Robin R Probyn

The photo with the core looks like one of the sprung loaded "securing lugs" (the top one in the pic ) that spring out when you push the centre button ,isn't out properly .. or you not putting the core on straight .. you shouldn't have to be constantly slapping the mags .. I only had to do that occasionally.. or the noise is because those plastic guides are so worn down ..

Yeah thats a good point , Ive always bought my own cameras , number 7 to date , and you do learn them inside out .. nothing will ever catch you out .. and you are learning generally about sensors , gamma curves , menus, etc.. Im no camera tech but on more than few multi camera shoots ,same camera as mine ,Ive been able to sort of some problems / settings the camera ops who were renting couldn't solve .. or questions the director / producers had .. it gets remembered .. you were the guy who knew the gear the other folks didn't ..

Sure Im not saying s35 will be gone by the end of the year, but manufactures will make cameras with FF sensors as "standard " , to cater for that market and /or give the user the choice to use both , but with a s35 crop mode .. cheaper just to make one FF sensor with a s35crop, than make two different cameras.. the other thing is marketing .. and production company "Buzz"..who 10 years ago would have thought that ⅔ ENG cameras and zoom lenses would be virtually non existent in the markets they dominated 100% ..for decades ..you would be laughed out of the room .. they are much better suited for documentary , corporate , event work than s35mm CMOS cameras.. but look what happened .. !.. . that was all through clever marketing .. there is no freelancer that can survive with a only a ⅔ ENG camera .. and that switch over happened in less than 2 years .. I know.. I had both, a PMW500 and an f5.. first it was corporates all going s35 and within a year every single broadcast tv show except for sports / breaking news .. I had the PMW500 less than a year and it was a door stop .. Never say never ! ..I couldn't give away my $35K Fujinon ENG wide angle zoom.. that 6 months before was worth a decent middle size car..

Happy xmas everyone ..Tinkerty tonk and down with plastic rings to the face ..

Theres always a first time sir .. stranger things have happened at sea ..

Its a reference to the early way films were shown around the country , they were projected onto a white sheet ..often with the circus I believe..

Great timing by Sachtler, Ill be looking at the Activ 8 and flowtech, as a light weight 75mm tripod for Sony fx9. Not out yet though AFAIK ..

in the 80,s ,on a shoot where I was the assistant .. we took 1 x 2K Blond, 1 x stand ,2 x ext leads .. And .. an electrician ! .. known as a Spark in them olde days .. this light was used exactly once in the 2 week shoot , bounced off a ceiling .. The reason being a BBC rule that only an electrician could touch ,let alone plug in a light .. it was totally mad for this small doc shoot.. but Ive seen it the other way too.. people with no idea what they are doing blowing up stuff.. I think its really down to common sense if you need sparks or not .. LED lights has greatly reduced the blowing up / burning side of things .. and being able to run off batteries .. in the doc/corp world..

As above .. there is a travel kit of 2 x Astra that comes with a purpose built foam cut out pelican case ..with stands .. mine have flown all over the world .. indestructible box.. slightly fiddley AC unit but it attaches to the yolk so no cables and bits hanging off light stands .. a have a DOP choice large Softbox , great as a key for interviews but doesnt fit in the case ,Small size will fit into the case .. they are not the cheapest light but for any interview situation and much more .. they are very simple to set up and strong ,recommend the travel kit ..

But maybe not for long sir .. looks like digital video cameras are all going to be FF sensors sooner than later .. with a s35 crop mode ..

Large rental houses that buy 30 x fx9,s ,for example, and will get a big discount ,and can charge less .. an owner operator will have paid the full price .. and pay for maintenance at a much higher rate .. this is a problem in the UK for owner operators , production wants to employ them because they are like their work.. but do not want to rent their gear .. rental houses are virtually giving it away because they are renting out a large amount of gear each day so anything is income .. this is why I will only work with my own gear .. if they want me its with my gear only .. this is the only way to have a decent life style as a freelancer in doc/ corp world these days .. no one is "over charging " its called keeping the rates at the established levels .. without being undercut by very ow rental rates.. BTW it used to be the other way round .. rental fees were high and the owner /op could actually provide cheaper rates as an all in deal .. but now with way cheaper cameras thats been turned on its head .. you should probably go into dentistry .. much better prospects ..:)

I dont know if its a particularly UK thing .. but almost always send out a director with the Orange rubber drives .. its pretty much standard ..

