Rob van Gelder

I just did a nearly one-man-shoot with this camera on a Steadicam Pilot rig. i was using the HDMI output (1080i) to the 7" marchall monitor and found that I could reasonably focus on that. I also used a Bartech wireless follow focus, as the motor gear seems to "fit" somewhat on the 24-70 zoomlens. So while moving around the singer of this MV, I could pull focus with some confidence. it was also possible to make nice focus pulls to the background action and back. and it can be also nice to use the out-of focus parts and than move the action into the focus area... challenging. But in general, the whole setup is not a comfortable one, it needs much more tweaking and firmware updates...

According to the Arri engineers who taught me at their maintenance workshop, they see it as first priority to get the bulb on the right working temperature in the shortest possible time. This is to extend the life of the bulb. In general they advice to turn the dimmer position to MAX. Depending on the wattage there might be different electronics at work. For instance, the 6Kw will first start up at approx. half power and then after a few minutes it will switch to full power. Then you will also notice the different color temperature that is related to the power..... dimming introduces often a higher and greener color temperature. This is one more reason to be sensible with the dimmer function: it does alter the color of the light! At our rental company we always test the lamps before they go out. One day, a technician told us at the maintance that the dimmer function of the 18Kw did not work. It turns out that he did not switch on the light long enough, because after some 4-5 minutes, the ballast suddenly switches into a higher power level, after which the dimmer is working. Low wattage lamps usually start at maximum from the beginning. Rob van Gelder, Bangkok, Thailand

Not as I have experienced and have read on the forum from the RED-people: The form or the histogram does alter when you switch between RAW and any other color space. Try for yourself: assign button 1 or 2 to "display RAW" and set your view (in video menu) to 709 or redspace. Then you can toggle and see how much the histogram changes. False color IS related to 709 and (not 100% sure) to Redspace, but is NOT 100% calibrated to RAW, so the different colors that relate to a certain exposure (stops) in those 2 color spaces do not mach with the similar exposure values in RAW.

We have now one Red camera shooting a feature in the jungle of Thailand, the average temperature is now between 37-42 degrees Celcius. The focus puller has said that the wide-angle lenses like a 12 and a 14mm Ultraprime do not always seem sharp when exactly focused on say a 3 ft target. Probably the backfocus must be off a bit, but the longer lenses do not show this problem so much. I advice the assistant to check the back-focus frequently with the peaking function/focus assist and adjust the MARK on the lens if needed. The reason is that the temperature can change every setting and it is better to keep the adjustment so most of the lenses work within small tolerances. The few wide angle lenses need extra attention but to keep adjusting the camera mount is asking for more problems in the long run. With wide angle lenses, calculate and rely on the depht of field.

We have a lot of the Kupo grip and lighting equipment in our rental house and the quality is good, similar to the other, more well known brands. Kupo is based in Taiwan, and has access to better quality material than the companies on mainland China, in my opinion. Service has been good, direct with the factory sales manager and prompt delivery of spare-parts, when needed.

check with Matthews Studio Equipment, otherwise ISAIA is a dealer of GFM, probably the best grip manufacturer by far!

Hi Andy, from what i know about the Red One camera is that is favors blue-ish light for best performance, so a preference for HMI. So that might be your basic starting point, because if you choose Tungsten, you might have to gel that so much or accept the increased noise in the blue channel. In my opinion, the modern HMI equipment is at least as reliable as Tungsten, but please use the electronic, flicker free ballasts, if possible with power factor correction circuit as you will have you crew laying loooong cables through the woods. and as for Tungsten Par lamps, Mole-Richardson has a very nice 5Kw Par available now. Rob

as long as the "domestic" is powered from the grid. When used with separate generators....... no guarantee.

Have a look at this discussion, it might explain enough for you. Many of these questions are already in the archive. Rob http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/in...digital+cameras

Just saw a test on the Weisscam HS-2, in Beijing. They rated the camera in the beginning at 1000 ASA but have (wisely) lowered to 600 ASA. But I am sure you can still see a reasonable image when rated at 1200 or 2400 ASA. This 600 ASA is based on the much higher aesthetic demands for commercials and high end broadcast. anyway, you need special things for special applications, there is no tool that does it all.

