[John Sharaf]

Scott,

Sorry, but the Varicam is an HD camera with no internal downconvert either standard or as an option. There are third party converters from sources like AJA, but mostly for use on Steadycams and Jibs that are already outfitted with specialized SD monitoring. For general HD moniroring the standard entry level monitor seems to be the Panasonic 8.4″ HD LCD. It can be used mounted on the camera, more or less as a color viewfinder, or seperated from the camera with a battery attached (it has an AB plate on the back) for the director to look at.

It is not totally adviseable to use a SD monitor for HD production as the color gamut is different and issues of focus cannot be properly addressed. Simply put, an HD monitor should be part of ant basis HD camera package and I just include it in my package rate when I rent out Varicams.

JS

[John Sharaf]

I think we can be expecting a lot of “noise” in this forum in the future as I’ve just learned the ABC News has selected HD EXDCAM for their future. I think it’s safe to say now that with CNN and ABC committed and with CBS already using the SD XDCAM, that this camera will become the “new Betacam” at least in the network and local news genre.

Not that I think it’s the best camera available, mostly because of the old-fashioned MPEG2 recording format, but the combination of non-linear, inexpensive/reusable media, the moderate price, feature package and the Sony name and lack of any serious competition (P2 has become disqualified because of the media cost – although I think prematurely) is going to make this format the overwhelming choice.

It will present something of a quandry for freelancers; they’ll have to buy the camera to continue to service their network news accounts, but will it be good enough for those other accounts who have already jumped head first into HD with HDCAM and DVCPRO100 (F900’s and Varicams) which by comparoson are both better cameras and have better recording formats, albeit tape based.

I can only imagine a situation where we’ll all be leveraging our investment in lenses, monitors and other HD infrastructure by owning two or three different camera body-types to use for different clientel. As it is I already own both Varicams and an F900R and I’m high on the list for several of the 2/3″ HD XDCAMS, even though I’d prefer not to buy them!

How’s that for noise?

JS

[John Sharaf]

I don’t know how I missed it, but AJA has announced a Trilevel sync box for under $400! It’s supposed to be available this summer and provides a very reasonable way to provide sync for multicam shoots and edit suites. It should be very popular.

JS

[John Sharaf]

Evertz is the way to go. The big descision is how to frame it up, based on other needs and expansion possibilities, namely single, three slot or fifteen slots!

JS

[John Sharaf]

Dale,

I have four Varicams and I use them together all the time with no TC problems; but I go genlock them with proper Tri Level Sync. If I’m going more ENG style I jam sync to TOD and then drop the cable because without proper genlock leaving the cable connected can lead to problems. The other thing with the TC wire daisychained from camera to camera is that the master camera must roll first, otherwise the slaved cameras will not latch up. I suspect this is the origon of most of the reported problems!

JS

[John Sharaf]

First off, there is no “dubbing” in digital. When you make copies you “clone” them. Because the signal is all zeros and ones there is no loss of quality per se when you clone; loss of quality comes by decompresing and recompressing. This means “cloning” by firewire rather than by HD-SDI, this way you’ll also carry the embedded audio, time code and flag frames in user bit (as long as the menus are set correctly).

As regards the LP vs. SP, the 1200/1400 decks and the HDX900 camera have different heads than the Varicam and previous DVCPRO100 VTR’s. They are a smaller 9 micron head gap vs. 18 micron. It’s doubtful that there is any difference in the recording quality although you do benefit by the tape lasting twice as long. In the long run, it’s logical to think that there might be more head clog issues with the smaller gap, and to some extent I have experienced this with the 1200A VTR when mine was new, although recently this has not been the case.

[John Sharaf]

Ty,

If you truely want to “knock down” some of the light, meaning reduce the intensity while preserving the quality (ie hard), then what you need are scrims. These are made of wire and come in single (half stop) and double (one stop) designations and are designed to be used right next to the lamp. There probably is a slot in which several will fit.

Sometimes you’ll want to use a single and a double or even two doubles. Scrims are also available in “half” designations, meaning that the scrim only covers half the opening, allowing for diminished level on top, bottom or side, depending on how the half scrim is oriented in the light.

Now, tough spun is a horse of a different color! It is also designed to accomodate the high heat of an open faced quartz light, like the Redhead you describe, but it’s intended use is to “diffuse” or soften and spread the quality of the lighting instrument. With its use the shaddow will become softer, and yes the output will be slightly dimished. In addition to spun, there are other types of white diffussion such as Lee 216, 250, etc. which have various degrees of softening effect with the concurrent effect of using up some of the lights’ intensity.

If I were you, I’d invest in a scrim set, of a single, double, half single and half double for every open face and fresnel light that you own, then also some diffussion gel to use to create various softening effects. There is even white diffussion that’s like shower curtain, and while it is not as heat proof as the spun of other materials intended to mount right on the barndoors, when used as a panel in front of the light can create a beautiful soft source. In addition an open faced quartz light makes an ideal bounce source ito a white card of foamcore, you just have to consider controling the spill of off the walls and other objects.

JS

[John Sharaf]

Good advice not to use Pro35 for greenscreen, as you don’t really want extra grain and/or artifacts in your plates that won’t match the backgrounds you’ll be compositing.

As far as lenses, always use the best lenses available. This should be a no brainer. The only reason that the Zeiss DigiPrimes and Zooms are not used for every shoot is that they cost more to own and/or rent. There should be no dispute that they are the best lenses available for 2/3″ imagers that have B4 mounts. After them come the Canon and Fujinon primes and zooms; while the Cine versions arer beefier and minimize ramp and breathing they are essentially the same glass as their ENG cousins.

Suffice it to say that with HD glass as with many other items, you get what you pay for. In the the case of the Zeiss’s it’s better contrast and resolution, both of which are factors in greenscren photography.

JS

[John Sharaf]

Michael,

From my limited experience with the Pro35 and the Varicam, I’d highly recommend that you do not use it for the project you describe! If you’re so hellbent on using hard lenses, the Zeiss Digi’s either prime or zoom are a much more practical choice. The main reason of course is the exposure factor of the Pro35. In addition, the addition of the grain is, in my oppinion, an unnecessary degredation of the image, and furthermore I’ve had compression artifacts in the past where the DVCPRO100 codec could not keep up with all the grainy noise and blocks up.

I find that the most common rationale for using the Pro35 is that someone in authority owns movie lenses that they want to rent. Perhaps this is cynical on my part, but as regards DOF, there are many creative ways to deal with this issue that can be successfull, especially with night shots where you’re already working wide open and can selectively light focus zones.

I don’t mean to start a firestorm with others who may have successfully used this device, but it does seem counterintuitive to the use you describe.

As regards the color of the camera, this is a matter of proper setup, namely matrix, which is not built in to the bland factory set. With the Varicam, there is also the matter of the Dynamic Range setting in Film Rec, where the extreme 500% may not be the ideal setting, especially again for the night scenes you describe. Without a VC or DIT you can only approximate a setting, as night scenes vary quite a bit based on the lighting (or non-lighting) style at play. User beware! At the least you should understand that changing the Dyn Rng setting also changes the color saturation and master gamma.

JS

[John Sharaf]

Ray,

Best choice is the SRW-1 recorder which is the VTR portion of the new F23 camera. It is also seperate-able and runs on battery. They also make a half rack recorder, the “280” which runs on batteries but might not be as common to find in rental.

JS