A Few Notes And Stills From The Shoot Today

Aaron Newsome · December 9th, 2009, 11:00 AM

The guy who was supposed to get the Zeiss lenses, did on day two. So we pulled off the ENG lens and we'll be shooting with Zeiss the rest of the show, although I won't be there except the Saturday shooting day. Also notice in the picture trusty black and decker power source. These things are proving invaluable on the shoot. A very cheap source of power.

Perrone Ford · December 9th, 2009, 11:27 AM

Digiprimes FTW!

Hey brotha.. got a spare $40k I can borrow? :)

Aaron Newsome · December 9th, 2009, 11:36 AM

Here's something I've always wondered. If Zeiss lenses can set their backfocus with a Sharpmax, why can't other lenses do this. It seems like EVERY lens would want this.

Bill Ward · December 9th, 2009, 12:31 PM

Wow...that much camera attached to a small footprint high hat, resting on a stack of 4 apple boxes, sitting on a dolly.

Waiting for a PA to back into the rig in the dark with his/her posterior while rolling up the measuring tape...

Mark Job · December 9th, 2009, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron Newsome

Here's something I've always wondered. If Zeiss lenses can set their backfocus with a Sharpmax, why can't other lenses do this. It seems like EVERY lens would want this.

...Hi Aaron: Now you're talking ! I probably won't get any appreciation for brining this up (Again), but imagine Ziess Digi-Primes+27 Megapixel Viper+XDR+10 bit Uncompressed Capture = True Digital Cinema out to 35 mm negative !!!

Aaron Newsome · December 9th, 2009, 09:36 PM

I promise you this Mark, I will do some full raster 4:4:4 10 bit log uncompressed captures. It just won't be with the XDR.

Mark Job · December 10th, 2009, 12:02 AM

Aaron:
You're one blessed guy indeed ! :-) To have a 27 Megapixel Viper as your production camera. Sweet ! When we have our first working prototype of our recorder ready to test, then we want to test it with your Viper :-) Our SSDR will do both 10 bit 4:2:2 and Dual link 4:4:4 as well as 3Gi in 12 bit all uncompressed. We are desperately trying to get the skeleton finished by the end of the winter. We are progressing, but at a pathetically slow speed and at a pathetically high rate of cash output. We may never offer any form of compression unless our software engineer designs our own codec. Anyway, why bother with codecs anyway- just let the box playout everything uncompressed by the SDI sockets and if folks want compression, then they can play it into their ioHD's or Avid MOJO DX's and use the available compressions of FCP or Avid Media Composer. SDXC format is on the way ;-) Sorry, I digressed again.

Aaron Newsome · December 10th, 2009, 08:23 AM

Hey Mark, you already have your own form of compression. It's called 4:2:2 uncompressed. It's half the size as 4:4:4. I'd say 50% smaller is pretty good compression.

Aaron Newsome · December 10th, 2009, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron Newsome

Here's something I've always wondered. If Zeiss lenses can set their backfocus with a Sharpmax, why can't other lenses do this. It seems like EVERY lens would want this.

According to this guy, he's used a sharpmax on non-Zeiss lenses with great results:

From the article:

6: When is sharp sharp? | Leitner’s Cinematography Corner

With Sharp Max, perfect backfocus at infinity is achieved readily, with confidence. The back-illuminated Siemens star seen in the camera’s viewfinder leaves no doubt when best results are achieved. Since Sharp Max was designed as a complement to DigiPrimes, it attaches directly to them by means of a clamping ring. But I’ve tried holding it in front of a variety of other lenses, such as a Fujinon 7.6-130mm HD ENG zoom, which works remarkably well.

Hmm. Now only if the sharpmax didn't cost more than my LENS!

Aaron Newsome · December 13th, 2009, 05:42 PM

Today we brought out the techno crane. I've just added the techno crane to my list of things I want for christmas. I didn't get any really good shots of the crane fully extended but it gets really far out there. Frankly, it was hard to get the whole thing in frame at all. The shots from the crane looked awesome though. The AC controlled focus, zoom and iris from a wireless handheld controller. The DP was running the pan and tilt via hard wired panel with gears from inside a little tent made of duvatyn.

Billy Steinberg · December 16th, 2009, 12:40 PM

There's a very cool mini version of the technocrane called something like the technojib. Smaller, much easier to setup and tear down, and much better suited for smaller shooting areas. I've used it on shoots (or I should more accurately say, it's been used on shoots that I've worked on), as well as the original large technocrane. A couple of friends of mine own one.

Having a crane that (itself) zooms, as well as pans and tilts, makes for some amazing shots.