Yes the discussion re speeds BUS or AC was of course in reference to HDD not SSD.. unfortunately HDD are still the norm when provided by production , as I said, the last shoot I finished just last week, BBC / ZDF / Arte co production with plenty of budget ,it was actually a direct demand from production , as they said their insurance had stipulated LaCie rugged .. if I had refused they would have had to find another cameraman .. or insurance company .. !

Yes Im just talking about the doc/corp work thats true .. and yeah I think for good or bad , the more polarized it gets in all markets ..you will have the high end stuff that Mr Deakins and the 15 or so guys that seems to shoot all that stuff .. high end streaming shows ..and the 15 guys who shoot all those .. and the commercials they shoot between projects .. and the rest !..

I was just saying this on the fx9 FB forum .. its a camera you can pay off in a good month of work..22 days , based on $400 per day rental .. compared to the old 3 years general target for the old $70K ENG beasts .. its mad not to buy gear these days. Also in my experience its better to charge a day rate including labour and gear .. the only time I have production insisting on a break down ,is to try to get the prices down compared to some low rental rate they can get from the massive rental houses (are there any small ones left) ..which is a totally different business model to an owner operator .. the best response is to tell them to feel free to make their own breakdown "for their budgets" as they say they need it for ..

The most uncomfortable camera operating situation is when you realize you should have charged a lot higher day rate ..

Im certainly no propeller head , Im just happy if the thing starts up, especially after installing Big Sur.. blank screens abound .. but Ive always heard that an AC powered HDD will be faster down load than a BUS powered one.. although for me the BUS power convenience is greater than the speed .. Im not a DIT I just have to down load 1 or 2 cards at the end of the day with Hedge to check and generate a report ..

Yes true , but TBH just having BUS power is simplest and easiest in a hotel room in south east Asia .. .. although longer down ,loads .. I have USB C Mac Book Pro .. not sure why it wasn't faster .. ,maybe the Sony SxS card reader then was the block.. the cards were new .. I have XQD / fx9 now should try it out on an SSD .. trouble is production will seldom spring for 3 X large capacity SSD,s.. until they get even cheaper I guess.. they love those Rugged drives .. even as far as demanding them for their insurance.. some ones on the payroll for sure .. !

Thanks for the knowledge sir .. yes unfortunately the BUS powered HDD,s are slower but Im often in a hotel room downloading and sometimes they don't have many power points .. like 2 at opposite ends of the room ! ..so not having to power the drives is easier if slower .. I have a shoot next week where they said their insurance policy actually stipulated Lacie rugged ..! because they need to be shipped .. which of the BUS powered drives do you think are the fastest .. or all about the same due to the power not being separate .. occasionally production have sprung for SDD but I didn't find them that much faster ..?

True , there are some very cheap f5/ f55,s out there now .. and probably going to be more of them..

Really the answer is the A7s3... nothing comes close to it at the moment .. but 8bit is not the end of the end of the world and the A73 ,for video , is alot better than some of the other A7s that cost alot more .. like the A9 .. you just cant grade it much.. otherwise the A73 can produce great images .. as above ,content is more important than the craze of pixel peeking and LUT mania thats been unleashed by misleading marketing ..

I would keep it simple .. I use a Mac book pro 2017 with Hedge software ,down loading to 3 x Lacie drives .. down load to 3 drives at the same time from the one card.. as long as you start off with decent battery power you can afford to use up all the 4 USB C ports ..about 40 - 50 mins to all 3 from about 200GB card .. 4K 24p.. Hedge is very good and easy to use.. it has pre sets for folder naming etc.. and alot cheaper than Silver stack ,which has a ton of features you will probably never use ..

I think GL,s actual first choice of DP for SW as Haskell Wexler ..(American Graffiti).. who read the script and sent it back to Lucas with " this will never work" written on it .. his son Mark Wexler told me this ..

Cheap , one battery power , the best interface by far , small, light weight, 800 nit ( ok for outdoors most of the time ) ..SDI.. decent build .. Small HD focus ..

He has to shoot in 'under slung " mode .. not on the shoulder .. thats the problem ..