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Jonesy Jones

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Posts posted by Jonesy Jones

  1. Forgive your lighting?  Why?  It looks like you know what you're doing.  From what I've found, much like music, what you take away is as important as what you do.  The space between the notes.  Those that know what to "hear" are ahead of the game.

    Thanks Fuzzy. It's just one of those things that while you're posting you think, someone's going to complain about it being overexposed and the ugly patch of light under the ears and the light is way too low. A preemptive acknowledgment of my awareness of my skill level.

  2. Any links to the fixture? I looked at LED's in Home Depot and didn't see anything like this. I built a set of DIY Kinos with 48" shop lights on the cheap, but they're pretty heavy -- especially the 4-light bank. They need to have an electronic ballast to prevent flicker, the housing is cheap stamped steel, all the bolts/washers are steel - they got fat pretty quickly. But the total cost - including 12ea T8 5500k bulbs was about $300 for everything, or just a fraction of a single Kino fixture.

    Also, what are you using on the back to clamp it to the stand? I used cheap/light electrical conduit and some brackets to put them on stands, but I can only go vertical as you can see in the image below. If I can DIY a lighter set of lights, that would be awesome. Thanks in advance.

    The fixture is homemade. I used steal studs that are super cheap at home depot. A steal track is the visible chassis, and a steal stud fits perfectly inside to cover up the wiring and what not. It's like $5-$10 for both. I also use electronic ballasts for the same flicker reason. To mount to a stand I would use a 6" Impact Baby pin ($12 here). I did not like the Avenger ones. And 3" is just not enough to work with ('that's what she said'), go with the 6". It'll go right into any typical c stand knuckles, which can be had for like $20 if you don't have them already. 

    Looks awesome! Thanks for sharing.

    Any links to the bulb and parts you used? That would be super helpful.

    Also, Have you seen this video? I've been tempting to build one.

    I have not seen that video yet. I'll check it out. I'm at work now. I just inquired to the maker of the bulbs I used and they don't offer them publicly any longer, though he offered them to me for under $10, which is quite a deal. If folks were interested I'd I buy a bunch. But you'd also have to pay for shipping. 

    It may also be worth looking into Philips or Cree or another manufacturers. You want the ballast ones as the others, though way easier work with, have a flicker that shows up as banding. Also, LED's are getting higher quality and cheaper. I am starting to see LED's showing up at home depot with 90+ CRI.

  3. So, a couple years ago I was just fed up with outrageous prices of anything filmmaking related, and at the top of that list was lighting. $1300 for fluorescent lights? And LED's? Good luck. So I started researching anything and everything lighting, particularly LED's. Called around. Ordered samples. And half a dozen wildly different prototypes later, I finally have something that I think is usable for actual professional production (this is obviously a very subjective opinion and many will probably not agree). I have, however, already used them on a commercial shoot. I'm proud to show them here on EOSHD and would be happy to share my basic plans and parts were anyone interested. Below are the basic specs and some photos of the lights themselves and some test shots as well.

    Lets start with the best spec... price. $150. Takes me about 2 hours to build from start to finish. My math is soft tonight, but at one point I believe I calculated them to produce about half the lux of a 4 bank kino. Design is similar to a kino, but much lighter. 3 x 48" bulbs. Each bulb is switchable. I used the frosted bulbs instead of the clear ones. Putting talent in front of the clear ones is cruel. Fits in your hand and is easy to move around to Hollywood it (am I using that term correctly?). LED CRI is about 85. Not great but not really that bad either. I think there is some of the green tint that comes with some LED's, though I can't see it with my eyes. Only when I bring a raw file into Adobe camera raw with auto setting do I notice it, which shifts the Tint to about +25. Easy enough to deal with that. These are consumer Daylight, so slighter warmer than 5600K. I went with ballast compatible LED's because I tested tons of the other and the cheap drivers created horizontal banding in my footage. These are clean, and silent, and run warm but not hot. I've built 3 so far.

    Overall I am extremely happy with my lights, though the fixtures from aputure are also very attractive as well. I think these are very different lights with different applications, but those aputure ones look very promising. But at least I have my own lights that I can start really testing different lighting setups and so on. It is so easy to get these on a C stand. Lift them up. Tilt them. Spin them around. Whatever. Very excited.

    What I am most proud of is the design of the fixture itself. The bulbs can be replaced as LED tech improves and becomes less expensive. I like the bulbs I have, but if in a year or so inexpensive higher CRI bulbs become available I will replace mine if they are indeed an improvement. The bulbs I used are no longer available online (though the maker will still sell them to me at a massive discount). But I believe any ballast compatible LED bulbs will do. 

