Brian Drysdale

There are certainly productions being shot on Digibeta. In the end it really depends on what type of work you do; quite a lot of factual programmes are now being shot on DVCam rather than Digibeta. However, I can't see much SD production for the BBC beyond 2010-12, given their past history, once the BBC goes over they'll want everything on HD. Currently the HDW 750 seems to be used quite a lot at the moment for high end TV productions and the Varicam also being used because of the variable frame rates. The BBC doesn't seem to have decided on the HD camera for other productions - I heard they were testing the Infinity. Unless you got a lot of Digibeta current work, which will pay off the camera in say 18 months or less, so as to get a good profit from it, I'd tend hold off. Also, there are a number of new HD cameras coming out this year and you might want to see how things settle in that regard.

Stanley productions sell a wide range of stuff: http://www.stanleysonline.co.uk/

The best way is to use an incident light meter for setting your exposure. http://www.kodak.com/cluster/global/en/con...af9/index.shtml http://www.clubfree.com/spectra/scr_exp1.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_meter You should practise using the meter by using it to manually set the exposure on test stills. 16mm film is a bit expensive just to do this. Although, once you're comfortable with the meter, it's well worth shooting exposure tests on the stock you plan to use by deliberately underexposing and then overexposing it a stop at a time from the your correct exposure. You'll then be able to see how much detail the stock will hold when under or over exposed. There are quite a few books on the subject of exposure, which your college library should have.

It's worth getting different grades of CTB - 1/2, & 1/4 as well as the full. Clipped onto the barndoors the gels last a reasonable time, however, you do need to check for discolouration & fading. I've only used dichrioc filters on battery lights, never on the larger lights. Although one advantage is that you don't get wind noise when being used outdoors.

It's the system aspect which does make it an interesting package. I expect people will decide on how they want to putting together their system and will compare prices and workflows with the other cameras in this price bracket. Interesting question on CML about the batteries and if they're too large a capacity for air travel because of the fire hazard. In reality, most people tend to shoot more with zoom lenses, usually driven by the production schedule and budget. I suspect quite a lot of REDs will be configured for 2k rather than 4k because of this, regardless of the 4k marketing.

US prices for camera gear are always lower than UK and the price I was quoting included the VAT, I'm not sure if B & H's prices include the sales tax. I was looking at lenses like the Nikon 85mm f1.4, which costs around $1.000 in B & H. Nice thing about the primes is being able to shoot at f2 to f2.8 (sometimes f1.4) and having sharp images.

Spending only 10% of your camera purchase on lenses isn't a good a good idea unless you're planning to mostly to rent - it's way out of proportion. You'd spend a higher proportion on lenses for a stills camera purchase. In the UK the high end Nikon lenses with wide apertures cost £850 to £1000 each and you'd usually get a set of 4 focal lengths. Of course, nothing to stop you buying second hand lenses off e-bay.

Not having used those studio cameras for a long time, I was rather surprised at the amount of "lag" there was on the focus controls - this was shooting the long lens shots on an indoors football match a year ago. It's something that I never noticed on the older cameras with (I assume) analogue servo controls I've noticed that you really do need to be a lot more precise focusing on the 2/3 CCD HD cameras compared to the SD cameras. The viewfinders aren't really good enough either for HD eye focusing on the fly.

HDCAM records at 77.4mm/s at 24p and 96.7mm/s at 59.94i/29.97p.

Yes, the red in the matrix. Yes, the red in the matrix.

The setups will vary from camera model to camera model. You can do it using the multi matrix and a vector scope - having a set up chart will help. Basically you reduce the colour saturation until they're a tight bundle in the centre of the scope - it's a slow adjustment reducing each colour, so they don't cross over on the scope as you're pulling them down. Then adjust the red channel.

HD isn't NTSC. The decision as to which frame rates a camera will use the market driven and I expect they didn't want to step on the F900's 24 fps market. The US HDW 730 & HDW 750s are lower priced cameras aimed at broadcasters who don't shoot progressive, while the 24p market is covered by the F900. The European HDW 750s can shoot both both 25p and 50i, so you find that the broadcaster and productions for broadcast and they tend not to use the F900. The JVC uses HDV1 (720p), rather than HDV2 (1080i) found on all the interlace consumer/prosumer cameras. The JVC records the progressive frames. http://www.jvcpro.co.uk/getResource2/d1_al...hdv.pdf?id=6133 The Progressive segmented frame as used by the Sony progressive cameras has a progressive image stored as two separate fields. The fields of the Psf are then combined as one image. On interlace, the fields are not combined, so contain two separate images which are shown one after the other. They don't record a pulldown.

If you go here you can work out all the equivalents; http://www.panavision.co.nz/main/kbase/ref...lenseqvform.asp Yes, you have to use your real name.

