[Bob Cole]

Canare L-2.5CHD 3G/HD-SDI Cable with 1.0/2.3 DIN to BNC Male Connectors

The DIN end (the thin end that connects to the Video Assist) has a locking mechanism. If you hold the whole thing you can’t pull it out – by design.

You have to hold just the middle part of the connector and pull straight out.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Hi Blaise, Leslie:

Thank you. I’m looking for a case I can take on the plane, or in a vehicle. I’m willing to remove accessories for the sake of a smaller case; the Porta Brace “RIG” allows you to keep the viewfinder, lens, and handgrip on, but at the cost of a very large case.

priorities:

1. MUST be able to keep a lens on the camera; the biggest one I use is the Sony 18-110 zoom.
2. PREFER to have enough vertical space to keep a medium-sized shoulder mount on the bottom of the camera. (Currently the Zacuto VCT – possibly will change this but the footprint will be similar.)
3. PREFER to keep handgrip (folded up is okay) on camera.
4. WOULD LIKE (but can live without) to be able to keep viewfinder on camera.

Also: sometimes I have to take a short drive for repositioning, and would like to be able to plop the built-up camera in a case, even if it is “hanging out” a bit.

Thanks! Very curious what other FS7 users are doing.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

[Erik Anschicks] “not much in the way of ventilation in those units and a heat sink module would be pretty impractical”

Thanks Erik. You are absolutely correct about the design issue. I have found one LED lamp that will fit (Westinghouse 03187), but I haven’t bought it to test. The spec sheet shows a very low output, and CRI 80.

The VisionSmith example is probably what gave me the idea. I have their Arri 300 replacement, and it’s fantastic. But when you compare the tiny tungsten lamp for the 300 with the fixture-filling VisionSmith module, it makes your point about the inherent nature of the LED technology.

So, moving on… What are the best alternatives to the old tungsten “broads” in the LED (daylight-balanced) world? What has replaced those lights on the rental trucks? Is there going to be anything that approaches their compactness and output, or do we have to wait for the next thing after LED?

I’m going to hold onto my ancient fixtures. I still use Mole Nook-Lites for wide, smooth washes of light for a base. And I still really like my Tota-lights, especially for traveling. You can get a lot of beautiful wide-spectrum output from a Tota/Chimera that packs up compactly. The only issues are heat, draw, and daylight-balancing. And looking out-of-date. If I hold on long enough they’ll just look retro.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Matching those cameras might be tricky. More power to you if you can do that.

You could also simply ask the same questions several times and film with different zoom settings. You could either be upfront about needing to do this (“We need a safety” or “We need a different angle”), or you could subtly rephrase the question for the second response. And then, sometimes it’s effective to be honest and say “That was great, but I need a shorter sound bite. What’s the elevator speech version?” Or, “You’ve given me a lot of great ideas there. What do you think is the most important factor, and why?”

Or just shut up, and watch how the interviewee obligingly fills the silence.

Bob C.

[Bob Cole]

Thanks Michael. I see the pic on your Vimeo page. Is that the mount?

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

[Blaise Douros] “We must have radically different head shapes”

You know, I think you’re right. Judging by hat size, I have a larger-than-average melon.

If only its contents were as big as the container.

[Bob Cole]

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I use exactly the same positioning of viewfinder. I don’t have any special setup – just as-is from Sony, and not much has changed ergonomically from m1 to m2. *

Where did you get the replacement arm assembly for the smart grip?

I’ve also noticed that the Sony arm-and-grip combo is too far to the right. It would be very nice to be able to shift the grip a little to the left, so it is closer to the center of the camera, left-to-right.

* I Googled about the changes from m1 to m2, and found this interesting line (from cinema5d): “The LCD attachment was improved. They’ve replaced the round rod with a square one, so the LCD doesn’t tilt so easily. Unfortunately, the rod is still too short for proper shoulder work with the big loupe.” Agreed! Thank you, cinema5d!

Sony, are you listening?

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Thanks Michael. I’d love to see a picture of your rig.

Sony’s viewfinder has a great magnifying hood and eyecup, which are very functional. But the added depth of the hood puts the eyepiece way too far back for me. I have to hold the camera in front of my shoulder, not on it. All I need (and what I haven’t been able to find) is a longer arm to position the viewfinder further forward. Sony’s arm for the Model 2 is no longer a simple, easy-to-substitute round rod — it’s got six sides (which is great for stability).

I know that with enough accessories (rails, arms, etc.) you can put a viewfinder almost anywhere, but I want to keep the camera as lightweight as possible.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Great points. Sure, .xml is a help, and holding onto an old Mac is a smart idea. But there are a couple of problems.

1. For an archive, keeping the bin structure is important.
2. I have hundreds of FCP projects, and analyzing them to guess which ones will be useful would take more time than it’s worth. I doubt that I will have the time to export and organize .xml’s of every single timeline, especially as I edit in a timeline-intensive way.
3. Keeping an old machine running is problematic.

So… I’m still greedy for a FCP7 file translation program. With the huge installed base of FCP7, it seems to me that somebody could create a translation program which preserves the timelines and bins, if not the more esoteric details like filters.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Thank you. I will test, which I should do in any case.

I contacted the distributor, who informed me that the vendor was legitimate, even though they were not listed as a dealer on the website. I still can’t wrap my head around someone being able to beat all the “regular” dealers by that much. So I will be wary and look for the factory-sealing, etc. in the package.

Bob C