Mark Sasahara

Standard deviation. Plus or minus 5%. Any time you have more than one meter reading a scene, you will have two different readings. I have been using the same Minolta Flash Meter IV for over a decade. I shot a lot of transparency film, so and I know it's accurate. My friend's meter is off by a 1/3 of a stop and his 4x5 transparencies look marvelous. Slide film is a good way to check meter's accuracy. Either it's right or it's wrong. With neg, you have a lot of room for error, though the printer lights can tell a tale. Try getting it calibrated at a repair facility that specializes in meters, if you are worried. My cine film, still film and video have all looked great. Chances are you're all right. Though, maybe the guy reading 5.6.5 is right, he's right in the middle.

Porta Brace make several things. Lightware make a really great belt and pouch system that I use and I've turned a few AC friends onto it, it's called the Grip Strip. Lowe Pro, Domke, Filmtools, Lindcraft, ACG... Pretty much all of the different mfr's pouches fit on all of the different mfr's belts. The red webbing on Lightware belts has a snap lock buckle on it so you can quickly add, or remove pouches. Handy if the pouches don't have velcro loops. The belt is also a decent back support for lifting. Check out Lightware's other stuff too, they're good. I don't work for them, but I really like their gear. Also Eagle Creek makes belt pouches, available at EMS. Try EMS, Campmor and other outdoor places. Lightware http://www.lightwareinc.com/site/index.cfm Grip strip. Click on the items on the left to see the pic. http://www.lightwareinc.com/site/index.cfm..._Name=GripStrip Filmtools http://www.filmtools.com/ Lindcraft http://www.lindcraft.com/ Setwear http://www.setwear.com/ Domke http://www.tiffen.com/domkecat09.htm Lowe Pro belts & harnesses http://www.lowepro.com/Products/Belts_and_Harnesses/belt/ Lowe belt pouches also fit on the Lightware belts and most others, too. http://www.lowepro.com/Products/Accessories/sliplock_cases/ I also love my ACG Assis Belt Pouch. It holds a lot of stuff and I wear it, or clip it to the tripod. http://www.sourceshop.com/acg.html

You can use a space blanket with the silver side out as a camera cover. It's cheap and can envelope the whole rig and then be bungeed at the bowl of the tripod. And yes, lot's of water and sunscreen. If you can have the grips or someone set up a 4x4, or 6x6 to shade the camera that will also be good. If there's lots of blowing sand perhaps a haze filter might be good to protect the front element, maybe even a 2, or 2B to cut through some of the UV. Lot's of dust off and a couple of soft brushes. Yeah, keep the film cool with ice packs in a cooler.

As David mentioned, you may want to consider starting off with basic still photography. I suggest getting a manual film camera and take some classes. If you shoot digitally, the controls on the camera will be that same, f-stop and shutter speed, but I'm not sure how Photoshop, or similar programs will relate to programs that control the image in HD, or DV. Learning still photogrpahy will help you with composition, understanding the basics of how lenses, shutter speeds and f-stops work, plus some other things. This will help you understand the language and how to communicate with the DP. But if you want to direct, learn the basics and then hone your directing craft. Learn about how to write and read a screenplay, take some acting lessons, find and make opportunities to direct. Don't worry too much about owning a camera, esp if you want to direct. Spend that money on your projects. The technology is always changing and you may find that you have spent all your money on an electronic hockey puck. Learn how to direct, that is compatible with any format.

Perhaps you can use some of the fake candles for stage theatrical effects near the ladies petticoats as well as in the background. This way you can have a similar look without the risk. You can put them on dimmers, too. Just watch out about mixing real and fake candles, if the flame flickers on some and not others, this might look weird China balls might also be used for base light and skirted as need be, just out of frame. Kinos? I think the XL2 has an equivalent ISO of around 640. Anyone confirm this?

Matthews, Avenger and others make parts like ears and angles so you can make your own frames and then you use your own metal or PVC pipes to create the desired size frame. The expensive part will be buying your rags. It's easier to use the little laces rather than a zillion Pony clamps and fabric from the fabric store. If you have access to a sewing machine and some down time, you can make your own.

When facing the sun, the Polarizer won't have too much of an effect other than acting as ND. Be careful, do not look directly at the sun through the viewfinder, you can burn out your retina. You will not know it until it's too late. Use the onboard monitor. If I remember correctly, you cannot feel it when your retina is damaged. I couldn't find any info . Any time you are looking at the sun through an optical device, like a camera viewfinder, or telescope, binoculars, you run the risk of burning out your retina. You could get the glass guy in silhouette and have just the highlights reflecting off his face. You would have to stack a bunch of ND in front of the lens and/or stop down. Take a reflected reading off the sky. If you decide to use a light, be sure not to fry the poor guy. Or use mirrors to rake light across him on the camera side. Maybe use a color filter to add some warmth to the shot. If you are looking at the sun, you'll get plenty of flares, a zoom may help you get more. I think an Angenieux might be good. I'm not sure how much it will lower the contrast from veiling.

