Thomas English

I think a lot of it would depend on the definition of a showreel and a commercial. Once your showreel starts being distributed in a more aggressive way like a commercial, then you start having a much higher chance of being sued. I reckon I can give away showreels to people that ask for them. However I doubt if Howard or Pro produced a promotional DVD that they posted to thousands of people they would be allowed the same grace. This becomes dodgy with having reels on the net. All of a sudden you can be unknowingly distributing your reel on a much greater scale. The situation that Erik and Charles talk about is obviously fine.... because thats what it is, a showreel. Not yet heard of a mute one.

yeah... u should be watching the monitor I have heard of people rotating the top of the sled right round to point the camera backwards... not tried it but i reckon it would take practise. Some people make their sleds more bottom heavy. practise... but i don t recomend running nearly top speed and remember stopping has to be done slowly. I am sure other people have some better tips though

I had a nightmare music video the other day. 17hours long, one take at each shot with a lot of very fast action (parkour runners/free runners) and crazy french dancing. Most of the shots consisted of tracking at right angle to the character, with loads of straight urban horizons (pavements etc) at a near run or run. My first point is if you come in at a slight angle (in front or behind the character not dead 90' on) it can really spin you out thinking that your not level! I trusted the level but was really feeling stupid for having shot everything "wonky" especially when rewatching the clamshell. The perspective of the ground through the lens makes every thing look on the piss! I re-watched it yesterday on the big TV and thankgod you can see that its flat horizon and a perspective thing to my relief. But on the little framing screen whilst sweating it s really confusing. When operating with the camera at right angles to your body, do you twist your wrist right round or do you keep the wrist straight and swap your wrists axis's (roll and tilt). I ve never really thought about it on simple tracking shots but this stuff was so fast with so many horizons I realised I needed to come up with my own "practise policy" . I think in the past I ve always swapped axis's and kept my wrist straight like what you practise when walking round the rig. Thanks for your time.

I would like to testify to the Marell bubbles quality and overall wickedness! For an extra little bit they also put a VDA in mine and 3 outputs. see earlier thread. BaerBell stuff is quality though.

what monitors can go on the rotating bracket? mk-v hummingbird? panasonic 7'? transvideo cine3 or rainbow?

Yeah the gekko kisslight Is absolutely wicked. I ve been using it regularly on promos since it came out about a year ago. Love it. It canes my sleds batteries but hey thats what they are for. The LED s when without any diffusion have loads of throw. it has 2 filter trays you can turn off any section of the ring if you want it a little less flat for somethings. He s building a remote control for it to drop the output from a distance. This has been a problem a few times on the kisslight, In constant pressure music vids sometimes you have to wing it, if you get too close they can get very hot. (too bright not temp.) Rents out for about 75 ukp/day in the UK, available from Hardpencil and AFM Its something I really want to own for my promo kit, however with the slump in promo s Im having difficulties buying more kit. It retails for between 2700 ukp to 5400 ukp depending on how many extras you want/need. I tried to put together a costing to make my own similar light for my own work, but it came in pretty expensive, only around 2/3 rd s of the basic package. When u consider the low resell afterwards and the bits braking off your own badly designed one, I will be getting this. I always refuse the kino light and make em get the kisslight

I do highly recomend the marrell bubble + frameline generator. especially as it has a VDA built in so I have one feed (with bubble+generator) to the monitor and the other 2 feeds (clear) to the transmiter and the onboard recorder (which I am yet to buy). Ill be interested to see how the archers monitor turns out though.

Cheers Benjamin, No it was nt posted here and nor is it on the SOA site. Cheers. I am definately going Thomas

Is it true that there will be an intermidiary course happening in Paris at some point soon?

Transvideo make a mounting bracket. Ill post you a picture. Its not too expensive at 100euros ish . But it does not instill me with confidence/strengh. It does work though. Thomas

Is that the same as the P + S Techniks adaptor? or is it a new one? I can t seem to google it.

would you aim to remove theviewfinder lens and focus on the little lcd and lights .... or would u go after the lens ? Does the viewfinder lens essentially reposition the lcd so its large and far away for focus or is it much more complicated than that? do you remember those light travel lens diagrams we did in physics

