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Nathan Milford

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Everything posted by Nathan Milford

  1. We rent the Phantom. You should talk to Jesse Rosen here at Abel. The thing looks fantastic and I believe he's rated it at 640 ASA, but I haven't been around to get details from him.
  2. Rob, Luke's right. One of the Filmmakers is a very good friend of mine and I will hopefully be there to support her, but... simmer down with the voluminous posting. It is undignified and makes the event look cheap, could possibly discourage people from attending. Had I not known of this event beforehand I'd probably had scanned over the three successive posting assuming they were spam. And, had they been in the section of the forum I moderate, they would have been deleted without even reading them. Now, with spam in mind, attending won't enlarge my 'membrum virile..' might it? Or will it possibly land me millions from an swiss bank account from some deceased Nigerian bureaucrat/prince? Cheap meds? Mail order bride? No? How disappointing.... hopefully yours and your fellow filmmakers' work will cheer me up. - nathan
  3. Just wondering... what chemicals are you processing in?
  4. Earlier ones are fixed at 180... fyi. I can't give you a serial range though... I'm stuck, snowed-in, in a Holiday-Inn express in Boonesville, MO... on my way to a second wedding reception...
  5. I don't know if someone dumbed it down when explaining it to him, or he is dumbing it down for the general public but he (or whoever dumbed it down for him) is probably referring to that fact that 5218 (on which I think it was shot) is a 500 ASA stock and 5222 (Kodak's fastest B&W negative) is a 200 ASA stock, a stop and change difference. It would take more than twice the footcandles\lux to get the same exposure on 5222 than it would with 7128. Why they think it would take twice a long I can only speculate, but if they were already shooting wide open on 5218 and weren't willing to take a graininess hit and push it, they'd need larger lighting units for the 5222. I suppose one might argue larger units require more time to deal with, but I'd say that would only be the case if you were dealing with units that couldn't run on a normal household circuit (15-20A). *shrugs*
  6. I recently taught a class in Japanese Cinema... rediscovered Ozu again in the process... Lately I've been finding that the camera has been a lot lower to the ground when I'm shooting.
  7. Simmer down folks. I happen to adore Crewdson. Earlier someone knocked on Vettriano who I find absolutly fantastic in his ability to tell a short story in a single frame and draw focus from one object to another to guide the observer (which is why I tied him to Crewdson). I got over it. I like them both. You don't have to, but it would be nice if people would channel thier dislike for a particular artist in a form other than vituperative nonsense. David isn't a moderator for this forum, but, unfortunately I am. If we keep going back and forth flinging negative crap and sarcasm I'll close the thread as it will have become a waste of bandwidth and space on Tim's server. Lets stop flashing our credentials as artists and stop playing the 'I'm more of a sensitive intellectual than you are' game and get on with meaningful conversation. Oh, and Happy New Year fellas.
  8. I have a great book on Crewdson... the guy's stuff is absolutly fantastic. In the book it has production stills for each series... he uses many film lighting techniques. One of his influences was E.T.... some of his work really shows that off. If you like Hopper and Crewdson... look into Jack Vettriano.
  9. There was a thread or two already on the look of the show. Check the search function.
  10. Tim is correct. that is a Regular 16mm, 1.33:1 Gate. There is no, factory-made, 1.85:1 gates nor is there a gate masking system for the SR series. They only come in 1.66:1 (S16) and 1.33:1 (R16).
  11. Looks digital. Definetly doesn't look like Kodak EIR. Certainly the way the blacks are 'occuring.' Looks like the output of a coolpix with a filter on it or perhaps a dSLR with he IR filter replaced with a clear filter. - nate
  12. You might want to know that Lucas owns a beautiful Aaton 35-III 3P package (avaliable at reasonable prices). He has a solid business plan built around it and has a growing clientel. I believe he just wants to let his clients know how much that route, however practical or impractical, will cost and the steps involved so he can give them a big picture of what can be done vs. 2K/4K or HDCAM-SR DI or even straight to video. I'm waiting to hear back from Metropolis on thier services.
  13. Yeah, the lab is fantastic. Rick and Dom are great guys. They're a pretty big outfit. They have a few offices around the city. They have four or five floors at 100 Sixth Ave. They have a nice DI suite and can handle most anything you throw at them.
  14. Film Runner, I though you quit the forum? Welcome back! Did you recant and decide to share with us the name your parent's bestowed upon you? - Nathan
  15. I've been looking everywhere myself and have been unable to find HIE in 16mm. I've been trying to get the Maco\Rollei IR-400 in 16mm. We'll see if they play ball..
  16. It's different for every manufacturer. Aaton's spec for S35-2.35 is 24mm* 10.25mm or 246mm/s. ARRI may be a bit different.
  17. Yeah, what Robert said was spot on. I generally prefer a B&W tap. Keeps (most) people from making assumptions about how it'll look when processed and scanned.
