[John Sharaf]

Dave,

I’ve found that the best method to set any camera up for most accurate color reproduction is to to use a DSC Chroma du Monde chart. The process requires properly lighting the chart and carrying out white gains, gamma, flare, etc then adjusting the matrix so that the six vectors and the inbetweens all fall in the boxes and in line between the boxes when viewed at a 2x variable gain on the vectorscope. The advent of this chart several years ago presented the first opportunity to scientifically set up the color reproduction of cameras with matrix controls. I would be surprised if Abel did not use this technique, but I don;t really understand the logic of their explanation about the blue channel; I believe with careful adjustment of the “color correction” you can dial in the colors of the individual vectors and inbetweens without affecting others.

JS

[John Sharaf]

The actual formula is the easiest part.

Watts = volts x amps, or

amps = watts divides by volts.

The hard part is knowing which plugs are wired to which breaker and what else is using power on that breaker. This is where good street sense and a logical mind become your greatest assets. Don’t panic, find out where the fuse box is, try to seperate the usage to different circuits and observe which lights go out when you blow a fuse (breaker), This will tell you everything you need to know.

JS

[John Sharaf]

Mike,

My greenscreen lighting kit (for portraiture in front of screen) is all Kino Flo. This way I keep the “set” cool and am able to use practical power without worrying about blowing fuses. Assuming an 8×8 screen, I’ll use 2 # 4’Two banks on the screen, left and right, another 4’Twobank over the screen as a backlight (this will seperate both the head and shoulders) and then a 4’Fourbank as key and another 4’Twoback as fill if necessary.

Obviously I prefer the 4′ Kino’s, especially for key as the large source size makes for a very soft light and by switching tubes on and off allows for total control of exposure and ratios.

The problem I have with Diva’s is mixing them with the conventional Kino’s, they burn at a different color and change color when they heat up. I prefer to keep everything the same color.

Now you could do essentially the same thing with 2′ Banks, but remember that it takes a 2’Fourbank to equal the output of a 4’Twobank.

Good luck!

JS

[John Sharaf]

I’ve always lit the screen to be under the foreground. If I set the faces at 60ire, I’ll make the screen 40ire, and never had any complaints. This way a hold over from shooting film. Another advantage is that there is less green spill onto the foreground.

JS

[John Sharaf]

Yes, a clamp style ammeter is the appropriate tool to read the current load on an electric line. The problem is that the clamp must go around the wire carrying each hot leg that you want to read. This is practical with banded feeder cable, but impossible to do with wires bunched together inside a conduit in a wall. There rarely is enough room to use it inside a fuse box either (Danger Wil Robinson!) so your theory is correct but the implementation is not. Sorry. There is no easy way to find out the load on practical circuits in a house or office, the best you can do is survey the situation and make an educated guess.

JS

[John Sharaf]

Todd,

You must estimate power use at 18 amos for a 1200w hmi and 12 amps for the 800 Joker. This is the amount of power it takes to strike the units.

1200’s are problematical in practical use, whereas the 800’s which put out the same amount of light (although in a slightly smaller pattern) make life a lot simpler. They are also less weight and bulk. I highly recommend them for the type of location work you describe vis a vis the 1200’s.

When splitting power on a real location, even if you are very careful and logical you can still get skunked, as you own experience confirms. Even modern, high end buildings can be wired in a nonsensical way and codes do differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Here’s a few guidelines though; a quad box (four outlets in one box) on the wall is supposed to be a dedicated circuit and most times is. Bathrooms and kitchens are very likely separate circuits from others.

When I shoot in an unknown location, I always ask about the location of the fuse box. You’d be surprised how often folks don’t even know where it is and it’s best to find it in advance and inspect it to give you some idea of how many circuits are available, how they’re identified (if at all) and what sized breakers (or fuses) are in place.

If necessary you can always turn circuits off to determine where they come out in the set, although obviously you don’t want to turn folks computers off with out warning. For that matter, in a business environment, I always ask people to backup what they’re working on in case we happen to overload a circuit and blow a fuse.

Finally, if you are committed to using the compliment of 1200’s and 800’s as you describe, plan to bring plenty of extension cords to reach far away and separate circuits.

Hope some of this helps.

JS

[John Sharaf]

James,

The “Varicam” records all frame rates from 4-60 fps by repeating frames and creating a 60 field per second record. It essentially includes the pull down in the actual recording so no further processing is required, other than pulling out a 24p project if that’s what you shoot and prefer to edit in (to save storage space). At your 30fps rate for example each frame is repeated twice so that 30 pairs of progressive frames is written on the tape in each second.

The 1400 deck will downconvert and export through the firewire connector in dv mode or you can come out HD or SD-SDI through your capture card. For exact software settings you might need to query AJA and/or Adobe, but AJA Support is excellent and I’ve found that they’re very familiar with all the NLE software out there that’s used with their products.

JS

[John Sharaf]

The number readouts are relative to each camera. I wouldn’t be too concerned that they don’t match. Your best bet is to refresh the factory “standard” set up (this will normalize all the settings and then white balance on a chip chart with the cameras in position; this will account for the different lights that light each angle and any particular color reflections.

Of course the best way to match multicam is the route all the signals through a switcher and to a monitor bridge of waveform/vectorscope and high quality color monitor (with proper viewing envoronment). Then when looking at a DSC Chroma du Monde chart (or equivilent) to adjust the whites, blacks, gammas, flares, knee point and slope, saturation and matrix for best match with remote paint boxes (like RMB750) in the hands of a skilled video controller. Any other method will defer matching adjustments to the post-production envoronment, there is no free lunch or short cuts.

[John Sharaf]

Hi Dale,

Unfortunately the 3700 does not do 60 either i nor p. I was told at NAB that Panasonic could not make (or find) an imager of 1920×1080 spec that did not overheat at 60p. To exclude 60i is insanity, as it makes the camera useless for networks like CBS and NBC who use 60i at least for live shots and news footage. Furthermore, without 31-60fps the camera should not rightly be called a “Varicam”.

Many other folks like myself who were disappointed that Panasonic did not make a 720/1080 switchable camera capable of 4-60fps registered out complaints with many of the Panasonic personnel there.

Again it seems like the marketing people are in charge of product development; for them to thing that loyal Varicam owners will replace their tape based units with two different cameras is crazy. First of all it’s a hard sell for P2 right now, and secondly whichever camera (2700 or 3700) we buy, clients will inevitably ask for the other one. we’re screwed either way.

I have my doubts that the 3700 will actual appear in the market place unless they can fix this 60i problem.

JS

[John Sharaf]

I’ve been lighting with portable mp/tv lights for thirty five years and only had one occasion where a quartz globe exploded. Obviously you should visually inspect the globes and see if there are bulges or other imperfections that would indicate danger, and change them out when this is observed.

Fresenel instruments are safe by virtue of the glass lens, although in large instruments they are expensive to replace. I believe that all the new quartz units come with wire safety protection in order to get their UL listing. I know that K5600 had to provide such a system on their 800 Jokers to sell to Warner Bros. Studios, and they offer it as an option otherwise.

This thread is an important reminder that safety should be constantly considered, but that the incidence of this type of problem is quite rare, so it’s often neglected as a concern.

JS