Anthony Miles
Forum Replies Created
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I traveled to China Last year and we hired a documentary crew for like $1000 USD a week. It ended up being an “experienced High end documentary videographer” and a DVX-100 PAL. Exaggeration is very common in my limited experience. I took a Sony HVR-Z1U and shot a great deal of HDV footage myself and had no trouble, ever. We had a great time and video many of the sites including the Great Wall and Forbidden City and Shaolin in Deng Fung. The video I shot saved the project as the Chinese production company claimed their gear and our footage was stolen. They asked us to pay for their gear even though we had been long back in the USA, they were supposed to edit the footage down. We never got anything more than a very low quality web version.
This is based on my experience and may not reflect the Chinese way.
I would say beware the crew you hire in China. I think you are wise to hire local crew but unless you speak fluent Chinese you will also need to hire a proficient translator. You usually get the low ball price then you get upgrade price if you pay up-front. I recommend paying in phases as they are completed. Be prepared to have the deal change as you go along. Chinese business is sometimes a bit different than the way we think of business. Get as much as you think you can get, if it looks like you can get more do try to work the situation to get more. I would say if you can get a good referral from someone for a production company that has treated an American producer fairly that is the best thing.
Rates in China a few years ago were amazing and labor and food was incredibly inexpensive. This may be changing with the Dollar and with the Olympics coming.
Much of the gear they have is PAL, so be prepared to deal with that.
Good luck and have a great time.
Anthony Miles
DP, editor -
Thanks for all the info. I am specifically asking as I really like the EX1 and would like to have it for my primary camera. I need to be ale to get DV dubs from time to time based on client demand for delivery.
Thanks to all.
Anthony Miles
DP, editor -
Thanks. I have tried advanced format conversion in compressor, takes about .5 realtime with no aliasing or frame control filtration. Gives The DV NTSC converted footage a little aliasing to my eye. Used XDCAM dropped into a DV NTSC timeline in FCP 6 and it seems to have similar results but is pretty much real-time. Used flicker filter and anti aliasing filters and get render-ville. Not practical for a client walk away shoot, where they are asking for DV. I can capture via HD-SDI to DV with Black Magic HD extreme and that may be a workable solution using down-convert on capture via Black Magic HD-SDI. This requires the Mac workstation and not the laptop however so it would not work when traveling. This would probably be a workable solution about 85% of the time. Unfortunately, I believe Black Magic does not ingest time-code via HD-SDI so if the TC was logged in the field the notes would be made with non matching timecode. Any ideas are welcome.
Anthony Miles
DP, editor -
If anyone is interested, I was back at cinevate.com after some time and… and it appears they are making strides with brevis35 and accesories.
I got as response form their guys based on an email in a few minutes on wanting to order their flip module for the Brevis.
Also, it appears there is more and better information available for people to get up and running with the little Techie Gizmo.
As soon as it is available, (2-3 weeks they say) I will most likely buy the flip option, as It would make a huge work flow improvement for the lens adapter shooting use in my business. They claim only an added .2 stops of light loss with the flip option. Which would be very usable for me.
Best to all,
Anthony Miles -
Thanks Todd.
I have enjoyed ready your posts here and appreciate the feed back on the Mini35 XLH1 combo, I really like the H1. and can see the power of that combination. For me it would be a rental for sure.This is why I was so interested in the Letus XL, as it mounted directly to the H1 and had the flip. I think it was $900-1200, but money that was basically thrown away.
Happy Holiday,
Anthony Miles -
Thanks Todd,
Do you have to calimate the P+S technic or does it just hold with PL mount lenses?For everyone else interested in adapters:
For what it is worth, I think Cinevate has a new lens mount for Brevis35 that helps with this, but I am not into just dropping another 200-300 bucks to find out as suggested by the company as I was disappointed the way it worked when I first purchased it? I thought the thing should just work, and it was really disclosed how this worked prior to purchasing. (Maybe, I am just a sissy. The new version may just do that) It does give great results after you get it set up. I just don’t trust myself to calimate the lens on this type of devise. Sure, I can set back focus on an HDW f-900 with a broadcast lens no problem, but that seems much simpler to properly execute repeatably.
