Dickson Sorensen

If a zoom lens in not at its proper depth (flange to film plane) it will change focus as you zoom. You can put an extension tube on a zoom but you will not be able to hold focus as you zoom. It does create an interesting effect however that I have seen used to rack from a macro view of tree branches to a person standing in the distance. Definately worth experimenting with.

Here's an idea that may help. Paint the sides of the box each a varying shade of off white as above. The lightest on the top of the box, a little darker on one side and even darker on the other side. Your biggest problem is if two or three sides should clip and turn it into a blob. Turn the box with the darkest side into the natural shadow. Paint the back of the box the reverse. You could paint a few boxes by varying amounts and carry them to cover different lighting conditions.

the motor is not where most of the noise comes from. The mags and the torque motor are loud, the camera itself is noisy. the camera was never really designed to be quiet. I saw a blimp housing for an Arri S on E-bay a couple of months back. It looked like no one was bidding on it so they are around for little cash. Put a heavy furniture blanket over the camera. Shoot from inside your car if you have to.

the numbers on the Arri S variable motor are not calibrated to have any special meaning except as a reference. when you start the camera and adjust the tach to 24 fps you may find that the number is half way up like 5 or so. When you see that you have to turn the dial up to still get 24 fps you know that your battery is running low. Also it can be a clue to any other drag that the camera may be encountering.

The number one thing is to make sure no one gets hurt. Meet with the organizers and find out where you can get access. Get all the proper passes worked out so that you don't have delays during the race. If you are working with a support team work out your communications ahead of time. Plan your shots ahead of time if possible and think about how you will move from location to location. During a race there is always a lot of confusion, crowd control issues and lack of time to get the shot. An AD I once worked with taught me a valuable tool. We we shooting for a race team. He got us all hats and jackets for the team. These weren't the official ones but the ones that you buy at the consessions. Where ever we went the officials assumed that we were part of the team and let us through. Rarely did we have to stop and show our credentials. It also made it easy to spot each other in the crowd. If you are an editor you know what shots you will need to cut together a great film.

Use the t stop for your exposure (t is for transmission)and your f stop for depth of field calculations. Yes the scales are the same, 1.4,2,2.8,4,5.6 etc.

I have seen many DPs change the shutter angle (on cameras with that capability) to compensate exposure during a change in light levels. This method has the advantage of not introducing a change in the depth of field in the shot. It does however have the disadvantage of introducing a "skinny shutter effect" which can agrivate the strobing on quick pans and rapidly moving objects. In the end you have to weigh all the possibilities and decide which works best for a particular shot.

The difference is the compensation for light loss in the lens. An f stop is the diamater of the iris divided into the focal length of the lens. You use f stops for calulating depth of field. The marks on your aperature ring are most certainly "T" stops which compensate for light loss. On some lenses with complex optics (a lot of elements) the difference between the two is significant. Some lenses will have different colored markings for f stops and t stops. You don't find this as much on modern lenses as the glass and especially the coatings have improved to the point where there is very little light loss through the glass and thus little difference between the two. Another thing is that there were early zooms (the Ang. 12 to 240 for instance) which were only at their maximum aperature at part of their zoom range.

If the film you are using says on the can that it is 320 EI (exposure index ASA) Tungston then 2/3 compensation for the 85 filter gives you an equivalent exposure index (EI) of 200. Put the filter on and set the ASA on your meter for 200 when you shoot in daylight. When you take the filter off set you meter for 320 ASA and shoot in tungston light.

I have seen a demo of "Ultra 2" on the website you mentioned above(dvrack). I was very impressed as quality green screen with DV is tough. Check it out. They were pulling acceptable keys with marginal backgrounds.

You don't need to move to LA to learn lighting and become a really great DP some day. There are lots of great gaffers, cameramen and a thriving film business in Florida. I was once sitting in a production office at Universal in Orlando talking with a PA who was telling me about her plans to go to LA to get into the business. In walked an Assistant Cameraman from LA who had moved to Florida to try to find work there. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

On mine (and I assume yours will be a similar model ) I have had to remove the top tilt plate from the tilt bearing. You can then slip the 1/4 20tpi screw and tighting knob out and replace it with a 3/8 16tpi bolt. I had a machinest put a knob on the bolt so I could tighten it without a wrench. Then replace the top plate. Save the 1/4 20 knob as it is useful when you want to go back to the smaller thread which is found on many light weight video cameras.

Flare can also come from sources other than lights. Bright objects, bounce cards, reflections off water, windows, mirrors and so on. A good matt box with a mask or black tape set to the edges can help.

