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Marty Hamrick

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Posts posted by Marty Hamrick

  1. I read an article in Moviemaking magazine that with the popularity of 3D, the stereographer gig was becoming the in demand specialist skill to have. Do you folks out there in the field see this? How much training, that is, if you're already an experienced AC,cam op or DP do you need and what's the learning curve like? I'm assuming there are workshops around for this type of thing and I'm sure like everything else in this business, start up costs aren't cheap, espeically considering that you'll need two cameras to start of with.

  2. I've been in the area now for a year, still not legal to work. I've managed to attend one super 8 film festival, but due to the current immigration status, I've been somewhat limited on what I can do. I have lined up an infomercial shoot as soon as I'm legal, which I'm hoping will be before the year is out.

     

    I live in Oshawa, about 45 minutes from T-O by the Go train.

  3. I've used B and H in the past, but now I'm across the border in Canada and if I bought in the States, I would get nailed with paying duty on the merchandise. First time I came up here and brought my laptop, I didn't have a case for it and I carried it in it's box and was given a little bit of grief from the border guards. I would like to know what the equivalent or better of B and H is in Toronto.

  4. . Also as with most (if not all) Cmos sensors you need to be cognizant of the rolling shutter and it's artifacts.

    Could you elaborate on this? Do you have any examples that you can post?

  5. I'm considering a Canon T2 to sort of get my feet wet in this arena. It has the mutli frame rates I'm looking for and the low cost for a camera with those features and lens interchangeabilty are attractive to me. Now I understand there are some drawbacks such as being able to put the image up on a monitor as you shoot. What's up with this? For my immediate needs, this isn't an issue as I'll be shooting mostly off the tripod, small crew industrial type shoots, but what if I want to use a stabilization device or jib where I can't look through the back monitor?

  6. I was under the impression that the Mitchell movement was the basis for the Panavision cameras. I think a properly working Mitchell, Panavision or Arri pin reg movement will all be about the same as far as steadiness goes.

     

    -Rob-

    I was under the impression that Panavision bought out Mitchell and retained the movement design. I've never shot with a Panavision, but I have used Mitchells. The threading diagrams in the ASC manual look close to identical to me. I used a Mitchell 16 and 35 for lab work on opticals, titles, BG plates and even multi pass work. The registration was never an issue, dead on perfect every time.

  7. The conditions are perfect, parative dollar, cheap super 16 gear and a film lab that owes me a (massive) favour...

     

    It looks like it's time to go on a 16mm splurge...

     

    I've noticed that super 16 cameras, that is the ones already converted aren't making as much of a nose dive in prices. I still see converted Eclairs still going from anywhere from 5 to 10 K. Aaton A Minimas, XTR;s and Arri SR 3's are still holding their 5 figures.

  8. Thanks guys. I was aware of the lo-no-deferred pay status, as I've been down that road before. In Toronto, there's a film liason service called LIFT where I can get some good cut rates on renting if I want to take some of these lo pay gigs just to get my feet wet in the new market. I have an infomercial shoot that I'm doing for a percentage of sales on the product I'm seriously considering picking up a DSLR for these kinds of gigs. Very simple, alot of table top product shots and some shots of the gizmo doing it's job(It's a pool cleaning machine of some sort).My rule of thumb at an early stage like this is if I buy anything, it will be something cheap but effective like a Canon T2, not a big investment to start out. That would probably be useless on my run and gun news/doc gigs, but I'm playing that by ear as I'm new to the Canadian market.

  9. The colorists I work with say that when digital is shot correctly (and this is harder to do than with film) and you have raw files to start from (Red), it can look every bit as good as 35mm. There's just less information to work with when there's a problem or you want to go off the reservation color wise.

     

    Of course something straight from digital is going to look bad compared to film where it almost always undergoes color correction as part of the process. Plus low budget digital production can't afford to use a good colorist.

     

    The writing on the wall is that many of the high end telecine/DI houses have seen 50% or more of their work go digital and 75% of the DI work becoming Red and even 5D.

     

    Of course film isn't dead, but it will certainly be less and less important.

     

    Less important is the correct term, sir. I can tell the difference, you can tell the difference and most folks on this forum can tell the difference and if you take the time to point it out to someone who isn't a cinematographer, they will see the difference too. Yet these differences are mattering less and less in the real world. The bottom line is what it all boils down to and if those subtle differences can translate into ticket sales at the box office or video rental sales, then you can make a case for continuing shooting film,especially 16mm. One of the last commercial shoots I was on, someone commented on how nice it would be to have shot the spot on film. The producer/ director said, "Yeah, all the artsy types want to shoot film, but no one offers to pay for the stock or lab expenses." As much as I would love to shoot film again, I wouldn't take a cut in my rates to cover the stock and lab costs.

  10. I saw an Arri SR with a 10 to 100 zoom, two mags, batts and charger go for under 3 G. I was almost tempted to keep looking around for another deal like that and I asked myself, "why?" I couldn't justify an affirmative answer. As many years as I shot 16mm, I'm not even sure it's worth being nostalgic about it anymore.

