Rolfe Klement

Mmmm - a couple more ideas Does the problem go away when you shut of the eyepiece? Does the problem occur with newer lenses (like the Zeiss Ultras etc) This might be obvious but is the groundglass in the right way - in the z direction. It almost looks like the baffles have different depths. Are the baffles deformed on the z axis as well It is quite easy to get a groundglass with baffles (at least in LA) have you tried replacing just the baffle unit The basic problem is to figure out if the eyepiece and baffles are actually causing the issue. If you take the path the 3 light sources take - light from the lens, light from outside and light from the eyepiece - and each of their associated routes then check for faults. It could even be flashing in the mag... the primary job is to figure out where and what is causing the addintional unexpected light exposure on the film Have you had a chance to run any tests - cause if the baffles look weird - then they look weird but you don't want to spend time fixing it if it is not actually causing issues on the film thanks R

not sure if what I say will help but here goes. NOTE I only have 2 baffles in place and I don't get flicker - touch wood Close the viewfinder off - check if it continues - 9 times out of 10 ithe light leak comes back from the view finder Use black electrical tape to cover from the groundglass front - my batteries are dead on my digital (but when they are better I can send you a still) - the best way to see this problem is take the groundglass out of the camera - then have a look through the eyepiece (put a lens on the camera) you will see a mirror of your view from your iris (a sphere) move your eye around and you will see the light leak at the top - this is the most likely cause The other areas you get light leaks are on the eyepiece (where the little lever opens and shuts the final eyepiece eyelid - the one that can catch your eyelashes There are other light leak areas in the camera body - the attachment for the old matt box at the top had dodgy screws and it is a good idea to tape it off again There is an old sound connector unit thing next to the old matt box holder that also needs taping up If you have a 2cVB check the paper on the shutter markings is not coming loose - it can do weird things Check the spring system that mounts the eyepiece door onto the body if it makes any noise it is too loose and needs to be tightened - easy just use a flat piece of something to fit in and bend the levers down about 0.5mm If you have a solid PL mount it should be OK Something else is too shine a torch down a roll of card at a lens and open the body and check if you are getting light leaks around the PL connections - very rare Also shine a torch down the eyepiece and check from the mag load hole for leaks thanks R

I have the 35 3C crystal handgrip motor which has the 4 pin XLR connector and touch wood I have not had any problems. It plugs straight into a cinepower battery belt or battery pack and has no exposed bits I would recommend plugging straight in with a standard xlr but I am not an expert about it - the best contact I know in either UK or LA is Joel M at Otto Nemenz (35mm cam dept) not the Joel in sales. He knows more about the 2C than anyone I know and is very friendly (as is everyone at Otto N) but getting him on the phone can be a bit of a mission Not sure if this helps thanks R

I have pushed 5218 2 stops and got some real nice beauty shots - it seems to smooth out imperfections - especially with woman just out of the CoC. But the big thing is the white point moves - but the audience adapt to it very quickly - so stills can look very weird thanks R

Thanks for the great help! R

I did a search on this and did not find any answers so excuse me if it has been covered before. I see the equation of (25 x T stop x T Stop) ---------------------- Exposure (sec) x ASA to get the number of foot candles needed. Do many people use fc? Does anyone use something like this? Here go a whole bunch of technical questions ... how would you set your key and fill if you knew what contrast ratio needed was. how would you go about setting a highlight at 3 stops over - based on the equation or another what would you do if you where pushing 5218 2 stops - what ASA would you give the 500 considering an 85 filter in the equation Is it better to work in fc or stops when using adjustments for ND filters etc Hope these questions makes sense - it seems the more I read about fc - the more of a tool I can use it as to set exact luminance in an image and easily set up light and genie requirements for a shot but it is a bit of a head trip to wrap my zone system head around :D - because I am into high contrast shots currently thanks R

Dear All I have been searching on the net for a manual for my 2C for a while - I know most of my camera but still have some pesky outstanding questions. Does anyone know or have one thanks R

I agree - I am very into using available light so the right time of day, a mirror, a shower curtain, some black fabric and 2 pieces of foam (black one side and white on the other) and some c stands and clamps and you are 90% of the way there :) This was a recce shot on 5218 , TKed to PAL, 50mm, T1.3 thanks R

Thanks - quick question - I am not sure what a speed rail is - I might know it by another name thanks R

All beautiful images - The third image really works for me - I like how the lighting accentuates the textured art direction and the subtle weirdness of the image - like the upturned chair on the right - and the 2 complex worlds of foreground and background thanks R

Some help needed - This is more of a grip question but I need to mount a 2C camera on a swing - to get a shot like this from "Abril Despedaçado" by Walter Salles- without using a unit like this The swing needs to be free to swing. I am thinking the person sits on a T shape structure - so they can use their legs to swing and the camera mounted on the long arm of the T - the girl has angel wings so there must be space behind her for them Any ideas Thanks R

Here is a shot and set up from something I did basically no budget - but 10 par cans left over from a wedding the night before and a £6 shower curtain - 2 of the par cans were broken due to the heavy party :-) 6 x 1kw - into a shower curtain and 2 Hard back lights and quite a bit of negative fill - shot on 50mm lens at T2 with shutter way down - I think... Thanks Rolfe Klement www.creativesunshine.com