The only 2 jobs I have had to walk away from in failure over time have been HD gigs with faulty/incorrect downconverters . They are in such short supply in london emergency hires often don t happen. I want to build a video tap for the eyepiece of a camcorder (varicam/f900 etc etc). For this I intend to use one of these cheap (80 dollars) camera units you can get at maplins/radioshack Has anyone tried putting one of these onto a camcorder eyepiece ? Any idea what lens I should use ? how should i try to attach it ? any other points to save me spunking money on bits that don't work ? If it works very well.... maybe I could do without downconverters all together ....? saving a good few kgs off my weight. http://www.digital-cybermasters.co.uk/acat...le_Cameras.html

it looks cool and is definately one way forward... however it looks a little NTSC for me, hoever I am not sure. with recording at 30fps.... mind you, who cares ... its video playback. It claims MPEG4 SP with ADPCM stereo sound, near DVD quality with up to 640 x 480 @ 30f/s, in AVI format. I wonder datarate that really is.... I am starting to feel I really need something like this

Mpeg4 offers better compression at lower bitrates, hence manufacturers incorporating mpeg4 keep the bitrate low for "acceptable" image quality. There is very little difference between mpeg2 and mpeg4 at the same bitrate. However the hardware mpeg2 encoders have been around for a while so so are better developed for the price. The mpeg4 is still a bit new . So mpeg4 will not always be second best, check the bitrates possible with your unit. I find mpeg4 to be more flexible. It ended up as my weapon of choice for encoding digital time lapses in the jungle with limited hard drive space. all be it at infinately higher resolutions and bitrates, and these have been broadcast since.

today I did another shoot on the varicam They supplied an evertz box... I got worried because I did nt recognise it! Not all evertz downconverters are equal! there are old ones and new ones... ones that can work with the varicam and ones that can t ...! something about not having a subcarrier on the signal.... this one did not...... work Be sure the facilities company has used the downconverter on the camera before! and they are definately happy..... So today I framed with one of the cutest camera assistants I ve had in ages holding the HD monitor on her shoulder walking alongside me. Very disorientating at first but I got the hang of it..... and kept wide

435 in the alien..... no problem ? cool

the Fujinon zoom is fine, use it often. get a clip on matt box. make sure you have an onboard downconverter box get some nice light batteries, don t make him struggle on Anton Bauers. You ll have to decide with him on the day and in the shot how long a lens you can use.

How bright was the ambient light at the exhibition stand? keep other lights low to get an effect. I ve projected through firework smoke (only textures) and I ve seen some wicked projections through waterfalls, waterfountains and other water spray type stuff. Ive done stage shows where my projectors are rear projecting onto the screens and they ve cracked out the dry ice and it looked cool. (to me behind the screens). try it out. Just get a smoke machine and a projector and see how it looks. Rob is very right though... very simple block colour images. Weve all shot the cheesy horror movie shot where you drench the area in smoke and put a massive light behind your monster to have his shadow loom above you throught the smoke its going to be hit and miss though at best. I am sure if you search the archives of the cinematography forum this has been deliberated at lengh also check the VJ forums (visual jockeys)

It does look very cool. When you say you spent a lot on it..... how much was that? I assume it only works with lenses with an inbuilt servo on the focus! Which is not all of them at all by my stretch of imagination. However it does look very cool...... how much!?

"Mr. Fisher said that he would send the loan system out on Thursday 24th March and I should receive it the next day.......Needless to say, I didn't receive the loan system. " but he did not recieve your promised loan system? It is fair to have technical problems. If you have problems like this should you not inform your paid up clients and give them the choice of waiting or having a full refund.

All I have heard has not been good......... He always seemed so nice on the phone. I am sure someone will be posting soon to let you all know, with facts.

Is there a date yet for the release of the G-50? or a confirmed price?

What Mark says is completely true. Don t mess, get a focus puller if needed or if on video and no money get a depth of field calculator, treat it like s16 and work your shots out whilst sitting towards the back of the lens. As a point apart, not to be encouraged.... but i have been practising pulling focus on video lenses whilst operating. A slightly firmer grip on the post with the 2 little fingers as your left hand reaches up and softly tweaks. However I would never recomend this as a skill to be sold ahead of time.... only used in emergencies... it can work well though! and can not work! Otherwise for the bartech there is a gimble mounted focus dial unit available. I would like to buy it for them live concerts.. just have 2 marks 5 ft and 20 ft ... something like that. Anyone had any experience in using sir Jims gimble mounted unit?

Howard has got some nice hard cases as well... very light and very strong However my sled, with my chroizel tilt head was that inch too long so I had to stop using it. I flew with it twice and found it great. www.mk-v.com