Heya,

I've been gaffing and gripping a featurette shot on 16mm film. Its been an interesting challenge gripping the heavier rigs after doing so much dslr work.

On the last few days shoots we've had slider and tabletop shots where it wasn't possible for the dp to keep his eye on the eyepiece. We've been using a video tap to allow the director to see what we're filming, so when the challenge came up, i popped a bnc T on and was able to run the dp6 on camera as well. The dp6 was kinda overkill as the video tap is pretty terrible, but the DP was pretty thrilled to be able to frame the shots despite some pretty intense sun. Turning off the monitor when setting up new shots has meant that we've gotten two full days out of one of smallhd's batteries.

Anyways, here's a photo of the dp6 on the film rig.

Cheers!
-a

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=19974&stc=1&d=1287831687

Heya,

I'm surprised nobody else has mentioned this, but smallHD released firmware 1.2 which changes a few things.

Colors are WAY truer now. I'm still needing to do more tests on exposure, but it looks like its shaping up to be pretty powerful.

False Colors! Heh, it sounds ironic after the previous sentence, but they've introduced false colors so you can judge exposure by looking for specific color tones.

They've also made the "back" button function as a second shortcut button. When not in a menu, pressing it triggers whatever action you assign to the button. The new factory default is one of the buttons is false colors, the other is focus assist. Seems to make sense, and makes using those features (which are quite obtrusive when you dont want them) super fast to flick on and off.

Its looking pretty sweet. Definitely if you have a dp6, download it.

Cheers!
-a

Andrew:

Referring back to your previous post, always good to keep in mind that T-ing off a video source will reduce the voltage which may result in a darkening of the image. The HD-SDI version of the monitor has a loop-through which should always be used in that situation, since exposure is usually judged from an HD monitored image.

Heya,

Anyways, here's a photo of the dp6 on the film rig.

Cheers!
-a

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=19974&stc=1&d=1287831687

Out of interest: what slider is that?

Looks like a Kessler Cineslider

Yup, its a cineslider. That has turned out to be one of my favorite toys. I haven't had much success with the "crank arm" for sliding, as its quite difficult to get smooth, but a tiny bit of resistance and trailing a finger along the side while sliding has been great.

As to the composite split... well, yeah. I knew when popping the T on that we'd be losing voltage, but at that point we were just using the dp6 for framing, so it was our best choice. On a similar topic, the tap on the camera was pretty awful. The video feed was not square in the frame and most of the frame was horribly out of focus. We were only using the tap as a director's guide to the shot so it worked for that, and for framing up the slider, but It was pretty unreal.

HD-SDI would certainly be preferred... if only the camera had it. Hehe. It only barely had composite.

Thats the mystery and magic of film though. The viewfinder was horribly yellowed and the video tap was almost like a cataract simulator yet the captured footage was stunning. A much more expensive and newer camera would have been much easier to shoot with, but ultimately with the same lenses probably wouldn't have looked any different. I'm so used to digital that its hard to keep in my head that the "sensor" on film cameras is rolling past the gate and can be easily "installed" in most other film cameras with minimal effort. Weird. I started my career on film, but its funny how accustomed to the digital world I've become.

Suprising to hear that the viewfinder image was yellow--usually Aatons have good-looking, bright viewfinders. The Aaton taps progressed quite a bit over the years but sounds like you might have had an older one that's seen some abuse! Can't tell from the pic--is that a base model XTR?

You do bring up an interesting point. I shoot less and less film every year and each time it's a bit of a mental adjustment to go back to the old methodology of lighting to eye and meter. Modern video taps have gotten quite good (Arri even has an HD tap now although I have yet to see it on an actual set) but it's always going to be just an approximation. For those who have only shot digital, that's going to be a strange concept.

They use to have a kit package that came with the sun shade and the screen protectors. I guess now
its alacarte


Doug

They use to have a kit package that came with the sun shade and the screen protectors. I guess now
its alacarte


Doug

The response I got: "Sorry, we have no bundles or forum discounts at the moment. We may do a US bundle in early 2011, but that has not been decided."

:/

Well from a business perspective it would be silly to offer any bundles when your product is in such high demand that it is always back-ordered. Bundling only makes sense when sales/demand tappers off or you are overstocked.

Having said that from OUR perspective its bitter sweet as those bundles for the DP1 which included free international shipping were amazing.

I finally pulled the trigger and purchased a SmallHD DP6 last weekend at the end of the bundled offer period.
WOW! It sure beats trying to see what is happening on the XH-A1's viewfinder or LCD.
With 4x the real estate of the A1's LCD, this monitor is a tremendous help for old eyes.
I cannot wait to use the monitor with the sunshade attached for outdoor shooting.

I am very much interested in a DP6 to aid focusing on mt Canon 60D. Is the low-res output from the 60D HDMI when filming going to be sufficient or is it only really worth the purchase when connected to something like the 7D which outputs a high-res signal?

Dan,

The focus peaking helps out even though the resolution is not there. Have you checked out the Zacuto EVF?

Hi Greg, yeah, saw the Zacuto EVF but when I start ramping up my 60D usage it will probably be on a monopod which could be awkard to use with an EVF. I do like the idea of the DP4 which is both monitor and EVF when needed but I think the 4.8 screen would be too small to pull accurate focus on its own.

I have shot a lot with a Canon 7D on a monopod and using a monitor would not be very productive. I would think that an EVF or even better a Z Finder would be your best option. I find that I need to have the camera up against something solid to help with stability. I think that a monitor hanging off the camera would make it more unstable.

Just my opinion though...

Daniel Weber

Just had an email from SmallHD to say that my DP6 is awaiting collection by UPS . . .

I'm 63 in March - perhaps I shouldn't be getting so excited about photographic gadgets at my age - but I think its a good thing.

I intend to use it on the Canon EOS 5D Mk2 and on the Sony EX1R.

Thanks to Andrew for this great 'Ramble' - it certainly sealed the deal for me.

Daniel,
I use the dp6 on a monopod on every gig. I use a long plan tripod adapter as shown below:
internet - fiskephotography's Photos (http://fiskephotography.smugmug.com/Other/internet/11755147_P296qh#1468188202_bFvhkqZ-A-LB)