Tom Daigon

A quick OT comment. Im not much for trivia, but I gotta tell you that some of the best entertainment I have seen was Whedon's "Angel" series. A crack team of pros really created a masterpiece there. From the great blend of tragedy/comedy scripts (like An American Werewolf in London)... to a talented bunch of actors... to great blocking and camerawork...to amazing makeup and effects. As with any finely crafted story telling, I can watch and enjoy this series many times over. It had its "jump the shark" moments but all in all a well crafted show.

Janice its nice to see a functional "low tech" solution when so many times folks reflexively think that if you want a good solution, its going to naturally be expensive.

Currently airing is a commercial for State Farm that features a young on-camera spokesperson in a coffee shop, that is beautifully staged and operator did a great job of dealing with a myriad of changes and following the various elements in the shop as they weave in and out of each other. Anyone on the forum work on that spot? It reminds me a little of the wonderful stuff done done by Charles Papert on West Wing,to a lesser degree.

99 minute shot! Oy vey, that makes my back hurt just thinking of it ;-)

I spoke to tech support today at AJA and they said the Canon 5D doesnt output the correct signal for editing. The signal is great to view on a monitor but is not the full 1920 x 1080 signal. The third party software Magic Lantern almost addressed this issue on the 5D but for some reason the programmer moved on to other challenges in his life. So dont expect to use the 5D, although I was told the 7D hdmi output does work.

Mike, I understand and agree. I have edited very simple cuts only projects shot with my EX3 in the XDCAM EX codec and my Mac Pro and FCP handled it just fine. In that case I just create a Prores sequence since I prefer to create all my masters in that codec. When I build complex graphics in After Effects for incorporation into a show I standardize everything to Prores. Its another case of "Horese for courses..." ;-)

Mike, "The nanoFlash records the video/audio as MPEG2 at user selected bit-rates, using Long-GOP or Intraframe recording " (quote from Convergent design). MPEG2 is a great acquisition format and a horrid editing format. It is a nightmare to edit with any show that has lots of graphics or is long form due to the necessity or rendering the MPEG2 sequence, since it is not supported as a NATIVE codec on FCP . Long GOP structured codecs can slow the editorial process down to a snails pace due to the way they use frame estimation. The other format (Intradframe) creates files much larger than Prores which can require lots more storage space. Most editors I know will avoid editing MPEG2 like the plague and immediately convert to Prores to avoid the slowdown , image quality issues and excessive need for lots of storage that can ensue.

Another device that is a good alternative is the Ki Pro Mini from AJA.It is the smaller brother of the Ki Pro. AJA makes great stuff and provides wonderful support. Its advantage is that it creates Prores files that can be edited immediately in FCP. Instead of having to convert a bunch of files from MPEG to Prores. It just speeds up the process for editors. http://www.aja.com/products/kipro/ki-pro-mini/ki-pro-mini-description.php

Correction...$2400 plus transportation and room.

) Andrew, given the current state of the economy for many folks its very understandable. Half of the professionals I know (editors/production folks), are either battling declining rates or reduced hours or jobless. This is felt by folks in a broad range of occupations. I could see $5000 as tough to part with these days. Any potential operator reading some of the very incisive and informative discussions relating to rates on this web site might think twice about choosing this career. And for a newbie the risks are greater due to a variety of factors (inexperience, lack of contacts, limited funds,etc.)

If you research on Google you will see that many folks dont screw right into the camera directly. They mount a metal plate designed for this purpose onto the camera, then attach a dovetail (for stabilizers) or quick releases to this plate. This avoids any damage to the camera body / screw assembly if force is exerted on the somewhat wimpy thread assembly by the screw. Then the camera has to go to the factory to repair that assembly and its a pain in the butt. DM Accessories metal plate for the EX3 is what I use to avoid this issue. http://shop.dm-accessories.com/products/ex3-plate

New link to video. Watch it full screen at You tube for best experience. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NG1wdwYK7o

Eric Brul was at IBC and had these observations on the Zephyr and the Scout. http://hbsboard.com/index.php/topic,4716.new.html#new

The video has been removed and this is why http://www.theonlineengineer.org/TheOLEBLOG/

ROTFL!

View this full screen... http://bit.ly/dt3Mxv

So Robin you responded to James and Armandos questions.....any response for me as well?

I was out cruising on my motorcycle in search of some coffee early this morning. Imagine my surprise when I bumped into Lynn (Nicholson) at the Starbucks in Summerlin Las Vegas. It was nice to chat a bit before the coffee buzz motivated me out the door and back on the bike. Weekend mornings is the safest time to cruise here in Vegas. Otherwise you take your life in your hands with some of these wacky drivers.

So, when will the Zephyr be available for purchase????

Charles, here is an Abel Cine Tech blog that mentions the video issues you alluded to as being related to a recent firmware update by BM (1.5). They are aware of the issues and suggest a solution . http://blog.abelcine.com/2010/05/26/blackmagic-design-hdmi-to-sdi-downgrade/

Glad to help out.

There is another plug that I found which after wired closes like a clam shell but it was very cheaply manufactured and fell apart before I even had a chance to use it. Its yellow and black and can be seen on this product. http://www.warmcards.com/DC1.html But from my experience I would not recommend it.

Here you go Nick. I went thru the same process. I purchased the stinger from here http://shop.dm-accessories.com/products/ex-cord then got the lemo from Glidecam and had Siggy at Clairmont Camera to build me a wonderful cable which allowed me to power the EX3 off the rigs second AB battery. I needed to do this to allow the weight of the batteries to be configured in a manner that allowed me to get a good balance and gimbal placement in low mode. Call the owner up. Hes been very helpful in the past.

Ive made a custom light weight "running" rig out of the Glidecam X-10 system specifically for use with the Canon 5D . The post was modified at a machine shop to allow me to run the necessary HDMI cable thru it. I use the smallHD DP-1 monitor taking the HDMI feed with no conversion. The image is pretty spectacular both in the Preview and the Record modes. The monitor does not work well out in sunlight since I believe its only 400 nit. But for inside use on appropriate projects the image is very useful.

Hi Robert: To quote Jimmy Durante "What a revoltin' development this is". Just to make sure I understand...this person is charging $2500 for a FULL WEEK?