Robin R Probyn

Im doing this sort of work a lot  . Doc and corp . For interviews ,generally speaking , the main thing you need is a source big enough to give a nice soft key.  It's better to have even just one large key light than 5 little source lights in a box.  Now the vogue is for  much more natural looking lighting , I'll very often just use one large source key , a couple of tube lights for the BG if needed  , but never use fill or hair lights, video slash on the BG, and all that old 90,s look ? . I use the  Intellytech mega6 for a key light , if the kit needs to be really compact the 4 x1 panel . These lights are good as they fold down to a 1x1 size and can be battery powered . And a foldable negative fill , you will often need this in white walled corporate rooms with light bouncing around making the image flat . So I would suggest a large key light is your priority  , but still transportable , forget setting up book lights , no time or space usually. Matt lights that roll up can be handy but they tend to break quicker than foldable panel lights .  COB lights will need huge softboxs , they are relatively  quick to set up but take up a massive amount of space , to the extent ,that some locations you wont even be able to use them . Just use panel lights if you need a soft source . 

Just saw this , I'm around except the 12/13th ..   you can get a contact from my website, just google my name should come up . 

5 hours ago, Joerg Polzfusz said:

Yes, 90% of the flights over the pond will start/land in CDG. But there are also exceptions like in the attachment image. (According to some other pages, it should be an A350-900)

French Bee , wow never heard of that airline , I guess budget airlines cant afford  CDG landing fees or don't have slots to even land there , and go to Orley . All the usual suspects will be using CDG . If production was putting me on that airline I'd be worried ? 

1 hour ago, Joerg Polzfusz said:

FYI: Paris has got two major international airports: Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and Orly (ORY). So there’s no simple „take me to the airport“. ?

And it’s 230V/50Hz (+/- 23V) in the EU (and hence also in Paris) since 2009. Not to mention that power plugs differ between France and the USA. ?

In the last ten years, Paris took some major steps in becoming more „environment friendly“. Hence, several streets have been turned into one-way-streets for cars - with the remaining space getting turned into two-way-bicycle-paths. Some streets have even been completely turned into „bicycle only“ areas. So keep an eye on bicyclists when leaving/entering a car - they are now everywhere and will always come from all directions. ? Despite this, Paris is still a single traffic jam from 7a.m. until 10p.m.. So always plan some extra time for commuting between hotel and studio/set.

Keep an eye on this website: 

https://www.cestlagreve.fr

In France, there‘s always someone on strike. ?


Good luck and have fun!

You might have flown from Germany to Orley in a smaller  plane , but pretty much  all the long haul flights from over seas will fly into Charles de Gaulle  , it's actually known as Paris CDG , but yes good call to check .   Always someone on strike ?  classic ! 

Keep an eye on your gear in Paris ,  stuff gets stolen very quickly .  Great city ,but being rude to the customer , in any situation is part of the visitor experience .  Most people will speak English but pretend not to , be careful what you say.  The airport is way out of town . France is 220V / 50Hz. Safe shutter for flicker off tube lights will be 172.8  / 1/50th  . Learn the Carnet form ,its not that difficult , customs quite often make mistakes on dates or where they should sign , or even I had one keep the wrong page ,then it's a huge pain getting your money back at home base. Of all the worlds cities its not a bad one to be sent to.  The driving is pretty aggressive . It will be great don't worry .

Wasn't it shot on an fx3 ?..  don't need no Alexa for night scenes ! 

Ive gone for Intellytech mega 6  4x3 for the same use , interview key light .What I like about them as opposed to this one ,is that it comes with all the extras , soft box , diffuser , and grid . clamps , and even a ballast stud clamp, and carry case.They also have these fast pop up diffs with grid now. 

The problem is always spill all over the place , without a grid a real pain to control . Just buying this by itself you still need a load of stuff to make it work . Im sure it's a good light though, and definitely the way to go for location work then COB lights with massive soft boxes taking up half the room.  

On 8/2/2022 at 9:57 PM, Sushanta Barman said:

As I was using the Sony fx9 camera in cineEI mode using a slog3 in a night scene, there was a lot of noise in the footage, can anyone suggest me how to reduce the noise?

If there is not enough light on the sensor , it will be noisy , even at 4000. Thats just physics and will happen on any camera . Add light , except the noise , or shoot day for night . 

On 7/4/2023 at 11:39 AM, Phil Rhodes said:

I find myself wondering if this sort of thing is becoming less relevant in the time of comparatively powerful, often quite large flexible LED panels. They take up so much less space - so very very much less space - than a conventional light plus diffusion setup, it's hard to see why people would do anything else. It's also vastly more power efficient, since all that bouncing is so lossy.

Well, other than the sheer horrifying price tag of an Aladdin fabric light, of course. Or the even more horrifying cost of four of them, enough to fill a frame.

Intellytech lite cloth V3 are exactly this , the 8 panel Mega lite , and the new 6 panel Mini Mega  ,Ive just ordered , great for interviews , close of mid shots , but yes limit to the power , But now you have Venice 2 with dual ISO l high base of 3,200 .. with basically the same noise as 800 , !! There is some ides that book lights are softer than just through a frame , all they are doing is evening out filling the diff frame in less space , but pain to set up ,Im with you , for interviews especially , you really don't need this anymore , a large LED panel is absolutely the way to go 

Someone with a nice car and many ex wives .. 