I understand you, but with D-Cinema cameras it is a different deal. Of course the camera man can look through immediately, but the whole issue with D-Cinema is that you (or better, the video technician / DIT) has to monitor the status of the camera constantly. Switching on just before you start to rehearse or shoot is just not an option. The amount of menus and variables and options is so great that if you do not check them regularly (or better, every setup) you might find that you recorded something else then what you saw on the groundglass. Not only that, it is the only way to check if the right signal is going to your recording unit, which is for instance a Sony SRW-1 deck with processor. If you shoot 4:4:4, and one of the 2 cables is badly connected or damaged or by mistake longer than the other, you end up with something else on tape..... D-Cinema is definitely more demanding than shooting on film, from a technical/electronic point of view. IMHO.

Interesting, how different companies have different solutions and problems, with basically similar components. I have used a Visario Speedcam extensively, it has a Cmos imager and goes up to 1000 fps full resolution. This camera has to have an internal working temperature of 50-55 degrees Celsius, or else the noise and artifacts become visible. http://optics.org/cws/product/P000003259 The Arri D21 has a Peltier element behind the sensor, stabilizing the temperature on exactly 32 degrees. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peltier_effect#Peltier_effect

Hmm, battery saving? No, that is not really an issue, as all the D-cinema cameras need to have a stable internal temperature in order to make a consistent image and all need boot-up time. The Arri D21 needs about 20 seconds to boot up and warms the sensor to 32 degrees Celsius (or cools down) immediately, otherwise it is not ready to shoot at all. Besides, the spinning mirror motor has a very low usage compared to all the HD-circuitry. No, one of the reasons is that a CCD or Cmos has to clear its pixels from data, to start all over again for the next frame exposure. This is done, either by electronically "blanking" or clearing (restore to 0 volts) or a combination of that electronic blanking with a real black-out from the mirror in front of the CCD. Some argue that the last method gives a motion blur that is more equal to what film sees..... and therefore looks less....video. When the shutter is shutter opening is more than 180 degrees we get more motion blur. Electronic shutters can open as wide as 359.1 degrees, which gives an extreme motion blur but also one stop light GAIN. An Arri D21 or Dalsa is limited to the physical size of the shutter, 180 degrees. which can only be narrowed.

" shave some off the shutter......" That is the weirdest suggestion I ever saw..... well, almost. 180 degrees is the size/shape/angle of the mirror, the shutter is a separate metal piece that hides behind the mirror, adjustable to several pre-determined angles. These shutters and mirrors and in this case for the camera's you are talking about, the SR 2/3, are balanced and adjusted to microns. Paul, I don't know if you have ever been at Arri Munich in the repair shop, I have seen there guys adjusting and balancing these exact mirrors to 1/1000 of a millimeter, on special jigs with very sophisticated equipment. And it takes hours to do so! Any imbalance will destroy the stability of the camera, bearings, and what more. Don't even think about it! If you want a 360-shutter effect on 25 frames I suggest you shoot digital, with an appropriate camera, or you shoot , as mentioned before, on much lower speed but with transfer to normal speed in telecine. (which means in effect doubling or tripling frames).

Thanks Keith, that is a good and honest observation. I have understood from some Arri rep. that there are only a few HDD-recorders that are certified or in the process of being certified to work reliable with the D21. The Venom mag is not there..... Personally I like the form-factor from the digital mag from the Phantom-HD much better, specially for hand-held shootings/steadicam. Not sure if this would be available (ever) for the Arri. on October 20-21-22 we will have a shootout between Arri D21 and the Sony F35, both recorded to the Sony SWR-1 HDcam-SR recorder. I will give more info and conclusions afterwards. Rob van Gelder

Just need to be careful with the highlights. HD and video is like positive (slide) film, so when you reach the top , the end in the highlights you are about to loose detail. Over-exposure is difficult to correct and most likely degrades the image, while underexposure can be lifted to a certain degree. In one test we did with the Sony F35 we found that for instance skin-tones ( similar to 18% grayscale, approx.) overexposed for 4 stops are recoverable, but that cannot be said for the background which usually has lighter parts to begin with. Rob van Gelder,Bangkok

As I have seen from the menu and heard from the explanation from the Arri technician, it is 200 ASA using the Log curve, when using the HD mode you will have several "electronic" sensitivities, from 100 to 800 ISO/ASA. This will also change the contrast and the noise (similar as with film). It is like the gain setting on normal video cameras: -3 dB, 0, +3 dB, + 6 dB. Rob van Gelder Bangkok

