The Golden Question - Tripods?

So for a while now I've been reading on RedUser.net the ongoing battle to find an appropriate entry level tripod that will be able to be used with the Red One. Now I don't mean entry level as in "my first tripod", but rather entry level to the tripods that can manage the weight of the Red One. The camp for this discussion is split into two very distinct groups, those without money and those with. The groups with money typically are the ones who are professional cinematographers and who understand the value of a tripod that you buy once and use forever. The group without money is your indie set who are coming from the HVX world and trying to get their hands on the Red One for as little as they possibly can.

The ranges for usable tripods for the Red One range from a $1700 setup from Manfrotto to a $12,000 O'Connor setup and more. On the boards people suggest using the Manfrotto 526, the Miller Arrow 55, the O'Connor 1030 (all of which get more expensive as they are listed). The 526 supports 35lbs., the Miller 55 supports 50 lbs and the 1030 can support upwards to 40lbs. Now with the extra support in the weight capacity of the tripod, one gets better (smoother) panning and tilting.

Manfrotto 526

For myself, I'm in the resource constrained indie filmmaker set, and I use the Manfrotto 526, which I got used with a bag and a pair of legs for less than the cost of the head would be new. I have yet been able to use it in conjunction with a Red One, but for just a "stand up" tripod, I don't see why it would give me any issues. With the ability to handle 35lbs, I am constrained on what I can use on the rig, but with the ability to possibly offload a couple elements like batteries and drives, the 526 should be able to handle the load of a lightweight Red One rig.

When I do get around to testing it, I'll probably be using the Red One, production pack, battery, RAID drive, Nikon lenses, Red Rock Follow Focus and Mattebox. One thing that I will avoid doing is tilting and panning, and I wouldn't leave the rig unattended.

Red Rock Micro Mattebox

Got mine today, review and un-boxing video coming soon!

Zacuto Jeep

So in my efforts to bridge the gap between the 19mm and the 15mm world, I needed something so I can use my 15mm gear that I have for use with my Red Rock M2 gear with the Red One gear I also use. The two pieces of gear that I wanted to go between these two worlds are my Red Rock Follow Focus and my Red Rock Mattebox. So what options are out there for this sort of adaptation? Well not many, but Zacuto recently released the Jeep ($265) , which does exactly what I needed.



So how does the Jeep perform? Well it had its ups and downs for me. The build of the Jeep is solid and metal, but the tension adjustments for the rods seemed like they could be problematic. Also, if you don't know which way you need to tighten, it can take you a while to get the equipment read for use (thats just me though). Over all it did the job it was supposed to do, which is allow me to mount my 15mm Red Rock Follow Focus onto the standard 19mm rods that come with the Red Standard package. I used it in correlation with the Element Technica 15mm 6" rods, which I don't know if it was the Jeep or the rods, but sliding the Follow Focus from the front of the rods to the back, closest to the Jeep was next to impossible. So getting the gear under the lens was a challenge, but I don't know if that was due to the new rods or how the Jeep was holding the rods.
One last gripe about the Jeep was after using it for a matter of an hour or so, the black finish was already showing lots of scratches and dings, which might be just cosmetic, or if its losing its finish in the rod ports, might pose some issues. Only long term use will tell.
Over all for the money and the speed of availability, the Zacuto Jeep does what its advertised to do, and is easy to use. Next test will be to mount the Red Rock Mattebox and see if the jeep can handle the weight.

Zacuto, Element Technica and Red Rock Micro

Well this week we should be taking shipments of the Jeep from Zacuto, light weight 15mm rods from Element Technica and the Red Rock Micro Mattebox, which I'm dying to get my hands on. I'll be doing a video review of all of these items hopefully in the next few days after I get all of them in house. So far we've received the Micro Filters, the Zacuto Jeep, which I'll be using to bridge the 19mm Red One setup to my 15mm Mattebox, and we'll receive the rods tomorrow.

Look out for that video review coming in the next few days!

Red One...Audio?

