Doyle Smith

In addition to being a great cinematographer, John was an outstanding and generous human being.

Great camera! From your photo it looks like the cable should be an XLR4-female at the camera body. I don't know if some of the pins were for a sync pulse to the Nagra. At this point in history with crystal motors, that may have be unnecessary. You'd only need two pins to pass power to the motor. They probably made it a 4 pin to prevent use of audio cables by mistake. The original Mitchell motors were 110 or 220 VAC for sync. Variable motors were 110 VAC or DC except for a 24V DC motor (8-32fps) I don't have any specs on the CP motor since it was a later development. I was a film loader on one of the first CP XR35 shows in the 70's and we used the CP 30V batteries (Model LA-2). The camera specs show the motor was designed for 28-36 VDC. I'd suss out which pins are actually hot on the camera body and wire up a temporary pigtail to a lab quality variable DC power supply. I'm betting that the camera will come alive around 30V. Then build up some permanent battery boxes and cables if you're using the rig on location.

Yeah check McMaster Carr for an appropriate size plug. I sold my LTR a long time ago. What is that port for? Does it need to be light tight? Start here and persevere: https://www.mcmaster.com/products/panel-plugs/ probably metric n'est ce pas?

It's pretty old school, but I would try a Mitchell B or C from Panchro. I remember using them on some classic actors and liking the smoothness without softening the eyes too much. Black nets might be good too. If you're intercutting between actors in head shots, don't go too extreme with any one subject. You don't know where the intercuts might end up in post. I'd keep it fairly consistent only going up or down a grade or so once you've decided on a look. Lighting and makeup are also important in this regard. Look at Hurrell's work and see how a higher off center key casts a shadow on the neck, disguising the inevitable double chin we get at my age. I'm not up on the latest video resolution and contrast range, but I think David's suggestion about watching the detail level is a good one too.

It's a long shot but try this guy: Wolfgang Roessel Owner, WR Film Equipment Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States He's a former Arri tech and used to service Med cameras. When I got my first stents, they were still using ArriTeknik cameras in the cath lab. Fortuntately they don't any more. NOTE: Never mind it looks like Wolfgang is deceased. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/wolfgang-roessel-obituary?pid=189675689

I guess it's just the degradation of the cable delivery or compression. My monitor looked good on Roku streaming content. Here's a trailer featuring the same actors I saw and it looks good. . https://m.imdb.com/video/vi766100249?playlistId=tt14449470&ref_=tt_ov_vi

Open eye fresnel??? 5K and up.

Freelancers feel like this most of the time Zach, especially if they aren't working. Daniel's point about expectations is well taken. Also this Covid blight has bummed everyone out. February is a bitch of a month anywhere, but especially in NYC. In our chosen industry, there are a lot of things out of our control. Just admit it, and shift focus to something else like exercise or volunteering somewhere. Hang in there pal!

I've been watching FBI International via the local cable channel. Compared to other shows coming down the pipe, this show looks desaturated and not in a good way. I can understand some desaturation to take the edge off, but this series just is flat and muddy. Do they use a good camera like a Red Or Alexa or is it shot on a DSLR? It's a Dick Wolf production and the older Dick Wolf shows like the original Law and Order and SVU were IMHO very well shot and posted. This show looks like crap. Is it a case of "Good, Fast, Cheap" or is this some new trend I'm not aware of?

Here is a pix with a video camera rig we made in the back of my car for shooting vintage classics at Clint Eastwood's ranch. The low camera is a lock-off. I've done similar rigs many times with film camera and never had a problem. If you can pick a vehicle with fairly compliant suspension (a minivan is ideal) and drop the manufacturers tire inflation specs (look on the rear inside of the driver's door frame) a few pounds or or kilopascals for a more cushy ride. You don't want to drop it too much as the handling go mushy or wallowy. The driver is an important part of this equation. Make speed and steering transitions very smoothly. Don't be afraid to use the accelerator and the brake simultaneously to achieve this. It takes a little practice. If you're shooting a trailing or passing vehicle have a little safety briefing before hand. Work out a set of clearly understood hand signals. This often works better than walkies. If you're taking up both lanes on a two lane road make sure the local gendarmerie has a firm lockup to keep civilians off your road.

I wouldn't worry. Once I bolted my LTR to the cargo hook plate on a Hughes 500 helicopter and shot some fabulous footage. No skipped frames or mag jams. I did worry about metal fatigue and my beloved camera ending up 500' below in the Indiana countryside.

To add to what Jacob and Satsuki have said, have a roll of duvetyne on your grip truck and spring clips to patch any odd gaps you might have. Bigger is always better for the tent assuming you have the personpower and budget. If you can add some greenery outside it helps to sell the illusion. If you're carrying speedrail for car rigs, it can also come in handy for tenting.

Matt is right on with this. If you're using an HMI outdoors for fill with natural sunlight you likely won't perceive any color temp difference. If you use an HMI fill on an overcast day it is likely much warmer than the ambient skylight. Sometimes this works to your advantage to give you an attractive skin tone. Sometimes it looks too attractive if you're going for a depressing, ominous scene. In that instance, you might add a little plus blue to the fixtures. A situation where you need to match color temp on multiple fixtures would be say, if you lined up three 18K's outside large windows for a "Sun" source. You wouldn't want a vast color temp disparity between them. This is why good electrical departments baseline their fixtures before a show so they don't have to deal with this in the heat of battle.

A BNC on a Worral head was moved by inserting two steel rods in brackets on the head and a stout grip on each side moved the head and the camera to the next setup. See item 10324 in the link below http://www.cinemagear.com/parts.html As we transitioned to lighter cameras like the Panaflex, the rods were no longer necessary and the head and cameras were moved by grasping the rocker rails on the bottom. The Mitchell movement was a thing of beauty and never really bested in motion picture technology. The electronics were improved greatly but the mechanics had already been perfected.

Did you loosen the the lower castings before you rotated the sleeve? A piece of rod (as Gregg suggested) or a drift might have given you the same result without burring the sleeve.