[Leo Ticheli]

I believe it was in 2003; I’ll check to make sure. Could be in 2002. I don’t think it was called VariCam initially, but” 27V Electronic Cinema Camera.” Or something close to that. Panasonic quickly discovered how popular the variable frame-rate feature was and started calling it the VariCam.

We took delivery of one of the first, if not the first, VariCam in the Southeast; it was, and still is, a fabulous camera. Ergonomic, reliable, and producing beautiful pictures; it really changed the business in a profound way, easily rivaling film for most jobs.

About a year or two ago we bought our second VariCam, the “H” model, and if I had a good reason to continue with tape-based acquisition, VariCam would be my choice, but we’ve moved on. I think Panasonic still has my ages-old interview about the VariCam on their web site.

Let me know if I can be of further help.

Best regards,

Leo

[Leo Ticheli]

Robert, you question is impossible to answer because you have not provided any information about the mood you are trying to create. The subject you are shooting can be lit in so many ways, perhaps infinite. I do fine art nude photography and my lighting setups vary considerably.

You have said you don’t want to see shadows, that requires very large aperture soft lights, perhaps powerful fixtures behind something as dense as unbleached muslin. I’ve used 12’x12′ frames or even larger with a couple of 5Ks.

I suggest you view some films that have scenes that look like what you’re trying to achieve and then light the same way. If you don’t know how, you could ask a specific question, or read things like American Cinematographer.

Best regards,

Leo

[Leo Ticheli]

Actually, the Red camera is already in use in the Middle East with good results. Do a search at the Red User forum.

Good shooting and best regards,

Leo

[Leo Ticheli]

You have two catch lights in the eyes because you’re using, in effect, two key lights.

Eyes are convex mirrors, naturally they will reflect any light source.

You can use one much larger area key source and rely on the wrap to fill the dark side.

You can change locations and put the lights where they should be to create the image you want, rather than where they must be because of the physical limitations of the space.

Or…

You can learn to love it the way it is.

Or… You can do the right thing and declare the location unacceptable for the shot you’re trying to accomplish. “No,” is a pretty powerful word and can be your best friend.

One more thing I simply must ask; you teach video production in LA?

Best regards,

Leo

[Leo Ticheli]

Sorry you had a bad experience with B&H, Steve.

We’ve always had terrific service from them across a wide variety of products from lighting and electronics to stills cameras and lenses.

Good shooting and best regards,

Leo

[Leo Ticheli]

Yours is a question frequently asked, how does one replace a lighting & grip truck full of professional fixtures that will serve for a variety of different situations with a budget so small it wouldn’t cover lunch on a major shoot.

Fortunately, there are a couple of answers that might be helpful.

Option 1: Buy the largest Kino Flo fixture you can find on the used market. Fill it with daylight balanced tubes and use it either as a key light for interview type setups or to just provide as much direction of the light as possible.

With a small output fixture you don’t have the punch to really light the whole scene, so you are just supplementing the existing practical lighting.

Try to find a that used Kino Flo with as large an aperture as possible to make it as soft a key as you can.

Add fixtures as your budget allows.

Option 2: Rent as needed.

Unfortunately, many people reject these options and purchase a tungsten kit of some kind because it has many fixtures at a very low price. These are junk; too low level to really be of use and guaranteed to fall apart, or worse.

Make smart, long-term investments in your lighting package; you’ll be glad you did.

Good shooting,

Leo

[Leo Ticheli]

Car chase plus low budget equals dead people.

Are you on a campus where you can enlist the aid of school’s police force to close/control streets? If not, you’ll have to use clever editing to make things look like you’re traveling at high speeds while barely avoiding collisions with other vehicles and pedestrians.

You still have the problem of not having accomplished stunt drivers and all the specialized car rigging.

I’m doubtful that this can be accomplished, but rent the classic car chase films, such as the “French Connection” and story board your film scene by scene. Then you can shoot it, cheating everything, perhaps using blue/green screen to put other cars in the windows. Maybe.

What you are suggesting leaves you open to criminal charges, law suits from hell, and possible a ticket to that very destination. Be aware that even professionals with virtually unlimited budgets have suffered tragedies with this kind of shooting.

I never want to dampen enthusiasm, but this one scares the heck out of me.

Good shooting and best regards,

Leo

[Leo Ticheli]

The output of your lighting fixtures is relevant only to the existing ambient light you’re working with. For example, if you’re lighting a subject with bright daylight lit windows in the shot, you need more powerful lamps; if you want the practical lamps in a night scene to work lighting part of the set, you need a less powerful key.

Of course you must have a camera sensitive enough to properly expose with the practicals.

The actual power of the lamp has almost nothing to do with whether or not you have a “lite” feel to your image. It’s all relative; you balance everything and then use iris and ND filters to expose.

You can control the output of your Fresnel lamps with wire scrims or ND gel. You can use proper dimmers for the lamps, but that will shift the color to red as you dim.

Good shooting,

Leo

[Leo Ticheli]

Was this VariCam your personal camera or was it a rental? If it’s a rental, you should have discussed the settings with the rental house in advance and developed the look you were after prior to the shoot. I can’t imagine any legitimate rental house refusing to do this.

If this is your personal camera, you need to get the assistance of a qualified camera engineer with the proper equipment, charts and scopes, to set the camera up to your liking.

Setting up a VariCam is not for the faint of heart, certainly not for a layman using advice from a forum! It’s a complicated, interconnected, and lengthy process. You can’t just frame a test shot and tweak until you think it looks right because those settings may make other scenes look terrible. You must set up to a professional chart using waveform and vector scopes.

I can’t over emphasize how difficult this actually is! Moving one parameter setting affects other settings, so it’s adjust, check, adjust, check, and so on until everything is as close as possible.

Of course once you’ve set up your VariCam parameters, you can save them to the SD card and port them to any VariCam you care to use. Note that the V and H models are different and you can’t directly use the setting from one to the other.

There is an alternative to all this; you can simply download the setting from a variety of sources and check to see if they are pleasing to you for the job at hand. Your Panasonic rep can help you with this.

Matching two very different cameras is an entirely more complicated matter; as John Sharaf suggested to you, you’ll need a camera engineer to help with this, or shoot both cameras as flat (not the lighting!) as possible and try to match in post.

I hope this is helpful.

Good shooting and best regards,

Leo

[Leo Ticheli]

Detailed, rather lengthy, advice on these lighting setups has been posted on the Cow a few times, and they can help if you have the proper equipment and skills. You should be able to find them with a search.

I strongly recommend you simply hire a qualified Gaffer to do these jobs and learn all you can from him/her.

What you are attempting, chroma key and limbo studio, may sound easy; they are not. The slightest variation from optimum will yield unacceptable results, especially with lesser cameras.

Books and video instruction are helpful, but don’t approach the value of hands-on learning with a skilled teacher.

Please don’t reply that you can’t afford to hire a Gaffer or buy/rent the proper equipment. If you can’t do the job properly, you are doing both your client and our industry a disservice.

Money spent on instruction will be the best investment you ever made.

Good shooting!

Leo