[Todd Terry]

I definitely prefer Matthews…

I’d recommend either the Matthews C or C-plus stands. And if you think you might much be using them on unlevel ground (or across steps, or on stairs, or whatever), those with the sliding “Rocky Mountain” legs can be very useful.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Todd Terry]

[Rick Amundson] “just run a full resolution green/blue desktop image”

Oh that’s a genius idea.

Keep in mind that you might need either a clearscan-capable camera or may have to adjust the monitor’s refresh rate (Display Properties > Settings > Advanced > Monitor) or you may get visible scan lines. The problem will be worse if the monitor is a CRT, less so if it is LCD.

If the shot is locked down and no talent violates the screen edges of the monitor, doing it in post via an image matte would probably give better results. You wouldn’t have to worry about ragged edges from a less-than-perfect key, and if the monitor isn’t razor sharp (say, it’s in deep background) your image matte could have soft edges and you could also soften the material that goes in it for more realistic effect. I’ve matted in a lot of TV screens, usually with track mattes or image mattes. I’ve found if you don’t matte it in at 100% opacity (say, maybe 70%), it looks much more realisitic and you can even get some bleed through of reflections on the blank screen… so you don’t have to add them later.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Todd Terry]

… all part of Tim’s very subtle but quitely-strongarmed attempt to get me to get off my butt and finish writing it. I’m trying… I’m trying!

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Todd Terry]

This has been addressed bunches of times…

Do a COW search using the terms “depth of field” or “DOF” and you will get lots and lots of threads with good info to read.

There will also be and upcoming article in the COW Magazine addressing DoF converters.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Todd Terry]

Hi Trey….

I’m one of those people who have nothing but good things to say. You’re right to be suspicious, but the good things you hear are all true.

I have used this exact setup (400 Series P+S Technik and Canon XLH1) for more than two years now and shoot with it every day, and I have been absolutely nothing but happy. In fact, we used to shoot a lot of 35mm film, but I have not even had the film cameras out of the cases since we started using this setup.

I have absolutely no issues to speak of with the setup. You say you are renting lenses, get superspeeds if you can as the Mini35 (like all lens converters) eats up a little bit of light, and you will appreciate having the extra stop or two for interiors.

Also, get a good follow focus unit (they should be available wherever you rent your lenses). I highly recommend one of the higher-end units, such as an Arri or Chroisel. The inexpensive “Fisher Price” follow focus units usually have too much “slop” (backlash) for real easy use. They work, but are harder to use. If you are also renting a matte box, you will thank yourself later if you get a swing-away, which will make lens-changing a lot easier.

The most obvious piece of advice is to make sure the rental place gets you the right unit. Since P+S Technik makes units that mate with a variety of cameras, you’ll be sure to want the one that has the Canon XL connecting lens (and battery). Also, there are several front lens mounts available, I’m assuming you’ll want to make sure you get the PL mount.

Get the unit in plenty of time before your shoot, if you can… you will probably want to make a few camera adjustments with the cine primes. My own primes look VERY different compared to the stock Canon video zoom, so I have made different presets (adjusting gamma, knee, stretch, saturation, all that good stuff) specifically for use with the cine lenses. It’s also a good idea to set up a Siemens star chart and adjust the unit’s backfocus to make sure it’s perfect (it’s the tiny ring in front of the converter’s exposure ring, you loosen it with a tiny allen wrench to adjust).

Let us know how it works out, I’m betting you will be a happy camper…

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Todd Terry]

[Nelson May] “they want to light the subject and a green screen.”

Are you saying they want to light the talent and the screen at the same time with the same instruments? If so, that would pretty much violate rule #1 in the Big Book of Keying. Unless they are going after absolutely flat shadowless unmodeled lighting on the talent, then I guess it could be done.

Shop lights are going to be awfully hard to flag, IMO. I’ve used something as rudementary as shop lights before to light green screens, I’m definitely not above doing that… but only when I had enough studio space to place the talent a sufficient distance in front of the screen so that there was no spill and I could light them completely independently.