This weekend I meet up with the owner of BD Pictures to help test out some issues that he is having with his Red Ones, most of which are audio problems. I was aware of some issues with the audio on the Red One, but I had figured that with the newer versions of the firmware that those issues had been resolved. Turns out that they haven't and that the audio issues with the Red One are one of the major issues. I had meet up with Ajay in Alameda with his two Red Ones and we set them up and swapped mics, enabled and disabled audio channels, and tried out phantom power all to find out that the Reds that he has do not do audio. There would be times where the audio level meters would come alive, but they would not sustain a signal. I guess with the Red you should always record your audio to an external DAT recorder in addition to the in camera audio recording just to make sure that you've got your audio. Yet another needed accessory to the Red One!

Another thing that we are going to try out is checking if the line level input on the XLRs works and that there might be issue with the Mic input and the pre-amps of the XLRs. Any ideas?

Red Rock Micro = Frustration

I got an email yesterday stating that the Red Rock Micro Mattebox was almost ready to ship and my heart started to dance, till I read the rest of the email. According to Red Rock Micro, the Mattebox is delayed again for another couple of weeks. There is a lot of talk online about the practice of vendors taking %100 payment on pre-order items which may or may not ship when they are said they will ship. This is another slip in a continuing trend with the Red Rock Micro Mattebox. Now I have to say that Red Rock has always been good at getting product out to me and responding to support and sales inquires.

So now we are all left to question, is the manufacturing and shipping delay what makes up the thousands of dollars in comparable product price difference and is it worth it? After spending $700 or so dollars on this product and not having it for two or so months after I paid for it is aggravating to say the least and the only thing Red Rock offered to offset the expense of time for their customers is an additional set of blue knobs.

The real question is will this cause customers to abandon the small companies like Red Rock that are trying to revolutionize the digital cinema market place? There are also delays with companies like Birger and View Factor that are also experiencing similar manufacturing issues. Seems like cheap parts and manufacturing comes at the expense of customers and time.

RED One Purchasing

So I have an associate that it getting ready to film a feature length film and it trying to decide which camera to shoot the feature with. I obviously out of personal desire suggested that, if he was going to invest in his own equipment, to invest in a Red One package. One thing that people don't understand is that its not as easy as a $17,500 purchase because its not like buying a HVX200 or another pro-sumer camera. The Red One is a serious piece of professional equipment that is aimed at the profession cinema and commercial markets.

Yes the Red One is comparably cheap compared to other digital cinema cameras, but what people don't understand is it takes a lot of money to get a Red One working well. Some things people don't think of when they consider a Red One purchase are:

+ Rails
+ Follow Focus
+ Matte Box
+ Support
+ Post Production needs
+ Storage
+ Backup and Redundancy.

So over the last few months I've been trying to come up with a cost effective, yet production worthy Red One Package for my own use, and it come in two flavors, budget indie favorable, and regular indie favorable. Bottom line is it'll cost a filmmaker $50,000+ to get a good Red One setup. So here's my suggestion on a Budget Indie Red One Rig:

+ Red One Body - $17,500
+ Compact Flash Module - $500 (*A must for purchase)
+ Base Production Pack - $1,250
+ 5" LCD - $1,700
+ (2) Power Packs with 2 Chargers, 4 Batteries - $2,900
+ (2) Red Drive - $1,800
+ Nikon Mount - $500
+ Pelican 1620 - $190
+ Nikon Lens Set From RPLens.com (link) - $3500
+ Miller Arrow 55 Tripod and Head - $5,450 (* Weight of the camera needs a good head)
+ Lexar Compact Flash Card Reader - $75
+ Red Rock Micro Matte Box Red Bundle - $795
+ Tiffen DV Essentials Filter Kit - $440
+ Red Rock Micro Follow Focus - $795
+ Apple Mac Pro - $4,200 (*For editing and rendering)
+ Apple Mac Book Pro - $3,000 (* For Field off loads and backups)
+ Silverado Systems Field Master (Link) - $12,499.00
- G-Speed ES 4TB Raid (* For Data Storage)
- Sonnet Tempo eSata Card (* For Field Off Loads)
- Quantum LTO-3A Tape Drive (* For Data Archival)
+ Sonnet 640GB Fusion F2 - $800 (* For Field Off Loads)

So total price of this rig, which will be one stop shopping for production and editorial would be $57,854. Now you don't NEED all of this, but if its your intention to have everything you need to get started with a rig, this is a baseline of what I'd consider a full rig. Now its on the budget side since you don't have top end supports, matte boxes and follow focuses which can easily tack on thousands more per item.