In practise, at least in NTSC countries, people shoot at 23.98 fps even for theatrical feature films that will be projected at 24 fps. No one is going to notice the difference and I suspect this may well be within the normal speed tolerances of cinema projectors. The 3:2 is only applied in post production on the HDCAM cameras like the F900 for TV distribution, so they actually shoot 23.98 progressive. The 24p is actually often more marketing than reality - 23.98P hardly slips off the tongue. The JVC HD 100 series shoots 24p (really 23.98p) HDV without any pulldown. In Europe 25p is normal for television. The F900 does has the option of 24p fps, but I expect it might be only used in post production facilities in PAL countries that only handle audio for theatrical productions shot on film at 24 fps. I've shot 24p in Europe, however, it's something that has to be discussed with the post people, otherwise you can find yourself in difficulties. In the USA shooting 23.98p fps is the norm.

I've attended a Santa Fe HD Workshop. The instructors are well known people in the industry (You'll find them on CML) and the workshop is attended by professionals from around the world. When I attended the core was built around the F900 and the Varicam, but they also had F950 and the Viper, plus a talk on then just coming out Dalsa and a visit to Pace where we saw James Cameron's 3D HD cameras. They run workshops for camera people and DITs. Some of the people at my workshop had been earlier workshops and were going again because they felt they were always learning something new each time. It's more advanced than the material you'll get in Paul Wheeler's book "High Definition & 24P Cinematography". I found it extremely worthwhile. I'd e-mail them to find out when they're running another one. Could be some instructors and/or venues weren't available.

There are some pictures at this site: http://www.owyheesound.com/owyheesound_ins...i_35_blimp.html

Shooting on Super 16 with the slowest speed film stock, the best prime lenses and if transferring to video, the best telecine eg a Spirit. The slow daylight stocks are about the best.

My experience is that unless you've got people preparing for the days/weeks ahead you'll start running out of steam after about a week. You need those production office, location, design people to be setting up ahead of the main unit. This is extremely difficult to do if everyone is on set shooting and future scenes/locations have to be prepared after a day's filming and there's always some daily firefighting to be done as things go wrong - people fall sick, locations are no longer available etc. I know studio set based features that have been shoot in a week. Coppola shot "Dementia 13" with a crew of 9 in 3 days (some say two days) whilst working for Roger Corman. I don't know if there were pick ups or any additional material needed after the main shoot. This tends not to be mentioned when you hear about these extremely low number of shooting days feature films.

Although with some HD cameras you need to check the backfocus all the time because any temperature variations throws it off on these particular cameras.

Perhaps it's just Grass Valley don't use viral marketing. Like RED, the Infinity should be at NAB with it's new CMOS chips - earlier versions were at exhibitions last year. You don't get all this heat with the SI 2k either.

The reason why is market led. Shooting at 25p or 50i, they're aiming the camera at European broadcasters and the HDW 750 is basically a slightly lower spec camera than the F900 (it's not just the format choices), so the purchase price (and rental) is lower. That's not to say people can't shoot feature films or shorts at 25p, it's been done for years on Super 16 shooting at 25fps.

I don't think any of the European HDV cameras have 24p, they tend to offer 25p or 50i (The Canon has 25F). The HDV format is a consumer/prosumer format, which is the HD equivalent of MiniDV. Basically one is a mass market, whilst the F900 is a high end camera with less compromises in its design with customers who demand large amounts of backup. The F 900 has larger number of pixels on it's CCD sensors compared to the HDV cameras and offers 1080p or 1080i together with a range of frame rates. The HDV cameras only offer 1080i or 720p - the latter being offered by JVC (25p). HDCAM has a lot lower compression than HDV, so you'll get less artifacts. In Europe the HDW 750 is aimed at broadcasters who don't require 24p, they normally only shoot either 25p or 50i. It's a cheaper option than the F900. The quality of the HD lenses for the F900 or the HDW 750 is much greater than any you'll find on the HDV cameras and that makes a vast difference. You need to be careful with your shutter speeds if shooting with fluorescents etc and shooting PAL TV sets could cause problems. You'll also need to discuss with the editors regarding any post production difficulties, because in Europe most facilities are more set up for 25 fps than 24fps.

You also need to set the max level using the white box to the left of the pluge adjusting the contrast control so that it just bleeds into the adjoining area. Also make sure that the monitor is correctly terminated. Using the zebras or a waveform monitor will give you a more exact idea of the exposure levels.

My hi hat is made by them - the finish isn't as good as a Sachtler or Ronford tripod, but it does the business. ICE FILM used to sell Osker Heiler, you might get some info from them. http://www.icefilm.com/

It depends how much they get used for digital cinema, most never do. The broadcast market is a lot larger than the one for d-cinema, so most people working in it never even consider the latter. People will continue shooting with a wide range of HD cameras from HDV upwards, because no one camera fulfils every requirement (budget restrictions will still be there for quite a few productions) and within that spectrum the RED will find it's niche. I also expect the usual some love it and others hate it, which always happens with any camera. Hmmm.... that's already happening, but that's normal. At the moment, it's just a camera under development - one of a number of new cameras coming out this year.