Tomas Koolhaas

Church!

Hal, My sincerest apologies, total misunderstanding then, I retract my statement fully and appreciate the clarification. Cheers.

Mate, Are you serious, dont just say poop for the sake of it, how was I language bashing?? I clearly said I wasnt trying to be a dick and that the reason I wanted him to clarify the point was because it sounded interesting, but I just couldn't understand it, if you did, good for you -clever guy, dont start insinuating some kind of racist/prejudice motives on my part because you have the distance of the internet to do so, I guarantee if we were all talking face to face you would never dare to say poop like that!!! And Emanuel didn't get offended so why in god's name would you...mind your business my friend..dont try and look clever or worldly by saying things you know to be untrue. I made it very clear in my post that I wasn't trying to insult or denigrate Emanuel, that should have been good enough for you...and I warn you now that it is not kosher at all to insinuate any kind of prejudice or racism about anyone on a public forum as it might negatively affect their career...I wont take it from you or anyone so in future choose your words with more care. Cheers.

Hi, Yeah shooting a framing chart never hurts but as I said I have done this numerous times and never had a problem, I can't think of any reason why the 2.35 mask in FCP/AVID wouldn't line up exactly with the 2.35 markers you had in the viewfinder, it is just masking-off equal portions off the top and bottom of the 16x9 image underneath, the same as the markers on the EVF do (That is assuming your editor does it correctly -but its not hard, I have FCP and I can do it myself). If David and Mike know of some reason why this is not always the case I would like to know (perhaps I will start shooting framing charts from now on Haha). Cheers.

Hi, I really dont mean to be a dick but I personally didnt understand any of the second part of this...it sounded interesting though, I agree with the first part film vs digital is a useless argument anywhere anytime. Cheers.

Hi Shannon, Well isn't life strange apparently we find ourselves on the same side of this one haha....why did they lock your topic givng JJ kudos??, I wanted to add my support to that sentiment!!, all this hostility is a complete mystery to me too, especially when many of the same critics will probably be clamouring over each other to use the RED when it gets released (if it is as good as it sounds...either way it's not even built yet so everyone just needs to relax and withhold judgement!!). Cheers.

Hi, I think this might have been covered but 'focus-assist' usually means a function that enlarges a protion of the image for fine focus checking as opposed to 'Auto-focus'. I dont know why people keep saying this cam should have an auto focus, I dont think its going to be aimed at ENG or run-and-gun shooting (it records onto a hard drive for one).

Hi, Matthew, I wasn't reffering to you, I was refering to R.Bodington's post "I will never ever shoot video but..." No you aren't supposed to "put your life on hold" thats ludicrous, do you usually make large decisions based on the claims of advertisers?? do woman watch tampon adverts and then go and book a white-water rafting holiday or salsa classes because they saw it on the Ad?...No! I think it's wierd that people would get so annoyed about someone hyping their own product, what would you have them say "RED is good but film is still much better" on the website???? thats not gonna happen mate. You are getting way to wrapped up in whats being said about the RED, they owe you nothing, they dont owe you a humble advertising campaign and they dont owe you a super-camera, just relax, dont take advertising so literaly, and be happy if and when RED make a good camera you can use which is better/cheaper than it's rivals, if they dont....you haven't lost anything have you, just keep shooting S16. And please dont get this into a comparison between S16 and RED, I own an S16 Cam. but if RED turns out good, I will use that too sometimes (depends on the needs of the project) but that doesn't mean I'm gonna sell my Aaton anytime soon, they are different, each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Cheers.

I just wanted to add one thing to my last post: Phil, I understand you are annoyed by the excesive claims, but what do you expect, what product would ever sell one unit if it wasn't hyped properly and even hyperbolically. I can't see them saying "Yeah the Cam's OK we have a lot of things to work out still, but here...buy one for nearly 20G's" it wouldn't move a unit, no-one does business like that, it's simple economics! any people who believe any claims now and buy one, and then find out the claims to be untrue only have themselves to blame for buying a product solely on hype and speculation, I (and you, I pressume) would never buy a camera I hadn't used on a shoot at least once myself!!! so just ignore the speculation and withhold judgement until you see footage yourself on a 4k projector. Cheers.

