha

Maybe this helps? http://www.lemac.com.au/sales/ZACUTO/Zacuto.htm Not a direct link to the manufacturer but it looks like a good system. Perhaps you could contact them directly. I have not used this system so I can't comment on its quality. Sasha

The only reasons they would request a Z1 that I can think are They are already shooting Sony or HDV and want to keep it consistent (Sony always seems to be the most popular in PAL territories). They know that the Z1 is far better to use as a operator, in my opinion, than the HVX or DVX. Especially if you shoot off the shoulder. Although if the view finder was usable on the JVCs it would put up a fair fight. Its an indication of the level of camera they want to hire rather than a specific model. They might be trying to avoid someone turning up with their PD150 to eek one last job out on it before the record heads rust. Maybe they really like Zeiss lenses. The Z1 will probably work out cheaper for you if you really want to purchase. You could get a HVX but if you're only doing mini dv work or weddings its not as ergonomic and once you start buying P2 cards the price will really sky rocket. Pound for pound as an SD camera I would go with the Sony, Im a sucker for that top mounted lcd screen. I dont think they would turn you down without a specific reason if you had an HVX My two cents...

Almost all festivals will expect you to submit on dvd or vhs. If you are selected then they might screen off hdcam but in my experience very few do and if money is an issue then at this point far more festivals offer digibeta or beta sp internationally. There are exceptions. Some festivals will allow you to submit on 35mm and 99% of festivals screen 35mm prints. If money is less of an issue then it might be worth getting that hdcam dub made but otherwise just wait to get in to something and see what they require. Hope this helps. Sasha

I understand that you're upset but this isn't what I would consider to be an awful experience with a lab. It doesn't sound as if they have damaged your footage at all. I don't want to sound like I can't appreciate that you're annoyed with them but worst case this is an inconvenience not an "awful experience". Sounds to me like they tried to straighten the mistakes they made out as best they could and you suffered from some poor customer service. It would have been good if they had been more honest about their timeframe.

Kodak...

I thought that this might stimulate a bit of discussion, similar threads exist here but this is a long list. I think it might be a bit broader but still incomplete obviously. Some of the comments at the bottom are interesting. http://dailyfilmdose.blogspot.com/2007/06/...r-director.html Anyone you'd like to add? Sasha

Hah I cant believe you dont like the song, its a classic. Im interested in the baby oil and what effect this has does it accentuate some sort of reflectivity on the skin or what?. It all looks toplit or mostly, most of the people in the vid have their faces angled up, chins high, to get the light onto their faces.

I dont have any specifics for you but it is one of my favorite videos. Great track too. I would love to know more about it as well.

Sorry just saw what lens you are working with, please ignore some of my DOF comments as T2.2 is still pretty quick and I dont think lens weight would be as much of an issue. I hope this helps. S

Hi Andreas, Ive worked with the Optimo (Though the longer one) and the pro 35mm adapter and I would like to back up the call from above for a second set of rails. The problem being that the pro 35mm adapter is grounded in video production accessories while the Lens is obviously big, heavy, and requires a real mattebox and pull focus so the limited "light weight" rails system on the adapter is useless. Unfortunately by the time you start to work off the production baseplate and rails then the accessories are odd sizes and you start having to adapt everything, building little kits at the rental house from scratch. Also be prepared to need a seriously long set of rails as by the time you have the camera, the adapter, the lens and the mattebox it becomes a very long beast and extremely lens heavy. You don't indicate what format you're shooting but I've worked with this set up on digi beta as a focus puller and it was shocking how hard a time we had with it, it's not something I would call a pleasure to work with. Just on a final note, if you can get the gear from a rental house that regularly rents this exact set up you will have far smoother sailing as I have had to work with rental houses who have handed us the gear without really having any experience with it first hand(a double whammy once was them being new to both the pro 35 and the HVX, that was an extremely long gear checkout) and nothing fits together so for the first few days you're constantly sending someone running back to the shop for another bit of gear. Hand held becomes a real problem. Oh, just as an after thought. In my experience an on board split is in valuable. If working with a smaller handicam it can become useful because the lens is so long and the weight on the tripod is so counterbalanced backwards to compensate that any viewfinder or flip out screen is tucked away behind you if you are operating from somewhere near the panhandle or legs. If you are working with primes or an ENG style cam it isn't as much of an issue but ideally the split should sit somewhere just behind the adapter. My only last point would be unless you are matching shots to some other "wider open" material shot through the P + S adapter and quicker primes then I would ask why shoot through the adapter at all if you are working with a lens that only opens to T3.1. It is already beginning to verge on the space where the adapter will begin to see itself (the spinning disc can come into focus) on shorter focus shots and the depth of field would be almost similar to wide open on the 2/3" lens wide open ( I'm thing digi primes or the cannons here but you know what I mean) or even wide open and longer on the 1/3" imager on a smaller handi cam style camera. Do not underestimate how slow this rig becomes. Somewhere around 80 ASA with the HVX and a little gain. That can be a pain in the ass at night or in interiors. It becomes a really different lighting game at that point, can be tough to work under. Im not trying to put you off, I really like the system. It's just Ive been through some problems assisting on it and shooting with it. I hope I didn't ramble to much, just trying to impart some of my experiences with it. S

Umm, just off the top of my head, have you seen "Songs from the Second Floor"? This might be a slightly extreme example of what you are looking for but a great film and truly stunning sets and photography. Sasha

Ive seen a lot of the footage before but not with the heavy grade that seems to have been applied. They replaced Attenborough with Sigourney Weaver? What a strange thing to do when he has such a great voice. They show this on Discovery in the states? Doesn't the BBC broadcast under BBC international in the US? I noticed the fake snow as well, also some pretty crude day for night shots. Also I think some of the time lapse is shot on location and not in studio, I particularly remember a shot of the top of the rain forest. But I don't want to take away from a great documentary series which is pretty enthralling to watch and some of the footage is 20 years old. Always loved the bits with the birds. Sasha

Hi res digital stills and taking advantage of the smaller resolution of HD to pan and scan within the larger series of stills photos? Or perhaps multiple cameras and some sort of image stitching technology? They are very good though especially the shots of the tops of the rain forest growing. Im not a fan however of the heavy grading they seem to do on some of the footage. Sasha

Wouldnt HD CAM SR straight off the camera be far less compression than redcode raw?