Jump to content

steve waschka

Basic Member
  • Posts

    205
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by steve waschka

  1. Need to do film fill-in shots camera: I have an eclair NPR super16 with a b4 to cmount adapter. The only one that fit the mirror housing has no "extender" glass in it. So I need an extender. Lenses: I have various canon and fujinon b4 mounts. all 2/3. a couple with 2x extenders in them. 2x defeats the lens speed and wide angle. ones without vignette. Concerns: 1. additional costs.... its all enough already 2. finding a cmount extender will be designed for mount video and the tiny element in it will still vignette 3. replacing the internal 2x will be way too hard to find the right elements. 4. ignorance... once I had polarizer filters cut down to fit behind the b4 back lens. It changed back focus but otherwise worked awesome. is there something to that discovery... I mean can I order a small element and just tack it back there? I just can't tinker for days on this so any help is massively appreciated.
  2. not wrong... I was tempted by both an ARRI 35bl and a AATON 35 this year.
  3. A possible resource is kineman-sp? in miami. His place is also the home of continental film and digital labs. But, they bought Magna Tech. They were rebuilding a vista vision machine while I was there. I cant explain how many rooms and how many cameras and lenses and projectors and on and on and on. He doesn't seem hurried to reduce his stock mind you.
  4. All simpler with good beer. I am trying to establish a football [soccer] club with some players to compete in 7V7 tourneys. As soon as I can get that on cruise control im investigating this. edit: I've started collecting 16mm prints. I say started... I have 2. Thats a process in an of itself. My projectors worm gear needs replacing. The part was readily avail and cheap. Putting it in.... well thats the fun part.
  5. Anybody doing this in the South East US? Gorgeous!
  6. Because you can. Look to fine art still photography as an example. The more choices you have the better. Support film not as a superior or inferior choice. But as just having the choice. What fun would it be if you still couldn't do platinum prints. Look at the dye transfer printing process... beautiful and gone! Shoot film when you can or it will go away.
  7. And thankyou David. I look for your responses when reading others topics. I respect your opinions. And to everyone else helping me fumble through.
  8. Camera is scratch tested, all lenses chked at the gate for accuracy. Everything seems good using loops, ground glass, and charts. Plus the "feel" of the look is its sharp. And im always the skeptic. Even was able to dig into the kit ang 12-120 and get its backfocus fixed. Though it does not seem to be a fantasic specimin of that lens. Otherwise ready for filming. Have a promo I owe to a vendor. I think I will do it on film.
  9. Not that there isnt plenty of the footage out there already... But samples: The bvw-d600ws processed to 29.97psf on the Teranex [horrifyingly humid shoot... the lenses are better than they come across here. And dont ask what I white balanced on. I should have color corrected before I let that one go. For whatever reason I did not] The sdx-900 recorded on 30p setting and output thru onboard SDI straight to BM shuttle.
  10. David: I am not certain 24p in a 3:2 will be an issue. And no the 60i camera' footage goes thru the teranex and converted to 29.97psf if going onto hard drive. When put into a 30p timeline the computer knows no different. However, the deinterlacing of the teranex does soften the image. So the camera's scope of use is somewhat limited to close shots. Even the 30p camera's image will be fairly soft on wider shots compared to film. So film will be my vehicle into HD. Honestly video, for me, was supposed to be the tool for interviews and sports footage where i had to take long runs to get the shot. When I started using it I had no idea how much tech I was going to have to learn. I guess the 2/3" prism block sensors becomes an acquired taste as the look grew on me. Although I hated the aliasing. The past few years have been testing of tons of deinterlacing programs and scripts, expensive filters, and modifying shot technique to limit it. I started using a standard 4:3 2/3" sensor and shooting anamorphic and widening with a scaler. Looked pretty cool but the footage was now in HD size. My MacBook pro choked on it. Couldnt edit it at all. Then I went to the widescreen sd cameras and things got easier but I still was having issues with adobe's transitions and various DVD burning programs glitching. So I already had the edit decks for the camcorder's tapes. It was just less heartbreak to edit on them. But it was interlaced again. So I knew a bit about psf from studying deinterlacing but had never really tried it. So I tried a few times to get the signal right and saw nothing but a mess. Until I finally properly connected the decks with ref signals. Then I successfully played back a 29.97psf image on a BSP tape and recorded it with a BM shuttle. Put it on the computer and there was a 29.97p image. Then I took the 60i footage and skipped the computer and put it straight on a standalone dvd recorder and played that back. Looked like progressive because I wasnt messing with the links in the chain. So I don't hate interlacing anymore. But I don't like motion stuttering which is my concern for the 3:2 footage. But I am ignorant to properly done 3:2 mixed with video. If I am careful it may not be an issue at all. I read that Perry had worked with a very similar Teranex unit to the one I'm using and I was hoping it might be a big part of the answer for film on video. But I really need to get this NPR finished so I can get on the next project and just see for myself and stop bugging you guys. I was just curious and "armchair filming" I suppose.
