[Mark D’agostino]

We did end up scaling back on the sound-deadening by eliminating the duv overhead and just surrounding the talent with sonex clamped to stands and leaning against stands on the floor. That gave us just enough “liveness” to get the feel for the space without too much echo. The host segments were mostly tight shots with just a bit of the altar behind her. Open and closing segments were MCUs of her but still seeing a lot of the expanse of the interior behind her. We still piled on the sonex but maintained some ambiance. I agree, dead sound wouldn’t have made sense here but it was waaaay too echoey untreated. We did record with a countryman B6 nice and close to her mouth and a Sennheiser MKH60 from above. The shotgun actually sounded better, (I much prefer shotguns to lavs anyhow).

Thanks so much for your suggestions Rodney and thanks also to Ty, JC and John.

Mark D’Agostino
http://www.synergeticproductions.com

[Mark D’agostino]

I am planning to attach the B6 to her head. She has great bangs to hide it. Thanks for you response. I’m glad to know I’m on the right track.

Mark D’Agostino
http://www.synergeticproductions.com

[Mark D’agostino]

Hi Dusty,
Were you still under warranty when you sent it in? We had to pay to replace ours because we weren’t. Thanks for the response!
Happy Holidays,

Mark D’Agostino
http://www.synergeticproductions.com

[Mark D’agostino]

John,
Could I have your client list? They sound wonderful. Your approach is basic and thus incredibly elegant. Thanks for the input!

Mark D’Agostino
http://www.synergeticproductions.com

[Mark D’agostino]

Hi Wynn,
I have been forced a few times to take the approach of framing 4:3 and keeping 16:9 space clear to “future-proof”. I try to avoid that when possible because should the 16:9 version ever air then all the framings and compositions are compromises. I’d actually prefer not to keep the 16:9 clear to be sure they never used it. Now, I’m not a purist and think every frame I capture is art. I do a lot of industrial type stuff where your method works perfectly. In fact, one client actually did change his mind once he saw the 16:9 version of what we originally agreed would be a 4:3 program. The compositions were wider than they should have been but it showed his crews in action clearly and he was able to play it full screen on his new HD TV in the conference room.
I guess the bottom line is there is no one size fits all answer to my original question. Not all clients follow logic and there are still a lot of them out there with 4:3 TVs at home. That’s their comfort zone. In 5 or 10 years, this question goes away.

Thanks everyone for your input!

Mark D’Agostino
http://www.synergeticproductions.com

[Mark D’agostino]

I haven’t actually used a DSLR for tl yet and would be interested also in how others may have used one for time lapse. I did find this link https://www.instructables.com/id/Turn-a-TI-Graphing-Calculator-into-an-Intervalomet/. Someone found a way to turn a graphing calculator into an intervelometer. I’m certainly not endorsing the method because I’ve not tried it but I thought it looked pretty cool.

Mark D’Agostino
http://www.synergeticproductions.com

[Mark D’agostino]

Early on I didn’t use the half shutter and got good results. Now I tend to leave the half on because I understand it more for real time shooting although I haven’t done a test to see if there is a real difference in time lapse…but it hasn’t hurt my footage. I doubt it is of any benefit when shooting clouds, but may help some with faster paced action. The stuff I’ve time lapsed has been over short periods of time, about and hour or so. I try to find a happy medium to set the iris if I’m outdoors and the sun is going in and out of clouds. Indoors I just set the iris unless there are a lot of windows. I’ve ridden the iris if the windows are in the shot and the sun goes in and out. For day to night, I’d still adjust the iris during the shoot. I know I’ll be with the camera because I won’t leave it by itself, so the time lapse period will only be as long as I’m willing to stay with the camera. If I needed something shot over a longer period I’d probably find an alternative like a dslr camera.

Mark D’Agostino
http://www.synergeticproductions.com

[Mark D’agostino]

Robyn,
Yes, you are correct. The camera will record 1 frame every 25 seconds. As to why rec time has seconds and pause time has frames…that never made sense to me either.
Mark

Mark D’Agostino
http://www.synergeticproductions.com

[Mark D’agostino]

George,
We own an HDX-900. We power it with Anton-Bauer Dionic90 batteries. They give incredible run time, have a power meter on the side and are relatively lightweight. They work so well we hardly ever use the ac power supply. When we do, we have an Anton-Bauer quad charger/ac power supply, (Interactive 2000). I’ve used that in helicopters when I’ve had very long flight runs and couldn’t step out of the copter in mid-flight to change batteries. It works great. Just be sure the camera is off before plugging in and turning on the power supply
Mark

Mark D’Agostino
http://www.synergeticproductions.com

[Mark D’agostino]

Thanks for advice Bruce. I’ve already started playing around with your method. Thank you too Ernie. I do tend to use the white balance on a card routine and tweak in post. I carry a couple shades of blue, (and sometimes my faded jeans for sunsets), and if it’s sunny I aim the white card into the cooler shade. For fluorescents I automatically add 1/2 greens to my lights, (with more time I add a more precise gel combo depending on the type of fluorescent, mercury, etc.)

Mark D’Agostino
http://www.synergeticproductions.com