Danny Grizzle
Forum Replies Created
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I am also debating a purchase of a F&V kit, only I am looking at the K4000S Bi-Color model.
The offset diffuser panel sounds like a good idea. Sorry to hear it is poorly implemented.
The 85 CRI rating has been troubling me. However, I own a F&V R-300 Ring Light, which has the same rating, and I think the light quality from it is simply lovely. Last Christmas, I took mine to Anson, Texas, and shot a little video on the 5D Mk III of the historic Cowboy Christmas Ball. This event has been going since the 1880s, and most everyone who attends is in period dress. This means lots of deep saturated colors in the women’s full length ornate gowns, all sorts of colors and fabrics… plus skin tones from dainty ladies to rugged cowboys.
The R-300 is extremely well designed and construction is excellent. I have the optional rail adapter, which is plastic with a metal bracket connecting to the light. A month ago, I threw the camera rig in an overloaded Suburban and drove 1,200 miles to Utah. Along the way, the weight of my gear shifted. Huge surprise – the plastic did not break or stress fracture, but the metal bracket bent instead. This is not a cheap piece of stamped metal, but well finished and thick. I was not able to bend it straight without disassembling (required removing two machine head screws), but that is a good thing. Clamping one end in a vise and grabbing the other with a pair of vice grip pliers, I was able to straighten it out good as new.
If the build quality of the K4000S panels is on par with the F&V ring light, and the color as well, with bonus points for a quality 3-light kit case, then I’m sold.
BTW – anyone interested in the ring light should get the optional milky white diffuser and the rod adapter. If anybody is interested, I could probably post a picture of my rig, and perhaps a bit of video from the Cowboy Christmas Ball.
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I can confirm that CatDV 10 will import FCP Camera Archives.
This can be done by simply dragging the archive into CatDV. It is not necessary to unpackage the FCP Archive folder.
Simple!
I have not tested the move command, which may be problematic while retaining the FCP Archive package format. I plan to relocate my assets to a new storage system soon, and this may be a factor.
FYI – I am running CatDV Pro 10 on OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2.
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Second thought – the 2/3″ adapter only appears practical if the broadcast lens has a built-in 2x converter, or perhaps using a digital crop.
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Adapting broadcast lenses to M4/3
This seems too crazy, but it is tempting to pull my Canon 6.5-78 mm zoom and see what size the image circle is. I don’t have the 2x model, which seems to be a plus for coverage. But worse case scenario, it appears the GH3 digital crop would allow use of a 2/3″ broadcast lens. Downside is the B4 adapter costs $320 just to experiment. Considering accessories like a Chrosziel clip on matte box I have for this lens, it would be sweet to get more use out of a lot of gear I already have on hand.
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Thanks for this info — any updates greatly appreciated!
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There’s a review of the Polariod Variable ND on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQwOo0XShaE
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Jonathan – what did you think of the results? Have you compared this company to other methods?
I am very interested in this company.
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I realize an Rank transfer is costly, but reality is 8mm and even Super 8mm films are end of life. The film base is deteriorating and suffering dimensional stability problems. I figure it is now or never on old home movie transfers.
I’ve had Super 8 transferred on a Rank in the past for professional application to 1″ Type C video.
The cousin who made the inquiry with me is a serious genealogist and family historian. Our great grandmother was featured in a Ripley’s Believe It or Not nationwide in newspapers over a half century ago for having more living descendants than anyone alive, that they could determine. Her 16 children were likewise prolific. I have 57 first cousins, my grandmother being one of the 16 children of the great grandmother. The cousin asking transfer questions is the grandson of one of my grandmother’s sisters. The family has for decades published books on genealogy research. So this is a serious effort at family history and archiving, not just an attempt to get some old movies on DVD (which itself is an all-but dead format).
I don’t think $1,000 is too much for a quality Rank transfer, provided it is not garbage in, in which case nothing can prevent garbage coming out. I have not inspected the original footage.
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Anybody else considering these issues would be well advised to handle old films with extreme caution. I think it is best to avoid projecting them or trying to clean them if you don’t have special training. Unfortunately, there is a lot of bogus information on the Internet, and the disintegration of Kodak removes an authoritative source of information and chemical cleaning agents.
In particular, never — *never* cinch film by pulling film loose on a real to tighten. This will cause permanent damage as all the grit, grime, and dust which may have accumulated over decades rolls and cuts through the image and emulsion. Microscopic dirt is enough to cause huge damage on these minuscule images.
As for local transfer services, there is a huge range of quality out there. Worse, there is a huge range of operators and owners. The vast majority of them don’t have a clue what they are doing. After the Rank transfer price shock, my cousin tried the local guy and got a DVD. His assessment of the results was that it was no better than aiming his consumer camera at a projected image at home.
One DIY article online recommended single frame transfer to a DSLR. I would wear out a cheap DSLR with an experiment with something like that — only it is times like this I wish Spiratone was still around with one of their slide duplicator gadgets, only one with optics optimized for 8mm film.
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I might consider removing the rotating shutter out of my lower end projector.
All these guys you see with low end telecines adapted from consumer projectors, that’s pretty much the main modification, I believe. With 16mm, I think each frame is flashed on screen twice to make 24 fps into 48 flashes of light, the flicker threshold for human persistence of vision.
8mm was originally 16 fps, so the shutter wheel in 8mm projectors has three blades to achieve 48 flashes of light. Super 8 bumped to 18 fps for sake of magnetic audio fidelity, with the three bladed shutter yielding 54 pulses of light.
I’m not going to mess with any modifications to the Elmo GS 1200 after seeing eBay pricing is a multiple of what I paid for the machine. Particularly since mine is in like new condition in the original box and probably the original Elmo logo plastic shipping wrapper. Of course, the big bucks are probably the super bright Xenon version, which was extremely limited production.