Billy

Aaron Newsome · December 16th, 2009, 07:00 PM

The techno-jib looks equally cool. The shots that they got with the techno crane could not have been obtained any other way. It started as a tracking shot down the street and then went overhead, then back down to street level and tracking in another direction, all in one shot. It was a pretty awesome shot.

December 9th, 2009, 11:00 AM	#16
Aaron Newsome Major Player Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Rancho Santa Margarita Posts: 590	A Few More Stills The guy who was supposed to get the Zeiss lenses, did on day two. So we pulled off the ENG lens and we'll be shooting with Zeiss the rest of the show, although I won't be there except the Saturday shooting day. Also notice in the picture trusty black and decker power source. These things are proving invaluable on the shoot. A very cheap source of power. Attached Thumbnails

December 9th, 2009, 11:27 AM	#17
Perrone Ford Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Tallahassee, FL Posts: 4,100	Digiprimes FTW! Hey brotha.. got a spare $40k I can borrow? :) __________________ DVX100, PMW-EX1, Canon 550D, FigRig, Dell Octocore, Avid MC4/5, MB Looks, RedCineX, Matrox MX02 mini, GTech RAID, Edirol R-4, Senn. G2 Evo, Countryman, Moles and Lowels.

December 10th, 2009, 12:02 AM	#22
Mark Job Trustee Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada Posts: 1,138	Uncompressed Viper @ 4:4:4 Aaron: You're one blessed guy indeed ! :-) To have a 27 Megapixel Viper as your production camera. Sweet ! When we have our first working prototype of our recorder ready to test, then we want to test it with your Viper :-) Our SSDR will do both 10 bit 4:2:2 and Dual link 4:4:4 as well as 3Gi in 12 bit all uncompressed. We are desperately trying to get the skeleton finished by the end of the winter. We are progressing, but at a pathetically slow speed and at a pathetically high rate of cash output. We may never offer any form of compression unless our software engineer designs our own codec. Anyway, why bother with codecs anyway- just let the box playout everything uncompressed by the SDI sockets and if folks want compression, then they can play it into their ioHD's or Avid MOJO DX's and use the available compressions of FCP or Avid Media Composer. SDXC format is on the way ;-) Sorry, I digressed again.

December 13th, 2009, 05:42 PM	#25
Aaron Newsome Major Player Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Rancho Santa Margarita Posts: 590	Today we brought out the techno crane. I've just added the techno crane to my list of things I want for christmas. I didn't get any really good shots of the crane fully extended but it gets really far out there. Frankly, it was hard to get the whole thing in frame at all. The shots from the crane looked awesome though. The AC controlled focus, zoom and iris from a wireless handheld controller. The DP was running the pan and tilt via hard wired panel with gears from inside a little tent made of duvatyn. Attached Thumbnails

December 9th, 2009, 11:36 AM	#18
Aaron Newsome Major Player Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Rancho Santa Margarita Posts: 590	Here's something I've always wondered. If Zeiss lenses can set their backfocus with a Sharpmax, why can't other lenses do this. It seems like EVERY lens would want this.

December 9th, 2009, 12:31 PM	#19
Bill Ward Major Player Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 580	Wow...that much camera attached to a small footprint high hat, resting on a stack of 4 apple boxes, sitting on a dolly. Waiting for a PA to back into the rig in the dark with his/her posterior while rolling up the measuring tape...

December 9th, 2009, 09:36 PM	#21
Aaron Newsome Major Player Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Rancho Santa Margarita Posts: 590	I promise you this Mark, I will do some full raster 4:4:4 10 bit log uncompressed captures. It just won't be with the XDR.

December 10th, 2009, 08:23 AM	#23
Aaron Newsome Major Player Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Rancho Santa Margarita Posts: 590	Hey Mark, you already have your own form of compression. It's called 4:2:2 uncompressed. It's half the size as 4:4:4. I'd say 50% smaller is pretty good compression.

December 16th, 2009, 12:40 PM	#26
Billy Steinberg Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: NYC Posts: 121	There's a very cool mini version of the technocrane called something like the technojib. Smaller, much easier to setup and tear down, and much better suited for smaller shooting areas. I've used it on shoots (or I should more accurately say, it's been used on shoots that I've worked on), as well as the original large technocrane. A couple of friends of mine own one. Having a crane that (itself) zooms, as well as pans and tilts, makes for some amazing shots. Billy

December 16th, 2009, 07:00 PM	#27
Aaron Newsome Major Player Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Rancho Santa Margarita Posts: 590	The techno-jib looks equally cool. The shots that they got with the techno crane could not have been obtained any other way. It started as a tracking shot down the street and then went overhead, then back down to street level and tracking in another direction, all in one shot. It was a pretty awesome shot.