James Malamatinas

Thanks Matti, confirms my suspicions and definitely useful info to have.

On Alexa Mini / WCU-4 shoot last week we experienced severe signal issues with the WCU-4 handset. If the 1st AC moved further than approximately 6' from the camera the signal would drop out, only when he came back within range did it reconnect and the focus jump back to what was set on the handset.

Troubleshooting we tried:

- 3 x different antenna's, including a large antenna from the Teradek 2000

- Trying all different signal channels

- Changing global region on the handset

- Different handset batteries to rule out power issues

Our thoughts was that there must be an issue inside the body with the antenna connection but has anyone else had a similar experience and found a solution short of getting a replacement body sent out by the rental company?

I can also second Robin's suggestion. We had the same requirements shooting a film last year and ended up using the sync box in the image attached, my understanding was that it uses magnetic fields from the CRT to correctly sync the image.

We were shooting 35mm Arri LT but I think the sync box should work with the SR3, we also used a speedbox though to help control the sync and I'm less sure that this would work with an SR3 but worth investigating.


Steps involved for us were:

The box has a red light on it which, when lit, means that the box is in sync.

You can definitely get horizontal trays for the MB-18.


Non-geared tray part number: K2.49083.0
Geared tray part number: K2.49096.0

But also, you should be able to rotate your stage so that the vertical filters can be pulled out from the horizontal position. This doesn't help with grad filters but could be useful for other filters while you're searching for horizontal. .

It's looking likely that I'll be loading on my first 65mm job and in preparation I'm trying to gather as much advice and recommendations as possible

The camera system and rental house hasn't yet been decided (765 or System 65) but I will at least have a prep day with the focus puller to learn the camera, practice loading and test everything prior to the shoot.

I've plenty experience with 35mm and 16mm so my main questions is whether there are specific differences on 65mm that I, as a 2nd AC, should know ahead of time to make my life easier e.g. loading/unloading cans, lenses, camera tests, procedure when shooting and so forth?

Hi Sean, I'm not sure if things have changed since late December but back then I was on a job and our DIT had exactly this issue - having to individually extract the LUT from each clip with the Metadata.

They were pretty experienced and were complaining about the the fact that they weren't freely available to use as references so unless something has changed and there's been an update since the you might be out of luck.

UPDATE: Just checked the ARRI forum out of curiosity and this thread may be relevant: https://www.arri.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=498

Cheers Dom, very helpful

Thanks Dom, very interesting about the split level power supply warning and seems like a very plausible explaination. Do you have the full text of that bulletin? I can't find it on their site and the only other place with it seems to be the Steadicam forum where I'm waiting for my user registration to be approved.

Thanks Dom, I assumed that recording would have some kind of significant impact but interesting to find that it doesn't. In case anyone else wanders across this page I also found this on one of the Arri Pocket Guide pages:

 

 

Values stated here apply to typical use at 24 fps, without accessories.

ALEXA/Plus/Plus 4:3: 85 W for camera and EVF-1, recording to SxS PRO cards.

ALEXA XT/XT Plus: 100W for camera and EVF-1, recording to Capture Drives/SxS PRO cards.

ALEXA Studio: 90 W for camera with OVF-1, recording to SxS PRO cards, mirror shutter on.

ALEXA XT Studio: 105 W for camera with OVF-1, recording to Capture Drives/SxS PRO cards, mirror shutter on. When running over 30 fps with mirror shutter on, a supply voltage of 18 V or more is recommended.

ALEXA M: 40 W for camera head and 85 W for body, recording to SxS PRO cards.

ALEXA XT M: 40 W for camera head and 100 W for body, recording to Capture Drives/SxS PRO cards. A 24 V power input to the body is required to power the camera head from the body through a standard SMPTE hybrid cable up to 50 meters, without accessories. The camera head has one 10.5 to 34 V DC power input that can be used to power the head independently form the camera body.

I'm looking to find out what the power draw is on the various Alexa models when in standby mode (with only the EVF attached), or at least a close approximation. I found one post on the Arri forum that gave the values whilst at speed as below. I'm trying to determine how this compares to when the cameras are idle. I've checked each of the manuals but with no luck but I could have missed something as my electrical power knowledge isn't best in class!

Dear Jim,

of course we have taken measurements...

@24fps with MVF-1: 50W
@24fps w/o MVF-1: 45W

@50fps with MVF-1: 55W
@100fps with MVF-1: 60W
@200fps with MVF-1: 75W

Please keep in mind these have been taken under lab-conditions. In extreme weathers the power-draw will be higher.

Best,
Jan

 

Thanks.

​We shot a 3-perf, 35mm job yesterday on the Arri LT. We had no issues shooting whatsoever and had done a full days testing with steady tests that came back fine and mag scratch tests that came back clean.

​Today we got yesterday's lab report back and on several of our rolls that have made the following comment:

​"Yellow/brown pressure mark - far left-hand side"

​Neither I, nor the 1st AC, had encountered this before. Can anyone help illuminate a potential cause? We continued shooting on the camera today before the report was received so we'll find out tomorrow if the problem continued overnight. The problem occurs over multiple rolls with different magazines, so I think magazine issues can be ruled out.

