Gregory Irwin

Do you have any reference material that may be relevant to me from the Todd-AO way of listing their lenses? I would much appreciate that. Possibly email to me? Thanks David! G

Ay, there’s the rub. ?

I completely understand what your concern was David. Sometimes my brain goes much faster than my writing and I can be unclear. I need to learn to slow down and be much more concisely understood. With regards to the new Technovision, 1.5x anamorphic lenses, P&S Technik did a very good job recreating the 1960’s Technovision look. The color, contrast, fall off and bokeh has a beautiful, nostalgic feel to them. And they cover large sensors! I love Larry Sher’s bold idea to go with a period look for a high tech, comic book, super hero movie. Again, gutsy like his decision making was on JOKER. G

As Shakespeare’s Hamlet once pondered, “Ay, there’s the rub”. I sympathize with what you wrote Dom. I believe in my case, I went into this project thinking I knew the questions that needed answers. Once I arrived in Los Angeles and began my dive into the lenses at Otto Nemenz International, I quickly realized that in order to understand my goals, I needed to figure out what the real question was! I was a bit dumbfounded for a while that I didn’t already know this! With all of the variables that have already been mentioned in the earlier posts, I believe the real question is how do we create a common language, that we can all understand to quickly refer to the effective focal lengths of the different lenses? Is there a way to strip away all of the mumbo jumbo and confusion of different squeeze factors, expander powers, crop factors, spherical vs. anamorphic, etc (it’s now time for my head to explode...) and have a common basis for the nomenclature of angle of view? In your post above Dom, I would propose we speak in terms of “angle of view” as opposed to “field of view” since the latter changes with distance. I’m considering translating all of the above to 35mm terms since we all understand those. I encourage any feedback! G

You’re absolutely correct about the squeeze factors. The Technovision was 2x and the only reason ours is 1.5x is to make them full frame. Thanks David! G

I’m currently prepping and testing various lenses for my next movie, BLACK ADAM for Warner Bros. I am constantly reminded and amazed at how much more complicated incorporating lenses of different formats and sizes has become. For example, I am employing a brand new series of 1.5x anamorphic lenses that were built for us and our show by P&S Techique in Germany. These lenses are replicating the 1960’s Technovision look that was made famous by Storaro and others years ago but in a modern lens construction. Since it’s only a five focal length set, I need to supplement additional focal lengths with 2x anamorphic and spherical lenses to create a complete set. And this is where it gets complicated. I’m tasked to create a cohesive lens set made up of full frame lenses that cover the Arri LF Open Gate sensor as well as 35mm (non full frame) lenses that require a crop factor so we don’t vignette within the aspect ratio of 2.39:1. All of the different lens manufacturers and designs require a different extraction percentage thus changing the effective angle of view. This results in a mathematical change of focal length. For example, my Technovision, 1.5x 40mm has a much wider angle of view than my Master Anamorphic 2x 28mm or my spherical Leica 19mm. I began with going through almost 200 plus lenses and have now reduced the possible candidates to about 40 lenses. My goal is to have a shooting set of about 20 lenses with the knowledge that we would actually use around 6 or 7 lenses to shoot the majority of the picture. I’ll update this thread as I work through this process for the next several weeks. G

Hey there! First and foremost, be ethical with what you are renting. Rent the gear that is needed. Don’t rent gear that is unnecessary or doesn’t even exist just to make more money. That’s a death sentence for the long run. Transparency is very important for the production to trust renting gear from a previously unknown vendor. Also, keep your gear up to date and maintained. I rent a lot of gear, not only to my shows but to any show that wishes to do business with my gear, through my registered corporation, Latitude 33 Motion Picture Services. That maintains a business relationship between the production and the gear placing a layer of separation between me as an employee and a vendor. My rental prices match the primary vendor’s pricing such as what Panavision charges. My business income is treated separately from my employment income. Also, a Rental Agreement is required for the production to sign along with certificates of insurance. The agreement stipulates the terms and conditions of rental. Finally, as for going into partnerships with other ACs, I would caution you. Anything that involves someone else’s income can spoil friendships when things go wrong. And believe me - many things can go wrong. Thus for the past 32 years, I’ve done this on my own. It’s the smart play for me. Good luck with your enterprise! G

It's fun to read all of the above. I've been focus pulling for so long (42 years) that I've forgotten much of what it takes to be good and instinctive for the job. Like I have stated before, it takes many years of struggling and practice to achieve a proficiency for the craft. Only after you can get beyond the academics and mechanics of focus pulling can your mind be free to concentrate on the creative aspects of the art. It's very liberating once that happens and enjoyable! At this stage of my career, I really don't even touch the cameras anymore. My extremely talented and qualified team takes care of that these days. This allows me to fully commit myself to servicing the cinematography to the best of my ability via focus and running the business side of the camera department with the cinematographer, the producers and the studio. I wish you all the best as you develop into superstar focus pullers! G

