Jeo

I had a very similar issue. I shot with 2 18k and 3 6k. Everything was fine for about a day and a half then both 18k started to flicker. Fortunately I was planning to finish the day with the 6k anyway so all was fine but I'd like to find a way to reliably use 18k's in the future. The ballasts we had were running at 300 maybe if we had 1000hz ballast we'd be better off.

Hello, I'm trying to find a powerful, energy effective alternative to our main green screen fixtures. Right now we have 6 4k baby softlites lighting the 40x16 green screen. It's putting out alot of heat and using most of our juice while not putting out as much lite as we want. I've freshly painted the white reflective surfaces and that helped a lot. I think that the softlites are just softer than the job calls for. Molefars seem like the most punch. I've seen a lot of used molorama fixtures with c clamps out there for good price. It seems to me like they do the same thing but I don't know from experience. The Mole Richardson literature is missing some key information on the molorama white page. If they have the same reflectors I think it's just as good. Anyone know if there is a difference in how they falloff, cover or anything? B)

Perhaps if the camera is cleaned and lubricated it might have the strength to transport. If you run the camera without film and look at the gate can you see the pull down pin moving?

So I take it that you are getting gear from a school or something. You should be able to rent a hvx200 or hpx for around $200 a day. That will give you much more info to work with than hdv That is important if you want to color control your footage in post. I've always felt that a major reason "film looks better than digital" in the student/newbie world is because it often gets a skilled colorist to telicine and digital rarely gets color control. Is sounds to me like your more interested in lighting than film stock right now. Shooting digital will allow you to pay more attention to the lighting because you won't have to think about the film and because you can see your image on a monitor. A 10x10 white room gets small fast, Light can be hard to manage with soft sources like fluorescents It can bounce all over the place if your not careful. 4 1k ceiling bounces can kill a space that small. Also keep in mind how much Depth of field you want. the more light you add the more you have in focus, You can ND down but why add burn that much light just to take it away. How high is the ceiling? Can you hang fixtures? How many different angles are you shooting? What are the charicter doing? Sitting at a table, pacing, meditating?

Perhaps but not in this case Andries. I would love to pay Bjourn to work on my camera some day. Right now I'm mostly curious whats inside and what I can do to clean and improve performance. I have a fundamental moral opposition to paying or charging someone for information generated by someone else. Example: a manual made by Bealieu 30 years ago is obtained (physically or electronically) copied and sold by some guy on eBay. Wouldn't it just be easier to post the file somewhere central with all the other repair manuals. If it's not started already it will be soon. Please share information freely. It's good for people and in our nature.

oh, cool, thanks!

Oh that's wonderful. Any one seen a service manual out there? I need to clean and lubricate...

Oh that's great! so I guess that I could consider it about 1/54 at 18fps and about 1/120th for slow motion to compensate for the viewfinder prisim. How did you figure out the 160 degree shutter angle? Thanks!

Hello, Thanks for all your replies, it gave a bit to think about. I met with the student director this morning and I decided not to DP the project. He didn't tell me that he had already shot half of the one scene short and wanted me to match what he had already done. It looked like a typical student film which is too bad because it was a really good script. Oh well, sorry to go on for nothing... Joe

Thanks Jonathan. I meant to say gel the tungsten with 1/4 ctb not cto. I'm thinking to have it be lite contrasty with narrow focus. Mostly tight compositions.

Thanks everyone. Very much appreciated. Gelling the windows is out because I don't think we have the gell or some one to do it. It seems like I'm not only the DP but the AC and Gaffer as well! Also, the door will open and close to open and close the film. I'm thinking that I will consider it to be 320 asa processed normal. I think I will then shoot with a 1/2 85 at 250 asa. I will probably also gell the tungsten with 1/4 cto so they are only slightly warm. This way I can have a mixed light effect that is not drastic. I'm probably thinking out loud too early because I'm meeting with the director in the morning and all of this could change. I'll know more about the gear, location, and of course the directorial vision. Thanks for all the tips! Joe

I don't know which stock number. Are they much different? Really rate it at 1000 and not push, wouldn't that make it flatter? When I was in school the prof. was giving the original vision 500t to everyone because it was the most forgiving and required minimal light going through the old news zoom lenses that we had to use. For this shoot, I don't know what lenses we will have. I think that I'll ND down as much I can. I don't know what we have for lights, probably tungsten. I know that there will be daylight mixing in through the window and door. I might use 1/4 ctb on the interior lights and a half ctb on the lens ( i don't remember what this filter is called). Any other thought?

I agreed to DP a student short. The director already has the film stock and it's 16mm kodak 500t. I haven't shot on it since my first project in college back in the day. I remember it being really flat and grainy and looking more like super8 than 16. Any words of encouragement or advice. The whole thing takes place in a motel room over the course of 1 day.

Hello, Does any one have a repair manual in PDF form or know where to get one with out paying a toll for a beaulieu 5008ms. I need to clean and lubricate and reset the ground glass. I'm getting funny focus and tilted compositions. Thanks, Joe

Hello, I've got a Canon Auto Zoom 518 Super 8 camera and am really excited to clean and use it. I haven't been able to look up what shutter speed to meter for. It shoots at 18fps and "High Speed" which I've read is about 36 or 40 fps but no manual or guide mentions the shutter speed at either setting for manual exposure calculations. Does any one know what it is or how to test it to determine the shutter speed? Thanks, Joe