Thanks guys! I was away and really appreciate the replies. The machine oil comment was a joke. As part of the kit the little bottle of oil comes with the pkg. It just sounded like I might want to get a 55gal. drum and some sort of constant feed mechanism :~) So Kevin, did you get to keep the Cadillac since it was busted? Or did they take it out of your pay :~) Thank God for production insurance, right? Yeah, I have heard of A/C flicker at certain high frame rates, but didn't know how high. The stuff I want to do I can probably get by with the 120FPS of the Panastar. Was thinking of maybe a Photosonics at around 300FPs, maybe 500. Still tweaking the script.

Kino Flo make smaller fluoro units that will run of the car's cigarette lighter and 12V system. Depending on what you need you may also be able to rig some larger Flo's on the car exterior and have those add some additional light. Maybe you have a few car batteries and an inverter? You can rent larger 12V, 24V and 30V batteries and power your lights that way. These are usualy used for 35mm cameras. There are a bunch of battery powered tungsten and HMI's on the sales/rental market that can help- Sachtler, Romy, Pag, Anton/Bauer, Frezzi, Arri, Lowel, others. I used the Pag light, it's pretty nice because it will do both HMI and tungsten. Heck I've even used these little stick up flourescent lights that you get at Home Depot they work on A/C, or AA's. It's easier to throw a CTO on an HMI, you only loose 3/4 stop. Putting blue on the tunsten looses 2 stops. For a feature, I lit the entire interior of an RV with Kino 9" and 15" units. Using various types of sticky tape, they were made to look like practicals. For a couple of shots I used a 2'x4 bank and used an inverter with that. We drove around during the day, but it gave me a base exposure, to work with.

The producer bragged about what a deal he got for a Honda putt-putt genny. The genny was a bargain because it wasn't crystal controlled. The magnetic ballasts flickered badly. There was nothing we could do since it was too late to get a crystal genny. We shot and the footage looked like poop. I wasn't happy that they disregarded my insistence on the "expensive" generator.

Looks like a Bolex with a matte box. Hard to tell.

I did get a chance to check out the Panthers and they're quite nice. They look a little spindley, but they are quite sturdy. Ken is quite right regarding head and legs being two different, but equal issues. Also if you can check out Panther and the other manufacturers, that may help you narrow your choices. You can always mix and match heads and legs.

Yeah, it's about $100, 000 just for the body alone. If you want a system it'll run you about $500,000. If you are getting enough work to justify the purchase, go for it. If you think you'll be getting work because you own one one be careful, you may, or may not get enough rentals. It's pretty risky. Do a little Google search. Would contacting the Egyptian film board be useful? I think they would have a resource guide or something like that. I went to Arri's website and found Arri subsidiary: Waves Incorporated 8, Dr. Abdel Hamid Said St., Appt. 4, 2nd Floor Cairo, Egypt Mr. Nadim Mahmoud wavesincorporated@hotmail.com 002 - 02 - 578 6216 There are also subsidiaries in Israel, Iran and Syria.

Thanks. I'll be stocking up on light weight machine oil.

The main thing is to seal out the fine sand and grit and keep the camera cool. The Porta Brace rain slicker would be a good idea and having a bunch of Haze 1, or clear filters is also good. A decent brush to brush of the Portabrace is good too. This way if you are trying to open the rainslicker, you can brush away the sand first

My suggestion would be for a Super 16mm, or 16 mm camera. I'm not that enthused about S8, even 100 ISO film looks pretty grainy. Not sure about the Konvas 35mm. Don't know what you can get for $3000. I think S16 is still cheaper than 35mm. Dang, it's been so long since I've shot film I don't have current price info. I personally would have held on to the DVX and, squeezed every last dollar out of that sucker. An Arri SR, Aaton, Bolex? Rik's list looks pretty good. My first feature was shot on an old Eclair NPR. It's still a decent camera. Get good glass. I don't recommend buying your own sound equipment. See if you can hook up with a few good sound people in your area.