​The lab seems to believe it can be graded out but obviously it's not an ideal solution. Any thoughts are much appreciated.

Just curious if anyone has a good system for weatherproofing sticks or protecting them so that they don't get scratched up and the paint doesn't come off so easily.

​I'm referring to wooden sticks, rather than the new plastic versions which I'm not a big fan of . I've tried a couple of things in the past but some sprays leave a shiny sheen overthem that doesn't look great in front of camera.

​Just trying to preserve my board and sticks so they don't look so shabby after a few months of use!

I'm loading on a feature at the moment, we've just completed the second week and the production manager has come to us because one of the rolls has a scractch through the roll. I've attached an image.

​We are shooting on the Arri LT, 3-perf, 24 fps @ 172.8 shutter.

​I'm trying to help production understand how this might have been caused and to see if we there is anything we could have done to avoid this. Having not had a scratch turn up on anything I've shot I'm a little knew to the potential causes however it looks like this has definitely occurred prior to processing and therefore an issue with the camera or mag. .

​A couple of notes:

• The roll in question was shot at 24fps, it was over or under cranked.

• ​The magazines had been scratch tested and shot on earlier in shooting before this roll with no issues.

• The lab has suggested it might be a loop or take up issue, however the LT is fairly advanced at detecting both issues. At no point during the threading or running of the mag did it give a winding, buckle or take-up message like it usually does e.g. when the take-up side comes loose. I'm wondering if a similar type of scratch can occur in other cameras where there are fewer checks to prevent incorrectly sized loops or loaded mags and they are referring to this more generally rather than specifically to the LT?

• The mag has been used twice since the roll where we got the error. We are awaiting the rushes on Monday to see if the error has occurred on these also .

If anyone could help narrow down what specifically the issue is that would be a great help. We have taken the mag out of circulation already but being able to give an exact explanation of what happened to the DP and production, as well as how we will prevent it reoccurring, would be well received.

​If any AC's here could also share any systems they have for maintaining / checking mags during shooting then that would also be greatly appreciated.

I'm about to begin a feature where we'll be spending 3 weeks shooting on / near to the beach. I've done plenty of shoots on beaches before but usually one or two days - are there additional precautions to take maintaining gear when shooting in moist, salty conditions e.g. silicon packs in lens cases, should equipment be wiped down daily etc?

It may be worth noting that we are shooting 35mm, does it affect how stock should be stored for example?

Thanks for the replies. I think Michael is going to be right about the build quality but given the huge price differance (10x) I've gone ahead and got one V-mount and one gold mount.

​At £10 they fairly easily replaceable and can be truly handy when you need portable power solutions - almost every shoot I seem to end up having to power at least one monitor or Teradek receiver from a handheld battery in a hung pouch!

I've just been made aware of cheap V-lock and Anton Baur battery plates on ebay e.g.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Battery-Back-Pack-Plate-Adapter-For-Sony-V-shoe-V-Mount-V-Lock-Battery-BY-/142201411706?hash=item211bdd587a:g:QMcAAOSwA3dYRMTU

​These are incredibly cheap compared to models available on more professional websites e.g. CVP:

http://cvp.com/index.php?t=product/hawk-woods_vl-ca9e
​
If I'm looking simply to power focus monitors and Teradek receivers is there an issue with the cheaper models apart from the likely inferior build quality (I would get a spare at that price!)? My only concern stopping from ordering right away is that a poor design might in some way increase the risk of damaging a £1500 monitor, or almost as expensive Teradek receiver?

Also, am I correct to think that the D-Taps on these are unregulated and would just pass through the current based on whatever battery was mounted so I'd need to be careful not to connect a 12v device if it was configured for a 24v battery?

Thanks David, that's very helpful and makes a lot of sense. As I understand it when Super 35mm was being used for 1.85 flat it would have had a negative dimension of 24.89 x 12.97mm ​(taken from the American Cinematography Manual), with the image being cropped with a hard matte in the projector (most of the time anyway)?

​If so, I'm correct in thinking that with the Alexa XT/SXT sensor the ProRes 3.2k mode at 1.85 is larger than the equivalent S35 as it has dimensions of 26.10 x 14.67mm​?

​At what point does the increase in the digital negative size start become an important consideration? Obviously if it gets larger than the image circles of 35mm lenses you'll end up getting vignetting, but at what point does it start significantly affecting depth of field (due to changing lens sizes) and other image characteristics, opposed to being "close enough" and presumably negligible as you put it earlier- in this example it is about a 20% increase? Perhaps a very subjective question!

​I'm doing a little format research and comparing film to digital sensors I'm struggling to match things up with the Alexa XT/SXT sensor. ​According to Arri (alexa sensors)

 

The camera's custom developed CMOS Bayer sensor has the same height and width as a 35mm film frame. This has a number of advantages. The Super 35 mm width allows a cinematically shallow depth of field as well as plug and play use of the unparalleled range of Super 35 PL mount lenses.

