George Odell

The one I have has a 26mm front thread. Suggest getting either a step up ring to something larger and more common or something like at least a Series V adapter.

I've reinstated my Eclair NPR 16mm camera web site for the up and coming film students out there. Appears, there is some renewed interest in shooting film again. Kodak seems to think so and I've been doing more telecine transfers of late for local university film students. http://tfgtransfer.com/intro.html Will be updating the site as I gather more information but there is quite a bit there now to keep you busy for a long while. The Eclair NPR is just a superb camera. I own one and I love it. Feel free to post your questions here and I or another owner will try and answer them for you. Enjoy!

Dichroic coatings as are used to today's FAY lamps are bandpass filters rather than absorption filters like gels are. They reflect unwanted wavelengths rather than taking them in to the material the way gels do. While there is still some loss of output it is much less than using 3200 degree tungsten and a full blue gel. Granted HMI's are superior but they are expensive (to own or rent), heavy in many cases and can be finicky if not well maintained. They also emit tons of ultraviolet radiation that's bad for both the eyes and the skin. In short, FAY's offer an alternative in some cases that we may have overlooked.

Similar to this one... http://www.productproductionsonline.com/Five-Light-W-Five-650W-Dichroic-FAY-Lamps-PPI-FAY-001.htm

They are daylight at 5000K to 5500K depending on the lamp. FAY can refer to a particular lamp or the arrangement of many lamps in a frame. These are the smaller 4" version lamps. The unit I bought for $5.00 holds five in about a 1" metal box with a yoke, etc.

After a recent rental house auction I ended up with quite a few new and partially used FAY lamps in various flavors. I was also able to fish a 5-lamp fixture out of the garbage for $5. Not much bigger than one of my 1 x 1' LED panels. Each lamp has a switch. I want to have this system at the ready for the next time a DP wants me to rent an HMI for daylight fill. This is old school I know but I see no reason to rent something if this can accomplish the same thing for less money and way less weight. The newer FAY's are light years better than what we had early on. The coatings last much longer. Any one out there using FAY's these days?

This is probably a long shot... but has anyone here had any experience with an LTM Blue Torch 270 "sun gun" HMI unit? Unit works off DC... probably from a battery source back then. Little info available. I believe it requires 24 volts to make it work. Interesting unit. Has a thumb wheel on the side that moves the lamp in and out to vary beam spread. No need for lenses. Head about the size of a Joker 200. Same for the ballast. Thanks.

I'm assuming the pictures depict how the camera will be framed for my reply. Would be nice if you had told is what is taking place. Hall filled with students or only one or two kids walking towards frame?? For the long shot: The only thing ceiling mounted fluorescents do is light up the floor. They offer nothing, as is, for the actor's faces. Assuming the FL are to be seen in the shot I'd replace the tubes with full spectrums. Lowes or Home Depot. They are a bit brighter than daylight whites and look better on flesh tones. Check to see which bulbs are up there. The old fat ones or the newer thin ones. You can also lay a sheet of minus green on the inside of the plastic diffuser. This will cut down the light a bit, though it may not be needed with the full specturms or if those lights will expose at 100%. Remember white is white. Now, if you can afford it, I'd remove the diffuser and replace with white honeycomb screens. You will get more down light with less spill into the camera lens. Might make for a more interesting scene as the actors/students move in and out of lit areas. I see two doors on the left side. You can open them and place some lighting in there... those 4x4 Kino's turned long ways top and bottom or perhaps use the Arri 1K's with half blue bounced into a foam cor board. As Adrian mentioned, the Diva's behind the camera to bring out the faces as they come closer to the camera. Keep them up high and flag off the lower section or adjust the dimmer's as they get closer. Now, if the right side of the frame can be tracked over a tad so as not to see what's hanging there then I'd tape silver reflector foil (Lee 273) to some of those picture frames. For the closer shot: I'd start by cutting off some of the spill on the walls by using only two of the full spectrum bulbs in each box. At this point they are just acting as "in the shot" practicals with no real ligiting purpose. Maybe a 4x4 Kino to the right of camera up high with a shower curtain (I use a real one, $9 from Bed and Bath). Use your small Kino's to model the subjects from the front. Don't be afraid of using bounce cards when you can. Less is more IMHO.

I don't have the series on DVD so I cannot say one way or the other. YouTube has outtakes from the show and some interviews but none I've seen with the crew. Saw it when it ran originally and re-runs diring the summers back then. I do remember reading an article describing some of the lighting "tricks". One was their use of these powerful flashlights (for the key) for scenes whenever the actors entered dark unlit buildings. The grips held bounce cards just of out camera range to reflect that hard light from the lanterns onto the actors faces. Sounds simple but again, up until that time, you never saw that done on TV... at least I never did. Up until that show it always appeared there was this TV network law that said you had to have so much (a minimum amount) of light in a scene regardless of the nature of the shot to meet viewing standards. The X Files was the first show to completely break that rule. Low light and even no light if that's what the scene called for to make it work. The other thing X Files did was offer up exceptional camera work that you just did not get....or rather were not getting... in shows during that era. We used to see some of it back in the 1960's with shows like Perry Mason, Outer Limits and Twilight Zone are good examples. That deep cinematography look the "old masters" were fond of using. Back then (the '60's) cameras were so bulky... the old BNC's with their huge blimps... moving the camera during a shot was a three person job. But they did it and it made the shot that much more interesting. The X Files built upon that tradition and took it many steps forward. Framing shots to take into account both foreground and background elements. They did these intricate shots with their crane that I had never seen before or since. Certainly not in a TV show. It's not easy to do, takes much more time and requires the crew work that much harder. I remember reading an article about another TV show on about the same time. I will not say which one it was. It was very popular and ran for several years. They asked the DP about his style for the show and his response was "This is a meat and potatoes show. We don't get into any of that fancy stuff". To me that just sounds lazy. Sort of a "crank 'em out and let's move on" attitude. The X Files gave us a little bit of caviar each week and, for a time, it was fantastic

Anyone used this CamTram system? Comes as a kit and you use your own (or borrowed) alumninum extension ladder as the track?

So less than 3'? I would have thought DP's would want something longer to allow for cutting in after the start of the move and out before it ends.

Is there a size/length of camera slider that seems to see the most use? I'd like to add one to my grip kit. Just wondering if one size gets asked for more than others.

... let me add to that list The X Files and the superb work of DP John Bartley and gaffer David Tickell. The look of that show, still to this day, is the one that comes closest to lighting and camera perfection IMHO. The best crane work I have ever seen. I lost weight watching that show. I could not leave the room to go get food. Newbees out there. Get the series on DVD. Learn from one of the very best.

No disrespect to those working today, but I too liked the older way of lighting for TV using focused ligiting. We can go back to B&W shows like Outer Limits or Twighlight Zone or even color series like Kojak. Not a bid fan of this one-source soft lighting used in many shows today.

Actually, those I do have. Had a need to rent them for about a year and buying a pair of 1' x 1' was less than renting that many days over several months. Maybe I'll just paint Kino-Flo on the side : )