    1. I used a steel stud track cut 48" as the main chassis. All the parts are attached to this. A steel stud (cut to roughly 46") fits perfectly into the track to close off the fixture and keep all the unsightly innards out of view. 
    2. I used a 6" Impact Baby Pin. I don't like the Avenger ones. I line the baby pin centered in the fixture, mark and drill the holes. 
    3. The ballast I used was this one. But there are bunches that are same basic price and size. This ballast fits nicely centered in between the bolts from the baby pin. Mark and drill holes for the ballast.
    4. I used these tombstones. That's for a pack of 10, you'll need 6 for 1 fixture. 3 tombstones side by side fit snuggly into the end of the steel track chassis. My second batch of tombstones needed a little sanding on each side to fit. Like I said, they fit pretty, very, snuggly. Place 3 in on each side of fixture so they fit right to the end. Mark and drill 1 hole for each tombstone. You'll need an additional nut or washers in between the tombstone and the fixture (as a spacer) to get it a bit higher.
    5. I used 3 of these switches from Home Depot. Mark and drill a hole for each. These switches interrupt the 3 same colored lines coming from the ballast, and then go to the tombstones at one end of the fixture. One switch per tombstone. I am not an electrical engineer, so it's possible there are better suited switches for this particular load, but these work for me.
    6. I used a clamp connector from Home Depot. I forget the exact size, but the smallest one. Mark and drill hole. You will probably need a 7/8" hole saw, but maybe there's more than one way to do this. This connector is for the main power cable.
    7. For the power cable I just used an extension cord. I new I was going to make a few so I bought a hundred footer and cut it into 4 lengths.This was the cheapest route. And bought 3 prong plugs to attach to the cords that needed it. 
    8. I would drill all the holes first. Then attach the hardware. Takes me a little over an hour to do this. Then do the wiring, which is pretty easy. I also laid down some duct tape inside the steel stud track for additional shielding. I think this is a good idea. Once everything is connected, put your bulbs (T8 LED ballast compatible) in to test it. If all is well, remove bulbs, insert steel stud to cover up the wiring and screw that in. Insert bulbs again and then use gaffers tape at the ends to hold bulbs in place and cover up the ends and tombstones. Takes me just over 2 hours. 
    9. One quick note: sometimes the bulbs will glow (very slightly) even when in the off position. Could be from the switches or an electromagnetic field or something. Haven't been able to solve this, but it doesn't affect my lighting at all as it is so minor. Also, unless you discover otherwise, using the ballast and the ballast compatible bulbs are 100% necessary. I have found these are the only ones that do not result in flicker and banding problems. Good luck. :)

    IMG_0032.thumb.JPG.8b4e280eb03bf5e61d48fIMG_0033.thumb.JPG.f95fe5b46d227fd609d35

    Please forgive my poor lighting skills ( now I can start practicing). Blown out portions are due to me forgetting to turn on zebras. Shot with BMCC and Sigma 18-35 in my garage with 1 of my lights with only 1 bulb on as the key and another one with just 1 bulb on as the fill.

    Blackmagic_Cinema_Camera_1_2015-10-03_17Blackmagic_Cinema_Camera_1_2015-10-03_17Blackmagic_Cinema_Camera_1_2015-10-03_17

  4.  

    Arri's look is very filmic. Shadows are most saturated, highlights are less saturated, highlights roll off very evenly, and the tone mapping is beautiful.

    Sony's look is a little more sterile somehow... less soft, less subtle color... unless you shoot in Cine-EI mode on an F55/F5/FS7, where they've done some nice filmic things. (Their previous color science, SGamut, did nasty things to yellows and blues. SGamut3.cine is very pretty, with much softer yellows and accurate blues.)

    Canon pushes reds toward orange to make flesh tone look better, and pushes greens toward blue to make them cooler. They don't go for accurate, they go for what they think is pretty.

    Panasonic is great with flesh tones.

    RED Dragon's color is very good. The M and MX were a muddy mess: color was awful under tungsten light, with pasty red faces and blueish greens. They were okay under daylight, but colors looked a little muddy. Dragon doesn't see much subtlety in flesh tones under tungsten light but it's way better.

    Color science is how a camera manufacturer makes its color unique and pretty. Each company has its secret sauce."

    I'm offended BM's look is not included in this list.... but on a more serious note, I personally prefer BM's look over all the above with the exception of Arri. It would be could to see how BM stacked up next to those, at least in this dude's apparently knowledgeable opinion. 

