Chris_Burket

For PL mount anamorphics, your choices are Clairmont and Camtec. They both have Hawks. If you do some searching, you can probably find someone with a set of PL mount Lomo's. I have a set being rebuilt now, but its a long process. The arri rental group probably has Hawk's. You could also have vantage ship them here.

Does anyone know the contact info for the company CSE? They make quick release plates, lens support brackets, etc...?

I have one that has been completely refurbished and is in perfect condition. Comes with PL mount and lots of extras. Look on Ebay right now or PM me.

I built my own 18volt batteries from 3 x 6 volt cells. Sealed AGM. Gel Cell would work too. 18 volt float chargers are hard to find, but they are out there. Just search on google and you'll find them. I found a couple that are used for 18volt batteries that are used in some race cars. I think they are made by performance distributors. 18 volt AGM chargers also are used in motorized wheelchairs. So search for that type of stuff too. Or, if you want, I'll make some and sell them to you.

For the crystal motor system and PL mount, contact the ARANDA GROUP. Bruce is amazing and can help you out with this.

Yep, I did the same thing with my 2m before I had the Aranda conversion done. Which by the way, my PL mount, Rotavision Konvas 5000 is for sale.... And you can get 12volt batteries to run the camera for as little as $50.00.

I heard that Panavision Woodland Hills converted a camera to 2perf for Titanic to shoot some underwater stuff. They did the conversion to give them more running time in an underwater mag.

Building block batteries is a actually quite easy. I recently built a bunch of small 12volt batteries in cordura pouches as well as a 12volt block and 24 volt block in Pelican cases. The cheapest option is sealed lead acid batteries. This is what I used. The downside is the weight. I would suggest Odyssey batteries because they are guarantee'd for 2 years from purchase, contain more amp/hours than other AGM batteries, and they can handle rapid charging where others cannot. They can also handle high draws of cameras running at high speed which can damage other batteries. As far as building the batteries, buy your cells (they will come in 12volt). If you want 24 volts, wire them together + to - . Your charger should have a fuse on the + side, so put an in-line fuse on the negative side of your battery. I use 5 amp fuses which seem to work. Put them in the pelican case, take out the O-ring, drill a hole for the XLR and wire it up. Then your done. Don't turn the batteries completely upside down and leave them there. They are sealed so they won't leak but its not good for them. As far as making them 12 to 24 volt switchable, you need to buy a switch and wire that in. Make sure its protected well so it can't accidently get hit and fry your gear.

If you have a 12 volt camera, the possibilities are endless. You could use a lot of different batteries. I depends on how you feel about weight, and how long you want the batteries to last. If you want to go with a cheap option, get a 12 volt lead acid battery, put a fuse and an XLR connector on it and drop it in some sort of container (pelican's are great). You could get a battery with anywhere from 4.5 amp/hours for $25 to one that has 30 amp/hours for $100+. Also remember that the more amp/hours, the heavier it is as well.

I am making some of my own power cables and batteries to use with my Arri 2c and Konvas 2m. I was wondering if anybody knows what kind of cable is best to use. Or what kind most rental houses/manufactures use? I found some good cable at Ace Hardware, but it quite thick, thicker than the cables I've seen go out with LT's, etc....

If you are taking out a big Viper package that will include a lot of AKS, set of primes perhaps, etc... You will probably need a camera cart of some kind. You can rent one from another AC if you don't have one. The production should pay for this. If you do have one, they should pay you for the rental of course.

The camera at $500/day isn't bad. But once you add an HDCAM SR field deck (like found on Genesis and D20), Cooke S4's or Master Primes, follow focus, matte box, O'Connor 2575, batteries, sticks, etc.... it'll get much more expensive. I've heard a Genesis package is around $11,000 with everything you could possibly need... lenses, monitors, waveform, sticks, head, deck, etc.... I'm sure you could put together a pretty cheap RED package with a red drive, zeiss standards, lightweight FF, etc... But it would still be much more expensive than $500/day.

I know they contacted Fujinon about building their zoom, but Fujinon said the couldn't produce a lense that would resolve 4k at that price point. Have heard rumors they are working with Cooke, but I can't say for sure. They may be building the lenses and getting the elements from somewhere else.... Who knows, they may be bulk ordering canon or nikon 300mm lense elements for the prime... It'll be interesting to see their lenses projected and tested when they come out. If the zoom is really sharp, minimal breathing, etc... it could become extremely popular. I'm sure they'd sell thousands.

Why not use strobe lights at various rates? They have a bunch setup at the Oscars right now on Hollywood Blvd. I first saw them and thought they might be slaves setup for the the still photographers to give the stills a uniform appearance. But then I saw them flashing randomly today as they were setting up, and they didn't react to other flashes like slaves would. Makes me think they might be using them to augment that array of flashes look but I don't know for sure. But, I'm sure they could be used to that type of look....

Another thing to think about is that focus isn't determined by the position of a certain actor a great deal of the time. Sometimes you pull focus from one character to another, sometimes from a character to an object, sometimes from the lips of a character to their eyes, sometimes you split focus between two people to keep both of them in focus, etc.... the list goes on. Sometimes a tool that could tell the focus puller exactly how far away an actor's eyes are would be helpful. They have the cine tape, pana tape, and sniper unit for this, but having a sensor would be another way to go.