Thanks for the compliment, It is amazing what you can do with a program like SketchUp from Google and some spare time.... :) and you need a good metal workshop of course. The ratio is adjustable on the original Powerpod 2000 console. I adjusted it here so they move 1:1, but on the fastest speed setting it will go 2:1. This is very good if you want, as example, a motor rider riding towards and under the crane and follow it (upside down) when it drives away. Then we use the maximum tilt backwards on the panbar, while the camera is level (did I mention the freeze-button to adjust the panbar without moving the head?) and tilt the panbar all the way forwards. This is a maximum of 100 degrees on the tilt but the camera head moves more than 200 degrees! It is possible to set limits for this on the console to get your exact start and stop. I found that only with very violent and irregular/fast moves of the panbar, the electronics of the console cannot keep track of the encoder output and will skip part of the movement, but this is pushing it to extremes. As we already had this Cartoni head, which nobody wants to use anymore for normal shootings (O'Connor is favored) the investment is minimal, compared to the original design of A&C. The support of the monitor platform can be detached, for shipping. Than the monitor tray can be mounted on the panbar for those cameramen who prefer to move the monitor with the tilt as well (personally I see no gain in that or reason to do so... but there are always others who think differently....) People who want a similar panbar for their remote head can contact me.

After some thinking and experimenting I found the right encoders and had a small metal workshop make the housings. The pan-bar works flawless, a very slight delay, probably because of the (adjustable) damping factor. The damping can be set to 0, but than the moves become too harsh. The smoothing does a good job. There is a little demo on youtube: http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=WtkLvQs9rms This is made around a Cartoni head. The monitor stand is connected to the Pan-axis, but free from the tilt. Rob

Keith, I really would like to hear more about your findings, this reply of yours gives me still a lot of questions. Did you see or compare footage from F35 / Genesis and D21? Does the spinning mirror make a different motion than the Sony electronic shutter? Is the latitude more than the Sony F35? I just saw a test of that and it was amazing what was recoverable on 4 stops over exposed on a human skin. What flashmag are you talking about? I have not seen anything from Arri as such and that is promoted by Arri, the last test we did was with a Sony HR deck. I do know that some HDD-units are available, but not all certified yet by Arri. Was that Flashmag easily integrated into post? what file format is used? Running time? Rob van Gelder Bangkok

lots ot people reading, but nobody wants to take the plunge... :)

Just a remark for the needed up-speed and down-speed (brake). Don't expect too much out of that, you will loose most likely a minimum of 50% of the loaded stock, specially if you want to reach the highest possible speed. I remember doing a shot with a Hycam, I think on 1000 fps. We could only use 30 m / 100ft rolls (daylight spools) and we had to time the action (with lasers and photo-diodes and electronics) to fall within the 24th meter and 27th meter of the roll, the first 23 meters were to get on speed, the last 3 meters came out as confetti..... Hmm, did I mention scratches and dirt/dust etc? :rolleyes: With the current state of technology there is no reason to shoot these shots on film, digital is the way to go. Just my opinion of course :)

Unless you want to use the Photosonics action master for this there is no option but to go digital. Might be worth to look into. In our company we use a Visario Speedcam, which is basically a 35mm chip camera and goes to 1000 fps on full resolution 1536x1024 pixels. This camera has an internal battery and can also be fed with anything between 12 and 30 volts. Another option is the Phantom, up to 2K and same 1000 fps. It is a different approach than the film style, but can be very rewarding and fast. Also, you know right away if you have the shot! There are also other cameras from different companies with lower resolution chips, but still well above DV-quality.

Hi Warwick, Yes, I have contacted Frank at A&C, they are very helpful indeed. However, their current version of the Panbar system makes our current console/computer obsolete, we basically have to buy complete new electronics which will be attached to the Panbar. Also, this new system is mainly geared towards one-man operating video style, so not only the pan and tilt functions but all camera controls are incorporated as well. Splitting the system so that we can use part of our current equipment, like the hand unit for the lens/camera control only raises the costs which is already very high (14000++ GBP). Our use is mainly film-style, so a separate assistant for the focus/zoom/iris, therefore our pan-bar system should be limited to only pan and tilt. I am figuring out how to do this, the handwheel-units only contain an encoder (and friction unit), transferring them (or equivalent) to a fluid head is of course a mechanical challenge, but possible. I am just hoping someone did something similar before..... regards, Rob

I am in the process of making a Pan-bar system, for our PowerPod 2000. It is very difficult to find any info on this, except from professional and incredible expensive solutions, while in principle it should not be too hard. Is there any grip who has done this or had people do this for a similar system? any info appreciated. Rob