Hans Engstrom

Looks like you flashed the edges of the roll when you loaded the film, I wouldn´t be to worried. As others have mentioned load the film in the dark and keep taping the edges of the lid and you´ll be fine.

Did you work on this shoot? If so what lenses did you use?

Thanks. What lenses are you using on your Aaton? I was thinking about getting som Zeiss ZF lenses.

Covering the 30x20m window with ND would break the budget on most 5 min shorts.

I hope these will make a nice addition to my arsenal of "homebrewed lights". http://www.repshop.nl/popup_image.php?pID=...58b418aa7a1c491 http://www.seapets.co.uk/product-details/stkcode/661500.html Electronic ballasts with waterproof connectors for the tubes. I have ordered (not from any of the links) one 2 x 40w ($50) and one 1 x 40w ($30) ballast just to try them out. I there´s any interest I will make an update when I have tested them.

Do you know how much they are?

If you are quick you can make a quick restrike within some seconds from cutting the power but if that fails you have to wait for the bulb to cool down. I have done this when there´s no time spare and you must add another 32a cable. Keep in mind that you should however avoid "hot re-strikes". Another reason not to use the switch on the head is because you´ll forget about it and start wondering whats wrong when the HMI wont strike and it´s 4m up in the air.

I´m looking for a Nikon adapter to use on my Aaton LTR. Send me a PM if you have one for sale and I´ll get back to you.

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Are you sure about the exposure? If so your light levels should be under 0.1fc, can´t you find a brighter location?

"Just like heaven" used it. Okada talked about it in AC if I remember correctly. We used it on "Varg", a Swedish feature shot by Jörgen Persson that will go up on the big screen in January here in Sweden.

My opinion is that vision2 is less contrasty then vision. The older vision stocks 7279, 7277 a.s.o. had more contrast, I guess that´s because vision2 have more latitude. Some cinematographers I worked with during the shift from vision to vision2 liked the vision stock more because of this.

Nikon lenses can also be used on a camera with the Aaton mount, just use the correct adapter. If you want to use PL lenses you can get your camera converted. As you´re planning on using it on low budget projects I´m guessing PL mount lenses are out of question, plenty of good glass are still out there in Aaton and Arri Bayonet mount.

That´s the reason why I allways test everything before driving away with any equipment from the rentalhouse. Sometimes they can be a little grumpy and say something like "don´t you trust us?". I allways answer that it´s not because I don´trust them but because I´m getting paid to do it and if anything doesn´t work I´m the one that have to explain to the producer why we can´t shoot that day and after that I promise you that he will not hire me again. Testing the equipment at the rentalhouse also gives you a quick update on the equipment if it´s been a while since you worked with it.

I want that ;)

"Something to learn from in addition to expanding the capabilities of his camera kit" sums it up pretty good. The fear of frying the electronics is propably what will make me go the easy route and not learn anything. Buying a used speed controller and hijack it is a really good sugestion and a safer route to take. Thanks everyone for sugestions and keep on brainstorming.

I have to much spare time right now and enjoy constructing things. It´s 1 month untill next feature and -25c outside so I´m climbing on my walls in boredom, but I see your point. However with a program I could have the laptop give the correct apperature on the screen in case I´d like to ramp, would make it easier for the ac to pull t-stop during a ramp. Also I belive Tobin doesn´t make the controller with digital footage counter anymore. The only other one I know is CP and it costs a lot more. Are there any other affordable speed boxes out there?

Being a good focuspuller is about practising. When pulling focus every day and doing it on handheld/steadicam you get very accurate on judging distances. The hardest thing I ever done is when pulling focus for someone you haven´t worked with before and they are VERY active with the handcamera. After a while you learn to anticipate their movements and everything gets easier but in the beginning it constantly feels like you´re late. When I´m operating (not very often but it happens) I like being able to have a dialogue with the focuspuller and wouldn´t like to have them replaced by some gadget. A focuspuller can tell me if the take was good for them or not, I can tell them what I´m planning to do so that I´ll make it easier on them. I really don´t see anything good in trying to change the way it´s done today, it works better then any automatic system would ever do. I can´t see myself whispering to a autofocus device "put the focus on his hand..."

I´ve never used that but I belive it´s for programming camera ramps and sending them to the camera (435, 535 and Arricam). I´m thinking of something that could be used the same way as a speed controller and in the same time it should be able to be used as a digital footage counter.

You have good taste ;) I only have a 12.5mm and a 25mm CP Ultra-T lens for my camera and would really like to own one of thoose cooke zooms as I really love the image they produce. Another option I´m considering is buying a set of Zeiss super speeds but right now I´m more interested in a cooke.

Is it possible to make a program that can crystal control the speed of a Aaton LTR/XTR with the use of a laptop? I´m thinking about connecting the computer serial -> amphenol on camera or something like that. What I would like to know is the principle that the existing speed controllers use. I´m guessing that they send out a signal in different intervalls depending on what speed is set on them, is that correct? Every computer works on a specified frequency so that should make it reliable, or? It´s late over here and I could be totally wrong so if I´m wrong then please correct me.

I bought some light weight 1 x 18w fixtures that have hf-ballast. I have removed the plastic "diffuser" and modified them so that they can be put together as 2 x 18w and in the future as 4 x 18w. I have also added a "pin" on the back so that they can be mounted in a gobohead. I found theese fixtures very cheap at a store here in Sweden. Here is a pic from the store, they are made in plastic and weighs close to nothing. Cost $20 each. Next project is to build myself a fixture with 10 x 32w. But that will be in june when I´m done working on the next feature. Forgot to mention that I haven´t added barndoors to them yet so for now I´m just using blackwrap.

3 x 1.2K HMI Fresnels china balls photofloods home made kinos Got the HMIs for free and the rest was cheap :)

Mine is almost the same as well but I don´t have the beamsplitter installed. Would have loved to get this lens but couldn´t afford it right now.

The 16BL is not that different to load then a Arri 435. On a side note, it will be interesting to see how much the LTR on Ebay will go for, still under 2K and under 2 days left. I hope someone here gets it if it will go cheap.