Below are two illustrations of "cheeting" In the first the fill for the wide shot, 12x12 butterfly with a couple of openface mighty moles was replaced for the close up with a 4x4 frame with 1000H tracing paper. and one of the mighty moles. In the second illustration soft front fill was again brought in in a similar manner. In addition the window pattern on the wall was moved over to keep it within the frame. The audience will generally not notice props or in this case the light on the wall moving between shots as long as the relative placement is the same from wide to tight and it still makes sense.

To make the calculation you also need to know the effective speed of the lens.

check with your local city or state film comission. Most cities own a lot of property and can be very helpful getting clearance. Keep you mind open as to what could work for you. I once filmed at a sewage processing plant that doubled for a factory. Lots of big pumps and machinery made for intresting backgrounds though the smell made it a little challenging for the crew and actors. Generally you will not have to pay location fees for public property just permit fees. Private property requires that you have to negotiate with the owner and there anything goes. True Story: We scouted a location perfect for out shoot. The house was owned by an old couple. As we told the old man what we were doing, when, how much would be paid etc. he would refer us to his wife. He was very hard of hearing. She would nod and say fine. On the day of the shoot we showed up with all the trucks, a condor crane, motor homes and so on. The old couple had no idea why we were there. Turns out his wife had Altzheimers. What he couldn't hear she quickly forgot. Moral: Get everything in writing before you send out the call sheets and directions for the crew!

Take your f stop and square it then multiply it times the denominator of your shutter speed. To find the same exposure at another shutter speed divide that number by the denominator of the new speed and find the square root of that. example: 2.8 at 1/60 2.8 X 2.8 x 60 = 470.4 ? at 1/30 470.4 /30 = 15.68 Square root =3.96 Hey wait a minute! we know the next f stop is 4 what gives? The values that are established for markings on lenses 1.4, 2, 2.8,4,5.6,8 and so on are rounded off. In fact the difference between 1/60 and 1/65 in your problem is only slight and may not be enough to worry about unless your are doing very critical work. Just crack the lens open a hair to compensate.

Example: I once filmed an extreme close-up of a samuri sword cutting the flame off the end of a candle. The plan was that we would film at 300 fps as the swordsman sliced off the wick. On certain takes a funny thing happened. The sword would slice through the flame and the flame would disappear then a moment later the flame would reappear seemingly out of nowhere. It's not just a series of stills, it's that it takes you into an other demension and opens a whole other world of expression. Even the inclusion of locked down shots in a film works only in relation to the shots seen before and after. A still photo can hang on the wall all day long and is not to a great extent affected by what is around it, and that's fine.

To know the exact compensation for a particular filter you should consult the manufacture of that filter. That's not always practical so what I have always done is to read with my spot meter through the filter onto a gray card with and without and make a note how much light this filter absorbes. Or you can use your incedent meter with the flat cell and take a comparison that way. Do this in the light you are shooting in, ie sunlight or interior tungsten. I also use this method for determining how much to compensate for black stockings on the lens. Polarizes come in many different densities so I always check them this way also.

Yes and it would be great to know if Hal Holbrook got it right.

Very good job! I have a 1968 Dylan bootleg The Great White Wonder that I will restore in a simal manner though it will not be as difficult, I hope. Is it necessary to zoom in on each pop to remove or can I run the filter over the whole file to extricate the noises? I assume that you eliminate all the erratic garbage first then run eq. Is that right?

Almost never send jamed film to the lab! The reason is that your damaged film, even with nothing more than a torn sproket could break in the processor and ruin everything else that is in the machine at that time. If you ever absolutely must process damaged film you must let the lab know so that they can run your material as a seperate run. If it should break inside the machine only that section will be lost. If you even suspect there may be damaged film, like say you find chips or small tearouts in the camera, camera trampled by horse, dropped from cliff, fallen of car rig, always let the lab know so that they can inspect the film as it goes into the machine. The life you save may be your own.

If you are shooting sound they are noisy, that's all.

but for bugetary reasons, would I be sacrificing a lot of quality to just get a one light from some place that does the transfer for 15 cents a foot on a rank vs. some other place with an ungodly price with a spirit? Another way to approach this is to transfer everything once as cheeply as possible then when your edit is done go back and re-transfer only the footage you used at higher quality (spirt or whatever). This works best when you shooting ratios are high and your film is short. You'll have to get your calculator out and run the numbers to see if it works for you. If you do go back to retransfer make sure everything is well organized and you know exactly what you want the colorist to do. Then you reconform your new transfer to your edit. Get an experienced editor to guide you through this as there are issues with edge numbers, time code, and sound sync that if not handled properly could produce headaches in the final stages.

It's a Zen thing, "The sound of one hand clapping."