Dan Brockett
Forum Replies Created
-
In the post above, this sentence was a typo, “I have no reason to believe that this camera will be amazing.” and should have read, “I have no reason to believe that this camera will NOT be amazing.”
Dan
A Producer Who Is Also A DP? Yep, that’s Me.
-
Actually, looks as if the cost has increased
https://www.amazon.com/v-2009-Spotlight-RenderWorks-MAC/dp/B000XAWRMQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1289144105&sr=8-2I am sure it is a great program but only within budgets of companies and or working lighting designers. Wish I had “people” who could do my plots;-)
Dan
A Producer Who Is Also A DP? Yep, that’s Me.
-
Hi:
For your needs, if you deliver to BBC, you would need to invest another $2k to $3k per camera for an Aja KiPro or Convergent Nanoflash. And beware that the HD/SDI output on the AF-100 is 8 bit, unlike the 10 bit on your EX3. But if you have been shooting your EX3 for BBC delivery, you would already have a higher bit rate recording device in pocket, correct? 8 bit vs. 10 bit is not as big of a deal as techno geeks make it out to be for most users.
The AVCHD codec recorded at 24MBPs is quantifiable as superior to the XDCAM EX recorded at 35MBPs by your EX3 so I would make a judgement based upon what you have been doing with your EX3. For most non-broadcast, non-theatrical usage that most people need, AVCHD is adequate. For web, Blu-ray, DVD, Broadcast usage, I feel that this camera will be great. If you shoot a ton of green screen, add the 4:2:2 higher bit rate recorder and you will still be great. If your work is primarily seen on the theater screen or is for high-end broadcast where the clients expect “the best” image money can buy and give you budgets commensurate with that goal, this isn’t your camera.
You should also beware that the only lens that gives video-style continuous focus autofocus is the relatively slow Panasonic Lumix 14-140 lens, there are not any fast video style autofocus lenses for this camera. Yet.
The other 4/3 M lenses you see advertised with auto focus are “still photography” auto focus, basically useless for tracking live shots in video.
This camera is really mostly to be used with PL mount cinema lenses or still camera manual focus lenses and it is designed to be shot film style. It is a video camera, but since there is not any choice beyond the one Lumix lens with video auto focus at this point, probably best to approach using it like a film camera, not so much a video ENG type rig.
I will be reviewing this camera for a major magazine, I am waiting to receive a production unit, I don’t want to review a prototype so I have no idea how well the camera will actually perform. But based upon my DVX100A, HVX200 and HPX170 that I have owned and the 300/370 and 2700 that I rent, I have no reason to believe that this camera will be amazing.
As far as waiting for the competition, feel free. It is up to you. You will be able to actually take delivery of the AG-AF100 in January or February. Cameras from Canon and Sony? Who knows when. You sound as if you do this for a living so you know the drill with waiting on gear for specific projects, it is a fool’s errand. You buy what you need when you have projects that will pay for the gear. If something better comes along, you sell it for a slight loss and buy the newer thing you must have. Simple equation.
It’s where broke indie filmmakers and hobbyists who can barely scrape together the money for a camera, then have a fit when something more desirable hits three months later, where it gets emotion-bound and messy.
So my take on it is if you are a pro, buy it, use it, enjoy it and make enough money to pay it off quickly, then evaluate the market and the new toys. If you like something from Canon or Sony better (or RED I suppose?), sell the AF-100 and go buy the newer toy.
Dan
A Producer Who Is Also A DP? Yep, that’s Me.
-
Dennis:
Vectorworks looks amazing. How hard is it to learn? It is a full CAD program so it probably takes some experience/training or intuition in using CAD? I have seen plots done with it before, top notch program.
Also, FWIW:
Vectorworks Spotlight = U.S. $1,995.00
OmniGraffle 5 Professional – U.S. $199.00Definitely for two different audiences.
Dan
A Producer Who Is Also A DP? Yep, that’s Me.
-
I second OmniGraffle. I have used it for three shows this year and did some elaborate camera plots and lighting plots with it and I am very graphics/drawing impaired.
Used it on an eight camera live concert and a six camera poker game shoot I did for Fox. Clients were very impressed and crew loved them. I just use different basic shapes to signify different types of lighting fixtures, they don’t have to be artistically accurate for a gaffer to look at. Use a distinct shape and or color and label it and the crew gets the message.
Dan
A Producer Who Is Also A DP? Yep, that’s Me.
-
You need the photometrics of the lights you will be using and the material you will have in your frames in order to figure out if you have nearly enough light but based upon instinct, I don’t think that you will have enough light to light an object that huge evenly with only four main sources. How large are your shots? Do you need shots of the whole 82′ or are you shooting smaller segments of the train with talent in them? With your lighting, you will have plenty to light a segment of the train, reset, shoot, reset, but that will be time and labor intensive.
Plus, with mixed lighting sources, you would want to overpower the daylight and nasty halogen overhead, at least on the train itself. ISO100@24fps@F5.6 requires quite a bit of light. I think you will have enough light to shoot the subject, but not enough to light something 82’long evenly.
You really have to do the math to know for sure but even coverage from a 12′ x 12′ from, say, 20′ feet from subject is not going to be 100ISO@24fps@F5.6 in a very large area. The 5D MKII is cleanest in increments of ISO160, so you may have to shoot at ISO320 or ISO640 or higher to achieve your shot. So you need probably either more or larger wattage sources. Also, are we talking 10k HMIs or 10k tungsten here? Also, is camera moving? On sticks? Will you shoot one side and reset lighting to get the front? There are so many questions I would be pondering in your situation if I were DP before I could even figure out the math.
If I were in your position, I would be budgeting for more sources and they would be HMIs for sure.
Good luck,
Dan
A Producer Who Is Also A DP? Yep, that’s Me.
-
Wow, very interesting, I have never heard of this feature. That would take care of this pesky problem if I can figure that out. Thanks for the heads up on that.
Dan
A Producer Who Is Also A DP? Yep, that’s Me.
-
That is some good advice Jeremy, it is just a matter of laziness on my part in transferring everything over, configuring new accounts, etc.
I will check that out.
Dan
A Producer Who Is Also A DP? Yep, that’s Me.
-
Hi:
Glad the article was helpful.
Yes, I am running 3.6.12, it is just not liking the NY Times site anymore, everything else looks fine, even other articles on other pages of the same site, it is just the main page displays with huge gaps between sections and all of the small type stuff on the right hand side is just not there in FireFox.
Cheers,
Dan
A Producer Who Is Also A DP? Yep, that’s Me.
-
BJ:
You get the Gold Star for the day and free Apple Juice at recess. First I downloaded Font Nuke on the advice of another board, the person had the same idea, corrupted font cache. But I ran Font Nuke twice and it didn’t seem to do anything.
Then I downloaded OnyX as you suggested, ran it (all of the operations pretty much) and included the delete font cache. That seemed to fix things, at least so far, all of those A filled e-mails now display correctly. Safari is displaying correctly. But FireFox is still giving me huge areas of white blank space all over the same https://www.nytimes.com page that Safari displays perfectly, so that must be a FireFox issue, not a font issue?
Thank you for your advice, I very much appreciate it. I am on an editing deadline, not a good time for my laptop to melt down with font issues.
Thank you and have a good night.
Dan
A Producer Who Is Also A DP? Yep, that’s Me.