Stephen Williams

Next you will tell me all 60 Alexa's are still have the original fan Saw one being stopped out yesterday easy 5 minute job!

Quite a few Alexa sensors have needed replacing, 2 out of 3 cameras in a local rental house.

I suspect Mr Deakins knows perfectly well about IRND's, it's not as if he never tested the camera or the budget did not run to them. i had always heard Alexa produced the best skin tones, even with one of the best DP's in the world, it really did not cut it!

I heard the same with my shoot last week, we had 2 Epics & shot for 37 hours over 3 days, both cameras were perfect. It's more of a 'people problem' rather like horror stories of film being scratched or fogged on every shoot! Alexa produces some great images , however suffers from IR pollution which was very obvious in Skyfall, outside with heavy ND's skin tones often looked very odd!

This month is 5 days Epic, 2 days 35mm, 2 Days 5D!

Had my Epic for 14 months, zero failures as well, it just worked out of the box.

There should be some noise reduction dialled in, a good operator is essential.

I suspect your seeing noise from the telecine as well. What was the transfer machine? If you overexpose the neg you will increase noise on many telecines.

You need to get the right ground glass in the camera!

Generally the best lighting on Macro is with Dedolights, when 10K's & huge screens come out it always gets rather flat & milky!

I have the 35mm version it's a 20-60 T 3.1, very nice sharp lens.

Hi Tom, Thanks for that, I was suprised as the magnification only goes to 1:1, it's something that has been bothering me, however I have been going way closer. If the Master Macro does it I guess I will just accept it as unavoidable. Best Stephen

Hi Tom, Are the Chromatic Aberations from the Master Macro or just the Leitz? Thanks Stephen

Never tried one. BTW most of the SB's do cover 5K & have a pretty even illumination, better than Zeiss standards.

Nothing like that, the wideest was 20mm IIRC, which probably won't fully cover 5K on Epic either IIRC from the tests I did a few months ago!

Probably more to do with hand processing than anything else, if you try to hand crank badly there is hardly any change between frames.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/09/fuji-to-cease-motion-picture-film-manufacturing-by-end-of-the-year/ I see Stuart has started the topic in General, so go there for any comments

The big question is are you any good or not? Can you even do the job? sounds like they have no money & are giving you a chance.

Sorry Phil, typing error, the Pilot was shot in November 1982, the next 12 in 1983. I actually earned more money in GBP in 1983 than I heve ever earnt since! Having 12 films sitting around to shoot at my conveniance, the first week day I did not work was in September! I worked most weekends for Panorama graphics dept., never been so busy since!

I shot that title sequence & the first 13 episodes 1992/3 IIIRC.

Not quite true as anybody who has ever shot higher speeds with small fixtures can testify.

Anything designed before mid 1970's will flare more than modern lenses, make sure the front element is in good condition & clean! Early Super Speeds or 'B' Speeds are easy enough to rent & will do the trick! Same for Series II/III Cooke Speed Pancro or B&L Super Baltar if you can find them. A 180mm is probably too long.......especially if it's your only lens.

The problem with a 100mm macro is you have to track back a long way to get a half body shot & there is a good chance things will shake because of the speed of the movement. By using a 20-100 Zoom & zooming back to say 40mm during the track significantly reduces the amount of travel needed. Generally the into the 'eyeball' bit will be a 3 D take over as on a S35mm sensor it's bigger than 1:1. You won't fully get there with a macro lens, unless focus is achieved with a bellows on the camera, with the camera moving backwards to focus & the lens static! The focus direction actually changes when you hit 1:1, which is probably why it's sort of 'impossible' on a normal lens. For 1:1 & closer reversing a prime lens or even a zoom will get yot there, the wider the lens the bigger the close up will be! Canon have come out with a Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5X Macro Lens, it's basically a 5:1 zoom lens mounted backwards.

Diopters increase magnifaction but reduce focusing range so a + 1 focus at infinity is 1m away, +2 makes infinity 50cm away, +4 makes infinity at 25cm. There is very little range by +4 or above. Just put on a + 2 & go from there, it's very easy to see what you get. The DigiDiopters are 95mm & fit the ultra primes, VERY good quality! I find the most useful lens is 50mm as any movement is way more dynamic than 100mm plus. If I have time then mayne a 35mm or even 24mm, but then lighting gets VERY difficult. I had a client who wanted to shoot macro of an mobile phone with an 18mm, he knew I had the patients....... TBH a waste of time a 24 or 35 would have been a better choice. It was an interesting shot (for educational reasons) but I would never put it on a showreel! If you want to track out of an Eye, then the easy way is a Cooke 20-100, with or without a + 1 dioptre, track & zoom at the same time.

I shoot a huge amount of macro, watches & jewellewy. At 1:1 you loose 2 stops of light due to bellows extention. I generally use 150W dedo lights, my ideal stop as marked on the lens is in the 2.8-4 range. I also use the wideest possible lens. If you stop down to T11 & use a long lens everything starts to loot flat & ordinary. Diopters don't have any stop loss & have the HUGE advantage for the focus puller V a macro lens as the complete range is from 50cm (infinity) with a +2 diopter. Once you start stacking diopters the quality starts dropping off, however I have got away with +4 to 7 on lower budget industrial films. For closer than 1:1 reverse a prime or Zoom lens, the wider the lens the bigger the magnification, which will surprise you till you try! Any questions please ask.