You might be asking, "why do I need all this stuff?" Well here's an attempt at justifying things:

- Camera body is a must, everyone knows that.
- Compact Flash module is a must since Red won't sell a camera without one (it needed for firmware updates).
- Base Production Pack is a quick way to get handles, mounts, battery plates and rods for the Red One. Other options include items from Element Technica and other 3rd Party vendors.
- 5" LCD is lightweight and bright, but other options are Carrion LCDs but the difference in weight it a big deal when your skimping on a fluid head.
- Power packs, you need power, and you need redundancy. You don't NEED two charging units, but at minimum its advised to have at least 4 batteries for a day's worth of work and a unit to charge with.
- Red Drives, granted the Compact Flash option is great, but limits you to a few minutes of 4K footage per take. So a Red Drive gives you a lot more continuous minutes of footage for long takes. The reason for 2, redundancy on set.
- Nikon Mount is a must if you are looking to limit your budget with lenses. Granted you already have the PL mount and can rent cine lenses for a shoot, but you can own a set of lenses for half the cost of one PL lens from Red.
- Pelican 1620, a must. You're not going to store your $18,000 camera in a bag are you?
- Nikon lenses from PRLens.com is a good way to get a color matched, iris adjusted and focus pitched lenses in a set for half the price of one PL lens from Red. Will it be as good as Cine glass? No, but will it still be stunning, YES.
- Miller Arrow 55 tripod and head is one of the cheapest ways to go for a support system for the Red One. A Red One rig can get upwards to 35+ lbs. and you need a head and legs to support that weight without making camera moves look jerky and horrible. Other heads go for thousands more and do a better job, but this is the entry level!
- Lexar Compact Flash Card Reader - Good fast reader a must for CF recording.
- Red Rock Micro Matte Box is a good thing to have but its not a must. Since the camera is a cinema camera, you don't have build in ND filters so you need a filter holder. The Red Rock is the cheapest way to go for 19mm matte box that has plenty of filter holders. You can rent an Arri MB-20 for cheap at a daily rate also.
- Tiffen DV Essentials Filter Kit is a good cheap 4x4 intro set, but probably not up to the standards of DPs and Cinematographers who are professional based. Red Rock is also going to release a set of filters at a competitive price. This has a polarizer, ND and a UV.
- Red Rock Micro Follow Focus, again is another thing you can rent, but having a cheap Follow Focus on hand is always a good idea, and a follow focus is a MUST for a cinema camera. The Red doesn't have auto focus like an HVX.
- Apple Mac Pro with 8 cores is a must. If you plan on editing your 4K footage or 2K renders, you need a heft machine with tons of memory. Your old Mac isn't going to cut it, so invest in the latest and get it going. You'll also need Final Cut Pro and to ease things you might want to add a $3000 AJA Kona card to speed rendering.
- Apple Mac Book Pro is also a must for looking at footage on set, checking exposure and verifying the data coming off the drives. It also runs the backup drives and allows backing up on set to LTO and RAID.
- Silverado Systems Field Master is everything you need to store and backup Red 4K files on set with eSATA connections. It also includes LTO for archiving to 400GB tape drives and a 4TB RAID drive for keeping files. All of this in a Pelican case for easy and secure travel to and from set. A solution that is needed for any production. 4K files take up space and since it is digital, you don't want to lose your project to a hard drive failure.
- Sonnet 640GB Fusion F2 is another smaller drive for fast offloading on set. They can be RAIDed for redundancy and data security on set. Not totally needed, but good for having on set without taking along your master 4TB drives and risking your project.

