Rick Wise
1
COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
-
Is the car moving?
Are there street lights? Passing cars? “Moonlight”?
What camera positions?
Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
and part-time instructor lighting and camera
grad school, SF Academy of Art University/Film and Video
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
For example, B&H has a used two-bank 4′ kinoflo with ballast for $480, while new it costs $700. (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/800711233-USE/Kino_Flo_SYS_4802_S120_Double_Bank_Select_VE_Fluorescent/BI/6544/KBID/7158)These older Kino Flo models work great. Having a separate ballast is a bit of a pain (and they are fragile — I knocked one over once and it cost me) but these bulbs tend to be more true color than the Diva versions. I find them a bit on the hard side for soft-lighting, but some schmutz over the front or better yet flown out in front takes care of that. Add a light stand and you have your soft key with two grand left to spend as mentioned above. (You admitted you could go to $2,500, and I’ll bet that’s where you will go and a bit more. There’s just no way around that….)
Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
and part-time instructor lighting and camera
grad school, SF Academy of Art University/Film and Video
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
Alan’s post is so on the mark. One small note to add: Lowel lights are a lot lighter than Arri. However, Lowel does not make a fresnel light, which is great to have but not absolutely essential. Also, Arri’s will last longer, but for a one-man-band who takes care of his own gear, Lowels will last a long, long time. Avoid Chinese knock-offs of any type. Ebay is full of them.
Do you understand the basics of 3-point lighting? Also, color temperature along both the red-blue axis and the green-magenta? And, the formula, Amps = Watts / Volts (round off the volts to 100)? If you do understand all three issues, you can make good smart choices where you find them as used gear. You will want to stick with relatively small units since you want everything to run off a single 20-amp circuit. Note that B&H sometimes has good used gear. I would trust them. (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/browse/Lighting/ci/2876/N/4294246758/BI/6544/KBID/7158)You can also sometimes buy used gear off a rental house.
Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
and part-time instructor lighting and camera
grad school, SF Academy of Art University/Film and Video
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
Unfortunately the Sony HVR-Z1U seems to no longer be available new, though you may be able to get a used one. Be careful of head wear. If you are planning to down-convert to SD, I would think a much better option would be to get an Panasonic DVX-100b, which is still made and sells for around $2,500.(https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/406855-REG/Panasonic_AGDVX100B_AG_DVX100B_3CCD_24p_Mini_DV/BI/6544/KBID/7158) I consider it the best SD prosumer camera made, though no doubt others will have other choices. It’s solid, rugged, and takes outstanding images. It’s not HD, but if you don’t need HD, you will get far more bang for your bucks with this camera than a relatively inexpensive HD camera.
As John points out, dealing with AVCHD is a pain. One solution is to convert to a format more Vegas friendly. There are many posts on this topic.
A relatively terrific bargain-entry-level HD camera that does use AVCHD is the Pansonic AG-HMc40 (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/625605-REG/Panasonic_AG_HMC40PJU_AG_HMC40_AVCCAM_HD_Camcorder.html#accessories/BI/6544/KBID/7158) for $2,000.
Spot’s Canon AH1 is probably a terrific choice and with an extra battery just makes it for your $3,500 budget. It records to tape. (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/589903-REG/Canon_1191B001_XH_A1_3CCD_HDV_Camcorder/BI/6544/KBID/7158)
Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
and part-time instructor lighting and camera
grad school, SF Academy of Art University/Film and Video
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
On the internet you will find endless advice about lighting kits. For the $400 range you set I know of only one solution: buy used, slowly and carefully, waiting for exceptionally low prices. eBay is an obvious place to go.
Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
and part-time instructor lighting and camera
grad school, SF Academy of Art University/Film and Video
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
This topic was covered in great detail recently. Try a search for: window. I think that will work.
Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
and part-time instructor lighting and camera
grad school, SF Academy of Art University/Film and Video
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
John,
Great use of fantasy cloth, and thanks for the tip. For years I’ve used a clean 8×8 single or double behind a speaker to fuzz the background. Sometimes backlighting the scrim works well too. But often a clean 8-by is hard to find. These look like a relatively cheap alternative.
Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
and part-time instructor lighting and camera
grad school, SF Academy of Art University/Film and Video
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
Obviously when you shoot with the camera on its side, you rotate the image 90º in post and fill in the sides with green to match. This technique allows you to use more of the chip to record the talent. However, it is a bit awkward to pull off, but can be done — and is done.
Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
and part-time instructor lighting and camera
grad school, SF Academy of Art University/Film and Video
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
Thanks Spot. That’s pretty amazing — editing Red files in native raw state. For FCP you have to render them out first, and for that you need a very expensive Red Rocket card.
A couple of questions:
— how many layers can an “uber” PC handle with these raw files? Suppose you have five images playing in windows, all at once. Can a strong computer handle that?
— what about rendering the final edited piece. How slow is that? (For the Mac you really must have that expensive Red Rocket card for this stage too.)
— what about keyed color correcting, as we know and love in “regular” Vegas — can one do that successfully or is it noisy?It does look to me like Vegas is in an early stage of development for the Red. For instance, no way to copy the file settings from one clip and paste onto the rest of the clips, as you can do with ordinary FX.
Thanks,
Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
and part-time instructor lighting and camera
grad school, SF Academy of Art University/Film and Video
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
Ah, Mark, I missed this the first time around. Hilarious! Myself, I’m working on the backhand hand of cinema, which obliterates all the others. Keep a distance!
Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
and part-time instructor lighting and camera
grad school, SF Academy of Art University/Film and Video
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com