Final finished Adapter for my feature "The Amature" at DVinfo.net

John Harvey · August 26th, 2005, 01:27 PM

Working feverishly over the last eight months and finally have something to show for it, thought I'd share my results so far. Sample footage is on my web page here on the samples page.

www.magicine.com

First I want to say you all have been an inspiration, and this forum invaluable. This effort was born out of the desire to capture my script in the most flattering light possible, now I need to couple it with an HD something, and I'm ready to go. Keeping my fingers crossed for the Andromeda mod. I really want 4:4:4 color space.

The one unique aspect of the design is I can capture the whole 35mm SLR aperture, 36mm x 24mm vs something smaller than the limited Academy aperature of the Mini35, 24mm x 18mm. In other words, I have twice the image area which inherantly reduces image screen artifacts by 50% among other benifets like full 35mm SLR angle of view, something that is important to me since I don't have the budget to build sets with removable walls. I also use a specialized proprietry material that is 90% transmissive of light and imperfection free vs 60-70% of ground glass and it's irregularities.

I own a fabrication shop so I designed it in SolidWorks and machined everything to within a few .001's that way I know my image plane and achromat macro is perpendicular to the optical axis and at the right distance solidly. I needed a trouble free reliable setup when I'm on set or location. The Camera alignment table gives me up/dwn, side to side adjustment with limited rotation in the same axis, this was critical for focusing on and framing the whole 36mm by 24mm aperture.

Since i am in the throws of pre-production at the moment I probably won't be able to field posts frequantly so i apologize in advance.

cheers,

john harvey

PS: Bottom line is get our stories told.

Giroud Francois · August 26th, 2005, 05:02 PM

still looks like a prototype, but already looking nice too !.
i made a shoulder frame for small camera (up to vx2000 for example) that looks almost like yours but with some nice ideas.
i will try to post pictures soon.

Riley Stearns · August 26th, 2005, 07:11 PM

Looks great and I wish you luck. I know you're going for high quality samples, but do you think you could post at least one regular quicktime file? If you could that'd be great.

John Harvey · August 26th, 2005, 07:15 PM

Everything is going to the anodizers next week. I'll try and post some quicktime also tonight.

jh

Riley Stearns · August 26th, 2005, 07:17 PM

Awesome, thanks.

John Harvey · August 26th, 2005, 07:39 PM

Download while you can, should be ready in an hour. I see I'm going to max out my subscription with my provider, I'll have to upgrade real soon. The .mov is 70 meg.

I noticed that when I pull focus onto the second subject its soft then as I pull for the third subject the gets sharp for a quick moment. Shows me I'll need to measure next time. I have a micro35 guide and disk, I'll also be testing side by side the frame size/field of view and resolution between this setup and it.

I'm going to try and hook up with EVS and shoot some HDV next week, very excited to get beyond DV limits.

jh

Chris Hurd · August 26th, 2005, 08:29 PM

The handheld rig looks great, John! If you make it over to EVS, please give Rush and Cody my best regards. Thanks in advance,

John Harvey · August 26th, 2005, 09:19 PM

I definitely will Chris. Now to start on the steadycam rig.

jh

Keith Wakeham · August 27th, 2005, 04:52 PM

Nice looking rig with some nice machining and design work.

I'm not a filmographer but an engineering student so I understand what you did to make it and I have to say its pretty impressive. Machining with accuracy is really great and for this kind of project I say that it must have helped a lot.

Congrats.

Bill Porter · August 29th, 2005, 11:05 AM

Gotta love it when somebody pops up with a secret and allegedly superior screen/GG but follows up with "[the] bottom line is to get our stories told." Which is it?? ;-)

John Harvey · August 29th, 2005, 11:34 AM

Actualy I should have been more specific in the bottom line,

The truth is I want to get my movie made. Not make adapters necessarily.

But now that this tool is done it's not that hard to build another but I'm not waiting around for the phone to ring that's for sure!

Thanks for the question Bill and keeping me focused on the big picture!

jh

John Harvey · August 29th, 2005, 11:37 AM

Hey Bill, just realized you're in Venture, I'm in Thousand Oaks, if you want to come over and check out what I'm up to you are more than welcome! I'd enjoy having a fellow DV community member over and meet you in person. Let me know.

jh

Bill Porter · August 29th, 2005, 12:25 PM

Sounds good to me, always like meeting DV people. I promise to be a good boy and not ask what your screen/GG is made of. :)

Glen Hurd · August 29th, 2005, 02:43 PM

Do you mind sharing how you measured that? Is that with or without the condensors/achromats/what-have-you in place? Really curious about a material that transmits that much light while offering enough diffusion to work as a "projection screen."
There's been talk about measuring the amount of grain a ground-glass has. Perhaps you can suggest something similar for measuring transmitted light (apart from condensors, achromats, etc.)
Would you take an incidence reading with and without the GG covering the meter?