I thought an eye light as the main lighting is very soft , and the refection looks so small . 

Its an eye light done for effect , ie the reflection of a small light in the eye,  personally I think its pretty much over done and a bit of a legacy technique , like strong un motivated rim lights , I saw an interview from a doc recently, with a really strong eye light and it was very distracting , 

Every filmmaker is a frustrated editor .. 

Used to go to the Cricklewood  lane place in the 60,s ,early 70,s as a kid with my old man , Sammys used to send us a xmas hamper from Harrods back in the day !  also remember the Sydney one in Artamon ? North Ryde or somewhere like that near the ABC, in the early 80,s ..

2 hours ago, Sam Bignell said:

Could not agree more, it's a much-needed update however I'm not giving points to sony because it's one that should have been in the camera from the start, Shutter's angle would be truly great but I'm certainly not going to hold my breath for it.

 

Shutter angle I dont care about , its often easier to calculate non flicker shutter by speed , and it all looks the same anyway , what I what is variable shutter , like the larger cameras have had for many years , it can really save the day . Its a risk for anyone shooting with fx3 as their only camera on an un recced location ..

A big plus for the new Cine EI in the fx3 V2 , is you can use LUT,s  , before you couldn't , only Gamma assist in the EVF , you can also out put the LUT over HDMI. And the base ISO has gone to 800 (like the fx6/9) from 640 (in the cine EI modes anyway) .. you can still shoot slog3 in the PP mode and add actual gain as before , or just over expose it , but Cine EI is just a much better way of setting an exposure off set (over or under ) .. and I agree with the previous poster , its to bring the fx3 better inline to working with the fx6/9 as they very often are used as a B / gimbal camera . I use mine with an fx9 like this, and very happy for the introduction of Cine EI, V2 also gives you a much clearer EVF in movie mode , which might actually be the biggest advantage .. now all we need is variable shutter ..!

According to always correct Probyn's Criteria 

Its pretty simple if your freelance  gun for hire , depending on the market you want to get into , there are only a few in each category these days .Doc / Corp Sony fx9 / fx6  ( rarer than a Ferrari GTO garage find)  /fx3 B / gimbal  OR  Canon C300III / C500 II / C70 B camera gimbal  , these will cover any shoot in that market for a jobbing freelancer and will be the only cameras ever requested . High end, Arri Alexa  or Venice or the higher end RED,s .. this is not a judgement on any camera just what you will be asked for at the moment . 

No further questions your honor 

The fx6 has become such a unicorn , you could sell it for $100K and buy the Arri s35 ready to go ..

On 6/7/2022 at 3:05 AM, Adam French said:

Hi everyone,

I have a question that's never popped up before for me. I'm based in the US, but I'll be doing a shoot in France for a week and I have a request for advice, any answers to my questions, if possible!

I'll be filming in 24P, and I would normally double my shutter speed to 1/48, but I'm curious about the different power specs, and whether or not I would encounter any flickering with European HMIs, LEDs, etc. If it's relevant, my lights are:

• Aputure 600x
• Aputure 600d
• Arri M18
• Nanlux Evoque 1200
• Joker2 Bug 800

Any advice or recommendations for US-based productions, capturing and editing in NTSC, but filming abroad? 

Thanks so much!

You shouldn't get flicker off your own lights , 1/50th is the safe shutter speed for Europe or any 50hz country, re practical lights , fluorescent ,s etc .. but now they're a lot of LED lights that don't play by the rules .. but general rule 1/50th . Power is also 220v ..most pro gear is multi voltage , but in the old days you had to change out the bulbs in lights and plugs are different of course .. if your driving take care ! French drivers possibly the most aggressive on the planet ..

Im shooting 23.98 almost always in a 50Hz location ,  172.8 / 1/50th .. and not had any problems .. but watch out for LED / Neon  / Sodium  lights , they don't always play to the Hz / shutter rules  . and any slo mo, bang off a quick test and play back for sure .. some light in the back of the shot can flicker and ruin everything .. 

3 hours ago, Karim D. Ghantous said:

I only know him via his interview on The Wandering DP Podcast. 60 is too young.

Yes , he started young and had a lot of success very quickly  ...  

Not sure if its been mentioned , but acclaimed Aussie DoP and director Jeff Darling is sadly no longer with us. He died while paddle boarding off the coast in Palm Beach  SYD .Age 60 .he certainly shot a lot of great footage in a short space of time .. 

After my repeated requests ,at the garden parties , at last its happened .. arise Sir Roger .. maybe there is some use for this Windsor family after all ..

Keep one camera on the gimbal , and the other for normal use , no way round the time to re set from one mode to the other , classic diseconomy by production , cheaper to have 2 set ups than waste the time changing between the two.

Also how were you judging your exposure , EI only works when using a MLUT , White card is down about 60% I believe from memory in Cine EI mode ,  if you under expose any gamma you will get noise ..