I Want To Make Movies - Now What? PT. 3

So my personal love in the film making world is the art of cinematography and camera operation. I love composition and the tech behind digital cinematography. One thing that originally drove me was the technological aspects of digital cinema. So when I started making movies it was obviously long before the advent of digital cinema, but my serious mature venture into digital cinema came when I realized that with a camcorder I could film, edit and distribute my film all with a camcorder, a mic, some lights and an Apple Computer. Now I know that you can edit on a Windows machine, but it didn't appeal to me quite like having a iMac DV with a Firewire port and iMovie.

I'd played with Premier on Windows prior to that point, but the Mac just seemed easier to get the footage into the computer, edited and outputted.

So where am I now with film making, cinematography and equipment? Well there are a number of things that can assist a new film maker in being able to achieve the most film like look from their low budget gear, but one thing is for sure, in order to get started it takes money.

So what would I suggest for the starting filmmaker? Here's a run down of gear and a price estimate as of the date of this post:

Ultra low budget:
Camera - Canon HV30 ($900)
Lights - Garage Can Sockets with daylight balanced 100W Halogen bulbs. ($50)

Moderate Low Budget:

Camera - Canon HV30 ($900)
Lights - Lowe Pro DV Kits ($600 - $1300)
Sound - Beachtek Adapter with a Azden Shotgun Mic ($200)
Support - Bogen / Manfrotto 501 Head and Legs ($500)

High Low Budget:

Camera - Canon HV30 ($900)
Lights - Lowe Pro DV Kits ($600 - $1300)
Sound - Beachtek Adapter with a Azden Shotgun Mic ($200)
35MM Adapter - Red Rock Micro M2 Adapter ($1745)
35MM Lenses - Nikon Set of 28mm, 50mm and 85mm ($1300)
Support - Bogen / Manfrotto 519 Head and Legs ($1300)

Of course as you get more and more sophisticated you spend more money. The current kings of indie cinema camcorders are the Panasonic HVX 200A and the Sony PWD-EX1, which both run for about $6000 and produce amazing images. The again there is a light on the horizon from Red Digital Cinema with their eagerly anticipated camera Scarlet which has 3K resolution (more twice the resolution as 1080P), 2/3" sensor which provides Depth of Field characteristics close to 16mm film, and tapeless RAW workflow which is leagues better than HDV and IMHO DVCPro due to the level of control it gives a person. All of this and more for HALF the price ($3000) of the current kings the HVX and the EX1.

In the next few blogs I'll try and explain the difference between DV, HDV, DVCPro, and RedCode RAW. When buying a camera its important to know the strengths and weaknesses of its native codec and what the codec buys or costs a filmmaker in post.

Fotodiox Nikon to EOS adapter

So I'm a professional photographer that has a good amount invested in Canon EOS lenses and cameras. For my digital cinema equipment I use Nikon lenses, mostly due to the manual aperture control, on my Red Rock Micro M2 rig, and in the future my Red One. When I purchased the Red Rock Micro M2, I purchased it with the EOS adapter AND the Nikon adapter, but since they have different flange focal lengths and different optics, you need to change out the mounts and the flange. So with all the work with that I changed my mount to a Nikon and haven't used the EOS mount since.

Now I want to use both my EOS Canon L lenses with my Nikon primes, so I went and purchased the Fotodiox Nikon to EOS adapter from Adorama. So now I'm able to add this adapter to my Nikon lenses and then attach the Nikon lens to a Canon EOS mount (like my 5D). The adapter is a small piece of metal that has a very small amount of metal to adjust the flange focus for a Nikon lens to a Canon flange distance.

My initial excitement about the ability to use my Nikon lenses on my Canon cameras and my Red Rock Micro M2 was quickly dashed after 2 minutes of attempting to work with the adapter. Now I already knew that with the adapter there would be NO AUTOMATIC CONTROL, but in a cinema environment, thats not really needed since manual is preferred. The issue with this adapter is attaching it to the Nikon lens is a pain! Its difficult to figure out where the alignment is going to go since the marker for matching up the mount to the adapter is hard to see. Once thats been found the attachment is so tight that its easy to move the aperture control without being aware of it. Also once the adapter is on the lens, changing the aperture is impossible with how it presses onto the lens.

