andrew kuepper

I recently had this same issue. SxS cards were not giving me copies that had the same byte length on original files in both desktop copies and copies to one or more external drives. I used Al3xa Data manager, with md5 verififcations that came back positive for verification, but did NOT have the same byte length as original clips. Manual copies to desktop exhibited the same issue. I Could find no problems with the copied files, they scrubbed and played back as the originals. This was all extemely frustrating and disconcerting.

Just got my Iphone after years of clinging to Palm. Guess what my first app was... :) The Pcam software justified my phone years and years ago, and was the sole reason I stuck with palm for so long. No Kelly Wheel or Samuelson with it, and half the cost! The new app is amazing. I love the Siemens Star, but I can't figure out how to make it bigger :) Good work again, Mr. Eubanks, thanks for "the" killer app.

I think the best bang for your buck is Sun Seeker for $2.99. http://ajnaware.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/sun-seeker-seeing-the-light-with-augmented-reality/ Super easy, intuitive augmented reality paths.

Bill, So you saw a 35mm print then? I supposed prints can also vary in quality depending on how many times they are run, it's strange that your opinion contradicts so many others. Where did you see it? Did the theatre appear ok? When you say "did not compare favorably to digital projection", are you saying that the 35mm filmout is worse than the Digital Projection? did you see both? I'm a little confused here. As for using an HVX for 35mm output, I think it's a little risky, even though I did it. If you have the budget to uprez and post properly it's one thing- But asking a 720p camera to magically jump 4x in resolution and look good is pretty out there. I felt we got real lucky, I was expecting much, much less from the medium. Thanks for the comments, Andy

Well, you have your opinion, but I don't think any of the footage "looks DV". Hi, I'm the D.P. of this movie. Although there was some 2nd unit footage I was not a part of shooting, all the footage I shot with Allen pulling focus looks amazing. The 1080 uprez, digital projection, and 35mm projection all look absolutely stunning to me and everyone in the biz who I've shown. Although some of the 2nd unit stuff I'm less than pleased with, I believe it holds up better than any digital format I've seen (aside from varicam's and F900 stuff in Star wars, Spy kids, etc.) Bill, honestly, have you seen any DV-> 35mm lately? Or even 16mm-> 35mm? Everything I've seen in the past 10 years has been less than acceptable for my eyes. When coloring in Los Angeles at Plaster City Digital Post, everyone was amazed at how good it held up on the 26' screen (thanks to their up-rezzing). When I saw the 35mm print this last weekend I thought it looked as good as a digital projection I saw at the premiere. As for why not shoot 1080, the short answer is our research showed that it wasn't any better when it all came down to the uprez, and it took a lot more resources. We shot this movie on 2 8gb and 2 4gb cards. We didn't have a whole lot of time to test, but the 720p stuff was looking so nice, we went with it. I'm not sure 1080 would have improved anything at all, it might have even "degraded" the image, as increased sharpness make it look to video-like. We were trying to smooth the image out and go with a more cinematic style, so 1080 was passed over. I've posted a bunch of info on the Redrock Micro forum, and I have an article in next month's American Cinematographer and IGN Magazine, talking about the production. Hope this helps! Andy Kuepper

I just got back from Los Angeles testing and looking at a 35mm filmout for a trailer we are putting into theaters in a few weeks. The footage originated as Redrock+Hvx 720p+ Nikon Nikkor Still lense. FILMOUT The wrong way: The first test used a Final Cut Quicktime Animation Render because that was the best the editor felt he could get. This was given to a post house that then did NOT uprez the image, but re-adjusted their filmout recorder lens to capture the smaller image. Result: I was actually surprised at the quality of the print. Bright scenes looked as good as a 16mm blowup, but some darker scenes were really muddy. There was an overall grain increase in the entire set of images, but nothing really overpowering. It was superior to other small format films I have seen in the theater. Although I was impressed, I was not under the impression that this is as good as we could get, so... The Right way: Plaster City Digital Post. This house specializes in HDV-> 35mm. They do not take a render file from your Final Cut project, but prefer to media manage from your whole project file. They ingest the footage uncompressed and then uprez the footage using their tools. The project is logarithmically uprezzed to 1080. and brought into a 709 color space where correction, titles, etc. are added. They then output to tape, or Digital projection files, with Surround Sound audio files, etc. They preview on a 2k Christie on a 27' screen. They do NOT do filmout, so I did not see a print. Yet. Results: The preview looked absolutely incredible. I am sure that Plaster's methods are state of the art and top of the line in the industry. The frames on a 27' screen were completely holding up. Not 35mm but so close you could barely tell. This is all subjective of course, but on a particularly nice frame the Plaster City Guys commented on how good it looked. That tells me something. I am convinced this is the highest quality output achievable, and I look forward to seeing it printed. I'm coloring next week and a print will be stuck from that and it's off to the theaters. The trailer is planned to ride in front of the upcoming Nancy Drew Feature, and we have a fairly wide release planned. If you find yourself seeing that movie you might catch a glimpse of the 35mm blowup. Our film's website just went up, it includes some frame grabs and a trailer. You can find it at www.sarahlandon.com

Before I would go with 3 16gb cards I would probably opt for 6 8gb cards. That way you can go transfer and check files and continue shooting and never find yourself waiting to "load". All of this depends on the running time of your shots. For a feature or short, any length of cards is fine. A 4gb card is like a 16mm film mag. Changing loads should not be a problem. For a long form project like a concert, you might look into Firestore drives or a seperate recording deck. As for timecode, I'm not sure you can "daisy chain" using the camera's alone. The workflow I I just used on a feature used P2 card-->P2 store --> Macbook Pro --> firewire 800 drive --> Firewire 800 Backup drive --> ingest into FCP --> Check by eye. This takes a while to accomplish but guarantees your footage is safe. This required a "film loader" on set, who's time was taken up completely by this process.

Yes you can use PL mount lenses if you buy the PL adapter. I just completed a feature using Nikon Nikkors. Redrock sells a baseplate with rods, but I actually bought a different baseplate from ZacutoRentals out of Chicago. Their gear is made out of annodized Ferrari Red Aluminum. It's strong and looks sexy. As far as "tearing" apart, I suggest hard mounting the rig together- that is, normally the camera lens with the diopter just snugs against the M2 adapter. I ended up using a male to male ring to lock them in place. Redrock now sells such a system.