Mitch Gross

It depends on the size of frame, how many frames of action in which you wish to see the bullets travel, type of gun for muzzle velocity, etc. I can tell you that I think your numbers are probably way too low. For most work we find that a frame rate closer to 30,000fps gets the imagery people are looking for. I've even seen 1,000,000fps bullet hit material, which looks way cool. We have the Phantom v12.1, which can shoot incredibly fast frame rates at HD resolutions. Likely your best bet.

I made a short video illustrating the advantages to shooting in LOG. I thought it might be of interest here. http://blog.abelcine.com/2011/02/03/why-shoot-in-log/

The look was very much intentional. They shot on F900 at either +6db or +9db (I forget which). This is a very different look from other SyFy shows such as Eureka or Warehouse 13, both of which are shot pretty clean (Warehouse 13 was Genesis the first season then moved to RED MX, I forget what Eureka shoots). Battlestar Gallactica rented Phantoms from Abel Cine numerous times throughout its production run including for the Razor telemovie.

High Speed shots in the new series were captured using the Phantom HD.

It is the balance of the color matrix and it is also aligning brightness values more accurately to the noise floor.

I would find this incredibly hard to believe. 16mm stocks back then were extremely limited. Just one neg. stock and some reversal, which they would have never used. It is possible that some 16mm was used during the effects work process. It was common practical to mix elements back then as was physically necessary to achieve effects. Sometimes 16mm was used to rear project the image of actors inside a miniature set, such as Kirk & Scotty in the pod in the spacedock reveal of the Enterprise in the original Star Trek: The Motion Picture. 16mm was used to rear-project the monitors in 2001: A Space Odyssey and Super-8 was used for screens in ST:TMP. This was all done because of the physical space requirements. That's the only way I can imagine it happening in Battlestar Galactica.

Posse, starring & directed by Kirk Douglas? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073559/ Draw!, HBO movie also starring Douglas? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087174/

We have several kits available. http://www.abelcine.com/store/Film/

The Beta was updated again today (still Beta, release hopefully next week). I believe the simultaneous record to 2x SxS is operational. REC709 & LOG are greatly improved.

Yes, we have the CP.2 for rent in either PL or Canon EOS mount. We properly shim them on our collimator before each rental.

This can all be done today with the Aaton Penelope and Aatoncode. And yes, we have them available for rental, along with the Phantom and anything else you might need.

Abel now has the SRW-9000PL available for rent. http://www.abelcine.com/store/Sony-SRW-9000PL/

The standard Aaton handgrip would work just fine on the Eclair, you would just need to have the appropriate connector put on the cable. The original Aaton switch is momentary in one direction (single frame) and continuous in the other (camera run). For electronic cameras including the RED, we change this switch to a momentary in either direction and then include the appropriate cable. There are many, many options for handgrips out there. If you don't need the eun/stop switch, I think the Vocas handgrips are an excellent value and very comfortable to use. http://www.abelcine.com/store/Vocas-Handgrip-Kit-with-Two-Handgrips/ We also offer the Ronford-Baker Moosebars, which can include a trigger with cable for an additional fee. http://www.abelcine.com/store/Ronford-Baker-Moose-Bars/ And the O'Connor O-Grips are offer an optional switch as well. These handgrips use a universal ball joint which makes them uniquely adjustable and extremely sturdy. http://www.abelcine.com/store/OConnor-O-Grips-Handgrip-System/

I like using Godfather character names.

My movie on TV discovery was Dr. Strangelove. It was a late show on our local UHF station and I was maybe eight. I had absolutely no clue what I was watching and didn't realize it was a comedy until pretty far into the movie with the "you can't fight in here, this is the War Room" line. Even little 8 year-old me thought that was kinda odd and I started to slowly get it as I watched more. I was pretty proud of myself for discovering black comedy and satire by the time Slim Pickens rode his big phallus to oblivion. Now I've probably seen the film 50 times.

I'll mention it to them. Of course one can't ND to a higher ISO ...

The Alexa doesn't desqueeze the image for the viewfinder or other outputs, but the Hawk 1.3x lenses will cover the sensor. There are boxes that can be used with the HD output for proper monitoring of the image. For full anamorphic support, the ALEXA-OV model will have an optical viewfinder and a taller sensor to properly interact with 2x squeeze lenses. But that model is some time off.

We can supply a proper adapter from CA-1 to PL. The CA-1 was pretty close to the ARRI standard, so making a proper adpapter to PL is not impossible, you just have to know what you're doing. Feel free to contact me offlist.

A weak polarization retarder (reverse pola) will mitigate the issue. This retarder is the difference between a linear pola and a circular one. It is something you will need to have custom made, as the retarder needs to go BEFORE the beamsplitter. That means you need to get a large & expensive sheet of glass that goes across the front of your beamsplitter housing.

I think the term "bi-amping" is a great way to describe what ARRI does on the ALEXA. Tom, sorry but it is not set up to do what you are talking about doing.

BTW, with the advent of digital high speed cameras like the Phantom HD Gold, I don't say to shoot at the top frame rate of the expected finished shot. Instead I suggest shooting at twice that speed. This allows more options in the speed at which the ramping will occur without having to generate too many interpolated frames.

Sorry, under NDA. When it is time to go public I'll be shouting from the rooftops. We're involved in so many cool cutting edge things these days it makes my head spin. And I have to bite my tongue constantly so as not to reveal things I shouldn't, like those two different single camera 3D systems we have in the works. Oops. :rolleyes:

It can be very difficult to get the timing just right in camera. And some cameras cannot shift speed as quickly as you might like or on a linear or non linear accelleration/decelleration curve as you might wish. That's why post control is so nice.

The camera as designed is set to deliver an optimized image. Push them further and one would likely introduce noise or other issues. ARRI's engineers are continually improving and updating the camera with new firmware releases. If it can be improved they will do it for everyone. Coming next month is 3200ISO on the camera.

Dig deeper into the patent and there are some interesting technical process notes. Brings up some differences with other compression schemes and can give a clue about what might be the merits of the patent as well as some interesting aspects of REDCODE. I was hoping to have a technical discussion on this elsewhere but it degenerated quickly into a bash fest.