With the adapter being so tight, I was almost scared when I thought about it getting permanently lodged onto the lens. Good thing is, once its on, it attaches to the EOS mount easily.

Now taking it off is another story. Just one suggestion, with the Fotodiox adapter, wear gloves when putting on the adapter and taking it off. The metal edges on the adapter are SHARP and make cuts in you fingers. Now I don't know if I got a bum adapter, but after attempting to get the adapter off of the lens I had numerous cuts in my thumb and forefinger. Also, in order to free the lens from the adapter you have to pull up on a tiny metal tab and twist the adapter free from the lens. Not an easy task and you risk putting your grubby fingers on the rear element of the lens.

Good thing about this adapter it its cheap. There are $255 adapters for sale (Novoflex) that might have a better build quality and easier usage, but this one is $50. In the end they work the same, but the cut fingers and frustration are difficult to justify.

Pros: Ability to attach Nikon F Mount lenses to an Canon EOS camera or mount. Price at almost a third the cost of the other adapters.

Cons: Hard to mount to lens. Difficult to remove from lens. Sharp metal pieces cut fingers. Taking adapter on and off lenses not good for the life of the lens.

Suggested: No. I don't know about the Novoflex adapter, but I'm sure its another case of you get what you pay for.

Busy weekend

This weekend was a busy one, not leaving much time for blogging. Tonight I should have a blog up with a review of a Nikon to Canon mount adapter I purchased for attaching Nikon lenses to my Red Rock Micro Canon EOS mount so I have a wider array of lenses to choose from without changing the flange focus of the M2 adapter. Plus I should be a week or so away from receiving my Red Rock Micro Mattebox which I'm planning on doing a full video unboxing of and posting here! Should be good!

Look for that review tonight and hopefully another segment of "I want to make movies, now what?"

I Want To Make Movies - Now What? PT. 2

So in my last blog I talked a little bit about myself and how I got started in film making. I discussed my opinion on where a new film maker should be putting his or her energies and how motivation isn't always the key to success.

Film makers come in many different verities and styles, starting with your self taught film maker, which is the school which I come from. When one doesn't have the time, money or ability to attend a formal film program at an university or specialty school, one has to get the tools and information that makes them useful on set. I personally went to a four year college, but it was to study Computer Science and not film making and cinematography. When I first started making films, I did so by learning through books, DVDs, the web and experimentation. Here are some useful links to sites and books that I found useful:

Informative Sites:

Prolost - http://prolost.blogspot.com - ProLost is the blog of Stu Maschwitz, director, author of The DV Rebel's Guide, and founder of The Orphanage in San Francisco.

HD For Indies - http://www.hdforindies.com/ - A How To Guide for Digital Filmmakers

Pro Video Coalition - http://provideocoalition.com - Has a great number of informative blogs on film making, production, cameras and post production.

DVX User - http://www.dvxuser.com - Home to the original forum for information exchange for the Panasonic DVX/HVX and other indie film cameras and topics.

Red User - http://www.reduser.net - The ultimate forum for getting information on digital cinema and the technology to deliver it.

Red Rock Micro Forum - http://www.redrockmicro.com/forum - General discussion on Red Rock Micro products, production techniques for indies and networking.

Fresh DV - http://www.freshdv.com/ - Great source for digital video news and great podcasts/video.

FX Guide - http://fxguide.com/ - News, podcasts and discussion of todays production and post production workflows for digital cinema.

Studio Daily - http://www.studiodaily.com - The Resource for Film, HD, digital production and post news, tools, tutorials, reviews and case studies.

Digital Video Information Network - http://dvinfo.net/conf/ - Forum for discussing everything digital video.

Equipment Sites:

Red - http://www.red.com - Makers of the Red One 4K Digital Cinema camera and Scarlet the 3K camera for $3K.

Canon - http://usa.canon.com - Home of the HV20/HV30 cameras.

Red Rock Micro - http://www.redrockmicro.com - Makers of the M2 35mm adapter, Mirco mattebox and other great priced cinema gear.

