Robin R Probyn

Well most big shows are shooting raw or at least slog so there is bound to be alot done in post .. but film is also just the negative .. it will need quite a bit done in the lab and post .. its a bit if a generalization to say there is more in digital than film .. and anyway is it not better to have options in post ..

Well I would disagree again.. almost every think looks good these days .. the average standard of "cinematography " has never been higher .. there is stuff on you tube shot with an A7s that looks way way better than "high end " commercials / feature films of 15 -10 years ago .. its a bit much to say young DP,s don't care what the image looks like !! .. they do and they are producing way better camera work that the generation before them across the board.. the evidence is just massively obvious ..

Totally disagree .. its the opposite ... films / tv / commercials / docs are all looking so much better these days ,than ever before .. big budget films for the 80,s even 90,s look like shite in comparison to much small budget productions now .. the average level on all productions is massively better than 15 years ago, to say that younger generation DP,s don't care abut the final image ..is just totally wrong and insulting .. what is the evidence for this statement.. look at any recent show and it looks amazing .. whats going on here .. why this dissing of the younger generation of DP,s ..they are far better on average the. ever before .. there are quite big time DP,s of the 70,and 80,s who wouldn't get a days work these days .. the bar has never been higher ..Jesus.. have you not been watching Netflix / HBO etc .. everything looks good .. every feature film looks look ..

Shooting anamorphic but then cropping 4-3 for delivery ..? are you sure he doesn't mean using a 4-3 crop on the sensor to shoot 2 x Anamorphic ..?

But surely thats the same for film .. Ive been a lot of film sets that looked nothing like the finished graded shots .. you could see that all the time on the old DVD ,s that had the out takes after the film .. ungraded they looked quite ordinary alot of the time .. And video sets with DITs adding LUTs to calibrated monitors that looked great .. ?

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Simin .. this lens is over 8kgs .. !! its on a video camera .. what is your point sir .. ?

??? you never heard of the French / British new wave .. it was all to do with light weight ,hand held cameras .. it must be one of the biggest changes ever in the film industry, to get away from massive studio bound cameras and be able to shoot in locations / cars / hand held etc .. you are not really saying film is better because the cameras are heavy .. or have I just had some bad acid and not read you post correctly .. could the "others " be some how banned from anything about cameras .. its pure Kafka ? ..

I think there are plenty of good images from Venice and Reds.. (The Crown / Queens Gambit) it probably depends who is using them and post .. I think people stick with Arri because they got it right first and big productions know the workflow .. its a safe bet and alot of the top DP,s stated using them first .. as Ive said before .. film can look really bad , some the older big budget Panavision films look pretty bad these days , very over lit etc .. and no doubt I could make an Alexa look like shite too ?

Not necessarily true .. at the high end there are plenty of DP,s who are and should be , more interested in the script , story and how its told , acting , blocking etc ..than all the techie stuff .. tell that to Chris Doyle or Barry Ackroyd .. or Roger Deakins , well in fact any of the top DP,s in the world .. these guys wont even do a film if they don't like the script .you might not know but on drama, the DP is sent a script ,usually, before they sign on ...there is any army of assistants and DIT,s , post production to deal with the techie stuff thats their job..although of course a certain level of knowledge goes without saying ..its not the primary function of the DP at all ..

Yeah and who wants that hassle and added expense ..why would you suddenly do all your insert shots on film .. ? its just not reality .. film is very very rarely used in main stream doc s anymore .. and only for say some "special look " at most .. it costs so much more , thats the simple truth and thats what happened .. it died out ..

In think I still have my old dig beta ,even better .. ? .. what I mean is digital is up to the same level as film these days , there isn't a bad camera anymore , even iPhones can take good pictures .. and so .. whats always been the more important elements is even more so .. as shooting video is no longer a compromise ..

haven't shoot film for over 30 years .. in my market it died a long time ago.. for docs .. if I was requested to shoot film now I'd say no .. for docs it was a pain .. 10. minute 400ft loads .. and anyway it never happens , at best it will stay a niche market in features .. well thats already happened .. I honestly dont have a preference looks wise .. but digital is easier to work with .. and can now "look " as good .. and so thees days , script etc is far more important .. its like worrying about the color of a plane but not care about the state of the engines or a drunk pilot staggering up the steps .. .. time to move on .. I have spoken ..

film will remain in a niche / boutique roll .. thats just logic .. its done basically ..it costs more .. bean counters don't like it ..they always win .. but why worry .. Digital is now as good .. who cares what its shot on .. lets worry about the films themselves ( enough of the escapist bollocks opiate of the masses ).. scripts ,directing , lighting and acting .. ie what really matters ... end of debate .. next ...

Nice one !

I assisted Stephen many years ago in Tokyo .. a very nice man to work with ..

Yeah is basically a tool to make life easier for the shots its going to work for .. I was the first to snort with laughter at anyway using it before , but these days , especially Sony , there have been massive improvements in AF .. its not just contrast based anymore .. I honestly think it will make its way into high end cameras within 5 years or so ..not to replace a FP, but just to make their job easier , track in on a face , someone running directly at camera , fast cars .. its going to work way better that the average FP on FF sensor /wide open work .. just going to safe time .. if there is one face, or a dirty over shoulder , its pretty much 99% going to work now with the correct settings .. it cant "think" of course and I'll still pretty much always shooting manual for B roll .. if there are a lot of faces and you want to be shifting focus a lot .. but interviews ,static objects it really is very convenient, Im shooting most interviews on a 85mm f1.8 FF and that would be really exhausting having to concentrate and tweak focus on a long interview , how I can just look out for other stuff to go wrong ?

