Adam Paul

Sasha, it makes sense. I was just suprised with the number of different focal lengths they had and with so many close ups with a 24mm. I always thought close ups should be done with lenses longer than 50mm so the actor's face wouldn't look funny. I'm still wondering how they got away with doing close ups of Adrien Brody with a 24mm. He has a big nose!

I only used the camera a few times. Is it possible there's an auto switch option? Because I was just switching cables and it was working. I didn't go to the menus at all. So how could he convert his component HD to composite SD in order to be able to use the viewfinder then?

Hi Onno, Thanks for the explanation. So it seems four trucks of 2 wheels or even four trucks of 4 wheels would be better than 4 bigger U-groved wheels? I was always wondering what's the point in putting a Fisher dolly on cheap/homemade looking skate trucks. How about flanged wheels(the type similar to the ones used in trains). They don't seem to have difference on surface-speed either. By the way, the U-grooved wheels are polyurathane covered, so I think they should be soft enough(?)

Isn't there any pro grips with experience in the field who could atually give some insight? I have given enough details but I still didn't get any solid input. I'm now having seconds thought between going with them little skate wheels or going with the U grooved wheels set up I mentioned above. I wonder what advantage is there with skate wheels because people seem to be putting Fishers on skate trucks even though Fisher is a track dolly and has it's own track wheels.

Yeah, but Wolf Creek shot on the Sony F900 which is a much better camera than the HVX200. Not sure you will get that level of quality out of the HVX. But sure worth a try. Good luck!

Not with the HD100. The composite is in the green.

Thanks for the replies David and Chris. As I said it was pre-visuals so I'm not even sure they stuck with the focal lengths or if they were requested by the DP or just chosen by the animator. The shot changing between 50mm and 48mm was on the top of the Empire State between Kong and Ann. I don't see the need to shoot that scene with a zoom, specially give Kong is just a 3D animation. But the lens choices were really weird. Most of the time where I would have a longer lens they had a wide one. 20mm,24mm and 28mm seems to have been used most times. I only saw a longer lens like a couple of times. It was a 65mm. That was the longest they had too. Close ups were with 24mm most of the time. I always thought it was bad to have close ups with wide angles.

I like watching pre-visualization clips from movie making ofs. It?s interesting to compare to the final results. I also like that they show the lens ?used?. Now I don?t know if the lens choice reflects that of the DP/Director or just some random lens the animators choose (although I doubt that) or if it even ends up being used to actually shoot the scene. But I couldn?t help to notice the lens choice is all over the place. Some ?weird? choices too. Like close ups with wide lenses like 28mm and even 24mm, which doesn?t seem right since you would have to get so close to get the head close up that it would distort the facial features. Also things like cutting back and forth from 50mm to a 48mm. Why not just use two 50mm then? Now this was from King Kong (Island arrival, T-rex fight and Bronto stampede) and from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I wonder what criteria they used to pick those focal lengths? Or what criteria is used to choose lenses in major motion pictures where they have a gazillion of focal lengths available. In the pre-visualizations I mentioned the lens choice was like all over the place, like 14m, 15mm,16mm,18mm,20mm,24mm,28mm,35mm,40mm,48mm, 50mm,65mm etc. Sometimes the difference was so little that I wonder why not just shoot with the same.

Libec has some cheaper and very light set ups and the quality is quite good. Also, there's always Manfrotto/Bogen. ;)

Just got off the phone with an old friend who was trying to stir me towards going for skate wheel trucks. He mentioned people are putting even Fishers on skate wheels those days. :blink: (although I wonder why) Just when I was finally set on single U grooved wheels. :(

Unfortunately no, sorry. But it doesn't look much different than the Western dolly.

Sure thing. Once I'm done with the project I will post pictures here.

I decided for the U grooved ones. Looking at some high end dollies in some big budget movie making ofs they seem to have pretty small single wheels and be smooth enough to carry even big jibs so should be fine for me. I think 120mm is more than big enough. Thanks for "all" the input.

Ok, I see your point. Although I think unless he's running a long cable, the component split shouldn't noticeably degrade the signal. Dos the Mini35 own breakout box amplifies the signals? But anyways, so what would be another way? If he has no SDI monitor which seems to be the case, he would have to find a way to split the component signal and then downconvert it. I don't see another way of doing it if using a component HD monitor. P.S. About sending an HD luminance signal to the viewfinder, I don't know how the HVX200 does it, but when I used a HD100 I remember the composite signal was also the green signal for component. Component gerenally carries composite on the green.

I have been thinking of getting this book for a while now. But I'm not shooting film yet. I have shot it, but just for fun and tests. I shoot mostly HD. Do you think there are a lot of useful things for HD cinematography in the book too David? I have shot some HD+mini35 lately too.

It seems to me by his description that he is using a component HD monitor rather than a SDI one, in which case this wouldn't work I guess. He would have to get some sort of component splitter (they are quite cheap on Ebay, like 10 bucks or so) and send one component set to the monitor and then send the other through some sort of component to S-video converter or just use only the green channel of the component signal (and leave the other 2 unplugged), which normally carries the composite signal and feed that to the viewfinder. That?s my guess.

I know this is a year old thread, but I thought it was better to bring it up then to open a new one just to ask another simple FF question. Even though now we have an AC forum but still, I think it's better than opening a new one. My question is, how do hard stops work with FF units? It seems different brands have different ways, but what's the basic system? I have heard of using paper clamps but there are also built in hard stops in some models right? How do they work? Thanks.

So the Kelly wheel is not a good one? The Samcine seems to be impossible to find. What's the main difference?

Thanks for the link. I checked their site and they only have the small skate wheels. A very different set up to what I have in mind. What's your opinion on my option 1 vs. my option 2 and the stability and smoothness questions? Thanks.

Hey Alain, thanks for the reply. Finally some input :) Why is joining tracks a problem? If the joints are smooth I can't see a problem, or is it related to something else? By the way, the system you say ABC uses is the U grooved wheels? With the particular ones I found I'm just afraid they may be too narrow at 30mm and the tracks at 20mm diameter.

Axle diameter is 20mm. Both wheel models come in 20mm center hole.

Yeah, after some thought I gave up on the whole idea. Seems like too much work after all.

No make and model. It's a self made tire dolly. It's about 34"x64" and made of plywood, steel and aluminum. It has four 8" tires on right now. The go-kart looking type of tires. I would like to convert it to a track dolly. I have two options for that: Option 1: 125mm diameter (flange is 150mm dia.) x45mm wide flanged wheels over 30x30mm square tracks Option 2: 120mm (100mm inside U) x 30mm wide U grooved wheels over 20mm diameter round tracks. The bonus of option 2 is that the tracks are already ready and in option 1 I would have to build the tracks. Option 1 would also be cheaper. Both options are polyurethane covered steel wheels with double ball bearings for smoothness and silence. I'm wondering what's the best option and what's best, square or round tracks? Are the wheels in option 2 too thin? Will they be unstable or not smooth enough? If both options would be the same I would rather go with option 2 because the tracks are already ready to use. But if a flanged wheel would give extra precision and smoothness over a U grooved wheel and if 30mm wheels or 20mm diameter tracks are too narrow to be stable and or smooth, I would go through the extra work of building the square tracks and just go with the flanged wheels. Thanks.

Should I post the question in the 35mm forums? :( Maybe I will have better chances to get a reply there as there are more people visiting.

Industrial CMOS camera as an entry-level HD cinema camera (1080p), Possible? Practical? Any experiences or feedback? Options Isn't that what the Si2k basically is? Specially the mini version.