[Tim Baker]

Greg…Greg…Greg,

Don’t know if you are still following this thread or not but here is my two cents worth.

First of all in the future…it is never a good idea to discount work for the promise of future work…invariably they will take your discount, screw you out of the future work, and run leaving you wanting final payment.

Second…run away from this guy like your hair is on fire…he is obviously a “low-baller” and I would bet most of his work is crap that you would not want your custom slate on the head of…don’t waist your time.

Tim Baker
Chameleon Mobile Video Productions
(239)849-3295
“It is not the light at the end of the tunnel that we should seek…it is the courage to take the next step in the dark that we must find.”

[Tim Baker]

Thanks man…about the sig…I actually say that I came up with that one. I have yet to find anything similar and I really thought it lent itself to our business and our lives.

I came up with it a few years ago when I was working with a teens group that I mentored.

Tim Baker
Chameleon Mobile Video Productions
(239)849-3295
“It is not the light at the end of the tunnel that we should seek…it is the courage to take the next step in the dark that we must find.”

[Tim Baker]

Hey Jeff,

After almost 20 years of doing this type of work…I do not do half days.

If you are away from home…or even in town…half days do not make good business since. If a client calls and wants to book me for an 8am call and shoot until 12:30 or 1pm…do you think they would be comfortable with me scheduling a second shoot at 1:30 or 2pm? I think not. Try telling a client that you are walking off of their set at straight up 12:30 to get to your next gig.

Regardless…they have killed your day and any chance for additional income. Your time is money…get what you are owed…you are owed for a full day of potential income or the loss of the chance for it.

As far as the “dark day”, which is what I have always heard “down days” in the middle of a shoot called, are always billed at a full day rate. It is not your fault that the client can’t book contiguous shoot days, but it is their fault that you are not at home…building or billing for business that you “potentially” could have had.

Don’t sell yourself or the industry short…two many guys do half days way too much and it hurts everyone, as these clients and production companies traverse the country. What you charge in your area…effects what I can get in my area…keep that in mind too.

That is not to say that I do not do half days at all. The one time that I do half days is on some of the Audio/Visual gigs that I do. But, that is for travel days only…and only if I am traveling for less than 5 hours.

Tim Baker
Chameleon Mobile Video Productions
(239)849-3295
“It is not the light at the end of the tunnel that we should seek…it is the courage to take the next step in the dark that we must find.”

[Tim Baker]

That is cool…I was thinking that must be the case. It has just really been giving me fits.

I like the ability to use it stand alone. I am coming from the old blackmagic and the Promax DAMax box that all I had to do is set a couple of switches and taaaadaaaa…the loop through or output that I wanted. Not used to having to set a software switch.

Thanks for clarifying for me…I Love the Cow!!!

Tim Baker
Chameleon Mobile Video Productions
(239)849-3295
“It is not the light at the end of the tunnel that we should seek…it is the courage to take the next step in the dark that we must find.”

[Tim Baker]

So clear something up for me…what is the control panel actually for?

Is it primarily for just loop through control on I/O devices? And when you are editing just use FCP?

That must be it, but I have had to futz with the control panel to get my external monitor of video…hmmmm.

I am so confused…lol.

Tim Baker
Chameleon Mobile Video Productions
(239)849-3295
“It is not the light at the end of the tunnel that we should seek…it is the courage to take the next step in the dark that we must find.”

[Tim Baker]

Hey Rick,

Was not trying to be a smart@$$ on my last post…just don’t want to see someone waste money if they dont have to, but if you are getting a great deal…heck…that makes all the difference. And I thought you were talking a camera package…sorry my wrong assumption.

As I understand it…SATA externally…is the same as the wide ribbon connectiong that your internal drives would use. You just have to have a seperate card inserted…to gain the external SATA connection and taaaaadaaaaa.

I am glad for the MacGurus weblink…that may be an option for me, as well.

My 1tb internal is getting mighty full.

Tim Baker
Chameleon Mobile Video Productions
(239)849-3295
“It is not the light at the end of the tunnel that we should seek…it is the courage to take the next step in the dark that we must find.”

[Tim Baker]

My first question is why waist your money on a Beta SP? I would look to the Panasonics, Sony, or new JVC cameras.

Take half your budget that you would spend on a Beta package…buy one of these cameras…get as good or better picture quality…edit via firewire and invest the rest of what you would have spent on the Beta package on some good firewire drives.

I know of several Beta packages in my area that have been closeted for months because the DV, DVCAM, and HDV markets have taken their place.

Tim Baker
Chameleon Mobile Video Productions
(239)849-3295
“It is not the light at the end of the tunnel that we should seek…it is the courage to take the next step in the dark that we must find.”

[Tim Baker]

I have the I/O LA teamed with the Kona2 and the Kbox and have been really happy so far…just a few glitches to work out with monitoring of audio/video to workout.

I am waiting for my JVC HD100 package to showup before really putting the Kona2 to its test.

I moved from the Blackmagic products due to their slow shipping of the Mulitbridge…that I had on order for over 3 month…and the problems that they have had in the past.

I am happy with the change.

Tim Baker
Chameleon Mobile Video Productions
(239)849-3295
“It is not the light at the end of the tunnel that we should seek…it is the courage to take the next step in the dark that we must find.”

[Tim Baker]

I generally follow the rule…”Scan up…then scale down”. I will generally scan a photo at 150 to 200 percent of original…then size it with a crop setting in Photoshop.

This gives you a lot of flexibility and increased resolution. As you size a large scan or photo down…it actually “pushes” the pixels together and will sharpen the image.

Plus if you have a vertical image and only need a certain portion of the image…it will in a lot of cases give you enough horizontal width to fit to screen size that you need.

BELOW IS A GOOD SIZING CHART STRAIGHT FROM A PHOTOSHOP TRAINNER:
(you may need to work with it a bit, but it is a good guide to follow)

Using Square or Non-Square Pixels For Graphics

[Tim Baker]

The icons for projects like my new demo reel…are just grey pages with the bent down corner.

When I click them…it tries to open DVD Studio Pro 1.5…which is like the first version that I ever owned.

And when it does open…it does not read anything…the program does nothing…it opens a blank inspector window and that is it.

Tim Baker
Chameleon Mobile Video Productions
(239)849-3295
“It is not the light at the end of the tunnel that we should seek…it is the courage to take the next step in the dark that we must find.”