Hi, I think it's a crying shame that Jim feels he can no longer engage in this forum because of the confrontational approach of many of the people that posted here: -Firstly if you only ever want to shoot film, dont comment to Jim About his camera, whats the point, youre just trying to rub his nose in your monocromatic view on Film Vs. Video (thats like calling the pope to tell him you dont believe in religion at all and never will). -Secondly some of you are just attacking him for the sake of it, the same poeple who slag-off all the big companies and their cameras (Sony F900 etc..) are now attacking Jim when he takes a risk and tries not only to rival them for cheaper but surpass them!!! How could you possibly be annoyed by that. -Phil you are a VERY clued-up guy who always teaches me something new with his posts, you are always sticking-up for video when compared to film, and I remember you saying that HD w/35 DOF (using the Pro35) looks good but the adaptor is annoying/unpraticle, so why wouldn't you be happy about this camera? it has 35 DOF and takes PL mount lenses without any adaprtor/softening/spinning groundglass (what could be better?). It just seems to me that many of the people who SHOULD be the happiest about this camera (Even if it doesn't live up to it's FULL potential it will still probably be better than the Varicam or even F900) are the ones criticizing it the most!! Give it a chance, wait till you see the test footage yourself. If you are sceptical fine, dont order one, but I think the vitriol against Jim and his (still unbuilt) camera is misplaced and misguided, and has now resulted in Jim leaving the forum, and people who could have made constructive suggestions (instead of badgering insinuations) about the Cam's development, now wont get the chance. A real fu**ing waste if you ask me.

Hi, No...its forged entirely out of bronze! haha, like I said it may not be #7 but it's a low number, I cant check right now I dont have my cam with me. It's actually not too outdated at all, the only problem I ran into was the groundglass being harder/more complicated to remove than the later models, but even that didn't bother me too much. I had the whole thing upgraded/overhauled by Visual Products so they changed a few older parts to newer ones for me. The cam is very good and runs really well though. like I said the only real problems I had were the tie down screw placement and rods attachment. Cheers.

Rik, Do you have an LTR 7 (if so what is the serial number)? I'm wondering why mine only goes from 18-32 fps?? are you talking about if you have an external speed control you can go 6-32, because without external control my cam only does 18-32?? Mine is a very early 7 it's serial number is 007 (I think, im not by my cam. right now) maybe the later ones can go from 6-32?? I have heard that there were some changes made to later models of the 7? Hmmm interesting, also, I forgot to mention one drawback is that the groundglass is not easily interchangable like in the XTR, you have to open the whole thing up and have it re-centered when your done. Cheers.

Hi Zachary, I have an LTR 7: -Yes it is sync at 24fps (and 25). -Mine came with that same adaptor (and Aaton mount), but I never tested it, I got the camera converted to PL mount as soon as I got it by Visual Products, for between $500/1000 (I cant remeber exactly how much, it was a long time ago) if you can afford it I strongly reckomend you do the same. -My LTR 7 only goes from 18-32 Fps, I think some later ones might go higher but I think thats might only be the LTR 54. -The only drawback with the LTR 7 is that it doesn't work very well with some standard accesories, it doesn't have a 15mm rod mount on the front (like the XTR does) it has that wierd old style square rod, you will need to get a support rod system which fits on the square rod and has 15mm rods attached: (www.visualproducts.com/storeProductDetail02.asp?productID=683&Cat=3&Cat2=33) I have looked around but they cost around about $500 everywhere. Also the hole for the tie down-screw is placed quite far forward on the bottom of the camera, which can be a problem with aligning certain baseplates. My Cam. has no Aaton- code, but it never really bothered me at all (neither does an SR2). -About the service history, I found out a lot about my camera before I bought it (call Able Cine Tech NY or LA, at some point they probably serviced it if it's in the US, if not ???) just get the serial numbers and do yor best research. I dont know what else to tell you about that, except you're probably never going to know the cam's entire history so at some point if you have it checked and it is in good condition now, don't worry too much about the history. In general I reckomend this camera, it works really well, and is a beautiful little camera (quiet too) you should def. expect to put some money into getting it up to scratch (PL mount, Overhaul, Support rods etc..) which you may not have to do with newer cams, but then again they are cheaper to buy so it evens itself out. Good luck, if you have any more Q's feel free to ask me. Cheers.

Hi, Er I dont know much about cars but, I agree....I think (ghettoness?? is that a real word? haha). Unless RED lied, then no-one should be pissed, or pre-judging them, I personally hope the RED IS all it claims it will be, and I hope it IS cheaper to rent and buy than the F900 ($1,200 per day is a bit steep I think). That would be super good for me, even if the RED somehow only ended up (and I'm not suggesting it would or will) using a 35mm chip and PL mount lenses to record 1080 onto HDCAM, and was cheaper than the F900 I would still be super chuffed that I could use it when it came out (If anyone from RED is reading this, that was not a suggestion, I am just saying it would still be better than the F900 -thats all) so anything better than that is a bonus to me (4k -great!). I agree that we should all chill on the agro on this thread, a cage design on a still hypothetical (not even prototypical) camera really is no need to start questioning each others experience or intelligence. Peace be with you brothers.