It certainly makes the day go by quickly. Larry Sher and I will be doing it again, beginning in April, except that this time around will be anamorphic. Warner Bros. /DC Comics, BLACK ADAM will also employ volume technology. It should be great! G

Hi all, Sorry for the long delay in my response. Basically, for the bathroom scene in JOKER, we had the Alexa 65 camera set at 3200 Kelvin and most likely 1600 ISO to achieve an exposure of T1.4. As for the lighting, all fixtures were tied to a dimmer board where the dimmer board operator could dial in the fluorescent green combined with the orange of the sodium vapor lights. Everything was very controlled. I hope this helps. G

R. Bruce McCleery. G

Oh boy. That was a while ago. Let me do some homework and refresh my memory and I’ll report back. G

Happy Holidays to everyone here. May 2021 be much less of a shit show than 2020 was! G

One final observation regarding this, as you get an inventory of equipment working for you, the gear that is already paid for and generating a profit will ultimately put new gear into profit faster. The money that is received for overall inventory will accelerate the profit potential of individual pieces of gear. As the old adage goes, it takes money to make money. Happy Holidays to you! G

I disagree. All equipment has a market value whether or not it's rental house gear or owner/operator gear. The main difference between the two is who is responsible if the gear fails and costs the production unexpected costs? Smaller ticket items have a market as well. In fact, they are much easier to turn around to a profit. For example, a Small HD 1303 monitor sells around $3,500. In the film world, that is considered a small ticket item. These monitors rent between $600-900 per week (list rental price based on a 3 day week). As you can see, the math is very simple. A 4x5 filter may cost anywhere between $150 - 450. It rents for around $36 per week. The daily rental price would be the weekly divided by 3. Of course, there may be a discount applied and that will lower the list price but you get the idea. The small amount of gear that I reserve for myself on my productions, mostly small ticket items since I don't want the liability of larger ticket items failing when I'm involved with the movie, can add up to a significant annual income. Two studio, big budget feature films per year can easily account for well over $200,000 of annual rental income that is separate from my salary and from my outside rental business income. The initial investment can be tough but the return can make it worth the risk IF you have the avenues to keep the gear employed no matter how big or small. G

I’ve owned my camera rental company for 31 years. My payoff model is for large ticket items, I want the piece of gear paid off within 2.5 jobs. These purchases are mostly $100,000 or more so the return takes a little longer. For smaller rentals, you can get a payoff in much less time. I would say that before you buy anything, make sure you have a market to employ the gear FIRST! You need to know that you can indeed rent the gear immediately after the purchase otherwise your investment will simply sit in the box earning nothing. I would also insure any costly items for your protection. G

Having worked with Fincher on FIGHT CLUB, everything he does is fastidious and calculated. G

Brother, you’ve got to stand down a bit. Members here want to help. No one here would ever want you to fail. We are a global, close knit group of people who share the same passions for cinema. G

Sadly, I agree with Tyler. It’s sad because I’m a native Southern Californian, having made my home for years in beautiful Newport Beach, CA. I chose to leave California because I never got to live at home. All of my work took me everywhere but California! In 2016, I left for work in January only to get back home just in time for Christmas. I spent the majority of the time in Atlanta, Georgia where all of the studio, big budget movies are made now. My family and I now live in Atlanta. It was a good choice due to the cost of living is roughly 20% of what California is and the quality of life is much better for us. The work is plentiful. And, I get to live in my home as opposed to corporate apartments and hotel rooms! Ironically, I am writing this from a hotel room where I am finishing the Disney/Marvel picture I’ve been on for the past year here in Prague, Czech Republic. At least the majority of it was in Atlanta. The point is, think about what you exactly want out of this industry whether it’s features, TV, documentaries, etc and where that business mostly is. Compare that with what you can realistically afford and make an intelligent decision. Once you’ve “made it”, you can live anywhere you want as long as you’re willing to travel. In the meantime, position yourself where you can be available at the last minute and take any job that is offered at a cost of living that you can afford. G

Hire well and hire smart to have a good team around you to share the burden. G

That’s another good question Dom. The CoC really doesn’t come into consideration on a daily basis. These days with 8K resolution and the want of shooting wide open, all you need to know is that there isn’t any dof. Stay vigilant. If any dof charts are used these days, I would say the P-cam app is it. But you’re right in observing that we can see the depth on HD monitors. The random times that I will still look up a dof calculation would be for wide shots when I have to hold a specific range in focus. I can pretty much calculate it in my head faster than I can look it up but I still sometimes need to confirm my expectations. Otherwise, what’s the point? Just do your job and keep the shot in focus! G

I hear what you’re saying David. I’m comparing the Kelly Wheel to the Samcine which offers the user 3 different CoCs to choose from. The Kelly does not. G

No way to choose COC. That’s why it was inaccurate.

Remember the Kelly Wheel? Not as accurate as the Samcine.

Ha! I still have mine too! G