What exactly are they referring to here?

Super 35mm refers to the original silent film aperture of 24.89mm x 18.67mm ​(1.33) Looking at the SXT manual, and as shown here) the sensor dimension size at different formats are:

• ​28.17 x 18.13mm​ ​​(1.55) for Open Gate.
• ​23.76 x 17.82mm (1.33) for 4:3 mode
• 21.27 x 17.82mm ​(1.2) for 6:5 mode
• ​23.76 x 13.37mm (1.78) for 16x9 mode

​None of these made the original Super 35mm format size, what am I missing here? Is it simply that in 4:3 mode the dimensions are similar enough to Super 35mm to not make a significant difference?

I recently made the switch from waist pouch to chest pouch and it's made a huge differance. Far more comfortable, more organised and things are a lot more accessible i.. special sections for board marker, torch, leatherman, scissors etc. Pretty much all of the chest pouches in the UK are this model, rarely see a waist pouch anymore (at least for 2nd AC's).


https://flybubble.com/conterra-tool-chest-radio-chest-harness-rtc1-i

The only recommendation I'd make is adding more Velcro for where the lid sticks, I stitched in strip of 2" Velcro because with the default design I noticed the lid come open a couple of times when the pouch was full and had items fall out, a strip of 2" Velcro fixed this completely and had no issues since.

Is the template to be used only by you or do you want to be able to share it with others? Do you need offline access, or only online? Do you need to be able to print the lists?

​For my own personal use I work with a couple of bits of software that help that might be worth checking out:

​1. Quip

Primarily a simple markup app which allows for creating checkboxes and lists. Available on iOS (not sure about android), Mac and Windows. Allows offline access and printing via web or desktop app. Also excellent for collaboration if useful.

​2. Asana

This is a to-do list that is available through the web and iOS / Android apps. Very flexible and easy to organise with lots of options. Not strictly a checklist but can be easily adapted into one. Good for collaboration, not so good for printing.

​3. OneNote

​Again, available on Web, Windows desktop apps and iOS, Android and Windows Mobile apps. This is a more freeform notebook app, but it allows you to use checkboxes and save templates. I use this tool when completing 'reviews' of each shoot I do. I have I template with headers such as 'Things learned', 'Things that went well' and 'Things that to do better', I then create checkbox lists beneath them.

​I'm not sure if they're the kind of thing that you're after but hopefully it might help.

• ​​Use IMDb, The Knowledge, Kay's to get a good understanding of which assistants are working currently and who is doing the kind of work you want to go into. From there try and get in contact via email, you will get a lot of rejections however you will also get useful advice and possibly more.
• ​Try My First Job In Film (https://www.myfirstjobinfilm.co.uk/), this is highly​ competitive however the opportunities they have are often very good quality.
• Network; a looked down upon term but finding and attending events like the BSC show, Panafest, Camerimage and so forth allow you to meet more people directly involved in the camera department and those potentially open doors.

Finally, you can go the unorthodox route that I did and use sites such as FilmCrewPro, Shooting People and Mandy to get yourself onto expenses only, or low budget work and slowly work your way onto larger productions. On these jobs you will get opportunities to work hands-on with gear and learn how sets work, HOWEVER the downside is that if you are not careful you can learn very bad habits and it can take longer. I was lucky enough to work with someone on such a job who had been a very experienced, feature film 2nd AC who was stepping down to 1st AC who then took me under their wing, if I hadn't had such a break I think it would have taken a lot longer to progress. The other downside is that you will struggle to earn money on such jobs so unless you have alternative income you might find it hard to do this for prolonged periods.

​Hope some of this helps and feel free to email or DM me at any point.

John mentions the Prologue above, something I was fortunate enough to see in native IMAX at the BFI in London, prior to 'Rogue One'.

I, the people I was with and seemingly a huge portion of the audience were rather blown away with the imagery, so much so that a great many people came out of the film talking about that and not Star Wars as we were walking down the stairs.

​I've been trying to get to as many 35/70mm prints as I can the last few years (including 70mm Lawrence of Arabia), a luxury in London where there's actually a high number of screens and special performances that make it possible, and these 6 min were - as a cinematic experience - the single most impressive I've had.

That isn't to suggest best cinematography - that would be a lofty claim! Rather the combination of the astoundingly clear negative, impressive shots, screen size and powerful sound which work together for a unique, visceral, and physical experience - significantly superior in my eyes to 'Interstellar' and 'The Dark Knight' films that I also saw and enjoyed in the same cinema. The whole film may play out differently, story-wise and emotionally it could be a complete dud, but based on the brief images shown it truly felt like Christopher Nolan and Hoytema had achieved a much more comfortable and commanding understanding of how to utilise the large screen and aspect ratio to maximum effect. The Lean comment mentioned from above also seems very appropriate from what I saw, if it can come close to one of those epics I think we could all be in for something special.

​For those in London you may interested in the 70mm screening of the film a week early on July 13th at the Southbank with an extended intro by Nolan himself.