Adrian Sierkowski

So, I just shot some footage on my SR 3. everything was going well, and overall, I was happy with how it was turning out (minus being way under powered). The client was happy and the like. Then I go into Telecine with the footage this morning, and bang, a scratch on the most important 2 shots of the entire piece. Figures, I suppose. Just wondering what could have caused it and how to best avoid it in future, and any ideas on how to work around/with it now that I have it all digitized to DVCAM (Project is going right to SD-DVD so no need for HD transfer). Anyway; here's the scratch. . .

Thank you Nathan. I actually ran into one (not arriflex) and snatched it up late yesterday. But knowing that i could use any 24VDC source put my mind at ease. I had still been worrying about it blowing the camera somehow.

I have to say her ein Philadelphia I love Location Lighting and Camera as well as RSVP.

Hey everyone, I've been scouring around trying to find something suitable for my SR3. I know it's a 24V camera and I'm looking for a Mains Unit, or just something to be able to run the camera off of 120V AC power for situations when I'm in a studio. I have 2 of the 1.4AH batteries, but I find sometimes, I'll run more film in a day than the batts have charge. Any information on where to look or if anyone has one to get rid of, would be amazing! I found a few things on e bay; but I dunno if i trust a E bay person in Australia. . . .

Essentially ASA is the sensitivity of the recording medium, normally film, and the F-stop is the size of the iris aperture which lets through light. So, what you'd do, is expose the gray card the way you'd like it. Say your camera is now at F11, you go to your light meter, and you meter the card, a spot meter would be best, and you adjust the ASA setting on the meter until it too corresponds to F11. For example, you may find that for your particular camera, say an HVX, that a gray card is properly exposed at F11 and your light meter reads F11 when you set it's ASA to 320. Therefore the effective ASA for the HVX is around 320 and you can use the meter now to gets your exposures pretty spot on. For the XL2, I believe he ASA is somewhere between 400 and 500, but it's been awhile since I've used one so I'm not 100% sure. Hope that helped!

Ironic, I just picked up the Masters of Light book. Amazing read and still worth it! Funny enough, MR. Mullen, I have one of your books on my shelf too from a film class, though at the moment I forget which one exactly (running on 2 hours of sleep is not conducive to remembering things).

IM going with the trend, I hate those adapters and having used one on both the HVX and the DVX I can say they're really not worth it. The Hvx is, as mentioned, bad for low light situations as it does get incredibly noisy. Go for Digibeta, it may only be SD there is nothing wrong with that, and aside, if anything, the beta is a proven technology with people who know how to work it. The HVX is a new kid on the block, not everyone/thing can support it or support it well.

Some of it also has to be chalked up to makeup, evening out the skin in the first place and giving it a slight sheen.

I'm going to have to go with Wrath of Kahn, though I can't really say why; perhaps all the space battles? Aside from that, The Goonies, Airplane, and Empire of the Sun and The Road Warrior, which was IMHO the best of the Mad Max Trilogy.

Just to chime in, I dunno how well it'd cover a 35mm frame, but you might want to check in with optar illumina. They make good primes for the S16mm market which are PL mount.

Hell, come to Phila, locations and generally free here. Not useful I know, but, the advice of looking in places where you don't normally see production is a good one. Also, talk to relator's. I know here in Phila we got a row home for a week straight by going through Century 21, for free (and all the power my 2ks could eat!) But in seriousness, if you do wind up in phila, look me up! ;)

Can we have a Philadelphia one too? I mean, I know we're right smack next to NY and all, but we still have our own shoots down here. As for a name; something like "Local City Forums?"

Zacuto (google it) makes a shoulder rig for everything and the like. As for storage. . . in those environments I don't know. I'd recommend a Pannasonic Tough book because they're designed for harsh environments, but remember, electronics and the environment normally don't mix well. Also, take a lot of 9Vs for the redrock, it'll eat through things fast. Most nikon glass is pretty solid, but it is a lens. I would not trust the RR to be a super solid piece of equipment. It looks and feels very flimsy to me.

