Simon Miya

Actually the Optimos have stellar image quality - the biggest drawbacks of the 24-290 are the size and 4' minimum focus, not image problems.

onm

Yes, 6.5mm is the shortest focal length. The long orange line is the macro portion of the focusing range.

Upgrade your equipment. Your screen shape is outdated ;)

Nah, warm glass won't fog in cold temperatures. Think about your car defogger and what method it uses to prevent your windows from fogging - that's right, it heats them up. BTDT in more cold film locations than I can remember.

This is actually the opposite of true - cold lenses will fog up in a warm environment, but warm lenses will not fog up in a cold environment. In fact, if you plan on going back inside at some point, it's best to keep the lenses warm, or at least not make an effort to get them cold. Opening cases to get gear acclimatized is standard operating procedure when going into a warm environment with cold gear, but trying to get warm gear cold is wasted effort.

not worth stirring up the hornets nest

PM sent regarding Arri 3 mount.

Transylvania Express Ltd. Camera Support Technology. Nice people and very knowledgeable.

I am looking for an Arri 35-3 handheld door/viewfinder and 35-3 Nikon lens mount. If you know of any available please do share this knowledge. Thanks!

Not technically a blog, but awesome: http://www.rogerdeakins.com/forum/

Very useful for anytime you cannot place the camera at the exact distance required for a matching reverse. Most DOF calculators include a similar function however - my Samuelson has a "Field of View Nomogram" on the back, and I believe Kelly wheels have such a function in their dials.

Why not just shoot 100 feet and then save the rest as a shortend? You don't need to shoot the whole roll to send the exposed portion to the lab. You can test the film without shooting at all, however. Talk to your lab about sending them a sample for a snip test.

I'm sorry, your DP doesn't know his camera very well. Time for a new DP. ;) John is right, you did not record HD - you recorded DV. :(

I've loaded millions of feet of 35mm and never seen a need for special scissors - just tear a few times until you find some perfs. With practice it's possible within a few tears even in the dark. Funny (frustrating) thing is, the cameras that you are likely to work with when just starting out (old Arris and others) are much more difficult to load than the cameras you will work with when you get more experienced (Arricam, Panavision). The newer camera's mags don't care at all what the end of the film looks like. :)

I also have the 320 slide - I forgot it because it was in the meter!

The slides I have for mine: 0 (solid), 12 (also labeled "X100"), 16, 25, 32, 40, 50, 64, 80, 100, 125 (X10), 160, 200, 250, 400, 500, 650, and 800 (big wide open square hole in the middle). I'm afraid you will have a hard time finding accessories piecemeal, you probably should have held out for a more complete set. There are several on eBay right now, although none are as complete as mine. :) Contact Spectra themselves in Burbank, that would be your best best. They still support their discontinued products, a true class act.

Does the camera even get up to speed in the foot or two that you load? Don't all the frames come out too overexposed and inconsistent to be any good? I guess it depends on the camera, but I don't think you would get very many good frames no matter which equipment you use. Scratch test are done with waste film. This method is actually more expensive for that purpose.

It might be illuminating to check the the EXIF tags of the offending frames, to see if they differ from the good frames.

Are you shooting in full manual mode? Shooting in any auto or program modes will result in frames with differing exposure.

You should set the circle of confusion to a smaller number for that purpose. You specified a larger value. 0.001" is the number recommended for 35mm cameras and projected output. You should not need to change it for full-frame Red use.

Has anyone here used a Modulus 4000 yet? http://www.custominterface.com/ states that they are available now for $2195. The claims are that they are significantly better than the Modulus 3000, which was significantly better than anything else out there.

If you had asked this question a month earlier, I would have been able to get you an answer - I finished a show with David in November. Great guy. If I speak to him anytime soon I will direct him to this thread. It was the coolest thing ever when he informed me that it was his fingers that were "crushing your head"!

Whips and speedcranks are included in the rental package. These are not the types of items that ACs need to own.

Sounds brief compared to the shortest days on set. ;)