Andrew Boch Posted October 12, 2006 Report Share Posted October 12, 2006 Hi, I am realy new on the stadicam field and have a lot of questions, but today's dilema is what monitor i have to get for my steadicam shooting. Using HVX200 and for the next project going to shoot only HD. Found myself struggling to get nicely focused footage. What is usual setup for the steadicam operator to get his picture sharp? do you have two monitors: one on the rig just to see what you shoot and other big and high resolution to get idea about focus settings? Or do you use one monitor for both tasks? what will you recommend as low budged monitor? I have Glidecam 4000, Smooth Shooter, Redrock M2 35mm lens adapter, HVX200 and no any monitor at the time. thank you for any idea, suggestion Andrew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Steve Fracol SOC Posted October 12, 2006 Premium Members Report Share Posted October 12, 2006 Andrew, With the HVX 200 you can monitor from the camera in standard Def so any LCD monitor or Green Screen monitor should work if I remember correctly. The Panasonic 7" (although out of production now days) is a great monitor to use if you can find one. Try www.nebtek.com. I just bought one recently from them. They still had a few left in stock, under a grand I think. As for focus... if you have no camera dept. (no AC or Focus Puller) shoot a deep stop and a wide lens. If not an option, rent or buy a BFD. http://www.bartechengineering.com/ Good stuff that works very well and quite reasonable. Find someone on the set to run it and use a tape measure to find marks in relation to you, subject and your walking distance as you move. I think you can buy a gear to go on the HVX lens and I hear it works pretty well. You will also need a motor and a way to mount it. Ahhh, revert to deep stop and wide lens. As for the real HD job down the road (VIper, CineAlta, VariCam or others) you can still use that same LCD monitor as long as you add a down-converter in line to the camera. Tell production or the producer that you MUST have this. Not an option unless they can supply you with a real HD monitor. Then you gotta figure out how to mount it on your sled. If that is the case I like the 9" Panasonic HD monitor but it is pretty heavy. My favorite is the HD UltraBright by Tiffen. The HDSDI is now available I think. Might be way overkill for your sled however. Other issue if your dealing with the Sony F 900. If no down-converter you have an RGB signal. That takes a different converter. Look at www.aja.com or www.miranda.com. http://www.aja.com/html/products_converters_mc.html As for down-converters I like to use the AJA HD10MD3 HDSDI to SDI/Composite converter when dealing with HDSDI signal. It is small and light and powers easily from most cameras or sleds. Other options that HD cameras will be supplied with if it is coming from a real rental house is the Miranda or Everts. Both are fine. You still need to get your hands on stuff in advance and make sure you have all the right connectors to do this. Prep, Prep, Prep. Can't say that enough. Don't just show up the day of the gig and expect to be ready in 15 minutes. Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions. Best, Steve Fracol, SOC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Erik Brul Posted October 12, 2006 Premium Members Report Share Posted October 12, 2006 Hi, I am realy new on the stadicam field and have a lot of questions, but today's dilema is what monitor i have to get for my steadicam shooting. Using HVX200 and for the next project going to shoot only HD. Found myself struggling to get nicely focused footage. What is usual setup for the steadicam operator to get his picture sharp? do you have two monitors: one on the rig just to see what you shoot and other big and high resolution to get idea about focus settings? Or do you use one monitor for both tasks? what will you recommend as low budged monitor? I have Glidecam 4000, Smooth Shooter, Redrock M2 35mm lens adapter, HVX200 and no any monitor at the time. thank you for any idea, suggestion Andrew Just saw that Steve already answered this post.., sorry. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Andrew, First of all, welcome on this great forum. When you are shooting with a broadcast or filmlens(35mm), the only way to keep the footage sharp is a remote focus system. A system like Preston or Bartech. These are remote focus pull knobs with transmitter and on top of the sled you should place a motor (m-one) on the M2 rods and this motor will turn the focus ring on the lens : left or right. This motor is ofcourse connected to a receiver which is also placed on the sled. Above the camera for example. As far as I know, the total weight of your mentioned system is already at the max of the Smooth Shooter/GC 4000 combination which is 10 lbs. A motor and receiver with cables would bring the total weight over the top. So BE CAREFULL !!! When you are consider to buy a monitor, a nice one would be the Glidecam L7-Pro. This monitor can flip the image, so when looking at the picture coming from the Camera with M2 adapter, the picture is not up site down. There are enough other options.. but as mentioned before, the weight would be to much for your GC Rig. Best, Erik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Mikko Wilson Posted October 18, 2006 Premium Members Report Share Posted October 18, 2006 It might also be wise to evaluate if you really wish to use a 35mm adapter for your Steadicam shots. It brings a lot of extra headaches that could be avaoided by just using the camera's own lens and embracing the deep DoF from the 1/3" chips. 