Gear Heads
 

Barry Green is a Gear Head, unashamedly self-confessed, on another board. Chris Hurd is not kindly disposed to Gear Heads I recall reading somewhere, forget where; but I might have misread his word at the time. Not suggesting that Chris and Barry have a relationship, no, not going down that road, my real point here is: I wonder if I might be a Godforsaken Gear Head too!

I’m thinking…no; I lie, I’ve made a decision...to buy that damn EX1 beast Sony just dropped like a bomb on the scene. Damn, I’ve got to have one. Did you see the footage that’s popping up, and a new tripod. Got Vegas 8 installed so I’m OK there, core2duo processing, tons of RAM, hard drives coming out the yin yang, 24inch Dell LCD, no paying work, just fun stuff, no TV, no wife…

Am I a Gear Head?

I write a lot, read, love music, make short art genre videos. Lots of fashion, video and stills. We never talk about that sort of thing here, do we? I mean, this is DVINFO which is rapidly including discussions on all the tools of digital moving picture production, but not the subject matter of our endeavours. Not complaining, just making a casual observation. I do find the technology mildly fascinating. Not interested in pull down, 24p, the film look; none of that thanks very much, but I do want a full raster of friggin pixels on my plate and smooth, and sharp, like a scalpel if you don’t mind. Most often I’ll shoot in auto, probably. Well done point and shoot engineering is down to a fine art more and more and I don’t expect the EX1 to reverse the trend. Sometimes manual focus, and that knob on the zoom ring like on the FX1 is indeed quite handy. So that all suggests that I really am not a Gear Head. Right! I mean, out there shooting or directing the shot, it’s not about the camera; no way: it’s about me! Me dammit, Me!

Gear Heads don’t think like that, do they. Right.

I think we all are a bit Gear headed, Chris included, is my opinion. I suspect he’s more of a drunken artist (projecting here perhaps, and if indeed he is religiously the opposite then my profound apologies),. And Barry is more than just a Gear Head too. He’s an accomplished writer, and his skills in the area of rhetoric are quite precise, quantifiable, and right on the money every time, even when he’s way out to lunch.

Maybe I fall somewhere in between. How about a slightly Gear Headed artist who started out one million years ago shooting photographs of pretty girls with a box Brownie. And my take is I’m not alone, rightly or differently in where I’m coming from. When it comes to you shooters I find myself among at DVINFO I must say I find you all quite delightful, helpful, human, all too human, and, from time to time, a jolly good laugh.

Especially Chris; many thanks.

I imagine most of you are professional something or others. Right?

Anyway, thank you one and all at DVINFO. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I know I’m a bit early, but I’m expecting an EX1 very soon and when that arrives I won’t have time…

And the next person that says content is king I shall strangle.


Cheers

John

I'm not kindly disposed to measurebators, and I've been known to show them to the door. Barry Green on the other hand is always welcome here. I have nothing but the utmost respect for him; that's why he has the title "Barry Wan Kenobi" below his username.

There may as well be one -- if you read Barry's excellent input in this DVX User thread, what he's saying there is as if he were reading my mind, except he states the point much better than I could.

If I weren't then I wouldn't have started this site.

Sorry, only half right. I'm no artist.

Cheers,

Content is king! But it's ridiculously hard (if not impossible) to produce good content (or at least good LOOKING content) without the proper tools. Besides, all the gear is (at least) half the fun! Getting the camera adjusted just right, tweaking a light over hear, a mic placement over there.... Oh, and I love how impressed clients look when we show up for a shoot and I unload several cases of gear.... and the look on their face is usually nothing short of priceless when I pull out my XL2 and start putting it together (one of the reasons that I don't travel with it assembled). :D

Getting-tired-of-gear head here. I just want a camera and enough lights to help me make pretty pictures, a computer that works well, and fun stuff to shoot. That’s all.
There’s got to be room on this site for folks to talk about their endeavors (themselves!) and cut up a bit. Posts are sprinkled about; you just have to be lucky enough to see them. Maybe you could head up to the neighborhood forum, John, and start a party there. I’m sure some of us would join you…as long as there’s beer… :)

One thing I'd like to bring up is not all of us here are filmmakers and directors. Some are camera operators and directors of photography. To these people, technical details of the imaging system are relevant and important.

I think people should remember there is a distinction between "image quality" and "content quality." These two often get mixed up. Content quality is obviously based on the sum of a lot of factors including the photography, writing, talent, etc.

Image quality, however, is the inherent technical traits of an imaging system, like resolution, color rendition, sensitivity, noise characteristics, etc. In the film world this would be like the different characteristics of film stock and lenses. It's important for a camera operator or a director of photography to understand these inherent traits to either achieve a certain look, maintain consistency or to choose the right tool for the application. Of course, not all of this technical minutia is important for every situation, but for those who know the difference and for some reason need to know, then it's worth knowing.

The end product of any imaging professional is artistic, but to get there you have to use technical tools. The more you understand these tools, the better you'll use them.

I think I may have found my worldly twin! Amazing how great minds think alike.... That's my setup exactly! Although, I have paying work and a TV......

Keep at it and you'll get some paying work and make you enough money to buy whatever TV you want!