I have the fx9 and use the AF for every interview these days .. the face/eye recognition is very good these days .. and there are settings for focus speed and transition .. ( if it will and how fast the AF will pull to something that goes in front of the subject in focus .. from locked on (1) to fast response .. I have shoot some flamenco in AF and it was pretty good , but also sort of lent itself as two people facing each other and moving in a circle ,so AF could nicely go for face to face never pulling to the foreground back of head ( there is a face only setting that is quite important as if the camera doesn't see a face , AF just stops working , it wont hunt to the background, but will pick up seamlessly when it picks up a face again,) you can also register a face and in theory ? the AF will only go to that face .. BUT it does get confused at times , and it did shoot in manual focus too .. but its success rate is at least 90% .. but these faces were also well lit outside .. Another gotcha is that AF will ONLY work within the focus area you have chosen .. so WIDE is probably your better bet .. or Zone if your tighter .. if you use the smaller flexible spot,AF will only work in that small area .. but yeah there is a learning curve on the speed / transition settings .. but its pretty good , if face only is getting weird sometimes just face priory works better .. but things like tracking in , its going to be better than most FP,s .. or as good as the good ones .. I mean if your on a steadicam without a FP, you are either going to have to stay really wide and /or light it up to a higher aperture / DoF .. A plan B could be use an EX3 or A7s3 which have active tracking screen touch , unfortunately the fx9/6 doesn't have this .. but no 4K, only HD in s35 mode on the EX3 / A73..

I just got the Aktiv8T and flow tech 75mm set, with off ground spreader , 2 days ago ! .. the question really is what camera /lens are you using .. I have a Sony fx9 /with Core V mount adaptor / mini V mounts , and the 28-135 Sony is my biggest lens .. for that set up it works .. and counter balance well within limits .. but say my previous rig F5/ CN7 / Sigma cine zooms ,I dont think it would , need 100mm bowl for that .. The head is great , there is a 100mm version but the weight specs are the same as the 8.. there is a set up one off procedure but its pretty easy and takes 5 minutes ..setting up the spigot basically .. but then its great .. no fiddling about under the bowl .. set level in literally seconds , they really have re invented the tripod head ..and the flow tech legs the same .. no bending down involved .. the leg spread does seem narrow with the spreader in "closed " position ,or Im just used to my 18p with midlevel spreader that had a very wide footprint .. too wide sometimes ..getting those damn rubber feet off /on is now also totally changed for the better and very easy .. the carrying handle is nice and you can use the bag shoulder strap directly on the legs too .. there is a reason almost everyone says no going back after using these legs .. But I would definitely give it a try out .. if your using a larger camera rf cine zooms I would go with the 100mm bowl setup ..or at the very least try the 75mm first to see if copes with your set up.. but the head and legs is a great combo .. and you can now go right down ground level on the sticks , dont need a high hat basically if you have the space ,there is an optional slider spigot kit too, so you can take the head off tripod and just plonk it onto any other set up with the same spigot .. Quite a few video,s out there now about the head and legs .. but Im a happy buyer for sure ..

It might be different within Europe but the international Carnets I use , you have to leave a deposit with the carnet association or what ever it is , before you leave, and its a percentage of the total value , but you can "be conservative" with those valuations ..within reason ? .. I use an agent now to do it as its a bit of a pain but its do able yourself if not a ton of gear .. you can punt it and hope for the best and even some crews on real shoots do .. but you are rolling the dice to some extent, usually the problem being coming back into your home country , if you have proof when you bought it , receipts etc .. and you don't have some production company angry with you for not "doing it properly" .. could take your chances .. you will probably get more trouble if you try to check in lithium batteries TBH .. ?

Yeah as Dave says , its basically a passport for gear, doesn't matter what your going to do with it , but you can put the value estimates down to lower the deposit cost .. and I would study up which pages need to be torn out and where customs should sign and date etc .. the biggest hassle Ive had is customs officials doing it wrong ! .. then its big hassle getting your deposit back ..you really have to check them and often Im telling them how to fill the thing in properly .. many have no clue what a carnet is .. also don't check in your batteries if they are lithium have to be carry on.. and they cant be over 160WH .. 160WH - 100WH you can take 2 , under 100WH as many as the weight / airline will allow ..

Check some of the new LED lite panels , many have effects now ..my Intellytech Lite cloth 160 has ..Im sure there is a flickering florrie effect in some of them.. that would bee the easiest route ..

There are 3 new Sony G series compact primes coming out end of the month, with manual un clicked Iris and advertised as " linear" like response manual focus, and of course AF capabilities.. 24 f2.8 and 40/50 f2.5. metal body and look too be well made .. only $600 each ! all the same physical dimensions .. they are in my sights !

Base Low ISO for the fx9 , in S Cinetone is only 320..

If its just for something like interviews / closer shots, the far easier way is to use a large soft box ,with a grid , on your light ..they will really work to control spill with minimum effort and gear.. a book light is not intrinsically making the light softer , its just evening out the spread of light from the source ,hitting the diffusion .. soft box with an internal baffle will do the same with a much easier set up .. the actual "softness " is based on the size of the source to the object , nothing else ..