John Cummings

While waiting for my AF-100 to arrive, I'm shopping for a zoom. Since I want to go PL, the options seem limited for an "affordable" zoom. I've been looking at the two RED-branded zooms (17-50 and 18-85) and they seem a good fit for the camera and my budget. So my question is, has anyone had any experience using either of these lenses? Any other suggestions in the $6-10K price range? Thanks-

One more stab at it... It has an eng lens, sony vf and an israeli arm on top. The article mentions tape, so my final answer is an F900R.

To me it looks like a sony color VF on an arri high speed camera. Funny combo, though.

Yea...why not us?

Having just watched the first installment of the series, I must say I was very disappointed with the quality of the images. As masterfully as it was shot by Buddy Squires and crew, it's unfortunate that their images totally fell apart by the time they reached my plasma at home. (via WTTW in Chicago.) Funky colors (especially the blues in the sky and the snow) gigantic grain, weaving images, and a general softness. At one point, I mistakenly thought some of the footage might have been archival film from the 50's...it looked that bad to me. The closer I got to the display, the worse it looked. In my mind, the limitations of super 16 are readily apparent. Especially after it travels the tortured path from PBS master control to my home. So why super 16? Apparently Ken Burns never saw "Planet Earth." (I know...there was some film there, too) Too bad. It's a great series, with well told stories, great cinematography, and it all fell apart getting to my display. John Cummings Chicago

Sure, I can do Paypal.

I have a pair of Lectrosonic UCR-190 UHF narrowband wireless systems for sale that have sat idle in my inventory for the last three years, and it's time to finally move them out. I will not separate them. This package includes 2 UCR-190's, the newer UM190B transmitters (with the antenna on top), two unused Lectro mics, original unused Lectro power supplies...and I'll throw in two BEC camera mounting boxes. These systems were completely checked out shortly before I retired them. I fired them up the other day and they both sound great. These aren't some beat-up old news mics...they were gently used by their owner in an EFP environment. Although they are in great shape, I don't want them back, so I am offering them as-is only with no warranty implied. Picture here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25772955@N04/ The frequencies are 593.775 and 574.925. Know what frequencies will work for you in your area before you buy... this sale is final...no returns. Probably the cleanest 190 systems you will find at a very fair price. $1600 for the pair, firm. If you're local to Chicago, I will only accept cash. If you are elsewhere, I will accept a USPS money order and will ship these when the MO clears. Thanks, John cameralogic1 AT comcastDOT net

Sorry, I see Gary mentioned 4 cards, not Andy.

I'll throw in my 2 cents. Andy, I'd do a little investigation before you decide to go tapeless with outside clients. I don't know how established you are or how many broadcast clients you already have, but many broadcast producers (people I work with everyday) need to have something to take back with them when they fly out the next morning. Say you shoot 3 hours of video for them...and that's nothing for a documentary...so what's that, 160 gigs? What do you hand them at the end of the day? A hard drive? 34 DVD's? A couple of firestores? Will they be happy to wait at the end of a long day while you transfer all those files? Will you do it that night and fedex them? Who pays for those extra hours of compiling? You mentioned buying four P2 cards...sorry, but you're dreaming if you think you can do real pro shoots with that amount of media. I shoot reality shows where we roll 5-6 hours of tape a day. You may be able to do that tapeless, but you better have a lot of media cards and people to wrangle them for you...think about that in terms of money and time. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of P2 or Red for studio and narrative work, but when it comes to documentary and reality, you might be in for some nasty surprises. As far as the 500 goes, buy the most camera you can afford. From all accounts, the 2000 is a far superior camera to the 500. The reality is you probably won't do too much paying work with off-speed frame rates. But they sure are fun. Good luck- John

I know it will be long, tough sell to some of my clients who have invested huge sums of money, time and effort into creating an Avid/HDCam infrastructure that they still haven't seen their ROI from. I'm sure Avid will eventually take their customers by the hand and include a RED workflow through incremental and costly (the Avid way) updates. I think many producers are happy as hell right now just being able to finally compete in the 1080 marketplace. And yes, for now and the near future, that marketplace loves tape.

"...now, the RED may very well chip away at those who have invested in higher end cameras" Sounds like a valid point until you consider what a fully equipped RED camera with good glass, adequate storage and all the accessories will actually cost. Suddenly, you're looking at the equivalent of at least a mid-priced pro HD cam...what, $40-50K? I don't think the playing field will change all that much...

P2? I shoot docs and especially reality shows where we slap in tape after tape, all day long. Hours and hours of video each day for a week, often with multiple cameras. On some shows, they tell us to roll the cameras and don't stop till we need tape. P2 couldn't hope to keep up, even with dedicated assistants and a massive amount of P2 cards. Tape ain't dead yet! John

All the manufacturers had their own cabling scheme between the two units. Usually 26 pin or BNC to the recording deck. You will need to find the exact CCU for that model. If there is a missing pin in that cable, that could be trouble. Chances are you won't find a CCU by itself without the camera. I wouldn't invest any money into that POS. Even if it works perfectly, you'll be disappointed with what you see. If you really want to play, there are plenty of old-school 2/3" tube cameras (like Ikegami's) on ebay that don't require a outboard CCU and sell for next to nothing. Ciao

Amen to the last two posts. I think even an F900 is out of his reach. A prosumer HDV camera with true 24P sounds perfect for this project. Something like the JVC with XLR audio inputs. That and a good tripod is a must-have. Brian could sell the camera gear after he's done with the project to recover some of the production costs. I doubt many thesis projects have ever ended up on national TV, but why not aim high! He has a good chance of getting on his local PBS station, and that's a great start. Like Bryan D said, it's all about content. Speaking of PBS, I can assure you that Rudi Maxa and Rick Steves series are shot on big boy cameras...probably Sony 700 series. What you are seeing on the fades and dissolves is mpeg compression artifacts, probably somewhere in the transmission chain...especially if you're watching on cable. Good luck Brian and go Salukis!