    I've collected a few test shots from back in the day that I might use as a sort of template to shoot for if I need to emulate a specific look but simple arithmetic tells the story of why it's gone the way it has.

  11. A new, mass produced, Super8 camera is not just highly improbable. But next to impossible. But that's not the only interpretation of what a "new Super8 camera" means. One can also consider one-off devices - a Super8 camera made from scratch in someone's backyard workshop. A custom made - one off camera, that uses Super8.

     

    How were camera's originally made? They were not mass produced in factorys. They were hand made. I'd love to see a hand made Super8 camera, inside a wooden box would be a nice touch. A handle for hand cranking would be cool. I'd love to see one made, not for some mythological mass of consumers that would buy it, but for those who would appreciate the art of it.

     

    In the same vein that certain clothes are made purely for the catwalk. Or concept cars made purely for trade shows rather than actual consumption.

     

    But a camera that actually works and solves all the technical shortcommings of previous Super 8 cameras. And a really good idea would be to make it in an extensible manner, in which it can be easily disassembled and reassembled, with plenty of space for mod work - adding electronics and so on.

     

    I could see Francis Ford Coppola or Oliver Stone using something specially built for a stylized shot, much like the former did for Dracula using a hand cranked Pathe for the London street scene. I've always thought that if I won the lottery and just wanted to play, I would convert a Fujica ZC 1000 to accept a 200 or 400 foot mag and use single strand roll film instead of a cartridge. The Beaulieu 9008 was built with something like that in mind.

  12. We've covered this before, but it's been awhile. I've worked both ways. back when I shot primarily 16mm, I usually owned a few MOS cameras and rented the more expensive blimped sync cameras when I needed to.Ditto for broadcast and industrial video as I found that with video equipment , it went obsolete before you got it paid for. Now I've just relocated to near the Toronto area and as I'm waiting for immigration to go through so I can legally work here, I'm noticing alot of ads for camera people wanted who are owners, particularly RED owners. Does anyone else see this as a trend, particularly among the less expensive HD rigs? Are we finally at a point in time when what you buy won't be a boat anchor in less than two or three years?

  13. Looks like we are the only active folk around here Richard,how is life?

    Stepan

     

     

    Well, you got one more here. I just moved into the area a few months ago, relocating from Jacksonville, Florida.

    Anyone planning to attend the 8 Fest Film Festival ?

  14. Back in 1993, a good friend of mine attempted to do a couple of feature films in 16mm. He has lung cancer now and is going through chemo and needs to sell his gear. He's letting it go at a VERY REASONABLE price.

     

    For example he has one package,a complete Arri S system, complete with 3 primes, one zoom, 3 magazines, battery belt and a Peter LaSand tripod for 3500 USD.

     

    He also has a host of other goodies. Lights, a couple of Auricons, a Nagra 3 with Kudelski synchronizer, mag film recorders, sync blocks, rewinds, splicers,a flatbed and much more that he wants to unload as he needs the money ASAP.

     

    Anyone intersted, PM me and I'll hook you up. He's in Jacksonville, Florida.

  15. Well, Paul, allow me to say that your memory only serves you 50% well :D

     

    Kodak indeed offered a external magazine-style cartridge, the Kodak Ektasound design, but it took 200 ft / 60m rather than 400ft / 120m

     

    You can hitch a ride into the past by reading more about the various cartridge designs in this post of mine here - roughly in the middle of it - in the pinned Super 8 FAQ thread.

     

    -Michael

     

     

    Kodak may have offered 400 foot single strand rolls by special order to accomodate owners of Wilcam sound on film news cameras that came out in the 70's as an attempt to compete with 16mm and ENG.

  16. Someone gave me one of these and yesterday I was playing around with it with

    an old cartridge of K-40 that I knew I wasn't going to bother processing, so I wanted to see how this thing worked mechanically.

     

    Now I had no camera with frame counter, so I ran off about 5 feet in my Canon 814 AZ. I then pulled out the cart and marked the first frame of where I was starting my multi exposed shot,that is, if I were actually shooting something. I put a piece of tape over the core, like your'e supposed to, and ran off 120 frames. I'll add that I tried this experiment in various parts of the cart until I had "shot" the whole thing. Anyway, I had mentally done a count of sprocket teeth on the inner wheel of the backwinder and figured 18 frames per turn. So I rewound what I figured was my 120 frames ( I tried this both shooting 120 frames singly and counting clicks and shooting at 24 and using a digital stop watch) but I was never able to hit the original marked frame.

     

    Does anyone have any great tips on how to successfully make these things work? Is there any way to be frame accurate?

  17. Wow, that's gotta be a lot of stuff to store. At minimum, you must have three projectors with lamphouses, rectifiers and platters, plus all the sound stuff and the individual car speakers. Are you running Simplex XL's? They seemed to be the workhorse for drive-ins. How are you going to store it all?