I haven't used the tripods, but I'm sure they're quite good. Panther makes excellent equipment. Panther's Pegasus Crane was given an Oscar for technical achievement in 1990. I have used Panther's Husky Dolly and it's pretty nice. It's sixty pounds, folds in half and can be carried by one person. There are lot's of add ons so you can build it however you like. I'd be happy to own one. Their tripods look pretty nice. I'm going over to Abel Cine in the next week or so, I'll check out the tripods. I got the brochures last time I was there, but didn't have time to really get a feel for the tripods. Their larger dollies are also really nice. They use a rising/falling column design and they are battery powered, rather than by air. I wouldn't bad mouth their gear, it's reliable, robust and easy to use. They are more popular in Europe and haven't really got the same market penetration as other companies, here in the US. http://www.panther.tv/en/default.asp

I'm going to be shooting some ads with a Panastar for some high speed stuff, as well as for normal speed stuff. Anyone have any info on idiosyncracies of and tips about the Panastar? Any info is greatly appreciated. I may also end up renting a Photosonics to get higher frame rates. Thanks, -M

The XL2 is still a viable camera and Standard Definition is still a viable format. I think a lot of prosumer SD camera owners on this lower end are a bit worried about being able to payoff their investment, but I think we may be getting a little too worked up about it. I'm still getting work for my XL2 package, in addition to other gigs with other gear. Life is good. I am concerned about losing gigs and I do feel a little like I got bit in the ass, regarding HDV. Kinda wish it was happening next year, but WTF, right? I've only been here in NYC for a year, but things are heating up, I'm getting fairly regular work for the XL2, as I mentioned earlier, so I'm confident that I'll be working it and can pay it off. There are a lot of reality shows that are using SD gear and since most households are SD, I think we're in good shape for the forseeable future. But that is only my opinion, based on my own experiences and what I have seen. Also, how clued in is that producer? A lot of producers are ill-informed and hastily form opinions based on incomplete and/or incorrect info and hunches. Suddenly anything with HD on it is hot and they have blinders and can't see anything else. Will he buy you a camera?

Malcolm in the Middle is shot on Super16, Scrubs is as well. Panavision makes a 16mm camera, the Elaine. I think Law and order SVU is shot on S16 also, not sure which cameras they use. HD rentals are not falling off, but S16 rentals are up. I don't think 8mm got much usage to shoot news. 16mm was the standard for documentary and newsgathering. Auricon, Maurer, Mitchell, Arriflex, Bell & Howell and Bolex were used. Other cameras, as well, CP-16's later. A lot of people tried HD and went back to film. A lot of people have gone over to HD. It depends on a lot of things, what format eventually gets chosen. Occasionally 8mm gets used for things, but not for a whole film. Natural Born Killers comes to mind as a film that used 8mm for certain "effects" to illustrate a character/feeling.

Matt, I got the 44-01 DV Sunshade, XL2 bracket and 15mm rods. Two stages seem to be enough, I can probably get a third stage and screw it on myself, if I needed it. With the EOS lenses, you get a 7X manification, so any lens you put on there will be a telephoto. The EOS lenses are designed for a 35mm still photo frame, so you are extracting from the very center of the image circle. If you have an XL1S/XL2, the 16x is the lens to get, in my opnion. I do Low budget TV and indy films and have had excellent results. I also own the 20x lens, but primarily use the 16x.

The 20x and the 16x are both good lenses, with good and bad points. I own both. The 16x is my preferred lens, I shoot a lot of low budget TV and indy stuff, so having manual focus and being able to see what my distance and focal lengths are is very handy. I also have a follow focus for pulls. The one drawback is that the lens breathes, but that's what you get with prosumer MiniDV. The 20x has optical stabilization, which is handy for long telephoto shots and steadying up shakey hand held stuff. Ironically the 20x doesn't breathe, but it isn't that good for pulling focus as the marks drift or get obliterated if you alter the speed with which you turn the ring. Plus there are no distance or focal length markings. I suggest the 16x and get the Century .7 Wide Angle adapter.

When possible I will put them over window frames, or door frames, so that if they slip, the frames will catch, or delay the falling autopole. If no frames, put wooden uprights under them for support. I, or the Set Dept. will camoflage the uprights and make them part of the set. Sometimes you get lucky and an owner, or manager will let you drill into the wall to safety your wall breakers, Oo I mean spreaders, wall spreaders. :~) . Bring your stud finder, so you don't put a hole in the wall. That would make them "Holecats". Sorry, had to say it. 2950 82.7" - 45.7" 076 59" - 106.2" 2953 39.4 - 67" Sorry, no metric conv. :~( Go to Manfrotto's website, or the UK distributor's. Be careful that the rubber cups don't leave black skidmarks. Very bad. Very, very bad.

You may have to put a combo fluoro filter on yout tungsten to make them match like cool white, which are usually around 6500K and 30CC green. Try using plastic grids on the fluoro fixtures in the bathroom. These should work well because they are eggcrates and are available at electrical supply houses and larger hardware stores. Get the ones that are black, or spray paint them black.

It looks really great, I haven't done a film out yet, but on video it looks great. Hardly need any filters.