Tyler Purcell

The prototype appeared to be 480p, tho it could have been the display being crap. It looked worse than my Aaton XTR for sure and that's 480p 24.

Biggest issue is the SD video tap with low-brightness display. It looks the same as the prototype in that regard. I'm dismayed they build this thing and didn't address that particular issue. If it was an HD tap with 1500 nit display and focus assist, I'd be all for the price. Without those features, I'm not sure how one is going to determine focus.

Kodak did make a vision 4 stock, it was either 800 or 1000 ISO (not sure as it was tested at a wide range of ISO's) and when they determined it not to be any better than 19' pushed a stop, they basically bailed on the project and the lead person who developed vision from the very inception, left Kodak, along with "nearly" all of the motion picture division upper management. Kodak has been actively changing the formula for the last few years, not necessarily for quality purposes, but perhaps vendors not making certain chemicals anymore. Needless to say, I doubt we will see any new color negative stock, ever. ORWO is not a competitor and never will be. Fuji is out of the business entirely and has been since 2012. All the other "up and comers" are reversal stocks and will never touch the motion picture market. So Kodak can be complacent. They can sit on their laurels and continue status quo forever. The fact they brought back Ektachrome, was an unexpected leap, even for them. However, the reversal market, is kinda of different than the negative market. So I think they felt it was worth having another option and processing 100D as negative, does lead to some pretty cool results that don't look like negative. It's clear, Kodak was testing cross processing when they developed the stock and realized that's how professionals would use it. I have a hunch, Kodak will make a single specialized stock next, doubtful it will have anything to do with vision. It'll take a Christopher Nolan, who now wants to make James Bond films, to create a 1960's looking stock, for Kodak to start developing something new. I have a feeling with how powerful he's become in the world of motion picture, that they're already working on something new, but it's super hush hush. There are A LOT of hush hush things happening in the world of film right now, so we'll see! I know one thing tho... Kodak is going to do another price hike in 2024. So if you wanna buy film, do so before Jan 1st. They usually don't go up on the new year, but from what I've been warned, it's gonna shortly there after.

Na, I think the business is pretty good right now. What I've been seeing is a steady flow of cameras coming in. Even though my focus is on French cameras (Aaton/Eclair), I'm absolutely willing to take SR's and Moviecams for basic stuff. I don't have the parts inventory to replace things, but most of the time they're just gummed up and need disassembly/re-assembly, pretty easy to do. I haven't been advertising our service business because up until now, I've been mainly working for someone else doing service. I literally just moved that whole business to our workshop with a brand new workbench and now I have all of the service tools for every Aaton camera made. I also have the largest parts inventory for LTR/XTR cameras in the US. We are also manufacturing new parts, mostly gaskets and seals, but we will be moving to metal in December with a lathe. I think that'll open up a few more doors for us and hopefully we can start manufacturing spares for wear parts we don't have access to. So maybe next year we'll start advertising and see how it goes. I'm ready to make this a real business, but it's going to take time and money, something we are finally starting to put in.

And ya don't get the sound either! Nobody is gonna buy it.

Ah true! I mean Netflix has done three thus far.

Ah got ya, I've never seen a lens protrude to far into the camera that it won't work. Very odd. I'd like to see pictures of what part doesn't fit. I wonder if it's simply the lens mount being a tiny bit smaller inner dimension for some reason. Some cameras like the Arri SR3 have a slightly larger inner dimension than the Aaton cameras or some of the converted SR's from B to PL.

Yea, that's what I had guessed. Prieto is a great guy and very talented, he knows the best places to use the formats. Honestly, if I were doing such a big movie, I'd probably do the same thing. In your conversation, did you by any chance ask why they didn't make any prints? Seems like such a 70mm release to me. I wonder if they just didn't bother due to cost since the film itself was so costly.

I'd have to see it, we do Aaton repair in the US. Hit me up info@narrowgaugefilms.com and we can discuss what's up.

Well yea, you "made" a lens lol Lenses made for motion picture cameras, won't have these issues.

Well, considering 35mm film cameras mirror shutter angle is narrower than 16mm shutter angle, I think you'd not have any problems with lenses from any format really.

Most super 8 cameras have built in filters and perhaps one of them fell apart? That would be my guess.

