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Panavision Genesis


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Might be a big help Ron, especially if you can tune it to record 4:4:4 video.

 

The general wisdom is that the Genesis is fine with receivers (i.e. Comteks), both of my shows with it there has been a Comtek velcroed to the deck to lay down scratch track. It doesn't like transmitters much but it seems to be dependent on distance--I am able to fly the Modulus, but only at the bottom of the rig. Haven't had any issues with wireless mikes yet. Nor the Preston for that matter (although obviously not RF).

 

I will go on record that after 9 weeks on one show and 5 on another, I have yet to see an obvious and traceable interference issue based on the implied vulnerability of separating the camera and deck.

 

Another thing I forgot to mention is that Panavision now has hard frame backpack units for the deck and "toaster" (the mating dock for the deck), complete with battery mount.

 

If anyone gets to go on a show that actually can afford the fiber system, please post your results!

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Hi All,

 

OK. Finally, time to face the music. I'm starting to prep a movie w/ the beast. Al Meyer Jr. and Dominic Aiello at Woodland Hills confirmed that the Modulus transmitter is fine as long as it doesn't come into contact w/ the body of the camera or the VTR deck casing.

 

Certainly, the kino/HMI ballasts are to be avoided.

 

As far as obie lights go... no ballasts. LED panels are therefore a good option. However if they are dimmed, the Genesis sees a color shift in the LED's although this is not supposed to happen according to LED law. The Genesis will photograph dimmed LED's w/ a purple hue. So, don't dim them, diffuse them or put ND gel on them to decrease output.

 

Weight: Genesis body 14 lbs - VTR deck 14 lbs. 28lbs total without a lens, just deck and camera body.

27mm Primo 4lbs + mattbox + focus motors + cinetape? = 35+lb boat anchor! oi vey. Insane.

 

I shudder at the cable option of separating the deck and now having to power that and the camera and have conga line chasing me around. HATE that. How bad is it Charles? w/ the deck separated? No fiber optics, just regular coax x2 to the deck.

 

The integrated downconverter w/ the 4:4:4 and 4:2:2 is genius and beautiful. One less thing to worry about mounting and cabling. It also is the pigtail that you come off if you separate the VTR deck. Nice.

 

I'm contemplating the IDX to Anton Bauer plate adaptors and making a power cube order - so what is the deal with the secret Anton Bauer batteries??? Brant???

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The Panavision fiber system that we used last summer was single channel of HD-SDI, which means running dual cables for 4:4:4--pretty silly, considering how much signal you can run through fiber. As Eric says, the ideal would be to place the deck at engineering and not have the crazy looking jet propulsion backpack following you around via unhappy grip/AC. Certainly the fiber would be better than the dual coax, which Panavision insists must be solid-core and thus not nearly as flexible as we would like (their provided cables are reasonably thin and reasonably flexible, but not enough of either to become invisible).

 

So how bad is it? My personal feeling was that between the weight and power issues of the one-piece rig, the annoyance of cabling was worth it. Some guys don't care how much weight they carry. Some seem to welcome it. Guess it's a macho thing, I don't know. Seeing as probably half the time I wear a rig during the day is time where nothing is actually going on (i.e. the AD calls for you to put it up, then a last second conference occurs etc.), that's a lot of time to have the spinal meter running with a camera heavier than the ones we've been "just saying no" to for the past 10 years. Ultimately it's a personal choice. I felt that there was about a 5% compromise for most shots having to fly a cable. Sometimes I didn't notice it, other times it it was worse than that. I should point out that on both of the shows I've done, the DP's have insisted on being hard-wired during takes, so I didn't have a choice of going one-piece and wireless.

 

Will, probably best to try it both ways in your prep and see which way "speaks" to you the best. Curious to hear what that may be.

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The Panavision fiber system that we used last summer was single channel of HD-SDI, which means running dual cables for 4:4:4--pretty silly, considering how much signal you can run through fiber.

 

 

Hrrrmmmm that may have been the system that Jim Hurwitz was telling me about. It's not a Telecast system BTW. The Copperhead will pass a 4:4:4 signal over a single fiber. Jim was also telling me about a Dual link Fiber they have that is more for redundancy that bandwidth.

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Just for archival reasons I'm adding two links from the Batteries/Power section of the Board that went way into Genesis territory...:

 

XCS sled batteries:

 

http://www.steadicamforum.com/forums/index...=3908&st=15

 

 

MK-V and Power to the Genesis:

 

http://www.steadicamforum.com/forums/index...?showtopic=4599

 

 

 

Keeping it tidy,

 

 

Erwin

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The downconverter/SDI box on top does seem add quite a bit of height to the low-mode bracket, doesn't it. Unfortunate.

 

The Genesis does have an internal image flip, but I never got a definitive answer from Panavision if it causes any issues with picture (it does cause a slight delay, only an issue when it comes to audio synching and monitoring on set. We kept meaning to shoot some tests but never got around to it. If this does work OK, it would make a very attractive low mode option.

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"And as said here the first dual battery plate made by Panavision for the Genesis. It balances actually very well and puts the "Film Plane" directly over the center post."

 

That looks like a huge step in the right direction. Curious, does Panavision own any Dionic 90s or are we supposed to supply them?

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Panavision has a mountain of them and Hytron 140's and IDX 9's and 10's. I must say they were very helpful in getting hold of good batteries and supplying lots of chargers etc. So all my batts and chargers will stay in their case for this movie. Absolutely the onus falls on Panavision. They created this monster they must supply a battery that powers it and lots of them. Ours would be thrashed after one show.

 

Word to the wise. Make sure you get batts w/ low cycles on them. The difference between a Dionic 90 with 30 cycles vs 60 cycles is being able to run for 30 mins or maybe 5 mins respectively. Again, Greg Bubb w/ the hard facts and the much appreciated time and effort to go and make the tests.

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