Shannon, I dont mind the cage design, although I dont pay too much attention to it because it will probably change a million times before it actually gets built! I agree with you that the idea of having designated areas to attach things like onboards and remotes would be very useful. It's simple for me, as long as it does the following the cage is good with me: -Doesn't poke me in the face/eyes when doing handheld. -Doesn't alienate the use of existing matte boxes, follow focuses, remotes etc..(I dont see why it should) -Doesn't make it too cumbersome/unbalanced to use handheld. -Being able to rest it on your knee while doing handheld is a big plus for me (I find myself doing that a lot too). -A tophandle would be nice too. -Doesn't take excesively long to reconfigure (although I dont see why it should). I dont think the issue of reconfiguring it quickly is going to be that much of a problem personally. This may piss poeple-off but here goes, I have shot many guerilla ultra low budget shoots (mostly DVX/XL-1/2) and I dont think they should intentionaly design the RED to exclude them at all, it's just my opinion that If a shoot is that low-budget and rushed that they can't afford the extra couple of minutes it might take, they probably don't really need to be shooting on a 4k Cam w/35mm sized chip (I am only talking narrative features/shorts here, not documentaries) because if you are shooting with no AC, run-and-gun with 35mm DOF and using a small onboard for focus you probably wont be getting PERFECT focus most of the time anyway, which would probably negate the benefits of having such high resolution in the first place, and secondly most ultra low-budget features shorts only get seen on TV screens off a DVD, or in small festivals that usually only have SD projectors, so why would you need 4k resolution (of course the more resolution the better, but it may be overkill in terms of time/cost versus result). Having said that, I think the camera will probably be great for all kinds of projects and Micheal, I agree that RED should make the camera as friendly as possible for all shoots, but my idea is that it may be more suited and targeted for more stable/traditional, yet still low budget, narrative shooting like those that may have used a super16mm or older 35mm cam (BL for example) if not for the RED, but who can still afford to have a 24" HD monitor and an AC or two, as opposed to shoots with a DV or HDV cam and a one man camera team. I dont want to argue with anyone, that's just my opinion, I respect everyone else's though, no offense to anyone, even you shannon (haha only joking). Cheers.

Hi, As long as you tell the editor that you framed for 2.35 you should be fine, they will just throw a 2.35:1 mask over the 16x9 (1.78:1) image in FCP/AVID and it should line up to exactly were you had the markers in the viewfinder, I never had a problem with it when I did this. Cheers.

Hello Shannon, It makes me laugh, every time you comment it seems to be to start some kind of internet altercation with someone. Firstly, I should say I agree with your first post, I dont think the Red (although it hasn't been built yet, so who really knows) will be for everyone, if you are doing some hardcore gorilla run-and-gun handheld no AC, hardly any rehearsel low budget indie then this camera probably wont be the best for you. The thing that I don't agree with is the way you always seem to adress your posts. Firstly you constantly disrespect people by talking to them as if they dont know their arse form their elbows, you dont know what people have done so don't assume you've done more! Secondly you always go on hyperbolicaly about all the stuff you've done and that you own 'Many' cameras -so what! you own some HDV/DV cameras, many people here (including myself) own super-16/35mm film cameras and we dont post with the level of arogance that you do! Thirdly, I remember getting into it with you on another thread and you had 0 DP credits on IMDB (which of course has usually about a fifth of people's actual work on there, but 5 times 0 is still 0) and you even admitted you weren't a professional DP and shot mostly for fun. I dont have time to go and check again or find an exact quote from last time, and I am not trying to attack you or anything, because when you cut through the hyperboly and arrogance you actually make some good points and seem like an OK dude, I just dont understand why you insist on causing sensless offense with this rude tone when you could just make your point (often good ones) without all the bravado and arrogance and then no-one would need be annoyed by them. Cheers.

Eric, Congratulations on QUINCEANERA if you dont mind me asking, what was the budget on that, and roughly how much was the whole film-out process.