Brian- Another thought. There are no issues with HD "workflow" in the field...it's pretty much the same as any SD camera...unless you are shooting a P2 camera. That's probably the last camera you would want to use for documentary work. Shuffling P2 cards and downloading to a notebook or hard drive is something you don't want to try on a long form project...especially when you're working without a crew. If you go the HD route, stick with tape. Not as sexy, but it's cheap and fast and very hard to screw up. Ok. I'll shut up now. Cheers-John

Brian- I hate to rain on your film parade, but I don't think you can go the film route with a $15K budget. A two hour finished historical doc requires a massive amount of footage and hours and hours of interviews. Travel and logistics alone could cost you a few thousand bucks. You can do it on your own, but chances are you'll need paid help at some point. You'll need good lighting and audio to even have a slim hope of somebody picking this up for air. Nobody worth pitching will be interested if it's not widescreen and HD...whether it comes from S16 or HD. The 4:3 SD days are gone forever in any market that counts. Just for an example, I'm gearing up for 10 hour HD documentary series right now and our budget is tight at $250K for each hour...and thats DVCPro HD. A sizeable chunk of that cost is travel and post production. Unfortunately, those are the kind of numbers it takes to get on the air in primetime these days...and we don't know if we'll get picked up. My advice: Shoot only in HD, post in SD. If the project's good enough, you'll be able to recut it in HD. I urge you not to blow your whole budget on film. When you run out of dough...and you will...you'll probably never finish your project as you envisioned it. And something else to consider...three hours on Polk? You may want to think one good hour...and it would be a lot more manageable as a project. Don't be discouraged...but think this through, carefully. Good luck- John

Hi Tim- If the camera doesn't have any video out connectors, chances are it needs to connect to an external CCU for it's power source. If thats the case, the video also comes out of the CCU. Good luck- John

"all the relevant action in a single shot has to happen in about two seconds" Ok, Michael...imagine expanding that into a seven minute corporate video. I would imagine watching something like that would leave the viewers dizzy, dioriented and drooling. ...Or kinda like watching a Jerry Bruckheimer film. Cheers- John

LOL I don't care one way or another about Red, but posts like Carl's sure keep me coming back for more. John

Hi Ken- I do a lot of corporate so I'll throw in my 2 cents. There are a million threads here that will tell you how to try to make video look like film. Technically, depth of field, film style lighting, 24p widescreen and camera movement is a good place to start. I've found that many clients love a letterbox look. If you're shooting SD and don't know your way around a camera setup, the Panasonic SXD900 has good looking filmlooks and scene files that are worth a look. Do some tests and bounce them off the producer and the client. Everybody needs to sign off on a look that you'll have to commit to. Once you have the look, you're only half way there. If your client wants a 20 minute video, a good producer should be able to tell a story in half that time or less. Quick cuts, good music and good pacing will make a big difference. To sustain any kind of commercial pacing for a 5 or 10 minute video--which is almost impossible--you'll need to shoot a massive amount of coverage...keep that in mind when you start scheduling this thing. Having said all that, if your client insists on having a old bald guy doing a 5 minute talking head--you're dead in the water! I apologize if I sound like I'm talking down to a newbie, It's just that I don't know what your experience level is. Good luck- John PS--I'm an old bald guy, too.

Hi all- Not sure where to post this... I have a possible documentary shoot in various european (50Hz) countries coming up. I'm planning on shooting 24pa HD (probabably an HDX-900) for broadcast and DVD. I'll be mostly outside, but I will have some interiors and inside interviews. Due to the run and gun nature of the schedule, I won't always have a monitor. Q1. I know at 60i non-24p I would expect some flicker...does shooting 24p make it worse or better? Shutter options? Q2. I would like to bring a pair of small Joker HMI's along. Will HMI's help minimize problems in the flicker department? I know the camera can be set to 50HZ, but I would think that would open up a bad can of worms during post back here in the states. Can any of you globetrotting DP's out there help me out? Thanks a lot- John Cummings

"How much beating around will the camera take?" I tried not to laugh, but I couldn't help it.

Take a look at the larger Gitzos. They have a 100mm cup and can accomodate pretty beefy heads. They have little tabs that release the legs and will squat down to about 8" above the ground. Sandbag the legs and you have a quick hi-hat. John

Here's an easy way...go buy an old tube ENG camera and 3/4" U-matic recorder on ebay. An Ikegami HL-79 would be an excellent choice. Cheers-John

In Chicago, my going rate is $1750/day for the DP and the basic HD package with tungsten lighting. I would then add $450 for the sound tech and his package. John