[Ken Hon]

Aloha Craig,

I kinda figured that, it’s just that we paid around 900 for the DV4 a couple of years ago. It’s a pretty big price jump. Anyway, if you’re using a matte box or doing a lot of telephoto shots outside, the bigger tripods are worth it for wind stability. The Sachtler sliding legs have always worked well for us. We get lots of volcanic glass and stuff crunching in the legs but they’ve never gotten stuck (of course the feet have a tendency to melt off, but no one seems to make a tripod with melt proof feet).

Most of the production crews that come through here use Video 18 or 20’s which are like a rock in high winds, but then again they weigh more than the average boulder too.

Miller and Cartoni also make some lower end tripods that are worth considering too. But you really need to mount your camera on them and see how they feel to you when panning.

Aloha,

Ken

[Ken Hon]

Aloha Craig and Mick,

We have had a number of light to intermediate Sachtler Tripods, none of which are made any more. We’ve had 3 Video 14’s and a DV-4 all of which carry loads between 15-20 lbs (full sized camcorders). I personally like the feel of the Sachtler heads though 2 of ours no longer work correctly (ooops, they got too hot and the gooey oil spurts out……).

We also have a 503 head and I don’t like the movement of it as well, but that may just be me. We have a Miller DV tripod too and it was fine. If you have a chance you might want to go play with some of these.

And I noticed that the price of the Sachtlers has really gone up in the last 1-2 years, yikes. Can this be the Euro? Funny, German mikes are still about the same. What gives?

Mick also was wondering about a lightweight tripod. We put together this Frankensteeen’s monster tripod for backpacking. It has Gitzo G1157 Carbon legs, an Acratech ball level, and a Manfrotto 701RC2 head. Works ok and is about as light as you can get and not have it tip over with a camera on it.

Hope this is useful.

Aloha,

Ken

[Ken Hon]

Aloha Steve,

Well I could get all snooty and say read your manual, but the truth is I found it by just poking the buttons the way you do.

With the LCD screen flipped out (may work in viewfinder too, don’t know), pust the SEL/SET roller in the upper left of the back of the camera. A yellow box will appear either on the things listed on the lower left or on the bottom line.

If you then roll the roller you can cycle between SHT, Gain, Apeture, PP, White Balance, MF-AF, OIS, and TLCS.

Roll the roller to the item you want and depress it and it brings up the choices.

Roll to the choice you want and depress it again and it changes it.

Doesn’t have everything, but it’s a lot easier than going through the menus.

And thanks for the many, many educational and entertaining posts you’ve made here.

Aloha,

Ken

[Ken Hon]

Aloha Craig,

If you hit the the menu select roller without hitting menu, it lets you toggle the OIS on and off right on the LCD screen (along with a couple of other things you can adjust). Anyway, you can get to the OIS really fast that way.

Aloha,

Ken

[Ken Hon]

Aloha Danny,

Thanks for all the input. Ultimately after talking it over with a person at Coffey sound I went for the MKH 416 and a K-Tek softie. I’m going to make a felt sleeve for the mike and insert it into the K-tek. The Sanken was close, but they thought the 416 would have a bit more range. It’s 2 inches longer, but I think we can live with that as it’s 2 inches shorter than the ME66. Anyway, it’s a bit more versatile according to all the reviews. Thanks again for the leads and advice.

Mahalo,

Ken

[Ken Hon]

Aloha Danny,
Thanks for the reply. The Sanken wasn’t really on my radar but it is now. I’m leaning strongly towards it especially since it has a very high sensitivity (32 mV/Pa) similar to the ME66. The reason we mostly use the ME66 is because it picks up small sounds at a distance really well. However, it’s got pretty high background noise and we don’t use it for people. I would like a mike with a similar pickup but with a lot less noise.

Danny wroteThe industrial strength wind solution is the rigid zeppelin enclosure. This is where layering comes into play:

1) Level 1 – Zeppelin housing
2) Level 2 – add felt sock to exterior of zeppelin
3) Level 3 – add “dead cat” fur cover over top of felt sock

We have a full Rycote setup like this and it’s spoiled me as it cuts out all the wind. Nothing else seems to work nearly as good. The felt liner makes a huge difference. Unfortunately you need 2 people to carry all this around with the camera. I wrote Rycote and asked if they happened to make a softie with a layer of felt. It would be nice, but I’m not holding my breath.

Aloha,

Ken

[Ken Hon]

Aloha Danny,

Thanks for the reply. The Sanken mikes look good. I like the CS-1 for it’s size. Our real problem is wind though and like I said in my first post, I’m not so happy with the Lightwave mini that we have. Haven’t tried the Rycote minis, but would sure like to know if they cut out all the wind noise. I’ve worked with a couple of crews that had mini’s that worked, wish I would have asked what they were. Our Rycote zepplin doesn’t really cut out the wind unless we put the felt on under the windjammer. Wonder if any of the minis have this? (the light wave uses a short fur under the long fur and it just doesn’t seem to work all that well).

Thanks again.

Aloha,

Ken

PS We do have a pistol grip and a boom pole and a wireless setup and a 4 channel field mixer for our shotgun and lavs, but it’s all impractical when you’re filming solo, which we do most of the time. We are also filming about as close as you want to get to the lava, so having the mike on the camera isn’t really a problem especially the EX-1 with no tape mechanism.

[Ken Hon]

Aloha Craig,

Have you heard about anyone getting 16 GB cards yet or when they might arrive relative to the camcorder? We have one on order at B&H and they say they keep getting told late (or latest now) November, but no real word on the 16 GB cards. Just curious if you have heard anything about them.

Aloha,

Ken

[Ken Hon]

Aloha,

One other thing to consider is that the conversion from HD to SD color space sometimes creates illegal settings. We had a set of scenes that caused viewing problems during SD downconvert and found that the whites in a small silver of overexposed sky were over 110 IRE in SD, but right at 100 IRE in HD. Don’t know if this is your problem, but it could be with the white background.

[Ken Hon]

Actually you can use your Horita for most HD. We have one and it works fine. You only need a tri-level when you are editing in true 24p according to what Bob Zelin has posted here (I’ve never edited in 24p). He had a great line about if you’re not George Lucas, it’s not something you need to worry about.

I asked the same question here when we changed over and Bob was extremely helpful (of course he did note that all the rest of our studio equipment beside the Horita was total cr#p and we should throw everything away except the Horita, sort of like that Minnesota carp joke, cook it on a board, throw the carp away and eat the board).

Aloha,

Ken