Hi, The F900 can only shoot 1.78:1 aspect ratio (16x9) without cropping, even 1.85:1 crops a tiny bit (not significantly). There is no way to shoot 2.35:1 on the F900 without cropping unless you use an anamorphic adaptor (the only one I have heard of is made by Canon, and there seems to be very little known about it, no one seems to have it for rent/sale/test in LA). I dont know what you mean by using a "Groundglass" on the F900. Video cameras (except perhaps the D20 and other Digital cameras that have a reflex viewfinder) do not feature groundglass, they have electronic markings inside the EVF (electronic viewfinder) which can be set for different aspect ratios, the F900 can easily be set for 2.35:1, you just have to go to the menu and change the viewfinder markings to "Vista 2" (if memory serves me correctly) I did this on a bunch of shoots and it worked very well. If you really want 2.35:1 dont worry too much about the cropping, I have seen many cropped HD 2.35 projects projected in the cinema and they almost all looked really good (the ones that didn't were due to DP error not cropping, or use of lots of gain as in the cropped footage in Miami Vice). Cheers.

Hi, I dont htink Phil was talking about baptisms (early shoots were you actually were "Green") I think he was reffering to shoots were he knew exactly what he was talking about but still copped a bunch of bad attitude from grips/electrics. BTW so was I, everyone had rough days when they first started out, thats to be expected, what sucks is when you know your stuff back to front and someone decides to make your job even more difficult by venting their bitterness/jelousy/insecurity on set.

Hi, This is a tiny bit off topic but interesting noetheless: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14723997/page/1/ What does everyone make of that?

Jon, Interesting Links! Yeah, of course everyone is completely slanted, and even contains outright lies and propaganda, I still think the ABC film trumps anything the BBC would do, especially when it is directly towing one party's line just before a very important election! I can't see the BBC doing anything that blatant (not because they are too honest but because it is too obvious). Cheers.

Exactly, only certain people will pay money to go see a micheal moore film, and they probably wouldn't be swayed politically by what they see as they already probably agree with his views, however ABC is a network that reaches EVERYONE in the US, and they are presenting this program as "Educational" they are even sending it to schools with a "Fact pack" (ironic name for a fictional program). This is unprecendented, never has such clear propaganda been shown to so many people so close to an election!!! just for example they apparently have a scene in the program where Bush franticly tries to act on the PDB (Presidential daily briefing) about "Bin Laden ready to strike inside US" when he has publicly admitted that he never acted upon or discussed this PDB with any of his closest staff. Condoleeza rice didn't even remember reading it or showing it to Bush when she was questioned by the senate comittee. This is really an outrage, and by the way I am nuts, but I am not a liberal, I make my mind up about each decision/issue on a case-by-case basis, sometimes I agree with the conservatives and sometimes the liberals, usually neither, the point is that this sort of propaganda by either party is really unhealthy for a democracy!!!! You wouldn't get this on the BBC!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi, I bought an Aaton LTR 7 (Super 16mm) and got it upgraded with PL mount, internal videotap, new markings on ground glass and generally had older parts replaced with newer ones here and there. I have used the camera quite a lot and subsequently made way more on those shoots than I would have without the camera (I have one rate for me with, and another without camera). And since I can give projects a good deal on the camera they are willing to shoot S16, whereas before they might have wanted to shoot HD or HDV. This helps me because I have more good looking film footage on my reel, as opposed to good looking digital. Having a camera is expensive though, there is always something else you will want to add or do to it. And stuff breaks, obviously, so expect to put a large amount back into your package, at least in the begining. Having said that, if you have a good amount of contacts/work coming in, I reckomend getting one, I haven't regreted it once. Cheers.

However most techs I've worked with are the upmost pros and know how to handle most situations They're usually the most team-oriented people on a set and can collobrate with green DPs And they rarely ever try to direct or DP. "It's not their job" as most will tell you. :) So don't think so harshly of the techs they do a tough job. Hi, Rik, I wasn't trying to insinuate that ALL or even MOST gaffers/grips are like this at all, most of them are super cool and great to work with, I was just saying that when a problem like this arises on set it ususally arises from those departments. And of course (as I stated in my original reply) if the DP doesn't know jack-poop he is at fault. I too have been on both sides of this, I gaffed a bunch of small projects and often the DP was a clown and communication was a big issue, so I do understand both sides of the coin. But it has been my experience not only from DPing, that there are many people in those departments that will use the "Vernacular" as a way to sabotage a DP out of their ambition and/or jelousy for his position- or just plain old bitterness. And I am surprised you say you never worked with a Grip who wanted to DP, most Keys I have worked with wanted to DP at some point in their career. Although I do work on Non-union low-budget films which of course is less enticing for someone who wants to grip as a career, as opposed to an aspiring DP wanting to make a few bucks gripping between DP jobs. Cheers.