Let us know how it goes…

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Todd Terry]

Sure you can.

Keep in mind that 6500K is a lot closer to 5600K than 3200K is. And 5600K isn’t really daylight, that’s just sort of temperature which has come to be assigned to it though the years. Depending on conditions and time of day, sunlight can actually have a color temp much much higher than 5600 at times.

So yes, you can indeed use gels and a bit of minus-green would work. If you are trying to match an HMI or some other 5600K source, probably something as little as 1/4 CTO would do the trick. 6500K isn’t really nearly as far from 5600K as it might sound.

Keep in mind about the color rendering index, though. The average Home Depot fluorescent tubes might not have a very high CRI and not be great for photography. You’d want a CRI of at least 80 or higher (preferably higher), and many non-photography bulbs have CRIs of much much lower than that.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Todd Terry]

Oh yeah, I know what you mean…

The XLH1 can look fantastic, but the factory defaults are nothing short of terrible… very flat and boring.

I’d say just hook the camera up to a good monitor shooting a well-lit colorful scene, and dig into the menu and start tweaking. There are (if memory serves) 23 different parameters that you can adjust. You will probably especially want to adjust gamma, knee, black stretch/press, pedestal, setup, and color gain.

We’ve made a bunch of presets which emulate my favorite filmstocks. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t be of much use to you as they were not made for use with the stock lens (the cine lenses I use look very different than the stock… greatly different contrast and color), and since I don’t use it much I have not gotten around to making any presets for the stock lens yet.

It’s not hard though… and don’t be daunted by the zillions of choices. Just start at the top of the list and make small adjustments, using the old eye doctor’s “Better like this?… or better like this?” system… and work your way down.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Todd Terry]

[rick pearl] “Do they result in the same visual quality?”

Well… yes, but it depends on the application.

If you put gel on a lighting instrument, you change the color of the light coming out of that instrument. But if you put a filter on your lens, you change the color temp of everything. Sometimes that’s acceptible and what you want, sometimes it’s not.

Let’s say you are shooting 250D daylight film in a closed (no windows) room, with tungsten lighting. You could put gel (maybe, say quarter blue) on all your lighting intstruments, but it would be easier just to pop a filter on your lens. But in a second scenario, lets say it’s the same scene but with windows in the room that provide both a view outside, and some ambient daylight mixed in with your tungsten instruments. If you put that same filter on your lens, the tungsten lighting in the room will look ok, but the ambient sunlight and the view out through the windows will be extremely blue. In that case, best to leave the filter off the lens and put a bit of blue gel on the tungsten instruments.

It just depends on how you are shooting and what your lighting combination is.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Todd Terry]

Hi Dan….

Yes… I’ve known Richard for quite a while… I have (and really like) one of his 1200w HMIs. I’d say build-quality wise it is probably not quite an ArriSun, but at about a fourth the price is it definitely worth it and you more than get what you pay for.

I considered one of his 150w HMIs, but I need something small to stick on a grip arm on a C-stand to use as a backlight/hairlight, etc., and even his smallest units are pretty big and heavy. He tells me he plans to work on a smaller 70w HMI in the fall (will be about the same size as a 300w tungsten fresnel) which sounds promising.

I did buy one of the Alzo units… just the little bare-bulb and ballast thingy. I’m trying to rig it up in a par can with barndoors and a fresnel lens in front… although it won’t be adjustable. I haven’t quite finished it yet, but if it all works it will be very lightweight. I will say, I don’t think it is quite the equivalent of 800w tungsten as touted… doesn’t seem quite that bright to me. And ANOTHER reason I’m putting a fresnel lens in front (aside from focusing the beam a bit) is as a UV shield… I can definitely feel it affecting my eyes, and there is a warning on the bulb package that says “Contains strong ultra-violet radiation, can cause irritation to eyes.” I found that interesting considering some of their other complete units seem to be completely open-faced. I will say that the color temp is right on the money, though.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com