Andy Sparaco SOC

1) Meters indeed become unreliable after the 15th hour of a 16 hour production day 2) After six beers after a 16 hour shooting day 3) After a 6 hour turn after six beers after a 16 hour shooting day. Also beware the light green tape applied to a mag which denotes 52/7201 will turn light blue like 52/7205 under Flourescent lights resulting in two stops under exposure....abetted by the 6 hour turn bla bla

Weston meters are Selenium cell meters which means the photocell actually generates electricity that moves the meter needle. If it is ancient as it is likely to be it may not be very accurate. Modern meters are photoresitor type meters in which the photo cell makeing the reading acts as a light driven resitor to the current supplied by the battery. Selenium cell meters actually work very well in bright light and have no memory. But were usually always on which means the cell may have worn out. Check it against another meter before you use it - a still camera meter would work. The classic Spectra 500combi is also a Selenium cell meter. Use one to check the my other two meters at the start of each shooting day.

Question for John Pytlak: How many gigs of data are effectively stored on a 400 ft roll of S16 film? I have always thought it will get down to "storage". It will be a long time before magnetic storage will match the size/weight ability of photo-chemical "storage"

Tim: What was the film stock? 17?

Rode NTG1 or 2 boom Tram Lavs

I have used the demo versions of the film calculator and the camera report from http://www.zebrafilm.com/ The developer is a dutch based DP so the software is dead on. I liked them a lot but then decided that the PDA approach was not for me

You might look into video cameras for Microscopes. Do a Google search. The Video taps which are attached to the eyepiece are almost all derived from those suppliers with a a little re-packaging. When I had my Arri-S modified I had discussions about aquiring an Arri-S door with an APEC Exposure meter and removing it for the video camera. Cost was the only problem. Visual Products is now offering a video tap upgrade for the Arri SR using that approach. I have two eyepieces one for viewing and the other set-up permanently with the tap

Actually we did shoot one sync scene with the Arri-Sinema. (Aaton Minema/Arri-Sinema) :D A women at a table in an exterior. Camera with a 400ft mag about 7 ft away. I placed the barney from the SR over the Arri-S mag . We were using two tram lavs and the sound recordist could still hear the camera. Threw a moving blanket/pad over the camera and I and the camera noise was gone. The level of noise from the camera is something which could be removed by using the new generation of noise gate audio filters. I have talked to the Sound Barney folks (www.customupholsteryproducts.com) and they will make me a Barney if I send them the camera, which I am considering. Some snaps attached Snap 1 is the camera package rolling off the Natchez riverboat Snap 2 is the Arri-Sinema on a Glidercam pro Snap 3 same other side Snap4 on a Steadicam rig Snap5 both cameras in prep

I was not the recordist I assume 16 bit. The mics were two Tram lavilers/Rode NTG1/Beyer 86E/Two Sennheiser G2 Evolution wireless into a Rolls 124 Mixer. I am not an audiophile my evaulation was the audio was clean and would be easy to work with

We changed batteries once a day. It has a plug in "wall wart" type power supply. The plug is available at "Le Shack Ra' dio"". Easy make up. Did not feel the need to make one. From a Nagra 4.2 to a Tascam PD DAT to the Tascam HD gettin easy! No moving parts so easy on power

:rolleyes: Just completed a S-16 feature in "Nawlins" (one of six currently being shot there) and supplied as part of the camera package a Tascam HD P2. This was the first time using in a long format production and it proved to be suberb. 1) Weighs less then a pound with 8 Double A batteries 2) Jams sync's time code from a Denecke TC Slate (Denecke made up a three pin XLR and away we went no problems) 3) Xfers wav files and logging info via firewire to laptop for burn 4) Plug in a standard PC style keyboard and the sound recordist can enter scene and take numbers as well as notes 5) The entire 100 page script production was recorded and outputed to seven CD's. Uses CF cards -no drop out/no tapes/ random access- we used two 1Gig cards 6) Records at a variety of frame rates and bit rates 7) audio out with analog video into DV convertor for Video Assist capture in DV format 8) For a $946 street price kills all other options No Tapestock of any kind was used on this production-just not fast or smart enough- videotape is dead :D

Tim Here is the picture of the ARRI-Sinema Model 2006 I promised you. Shooting a feature in "nawlins" and working as the "B" Camera. As previously mentioned Super 16/PL Mount/Fiber Optic Viewing screen. LA Based- 1st AC Karl Waecher (Foreground)and Stedicam/OP Ari Robbins are pictured in prep in the "quarter" -they be good yall! All of the camera crew and the director and the 1st AD keep running off with it with the pistol grip mounted. I am spooling down 400ft loads to 100 foot spools using the attachable mag. With the update of the fiber optics viewing screen the switch between the SR and the Sinema is seamless and should be considered a essential part of a PL/S16 conversion. This is the first feature length project the camera has worked on and has been a "trooper"

You might consider taking audio from the line out of the DAT and pluging in to the audio inputs of the computer. You can use the editing program or a dedicated audio program to digitize the audio. As Phil mentioned without a crystal controlled camera the picture will drift as the load on the motor and battery changes. You are likely to be doing a lot of audio editing to match the audio to the picture. Since the speed of the motor will vary and not be linear you will not be able to dial in a percentage correction in an audio editing program. The Time Code aspect of the DAT will not help you. Using a DV camera as an audio recorder is a workable solution-why bother with Super8 at all? Tascam makes a USB based "front end"which plugs into the usb port and have XLR/Line in and mixing/EQ abilities. There are others for more/ less money Best of luck

Looks like the film has been flashed at a low level. Like heat or xray fogging to me.

