Evan Walsh

When shooting film it would be a bad idea to try and pull focus off of a monitor. Most film camera's will have a standard definition video tap and even if they have an HD tap, it still wouldn't be advisable to pull focus off a monitor. The video tap is best used for giving a director an idea of the shot and for the AC to judge what's in frame or camera information if you have it set to display that. Video taps are essentially small camera's pointed at the ground glass, they can appear very grainy and dark. Sometimes everything could look in focus and sometimes the image will be so soft in general that everything could appear out of focus. For best results with film, the AC should measure during the rehearsal and pull focus off those marks. What could appear in focus on a video tap image could be completely different from what will be on the film. However, if you do go incredibly soft on a shot it will be apparent on even the lowest quality video tap and you'll know you need another take.

You would need two motors to pull focus and iris at the same time, you could do it from a single motor driver if it can control 2+ motors at once like the 3 axis systems from Arri, Preston, Cmotion etc. Sometimes an additional hand unit like the Preston single channel will be used for someone else to adjust the iris and the 1st AC will only worry about focus.

Find a strap that is long enough for you to sling it across your body in a messenger bag style, I find that it takes the weight off your neck and makes having it on all day less uncomfortable. When you're using it you can keep most of the tension/weight going across your back and less on your hands and neck. In this configuration you can also slide the unit around behind you when you need to get it out of the way to do something instead of it dangling around in front or having to take it off.

The best way to tell the difference is to look at the housing of the actual connector. Lemo brand Lemo connectors will have "Lemo" engraved on them, they will also have a textured pattern that resembles a chocolate bar (tiny squares grouped together) going around it. Fischer connectors will sometimes have Fischer engraved on the housing but even if they don't they will have 3-4 rings going around the housing. There are off brand Lemo connectors that won't say Lemo on them but should still have the "chocolate bar" pattern. In addition to what Satsuki mentioned about using the proper cables, some applications may use the same connector but have different pin outs. 2-Pin Lemo's you need to be careful of sometimes, though they will fit any 2-pin Lemo receptacle, the cable it self may have been made for a different polarity and if the improper cable is used you can cause damage to the equipment.

I vaguely remember this from film school so forgive me if I am wrong but it may have to do with the prism the Bolex uses for its reflex system. I believe there are specific C-mount lenses that are supposed to be used with the Bolex. If you're using a lens that wasn't intended for use with the prism it could be the reason why you're witness marks are not sharp.

Bartech is a good option, especially if you're using the fstop/PLC digital receiver/driver, it has a much smaller form factor than the analog one. If you were looking for something really small and light check out the RT Motion Mk3 if you can find one. I recently used one on a Ronin, it had to be one of the smallest and lightest remote follow focus I've ever seen. The receiver if I remember correctly is about the width/depth of a 9 volt battery and maybe 1-1/2 times as long and the motors were roughly the same size as a Heden motor. Over all it was decent, I felt there was a noticeable bit of lag if you were making big moves even when it was set to it's fastest response but for the most part it did the job and was very small/light.

You draw a squiggly line down a length of film with a sharpie, and inch it through the camera to see if the film is held in place when the shutter is open, if you see that the film is not held stationary when the shutter is open, then the shutter and movement are out of sync. This would also cause a verticle streaking in the footage which doesnt seem to be the case in your framegrab, but who knows. When I see the pressure plate reflections in my stills they usually have a slight horizontal streak in the center of the frame and usually have a burned right edge, made me think it could be similar.

I know its a bit different but I have a still camera that has light leaks and when I don't tape it up enough I will get an imprint of the pressure plate in some of my photos. A photo repair place suggested it could also be caused by the shutter not fully closing causing the ghosting/refleactions in my photos. Did you test the sync of the movement and the shutter as possible cause?