Brian Drysdale

It's a gear head, commonly used on 35mm cameras, but also used on 16mm dramas. It's operated by turning two wheels, one for the pan and the other for the tilt. The BBC used Ronford F4 fluid heads with the Arri 16BL. You should be able to get one for a good price, they were extremely well built. Most 150mm bowl fluid heads should handle the 16BL.

Soho images seem to be trying to be friendly, they actually have a page on their site for students. http://www.sohoimages.co.uk/site/iframe.phps. Not saying they'll be cheap. It's best ring around the labs to see if they'll run your roll as a test and see if they'll do a deal. The minimum rate the labs charge could be a killer on a 100ft roll. You could try some of the European Labs, I've heard some good prices from them.

I suspect only in camera collections and references in "The Professional Cameraman's Handbook" and the older editions of the AC manual. I'd imagine they'd be pretty rare, the Auricon would be a much more common 16mm news camera. You could check EBay or check out the classifieds in American Cinematographer magazine or put in a wanted ad. However, if you want to actually shoot a film I wouldn't bother, it's only worthwhile hunting for one if you're a camera collector.

I mentioned above the Mitchell SSR 16, which had a single system sound head. this had a single claw and registration pin. You'd have to talk to a camera engineer about the possibilities of modifying a camera. I suspect from the cost point of view it wouldn't be worthwhile because there are other single perf cameras out there.

I believe Robin Hood is being shot on film, so the neg will be in the labs. I expect they're trying to avoid the costs of a new TK and matching everything up to their old EDL.

You need dual perf film to run in a dual pin camera. Chances are that the second pin would tear holes into the single perf film stock and you'd end up with a film jam. The camera is fine, you just need to use the correct perf stock. You can run dual perf stock in a single perf camera, however, you can't use dual perf stock for Super 16.

You should only buy equipment that you know can make a return on the investment in a reasonable time scale. The equipment you're supplying should always be factored into how much you're charging the client. It's worth owning equipment that you're using all the time, however, if you're shooting with about 5 different video formats in the year chances are it's not worth buying the camera. Although, a MiniDv or HDV camera might be worth while given the rental charges v the purchase cost and you're getting enough work to pay them off quickly. On the other hand it could be worth buying your own tripod, matte box, filters, monitor, main lights and other accessories, the rental of which could cost as much as the camera itself. That's also the equipment that will effect how efficiently you work.

However, your film master will last a lot longer. I hear the magnetic coating is now beginning to come off some the early Betacam tapes.

I rather like the 35mm - a 75mm, 85mm or 100mm are useful for exteriors. The zoom gives you the option of a range of focal lengths and is usually the basic lens that comes with a camera kit. Certainly it's a lot handier when shooting documentaries when you can quickly change the focal length. However, the high quality primes are better for image quality than the zoom lens.

I use magenta colour correction filters on the camera under fluorescent lighting to remove the green and grade rest in post. However, you'd need to use a colour temperature meter to find out the actual CC filter required to remove the green. I used the Tiffen fluorescent filter for some sneaky stuff the NY subway and it wasn't too bad. Daylight film stocks are supposed to be better in handling fluorescent, but i can't say I'm that impressed.

I'd imagine the single system models are pretty rare, given that they're heavy for a news camera at 24.5lb and a bit noisier than the competition. They seem to be more suitable for covering press conferences and speeches than covering a war.

I think he's referring to the Mitchell SSR 16, which had single system sound head. Seemingly, this had a single claw and registration pin, whereas the DSR 16 double system version had a double registration pin.

Auricons were common 16mm news cameras in the 1960s and early 1970s. In the later 1970s you had the CP16 and CP16R, also Frezzolini had the FR16. The Arri 16BL could be used for news as well.

You shouldn't have any problems shooting a PAL TV set with a camera using crystal controlled 25 fps. Looking down the V/F use the phase control to remove the bar from the screen before you call action.

The difference in the tape speed: DV runs at 18.81mm/sec while DVCam runs at 28.215mm/sec. There's no difference in resolution and you can record using MiniDV tapes in DVCam format cameras like the DRS570. The PD 150 has the option of recording on either format - the recording time is shorter on DVCam. Both use 25Mb/sec. Although I suspect the higher tape speed would make DVCam less prone to drop out, this format's tapes are thicker than DV tapes, making them more robust for VT editing.

Ah well, the state of the art video cameras constructed the same year as your BL are now junk. There's a good chance that the BL could still be working when the current digital cameras are junk (5 years time?). The BL being carefully upgraded by Kodak and Fuji.

It's depends on the productions you're working on. I wouldn't feel right having a Director of Photography credit on a bog standard daytime TV life style programme. Although I do know some people who do have this. I'm fine about having it on a drama, commercial, or a music video, perhaps even on a high end documentary. In the US DP is a more common job description than in the UK, so you go with the local usage.

I wouldn't use a Bolex for shooting sync sound. Check this thread: http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/in...ic=14893&hl

The lighting cameraman that you have on your signature is a recognised grade in the UK. It covers most television productions, including high end programmes and quite a few dramas. Commercials use the both titles, but the lighting camera(man/woman) credit is usually more used more on the lower budget commercials and DoP credit on higher budget jobs. However, you do tend to get a crossover on the TV dramas, especially if they're shot on film and the head of the camera dept. comes from a feature background. Quite a few shorts tend to use Director of Photography in the credits. "Filmed by" is another credit you seen, especially on DV documentary productions where the director is also shooting, commonly seen as "Directed and Filmed by". There is a "Director Cameraman/woman" grade to cover this, but it seems to have fallen out of fashion in the credits.

You'd want to hear the Arri 16BL running. If the rubber acoustic suspensions have hardened or something is touching the outer casing they can be pretty noisy. I gather it can be difficult to get replacement rubber suspensions. Although, not up to modern standards, they're a pretty quiet camera when running correctly. The periscope type viewfinder is much better for hand holding, you can then put the camera on your shoulder. With the straight viewfinder you need a shoulder brace.

In the UK you'd just about manage to dry hire a HDW 750 kit (with standard & W/A zoom) for $1,500 - the F900 is even more expensive.

An interviewing technique that a couple of producers I worked for used was to do an audio interview and a shoot much shorter film interview. The filmed interview established the interviewee, while the audio material was used as voice over on the action material - the interesting stuff. Getting good interviews tends to eat quite large quantities of film stock, recording an audio interview means you can spend time getting the good material without blowing your budget. Thinking before you press the button tends to cut down on the shooting ratio. I seem to recall there being a 10 to 1 shooting ratio on these guys' films, which is low for a medium end doc - 18 to 1 wasn't unusual on an average shoot with interviews. Although, some current affairs programmes tried to keep it down to 5 to 1. Getting the interviewee to say exactly what you want them to say sounds pretty uninspiring stuff. I've been on shoots where they try this and they are the worst interviews. Interviews tend to be interesting when they say the unexpected. Of course, usually that happens when the camera isn't running. Good research helps avoid this.

Absolutely. Although, when I used the 85B for both reversal and negative stocks, on the negative I found the print tended to be a bit warmer than I liked. I know one cameraman who used to shoot with the 81EF instead of the 85 for correction - this was one of the older stocks. Then did the final correction in the grade.

If you're in a PAL country it's easier with 25 fps, US would be easier with 24 fps.

If you want to use tungsten film in daylight you'd use either an 85 or 85B. Usually, the 85 with neg and the 85B with reversal, although you can use the 85B with both - it just seems a tad warm with the neg, but it's a personal taste thing. On the Bolex cameras I've used the internal filter is in front of the viewfinder prism block, so that will cut the light going to the V/F.