a-minima camera test montage

[Bengt Freden]

Beautiful test footage, Hunter,

 

It´s so liberating to see 'test' footage that isn´t just brick walls, test charts or other kinds of still lifes.

 

The quality is absolutely stunning, right out into the far corners. There is a very enchanting, postive and flowing feeling to it. Even the lens flare is etherically beautiful on the backlighted close shot of your little kid - what a sweet kid, by the way.

I also like very much the various camera angles and the obvious mobility and ease of mounting the camera almost anywhere in really tight situations. Thanks for sharing.

 

What is the widest focal lens that you tested for this shoot, by the way?

 

Cheers,

Bengt F, photographer

[Hunter Hampton]

Thanks Bengt for the comments, the widest lens I was using was an 8mm illumina.

[Bengt Freden]

Hi Hunter,

 

The newest test (200') seems slightly less sharp, especially on the edges and especially to the left side (the grass behind the golf ball, for example) - could that be partly due to the fact that you are working on a bigger aperture with 7201 stock and a polarizer, or could it be the scan? Perhaps I am being slightly 'picky' but I think I see a 'band' of lower resolution along each of the shorter frame lines (the edges to the left and right). In addition, the overall resolution and contour sharpness is not as good as in your first test (600'), in my opinion. Could it be the comparatively lower resolution of the image we are watching on Vimeo?

 

Do you know who makes the Illumina prime lenses, by the way?

 

And, do you now the reasons behind the slightly un-orthodox new 'curved' film gate in the Aaton A-Minima and why they decided to not have a pressure plate behind it? I have read that it has to do with steadiness and registration (which is reportedly unprecedented in this camera) but I don´t know how?

 

Thanks again for sharing your fine test footage.

Best regards,

Bengt ;-)

[Hunter Hampton]

The vimeo re-compression is getting worse, its actually quite sharp before hand- but I am doing an "affordable" HD transfer which isnt as sharp as something you would get on a spirit, but its great for broadcast.

 

The illuminas are russian made lenses designed by optica elite I think.

 

I dont know why exactly aaton decided to make the figure 8 film loop in their cameras, maybe to make them more compact? or more quiet? I dont know, but it is really a genius design once you get used to loading it. It must have been the most efficient way to design a camera of this size.

 

Hi Hunter,

 

The newest test (200') seems slightly less sharp, especially on the edges and especially to the left side (the grass behind the golf ball, for example) - could that be partly due to the fact that you are working on a bigger aperture with 7201 stock and a polarizer, or could it be the scan? Perhaps I am being slightly 'picky' but I think I see a 'band' of lower resolution along each of the shorter frame lines (the edges to the left and right). In addition, the overall resolution and contour sharpness is not as good as in your first test (600'), in my opinion. Could it be the comparatively lower resolution of the image we are watching on Vimeo?

 

Do you know who makes the Illumina prime lenses, by the way?

 

And, do you now the reasons behind the slightly un-orthodox new 'curved' film gate in the Aaton A-Minima and why they decided to not have a pressure plate behind it? I have read that it has to do with steadiness and registration (which is reportedly unprecedented in this camera) but I don´t know how?

 

Thanks again for sharing your fine test footage.

Best regards,

Bengt ;-)

[Adrian Sierkowski]

The Optars, if they're Optar Illumina, are redesigns of Ziess lenses, very nice for the price, I have my own set. They are manufactured in Russia, from what I gathered, but not by Elite. http://www.optarillumina.com/

Actually met the designer when I bought my SR3, hell of a nice guy.

[Chris Burke]

Thanks Bengt for the comments, the widest lens I was using was an 8mm illumina.

 

 

Hunter,

 

the footage looks amazing, especially the test you did. Long live film.

 

How is the A Minima to load. I know everyone say, "now that I am used to it" So what is it really like. I hear both good and bad about loading the camera. Also, I know it is a MOS camera, but how loud is it? Will you be loading any Fuji into it in the future? Keep the clips coming.

 

chris

[Hunter Hampton]

Chris-

 

It is actually a sync camera, Its about 28dB normally and when I put the sound barney on, it gets down to around 24dB I would say. I just shot a commercial in a small studio room with audio and it was quiet enough for that, I was only a few feet from the mic.

 

The reason people gripe about loading it, is because its not at all like most cameras, the emulsion is out, and you drop the roll in to the feed side, then flip the roll that goes in the take-up side upside down, when you close the mag, you then have a figure 8 film loop which you guide over the take-up and feed rollers, and the little loop you drop in the gate and it snaps in place. Its really easy, but its different. I loaded it 10+ times when I got it with a dummy roll, just to get comfortable doing it, but now its easy and I could probably do it all blind folded.

 

Thanks for watching! Film is defiantly the best, and it makes you and your projects better. ; )

Edited February 21, 2009 by hunter richards

[Toby L Edwards]

I really like the shots at the end. The Kids riding Bikes at sun set, very nice!

