KDC

Folks- I'm considering a purchase for an LCD field monitor. My camera supports composite HD and HD-SDI outputs. My question is this: On a 6.5" or 7" LCD monitor, is there really a (noticable) difference between HD composite and HD-SDI? Will I notice a difference? Will the client? -Keith

For the opening street sequences, I shot 30 minutes worth of Ektachrome/reversal, and used an extremely cheap system to transfer to DVCAM, an old Elmo projection box with a plastic ground glass. I knew from shooting handheld at 4fps that the image would be all over the place, so I decided that "dirtying" up the image even more may give it a little edge. Name deal with OCN, in terms of length. Of course the neg was done on a digital rank with the V3 gate (at the moment, I forget what the advangages were with regards to the gate). In terms of a deal with Spectra, the production team realized that their initial quote was very agressive to start with, and their level of service made the deal impossible to match. Transfer was done direct to DVCAM, and then unsqueezed in Avid Pro.

Folks- After spending some time in post, I've finally got a rough cut example of uncorrected 7218 and 7217 transferred at Spectra on their hopped-up digital rank. The clip is available on the web at the link here: http://www.desktopstudios.com/cine/index.htm Follow the links down to the topmost project, and you can download(if you're a broadband user), a 65mb Windows Media9 file. I am working on a quicktime version at the moment, but I can't seem to get an acceptable file size without obliterating the blacks. When I figure it out, I will let you know. Here are a few important notes: 1) What you will view is an opening sequence to a project intercut with the following: 24p digital, S8 color reversal and S8 color negative. Some of you will be able to tell straight away- but just to make it easier: 1a) All of the "traffic" scenes were shot on reversal, handheld at 4ps. It was then processed and transferred at 24fps. 1b) The Vision 2 stock was used in the "coatcheck" scene, which is preceeded by the "lounge sequence". As a matter of fact, you can tell straight away because- 1c) The camera noise makes it completely obvious. The dialouge audio is very, very rough. 1d) You may notice some artifacting during compex frames (i.e. smoke). Tthe compression artifacts were created during the re-compression of the original Avid file for the web. They certainly do not exist in the original masters, which look great. 2) the gamma/contrast ratios in the windows media file were calibrated on a PVM series Sony monitor. In other words, I have no idea what it's going to look like on your computer. I can only tell you that the Vision2 scene was shot for the shadows. All in all, I beleive it to be a good back to back comparison from 24p DV (Panny DVX100a) against the reversal and new negaitiive film stocks. I'm also going to really put myself out there and request some feedback for all those who are curious enough to take the time to download the file. Regards, -Keith

Well, you know flattery will get you everywhere. I'm pretty proud of the footage myself, although I'm constantly (and painfully) trying to outdo my last shot. All things considered, Super 8 has really come a long, long way. I'll try and post some up on my site (soon), but if you would like me to send you a couple of sample clips, let me know.

I just used Spectra on a pilot that I shot early this April. The rumors on this thread about the Pro8mm ex-pat's are true. Doug and Jerry are masters of their craft- and treat you so well, you'll feel like your playing in the majors, even if you're transfering a couple of hundred feet. They gave me a solid deal on a package that included 24 rolls of factory fresh Vision2, and telecine on a hopped-up digital Rank. During the shoot, I shot polaroids from an old 195 Land Camera and sent them along with the exposed Vision, with hand-written instructions for the colorist to match the contrast as close as possible. Not only did the polaroid match the footage, but the quality of the image was nothing short of spectacular. Did I mention that I shot it amorphically?- it has already fooled many a trained eye into thinking that I shot Super16. A really big upgrade in production value. -KDC

Very kind of you. As promised, I posted a still of the 35mm + anamorphic lens footage at http://desktopstudios.com/7008/ The location is Red Hook, Brooklyn. The background is an old abandoned sugar factory, complete with protruding masts of a sunken ship in it's harbor. Using no filters(skylight 1a not withstanding), I spot metered on the shadow side of the artist's face using a Sekonic L-508c with a shutter angle set to 90 deg, and then opened up two and a half more stops (meter plus 2.5). The stock is Pro 8-46, daylight balanced at 250asa. I sent instructions to the colorist to transfer using the (ever so trendy) "bleach bypass" look, and this is what they gave me. Motion clips available soon. Cheers. p.s. I attended the Vision 2 seminar at Kodak NYC just yesterday, and have only three things to say: 1) Fellow super-eighters, our time has come. It's a celebration, b*tches, and every one of us is Rick James. 2) John Pytlak is much, much more down to earth than his picture suggests. 3) Kodak gives out really swell pens, and makes a mean pot of coffee.

Certainly- new pics are here: http://desktopstudios.com/7008/ The Matte box is a CA Vision 4x4, an amamorphic package I purchased from Pro8mm a while back. My old 2:35.1 lens was stolen, so I recently replaced it with the same Panasonic anamorphic lens that I shoot with my DVX 100a. There was just a little custom work that needed to be done to mount it properly (the panasonic lens is quite large)- and the nice folks at Cine Magic here in NYC made me an brushed alluminum step down ring for a mere 40 clams. I just brought them the camera, lenses and matte box, and they fabricated the piece that I needed in under an hour. Those guys are the greatest! While the housing for the Panasonic lens is indeed plastic, the elements are of a decent quality. While I'm not too crazy about the overall (panasonic) lens build quality, but there is nothing else on the market that can do the job in that price range (at least, none that I know of at the moment). Just this morning, I shot some pickups for a music video using a different main lens- a Nikon F2.8 35mm, mounted using an older C-mount to Nikon adapter- and it all looked incredible! I should be getting the dailes back from Pro8mm next week, and will post some more stills and such when that happens. I've added some pics of the rig (including some shots with the Nikon lens mounted to it) here: http://desktopstudios.com/7008/ Some things I would like to improve: 1) the custom camera mounting plates are awful. Bloody slipshod if you really must know. Not that I'm complaing (too much), but I paid a hefty sum from Pro8 for the original setup, and I feel that the kit's build quality could have been better. In fact, knowing what I know now..... 2) the rods are carbon fiber, but the weight of the anamorphic does make them flex a little (when doing fast steadicam shots). I am looking into replacing with alluminum alloy.

Folks- I get so much great help and info from these forums, that I thought I would post some (hopefully new and informative to some) info of my own. I recently shot a short film in NYC- and while we shot most of it digitally(24p), the director and I are big fans of Super8, and we decided to intercut with some Super8 footage to "spice" things up a bit. What made the shoot even more interesting was that I used a Panasonic 16x9 anamorphic lens ("afro-engineered" into a CA vision 4x4 matte box) to match the aspect ratio to the digital masters. Attached is a still from an EXT- DAY, shot on Pro 8/46, 36fps, processed and transferred at Pro8mm. The camera is a Pro II (7008) mated to an Angeneux 8-64 T1.9 zoom, also from Pro8mm. OK, this is nothing new to the existing masters in the field, and quite frankly, this post is a little narcisisstic- I mean, it's not like I shot "Gone With The Wind 2" or anything... but hey man, it's Super8!!!

Folks- I've got a 7008 (Pro II) from Pro8 in Burbank, CA. Don't ask me how, but some dust managed to get inside the camera and on the GG. I'd like to get it serviced, but I don't want to send it all the way back to the West Coast (due to a short time constraint) I've been to CineMagic, but they were not too familliar with the camera. Does anyone know of anyone in NYC that knows how to service it? Regards, -KDC