35mm adapters on 1/3" HD cameras on Steadicam ... the new indy fad. bonus points for building it all yourself. :rolleyes: - Mikko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soren k jensen Posted October 19, 2006 Report Share Posted October 19, 2006 I agree with the above. One addition: I use a Flyer, and am experimenting with a Varizoom Rock-PZFI wired remote, mounted on the post, beneath the handle. Put on a larger wheel for focus. When working with the stock lense and deep DOF, it is possible to focus 'enough', particularly in sd, to keep things in the ballpark. Not enough for very critical work, hd, tight dof. The Flyer sd monitor is quite good, but learn to estimate distance by eye, and use the distance info on the lcd. I am, however, stupid newbie indie enough, to have bought a varizoom EFC that normally controls canon and fujinon lenses. Jim Bartell was very kind in directing me that way, as I can't have an assistant with me on what I do, and I need something wired, because of budget restraints. I am presently finding the right gears to interface with my mpic 35mm addapter and ff gear. As Mikko said, I am going for the indie stupid points, not for an academy award... Will keep you posted on how that goes. If it doesn't work on the Flyer, at least I'll have a remote for the 35mm adapter, when mounted on jib or crane etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diego Galvez Posted December 16, 2006 Report Share Posted December 16, 2006 I am, however, stupid newbie indie enough, to have bought a varizoom EFC that normally controls canon and fujinon lenses. Jim Bartell was very kind in directing me that way, as I can't have an assistant with me on what I do, and I need something wired, because of budget restraints. I am presently finding the right gears to interface with my mpic 35mm addapter and ff gear. As Mikko said, I am going for the indie stupid points, not for an academy award... Will keep you posted on how that goes. If it doesn't work on the Flyer, at least I'll have a remote for the 35mm adapter, when mounted on jib or crane etc. Hi Soren, i understand you, i took the same route as you did, i bought a VZ EFC and tried to modify it to work with the RedRockMicro system, today i have finished it after a month of headaches... But it worths it! I am using it with the FSPRO system. You can read more in this thread: http://redrockmicro.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1778 The next step is a (silent, affordable) wireless remote control based on a digital servo and i am working a lot to release a prototype by now. I think i will have some results in a little time. If you have questions about the development of this low cost wireless remote focus prototype or questions about the Varizoom EFC route, i will be happy to help... just write me to remotefollowfocus at google mail dot com Greetings Diego Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Erwin Landau Posted December 17, 2006 Premium Members Report Share Posted December 17, 2006 Cheaper then $1850.- for a Bartech? Sorry but you get what you pay for, ask any Stanton user... Erwin "Shut up you... Preston user" Landau Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diego Galvez Posted December 17, 2006 Report Share Posted December 17, 2006 Cheaper then $1850.- for a Bartech?Sorry but you get what you pay for, ask any Stanton user... Hi Erwin, yes it must be well under $1850. Of course, for pro people i believe the Bartech ($1850) + the Hedén motor ($2000 more?) may be the optimal solution for focus pulling when using a stabilizer, but i believe there are a lot of independent filmmakers out there filming HDV with a 35mm adapter like us that cannot spend the same amount of money in the HDV camera than in the remote focus system, in my opinion it is just insane... it is just not affordable for us... And sometimes, you can get even more features for less money, i am not very experienced because i am just starting with stabilizers, but... let's take this example: can you tell me why should i pay $3900 for the Glidecam V16 when i can get the Frédéric Savard's FSPRO under $2300 even with more features? OK, maybe this is not as well sold/tested/used as the Glidecam, but i own a unit and although i did not test the Glidecam or another models like the Flyer and as i said, i am just a newbie, for me it seems to work fine at a fraction of others cost. Don't you agree? Diego Gálvez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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