  5. B&H:
    A camera is manufactured in China by a person that needs food and energy.
    It is flown to America by a plane and pilot and then offloaded by some people who all need energy.
    It is transported and then packaged into a warehouse in Brooklyn by people and trucks that use energy.
    After I have placed my order it is transported back to the airport by people and trucks consuming energy.
    Flown to Sweden by planes and people.
    Delivered by a truck to my town by trucks and people.
    I walk to the post and pick it up.

    LOCALY:
    A camera is manufactured in China by a person that needs food and energy.
    It is flown to Sweden by a plane and pilot and then offloaded by some people who all need energy.
    It is transported and then packaged into a Store in my town.
    I walk to the store and pick it up.

    I see your reasoning. However, my understanding is that the plane from China to the US is happening regardless. And the plane from US to Sweden is happening regardless. And everything in between is happening already too. Not trying to start a debate. I was just wondering if I was missing something. 

  6. I think it was extremely well shot. Great locations. Great performances. Great wardrobe and make up. Very good props. Solid camera movement. 

    Kinda creepy though. And didn't make sense. Maybe that's just a culture thing though. Overall well done. Way to make the most out your gear. 

    Btw, loved the haze. That was my favorite thing. Would you share what you did there?

  7. I'm a bonehead and did the same thing. Same problem and switch to cuda in project settings worked. Then on restart totally different problem, only on playback, not on pause. Maybe i need to update my nvidia driver. How would I know if I needed to do that? How would I update?

  8. If there are no 'above the line' components to your job description then you may get away with hourly. But as soon as they say 'we'd like to see what you would do here', hourly is going to bite you in the ass. There's no way to measure with time and money the value of experience, research, development, brainstorming, etc that goes into creating something new, custom or original. Day rates or project rates work best for that. Never quote someone on the spot. Ask for an email and tell them you'll send them a proposal/quote very soon (that's more for projects and may not apply to hired gun projects). Find a rate that seems to work (there'll be some trial and error here) and then slowly experiment with inching that rate up, but eventually you'll plateau. That's where I'm at. I couldn't tell you how to get further except just... persistence. 

     

    You guys sound like some of the guys I've met in the weight room who bench press 300 pounds one time, brag, and leave.

    What were you doing at the weight room? :)

  9. Does the VA not have audio in or am I missing something???

    Both SDI and HDMI carry an audio signal.

    On another note, I just noticed that the VA comes 'bundled with DaVinci Resolve'. Am I reading that correctly? Is it the full version? Can't be. But I don't remember ever seeing the Pocket advertised as such. Can anyone add some insight?

  10. hi all,

    Just interested to get some opinions.

    so far we've had once piece of footage, I can't find a way to embed it so here it is on another blog: http://www.newsshooter.com/2015/06/13/new-footage-from-the-blackmagic-ursa-mini-4-6k/

    the dynamic range and skin tones look lovely as does resolution, footage seems jolly good.

    I am however worried about the camera itself, as someone who once had a preorder down on an earlier model and cancelled as all sorts of delays happened and problems arose once when the camera was out there.

    i also have a friend whose camera broke on day one on a shoot, leaving him to use a backup he had luckily brought in the form of a GH2 (remember those?;)

    as such I can't bring myself to preorder, despite lovely footage and a low price I still feel it's a... Gamble. Which is sad. I'd like to be more trusting but still... This is real money and real work...

    is anyone out there with more courage than I taking the plunge? If so let us know!

     

     

    The great thing about preordering is that you can cancel your order later if you decide the camera is not going to work for you after learning more about it. With preordering you're just saving your place in line, you can get out any time. I ordered within the first couple/few minutes but of course I won't go through with the purchase until we've seen more footage and hear some reviews. Right now I am planning to buy the camera, but we'll see.

    There is a great write up on no film school about the URSA mini, this is from a user with the 4K sensor, so not the 4.6 but a great overview of the body. You can read about it here. It's seems great, but not flawless, but mostly good. Seems like with a firmware update or two (which BMD is pretty good about) it'll be even better. Point being, seems like an awesome camera, and if the 4.6 turns out as good as a few users have been saying it is, it'll be magic. 

    I am more than likely taking the plunge, but for me, image is tops. I can work around the other stuff. I was one of the first to jump into DSLR's (and btw, everyone complained about how hard it was to work with them). Also, Red isn't perfect either, not by a long shot. Neither is Sony. Canon is pretty solid, but their price/spec is pathetic. We'd all like an Arri, but they're not for every project either.

