Cinevate's 35mm Video "University"

by **Dennis Wood** on Tue Jan 15, 2008 1:49 am

Here are the latest clips from the Cinevate "Video University" for your enjoyment. If you do take the time to review these, we can pretty much guarantee optimal image quality from your setup :-)

by **Anthony Miles** on Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:43 am

Thanks Dennis,
Very helpful info. Can't wait for part 3, seems vital for proper alignment.

Take care.

by **Dennis Wood** on Tue Jan 15, 2008 3:25 am

part 3 is just setting back/focus etc. which we had some issues with during transfer from one of the 3 cameras used during the shoot. We'll redo tomorrow and upload. The final edit with will be up by week's end.

by **Joachim Fainberg** on Tue Jan 15, 2008 11:25 am

This is great, Dennis! Basically all questions I've ever asked or wondered about is answered in this video.

Looking forward to part 3

by **Carlos Baena** on Tue Jan 15, 2008 3:54 pm

For those of us foreigners, these visual tutorials instead of written emails and links are literally priceless.

Please let us know when the upcoming videos are up.
Thanks Dennis.

C.

by **Jon Wolding** on Tue Jan 15, 2008 4:39 pm

Why didn't you shoot the tutorial with the Brevis?

hehe

by **steve witt** on Tue Jan 15, 2008 10:13 pm

This is such a good idea.

by **Jason Fox** on Tue Jan 15, 2008 11:23 pm

Jon Wolding wrote:Why didn't you shoot the tutorial with the Brevis?

hehe

Because then it actually would have been *too* sharp.

I'm excited to get my flip. Less so to have to reconfigure my Stormcase foam yet again.

by **Daniel Patterson** on Wed Jan 16, 2008 12:21 am

Dennis Wood wrote:part 3 is just setting back/focus etc. which we had some issues with during transfer from one of the 3 cameras used during the shoot. We'll redo tomorrow and upload. The final edit with will be up by week's end.

I just received my flip unit today, and I am unbelievably excited! I had it sent to my work, and the guy who receives all the shipments brought it to my desk, and just dropped it from about a foot above the desktop. It bounced, and I caught it before it fell off of my desk. He said "Here's the package you've been waiting for", and turned to walk away. I thought I was going to strangle him, as I was concerned that the achromat would be damaged. Needless to say, I wrote him up!
Thanks to the wonderful guys at Cinevate, the unit was packaged in multiple layers of bubblewrap, and it didn't even affect it. I installed it this evening using the setup video, and some general knowledge, and it works great! It is unbelievable!!! A little loss of light that must be compensated for, but not a big issue. All in all, Cinevate makes one great product, and stands behind it. (Especially in packaging!)

Thanks Dennis and Paul for the video, and I anxiously await the last in the installment so that I can make sure I have everything set correctly. (Although it looks perfect already!)

Good Job Guys!

Dan

by **Daniel Patterson** on Wed Jan 16, 2008 12:25 am

Dennis,
I noticed in the tutorial that you said the units, when purchased new as a whole entity, would have a new larger case. Could you let us know if that case will be available for us who bought the pre-flip bundle at a reduced cost, or will we just have to buy it outright? I don't mind either way, just curious.

Thanks!

Dan

by **Dennis Wood** on Wed Jan 16, 2008 1:15 am

Daniel, the new cases should be here any day now, and we'll figure something out once they've arrived. These ones are not "Pelican" branded, but actually made (including custom foam) for us specifically. Basically you won't be able to tell the difference. You can thank Steve for the pack job...and he'll be happy to hear the comments on his handiwork with bubble wrap.

