[Danny Grizzle]

Anyone interested in this topic should check out Philip Bloom’s website and extensive examples. If you poke around, you can find some large file downloads that are stunning.

I’ve always blown off the idea of 35mm converters. The whole principle of operation just sounds crazy. But seeing is believing!

https://www.philipbloom.co.uk/

[Danny Grizzle]

There is an excellent set of 6 short videos discussing interrelationship of focal length, aperture, format, depth of field, and perspective on the Letus website:

https://www.letusdirect.com/depth-of-field-tutorial-videos.html

This is worthwhile viewing for anybody interested in cinematography. Straight, lucid, and well illustrated.

[Danny Grizzle]

Scanning this thread, I thought input from an actual Microdolly owner might be useful.

I’ve had my Microdolly gear 7+ years. I totally love it.

For lightweight cameras, you can travel light and use the water bag inside the weight basket. If you plan to use a shoulder mount camera, you might consider local purchase of weights at a sporting goods store. They’re probably not worth the hassle and expense of shipping. Just be sure to prep your package before travel, and carefully note the number and sizes you need.

Athletic weights are slick, they slide, and don’t travel well. I like road trips and prefer to drive when I can. Microdolly’s weight basket works well with shot bags, and they are less likely to slide out the back of a van or Suburban and onto your toes.

Don’t think you can buy a Microdolly jib and you’re good to go. If you think a high dollar carbon fiber tripod will hold up under the weight of a jib arm and counterbalance, you are very wrong. Better forget about any tripod with a 75mm or 100mm bowl, too. I don’t know what I was thinking when I originally budgeted my kit, but purchase of the Microdolly tripod, rated at 300 lbs., solved my problem.

Pay attention when rigging. A jib arm by any other name is called a catapult. My wife has no experience, but just the right temperament to follow directions. With her help, the two of us can rig up the jib at maximum extension in about 15 minutes. Our 25 year old son, on the other hand, is a ‘get ‘er done’ kind of guy — a bull in a china closet. He was tending the jib the only time we’ve ever tipped the thing. He was doing too much and thinking too little. Luckily, we were outside on dirt, and the camera was not hurt.

With a full size camera and counterbalance, make a mistake and there’s not much you can do but get out of the way and pray nobody gets hurt.

I’ve also got a Microdolly dolly. Absolutely wonderful piece of gear. The push bar should be standard equipment — be sure to add one to your package.

Under load of a full size camera, you will need to be careful to avoid low frequency resonate motions – a slight tendency to wobble. This is a bit of a factor with the dolly, which you may be able to solve by throwing a shot bag on on the dolly at a low center of gravity. I think Microdolly offers a platform of some type that might help hold the shot bag.

My Microdolly jib is an early model. They’ve since added more trussing, a t-bar with lateral triangulating side cables. This may counteract resonate motions in the jib. In truth, this has never been a huge problem for me, but for super critical work using footage from any dolly or jib, you may need to perform some slight image stabilization tracking in post.

I want to add a Microdolly Power Head to my package, and probably will now that I am finally moving to HD with purchase of a Sony PMW-EX1.

You can find cheaper solutions out there. I’ve got a Promax Cobra Crane. It was dirt cheap and has produced some great shots on top of a cheap Bogen tripod and head. The Cobra Crane also has a cool cable controlled tilt mechanism. Not as capable as Microdolly Power Head, but standard equipment and it works! The downfall of the Cobra Crane, however, is transport. I bought one on the spur of the moment at NAB when I caught a job in Utah the same week I bought my PD-150. Promax shipped the Cobra Crane from Irvine to Vegas… and then what? I had that stupid thing lashed on top of a Chevy Suburban in a cardboard box – rain, wind, and snow during a cross-country drive from Nevada to Texas by way of Utah and Colorado. Ugh. Unwieldy as snow skis for Paul Bunyan, and all you can do to keep the awkward thing lashed to the car. It might fit inside a van or Suburban so long as you don’t mind the metal running the full interior length of the vehicle, sitting between heads of driver and passenger.

Maybe newer models of the Cobra have solved these problems. And also a truly terrible build quality. All the hardware comes from the fastener isle of Home Depot, and there’s not a captive screw or bolt on the rig. Just a bunch of cheap thumb screws and common nickel plated washers. Even the camera screw is loose and subject to easy loss.

The one redeeming factor is you can’t see the jib in the finished footage, and the finished footage from a cheap Cobra Crane looks just as good as the footage from a Microdolly. It works, so long as you are using a consumer sized camera. But you will suffer to transport and erect the thing. And you won’t look good doing it, if eye candy is important to you clients.