    Oh, and the demeaning comments above about BMD and URSA not being professional, well, maybe there's some truth to that, but if you're getting hired because of your camera, you're gonna need to spend way more than what it costs for an URSA, either one. And for the rest of the clients out there, I'm going to take a risk here, but, when they see the image, they're gonna love it. But until we see more, get in line, and if I'm wrong, just get out. Easy peezy. 

  11. RED Raven or URSA Mini 4.6K? Which to go for if their body price is the same & you could pick either? (which they're not! URSA Mini is clearly going to be many thousands cheaper to own)

    Clearly the URSA Mini comes out the winner here, as I don't think the Raven is better specced. 
    URSA Mini is:
    a) has 4K ProRes (Raven doesn't)
    b) has XLR inputs 
    c) better ergonomics
    d) global shutter option
    e) sensor size which is a better match for the Canon EF mount (URSA Mini is a little larger than APS-C vs GH2 sized for the Raven)
    f) as well as PL/B4 (and more??) mount options available instead
    g) cheaper media (and rapidly getting cheaper!! You won't see the same rate of price drops happen with RED's media)
    h) I half suspect URSA Mini will have the edge over Raven in low light (though not by a huge amount,. a stop or less). I suspect dynamic range to be close too, given how RED overstates theirs. Will have to wait for each to ship however before this can be really clear which way it falls.
    i) way cheaper EVF (and better too I reckon)
    j) better slow motion (same fps, but Raven's is heavily compressed RedCode at 13:1 while the BMD URSA Mini can do it in uncompressed raw!)
    k) better input/output options. 
    l) BMD wins with the higher resolution (ironically so.... as that is RED's big obsession, resolution)
    m) free copy of the industry standard DaVinci Resolve (which you'll need to purchase if you wish to colour grade Raven's footage with it)
    n) and last but not least.... URSA Mini will ship earlier!! (yes, even with BMD's record of always being late)

    Of course the usual caveats apply with this analysis: nobody has either of these in their hands yet, so specs analysis vs real world use might be far apart!

    Thank you IronFilm for doing this. I have all of that in the PDF that is in the original post. I can't do a screenshot until I get back to my workstation middle of next week. But your summary is very well done. 

    Quick question, did the fps for the URSA mini change? I am only aware that it does 60 fps at 4.6K raw. I think you need to go down to windowed HD prores to get 120, and it was even touted to have 160 at one point. But that would be great if it did 120 full res raw.

  12. Surely this is a sick joke? Red should change their name to green, since that is clearly all they want from the film making community.

    I don't think it's unfair for a company to be focused on making money. However, I think Red is a very fitting name, since you'll be in the 'red' after buying their products. :)

  13. Having to go to the REDuser forum for info makes me cry!

    So many posts along the lines of "C300 mk II D.O.A" and "I would hate to be Sony/Blackmagic/Canon now" ad nauseum.

    Whatever you may think of prosumer cams like the C300 and FS7, you can shoot all day on a couple of batteries and some cheap(er) media. I like REDs cameras, but I really detest that place.

    It's called 'insecurity'. It started at the top with Jim. That spills over to the rest of the Red culture.

    On another note, even though I've lost all interest in Raven, my plan is still to complete the table that I started this thread with. I assume there are still many who are interested. My hope is to have a chance at that later today. 

  14. I was just thinking that I could learn a bunch from you guys regarding your location scout checklists. Do you have an actual checklist? If so, I would love to see it if you don't mind. If not, what do you generally look for? For me audio, tod, power, and lighting are my main things, but I wonder how you approach those things. I'm sure it's different for different kinds of productions, but again, how do you come at it? Thanks. 

  15.  

    I've got the URSA 4.6k on pre-order, but I have to admit I'm curious about this RED Raven. 

    While the cost is a factor with all the accessories, you have to factor in what this means for your business success:

    1. You can advertise you "Shoot on RED" (not that it really matters, but sometimes it does work and puts the icing on the cake for a pitch).

    2. The 4k 120fps is a future proof spec if you shoot a lot of slow motion (I do). No need to upgrade once 4k is well and truly kicking the jams!

    3. REDCode - very easy to work with (in my experience). 

    The URSA Mini also has XLR's and Built-In LCD. Big advantage. 

