danny bartle

hi all, I really love slow motion & i'm looking for a reasonably cheap yet reliable & steady high speed 16mm camera. Preferably not too big, can run on batteries (not mains power) & it would be nice if it can be converted to super 16 reasonably easy (not essential though). Its just for my personal use & experimenting so it can't be too expensive. Anybody with any suggestions?

hi, i currently have the FX1e in my hands for the weekend for a trial, courtesy of the friendly people at my local Sony Pro store. whilst its a great camera, easy to use, great manual controls, handles well, great picture etc etc etc its still a prosumer video camera. dont get me wrong, i like the camera very much so, i'm probably going to buy one but i'm a surfing shooter & mostly do slow motion stuff. I usually shoot 64fps with my Bolex & have always had great results with it. the only down side to shooting with my Bolex in a water housing is the obvious film costs due to the high frame rates & the constant swimming back to shore to reload (which aint easy in sunny Australia on a sandy beach!) i'm going to send a test tape from the FX1 to the editor I use to see if he can extract good quality slow motion by downsizing HD to SD (by getting 50fps progressive at SD Pal resolution, i think thats the idea anyways) & i'll see how it turns out, i'll let you know. but i'm doubtful it'll be anywhere near as good as my old bolex. but to answer your question, yes its definetely a cheaper alternative to shooting 16mm. you can prob get a really good image with the right lighting, post work, etc but IMO its still a toy compared to 16mm.... also another thing to consider is renting one. unfortunately in my situation since i take my camera with me for sometimes week on trips away up the coast & because i cant rent a water housing around here for the FX1, i have to buy it. but if your shooting short films, weddings, doco's etc when you know the days when you'll need one it definetely makes sense to rent... where i am you can buy the Z1 for about AU$7500 (approx US$5000+tax) or you can rent for AU$170 per day (approx US$125) which includes 3 long life batts, Miller DS5 tripod & pelican case! smart people rent! (if its possible)

wow... the "joys" of the internet & digital technology... does anyone know how they obtained the stills?

thanks for that link... they're a beast of a housing aren't they! i'd still love to hear from anyone who knows how many were made...

Hi all, Does anyone know how many of the Pallaird Bolex Underwater Housing were made for the H-16 cameras? I'm talking about the Original ones made by Pallaird Bolex. I've seen 3 in existence, all with serial numbers with only 3 digits, so i'm assuming there were less than 1000 made.. am I correct? Anyone have any history on these housings? Or who to contact to find out?

thank you for everyone's input.... I didn't really want to start a film vs digital thread, more just wanted to know if the movies could be copied... Dominic, you stated that the movies could not be copied, is the system totally safe? i mean could someone remove the hard drive or memory (whatever the movie is stored on) & put it in a PC or similar then copy it? DVD's have copy protection & macrovision but most kids can easily copy them on their PC's at home. Is the copy protection with digital projection better?

thanks for the replies... so copyright isn't really much of an issue then? would the projectors or computers the movies are stored on have possibly a digital cable output or have the ability to be pirated? (i'm not talking shooting video from the back of the cinema either..)

Hi all, Do you think one of the reasons (of course not the only) digital projection hasn't really taken off yet is due to copyright issues? You would think making high quality pirate copies of digital projection movies, whether it be on hard drive, flash memory, etc would be much easier for the fraudsters to accomplish if its in a digital format with much better results for them, rather than shooting with a video camera from the back of the cinema. Your thoughts?...

Hi, As i'm an employee as a camera repair tech in one of Australias largest pro camera stores, I can say that the majority of professional commercial/wedding/landscape/fashion photographers in our market use 120 medium format film mostly but you'll also find that probably half of them will have a digital SLR in their bag for smaller jobs like brochures, newspaper work, web work, etc.

thanks for everyone in taking the time to reply. i'll start writing & planning, i'm sure i'll have more questions once i start writing! also are there any good documentary short films on the web which I could have a look at? any recommendations?

thanks everyone for the advice. do the same rules apply for documentary style short films also?

