Mitch Gross

Ah, an old battleship come to harbor! The first thing is to find out when it was last used. If it has been several years then please don't try running it. All the oil has drained or evaporated and you'll just be grinding it up to run it. The camera should be lubed and checked. What generation is the camera? Is it a true reflex (CP-16R) with the viewfinder coming out of the side of the camera body or is it a dreaded old CP-16 original with the viewfinder mounted on a "dogleg" arm off the lens itself via a beamsplitter? Does it have a slot on the dummy side for the battery brick (goes in from the front) or the casting solid, which means you need a belt? Does it have a port on the top in front of the mag? This is for a videotap and only on the last generation of the camera. Pull the lens ad check the shutter--is the mirror a butterfly design or a half moon? This is a clue as to the camera's age. A big service question is the rubber strap that connects the drive from the camera to the mag and is visible on the dummy side. This is usually one of the first compoents that needs replacing. I second the motion to consult with Visual Products in Wellington, Ohio (visualproducts.com) about anything CP-16. The fellow who used to work at Whitehouse AV now works there, and he not only does complete overhauls of the camera but has designed many mods and accessories for it. He is pretty much THE person to contact about CP-16 cameras. In good condition these cameras were rock steady and fairly quiet. If using the videotap port (either factory or Visual Products mod) the tap camera can only be B&W due to the type of beamsplitter able to be used. Any lens can have gearing mounted for a price, but it is a consideration whether the price is worth it. And these cameras can be retrofitted with either a PL mount or an Aaton mount. The Aaton mount used to be a common upgrade (like 20 years a go) because the CP mount was so similar.

Mark, show us some pictures. Was it you I saw in the recent "60 Minutes" piece about the guy with the financial show who screams the whole time? Can't recall if it was CNN or CNBC.

I don't think there's any reasonable reason to use the Elaine. They only made 42 of them and they still work regularly on TV series, but I just don't get it. Inferior taps, inferior viewfinder, inferior choice of optics, and it is much more cumbersome and complicated than it needs to be. I don't think it is any quieter than an Aaton in good shape, certainly not by much. And if you really want more weight or mass, stick some lead plates on an Aaton! It is overbuilt and out of date. Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

I persoanlly think that camera is ridiculous. It was built for studio work where people used to operating Panavision 35 but forced to work in 16 would be comfortable and familiar with the setup. But it is way too heavy and cumbersome for a modern 16mm camera, as you mention the viewfinder is dim and the loading is far trickier than any other 16mm camera (although a little simple than Panavision 35). The optics are rehoused Zeiss and Canon glass, but they have not kept up with all the 16mm optics available so you can't stick on soe desireable glass. For just about any shooting I'd take an Arri or Aaton just about any day.

I have a baseplate and front rods from Chrosziel that is the Universal Sony size, meaning that it fits all Sony video cameras from an old Beta to a DSR370 to the CineAlta. It mounts to the camera with four screws and the quick-release V-plate still functions with it (and you can use it while handheld as well. It cost me around $500-$600 but it's just sitting in my closet for a year after one job so I'd sell it to you for a decent price if you're interested.

Looking at the earlier posts on this thread, you may be out of luck. But you could try contacting Abel Cine Tech (abelcine.com) as they were a US distributor for awhile. Ask to speak to Gervin in service--he might have an answer for you. Good luck.

I don't like the Autocues. The brackets are an odd design that can easily interfere with a head or mounting plate. The screen is on top which raises the center of gravity and can add vibration. The monitors are relatively heavy for their size, even as LCDs go. I like the simpler setups that use computer monitors. They often have better contrast and give a sharper image, so a smaller screen can still be more readable for talent. There are a few lower cost units that use smaller screens and are designed for handheld (or Steadicam) use. Check out PrompterPeople.com for a small unit. They mount the screen from below and do so in a simple and solid way. The smallest rig is so tiny that I figure I could make a front rod mounting rig for it if I ever got around to it. They're cheap enough to add to your kit so you don't have to fly the supplied beastie. The only problem with flying computer screens is that you need to convert the signal to something it can display. But there are small boxes out there that can do this no problem. I think Horita makes one that is the size of a pack of cigarettes and can run off 12v. Use a Modulus for your prompter feed and you're all set.

These lenses can be known to bind on the close end of focus, ewspecially if you are using a clip-on mattebox. Uneven pressure on the front housing can bow an inner ring slightly out of round, and then the focus will not turn properly. Rotating the clip-on can halp with this sometimes. Did you try turning the focus ring by hand to see if the lens itself was suffering?

Try contacting nebtek.com. I know that they add AR coatings to off the shelf screens.