  11. Perry- I think I need to leave my film cameras at 30fps to match the video cameras. Because one video camera cannot do 24p. and the other one isnt any good at it unless you have the matching edit deck. I am not buying anymore edit decks. David- I know its dinosaur. But I can do SD video well with what I have. I cannot do HD properly without major investments. And I have barely flexed the muscles of this equipment. If I need to do HD or 35mm I will have to rent and someone else is gonna have to pay.
  12. I keep thinking there may be some magic in the xantus I am not taking advantage of when it comes to taking a telecined 24fps film on SD tape and outputting to 29.97psf. But I decided not to burn film and test it before converting this camera. Everything I have shot has been at 30fps. So I have no reel laying around to try it out. I guess I could send in an old print of something.
  13. Perry Paolantonio you may be the best resource for this. But, I tried to PM you and it wouldnt let me. I just converted an Eclair NPR to 30fps wild when it was 24fps sync to match +/- 30psf sd video. Then just saw an old BM forum post you wrote about the xantus and its 3:2 capabilities. Is it good enough for me to put the camera back to 24 sync and use the xantus? I have never used it for anything but video processing.
  14. Went with a simple robotics step up / step down voltage regulator the one I chose barely holds just under 30fps with film and a 24v supply. Needs the volts to create the amps. But it does hold checked against a strobe. When it gets close to the bottom of a hundred foot roll it drops .3-.4 fps. This is not going to be for sync use. So I am running around 29.85 down to 29.40. Still havent given up on figuring out reworking the sync board. I would like for it to be useful for sync in the future so I will continue with it. Right now I am probably going to have to chose a diferent board to get it to hover at 30. Edit: Camera ran faster as I used it so a re-- tear down and a relube is probably inorder. Side note: this camera has fought every step of the way. The NPR's front face of the housing behind the turret is extremely thin walled. Doesnt take much to crack or flex and graze the shutter. Apparently someone else tested that out with this camera. After clearing the obstructions and filling the cracks mine is VERY quiet. WAY quieter than any ive seen running on videos. All thats left is a flicker. Im not sure there isnt still a tiny contact. But what I'm hearing may just be the claw / or pin transmission now. Then what looked to be the best part of the outfit as in nearly new, turned out to be a frozen mag. Frozen at the input shaft. And frozen so that the set screws for the sprockets were facing an unreachable direction. Had to completely tear down to repair. I think Ive held proper flange depth and I havent had to move the ground glass to clean. Final word will be a film test. But what I have says its ok. Getting close
  15. SD workflow for me was affordable and became a choice and a process for a look. Affordable has become relative. I had no idea what I was doing with video. I have self taught from project to project. Once I get this NPR on its feet I will run it for a while and pass it on for an XTR or an SR in super 16. I try to pass on cameras in better shape than I found them. I have had my share of "gifts" and boat anchors. its a bit of a gamble sometimes.
  16. Agree to all of what you say. But I promise I have found ways around most of the issues you speak except for its still SD. Its just really good SD. Hard to jump to HD from where I am.
  17. But Tyler maybe I just need to shoot at 24fps get a proper transfer and work with the footage and see how it goes. I am hoping it will be a revelation. And it will save me some soldering and testing on the NPR. The first time I got PSF footage to work it was nearly a religious experience for me. Maybe 24fps 3:2 done correctly will be the same.
