Todd Terry
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COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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The issue is probably not so much your matte box (which is probably fine, as is the Redrock one)… the issue is probably the baseplate/rods that you are using.
I ran into this issue with my C300 (which is exactly the same shape as your C100). Because the camera has such a tall weird shape, when you put it on many baseplates that makes it too high for accessories like the matte box and other things to fit. You might find the same issue with your follow-focus unit.
One solution is to use one of the super-thin baseplates that are made just for the C100/C300/C500. They are really skinny and don’t raise the camera up much, and then your usual rods-based accessories will fit just fine.
We use the one made by Zacuto…
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/841128-REG/Zacuto_Z_CSB_C300_STUDIO_BASEPLATE_w_12.html
Unfortunately it is not cheap at about $400, but as you can see it is only barely taller than the diameter of the rods, so it doesn’t raise the camera up much at all and matte boxes etc. now fit well within their adjustment range.
We bought this one because at the time it was the only one available (the C300 had just come out). There might be other companies making cheaper-alternative “low profile” bases now, too.
The alternative is to continue using whatever baseplate you have but add an offset riser clamp to the front of your rods so you can add some more shorty rods that are raised up…
This will work and is cheaper… but it’s a bit unwieldy and will make the whole rig VERY top heavy, since the C-series cameras are already tall and top heavy anyway. The Zacuto baseplate is expensive but worth every penny and will make life easier.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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[Richard Jacana] “Is anyone here actually shooting paid gigs with LEDs.”
Definitely. Not just me, but many others I suspect as well.
I predominantly do daylight lighting and mostly direct and DP television commercials. For about five years my principal camera (when not shooting 35mm) was the Canon XLH1. The camera is not super light sensitive, plus we used it with a P+S Technik lens converter which ate a lot of light. Even though my primes are pretty fast superspeeds (f/1.3) I still needed a lot of light, and big instruments and HMIs were the norm.
Now I have retired that camera (as well as the film cameras) and moved to the Canon C300PL… where the ISO will go up to 20,000 (and not really any gain noise below 16,000). This has completely changed the way I light things. Not only is my lighting much more subtractive now instead of additive, but I rarely have to break out the HMIs and almost rely solely on LED instruments. LEDs are definitely my go-to lighting instruments now… in fact on many shoots (when I know exactly what the conditions will be), that’s all I take.
As much as I like the look, I really appreciate the ease that they bring to a shoot. Last week we had a big exterior location shoot that kept me busy all day for four days (in our city’s botanical gardens). I generally had about a half-dozen lighting instruments in play, and with the one exception of a single 1200w HMI I had in the mix, it was an all-LED shoot. It was (almost) a total extension-cord-free shoot too, as all the LED instruments were running off batteries. In fact, the power cable to the HMI ballast was the only stinger on the set… the only one. Everything else was powered either with A/B bricks or smaller batteries, depending on the instrument. That really helped on a location where A/C power sources were minimal and sometimes 1000 feet away or more.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Give it at try at 120fps, then.
Just remember to shoot at a shutter speed that is appropriate for the frame rate that you are simulating, not for the frame rate you are actually shooting. I.e., where you might normally shoot somewhere in the 1/250th neighbhorhood when shooting 120fps, you’ll want to actually shoot this at a much higher shutter speed.
As I said, read and watch EVERYTHING you can about Twixtor before you pull trigger. There are LOTS of little dos and don’ts that the software manufacturer doesn’t tell you… lots of little tricks and tips and things that will make it work better, like framing, lighting, motion types and direction, etc.
I will say that Twixtor works best with subjects that are completely contained within the frame, and that things that violate frame edges cause it big problems (i.e., while that wide shot might be fine, the torso closeups might not be). The other thing of note is that Twixtor works very best with things that have a linear motion… that it struggles the very most with a subject that is twisting or spinning, which unfortunately in your case is exactly what the subject is doing. You might get decent results, might not.
The biggest plus though with Twixtor is that you don’t have to buy it to try it. The demo is fully functional except that it watermarks the footage with a big red “X.” That way you can play with all the almost infinite adjustments and settings to see if you can get a decent result before plopping done the 600 bucks or so for the plug-in.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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The only additional comment I’d have was to note that you said a couple of times that you couldn’t add a timecode as a watermark because it was animation, or from another source, or whatever.
I never quite followed that. If you can ghost anything else (a “for approval only” graphic or whatever) on the frame you can do a timecode just as easily. In fact, easier, since you’re not having to create a watermark graphic. With virtually any editor you can add a timecode with little more than one mouse click.
I just think a timecode window is much more subtle than a watermark that immediately tells the client that you’ve put it there on purpose because you don’t trust them to pay you. A timecode burn, on the other hand, can (and often is) put there for many other legitimate reasons that are easily explained away.
But… to each his/her own.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Definitely use a media buyer.
In theory it won’t cost you a dime more than placing the ad yourself, even if you had the time, patience, and resources to dig and find all the contacts and spend days on the phone doing it yourself.
It doesn’t cost more because the media buyer gets a different (and better) rate than you do when you call ’em up (they get an “agency rate” which is usually 10% less). They pay the agency rate, charge you the regular rate… and pocket the difference. That’s how they get paid.
Now I said in theory because some buyers might be tempted to charge you more… espcially when they figure out you’ve never done this before. So just make sure you don’t get stuck.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Yeah John is right as he almost invariably is, so it always behooves me to listen to him.
I’d agree and say with 99% certainty that’s a Phantom camera shoot. The last time I checked though they were about $7K a day, with operator/tech. John has better resources though and probably knows a bargain-basement Phantom source.
You might get some acceptable results (depending on what your definition of “acceptable” is) by shooting with the camera you have at as high a fps as you can (will the C100 do 60fps? I’m guessing it might, my C300 will) with a very high shutter speed and using Twixtor to interpolate frames to simulate a higher frame rate. If going that route I’d suggest reading/watching as many of the third-party Twixtor tutorials that you can find on line. There are zillions of little quirks and tweaks and things that you have to do just right for Twixtor to give good results… and just as many things that you can do that give bad results. With this particular scenario I’d say you could expect results that are fair or a little bitter… as I said it just depends on how perfect it needs to be.
Your mileage may vary.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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There is no form that absolves you of responsibility and puts the liability on the client.
You can’t get caught speeding in a friend’s borrowed car and give the cop a note that says your friend agrees to pay the ticket, just send it to him.
You can’t legally work as a hitman and not get charged with murder because someone else hired you to do it and says it is ok. If that were possible, I might have a different career.
Stand your ground. Do NOT use copyrighted material unless it is cleared and paid for. If the client insists, refer him to whichever competitor of yours that you like the least.
With what sounds like a big company, and showings in multiple locations across the country, this is not an “IF it gets out” situation… it’s a “WHEN it gets out.” The fact that it will get out is almost a complete certainty.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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It may very well be on the footage.
I’d suggest a quick test by shooting in clearscan mode. If it results in a non-flicker image on the LCD, then it is indeed being recorded that way and you should shoot clearscan under those lighting conditions.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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[Bill Davis] “Most challenging single video I ever produced for PS was how to bathe a cat.”
Yikes, Bill…
As a very reluctant cat owner (she adopted us out of the blue, I’m a hard-core dog guy) I can sympathize.
You should have let me write the script though, it would have been a lot shorter, easier to shoot, with minimal bloodletting. Just three easy steps…
1) Discard dirty cat
2) Acquire new clean cat
3) EnjoyT2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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[Joseph W. Bourke] “I did a film shoot… with both kids and dogs.”
Martyr.
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
