Mitch Gross

I know the backstory but cannot share it for indemnity reasons. The biggest value left for it was ARRI rushing to get a plexiglass display built to showcase the thing at NAB just a few days later. I was just on set with the AC who had been working the toasted camera and he was more upset about having to itemize everything in his tackle box kit than what happened to the camera.

Be sure to come by the AbelCine both in Central Hall (C8932) and check out the the IaniLED54 and the ew models from Creamsource.

Doug Trumbull's shoot with AbelCine's new Phantom 65-Z3D system is up on our blog today. And on Doug's birthday -- happy birthday sir! http://blog.abelcine.com/2011/04/08/doug-trumbulls-phantom-65-z3d-shoot/

Most important is not to dim the LEDs, as most fixtures use pulse modulation to control brightness.

Doug Trumbull fans, check out the AbelCine technical blog CineTechnica later today (Friday). And to keep this thread on point, check out the entry I posted yesterday, which references Mr. Kubrick. http://blog.abelcine.com/

The NULL Lens & Target kit work excellently with the ALEXA. http://www.abelcine.com/store/NULL-Lens-Target-Optical-Collimator-Kit/#tabs

A lot less expensive way is to use the the NULL Lens & Target that we sell at AbelCine. Put it on and if the image comes up sharp then you're all set. It is extremely accurate and costs a fraction of the FDC. http://www.abelcine.com/store/NULL-Lens-Target-Optical-Collimator-Kit/#tabs

Anthony Mann was the original director. He did pre-production and the first week of filming. Douglas had a dispute with him over creative direction of the film and had him replaced with Kubrick. There is much of Stanley Kubrick in Spartacus, but when one climbs onto a moving train it can be hard to change direction much. After Spartacus kubrick moved to England and decided to only make movies in which he had total creative control.

You can buy a dessicant cartridge from PortaBrace to stick in your case. Just remember that eventually they get saturated with moisture and eventually you need to dry them out as well. I believe you stick them in the microwave or some such thing. Instructions come with them.

Keep silica gel packets in the lens case to help absorb moisture. A tungsten fresnel light is the perfect way to quickly dry out a lens. Pull the lenses out of the case, pull off the caps and sit them under the lamp. They'll dry out quite quickly.

When the conversation goes far enough, production crews often find themselves talking Star Trek. I understand it's the same way in the halls of places like Google and MIT. Remember that the first computer game after checkers and tic-tac-toe was a Star Trek game. I have a Tri-Dimensional Chess set sitting in my office. Take a look at the window sill in this video. Funny thing is that I's just moved into that office and the place was barren so it's the only decoration in the room. Sad, right? http://blog.abelcine.com/2011/03/07/focus-optics-ruby-14-24-t2-8-zoom-lens/ My excuse was that we needed something for our NAB booth that could show off the use of our HD Scope periscope/borescope system. But that was just an excuse to get AbelCine to buy me one off eBay.

Can't find it at the moment but I believe it is a touch under US$6K.

Remember that it is less than half the price of the F3.

Not to thread-hijack, but I just found out that if anyone wants to see some of what Mr. Trumbull has been up to recently, they could swing by the AbelCine booth at NAB, Central Hall. :rolleyes:

The lighting is pretty bright and the space quite airy, at least the sections I have visited. The sections open as a museum are I believe the old hangar spaces, the flight deck. The stuff in there is geared mostly for kids and young adults. The main attraction is the top deck with all those great planes. I've only been in the Intrepid with my kids so I don't know what access is available to the inner workings of the ship. I would certainly suggest you contact the operators of the museum to see if special arrangements can be made. It would be sure to make the day even more special for your father. I'm sure that yours would not be the first such request they have received so they likely have policies in place.

Fair enough, but journalism is also seeking out information. A post-NAB wrap-up based on your own research makes a lot of sense and I'm sure has great value. So why wouldn't a pre-NAB article benefit from research as well? Press releases can be of value if only to say "this might be interesting to look at" or "these guys have it all wrong." I don't mean to sit here and be critical. You put yourself out there and that's commendable. I'm just saying that there's a lot of interesting things going on that I'm sure you are either well aware of or could find with minimal effort. Surely you use this information as a guide on what you plan to investigate while at NAB? Wouldn't stating "this is some of the stuff I plan to check out" be of value in a pre-NAB story?

Phil, I think it's a nice start, but it felt like just that -- a start, as if there should have been another page or two in there. You mention the AF100 but the Sony F3 has been shipping for more than a month now. You mention the CineDeck "should" be recording compressed formats as well as uncompressed but it has been doing that since the day it first shipped back in the summer. And I saw no mention of the expanding use of RAW capture, which is an interesting technological trend no matter one's opinion on it. I know it's just a short introduction article, but when you have room to slip in mentions of the Convergent Design Gemini and plenty of snarky cracks at various manufacturers and their products (which I don't mind as they make for a fun read), I feel you missed some real opportunities. I certainly hope you make it to the AbelCine booth among others to discover a lot of items worthy of mention.

I enjoyed Brainstorm a great deal, although I felt the ending was a missed opportunity. The original virtual reality movie. Predictor of many things.

He's actively doing lots of things, most for his own amusement. I can't talk about any of them, but if one of a half dozen or so ever lead anywhere it'll blow your socks off.

That would be the VHR. That's the progressive scan model. I believe it can be retrofitted to the XTRprod body but for the cost one might as well convert the camera to the Xtera and gain the dual-battery mount and other advantages. Are you in the US? Shoot me an email and I can get you information.

Interesting. I measure the Dynamic Range at 12+ stops.

Not only did none of his film use digital audio, but most are not even stereo. I'm pretty sure that's the case even with Full Metal Jacket (not sure about Eyes Wide Shut). There has been some work done on the films I know, but I am not sure of the extent. I know that Doug Trumbull had some involvement with the work on 2001, and I had the extremely pleasurable task of assisting him for a day here in our office as he shot a few closeups of the movement to his personal 65mm camera for material to go with a Making Of doc that I believe is to be included in this collection. I had to keep myself from kneeling before him.

In a word, no. I don't know of any HD videotap options for any Aaton cameras. The current tap from Aaton is a progressive scan unit that offers twice the resolution than others' interlace models, but it is not an HD unit. The mechanical interface is so completely different between ARRI & Aaton that I cannot see using one brand's tap on the other's camera.

I agree with John Sprung. How was the image captured from the ALEXA, via Sx cards to ProRes or off the HD outputs? What system is being used to post the material, FCP or AVID or other? If not FCP, what generation of the other and how did the file get converted to get into the system? Looks a lot like a frame merge similar to a 2:3 pulldown cadence. Just not possible coming out of the progressive-only camera.

The optics within the Mutar might allow it, but the mechanics may be designed to prevent it. The goal of the Mutar is to increase focal length, not expand image area coverage. So to stop stray light from causing other problems, it is likely the mechanical design prevents it from increasing the coverage much. This is standard in most such designs. If you use a 2x designed for 35mm then there should be no such issue, provided that the lens physically fits on the adapter. BTW, the image circle for Super-16 is actually 14.7mm. One must use the diagonal of the frame, not the horizontal measurement. A2+B2=C2 anyone?