Mike Brennan

To put some perspective into this subject, PAL digibeta 4:2:2 10 bit compressed 2:1 to tape 720x576 360x576 360x576 So the new 1 million pixel digibeta progressive scan camera isn't far off the Varicam! Watch a good upconvesion to 1920 x 1080 from a digi 720 x 576 shot with HD lens, compare with quality of upconversion to 1920 x 1080 from Varicams 960 x 720. If you are going to compromise on HD res for broadcast on PAL TV work then the new digi progessive scan camera should be considered, it benifits from 12bit head, 10bit recording and multitude of digidecks will leave more £££ in the budget for steadycam and lenses... Mike Brennan

Anyone seem under the hood of the Kinetta? You know circuit boards and stuff? Does it exist other than as a block of plastic with a lens mount? Anyone seen a live picture from it? Eyewitness accounts only please. Mike Brennan

Wait a minute so what zooms have you been using? I've been using the 11x and 21x for 4 years. There is serious colour fringing on similar priced wide angle Fujis and yes also the much more expensive Zeiss! Fuji lenses of similar price have the same backfocus ring. Zero breathing on the Canon 21x. Lose a stop at the end of the lens? Canon and Fuji have always gone the route of giving max focal length range, rather than constant stop. Its their choice of design for a market segment that (apart from you) understands that the last 10% of focal lenght is better having portholed and a stop slower than not at all. The market uses video monitorig and exposure measurement. Film market expects the lens to be same stop as they set by exposure meter and tend not to have means of riding the exposure during a shot. So Fuji super zooms and new Canons, which stop short of max zoom range to enable constant stop are designed/marketed for this market segment. Its not a fault! If you want a lens that has constant stop and less focal lenght range then use the other Canon wide the 6 x 8. Vignetted at every focal lenght? Soft on all the edges? Not quite as bad as that! Gee I've done many test charts shot at 15mm or so and they are dead square. Your frame of reference seems to be Zeiss primes which is fine but unrealistic. Your frame of reference for zooms should be Fuji super zooms. I for one would be pretty pissed off if my 1st AC wanted to change lenses for the reasons you give above, if he could persude the producer to rent Super Zooms then he would have my vote. Sure a prime will always be better than a zoom, so what else is new? Mike Brennan

Varicam 1280 x720 at 60p, sub-sample the Y signal to 960 x 720, the R-Y/B-Y is sub sampled to 480 x 720, HDCAM 1440 x 1080 for y and 1440 x 440 for R-Y B-Y, So HDCAM has *more* colour res in pixels than Varicam. Remember that Varicam, like the HDW750 has a 10bit head, f900 12bit head. Varicam compresses 6:1 to tape HDCAM 4.3:1 Finally both the HDCAM 1440x1080 recording and Varicam 960x720 recording (usually) have to be upconverted to 1920 x 1080. In the case of HDcam at least it is only the horizontal element that gets upresed, whereas with Varicam it is H and V that gets upresed. The numbers don't tell all the story of course. Mike Brennan

The eye is so easily fooled and trained... we'de probably puke and end up on all fours if the brain/eye double act clicked into some kind of photrealistic reality...then we'de get used to it. If you watch a landscape image, shot on fine grain 65mm film on a HD monitor it looks like it was shot on HD. Clean no visible grain, lots of detail. And just about every expert in the world has been fooled at some time or another by the comparative HD to film tests. Steve Poster says he couldn't tell the difference with the Genesis test. Turn the shutter off in a HD progressive camera and it begins to look like interlace. Sharp in focus backgrounds are reminiscent of TV, yet turn the colour down on the same picture and it will look like a BW movie from the 50s. Interlace looks like soap or sports, deinterlace looks like film. Panasonics 720p demo of super bowl has plenty of 60i interlace pictures from the cablecam rig that no-one notices. I'm sure the reason why sharp backgrounds have not (ever?) become trendy fashionable mainstream or desirable in film circles since the intoduction of colour is that 1/ It is more expensive 2/ It is harder to frame 3/ It would look like video Someone someday will break the mould, and then maybe the period from 1950 to 20xx will be known as the "soft period" both for the dominence of film and soft backgrounds. Mike Brennan

I don't wan to appear argumentative :) but there are some gaps in the understanding as to why filmstream mode is better. What is your definition of exposure latitude? I don't understand why log processing (apparently) gets more highlights out of the 12bit AD than lin. I mean, the log circuits are processing the same 12bit AD looking at highlights and saturated ccds... Surely the output white point from the AD is constant? And how can log, with its extra steps allocated in the shadows (at the expense of the rest of the picture) pull in more detail from the highlights? Mike Brennan

By and large 1st Generation lenses are to be avoided. The Fuji super zooms have combination of high quality and fast stop, high weight and that is reflected in rental rates. Other Fujis are on a par with the 2nd gen T2 Canons in my view. Zeiss zoom is as good as any. Colour fringing from the prism is a particular concern to me recently something that effects the picture, regardless of lens. It varies betweeen cameras. The new Canon primes should also be considered, Panavision in France brought a truckload. Mike Brennan

