[John Sharaf]

Micah,

It actually surprises me how long the tape based Varicam has lasted and that folks are still using it. It is a testament to the brilliance of the designers and engineers who created it almost ten years ago.

While it was not the first cinema style video camera (the Sony F900 was) it was the first to offer “cine-gamma(s)” that in addition to the 24p frame rate created a very film-like look.

You’ll notice that you can choose between a “video” and “film” menu. For your purposes you obviously want the film menu, 23.97 (or 25 in PAL land) frame rate and 180 degree shutter.

The next and perhaps most creative selection is then the “dynamic range” setting. Your options are 200,300,400 and 500%. The higher the percentage, the less sensitive the camera is (ISO), the more highlight control you have, the more desaturated the colors become and the more you’ll need to color correct the result. this is why you want to use this setting selectively based on the amount of highlight suppression the actual scene you’re shooting requires.

There are many of us who used the camera in a what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWUG) mode, meaning that the more compression we invoked, we’d crush the gamma (higher number like .55 or .60 vs nominal .45) to both increase the contrasty and saturation. This was not really Panasonic’s intention for the camera, yet often yielded the desired result without extensive post color correction.

You must experiment with the various combination of scenes, dynamic range and gamma settings to master the camera capabilities. If you’re successful, you’ll create some great looking and film-like pictures.

Best of luck,

JS

[John Sharaf]

All models F and H have the switch and the clean feed!

JS

[John Sharaf]

The Varicam can indeed output a clean signal. There is a switch under the audio/timecode door for Characters on/off which controls the nomenclature super on the main feed, which btw is full 10-bit 422.

JS

[John Sharaf]

Harry,

Sorry, but I have to jump in here and tell you this is crazy talk!

A Fresnel light has an interior design diametrically opposed to an open faced quartz; namely a small reflector creating a pin spot light source that is then “focused” by the fresnel (available from any manufacturer who makes such lights as a spare part) into a smooth spot to flood pattern (that you crave!).

The open faced light has a large reflector that maximizes the output (and heat). If you were to enclose the front, even with a baffled extension that would put the lens at the proper focal length to work you’ll essentially be creating a heat bomb, and by virtue of the large source itself, you’d need a gigantic lens (like a 10K which would cost about a $1K)

The simple solution is to buy a used Junior on ebay, you’ll be much happier and safer!

The only other thing that comes to mind is a Fresnel based “science project” that my friends at K5600 have in their catalog. It’s called a big eye. It’s not cheap, but check out the concept, I know you’ll appreciate it:

https://www.k5600.com/products/bigeye/index.html

Sorry to bust your bubble, but if you really want to turn this into a hobby project, start from scratch and don’t burn up and/or damage your precious Blond!

Cheers,

JS

[John Sharaf]

The Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) was a professional organization which existed from 1912 until January 1, 1963, when it merged with the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) to form the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

They created a standard to scale the video level from 0ire (super=black) to 100ire and above which is white. White clip is usually at 108ire.

In digital the ire scale has been replaced by percentages (%) where 0 again is black and 100 is white.

When there is a large part of the picture which is full white (100ire) is would often interfere with the audio in analog transmission, causing a buzz, that’s why a white cyc background as is being discussed in this thread had its exposure set at 80ire.

Hope that clears it up for you.

JS

[John Sharaf]

You must be in Cine gamma

[John Sharaf]

Todd,

There is no painting in the camera; it was shot on Arri C-Log and color corrected in post. The camera has an 709 LUT built in so that the director can see a very good one-lite approximation of what it will look like in TV color and gamma, but the 12-bit 444 ProRes recoding (on SxS cards) gives post lots of room to play.

JS

[John Sharaf]

Todd,

They shoot L&O SVU with Arri Alexa(s); it might really be night! This camera has a nominal 800ASA and goes all the way to 3200 with relatively little noise/grain. There are many movies and TV shows that shoot on film, but use Alexas for the night shots.

JS

[John Sharaf]

I usually agree with Todd, but I’ve never found a laundromat to be a “dark” place. To the contrary, it’s usually overbright with even overhead fluorescent lighting. I do agree that “poisoning” the floor lights with the same tubes as are used in the ceiling is the best strategy, and that selectively turning tubes off above the talent to prevent deep eyesockets and bright noses is also a good idea. 4’Fourbank Kino Flos are an excellent unit to use on the floor as most industrial fluoresents such as the ones you’ll be borrowing from the ceiling will fit them.

In the final timing, I’d recommend that you push the black level up a little to minimize black and create instead a grey or somewhat desaturated look such as is present in all the laundromats I’ve visited.

JS

[John Sharaf]

I’ll admit that when I was starting out many years ago, I used photo umbrellas (both white and silver) with punchy lights like PARS and FAYS. It was usually a matter of jiggling the unit into different parts of the umbrella to get the correct bounce angle into the scene and controlling the spill was somewhat problematical.

There were times I aimed the light directly through the white umbrellas, essentially using it as a diffuser too.

But this was all in the pre-Chimera era, and once that product arrived it clearly was superior in terms of aiming the soft source and controlling the spill, especially with the solid and later fabric louvers.

I now think that light boxes like the Chimeras should probably form the basis of a modern lighting kit and the actual instruments take on a supporting role. For portraiture you probably want the biggest box you can afford and transport, perhaps a Medium (which is 3×4′), next best is Small (2×3″) and then the biggest unit you can conveniently power. First choice is a Joker 800w, then maybe a 2K Blond. You’ve got to remember that the box sucks up a lot of the output and you often have to contend with high ambient light in practical locations. The beauty of these combinations is that you’ll have both a soft light in combination and a hard light when used without the Chimera.

Now if you can’t afford the Joker or are scarred by the prospect of blowing fuses with the 2K, the next best choice IMO is a 4’Fourbank KF. This has an output equal to a 1200w HMI bounced into a white card. I often use this light through a roll of Lee 216 hanging from a c-stand and this creates a light source equal in size to the medium Chimera mentioned above. These is now the issue of controlling the spill again, but if you’re willing (and able) to transport a coup[le of 4×8′ B&W Foamcores and a few stands you can manage. The advantage of the KF is it’s low profile and small footprint, which makes it ideal for small office and hotel room interviews where the larger Chimeras would in practical terms be to long.

When buying a kit, or even just deciding what few lights you can pack in a car or travel with on an airplane, my strategy is to always take one bog lire (like the 800 Joker) and a spare if possible and then a few smaller lights like 150W Dedos or am Arri Locaster Kit for back, fill, eyelight of accent light behind the subject. It’s not critically important to buy them all at once, but it is important to have a strategic plan for what the kit you’re building (over time) will contain. The fact is that if you are serious about owning a proper lighting kit it is an evolutionary process over your entire career. you’ll find that you’ll get bored with a certain look and will want to try different approaches, especially as new technology (like LED) keep evolving.

The question of what lighting kit one should buy is a fair one, but there is no one answer other than to intelligently build a strategy based on your objectives, finances, technology and skills.

JS