Mike Simpson

It's pretty hard to have overkill underwater. Even at 1 ft below an unruly housing (not neutral or awful viewfinder mostly) becomes a huge pain in the ass. I'd definitely ask for the hydroflex housing. Or at least make sure you can get on a tripod.

is this a shot of his face, or him walking around trying to see his way in a wide? Shouldnt be too hard to supplement the lighter with some sort of fill and just keep it off the bottom and/or front of the hand holding it. If you need to actually see stuff more than a couple feet from the flame it is when it starts to get pretty tricky =p

This is the most hilarious response to a question asking for simplification ever =p

the 235 kinda sucks for handheld unless you upgrade to the real handheld rig too, which is actually more expensive than you would think. Id go for the lenses.

sorry to hear that. Ive been in that boat a few times and it is really depressing =( But the fact that they want to redirect money to the art department isnt so bad really right?

so what youre saying is if we could find a way to do this, we could time travel?

When rendering out quicktimes from the Raw files am I limited myself in any way by choosing a particular colorspace? Ive just been leaving it as redcoderaw since thats how the film was shot, but looking at the menu today I realized I really know very little about the colorspace options. For what its worth I'm not rendering out the whole film, just some shots here and there, and they probably wont end being much bigger than internet size, but I'm still curious about the implications vs. say, rendering out in rec709.

I would just be careful about making changes on a whim on set that arent consistent with the overall look of the film. There are plenty of DPs that have been successful doing it, and theres plenty to be said for intuition, but dramatically noticeable shifts in style/lighting, etc. will have an effect on the audience and its a good idea to have thought out the repercussions through the rest of the script before following through with them.

is there any compositing in the night sky stuff? if not how did you avoid star trails and still get good detail on the forground?

lol

Back in school I had my cat in a film. I just let the camera roll and eventually he did the right things...

Wow...Where do I get a pink grad!

Man, I'm so jealous of Blindness. A film like this is really a dream for a cinematographer because its one of those films that really showcases the visual element of cinema, and it seems like you can go super stylized and be fully justified. Anyone else get to see it yet? Any thoughts? I'm curious if people found it too stylized. There were a few weak parts in the acting here and there, but overall I was really pleased. Loved city of god, but didn't really feel Constant Gardener much, so nice to see something pretty awesome again.

now if we could only have this with a good story

have you been living in a cave for the last 2 years? =p

This should be true universally.

yes

So how did you like working with the viewfinder? Ive yet to get a red with one yet, but last I read into it, there were mostly negative comments? Were you shooting alot of handheld with it?

The AC manual has a good section on shooting models.

I actually spent some time searching for a 2.35 groundglass for an SR2 a few months ago and had a really hard time with it. Ended up just having to measure and tape off the tap. It was pretty low tech, but actually worked just fine, and Ive done the same thing on some HD stuff since then. It is a bummer losing so much of the image though, but I would rather shoot nice lenses and crop them then mess around with the anamorphic 16 options.

Also there are a few options for checking focus. On the LCD there is a fullscreen button. The operator will be happy if you keep that on while they are shooting too. In addition, hitting 2 (on the smart side under the record button) will zoom in further to take a peek at focus. This doesnt work while rolling. There is also a little focus via contrast function much like on the newer panasonic cameras. I dont like it much but some people do; I find it annoying to be switching back between the other meters the DP always wants to see. And if you can test your lenses before and vouch for their accuracy, you can always just do it the traditional way.

Yeah I've done that a few times, and had to walk away from the camera in shame... =(

ITHINKYOUSHOULDUSETHENEW 5D

its nice to have your own set of allen wrenches to quickly adjust the harddrive if you are switching between handheld and sticks. If the camera is in a hot setting I like to drink about 25% of a cold water bottle and then shove it under the handle. The condensation wont hurt the camera but feel free to wipe it off every once in a while. If they have the red sliding plate its a POS. You should spend some time being creative with gaf tape and you can probably get it *more* stable. You need a star screwdriver to change mounts if any of that is happening. Theres really not much you need to read. the menus are very simple. I feel like there is more but thats all I can remember at the moment. I should be asleep =\

Well the movietube is just a nightmare to work with because of its design, and I wasnt overly happy with the results. Ive seen pretty much all the "defects" in the adapters ive mentioned, but the P&S mini35 adapter was the least noticable. But I was also shooting with a really well maintained set of superspeeds, which probably had alot to do with it. i If your production is ebaying 50 dollar nikon lenses you might want to think twice, but if you can find some nice glass and get one of the better adapters you should be fine. You can always look into a red too. The Red market is getting pretty saturated at this point and rental prices seem to be dropping =p