Arri D-20 Power Requirements

[Stephen Consentino]

Eric-

Thanks for the update. Who made your cable for the Archos AV500 on-board DVR??

 

Thanks,

 

 

Stephen Consentino

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

Thanks for the update. Who made your cable for the Archos AV500 on-board DVR??

 

 

That would be me.

 

Instructions are here

[Mako Koiwai]

The IVS advantages are viewing of the groundglass and the overscan that we are used to with an optical viewfinder, and no downconversion video delay. The disadvantages are sometimes a noisy image due to gain at thick f-stops and the flicker free "Smear".

 

Lots of people don't realize that you can often get a better IVS image by going into Manual Mode ... have the Video Iris as wide open as possible ... and use the Up and Down arrows from the "menu" controls to set the IVS exposure. Sometimes one also needs to use the Video Iris in conjunction with the Manual arrows. You can get a brighter more colorful cleaner image ... often.

 

Mako, Sharpening plus trying to set the best video image possible, since the beginning, Glendale, CA

[JamesSainthill]

Hey all,

Just a quick question with reguards to the Arri D20 Flashmag.

 

Has anyone used one (with the D-20) and if so, can you go into a little detail on how and where you mounted it?

 

I was also wondering if you thought it was overkill and hardwired instead?

 

 

Thanks,

J.St.Hill

[Richard W. Davis]

I shot a pilot with the D20 at the begininng of the summer(alright late spring)...And the flashdrive was not "allowed, or ready" to be used. My understanding was that Completion Bond insurance had not signed onto their use yet. Don't know the validity or accuracy of that story but passing it along to you as I was told. So i never flew it.

 

That being said...flying with a lightweight bnc was nothing with this camera and it flys and balances very very well. I got my tune up info from Eric Fletcher and he was very accurate. Search the forum and I believe you will find his first post regarding the D20. For us it is great...for the Dp's and ISO (or ASA or EI) of 160 or so not so great.

 

All the best,

 

Richard Davis

LA

[James Puli]

Have a look on Howard's MK-V website. There are pics from IBC last year with his Nexus sled and the Grass Valley flash mag thing mounted to the botton of the Sled. Was a pretty heavy setup from what I can remember. The other downside that I noticed was that so you could get a "live" picture through the camera, it camera had to be running. And to record you have to hit the record button on the drive rahter then the camera. Seemed strange to me. Ah well.

 

http://www.mk-v.com/gallery.htm

 

JP

Edited July 31, 2007 by James Puli

[Alan Mehlbrech]

maybe the pictures are below??

 

Alan

[Brad Grimmett]

maybe the pictures are below??

 

Alan

That doesn't look fun to fly or balance. Surely they'll come up with something better for steadicam.....

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

maybe the pictures are below??

 

Alan

That doesn't look fun to fly or balance. Surely they'll come up with something better for steadicam.....

 

 

They have, I've been talking with Stephan Bradley at Arri and he's not leaving us out in the cold on this one

[Elliott Yancey]

OK dumb newbie question of the day...

 

what is a flashmag?

 

I could not find it on ARRI's site. I think it is a digital recording device, but is that instead of film or is it more for playback? Am I to believe that ARRI has entered the digital camera world? Is this a sign of things to come?

 

 

Sorry for the stupid questions but I am just trying my best to stay current and informed.

 

Thanks,

 

Elliott

[Erik Brul]

OK dumb newbie question of the day...

 

what is a flashmag?

 

I could not find it on ARRI's site. I think it is a digital recording device, but is that instead of film or is it more for playback? Am I to believe that ARRI has entered the digital camera world? Is this a sign of things to come?

 

 

Sorry for the stupid questions but I am just trying my best to stay current and informed.

 

Thanks,

 

Elliott

 

Hi Elliot,

Stupid questions don't excist, stupid answers do.. :rolleyes:

A Flashmag is indeed a digital recording device or a Solid State Recorder. like a external harddrive but 'compact build' .

Several digital 'cinema' camera's use it like the Arri, the Thomson Viper. Normally the camera's are just body's without any recordingdevice in them. You record via a heavy multicore or at least 2 coax cables which are attached to a remote recording device like a HDCAM SR or other HD recording equipment.

 

You can imagine that cables when useing a dolly or crane should not be a problem, useing a Steadicam it does !

I think almost for this reason they came up with a Flashmag. A negative thing is that those Flashmags don't have super storage, but how much i don't know. Sofar i known it was for the Thomson Viper (Venom pack) about 10 minutes in 4K filmstream.

 

Ofcourse there is more to come, Arri was not the first, but will also not be the last !!

 

Best, Erik

 

ps. correct me if i'm wrong guys...