You are paid to know what you are doing. You did not prep your equipment thru lack of knowledge or experience. If you where paid you where lucky and the the producer owes you nothing. If you haven't been paid expect a wait. The Rental folks did not deliver your package in the default mode you expected. But if you look closely at the rental agreement , they have very little responsibility. Just like Kodak being culpable for replacement of defective film only. You can point fingers but ultimately you are responsible. It's your choice to leave yourself to the whim of a supplier. A Producers attitude is you are a liability not an asset. If the job was properly done you could expect the "professional courtesy" of seeing the material It was not by your admission-They owe you nothing

If you shoot 16mm film (note the title of the thread) at 24 frames per second and the xfer device Cintel or Spirit is set to poerate at 30 frames per second, the footage will look sped up. Fact of life, good in all time zones. I sure that everything you say works. But I don't think it would be considered a SOP. Your technique sounds really smart. I don't work in the formats you mentioned of course so it won't cost me a dime if it doesn't

There are three issues we are taking about. 1) If you shoot film at 24 frames per second and transfer at 30fps(29.970) the picture will appear sped up 2) If you shoot at 24 fps and do the normal transfer to video; the film transfer device (Cintel/Spirit) will run at 24fps and deliver a 2:3 pulldown which is recorded by a video tape deck at the video standard of 30fps. Please look at the archives of CML or this site for a detailed explanation of "2:3 PullDown" 3) Since the time base of the DAT Audio format is unique (it is not 24 or 30fps)to the DAT when you capture the audio to your editing system it is converted to the time base you are working with. As long as the DAT has an accurate interal clock and the motor on the camera has an accurate crystal control the film and audio will sync up. You will have to manually sync your picture to audio as you will not be able to use automation to line up picture and sound. Since you are not using a timecode DAT, the sync will "drift" slightly over time. Like one or two frames every five or six minutes. This in practice is not a major problem as most folks rarely have takes that long. Attempting to apply a percentage speed up or slowdown to the entire clip just compounds the sync error. Shifting of a frame or two in the edit is a better solution, you may have to cut the audio track up into a couple of chunks to get everything to sync ---this is worst case-you may not have much error at all-but if you do!-You know what to do.

ciao

The key issue is whether the camera and DAT run at a consistent speed. You can shoot at 24/23.970/30/29,970/48/64 or what ever it does not matter. Since the DAT does not record at 24 or 30 it does not matter. You capture your audio at the frame rate you will edit, that's what matters. It will sync up fine. The difference between 24 and 23.97 and 30 and 29.970 is so inconsequential it hardly makes any difference except for very, very long takes. Since film is film and does not require the gimmick of 24fps to look like what it is; xfer at 30fps progressive gives you the advantage of (non interlace) progressive recording. If you shoot at 24 then xfer at 30fps the image will be speed up. Capturing it at 24 fps will not remove that increase in speed. You will have to process it using a compositing program or temporal manipulation program-not recommended.

Are you shooting 24fps second and doing a 2/3 pulldown for a xfer to video which is at 30 fps? If your are shooting 24fps you xfer at 24fps. or shoot at 30fps and xfer at 30fps is a very good option if you are doing a video SD/HD only project. In any case the DAT will sync if your takes are not to long--- beyond 5 ot 10 minutes per take/beyon that it may drift but nothing which can's be adjusted. You can Shoot and Xfer at 7.5 fps second and the DAT will sync. Have the person handling the slate call out the Scene and take number after the clap, so you don't cut off the reference when you sync. You can use the waveform of the audio for an obvious match to the clapper sticks coming together. You will figure out there is a 1 or 2 frame offset for dead sync if your clapper person has not had to much espresso. Shooting and Xfer at 30fps gives you a little sharper image because of a faster shutter speed (1/60th as opposed to 1/48th) and you will not have to remove the 2/3 pulldown if you composite. Shooting 30fps is my SOP for shooting commercials. 1 frame of film equals 1 frame of video-elegant when xfering to progressive video formats. Since film looks like film you don't have to shoot at 24fps. And going thru elaborate of 24 fps video schemes and post production processing plug-ins and all the stuff you have to do and make excuses for is simply not necessary. Film just is what it is!

Processing and xfer cost more then the stock-discard them. Not good even for scratch test as the emulsion may slough off. Gosh, I love the light in Paris

You have to mount the adapter on the lens then have it checked on a lens projector to determine correct backfocus. Then "shims" are added to bring the adapter and lens into spec. Once the lens and mount are within the manufactures spec the lens and adapter are locked together. If you insert the PL mount adaptor into a PL mount camera and just mount and de-mount lenses your backfocus will be all over the place. As the film and Xfers have gotten better the precisison of the entire optical/xfer process has gotten more critical. Perfectly good optics are declared soft simply because they are not set up properly. The camera rental house do this as a matter of prep. The owner/op who does not expend the $$ for this service will not get best results Especially bad for wide angle lenses shot wide open. The whole optimum backfocus goes for non PL mount lens also. The typical Arri/Aaton mount lense also has to be set up. HD has made this even more critical. The difference between a crisp xfer to HD and mush can be poor backfocus. It is obvious on HD

No that is the pivot for a shoulder mount. Here is a photo from a search of ebay completed auctions. In this photo the cradle is attached to a ball head

A side motor adapter was sold on ebay in the last 24 hours. If you are patient you will find one there

The 2 ABC used a cradle that the camera stood on. There were two locking bolts the front of the camera slide into. The hole at the rear is for the tie down knob which is at the rear of the cradle. The knob ties down the camera. The entire camera/cradle goes onto the tripod head. This was a rapid release system so you could go from tripod to hand held easily. Remember the 2 C was a newsreel camera. The cradles appear used on ebay all the time sometimes attached to a tripod head.