[John Sharaf]

Jason,

The best way to “match” two cameras is to use two of the same cameras! With professional cameras there are extensive controls like gains, gamma, ped, matrix, etc. that allow matching when both cameras are aimed a chip chart (with color patches for matrix) and observed on a waveform and vectorscope.

Fo your purposes, it’s probably best to white balance on a common chart and do the matching in post.

JS

[John Sharaf]

Jan,

So after your’ve cleared the card by transfering to a laptop or your docking harddisc, and you want to put it back in the camera to continue endless recording, you must stop recording to format the card before you can record on it. This makes no sense, it means that the hot swap capability is destroyed and that you’d need as many cards as the length of the continuous take.

I’m thinking of an interview for example, that you don’t want to interupt for reformating. Am I missing something here? Instead of saying “reload” we have to shout out “reformat”?

JS

[John Sharaf]

Bob,

Check out Studio Dynamics website. They have an extensive variety of backings which are cheap and easy to hang (just clip up with pony clamps (aka grip clips) to the false ceilings common in offices. Their link is:

https://www.studiodynamics.com/

I’ve got a couple of 12×20′ pieces of mottled gray that by illumination with source four’s and various gobos and gels can be made to look like lots of different things. also by hanginf flat or bunching up you can vary the look.

JS

[John Sharaf]

John,

Let me get this right; your tests reveal that it takes 14 minutes to “process” one 8 Gb card that contains 20 minutes of DVPRO100 24p? and if it were written as 720 30p or 60p or any permutation of 1080 the card would hold 8 minutes and take 14 minutes to download?

Is this correct?

JS

[John Sharaf]

Joseph,

If your new studio is wired for 220 volts it surely is not in the US! You are lucky though as 220v countries allow for more powerful lights to be used in typical household environments.

What you need to learn first about electricity is the simple formula that:

Watts = Amps x Volts

This way you can calculate that your 1000w lights at 220 volts use slightly less than 5 amps. Theoreticly you should be able to plug four of them into a twenty amp circuit. In the states, you can only plug two into a twenty amp circuit at 120v.

One way of course to keep from blowing fuses (or breaking breakers) is to relamp several of your instruments with 500w bubbles instead of 1K’s. They could be used for the fill light or backlights, where you might otherwise be scriming or diffussing a 1K to create the proper lighting ratios. Alternately, you might replace (or add) several of your 1000w units with smaller ones like 200, 300 or 400w instruments for these purposes.

In your studio, if you own it, you might consider having an electrician install some extra circuits for your lighting needs. Perhaps here you might want to install a 2000 or 5000w light for special shoots and a dedicated receptical might be required.

On location of course one must always be concerned about blowing fuses; especially in an office where computers are working and a service interuption might cause loss of data. It’s a good idea at all location shoots to warn the people there before you start lighting that there’s always the chance your movie lights will overload a circuit so they are forewarmed and can at least save what they have done to that momoent and save more often than they might if you weren’t there for the duration of your shoot.

It’s also a good idea to query the occupants as to whether they know where the fusebox is; you’d be suprised how many folks don’t have a clue in thus regard, and sometimes in offices they are locked up. If either of these is the case it’s worth some effort to find the service and/or the key, before you blow the fuse, and if you can’t you must be extra vigilent.

Having found the fuse box it’s a good idea to open it up and gauge the size of the fuses/breakers. This will give you some guidance about how many lights (using your formula) that you can safely plug in. Also there is often nomenclature in the box that shows you how the circuits are divided in the house or office. Treat this information as a “guide” as it’s often not correct or complete. The only way you’ll ultimately find out is by blowing a fuse!

In the states, building codes require seperate circuits in bathrooms and kitchens. It’s logical to assume that the service upstairs is different than downstairs, but this is not always the case, and many locations are wired in violation of code and logic. Having enough long extention cords is helpful in finding seperate circuits to bring to your set.

Nowadays most fuse boxes use cicuit breakers, but occasionally we still find in older homes and apartments the old style fuses. It’s a good idea to carry a few spares of these types in your kit to cover the eventuality of your blowing an actual fuse and their nor being a spare. This way you won’t leave the people who were nice enough to let you shoot in their home or office in the dark when you leave, making a return trip for you or another filmmaker more possible.

[John Sharaf]

Rich,

ENG or Electronic News Gathering, describes a style of production used in the aquisition of news for televsion. This particular genre is characterized by a small crew, sometimes one-man-band or otherwise a camera person and an audio person.

The equipment designed to be used in this environment is lightweight and simple and the kit is made up of a camera with a built in servo operated zoom lens, tripod, on-board camera light, portable light kit with stands and audio gear including shotgun, lavelier and probably several radio mikes.

The next step up the production hierarchy is referred to EFP or Electronic Field Production, where the crew size is usually bigger, to include lighting and grip technicians or an assistant camera person (like in film) and/or a boom operator to assist the audio mixer. The gear is often more sophisticated to include remote camera control and a monitor bridge of waveform vectorscope and large master monitor.

EFP production can also be found in the news environment, but more likely at the network level in the production of news magazines or other feature-type programs.

Both of these terms have are used to describe the scale of the type of production intended; because as we all know, no one wants to describe their show as a bare-bones cheapy, in that case “ENG-style” sounds a lot better!

[John Sharaf]

Jan,

One would think that Apple would consult with you folks, especially considering the gross number of FCP systems they’ve sold because of your previous collaberation on the DVPRO100 codec. I for one just spent a fortune upgrading my editing facility to FCP for this reason.

I have to tell you, I’m a little concerned about the P2 workflow now that the current models of the Apple laptop don’t accept the card. In the field this seemed up to now to be the best was to download, protect (write DVD) and transport the shooting product to the edit room. Granted I could (and now probably will) stock up on “last year’s” laptops to preserve this process, or as others have correctly observed, use an outboard adapter, but as you acn imaging, I find this a bit troubling.

JS

[John Sharaf]

It’s been a little known fact that the Varicam is actually capable of “shooting” at a higher frame rate; the problem is recording it. The recorder is limited to 60 fps, so it’s conceivable that the higher frame rate could be ported to the HD-SDI output and recorder on some other metrhod, such as direct to hard disk? Until there’s a way to record it, it;s a moot point!

JS

[John Sharaf]

I’m told that there will not be any changes to the Varicam line announced this year at NAB, so one can only assume that the P2 Varicam won’t be along until 2007. But to me the viability of P2 is definately a question, now that the new Apple laptops (and presumably whatever new Windows laptops follow) will no longer have the built in slot to accept them!

[John Sharaf]

Chris,

I’d recommend the flood; especially for on camera use and as a hidden light. I use mine all the time on camera and would worry that the spot pattern would be revealed in hand held applications. I’ve also used it in product photography where again the spot pattern would be too narrow.

Obviously if price were no object, I’d add a spot unit to the kit, but probably not until I added a second flood! JMHO.

JS