    The URSA Mini will be more cost-effective as a purchase, and will be preferable to those who like Arri Alexa style images. The new 4.6k is like an Arri Alexa nephew, from what I've seen with the bit of footage on BM's website. But you have to consider whether the RED Raven (assuming the package is sub 10k) might be better value for business, because clients who don't know much but have heard that "RED shoots Hollywood movies" find you an attractive prospect if you sell the RED as part of the deal. 

    Ultimately, it comes down to whether the toolset within the camera can help utilise better creativity and better quality results. Hard to say when both cameras have not been released are used by anyone. But this is stiff competition now for Blackmagic. I'll be keeping my pre-order open while reviewing the RED Raven in the coming weeks. 

    I created a comparison table for these two cameras with the info we have at this point, and some we can assume, and posted it on another thread. For someone like you who shoots music videos nearly entirely, the Raven might make sense for all the reasons you mentioned, including the Red logo on it. However, with considerably more filmmakers with a Red in their hands, will this have as much value? Have you name dropped Blackmagic on a client? I have and got a 'wow'. I don't think they had a clue but it sounds impressive. Just as impressive as dropping Alexa would have been. I also don't know that Red's 4K is very future proof. Hopefully there is a 4.5K firmware update or something. Probably not possible but here's to hoping. Prores, or lack thereof, might be important for some, will be for me. Let's see what happens.

  16. From what I have read at REDuser, the thinking is that these sensors are a quarter cut of the 8K sensor... If that is the case, then 4K will be the max. If true, it is a concern, as RED is quite soft (compared to BM with no OLFP)

    If you're referring to the 8K Weapon sensor, then I think this imy be false. If I understood correctly, Jared said early this morning that it was a Dragon sensor. Maybe that's the same thing. I don't know. We're getting into tech talk territory I have no business debating about. :)

  17. Pro Res might be the deal breaker... Have RED confirmed that it will be REDcode only?

     

    Nope. It's intentionally left out until we know for sure. I'm hoping for that too because you're right, kind of a deal breaker. But for the market they're shooting for with this camera, it's kind of a no brainer. Would be surprised if they leave it out. 

    I'm also kind of hoping the max res is actually a bit higher. 4.5K at 30p tops would be cool. This is Red after all. Res is kinda their game.

  18. Some of you may recognize a similar table that I created a while back to compare several cameras, including the URSA Mini. These charts help me to make a more informed decision. For my purposes, there's been no camera to rival the URSA Mini (on paper at least) at it's price point. The Raven may be a competitor, though it could be shaping up to not really be in the Mini's price point. There's still a bunch we don't know, but a lot we do. I'll add info to the list as it becomes available. I trust you'll let me know where I'm in error. :)

    Updated with Raven 4.5K sensor.

     Screen_Shot_2015-10-22_at_2.48.12_PM.thu

  19. I was wrong it's only 60 bucks a year hah. 

    I'm sure you wouldn't be able access your files and they reserve the right to delete them if you don't pay. I'd just recommend setting up the automatic payments and you're good to go. It's kind of an unbelievable deal imo.

    Can you paste the link here? I've looked it up and can't seem to find the deal you are referring to. Maybe I'm looking at the wrong service.

    Edit: never mind found it. I was looking at the wrong service. https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/home

  20. SSD's are actually same price or in general cheaper in price/GB than SD cards or USB memories. Very resilient memory - same thing applies as for other types of flash memory, the storage controller is the part that can fail. Even if storage controller fails, data should be possible to recover by data recovery companies - for a price.

    ...

    The price/GB is still many times cheaper for hard disks than most other medias (BD-R's beat them, some tapes for tape drives might too). Due to hard disks often failing, and due to their fairly low price/GB - I'd recommend a NAS solution with proper redundancy. Redundancy means - should a hard disk in a NAS break, you don't lose data and don't need to find some means of recovery. You just insert a new hard disk and let the disk array rebuild. I'd recommend a NAS that has RAID-6 (2-disk redundancy) and at least 5 hard disks for longterm storage. The initial cost will be bigger, but for larger amounts of data and large projects this solution will win considered storage/price. Conventional large capacity hard disks will likely get ever cheaper the coming years due to larger & cheaper SSD's, until hard disks finally go extinct as a storage medium - in about 5-10 years.

    I hadn't done the math on the SSD's yet so that's a good thing to look into. Good to know about NAS. Will have to research that a bit though.

    Consider Amazon cloud storage. Unlimited cloud storage for like a hundred bucks a year.

    I hadn't thought about this seriously at all, nor had I heard about Amazon's service. I will look into that now. What happens to all your currently uploaded data when you stop paying the yearly premium?

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