I am into the handheld, moving around kind of shots where I am close in with a camera on a 25 or 23mm lens - and I have been having issues being able to pull focus from the viewfinder - cause it is so dark - with an 85 and an nd9 (cause I also like to shoot T2 on 5218 in daylight) It is easy to set up the shot using tape but as soon as I move and the talent it gets dodgy. I pull my own focus - I spend lots of my time following my dog around the house with the camera (to get focus practice) and I have learnt some things - like move the camera instead of the focus - pull focus on the ear cause it always looks better than the nose (if you have issues hitting the eye) - I always tend to be to close rather than too far Is it just my camera - cause when people say a LT has a bright viewfinder does it have some funky way of by-passing the filters in the matt box I dont want to shoot a higher frame rate or cruch the shutter down - I could move to a slower stock but I always prefer to have stock too fast and use filters than be screwed any suggestions? thanks Rolfe Klement www.creativesunshine.com

frank wartenberg - who is a Stills fashion guy who does some lovely work - lights the same way one or two Breise lights and the rest is flags or silver bounce to "model" the face and quite often a ring lite anyway check out his site www.frank-wartenberg.com/ thanks Rolfe Klement www.creativesunshine.com

I would be interested to hear from anyone who will go to the "making love to the Lens" talk about challenges in filming sex scenes by Doyle etc at the Bangkok Film festival in Jan I always have issues about the justifying these and how to make them any different. Something I hear about Dop and directors reels is "yes the shots look techincally fantastic but can you film talented actors acting as opposed to slow motion ice explosions" and this is one area I have never had exposure So when it is complete (jan 20th - I think) if anyone has a transcript it would be great to post it here thanks Rolfe Klement www.creativesunshine.com

I am very into this look - and wanted to ask David S a question about the setup - were there 2 tweenies then - one thorugh the 216 and one diffused for the bounce board - if so where was the second tweenie thanks Rolfe Klement www.creativesunshine.com

I am not sure about the 2B vs the 2C - but there is quite a bit of info on this post re variable shutters for the 2C http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/in...opic=2865&st=15 So many accessories have been mixed up the only way to tell is the camera body - There are very few (like 50) 3C's but they are spotable by the adjustable viewfinder - they also had a very useful handgrip motor that runs crystal - which fits 2C's Also check out http://www.thepowerbroker.com/arri435_mos.html thanks Rolfe Klement www.creativesunshine.com

I had a look through the search results and was wondering if anyone has advice on metering the sky. I would use a spot meter then put it 3 or 4 stops over 5 on the grey scale once corrected for the sky colour. Any advice thanks Rolfe Klement www.creativesunshine.com

I used an eyepatch today which someone lent me and it made operating far easier - I didn't get that left eye crinkle headache thing Does anyone else use one - or have any advice about it - the big draw back is it doesn't look cool :-) thanks Rolfe Klement www.creativesunshine.com

I should have been clearer MiniDv or Beta SP - I always go SP Digibeta or SP - I always go Digibeta thanks Rolfe Klement www.creativesunshine.com

I would assume the tape or tape player if you went to a repuatable TK house How did you do the transfer? Did you attend the transfer - did it look OK there? Have you played the mini dv cassette in another player? You could go to a camera rental house if you know someone and project the neg (not the best option [it is a neg, the machine might not be 100%] but free - and if it is only test footage...) but you will have to play the footage again otherwise the tail is in the wrong place I always insist on a transfer to Beta SP if people want it going to MiniDV - it is about the same and you can get your hands on an old SP system pretty cheap - and it is much better quality thanks Rolfe Klement

The feedback about filtering has been great - the problem with the power is... it is a World Heritage site | Listed or something - so we can't get vechilar access and getting permission to run any king of generator has been a huge hassle - it is pretty far from any kind of street access. And I was told 3k power - work your magic - otherwise I could have stamped my feet and held my breath and demanded Softsuns and a musco - in fact I can't work in conditions like this... take the big studio at Matthew Ryan and build a forest and if I am not spending more than £500 a day on lighting electricity then something is wrong :-) I actually am beginning to like having to shoot outdoors in variable conditions - something I noticed (it might have been mentioned before by someone else) is everyone in LA loves the overcast look and everyone in UK loves that 3 x 100k SoftSun look :-) it always worries me when I hear people talk about Softsuns at production meetings in the UK But maybe we can get 6 k of power in - I am thinking Briese light for beauty and something hard from the back | Side - and frames to block from the top to emphasise - and 1/2 diffusion frames on side to soften thanks Rolfe Klement www.creativesunshine.com

oh man oh man I just bought a NEW xc555p last week - after hunting around for a 999 for a month - I was even going to get one from Canada Anyway.....

Going to be shooting on 5218, a forest scene in daylight using tungsten lights - I need to create a commercial beauty shot look on the models. We have 3k of power available and 8x8s and 6x6s - Since it is the UK i would assume it is going to be overcast :-) Any ideas on how to light this beautifully - I am thinking about using some 6x6s to block side and top - and using a breise light or book light or soft light to define the hair and wings I am trying to create a creamy, high contrast but soft shadow look - I was even considering skip bleach and then going from 3 stops under to 2 stops on highlight The models are pale, wearing huge angel wings and there is fairly dense tree cover - but since there are no leaves the light is OK but pretty diffuse How would you filter the lights - if I have an 85 on the lens? thanks Rolfe Klement www.creativesunshine.com

It would be shot in an infinity cove (Mainly used for car shots) - you need to overexpose the walls so they burn out If you build a floor - you need to pump loads of light up to get the edges to burn out. The biggest probelm is creating high contrast shots - since there is so much light bouncing around - but is is possible The floor is always a problem and I would recommend not shooting the floor unless you have a self illuminated floor Black and White - unless you are specifically after the look of 31 stock - I would shoot color and do it in post (it is always safer to shoot color) but sometimes you can't easily replicate the look of 31 My biggest problem with my shoot was when I got the bill for lighting electricity from the studio (I was producing as well) hope this helps Rolfe Klement www.creativesunshine.com