We're very glad you're finding the tuturial helpful...7 or so more series are coming soon! Carlos, we were hoping to help out customers where English is not a first language (and there's a lot of you!) so I'm relieved to read your comment :-)

We have approx 1300 sq/ft lot of studio space now, so any requests for more of these exciting videos (ha ha) will likely result in a quick fix. Jon, the shooter (Paul Morralee) has yet to use the adapter, and time was a big issue...so it was shot with 3 cams, with the main cam (XL2) in AF mode! I would have liked to shoot on HD, but for DVD distribution and ease of editing, we decided to just stick with SD 16:9. We've got a few pics of the setup so I'll post these up for kicks. Here's what we used:

1. XL2 on the Cinevate jib/dolly (thanks Canon!) The entire series was shot with the camera on the jib, with the camera mounted to a 503 fluid head. Essentially it was a big stabilizer that allowed Paul to shoot for hours with little fatigue. It makes for some nice dolly/crane transitions too. Paul has shot with the XL series cams since the XL1, and he fell in love with the jib/dolly setup.

2. HV20 for the wide shots (shooting 16:9 SD)

3. XH-A1 setup cam captured direct on our new Asus G2S laptop (review to come) using OnLocation.

When our HPX500 shows up, we'll have 3 HD capable cams in house so it'll be HD all the way from there.

by **Anthony Miles** on Wed Jan 16, 2008 2:06 am

Dennis,
I was wondering your zoom settting on the XHA1 and the flip with Brevis. I am having a little trouble getting good edge to edge sharpness and wanted to check to see if I am zoomed in far enough. I tried various levels of zoom and was able to get a pretty consistently sharp iamge but the field of view seemed quite a bit narrower than I was expecting. Any tips for the XHA1 and the flip would be great help.

I am using several Nikon mount prime lenses that are primes and have a f1.8 minimum aperture including a 20, 50 and 85 mm.

Thanks for your help. Sure is nice to have the flip. it is much easier to focus on the GG with the flip and the supplied achromat as well.

by **stevecahill** on Wed Jan 16, 2008 6:26 am

Shoot the video's on a white background, the surface and the product are fighting each other. My 2 cents, but thanks for the effort.

by **Dennis Wood** on Wed Jan 16, 2008 12:39 pm

Thanks for the tip Steve. The pieces need to be tweaked a bit yet, as these are untouched from the camera, so we'll see what we can do.

Part 3 is up:

http://www.cinevate.com/images/setup3roughcut.mov

Keep in mind that these are just the basic setup clips, with another 7 sessions coming.

by **Anthony Miles** on Wed Jan 16, 2008 12:42 pm

Dennis,
Thanks for the tips on testing and setup. I will post some images as soon as I have some good ones, or if the process finishes me off, and I need to post the ones with the softer edges, to help "resolve" the issue.

by **Carlos Baena** on Thu Jan 17, 2008 2:54 pm

Dennis Wood wrote:Part 3 is up:

http://www.cinevate.com/images/setup3roughcut.mov

Keep in mind that these are just the basic setup clips, with another 7 sessions coming.

Anxiously waiting for the other 7 Dennis. I feel like I've been going blind for a while. This is so helpful it's not even funny.

C.

by **Dennis Wood** on Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:49 pm

These things are way, way overdue :-(

That said, Paul is editing like a madman every day...so we'll fire them up as completed.

If you haven't seen the quick/dirty clip in our footage section on light loss, then check it out. You'll never look at an f stop the same way again!

by **Benjamin Eckstein** on Fri Jan 18, 2008 10:46 am

Wow, we finally get to see Dennis. I was half expecting you to remain the anonymous host of these videos, standing behind a wall or blurred out or something just to keep the mystery alive.

by **Mike Hechanova** on Tue Jan 22, 2008 11:50 am

Should have shot the whole thing with only your arms and hands on screen.

DR. CLAW style !

by **Dennis Wood** on Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:57 pm

Just be glad I did it clothed :-)

Hubert made me wear a long sleeve shirt, making some vague references to Robin Williams as the human gorilla ....

Cinevate's 35mm Video "University"

Cinevate's 35mm Video "University"

Just got it!

New Case??

Flip zoom setting for XHA1

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