P2 classes vs SxS classes

[Derek Hall]

The course seems undervalued; $375 would be better value.
Needs a fourth day practical test on what participants learned in the first two days.
Certificated of course.

[Rafael Amador]

Steve,
I want the franchise of your school for Southeast Asia.
How much you want?
BTW, tomorrow I’l fly in a helicopter with the EX-1, any tip?

Mac OX 10.5.2-FC 6.02-QT 7.4.1
G5 2x2Gh 4GbRAM-BlackMagic Extreme
PMBP 17″Core2Duo 4GbRAM-AJA ioHD
JVC DTV-17″
SONY EX-1 . SONY PD170
..and always a big mess on top of the table.

[Steve Wargo]

[Rafael Amador] “tomorrow I’l fly in a helicopter with the EX-1, any tip?”

Here’s my story: In 2003, I was hired to shoot the entire Pima Indian Reservation from a chopper. I worked with a Hopi producer named Patty. A former news anchor, she was on her game and we did quite a few jobs together. When we’d get in the chopper, I would wear a cross harness that formed an X in the front and in the rear with a ring in the center of my back. The chopper has a large strap wrapped around the column for the rotor shaft and she would snap me in before we took off.

After about two and a half hours, I was standing on the step, outside the helicopter and we were flying in a slow circle over the Indian’s outdoor mall. I was leaning a bit over center but wanted to lean a little more to shoot the area under and behind us. usually, I just throw myself out to where the strap’s limit is but something didn’t feel right. I sat down in the seat and asked Patty to cinch the strap a little tighter. She responded with “Oh, I forgot to snap that silly thing.” So, my first advice is this: “Don’t fall out of the helicopter”.

On the more serious side, find out if it’s a 2 blade or 3 blade copter. The 2 blade units like Bell Rangers, shake from side to side. The French made 3 bladed Airstar is smoother. If it’s a Robinson R-22, enhance your life insurance by double and say goodby to the people who count. If it’s a 44, you might be ok. My last flight was in an old cropduster unit that had the pilot in the middle and I sat on the right side with the still photographer on his left.

Don’t forget to ask the pilot if his nickname is “Crash”.

Turn your steadyshot on.

A recording at 60i will get rid of some of the shadow flash. That is the shadow that happens when the blades rotate.

Take your windmuff off or tape it down.

Go the the bathroom before taking off.

If you have a producer with you, have a monitor for them to watch.

Now, here’s a trick I use to communicate with the producer or pilot: I plug a lav mic into the camera and tape it inside my earcup on the helicopter headsets. This way, I can talk to the pilot and the producer. The producer is watching the handheld monitor and directing the shots. And the whole thing is being recorded for later. That way, there is a running dialog about everything we shot.

I try to wear a steadi stick so the camera has some support under it.

And lastly, Don’t Fall Out Of the Helicopter.

Before you land, ask the pilot to do a “dip”.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
2-Sony EX-1 HD .

[Don Greening]

Beware of helicopters: they are basically 60,000 parts flying in formation. I’ve seen them thrash themselves to death just sitting on the taxi way.

– Don

[Rafael Amador]

Is a pity. I will have not producer to throw through the window.
They will make me fly at 2PM to shot a reservoir. I was thinking to use a Polarizer filter because we gonna have lot of light and reflexes. But I think is a risk. They want to shoot many things in a short time, so I will have not much time to adjust.
I this country there are only two helicopter companies. One Australian with very nice AS350B2.
But they are fully booked. The other company (Lao) I know they fly soviet MING.
Tuesday I hope I can report how the EX-1 behaved.

Mac OX 10.5.2-FC 6.02-QT 7.4.1
G5 2x2Gh 4GbRAM-BlackMagic Extreme
PMBP 17″Core2Duo 4GbRAM-AJA ioHD
JVC DTV-17″
SONY EX-1 . SONY PD170
..and always a big mess on top of the table.

[Alan Lacey]

Rafael,

I saw some postings about the poor rolling shutter of the EX1 when used for this sort of thing. Please post back with your experiences.

Alan

[Steve Wargo]

The AS350B2 is a 3 blade helicopter that is perfect for your job.

But, I wonder if the Russian unit is this one: https://www.liveleak.com/view?i=80b_1200767345

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
2-Sony EX-1 HD .

[David Roth weiss]

Rafael,

If you chopper happens to be the Hind that Steve is recommending, just make sure to use your polarizing filter and make certain that image stabilization is turned on too. The pola filter won’t really help in that situation, and neither will the image stabilzation, but why leave a good pola filter behind for somebody else to use after you’re gone.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[Ken Hon]

Aloha Alan,

We fly all the time with the EX-1 mounted on a FigRig with a Kenyon Labs KS-8 gyro and have no problems at all. I’ve seen the footage, but my take is that it would have been unusable anyway. It must have been very severe shake. I don’t think this camera has any problems that any other small camera doesn’t have.

Aloha,

Ken

[Derek Hall]

Ken, how do you mount the EX1 to the FigRig with a KS8? Thanks. Derek