  18. In my case.... My main camera is the SDX-900. Which I've always downloaded onto a SSD on a blackmagic shuttle if I was going to go to web. Or, onto digibeta if going to dvd. I don't have the panasonic editing deck so in order to get true progressive frames i use the 30p setting as the 24p comes of the camera as interlaced footage. My second video camera is a bvw-d600ws which is always interlaced. But for dvd its looks great so no worries. If I am going to web I run the footage thru a teranex and then onto ssd. But, deinterlacing softens a bit so going back to dvd is not preferable from that point. Most TVs and monitors that I use are 60hz. And messing with frame rates and the mixing of them in the past, for me, has left me with slight judders that drove me nuts. The only way I could get seamless clean footage was to set everything to 29.97and ref and lock everything together. So I abandoned every film camera that would not shoot at 30. Then I had lens compatibility issues and I abandoned every film camera that was not flexible for lens choice. So now i am building an NPR. which is a beast of a camera but I have not yet bit the bullet to buy an XTR. Which is what I need to do. But, I havent yet. So I am looking at reworking this camera to run at 30fps. In the process I decided I had better get some outside inspiration / advice because it's a stretch for me to do so right now... But, one of the guys in my industry is doing the theater tours and I have always wanted to do that ever since I saw the first Warren Miller film. Keep in mind I am trying to get as polished a look as possible on a self funded budget. I don't mind working at things with effort and time. IE: I do a fair amount of tape to tape editing because with the machines locked I get better results than I do on my Macbook Pro with Adobe. My Macbook Pro is a handful of years old now and the longer the footage gets the more relentless it is at choking on itself. So now I have to be more diligent and do a proper EDL before I sit down a work with the decks. But They just work. I can sit there for hours and they wont choke. THEN I can move thing over and go from there where I have minimal to do on the computer. Thats a lot out of me when I need to be listening not talking but maybe it was important to get a better glimpse into the mess that is my system.
  19. My projects are 70/30 video to film. So in the past I have shot the film at 30fps to match the video. Everything ends up at 29.97 psf and can go online and dvd smoothly. However, I really like the idea of doing a theater release tour at some point in time. And, I am getting ready to dive into more projects. Would you recommend I modify what I am doing? edit: I know this is not a new topic. And I have chimed in my two cents on some in the past. I am second guessing myself as I am preparing to invest more time and equipment.
  20. Anyone interested in this that does not have answers.... I have found a few interesting usb programmable speed controls that with some calibrating you could do quite a bit of creative ramping. However after cleaning the camera and inspecting the electronic circuits its a fairly elegant and well built design and the best answer would be to have it "re crystalled" to run at 29.97 [for my purposes that is. I need to match it to quite bit of video]
  21. I have rcvd the NPR. While I see many photos of people shouldering the NPR during its time of popularity, it is not a pleasurable experience. I have a few pseudo shoulder / steadicam rigs I will use but a purpose-built built-in shoulder bracket would be a fairly intricate build to result in anything elegant and effective. And its still a heavy off balance camera.
  22. I know I am behind the times and I should be buying an XTR. I am trying to produce professional looking material on a self funded budget and the return is pretty intangible. This is my last step before just buying an XTR. I have an NPR on the way and I know I will be shouldering it 50% of the time. The photos online are pretty small. And Ive seen some interesting rigs out there. One looks like a sort of a bent plate that goes under the motor and has a socket for a front rail for a handle. Anybody have any photos of their rigs theyd like to share? I could use some inspiration from some people that already know what works.
  23. I have an NPR on its way. It appears from the photos it has a fixed controlled motor. That is to say I only see a red light on top and no obvious ways to adjust speed. I assume it will come as a 24fps motor. I need it to run at 30fps. Aside from consulting an electrical engineer or purchasing [if you could find one] a controller costing more than the camera itself, has anyone any suggestions? I am hopeful the right person can successfully swap the crystal regulator to get the camera to 30fps.
  24. I have a century .8 which sometimes gets me out of tight spots. However it throws off the distance scale. Is there a formula to adjust for this?
  25. Not that I am accomplished at it... but Its funny... most of what I have been shooting on a current, ongoing project is observational documentary style. I miss a fair amount of footage because I am kind of waiting for them to sort of "block" themselves (if that makes any sense) After it happens I tell myself that was a good moment but the shot will be or would have been all wrong. I keep thinking it would be fun to find a local "drama" club or class that wants to shoot some scenes just so I can get that controlled environment fix.
×
×
  • Create New...