Search the Community

Hi, We are two technicians working in the film industry in France (a grip guy and a gaffer) and we just discovered this very interesting forum. We particularly noticed that gaffers and cinematographers were asking questions about light output and what aperture is obtained at a certain distance. It happens that with the help of two IT engineers we developed an iOS app responding to this question about 2 years ago. First and for all, we’re not going to post messages everywhere on this forum to sell our app nor are we going to pollute your threads to gain in visibility. We just think some of you might be interested in what we created and since we’re a really small team working on off-time we can’t do any real advertising, so you probably wouldn’t know our app existed. Our app is called Predilux (for pre-diction and lux for light) and predicts the exposure as measured by a light meter, by choosing a light source and a distance. Or inversely predicts the distance to the light source by specifying the exposure. Predilux takes into account: Camera settings (FPS, ISO, Shutter angle) Source settings (Focalisation, Lenses, Grids, Dimmer, CCT, etc) Gels mounted on or close to the source (All ROSCO e-colour+ range) All results have been experimentally verified by us with a light meter in rental houses. For each source setting we made several measurements at different distances and this took a lot of time. So Predilux does not rely on constructor’s data, but on real data reflecting the state of the equipment as found in rental houses. Our data sometimes differs from the constructor’s data. Here is a quasi exhaustive list of the sources measured and included in the Predilux (12/2019) : Tungsten ARRI 150, 300 Plus, 1K Plus, 5K Fresnel, T10, T12, Rubylight (MFL lamps) Briese 77, 100, 140, 180 with lampes ranging from 650 W to 2K Mole Richardson Softlite 1K, MaxiBrut 16 (MFL lamps) Openfaces such as Redhead, Blonde, Desisti Renoir 5kW and LTM Cyclight 2K ETC Source 4, Dedolight, Zaplight, CMC 20K, etc. HMI ARRI AS 575, 1200, 4K, 6K, 12K, Arri M18, M40, M90, ArriMAX 12K & 18K K5600 JokerBug 200, 400, 800, Alpha 1600, 4K, 9K, 18K AFM 575, 1200, LTM Cinepar 2.5K Fluorescent KinoFlo 2ft, 4ft & 6ft LED ARRI S30, S60, S120, S360 KinoFlo Celeb 200, 250, 400, 450, 850 DMG SL1, SL1 mini, SL1 Switch, MaxiSwitch Mole Richardson Tweenie, Senior, Tener Aladdin Biflex 1x1, 1x2, Flexlite 1x4, 350 Dedolight bi90, Cineroid LMD400, Velvet V1 Balloon Airstar Gaffair 1200, Elipse 4000, PAD 9ft x 9ft, Tube 16K If any of the administrators of this forum wish to try out our app, we would be happy to give them one or several free life-time activation codes. For all the other users, our app is available on the Apple Store (). An Android release is planned. If you have questions or requests, don’t hesitate to contact us at this address predilux@wid.la Thanks for reading this post and we hope you thought it was interesting, Georges Harnack for the Predilux Team

Hi all! I noticed that there are few thread discussing Moviecams. I was wondering what are your experience with the Moviecam systems and as they are for sale all over the place these days, would you recommend the system? How would you say they compare to the Arricams and Arriflexes? Thanks! Shahid Malik

Hello, I'm considering about buying my own 35mm film camera. Pardon if this is a common topic on this forum, but I'd like to get some advice from people wiser than me. The rational reason for owning a 35mm camera would be the duration of the film projects. Because we're not at a professional level and everyone has another job or goes to school, the filming schedule is rather irregular and long. I figured that a rent of 2 months would buy me half of my own camera and anyway at least I would like to make more projects than just one. The lenses would be rental however because they are very expensive and one usually needs more than just one focal length or model. The cameras I'm considering are the following: Moviecam Compact Moviecam SL Arricam ST The Moviecams are about 5000$ and the Arricam ST is 12000£ (a rental house is the seller). Do these sound like fair prices? Is Visual Products a reliable seller (seller of the Moviecams)? To the main point: What I'm looking for is a reliable basic sync sound 35mm camera which is not too heavy for shoulder operation. I would be expecting a couple ten years (or more) of service life. The Arricam would probably be the best choice, as Arri still services them and accessories like mags can be rented from the local rental house for it but the price of the camera is rather high for me. So are the Moviecams a good option? I know that the Moviecams and Arricams both have practically the same movements, but I heard that the electronics of the Moviecams are inferior. However what is unclear to me is that are the electronics of the Moviecams just less sophisticated or really of inferior design or build quality? Also I believe getting a Moviecam serviced can prove to be difficult. Out of the Moviecams the SL would probably be the better choice as it's a bit newer and smaller. But I heard that the body wouldn't be so rigid and thus prone to light leaks. Is this true? Also, is the extra noise (compared to a Compact or ST) a problem when dialogue is recorded while filming? Sorry for the bit lengthy text, but I would appreciate any advice (but please don't try to sell me digital - it's just not the same). Thank you very much for any help and information. Regards, Valter