Element Technica - http://www.elementtechnica.com - Support, mounting and production equipment for Red One.

B&H Photo Video - http://www.bhphotovideo.com - The best priced equipment on the internet with some of the best customer service and selection. If someone has it cheaper, its a scam.

Apple - http://www.apple.com - The only computer for me. Also the makers of Final Cut Pro, Shake, Color, and many other useful applications for the indie film maker.

Adobe - http://www.adobe.com - Software make for creative people. Photoshop, After Effects and the whole Creative Suite.


Hope that some of these links will help you learn a bit more about digital cinema. This list is by no means a complete list. If you have more useful links, add them in the comments. These are just the sites that I visit on a daily basis.

I Want To Make Movies - Now What? PT. 1

With the ever increasing ability both through financial means and technological means for people these days to create their own movies, big or small. Many people who are passionate about this are left saying, "where do I start?" This blog is my attempt as an independent filmmaker to explore and consolidate information that might be useful to the new filmmaker.

First let me explain a little bit about myself. I am a self proclaimed hobby filmmaker, with a passion for photography and cinematography. My first production was done with a couple Sony Handycams with absolutely no idea what I was doing. I had a partner in my film making ventures at the time who shared in the same level or lack of film making knowledge as I had. We managed to write a script, cast the movie, gather some production crew, and carried some of the project into editorial. The problem was, we were trying to make a feature length film with absolutely no idea what we were doing. What we learned was, a good camera makes a world of difference, and we learned about the cinema frame rate of 24 frames per second. Luckily at this time, Panasonic released its revolutionary AG-DVX100, which I purchased.

After showing our rough edits and title sequences to friends, we managed to gather some interest in our production outfit. Our ability to sell ourselves was responsible for %90 of the attention we got. Another indie filmmaker, after reviewing some of our footage was so taken with what we'd done, he actually "hired" us to be the production crew for his next feature. We still didn't know much, but we had a nice camera and an approach that was unique. After battling with bad acting, long hours and compensating for our lack of proper film making knowledge, my partner and I realized that we needed to take a step back from feature film making and get into short films.

This was the birth of Bitterman Productions and our short film Liquid Country, which was a easy 13 minute film that was shown at the New York Independent International Film Festival in Los Angeles. Nothing is more exciting than being able to show your work to an audience in a theater. Prior to this film and during, I soon realized that I had little to no interest in directing, but I was in love with the photographic aspects of movie making. I loved my DVX and I loved editing in Final Cut Pro, but my problem was I was focused on too many things and not getting accomplished at just one. So I was the jack of all trades, master of none and I looked up to Robert Rodreguez and his rebel attitude towards film making. Of course I now see that focusing on one area is better than chasing all areas. I also learned that to make a good movie one needs a lot of skilled people around to help out.

So I burned out on film making with all the work and stress of attempting to produce, co-direct, DP, edit and market a film and a "production company". So from the motivation of being a feature film maker with a Sony Handycam, I went to being a burnt out short film maker with a DVX and a toy chest of indie movie making equipment.

So I took yet another step back and focused on cinematography and still photography, which is where I am now. I've worked on other shorts as a camera man, I've helped run audio for productions, and I've been an Assistant Cameraman on projects all in an effort to learn more about what it takes to be on set and be useful. I also a student of film making and cinema technology, trying to learn as much as possible through reading, discussion and experimentation.

So from my own experience, working on films is a huge thing that isn't as simple as pointing a camera and someone and calling it a movie. Here are a few things to remember for the beginner filmmaker:
1. Your passion will make you succeed!
2. Don't try and do it all, focus on one thing you love doing and surround yourself with people who are good at doing all those other things.
3. Your film won't look like a movie without some of the right equipment.
4. Your equipment won't make your director, writer or actors any better, so before you shoot, analyze your production cause its only as strong as your weakest link (and hopefully that will be you).
5. Start small and learn big. Take an opportunity to start with a short film and learn how to produce it with the same production value as a large budget feature film (of course doing so with little or no budget).