  18. Correct. It sounds like the mirror drive belt has become distressed or the tensioner has backed off or the camera jammed hard enough to obviate those issues and brute force the belt to skip a tooth or so. If you manually inch the camera by turning the feed roller (which, as a factory technician, I should never tell you to do as it'll prematurely wear the intermediary belt under the sprocked rollers) and observe the claw and how it moves you can determine if the claw and shutter are in sync. Do it thus (and note it is a bit of an art to get it just right so you ought to play with it a bit): First, note which direction the shutter turns when the camera is running forward. Note which side the shutter is entering in from from the back of the gate in accordance with the principle that when the claw is engaged the shutter is covering (entering) the aperture and when it is disengaged (exiting) and resetting the aperture is open. Inch the mechanism to the point where the claw is at it's 'dead point.' That is where the claw is at it's lowest point in the pull down. As it reaches the dead point it will not rise or lower anymore but only pivot in place as the crankshaft comes around. You're looking for the position when it just starts that pivot and if the claw starts exiting and rising then you've gone to far. Once you've found the 'dead point' look through the gate and if the (exiting) mirror obscures half (or 2/3rds really) of the frame. If it doesn't then you ought to send it in to me. If it looks fine, shoot a timing test to be sure. Lock off the camera and point it at a piece of cardboard with a grid of holes. Back light the cardboard so light is coming through the holes (make sure they're round and clean holes, mind you) and frame the cardboard up tight. Shoot it at different frame rates too. If the timing is correct, the lit holes will remain round and distinct in the footage, if they smear then you have a timing issue. Typically one corner of the frame will have smeary holes if it is a small timing issue. have fun, let me know how it goes. - nathan
  19. I've always been a big cheerleader for Postworks. They've always been wonderful to work with.
  20. It's what they underpay me for >8) Send me a PM with the serial number and I can find out. For all practical purposes, the speed is the only difference. Had I my druthers, I'd get an LTR54 as the camera would be a bit newer and, as we've already established due to Aaton's early-on evolutionary manufacturing process, the higher the serial number the more small improvements. These improvements are innumerable and not always needed or noticable, like four screws holding in the motor rather than three, a larger bascule disc, steel claw etc.. They go on and on. Early 7's don't have a start-stop switch on the front... As for the high speed external motor, the LTR doesn't work quite like an ARRI S or Bolex, you don'r have multiple motors you can stick in. It isn't the motor, or how much power you put through the camera that makes it safe or capable to shoot at higher framerates, but the mechanism's construction and materials. For example, one type of crankshaft design might wear less at high speeds than another or one claw support or bascule arm might be better for producing a steady image at high speed than another. You can pump all the power you want through the camera and set it to whatever framerate with an external controller, but at some point you'll lose registration and steadiness and ultimately destroy the mechanism. You can see the evolution... LTR7s go 32fps with 12volts. LTR54s and earlier XTRs go up to 54fps with 16volts (up to 36fps at 12volts) A Bi-Phase XTRplus or X0plus will go 60fps at 16volts (up to 36fps at 12volts) A Modern Tri-Phase Xtera, XTRprod and XTRplus can go up to 75fps ALL at 75fps due to a better mechanism design (40 years of small improvements) and an improved motor and camera electronics. You have to ask yourself is an LTR54's 54fps worth the additional two to five thousand additional dollars more than the 32fps of the LTR7. - nathan I just want a good Super 16 cam that will allow me to go further on my own, I have the chance of getting an Eclair NPr Super 16 with a whole bunch of toys for a fair price, but Aatons where always my favorite cam ( for Super 16 Best
  21. I actually laughed out loud at that. Absolutly true. 1) The serial is on the assistant side on a little oval plate that might say "AATON \ MADE IN FRANCE \ CXXX" where CXXX is the serial number. 2) LTR7's go up to about C950, LTR54's go to about C1300 but these aren't set in stone. We're talking about 30 year old cameras that have been upgraded or modified (some in factory, some not). Turn the speed dial to the highest speed. If it goes up to 54fps, then it isan LTR54. If it goes only to 32 it is an LTR7. 3) The motors are the same. It is the construction and materials used in the mechanism that make the camera safe to run at higher speeds. You cannot upgrade from an LTR7 to an LTR54 without replaceing a great gob of parts at great expense (new claw, new bascule etc..). You will end up paying more in parts + labor than you did for the camera body.
  22. Zachary, I believe the Crook Bros. have a prototype setup for that system or something similar. Additionally they've shot tests doing 'double run' 16mm by shooting 2-perf 35mm. ARRI has shot 2-perf anamorphic (with the element rotated 90 degrees) and deanamorphosed into a 4-perf 35mm image. Interesting stuff...
  23. It has. Use the search function in the top left of the website. People's thoughts will probably not have changed the last dozen times.
  24. Yeah, last month that thing said, 'Watch for the end of November.' before that it said 'Watch for the end of October.' Last I spoke with them they seemed to be hopeful that the camera would be ready by the end of 2007. Before that they were shooting for September 2007. *sigh* My lust must be abated.
  25. It's just a motorized, reflexed Eyemo with a Nikon mount (or PL or whatever..)
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