Yea friend of mine showed me a video on his phone, dismayed it was nearly all Alexa BTS footage, asking why it was shot on the Alexa when it says 35mm. I had to explain to him that they use Alexa for night scenes a lot these days. I have no idea what video he was watching sadly, been on a shoot for a month.

Yes, from watching the BTS footage, looks like quite a bit was shot on an Alexa.

FYI; I'm referencing streaming, not Pro Res final delivery. Pro Res HQ for 2k vs 4k will have compensatory bandwidth for the frame size. .h264/.h265 will not. So where it's true, if you're going to theatrical DCP, none of this is an issue. The vast, vast, vast, vast majority of people are going to "self" distribute their production. They will need to do the final compression and delivery. Which is the framework of my discussion. Yes, 2k is entirely dead. Nobody is finishing in 2k anymore. That ended in around 2019? Sure, some lower-end productions will do visual effects shots in 2k due to time/cost. The vast majority of theatrical shows, even streaming, will be 100% 4k today. I work with VFX houses quite a bit and they do a few cool tricks within the composites where they can output 4k, but have multiple resolution sources within the composite to save considerable time. Once they got that process down, from that time on, it's been nearly entirely 4k for the top shows.

2k is a dead format, been dead for around a decade now. Where it's true, the Alexa 35 is still only a 4k camera, that is the lowest acceptable delivery resolution today for many reasons. 1) Bandwidth (bit rate) is king. A 1080p (2K) distribution, will have WAY less bandwidth than a UHD (4K) distribution. You always want to distribute in 4k because the more bandwidth the better it will look. The difference between 4:2:0 (standard home streaming) 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 on someone's home TV is unnoticeable in 4k, but in 1080p, eh you can see if it you have some hard color lines between the red and blue channel. 2) Future proofing your production is critical. Delivering in 12 bit 4:4:4 4k (Pro Res 4444 or XQ) is the only real way to deal with this. 3) Most distributors will want the production to have a minimal of 4k acquisition. This isn't a Netflix BS standard, it's just the way things go. I had a film rejected by QC recently because we had some scenes shot in 2k within a 4k finished film. We had to fight with the distributor. Where it's not "necessary" for distribution, most people will request it. I generally try to shoot digitally in 6k or 8k so that when you deliver in 4k, you've got a full 444 sample and if you shoot raw, 12 bit finish is at your fingertips. That's really the way things are done in the modern world, even with motion picture film. Everyone scans at much higher res and down samples to 4k.

How many of those are single perf?

I mean the ASC Master Class is unique. 5 days with a few top cinematographers? Ask any questions ya want? Yes please. Most people I know, have friends who live in LA, couch surf for a week isn't the end of the world. Honestly, if I had the money, I would have done it myself. I just can't randomly blow that kind of dough on anything that isn't going to make a return on investment.

The master class at ASC is 5 days, with some of the top DP's in the US and it's only $3200 bux. So yea, this workshop does seem expensive.

You can't buy time, you can buy space! If ya wanna work in Hollywood, ya gotta kinda pay to play. What we got working now, is really good. The benefit of a better scanner, gets us nowhere financially sadly. The work would not change. A lot of scanners like the DFT machines, have an enclosure which is pressurized with compressed air. This way, it's anti-static controlled air BUT ALSO, there is much less chance of air from the outside getting into the scan and the image. We built a sealed box for the FF scanner, but we're still working on it! When we're happy, I will post! We make camera parts. Mostly accessories for Aaton and Eclair cameras. We plan on expanding that business before we expand the scanning business. Currently we have 5 Aaton parts in the works, 3 available to purchase. We have 1 eclair part and we have a bunch of new ones that are going to be finished when we get back from our trip this fall. Ya know, loop formers, magazine caps, replacement knobs and such. We are also making our own seals for magazines as well. Basic things that people damage that need to be replaced. Gotta live where the work is. Sadly, I'd say MOST of our business is word of mouth from locals. If we moved, even outside of LA county, we'd be dead in the water. It's why we're trying to expand the engineering aspects of the company. I think that's the future, building parts (machined metal) for film cameras. That unfortunately is the future. Starting on the ground level, will help us grow and then we can eventually move out of LA. I can't say anything sadly. Been sworn to secrecy!

Very odd, wanna send me a sample?

I got a lead on some, plz PM me.

Resolve works great, you just have to try different versions of the stabilizer. Each one has it's own unique look/feel. I use the "translation" one the most.

I really like the first season. I'll work on watching season two soon!