Todd Terry
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COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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The P+S Technik Mini35 converter is a wonderful piece of equipment… we use one almost daily with our Canon XLH1.
HOWEVER…
Do NOT go out and attempt to do a big important shoot having no experience with one. While not overly difficult to use, they are unusual pieces of equipment and take some work to learn to use effectively. I don’t know what your ability is (it may be extremely high, if so, no offense intended), but they are definitely best in the hands of cinematographers with a fair bit of legitimate experience shooting film.
Plus, to get great results from it you need a really top notch set of real cinema prime lenses (superspeeds, if possible), and they aren’t cheap (a Mini35 is about $10K, and a primes set can cost several times that). To rent a primes set would probably be almost as much as the rate you are getting for the DVcam package.
I’m not trying to knock the Mini35… I could hardly live without ours. But don’t try to use one right out of the box.
BTW… if my Pounds Sterling to Dollars conversion is accurate, the deal you are getting on the DVcam package is a steal.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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That’s a good suggestion…. just be careful. Foamcore is of course flammable and furthermore it being black it will soak up heat like a sponge… so just make sure it is not too close to the lighting instrument.
Traditionally old-fashioned “cookies” are make out of wood… and the big ones are darn heavy. With ones made out of foam core (or alternately, black showcard or matte board) you are going to save a lot of weight. You can probably hold one up with a lightweight stand and a single grip clamp…. as opposed to a full-size C-stand and a sandbag that a traditional cookie would require.
Todd
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I’ll second the recommendation for HothausCreative.
We are a production company, have been hired by Hothaus on occassion to shoot talent etc., for use in news opens and such that they have designed.
I’ve been pretty impressed with the looks they have created. Ask for Jon Fox or Terry Hart.
Todd
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Yup… I have one and I use it relatively frequently.
Ours however is completely homemade… basically out of an aluminum cake pan and all the electronic bits that it needs to work. We made one ourselves because the “real” ones were 1) quite hard to find and 2) incredibly expensive.
We have color-corrected tubes for both daylight and tungsten… and did the necessary electronic voodoo to make it both flicker-free and dimmable (at least down to about 50%).
It’s not real pretty, but looks like this….
It’s pretty useful indoors at about 12 feet or less, just as a bit of a beauty light or eyelight. It gives a really nice look, except I quickly learned not to try to use it with talent wearing eyeglasses… the circular reflections it creates are pretty creepy. With EXTREME closeups you can also see the reflections in bare eyeballs, but it’s usually not an issue.
Todd
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I don’t see their ad currently, but seems to me here in the past I’ve seen a banner ad for Serious Magic’s “Ultra2” keying software (which is certainly no Ultimatte, but as far as bargain-basement products go, is actually pretty good).
T2
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Very true….
But I guess I’m stubborn enough that I have to please myself first before pleasing a client… and I seem to be harder to please usually.
I know we will really work doing a minor tweak on a piece of blocking, or adjusting one minor lighting instrument out of ten, or wrestling with a 1-frame difference edit, etc…. mostly things that the client would never notice.
And I just don’t like hearing the same things over and over. For example for YEARS just about every network promo from NBC used music from the same Omnitracks library… it drove me nuts and I evetually ditched the library myself just for that reason (which was a shame, it’s great music). We stopped using Killer Tracks for much the same reason, because I kept hearing their stuff (while I admit its VERY good) over and over.
For some reason it just really REALLY bugs me to hear the same track that I have used pop up even on something completely disparate. I’ve even pulled commercial spots off the air and re-tracked them when I later heard the same music in another usage. I think that’s why I tend to go with more obscure sources, and when needed we have had pieces composed.
But yep, you’re right… 99% of the time the client will never ever notice.
Todd