This couldn’t contrast more from the excellence of Microdolly. Microdolly travels in style, in beautiful, compact, lightweight, matched bags embrodered “Microdolly, Hollywood.” Microdolly is carefully thought out by an experienced filmmaker, every detail crafted as carefully as any film or video. Microdolly gear is engineered, not a garage project like most of low end gear you see in the production market. And Microdolly build quality is a thing of beauty. All the materials in Microdolly equipment are highest quality, as is the workmanship. Microdolly is Exhibit A when it comes to Southern California aeronautical aluminum machining trades. Even the dolly track is beautiful. It is shock corded like quality aluminum mountaineering tent poles, but the material quality and machine work is truly incomparable. We’re not talking kludgy PVC pipe and skateboard dolly wheels here. Microdolly track is hard, highly polished, super strong aluminum. The sections fit together with such precision that the joints are almost undetectable — which is good, considering all this attention to detail translates directly into smooth dolly shots.

Microdolly – highly, highly recommended!

[Danny Grizzle]

That explains it. I rarely use the tilt capability of my Canon T/S lenses. My work with these mainly uses shift to correct architectural convergence.

BTW – I saw on your website you own a Steadicam Merlin rig. Another thing I do is walking talking tours of log homes. Hope you can take a minute to post any experience you have with the Merlin/EX1 combo on the separate thread I started.

Thanks!

[Danny Grizzle]

Does the EX1 manual detail a firmware upgrade procedure? How is it done? Or are EX1 firmware upgrades pure speculation?

[Danny Grizzle]

Philip, you are the master. Not only depth of field, but also artful temporal dynamics with over/undercranking.

I’m studying “Lost Times.” It seems to exhibit an edge defocused vignette. I’d attribute this to the Letus except I didn’t notice a similar effect in your other 35mm examples. What is happening?

I’ll stop blathering, except one more compliment: you have a terrific work ethic. Not only quality, but a high volume of EX1 completed work posted on your site. Makes me ashamed to be reading this board when I should be out shooting!

[Danny Grizzle]

I really like the idea of no sled. So far, my experience is limited to using a klunky Promax SteadiTracker Extreme with a PD-150. I can’t complain — the SteadiTracker was free with the PD-150 (NAB special), and it opened my eyes to a new style of camera work. Especially after I learned how to use it, and added my own kludgy techniques like using a long bungie cord from a baggage cart hooped around my neck, tensioned to support the weight.

The sled/stand continues to be a pain. All too easy to bump on furniture, walls, or hit with my legs. I’d bet this does not affect high-end Steadicam users so much because they have their monitors mounted on the sled, so obstacles and footing are visible in peripheral vision. But those of us who use a camera LCD for framing need to avoid the sled if possible.

Philip Bloom has a Merlin with vest and arm, and an EX1. I’m hoping he will chime in.

[Danny Grizzle]

I take it you are a Letus fan, no affiliation with the company. At least the UK – Wichita, Kansas, connection is not obvious.

Frankly, I’d never heard of Letus before I saw what you are doing with it. And the concept was lacking in credibility until I saw your footage. Now I’m very excited, given my clutch of still lenses.

I agree on the 85mm — already online searching eBay for an f1.2.

Thanks for responding, and thanks for posting such great footage!

[Danny Grizzle]

Has anyone used the Vinten Protouch Pro-6?

I’ve used most brands of fluid heads over the years. Currently shooting with Bogen (PD-150) and a Gitzo (DSR-500). Tripod quality is money well spent, so I am willing to spend more for the EX1.

Besides the camera, I plan to use various accessories like the wide angle adapter, a Chrosziel, wireless mic receivers, a Letus Extreme and fairly heavy Canon FD still camera lenses.

Does anyone have experience with Vinten Protouch vs. Vision series?

[Danny Grizzle]

I’ve looked at your footage — gorgeous!

A few questions:

How robust is the Letus Extreme? Build quality? Lens mount? Motor(!)?

Can you detail what lenses you are using?

(I’ve got my old collection of Canon FD breech mount manual focus lenses I’d love to get back into action! This includes 15mm f2.8 Fisheye, 20mm f2.8, 35mm f2, 50mm f1.4, 50mm f3.5 macro, 135mm f2.5, 200mm f2.8, and a 300mm f5.6).

How much bother is changing lens mounts, say Canon FD to Canon EOS?

(I’ve got a set of manual focus Canon T/S primes in EOS mount – imagine view camera moves on a video camera…)

What kind of rod supports?

Also, what are the tripod requirements. I’m considering the Vinten ProTouch Pro-6.

Still, the whole premise is a bit incredible — how can an image projected onto a vibrating ground glass possibly compare in sharpness and contrast? Does this thing *really* look like prime lenses on a full resolution HD monitor?