I swear by them. That probably doesn't mean much to anyone but me and my immediate friends; but they're good glass with a nice stop- T1.3- and well made.

Amen to that! I have a few horror stories from shooting in bars and throwing breakers, and one of a grip unplugging my friend's fridge and forgetting to put it back on. Point is, though it's always best to not HAVE to light for exposure, but to light for expression if that makes any sense.

I've shot the 500T before and never really was concerned with the grain. All the vision 2 stuff is nice to work with and generally, it'd be easier, IMHO to go with 500T to get exposure than 200T. Further, from what I've heard, though I've never done this myself, if you overexpose the 500T a bit and bring it down in post it'll help get rid of some graininess as well as saturate colors a bit. As I've said, I've not yet done this myself, but from reading 'round I often see people rating the 500T at 400 or 320. 200T is a great stock, butt when you're going to be dealing with a low-light situation, the 500 is probably a better choice to work faster and easier (after all, the last thing you'd want to be saddled with would be a law office with one 15A breaker!)

I'd recommend kino flos. You can pop the tubes out and try to stage them throughout the stand. They're low power and very low heat ant give off a good soft light to begin with, though wrapping them in diffusion might help as well. Again, i'm no expery, but that would be my first inclination.

I'm in no way an expert but from what I have experienced, perhaps the best way to get clean dialogue would be Lavs. Try to hide them on the actors, and use the wireless variety so they can more around without wires sticking out from them, if possible. Elsewise, get yourself a good shotgun mic and try your best to stage the boom op facing away from any streets etc to try to record better sound.

The Optars, which are very nice lenses, are avalible only through opptar Illumina, from Mr Mirond or Mr Edwards as far as I know. They're both great people. As for the lenses, I have a set of them for S16mm and I personally love them. I'm no expert, but, well as they say, I may not know art, but i know what i like.

True that the prosumer HDs would've given more image, but it seems, from the post before yours, that Lynch chose is aesthetically. But i'm not (nor would I want to be) in his mind, so I can't tell you exactly why he'd've chosen a format over b.

I have to agree that I wasn't overly impressed. I did like one shot, though; where they're up against the bright white light-wall and the almost silhouetted. The light just has a nice wrap 'round their faces, I feel.

From my own limited experience, often the best thing to buy are lights. They never really go out of style no matter what camera you're shooting on. Personally, I like smaller Fresnels, so I picked up an Arri Combo Kit and a few Mole Richardson 2ks. I got them pretty cheap, all in all, (the moles used from a studio and the arris on sale from B/H) and rented them out when people asked, not for too much $$, but overtime, it added up and I probably paid them off in about a year. Can't say the same for my SR3, but I didn't really buy that to make a profit from it; I bought it just to have it and I got lucky to get a large sum of cash so I could afford it! I've only rented that out once, for $500/day with myself and all my goodies included. Also, invest in some grip equipment; little riggings you can take with you on multiple shoots. You never know when you'll need that extra clamp or apple box!

That's awesome, I'll have to look into them.

I would think you would be mostly in the clear. I mean, I know here in Philadelphia we can shoot wherever and whomever happens to be in the background of a shot so long as they aren't the focus of the shot. Furthermore, if you're just sticking it up on your little website, and if cameras were allowed there anyway, then I'd further think you're alright. Now, i may be legally wrong, but it has been my experience that the likelihood of My X or Mrs y happening upon your video at the exact moment in it where they happen to be walking past is rather rare. But, then again, I'm not legal expert, just speaking from experience (or rather the lack of experience of ever being sued because someone walked through a frame)

I'm not sure if this is the proper way or not, but as there is not 500T consumer or pro still film that I am aware of, when testing out the '18 stock I normally shoot a few rolls of Kodak Elite Chrome 400, which is a daylight balanced color slide film. It'll have less latitude than a negative stock, and it'll be orange under tungsten light, but it'll give you an idea of exposure, and of course, having less latitude than your actual stock, will err on the side of safety. The best test would be a few feet of the actual negative shot on the location as a test, if you have that ability.