All TALK !!

[Robert Malin]

Lenses arent that big of a deal
the unit is approx 8 grand but you can rent prime lenses for 75-100 per day.
I think if your going to make a nice film then lense rental is a must unless you have 8-10 grand to blow on a few primes..
Id rather buy the adapter for 8 grand then have to rent a camera package for 1000.00/day for hd or something. your still saving money in the long run.

[Mizell Wilson]

Robert,

You're in the system now...Chris must have updated the record after I had posted :)

To all,

The clips on the DVD are in the native language for the origination country of the production. In this case, most of them are in German except for Phreakers, which is an American production. Unfortunately this one is only to music.

The answer is to, as suggested above, turn down the volume if the audio is distracting...it is the images we want to focus on.

DVD is compressed in MPEG2 but the difference is that you get an MPEG2 compression directly from source material and in full screen. I believe the clips that Chris and P+S have on their websites are further compressions from the MPEG2 compression i.e. it's 2 generations of compression, plus the fact that they are not full screen.

Robert is right that prime lenses are relatively inexpensive to rent. Remember though that for most shoots you are going to want a minimum of 5 primes; a normal, 2 wide, and 2 telephoto. If I'm remembering correctly from Film 1 you want to make sure that each lens has a 15% difference in the focal length to edit properly. (this also technically goes for camera placement).

The really important thing to remember here is that the Mini35 can utilize Nikon SLR lenses. These provide excellent optical quality while keeping the expense low. I had one client who was able to purchase 2 Nikon zoom lenses for about $2,000 which gave him focal lengths of something like 15-400mm at T2...more then enough range for almost any but the most specialized of projects. There are also many still lenses by other manufacturers that can be Nikon mounted i.e. Tamrac. Leica is another excellent choice for which we have a mount for, and if fact many think Leica glass is better then Nikon, it's just Leica is used more in Europe. We also have the Canon EF still mount.

Keith is correct. Chris Hurd has no vested interest in P+S Technik or ZGC.

[Charles Papert]

The rule of thumb that I learned and use is that to be able to cut on axis between two focal lengths, one has to halve or double the 2nd angle. In other words, a master on a 50mm will cut with a closeup on a 100mm or longer, or a 25mm or wider (this being without having moved the camera).

That's if you don't want the image size to "jump". Nothing wrong with breaking the rule if it achieves the desired effect.

Mizell is right about the prime set. For the Mini35 job I just did I used a standard Zeiss speed set which contains the 18, 25, 35, 50 and 85, and I added a 10, 14 and 135mm. The 10 was amazingly sharp and free of distortion compared to using a wide angle adaptor on a DV zoom, which could possibly approach that field of view. I dug the whole setup very much.

[Mizell Wilson]

Charles,

I'm going to bow to your field knowledge rather then trying to find my freshmen class notes but in general I think we were on the same page in that to cut properly, you want images that make a significant change in the composition from setup to setup so that it doesn't look like you just accidentally moved the camera.

The exercise in question was where we had to shoot the same action, we used those swinging balls that executives like, from multiple angles and focal lengths to then cut into one seamless story. The goal was to show that if you say shot a 50mm from position 1, and then say a 60mm from position 1, if you tried to cut them together there would not be a significant enough change in composition to justify or make a cut look good.

it could also be that the 15% rule was more for camera position as compared to focal lengths. with are trusty bolexes we were only issued 3 lenses, wide, normal, and telephoto, so we didn't have much choice in focal lengths anyway.......ahhh the days of winding your camera :)

mizell

[Robert Malin]

Got the dvd today and i really liked the footage i saw!
It does look spectacular.
In most of the footage on the dvd i would have to say forget about the film look i like the P+S Technik look with primes!
The converter does make the dv look alot like film but the greatest thing i liked about it was the fact that the dv had a film look but still captured the definition and beautiful color contrasts that you wouldnt normally associate with high def it puts the P+S Technik in a league of its own.(Looks better then film)
I guess the best way to describe it is this..
We all remember the look and feel of quintin Tarentino films.It was pretty cool! and no one had really seen that style of work he was doing.
Well i think that the P+S Technik is doing for dv what quintin tarentino did for filmmaking.Its new and exciting and i cant whait to try it.
*Yes i know that quintin is a has been but thats besides the point*

[Nick Hiltgen]

I'll only call quintin a has been when he gets my money a second time for the continuation to "kill bill" which is going to just be so much freaking fun to watch.

[Victor Muh]

For what it's worth, I shot my short film with the Mini35 and an XL1. A rough cut is online in its integrity. You can watch it here: http://thechineseshoes.com/videos/shoes.html