Not sure if the below is relevant in your case... Mike Brennan From the Sony Support Engineer site. Knowledgebase Document: 202005067 f900H model " the RF system error rate ischecked using an HR5-1A alignment tape that isdifferent from the tape used to align the RF system, the check may indicate that the error rate isout-of-specification, even after the RF system alignment is completed successfully When this condition occurs, insert the recorded tapeinto the studio VTR, and play the tape tocheck the errorrate. A green channel condition indicates that the RF system wasaligned successfully NOTE: The procedure to check the RF system error rate is described in the following sections ofHDW-F900 Maintenance Manual, part 2, volume 1: Section 6-7-9, .Alignment Tape Channel Condition Check (Step 1) Section 6-7-14, .Alignment Tape Channel Condition Check"

Hi Derek, could you explain the difference between filmstream and RGB? Why call it RGB if it has TV gammas applied? Mike Brennan

I see Kodak are stopping production of B&W paper too. Mike Brennan

It is dangerous quoting depth of field numbers made for film. Although the theory of optics is the same, HD capture and display is different than film, for which the depth of field charts were designed (someone correct me if I'm wrong here) The "apparent" depth of field decreases with the resolution of the display. So it could be less on HD, when viewed on a HD display or digital projector than on 16mm projected on film. Ask yourself, Who created the depth of field tables? captured on what medium? and viewed on what display? Mike Brennan

Nothing to do with soft background? Try it and see if it has no effect on the background. Mike Brennan

Hi Steven, I suggest that you make your own notes. In doing so you'll learn how the focus falls off slowly especially on wider lenses and the effect of in-camera detail on out of focus backgrounds. 1920x1080 LCD display should do the trick for you. Mike Brennan

Warning, bear in mind that 23.98p and 24p to most production people mean the same thing! If soemone wants you to shoot 24p they probably mean 23.98p... As a side note :) Also confusing if you are in Europe or PAL countries where (before HD came along) there was more 24p offlines done (of film project) than 23.98p offlines. A 24p offiline is achieved on PAL equipment by dubbing the 24p to PAL, so called slow PAL. Now with HD cams in abundance, there is more 23.98p than 24p. You'll appreciate shooting 23.98p limits the offline resources available (they need to be NTSC) if you are in a PAL country wher PAL offlines and decks are a dime a dozen. Thats one of the reasons some features are shot at 25p. Mike Brennan

Anyone have any thoughts or seen pics of the drake in remote head mode? Mike Brennan

It is possible to screw up the image on the Sony 24inch monitor by not terminating the YpPbPr outputs. Yes they are not self terminating. It is also possible to get a bright looking picture by winding the contrast control up. Finally all HDCAM decks have a complete set of adjustable video controls, like gamma detail ect, for each output. Mike Brennan.

Will be interesting to see if any remote head f950s are used in cockpit on wing ect. No remote head Genesis yet. Mike Brennan

Hi Andrea, I can give you a behind the scenes perspective, having made a series of docs over 6 years on Bollywood.Although I was last there 4 years ago things may have moved on. Yes the industry is becomming more tecnologically advanced but the majority of movies are made with technical resources that we would consider a compromise. Ie Apple boxes instead of a tripod. They make more movies than anyone else in the world. Insurance is such that it is cheaper to have an individual guard an item of equipment rather than insure it. The caste system has to be adhered too. It is very uncool to help an assistant. Bigger budgets are a mixture of high and low tech. Think Arri 435 and a line of 15 2k HMIs each with one or two operators. Or 35mm steadycam shot but with two guys running behind carrying a video 8 video deck (because they don't have a long enough video cable...) I'd suggest seeking an new (?) director making a new wave film, not a Hindi film. Most old style Bollywood movies post synch, as India is a noisy place! and they take years to shoot as the stars are all over the place with contracts. A wonderful country with gentle and honest people a humbling experience. Go there anyway! Some of our hotel staff would politely touch us for good luck if they new we had been with Amitab or other big stars that day. Silence! Taking! Mike Brennan

Then its not worth saying. Mike Brennan

Hi Jake, Record a blocking rehersal then playback. It is an opportunity for steadycam op to have a peek at framing and speed in HD too. Problem with most (all?) steadycam rig stands is that they are not designed for camera to be panned or tilting to check an exposure. A breakout cable from the viewfinder ( DIY job) will give you zebras if you don't have waveform. In UK I've been know to radio link y channel showing zebras using a data transmitter for $100 from Tandy... Mike Brennan

Yes it will have same depth of field as 3 chip digibetas. However it will be able to use slightly faster lenses as there is no prism to limit effective aperture. A T1.5 HD primes costs around $15k+ but a used T1.6 Switar is available at Chambless Cine for $2k. I have a 180mm T1.3 zoomar that would be fun! Mike Brennan

You mean single chip 2/3 inch? 3 chip (any size digital will always outperform single chip bayer of same size.) 2/3 inch 3 ccd is already established as worthy for digital cinema. Mike Brennan

Anyone shot 29.97p for a 720 60p delivery? Which crossconverter is recommended? Any traps? Mike Brennan

For someone who how is meant to work in the industry you leave no credits, paper trail, google prescence or any individuals who knows a Jim/James Murdoch who is a tech who has worked in Australai or the UK. More shadows. Mike Brennan

Richard, Save your breath. Jim Murdoch is not his real name. Who wants to fight a war with a shadow, a shadow with a chip on its shoulder :) Mike Brennan