If they offered me a healthy discount to send my Brevis35 HD in and get an upgrade I would do it in a second. And if I could get that flip I would do that as well, then it would be much more user friendly. Sorry this is a bit of a Rant. I just get tired of products that are marketed and sold and are not quite all the way there (which it may be now). In my experience the Letus XL was the worst, as it was so close to being fantastic for not to much money. At least Cinevate has a forum for support and will respond to email within a day or two.
The RedRock M2 did just work once set up, but it needed quite a bit more light. We used it on a JVC and were able to hack the viewfinder, flipped the LCD 180, so I could operate handheld without an external monitor. Worked like a charm. That flip is a valuable piece of the equation to me.
My advice to anyone interested in getting a lens adapter would be:
If you have the money to throw at it to test go for it, if you are tight at all, I would go post on their boards to see if you could rent one in your area to try it before you buy. That will save you a bit of buyers remorse and you will understand what you are getting into, especially without a flip option.
Cheers,
Anthony Miles -
For what it si worth, I used a letus Xl on an XLH1 and we cold see the grain pattern very noticeably on most of the shots which were exteriors, and it was most noticeable where there were light areas in the frame say above 65 IRE. Very disconcerting. I think their manufacturing may be quite inconsistent. Also, Quen was not very helpful and said that is just the way it is when asked if that was normal and if we could get it fixed or replaced once he finally responded to an email after 2 or 3 weeks. Beware. The shallow depth of field and bokeh in footage was extremely promising, but unusable in any work related projects because of the visible grain pattern. And yes the screen motor was on. I own a Brevis35 and have shot with the M2 as well and neither of them have this issue.
Take care,
Anthony Miles -
Todd,
I have a Brevis 35 and have gotten both very good and some not so great results.1. User error. Really make sre you have decent monitoring as on the Canon camera line the viewfinder/view-screen LCD (XHA1 and XLH1) and on an SD monitor it is very difficult to see if the element is vibrating. So don’t forget to double check that you turned it on. 🙂 Sounds silly but on a set that is working fast, under pressure, not hard to forget when you are new to adapters. I made the mistake f relying on a Sony portable SD Field monitor and had both focus issues and a few shots where the screen was not moving.
Not sure if you have actually tried to turn a Canon camera upside down but unfortunately they are smart little electronic devices and seem to recognize and compensate by flipping the image right side up, very strange (HV20 and XHA1). I would like to know if yours does this as well.
The lens mount is a bit tricky as well, as you have to set the lens calimation/back focus yourself. Unlike a standard video camera lens you have to make sure you have it set exactly right otherwise your focus marks based on distance will not be accurate. So if you are relying on measured focus you could be in for a nasty surprise.
The light loss is quite minimal with fast still lenses in my experience. I used nikon mount still lenses with maybe a half stop of light loss, minimal, I was amazed as I had used another adapter and had much more light loss. Also, it is amazing what you can do with a wide still lens as far as field of view compared to the onboard lenses on the little HD cameras.
That said once you have it set up and have practiced the workflow you can get some really nice looks. Really helps cut the video edge when shooting 24p material. IMHO, the Brevis 35 is not for he timid or rushed. By the way, I would be very interested in selling my Brevis as I just don’t use it that much. It is in great shape.
Hope that helps.
Anthony Miles -
Thanks, got it. I will ty it. I actually have Squeeze so I am going to have to purchase Episode to make this work. Not sure if I was clear about that. I very well may end up purchasing Eposide today or tommorow. Is this for the pro version or does it matter??
Thanks,
Anthony -
Thank you Craig.
email = anthony at 4thwalltvandfilm dot com