 

Toby

[Tim Carroll]

Here is a new one- 200ft of 7201, http://vimeo.com/3285882

 

Great footage. Is that Haystack Rock, or do my eyes deceive?

 

Best,

-Tim

[Hunter Hampton]

Good eye! That is Haystack rock- a friend called me up and wanted to go to the beach to catch the sunset so I brought the camera.

[Francis Kuhn]

Hunter,

 

Nice focus pull with the little guy on the golf course. How did you do that move you did around the golf ball? It looks like a micro dolly or something. Nice.

 

BTW, do you have a snapshot of your camera bike mount rig?

 

Thanks for posting that.

 

-Fran

[Hunter Hampton]

I built a little DIY "skater" dolly based on the P+S technik skater, If I would of had a longer piece of plywood, I would have gotten the whole swing from there but it was too scary!

 

There isnt a picture of the bike rig but here is all it is:

 

+

 

I just added an adapter to get it to hook onto the cardellini clamp and then the camera mounts using the top 3/8"-16 threads, it holds pretty well, but it does allow some vibration, having 2 of them would make it much more sturdy.

Edited February 21, 2009 by hunter richards

[Francis Kuhn]

I built a little DIY "skater" dolly based on the P+S technik skater, If I would of had a longer piece of plywood, I would have gotten the whole swing from there but it was too scary!

 

There isnt a picture of the bike rig but here is all it is:

 

+

 

I just added an adapter to get it to hook onto the cardellini clamp and then the camera mounts using the top 3/8"-16 threads, it holds pretty well, but it does allow some vibration, having 2 of them would make it much more sturdy.

 

 

Thanks, Hunter. I've got all that stuff sitting in my garage at the moment. Actually have three of those magic arms so I might be able to overbuild it. I'll see what I can rig up to my old Schwinn Sting Ray; air-down the tires and see how smooth I can get it.

 

The home made micro dolly move looks really good, I guess you don't have to spend five grand to get a nice camera move. :)

 

-Fran

[Hunter Hampton]

Thanks Fran-

 

Here is the link to the plans I used to build the "skater". I just added a heavy duty ball-head instead of the plate so I could also do dutch angles as well. It just took a day with a scroll saw and about $100 but it works well compared to the $5k version (my apologies to Sebastian Kraemer)!

 

Link: http://tedramasola.9k.com/custom2.html

[Francis Kuhn]

Thanks Fran-

 

Here is the link to the plans I used to build the "skater". I just added a heavy duty ball-head instead of the plate so I could also do dutch angles as well. It just took a day with a scroll saw and about $100 but it works well compared to the $5k version (my apologies to Sebastian Kraemer)!

 

Link: http://tedramasola.9k.com/custom2.html

 

That looks pretty simple and very effective. Especially since I can take the $4,900 I save and buy a few cases of film. Or Tim's Arri IIC package. I'm getting out the Ryobi tomorrow. Maybe run off a batch to make ends meet in this global economic downturn. I may have to face it with book matched Brazillian Rosewood to get the price up a little.

 

-Fran

[Will Montgomery]

When I was back in music school at the University of Miami there was a couple times of year where the Seniors had their recitals. It was always a time when we felt unworthy because of how great these guys were. Your 600' demo makes me feel that way again. Great work!

[Hunter Hampton]

Thats a very nice comment Will- I don't think I deserve it but thanks!

[Chris Durham]

Hunter, that looks amazing. When I first got into filmmaking the A-Minima appealed to me. For the past three years I've been shooting video and have just now started getting into shooting film. I've always wanted to, and now that I've done it I'm in love with it. This is a little camera that I'd love to have and when I'm in the market for a personal camera upgrade I'm going to look really hard at the A-Minima. thanks for sharing the work.

[andres victorero]

Amazing footage, thanks for sharing

[Elliot Rudmann]

Hunter, for a "test" this is truly inspirational footage, makes me really glad I recently purchased a bolex! Would you mind telling me what kind of rig you used for the car interiors in order to lock the camera down? Particularly the shot behind the drivers seat looking towards the front windshield.

[Hunter Hampton]

Hi Elliot-

 

To lock down the camera I used a vaccum cup with bogen magic arm attached, I placed the camera at the other end and wedged it on top of the passenger sat and secured the arm. Thank you for your comments!

 

Hunter, for a "test" this is truly inspirational footage, makes me really glad I recently purchased a bolex! Would you mind telling me what kind of rig you used for the car interiors in order to lock the camera down? Particularly the shot behind the drivers seat looking towards the front windshield.

[Tom Jensen]

To all the students, see what you can do with a little camera, a little film, a little foreground, a little background and a cute little kid. Oh yeah, and a little creativity. Good work.