Premium Members Eric Fletcher S.O.C. Posted October 4, 2010 Premium Members Report Share Posted October 4, 2010 Great conversation guys. Things are changing. For a long time, I was horrified by a focus puller that wanted a monitor, but these are brave new times. On my current show, "Blue Bloods", my focus puller, Tom Bracone, is doing an amazing job using the set-up pictured here. He tries to set it up in a place where he can keep an eye on the actors as well as the monitor but this does not always happen. Neat set-up. Preston HU3 attached to a gobo head via a Manfrotto clamp. Panasonic HD monitor with BOXX HD wireless receiver attached. Pretty much exactly what my Focus puller on Dexter (Brad Richard) has been using for the last three seasons Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Morgan Moore Posted October 4, 2010 Report Share Posted October 4, 2010 (edited) My guess is that we will see a rough-and-ready version of touchscreen focus within a few years that will not be good enough for "serious" work but will satisfy the unwashed masses; how long it takes for this technology to mature where it bests the abilities of the top focus pullers, who knows. My view from 20 years shooting stills - I started as a teen with manual focus doing night football before AF was invented, getting anything sharp was a personal victory and the sign of starting to be a 'pro' After professional grumblings about 'proper skills' we all went to AF, because is it just way better in 80%-95% of situations It made tele work on a moving subject possible - even for the soccer mom - or 20 year old newb lowballing 'pro' - quartering fees for being a sports photographer and ruining sports photography as a sustainable profession at anything but the highest level my nikon D3 today, which is probably the best AF ever still fails me, mainly backlit in the dark - exactly when I need help Face rec on conpact cams seems amazing with a wide in the stills world I still think there is little 'professional design' to AF systems For example the lack of ability to set the range, of the shot (eg 3-10m) to stop the shot killer of the lens hunting to a macro setting So the actual situation is the best stills AF is 90% good but you still need manual for 'artistic reasons' or technology baffling situations - backlight, shooting through a foreground or picking a face in a crowd so a system with no manual would be useless - and thats just for stills - unless of course the client is happy with 80-90% focus for 50% of cost - which lots are -the reason Im leveraging a change of profession away from stills SMM Edited October 4, 2010 by Sam Morgan Moore Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members JimBartell Posted October 4, 2010 Premium Members Report Share Posted October 4, 2010 Clairmont is currently demo-ing exactly what Charles is talking about. I don't know if you or the others in this discussion are aware these already exist, Charles, or if you're just a genius. Maybe both? Maybe neither? The thing at Clairmont has a touch screen, a mouse, and a focus knob (IIRC). As far as I'm concerned it is pretty cool, but far too bulky in general, definitely too bulky for steadicam. The sensor box is enormous and sits above the lens. They have it mounted to an 6x6 studio Mattebox, I dunno if that's the only way to do it or not. Come to think, it's probably no worse than having a large light panel on the rig, so maybe Steadicam use is not out of the question. They also have it hard wired, I dunno if it's wireless too. I think it's branded Moviecam, which makes me wonder why it's not just branded Arri. This device was in the C-Motion booth at NAB. It's an amazing device combining laser range finding with the video image coming from the camera. Click on a spot in the image and get distance readout (and I assume focus control) immediately. It does have a few drawbacks ($75,000 price, suitcase-sized control unit, shoebox-sized sensor array) but it is an amazing device. Jim Bartell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Burton Posted October 4, 2010 Report Share Posted October 4, 2010 One thing you can bet on is if it's that big now it will be the size of a packet of fags in 5 years time :o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Brian Freesh Posted January 17, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 This is what I was referring to: http://www.fdtimes.com/news/cameras/easyfocus/ Pretty cool start, I'd say. It'll be interesting to see what, if anything, comes of this kind of device. Onviously not for Steadicam use as of yet (as probably already mentioned) but I can definitely see advantages to it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Sydney Seeber Posted January 17, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 what I was referring to I bet some dude out there is currently hacking a Kinect for a low (low low low) budget alternative to that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Eric Fletcher S.O.C. Posted January 18, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 This is what I was referring to: http://www.fdtimes.com/news/cameras/easyfocus/ Pretty cool start, I'd say. It'll be interesting to see what, if anything, comes of this kind of device. Onviously not for Steadicam use as of yet (as probably already mentioned) but I can definitely see advantages to it! Brian you know the price on that unit? $75,000 No follow focus is worth Seventy Five Large Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Brian Freesh Posted January 18, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 Brian you know the price on that unit? $75,000 No follow focus is worth Seventy Five Large I wasn't planning on buying one. :) A start is a start. If it was $500k I'd still be interested to see where, if anywhere, this leads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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