Brad Smith

You answered your own question Small HD DP6

Tom, I was correcting you, as you said in your initial post. Not top put to finer point on it but I was actually answering the question based on real world experience. I am a steadicam operator, and evidently more experienced than yourself.

There is no way to take the weight of the steadicam off the operator mid shot. In Russian Ark Tillman Buttner, used a custom Klassen vest and sat on a dolly for a rest, but he had the weight of the rig on him the whole time. Same goes for The Skyman system, Steadicams can be hardmounted to all kinds of vehicles or dollys, but that is a different setup to the operator wearing the rig and you certainly can't switch between the two mid shot. Maybe the shot could be broken into parts using some clever staging and camera wipes? As for lighter Steadicam systems, the Ultra2 is probably the lightest big rig. Tiffen make quite a few models, depending on the camera package you go with you could choose from several models. The Steadicam operator is going to be a very critical crew member on a project like this, I'd suggest getting an experienced op and working through your options with the guy (or girl) who is going to have to pull off the shot. Brad

Mercedes Vito with dual sliding doors, if you can afford it the 120 long in a crew cab, power comfort space and giant sliding doors to shoot out of. ;)

Hi Richard, I haven't got the manual for the 1500 but this is from the PDW700 Manual (Same head as the 1500) GAM TABLE(HG) 1 to 4 Selects the hyper gamma type. 1: 325% to 100% 2: 460% to 100% 3: 325% to 109% 4: 460% to 109% TV being 100% and "Film"being 109% Highlights 2 or 4 lowlights/shadows 1 and 3......... actually I'm just starting to look a the best way to use this, do you find that HG washes out image particularly the blacks and therefore needs to be graded? Cheers, Brad.

About 1000 ASA

Hi all, I'm curious how much directors/DP's use storyboards/previs when shooting Narrative/Commercials. How heavily is it used, relied on? How much is it adhered to on the day, how much gets discovered on the day? What's the norm on an episodic Drama? When does the DP get involved (in previs/storyboarding), how much is is he/she involved/responsible. I realise this is a broad question. The situation and arrangements must be different for every project depending on the people involved. But as a ENG/EFP guy who doesn't yet, but would like to be working on narrative projects, I'm curious about the creative workflow. Thanks for your feedback, Brad. (Australia)

Hi all, I'm thinking about getting a first light meter,does anybody have anything to say about the Spectra Proffesional IV Link Are they any good? Do they chew throught the batteries? I did a search for light meters but nobody has mentioned Spectra. Is it a good brand? Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks, Brad

The biggest issue is the fact that it overscans........ ie you don't see the full image area. When I turned on the 90% safe marker I was amazed to find I could only just see the top side of the marker. Not only could I not see any of the image abovve the top of the 90% safe marker, I could not even see the the marker on the sides and bottom of the image!!! that means that you are not seeing anything close to the full image. I contacted Canon in Australia and they said they are aware of the problem and told me that if I wanted to see the full image I could purchase the B&W "proffesional viewfinder". Not really good enough, especially considering the xl h1 is the most expensive camcorder in it's class. The other issues of hd resolution are common to all hd cameras. The resolution of the viewfinder on the cinealta is not hd. Sony's line is that the human eye cannot percieve hd resolution in an image the size of a viewfinder...... convenient since it is probably also a limitation of thier technology. I recently shot for five days with a mini 35 and Ziess super speeds and we just set marks and checked sharps using the focus assist function that zooms up the centre of the image, not ideal but film making is all about wworking wth the available technology. My $0.02 AUD Brad Smith.

Sorry Nick I noticed that after I posted. Canon seem have the stabilised lense market cornered, alot of their technology from stills lenses has made it over to thier video stuff, or is it the other way around? Brad.

G'day all. This is my first post but should chip in because I reckon I can explain this one. By way of introduction and explanation, I'm a eng/efp camera op in Australia (also a newbie steadicam op). I think the gear they are using is this http://www.usa.canon.com/html/industrial_b...BII_intro.shtml I've never used it myself but one of the other networks in sydney has one. BTW most cycling event are shot handheld from the pillion position on the back of a motorcycle. Motorcycle is the only vehicle small and fast enough to manouvre around the peleton. Brad Smith.