Chris Stiles

Hi All, 

I am just beginning to train on the wheels (Alpha wheels + Ronin 2) but before I start engraining muscle memory, I wanted to know what direction each axis should be set to. I don't want to train with settings that wouldn't match an Arri or Worrall geared head....unless those can easily be inverted? What feels natural to me is to invert both axes to the following:

Left Wheel (Pan): CCW = Pan Left, CW = Pan Right

Right Wheel (Tilt): CCW = Up, CW = Down

If these directions will get me in trouble, stop me while I'm ahead!

You're welcome! 

I cannot confirm for certain that it has every sensor resolution for each camera, but I do remember seeing all of the relevant options for the Alexa (Open gate, 2.8k, etc.) and I could also adjust frame ratio. I would assume the same would be for RED and Sony Venice but definitely test first.

It's actually pretty sweet. Framelines for any camera you need, anamorphic desqueeze, DP can shoot stills and audition for the director, form factor and PL mount is solid. Couple weird quirks. It doesn't auto shutoff like a DSLR so if the DP dumps it on the cart left on it will die, I found myself changing batts on it a bunch. It shows you a very contrasty image, and for us would default to auto-expose and would always blow the highlights...not really a problem for just finding your frame, but kind of discouraging to see your lighting look that rough in the process. It doesn't actually offer a LOG color space, it just shoots stills and video in .DNG raw frames. So the data is there, it just isn't a traditional cinema cam workflow. But yes, as a directors finder I would highly recommend it. If you're trying to play double-duty with it, might want to try before buying. 

I have been wondering the same thing...curious if those aftermarket antennas put any strain or harm on the Teradek system.

I really would love to buy a couple of rolls...can't really afford to buy the whole lot from you but wish I could! I can be on the back burner in case someone in the near future offers to buy you out. 

On 7/10/2020 at 5:30 AM, Mark Kenfield said:

Hi guys,

We're prepping a Mini for a scope shoot at the moment, and we'll have one day of shooting where we're filming everything at 200fps. However the Mini doesn't seem to want to give us any kind of desqueeze options in the HD/2k (200fps-capable modes). The downsampled and desqueezed HD/2k recording modes top out at 120fps, so they're no good to us. And the 16:9 modes that can do 200fps just grey the desqueeze option out.

Is there any way to get around this and have the camera desqueeze for us while shooting at 200fps? Or do we have to switch out to 3rd-party monitors in order to get the desqueeze?

Would appreciate any wisdom on the topic anyone could throw at me.

Cheers,

Mark

I just checked on my Mini to confirm - No love for 16:9 sensor mode, under both Project and Monitor>SDI. You'll have to desqueeze with your external monitors. It's a shame though - you will be chopping off a lot of active sensor area by shooting anamorphic in 16:9. Unless you're doing 1.3x anamorphic to 2.40:1 final ratio?

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Clean, brand-new eyepiece chamois. Nothing like dumping buckets of eye-sweat into a fresh chamois during these humid Southeast US summers. 

I can speak to ARRIRAW vs. ProRes. One time I pixel-peeped a project I had shot in RAW and was able to A/B the same frame in Raw and ProRes4444. The only difference to my eye was in the gradients from midtones to shadows. Raw felt smoother and cleaner - ProRes I could begin to see evidence of compression appearing like stairstepping as light would fall off into shadow. But man, I was at like 300% zoom, pretty ridiculous. I still shoot most everything ProRes on Alexa, but I prefer Raw for darker/moodier projects.

Davinci Resolve has an adjustment in the Primaries toolbar (below the LGG wheels) called Midtone Detail, or "MD". Reducing this value will achieve the desired effect, and it's easy to tune to taste versus using their creepy face mask tool. I believe I just isolate the face with a power window and don't even bother qualifying the skin...

Oddly enough, I have done that exact setup you are asking about, handheld, by myself with no AC. This was five years ago, and I was not that smart, but I pulled it off. Notice how the WPA-1 and top handle are all the way forward and I am decently comfortable. Also notice how there are NO accessories on the camera. No MB, FF, Wireless, etc. So yes technically you CAN do it but it's up to you whether or not you SHOULD do it!

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Yeah, the Black Arm + R2 combination works pretty great. I haven't taken the combo off-road yet but have done some high-speed whipping around (cornering and bumps at 60+mph) and the Black Arm can take a real beating. The combo works great on a UTV ("Side-by side") off-road vehicle. it sounds like for your project you won't be needing that kind of speed, and the Black Arm is designed to handle rough terrain.

If you have budget to hire specialists, by all means do it, but I was doing a spec project and basically had to do all the testing/rigging myself, and it was no problem at all as long as you're given the time in prep. I had the time to pre-rig the UTV with all the speedrail I wanted, so that changing camera mount positions during production was super fast. Feel free to PM me if you want more details/BTS pictures/rigging tips/etc. 

Sold.

Century 1.4x extender - PL mount. Optics look clean and bayonet operates smoothly. 

$475 Shipped CONUS. 

Photos

Hi Chris,

I am interested in these lenses, can you shoot me an email at: cinestiles@gmail.com ?

Thanks!

Chris Stiles