Todd Terry
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COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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As far as I’m concerned those are two completely different tools… one’s a wrench and one’s a screwdriver. Both great tools, but it just depends on whether you need to turn a bolt or a screw.
I’ll preface this by saying I’m not a fan of using DSLRs for shooting motion video. Yes, people do it every day, and many with great results… but it’s not primarily what they were made for.
You might get slightly better image quality from the 5D, but I think it would be negligible and doubt your eyeballs would even know it. The C100 however would be much more suited to pick-it-up-and-go video shooting, with easy controls and ergonomics that are much more specifically designed for that kind of work… and no hoops to jump through to get the exact picture control you are looking for.
With either Camera, though, it will come down to the lenses… great glass on the C100 will beat the pants off mediocre or just “decent” glass on the 5D… and vice versa.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Definitely go for a “legit” video camera, not a DSLR.
Today almost any mid-to-higher-end video camera will have a “clearscan” mode for the shutter, where you can dial in the very exact shutter speed you need (expressed in Hz rather than in fractions of a second or degree angle). For the most part, DSLRs won’t do that.
Rick is right about only being able to shoot one source at a time, if the refresh rates are different. It’s good that you don’t have to do that.
Last week we shot some night footage in a park here of skaters at an outdoor ice rink. All of the trees surrounding the rink were loaded with Christmas lights. All very pretty, but they were LED lights so we had to clearscan shoot with our C300 so they wouldn’t flicker. But we learned they were either of different types or on different circuits or something because we could never find a setting that would take care of all the flicker… fix some, and others start flickering. Fix those, and the originals were flickering again. Good that you won’t have to deal with that.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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There’s really know way to know what’s best, since we don’t know what your commercial subject is, what kind of style or look that you are looking for, or any of a bunch of other things…
But yes, I think your last guess is best….
On a lowish-budget project like that you will not have any wiggle room or budget to cover any mistakes, re-dos, or extra time to play with brand-new-to-you gear and get it right.
In that case I think it would be wise to hire an experienced DP who owns his or her own gear… something like a Canon C300 or C500, or an EPIC, or something along those lines (with a good arsenal of lenses). I think you’ll be better off in the long run and get better results along with much more for your money.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Well, again, if those pipes are at the right positions and heights for where you want the fixtures, then you don’t need anything else… just the C-clamp with the attached baby pin.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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If I’m seeing your image right it looks like you have a couple of pipes from which you plan to hang instruments.
If that’s the case, the clamps that John linked will definitely work (the C-clamp, not the scissor clamp). Those are pretty much the industry standard for hanging an instrument from a lighting grid.
Yes, they will hang a Kino. You’ll need one per fixture. No, you don’t need any other adapters… PROVIDING that the pipes are where you want the instruments, at the height that you want them. If you want them lower (or the flexibility to make them lower) then you’ll want some grip arms to lower them (any 5/8″ stock from the hardware store will also work, doesn’t have to be a “real” grip arm). You’d need a grip head, too, in that scenario. But if the pipes are where you want them, you don’t need anything else.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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[Larry Watts] “The rods and silk Terry shared would work. Where are those for sale?”
Bought a couple of those on eBay… just some small cheap Chinese-made softboxes.
I usually use Chimera or Photoflex softboxes, but I was just needing the rods and silk and wasn’t totally sure it was going to work, so I went the cheap route as an experiment.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Larry, depending on how your instruments are made, if you are only wanting diffusion you might find it easier to attach something to the fixture head itself, rather than another piece of hardware that also attaches to the stand.
That’s what I do with my LEDs. I basically did two things… first I added an umbrella holder on each of them, made from some umbrella holders that I bought on eBay and cannibalized for parts. With them I can use a silk umbrella or a silver reflective one. I also took some old umbrellas and took half the ribs out and then “re-skinned” them with this very translucent vinyl that I like to use. Those are good options depending on how hard or soft a result I’m looking for. As you can see I attached the holder at a slight angle so that the instrument would shoot more in the center of the umbrellas.
The second thing I did was drill holes in the fixture’s filter tracks so I could put small softbox rods and add the silk (just the silk, not the actual box). That works well, too, but honestly the umbrellas work so well and so fast that I rarely use the softbox silks….
If you really want to add multiple things to your existing C-stands, Matthews makes adapters that have one baby-pin receiver and then with two or three baby pins on top where you can add multiple pieces of 5/8″ hardware to the same stand.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Great, good luck… hope it works for you.
And Mark, as usual you exaggerate. I think the word you are looking for is “stingy,” although I will also accept “cheap.”
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Ok Travis, here you go… I threw this together a few minutes ago.
You need to hit Home Depot’s electrical aisle and grab one piece of 3/4″ electrical conduit.
Then jump over to the plumbing aisle and get one 1″-to”3/4″ PVC slip joint and two 4″ knockout plugs.
That’s all you need, except some cord and a little bit of hardware you probably already have hanging around, S-hooks and eyebolts and the like….
There’s no audio on this video, I did it in a hurry…
It works well. We have about four or five backdrops hanging, but I only have this system on the white seamless because it’s the one that goes up and down a lot. I should put it on the others but just haven’t gotten around to it. The spring clamps on the bottom edge of the paper are just for weight… without them, when you try to roll it all the way up the paper will flip over because of the curl.
Hope it helps….
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Definitely go with seamless….
And pull down and roll up can be a breeze.
If I get a chance tomorrow I’ll shoot a few seconds of video our system in action. Total DIY, ten bucks worth of parts from Home Depot and ten minutes to put it together… rolls up and down like a charm.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