We know what the rig costs and we know what the modified Segway runs. I'm afraid to ask what a Tiffen jet pack lists for.

In reference to the Litepanels, contact the manufacturer directly. Alec Jarnagin & I talked to a rep at an equipment convention and he mentioned that they could supply a geared knob for the dimmer since others had requested it as well.

If you're looking for a more permanent option, Focus Optics makes custom gear rings for lenses and rings of any diameter. He carves them out of Delrin and made me some for some converted still lenses. It depends on the size of the knob, but I'd uess he'd charge you maybe $50 for it.

Where does that picture come from? Not just 'cause she's cute; I'm just curious as to the gear (really).

On the old SR-1 & 2 you should use a slightly longer screw (perhaps 1") and attach a compression washer and nut underneath. The shape of the handle gets in the way of mating a nice flat surface and you can get vibration or even have some rotation. It's a good safety practice as well since you'll be transferring the weight to a solid nut from those thin little threads.

I've wondered about this. I have a pillow made from this foam and it has done wonders with my sore neck. (Alec Jarnagin can attest to the intense volume when I whip my head around to POP it into place. Very Exorcist and rather loud.) So I thought that a vest made from this padding would make a lot of sense for a vest, especially a rigid-back one. You could still put air bladders behind the pads.

http://tig.colorist.org/wiki/index.php/IBC_Focus_Sheet_2005 Scroll down to the info for Aaton for an odd overhead angle on the "Penelope" prototype. Described as dead quiet and capable of 3perf and even 2-perf. The battery is back on the dummy side where it belongs and the ridges on the mag indicate to me that this is a whole new design for the camera rather than just an update of the 35-3. Sweet. As for the JVC HD100, while there have reports of that little prosumer camera having some defects like a green shading on half the image at high gain, there have also been reports of end users who have received their cameras with no defects. The cameras are shipping now, although slowly. And the biggest remaining issues remain the cheap provided lens' chromatic abberations in telephoto (hey--it's a cheap lens but you can buy something better if you want) and the lack of capabilities to edit the 24p footage properly , which will be reconsiled soon. Now back to our previous conversation... While the last version (2years ago) of the Aaton 35-3 in 3-perf was noticeably quieter than earlier versions of the camera, it wasn't a complete rehaul like this new camera looks to be. So here's hoping that those mags have been reworked (enough people complained over the years).

The prototype is debuting at IBC. Can anyone there report back? It's supposed to be whisper quiet and can shoot 3-perf and even 2-perf. The little I've seen makes it look like a real ground up redesign from the previous Aaton 35-3, so perhaps the difficult mag loading is no more. So nice to see Arri and Aaton still committed to buiolding innovative new 35mm cameras.

Try the EZ FX jib, although you'll never get something that cheap. The only jib I know of that is so inexpensive is the Cobra Crane, and let's just say that you ge twhat you pay for. The EZ FX is suprisingly smooth for the cost.

No, sized specifically for the Z1. I think I posted the same link here about a month before Janice did.

I believe that BandPro received a hefty fine from the FCC and was forced to stop selling the Modulus. Other than that I have not heard of anyone actually caught using it. I always enjoyed Wolf Seeberg's catalog that pictured the Modulus in use in Baja California--even though it is illegal to use in Mexico as well! I set up a pirate radio station as a teenager. Bought the parts from an ad in the back of Popular Electronics. 5 watts and covered the neighborhood and our high school.

The yellow cable is video and the black one looks to be power. It's pulled tight probably because the cable wrangler wearing the belt couldn't keep up.

baerbel also constructed a fully working tampon-suspender!!!!!!!! for his female clients. Don´t know what .happened to that thing.Probably not enough female customers around. I have absolutely no clue as to what this would be other than I highly doubt it is at all Steadicam-related, but boy do you have me curious!

If you really think this production might give you future work, then you could treat it as a credit. Give you a partial payment for the lost day with the proviso that if they hire you for another shoot day you will apply that payment towards that work day, like a deposit. I've done this a few times with producers and it has always been a good incentive towards them bringing me in for more work, if only to get more value out of their money. Sort of a win-win situation. But you need to make it clear that this credit only applies to this specific production--I just had a producer who felt I owed him a day from one job try to use it on another.

For the Sony HDV camera. Better than the other model I've seen out there and cheap enough to toss in the kit. http://www.markertek.com/ExtraImage.asp?it...&t=Larger+Image

I know there's been a lot of negative coments about the Modulus lately, but I just wanted to note that I'm soon to hit my 10th anniversary with my 3000, blasting 16v (top off at 18.2v) Aaton batteries through it all the while with never a failure.