     

     

     

     

    -- J.S.

     

    Right now we got it in my garage and it's 4 projectors with Christie lamp houses and three platter systems.One is a five tiered platter that serves two machines.We have three Century's and one Super Simplex.We also have the concession stand equipment.

    f you need storage space, I have access to a decent warehousing spot. (in prep to turn it into a green screen)

     

    Thanks for the offer,but we're OK for now.

  18. Over the last 8 months,my wife and I have been running the last drive in theater in northeast Florida.The closest one to the area is several hours away,now there are a little over 400 drive ins left in the US.They are,however enjoying a revival with old drive ins being renovated and even new ones opening up,which we hope to do at a future date.Our last movies running will be Indiana Jones,Ironman and Narnia Chronicles.Here is a brief history of the Playtime Triple Drive In Theater in Jacksonville,Florida.Here is a brief history.

     

    Saturday May 31,2008 will be the final show at the Playtime Drive In in Jacksonville,Florida,ending 60 years of entertaining Jacksonville and the surrounding areas.The property was sold to a church after the owner,Furman "Dempsey" Burchfield was shot in a robbery while working the ticket booth on September 21,2007.I was asked to manage the place and over the last 8 months we have enjoyed bringing back the customers.Mr. Burchfield has donated the equipment to us and as soon as we secure some property,we plan to re open at another location.

     

    The Playtime Drive In was built in 1948 as the Twin Hills Drive In,but didn't open until 1952 as black out laws from the war were still in effect.It was owned by Cecil Cohen up until 1968 when it was bought by Ray Accord in a loose partnership with Furman "Dempsey"Burchfield.It was renanmed The Playboy and it offered adult fare,which at the time was soft core.After incurring legal issues by using the Playboy name,it was renamed The Playtime where it ran hard core adult films,offering such skin classics as Deep Throat,The Devil In Miss Jones and Behind the Green Door.They even had Marilyn Chambers make a personal appearance to sign autographs for her then new film,Insatiable.In 1981,hard core was prohibited in Jacksonville and the Playtime ran edited soft core X movies until 1989 when Burchfield took over and they began running first run general release movies.The Playtime enjoyed success,adding a thrid screen in the 90's,but managerial changes in 2006 brought about a rapid decline.I was asked to manage shortly after Mr.Burchfield was shot and due to failing health.Mr.Burchfield decided to sell out and retire after 48 years of running drive ins and an indoor throughout Florida.Burchfield had recently closed his other drive ins in Naples and Ocala.

  19. I picked up a Beaulieu 5008S for a really good price.The battery is about kaput and a technician friend of mine says he thinks it's been dropped.Looking through the viewfinder,about a third of the screen is black,and when the lens is removed,it looks off center.

     

    Anyone have a clue as to how to center it up?What tools are needed and such?

  20. I would raise the issue with Spectra ASAP to get them on track to deal with the batch that cart of yours originates from, just so that a potential wider issue can be dealt with straight away.

     

     

    Cheers, -Michael

     

    I did raise the issue with Spectra,this is their response.

     

    Hi Marty,

     

    Sorry to hear about your film transport problems.

     

    We do not have a method to remove stability issues electronically. However, editing software often has the ability to do this.

     

    Did you buy the film over a year ago? We have applied cartridge treatments to improve reliability about a year ago.

     

    In most cameras the Velvia preforms quite well. However, due to differences in film thickness and camera gates all super 8 films can never have a 100% guarantee to work perfectly all the time. At times I have heard from our customers that TriX or 64T films have transport problems while the Velvia works perfectly. It all depends on the camera, the film, and adjustments inside the camera. Gate adjustments and take-up tension are critical.

     

    That being said, most cameras will usually run all films without an issue. I should also mention that many of our customers own Canon 814AZ camera and have never reported a problem with our current Velvia.

     

    The Velvia usually has stunning results. It may be worth trying it out one more time to see if it was a one-time cartridge issue.

     

    Please contact us should you have any additional questions we can help you with.

  21. I just shot a roll of Fuji Velvia from Spectra in my Canon 814.The colors came out stunning and the footage looks great except the jitter is unacceptable.When I first got it back from Spectra,I ran it on a projector and I thought the jitter could be the fault of the projector.I was pretty certain it wasn't the camera as I had just shot a roll of Vision 200T and had it processed at the same place and transferred by our good friend on this forum,Mr.David Leugers.The Vision 200T was stable as a table.David did an excellent job on both rolls,yet after getting the transfer of the Velvia,it's apparent the jitter is in the cartridge.

     

    I have two questions.There used to be a service for the bigger formats(been ages since I've dealt with this,early mid 90's)some labs called "electronic stableization",where the jitter could be taken out in the telecine.Anyone have any experience with this and can it be done for super 8?

     

    What's the problem with Velvia in a super 8 cart?I really love the stock,but don't plan on shooting anymore if this problem keeps up.I plan on reshooting some of the shots for my project on 100 D .Any bad registration reports on that stock?

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