Hi all, Is it best for a short film (say 5-7 minute) to use the standard 3 act dramatic structure of beginning, middle & end? Beginning= problem/crisis Middle= problem/crisis intensified End= problem/crisis resolved Are the rules for very short films different as theres a lot less time to tell the story?

Hello all, Is it possible to up-convert a Sony PDX10P (PAL) signal to mix it with footage taken from a Sony FX1/Z1 at 1080 60i? Its for a DVD release in the US. All of the footage taken from the PDX10P is still shots (mostly outdoor with little or no movement) How can it be done & what type of results can I expect?

Hi all, What are the current & in the near future options for editing the HDV format (like the Sony Z1) via your PC or mac? Can a standard firewire card be used to capture & output the HDV format?

that would be great to hear how your post production for slow motion goes... When you said create low res 60p, did you mean you would be able to create 60p at SD resolution? ie: 720 x 576 for PAL? John, yes I love the NFL films. They look great. I'm still a big film fan myself as I own & still use a Bolex RX5 which I use when shooting sports at 64fps. It looks so good when transferred but I only use it when I know a shot will work.

I've been seriously considering buying 2 of the Z1 HD cameras for an upcoming 6 month travelling documentary (which may or may not happen yet). As its a sports related doco, slow motion is a necessity. Before anyone suggests 16mm as I know this would prob be best for slo-mo, its not really in the budget as theres heaps of sports to be shot, possibly a 15:1 usage ratio, mostly highlights from games. So, has anyone shot with this cam (or FX1) in 50 or 60i, then transferred to progressive, if so with what results? My final output will be in PAL standard def.

Thanks for those suggestions. Has anybody read these titles? http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=glance&s=books http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/080...8017856-7343061 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/024...8017856-7343061 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/157...8017856-7343061 If so, what did you think?

Hello all, Firstly Merry Christmas to all from a land down under... I'm keen on reading some books at the moment & would like some recommendations on books for 2 different topics. Firstly a "how to" book on low budget TV/Filmmaking. I'm doing a TV production doco covering a surfing contest & i'm also planning on a movie documentary similar in the style of "The Endless Summer 2" so a book which covers those 2 styles of production from budget, planning, etc etc. Secondly a basics book on lighting which covers studio lighting & outside daylight lighting. Preferably something which techniques can also be used for still photography also. Thanks....

As i'm a surfer, of course Endless Summer 2 is my fave surf movie on the big screen. Although its a long time ago since it was made, does anyone have info on how it was made, 35mm or 16mm? (both I suspect) Any problems they encountered travelling with camera equipment to surf locations, time it took to film, how much film was shot, etc etc... all info will be appreciated. Thanks...

looks nice.. anymore info available or estimate of price?

sorry if this is a little off topic but what is the approx price of this camera?

So in theory, the Sony FX1/Z1 HD camera could record 60 fps (with post) at 540 lines which would be suitable for SD TV? Has anyone tried this & if so what did it look like? Obviously the varicam is not an option for me due to cost. Could I assume that prosumer cameras don't ever have higher frame rates? Also I could assume its unlikely to be a HD camera that shoots higher frame rates sub $15,000 in the near future? Yes it seems my Bolex is still king at the moment.. for quality slow motion anyways...

Hello, As the title says... With all these new prosumer HD & 24p cameras out they seem like a really good alternative to shooting 16mm, esp for TV use. But is my Bolex RX5 shooting at 48 or 64fps still going to be better & smoother than these prosumer cameras? (when i say prosumer i mean XL2, DVX100 or Sony Z1/FX1) Or for that matter, will 16mm shot at higher frame rates exceed most HD cameras under $20,000 for slow motion work? I pretty much only use my 16mm Bolex now just for slow motion sports footage so i'm currently deciding whether to keep using it (although i'd never sell it, its a beautiful camera IMO!) or perhaps get a HD camera....

hey Marty.. thanks for the quick review on this camera. Hopefully they'll be available in Australia soon. Did you get a chance to see any slow motion footage from this camera?

I liked the look & story of the french movie "La Haine". I've read it was shot on colour film then transferred to black & white. Why wasn't it shot on black & white to start with?