[JamesSainthill]

Hey Eric,

Do you know if they have a mount that will allow the Flashmag to be placed on the rear, in the same fashion as an arri 435/ 535 steadicam mag?

 

Since I have a Pro II sled - I'm playing around with the idea of mounting the Flashmag to my front anton bauer battery plate in order to keep the weight of the FM as close to the bottom of the sled as possible.

 

Any thoughts?

 

BTW - thanks all for the thoughts and comments so far.

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

Hey Eric,

Do you know if they have a mount that will allow the Flashmag to be placed on the rear, in the same fashion as an arri 435/ 535 steadicam mag?

 

Since I have a Pro II sled - I'm playing around with the idea of mounting the Flashmag to my front anton bauer battery plate in order to keep the weight of the FM as close to the bottom of the sled as possible.

 

It will be rear mounted for steadicam/handheld use.

 

The problem with mounting it at the bottom of the rig is the cable for the flash mag. It's a small high integrity cable that carries, power, control interface and data cables.

 

I'd be interested in how MK-V made it work (or they didn't and just shot the photo.....)

[Mike McGowan SOC]

I used the D20 for the first time today and I thought I would throw in my 2 cents. I wasn't really pleased with the camera on several levels. First, the hard wire. No flash mages so we ran a wire. Hard wired it seems I have 2 options, one is to give myself enough slack between the back of the camera and my vest that I can pan, tilt and boom as much as I want. The problem with that is the weight of the cable throws off the balance of the rig. No big deal you might say but if your doing a precision move on a longer lenses every little thing matters. If I go short between the back of the camera and my vest I have less problem with weight but I constantly end up compromising the shot to avoid the 'jerk'. Basically, I hate cable and do everything in my power to avoid using one, a steadicam is just (in my humble opinion) not designed to be leashed. That being said, I never once complained about the cable and did my best to make nice shots.

 

The other option would be the flash mag which brings me to my next objection to the camera, weight. I must be a sissy boy but that thing is a frickin pig (and that's with no flash mag). I've used a genesis, a 535 and plenty of heavy stuff on my rig but I just cant understand why were making cameras heavier instead of lighter??? I'm a decent sized guy (5'11" 170 lbs) and heck I can do a one legged squat with a 435 on my rig (try it some time, it's not that easy) but I just think the weight is ridiculous, I can only imagine what it's like with the flash mag :blink:

 

Next is heat. Did they put some lava in each camera?!? That bad boy was hot on a whole new level. I was operating it in studio mode on a dolly and gave myself a nice burn when my right ear bumped the side of the camera. It was hot out and I know camera stuff gets hot when its in the sun but the heat seemed to be coming from the inside. It seems like the 12 miles of heat coils they put on the thing would do a better job (and we had 2 cameras both had the same issue).

 

I will give the thing credit for optics. Real optics in a video camera rox the house! Having to roll the camera to see is kind of wacky but not that big of a deal. I did nearly have a few heart attacks when I looked through the eyepiece in the middle of hour long lighting setups and saw the shutter speeding buy.

 

As video cameras go I guess it is an improvement in several ways over the other video options but I still couldn't stop thinking, "couldn't this have all been done for less money, with less time with an arricam lt?".

 

And yes, I know I sound like one of those 'anti video' types but that's just me spewing....... Next time I get a call to do a job with the D20, I'll be sure to tell the camera man, "yea, Ive worked with it before, its a great system, happy to use it again! :rolleyes: ".

 

mm.

[Mark Karavite]

"Hard wired it seems I have 2 options, one is to give myself enough slack between the back of the camera and my vest that I can pan, tilt and boom as much as I want. The problem with that is the weight of the cable throws off the balance of the rig. No big deal you might say but if your doing a precision move on a longer lenses every little thing matters. If I go short between the back of the camera and my vest I have less problem with weight but I constantly end up compromising the shot to avoid the 'jerk'."

 

Hey Mike,

 

I don't think anyone is a fan of flying a cable, but in the digital world, it's sometimes unavoidable. When you get into a Genesis, it will become both a weight and a power issue. As Eric described before, I find that securing the cable directly above the gimbal helps minimize the pulling effect. I let it fall just behind the gimbal, and loop a couple feet below the arm before it comes back up and attaches to the vest. Having the loop still gives you a pull, but it is a more constant pull, basically from the weight of the cable. I find that I am continually tweeking my donkey box, but I rarely have horizon issues due to the cable, if I'm dialed in properly.

 

The cable does hinder switching to Don Juan, and there are just some shots (like tight stairways) that are a major pain while cabled. For the most part, I'd rather deal with the cable than deal with a power hungry, heavy pig of a camera. To me, it seems like the lesser of 2 evils.

 

Mark