Thanks,
G

John Harvey · August 29th, 2005, 04:09 PM

That is what was measured by the manufacturer of the material as "total light" passing thru. Just using their data. In practical application 90% of the "total light" and using all of that is another thing.

jh

August 26th, 2005, 01:27 PM	#1
John Harvey Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: los angeles, ca Posts: 76	Final finished Adapter for my feature "The Amature" Working feverishly over the last eight months and finally have something to show for it, thought I'd share my results so far. Sample footage is on my web page here on the samples page. www.magicine.com First I want to say you all have been an inspiration, and this forum invaluable. This effort was born out of the desire to capture my script in the most flattering light possible, now I need to couple it with an HD something, and I'm ready to go. Keeping my fingers crossed for the Andromeda mod. I really want 4:4:4 color space. The one unique aspect of the design is I can capture the whole 35mm SLR aperture, 36mm x 24mm vs something smaller than the limited Academy aperature of the Mini35, 24mm x 18mm. In other words, I have twice the image area which inherantly reduces image screen artifacts by 50% among other benifets like full 35mm SLR angle of view, something that is important to me since I don't have the budget to build sets with removable walls. I also use a specialized proprietry material that is 90% transmissive of light and imperfection free vs 60-70% of ground glass and it's irregularities. I own a fabrication shop so I designed it in SolidWorks and machined everything to within a few .001's that way I know my image plane and achromat macro is perpendicular to the optical axis and at the right distance solidly. I needed a trouble free reliable setup when I'm on set or location. The Camera alignment table gives me up/dwn, side to side adjustment with limited rotation in the same axis, this was critical for focusing on and framing the whole 36mm by 24mm aperture. Since i am in the throws of pre-production at the moment I probably won't be able to field posts frequantly so i apologize in advance. cheers, john harvey PS: Bottom line is get our stories told.

August 26th, 2005, 07:11 PM	#3
Riley Stearns Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 94	Looks great and I wish you luck. I know you're going for high quality samples, but do you think you could post at least one regular quicktime file? If you could that'd be great. __________________ i can't yet see Productions

August 26th, 2005, 07:17 PM	#5
Riley Stearns Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 94	Awesome, thanks. __________________ i can't yet see Productions

August 26th, 2005, 08:29 PM	#7
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,366 Images: 513	The handheld rig looks great, John! If you make it over to EVS, please give Rush and Cody my best regards. Thanks in advance, __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

August 29th, 2005, 02:43 PM	#14
Glen Hurd Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Burlington, NJ Posts: 59	90% transmissive? Do you mind sharing how you measured that? Is that with or without the condensors/achromats/what-have-you in place? Really curious about a material that transmits that much light while offering enough diffusion to work as a "projection screen." There's been talk about measuring the amount of grain a ground-glass has. Perhaps you can suggest something similar for measuring transmitted light (apart from condensors, achromats, etc.) Would you take an incidence reading with and without the GG covering the meter? Thanks, G

August 26th, 2005, 05:02 PM	#2
Giroud Francois Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: switzerland Posts: 2,133	still looks like a prototype, but already looking nice too !. i made a shoulder frame for small camera (up to vx2000 for example) that looks almost like yours but with some nice ideas. i will try to post pictures soon.

August 26th, 2005, 07:15 PM	#4
John Harvey Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: los angeles, ca Posts: 76	Everything is going to the anodizers next week. I'll try and post some quicktime also tonight. jh

August 26th, 2005, 07:39 PM	#6
John Harvey Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: los angeles, ca Posts: 76	Download while you can, should be ready in an hour. I see I'm going to max out my subscription with my provider, I'll have to upgrade real soon. The .mov is 70 meg. I noticed that when I pull focus onto the second subject its soft then as I pull for the third subject the gets sharp for a quick moment. Shows me I'll need to measure next time. I have a micro35 guide and disk, I'll also be testing side by side the frame size/field of view and resolution between this setup and it. I'm going to try and hook up with EVS and shoot some HDV next week, very excited to get beyond DV limits. jh

August 26th, 2005, 09:19 PM	#8
John Harvey Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: los angeles, ca Posts: 76	I definitely will Chris. Now to start on the steadycam rig. jh

August 27th, 2005, 04:52 PM	#9
Keith Wakeham Major Player Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: St. John's, NL, Canada Posts: 416	Nice looking rig with some nice machining and design work. I'm not a filmographer but an engineering student so I understand what you did to make it and I have to say its pretty impressive. Machining with accuracy is really great and for this kind of project I say that it must have helped a lot. Congrats.

August 29th, 2005, 11:05 AM	#10
Bill Porter Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Ventura, California, USA Posts: 751	Gotta love it when somebody pops up with a secret and allegedly superior screen/GG but follows up with "[the] bottom line is to get our stories told." Which is it?? ;-)

August 29th, 2005, 11:34 AM	#11
John Harvey Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: los angeles, ca Posts: 76	Actualy I should have been more specific in the bottom line, The truth is I want to get my movie made. Not make adapters necessarily. But now that this tool is done it's not that hard to build another but I'm not waiting around for the phone to ring that's for sure! Thanks for the question Bill and keeping me focused on the big picture! jh

August 29th, 2005, 11:37 AM	#12
John Harvey Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: los angeles, ca Posts: 76	Hey Bill, just realized you're in Venture, I'm in Thousand Oaks, if you want to come over and check out what I'm up to you are more than welcome! I'd enjoy having a fellow DV community member over and meet you in person. Let me know. jh

August 29th, 2005, 12:25 PM	#13
Bill Porter Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Ventura, California, USA Posts: 751	Sounds good to me, always like meeting DV people. I promise to be a good boy and not ask what your screen/GG is made of. :)

August 29th, 2005, 04:09 PM	#15
John Harvey Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: los angeles, ca Posts: 76	That is what was measured by the manufacturer of the material as "total light" passing thru. Just using their data. In practical application 90% of the "total light" and using all of that is another thing. jh