My Blog

A Brand New Vinten Vector 700

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:35:06 -0400

I love brand new TV gear. I have a lot of respect for high quality equipment and I acknowledge the fact that someone had spent a ton of money to put it into service.

I believe that the friction head or fluid pan /tilt head is the single most important piece of gear to a sports camera operator. So what if you have a 101x Fujinon telescope of a lens...you can’t do anything with it if your pan head sucks!

What do I mean? Well, if you are using an old, beat up pan head you can’t do your job. It is like giving a brain surgeon a dull, rusty scalpel. He can do the operation, but it won’t be pretty. This is also true when shooting sports with a crappy pan head.

I once used a old Vinten Mark three pan head with no pads. I had no friction at all! I could not control my camera and the thing was whipping all over the place. I was very frustrated and just had to shoot wide and conservative. I swore a lot that day.

I have also used an old beat up Vinten fluid head and found it to have areas we camera guys like to call “dead spots”. These areas in the pan or tilt cause the tripod to dip unexpectedly or “stick and slip”. These tiny abnormalities may be subtle, but when you are full telephoto, they are amplified ten fold on the tv screen.

In my opinion, the best hard camera pan head ever made was the Vinten Vector 70 fluid pan /tilt head. This head has been around for years and replaced the old Vinten friction pad heads. The Vector 70 changed the way people shot moving objects. The pan head was so silky smooth, the operator was able to shoot super tight and have instant feedback in the viewfinder. There was simply no surprises when paning/tilting/zooming and camera operators were able to lock on the an object and cover the high speed subject with great precision.

An example of this would be the way a cameraman follows a golf ball off the tee. The pan head is perfectly calibrated and the operator is able to zoom in so tight you can read the brand name and see the dimples on the ball. The camera operator is then able to land the ball perfectly on the green, with absolute precision, stopping the tilt as the ball hits the short grass.

Vinten released the Vector 700 and the 750 a few years ago and these pan heads where just like the Vector 70. The only difference was the drag inside was a thin film rather than a mass of fluid found in the 70.

The Vector 70 was discontinued. Darn...

Around this time, Vinten also released the Vector 900 and man did it suck. The 900 was the first time Vinten removed some of the physical size of the Vector pan head. They made it sleeker and lighter. It fit into smaller road cases and TV truck guys liked that. Less weight on the road and more space in the belly bays.

But the pan head was bad, camera guys hated it. I used one and became so upset with the design that I wrote a letter to Vinten in England. I told the Vinten chaps that the Vector 900 tried to improve on an already perfect design. The 900 was impossible to balance and the heavy hard camera did not function well on the new narrow pan head footprint. Perhaps my letter made a small difference. Many truck companies like Game Creek removed them from their truck fleet and replaced them with the beefier Vector 700 and 750’s.

Now to the point of this blog. A few days ago I got to break in a brand new Vinten Vector 700 pan head shooting my favorite sport, Lacrosse. Major League lacrosse at Harvard in Massachusetts to be more specific.

I was asked a few months ago by Cox Communications about pan heads. Cox wanted to buy a new one. They asked my advice and I simply said, “Buy a Vinten Vector series, but what ever you do, don’t buy the 900!!!”

The guys at Cox decided to buy a brand new Vector 700. They paid around $14,000 for it. And I was the first to use it.

It is always nice to see an expensive piece of equipment in a tough road case. This case is made by Anvil and it hold the pan head in the big compartment and the pan /tilt handles in the small left compartment

This pan head does not have a scratch on it. I did not want to mount my Ikegami HL-387 hard camera head on this perfectly clean, brand new Vector 700! But I need to break her in....

Look at those shiny pan handles. No freelancer has touched them yet and used them as a hammer to remove that pesky locking washer. Or use them as a weapon on a tape guy who does not like to replay anything...

That is an old standard definition Ikegami HL-387 hard camera with a beat up Canon 55x super tele lens. Those sticks are from a Japanese television station. I think Cox bought them off eBay. Look at that black beauty holding the entire package together. That pan head is the most important part of the entire setup.

I set my thin film drag at “7” for both my pan and tilt. Shooting lacrosse is very demanding. I was the “tight” camera for this show and having a pan head that was highly responsive and super smooth made my job much easier. I was able to whip with the ball tight as the players shot at over 100 miles an hour. The pan head allowed me to stop the lens exactly as the ball hit the back of the net.

This is the game camera with a Vinten Vector 70. It was right next to my tight camera for the multiple camera coverage of the Lacrosse game. We had a total of five camera in the stadium. A game, tight, high endzone, low slash and a hand held that worked the benches. As I said before the 70 was the best pan head ever made. The three Vector 70s that travel on the Cox mobile truck are in great shape. I did not tell anyone that the truck had a brand new Vector 700. I was all over it.

Here is a side by side comparison of the Vector 70 (left) and the new Vector 700 (right). The biggest change is the color, but Vinten kept the physical form of the pan heads the same. The drag system is different but the thin film is nice and smooth and I like it. If I posted a picture of the dreaded Vector 900, you would see a narrow version of the black 700. Trust me, the 900 was garbage and I hope to never see it again.

I look forward to working on the Cox truck on future games and fighting other freelancers for the one and only Vector 700.

Cox Charity Bike Race - New Sony HDV Cameras

Sat, 2 Aug 2008 22:05:59 -0400

I was hired by Cox Communications to shoot a bike race in Providence, Rhode Island. The bike race took place on June 28th, 2008 and I am just getting around to blogging about it.

The race track moved though the streets of Providence and was oval shaped. The riders were from all over New England and the world.

The coverage was all done with Sony HDV cameras. We had five cameras positioned in strategic locations around the course to cover the action. The cameras being used were the old trusty Sony HVR-Z1U, three brand new Sony HVR-S270U cameras and one brand new Sony HVR-Z7U.

My first impression of the Sony Z7U was positive. I really like the feel. It is much like the EX1 in many respects. The biggest differences were the Z7’s detachable lenses and the fact that it records to HDV miniDV tape stock.

The Sony 270 did not impress me. I call this camera a “fake” shoulder mounted camera. If you want the real thing, just throw more money down and buy a real Sony XDCAM like the 350, 355 or the new 700 series. The 270 feels like cheap plastic and the light weight and stubby design does not fit well on the shoulder.

Other thing I don’t like about the 270 is the low res LCD viewfinder, the slow and sluggish zoom lens and the focus is servo, not manual. You can put a “real” piece of glass on the 270 but it will cost you.

I do like the fact the the 270 is able to record on the 140 minute large DV tapes for extended shoot times.

I used the trusty Z1U on this shoot because I was asked to shoot b-roll before the race. The Z1 was the only camera with a wide angle lens attachment (Sony screw on type .7). I then shot with the Z1 in a semi-fixed location at the bottom of a grueling portion of the race track. I shot the riders as they pedaled up a hill. I shot a few chains flying off the expensive bicycle drivetrains in this spot.

Here are a few pictures from the shoot. We sync’d timecode using time-of-day so that the edtiors would be able to cut this together later in post.

This is the Sony HVR-S270U “full sized” shoulder mounted HDV camera. This camera has the option to shoot on 2GB plus sized Compact Flash media cards for a tapeless alternative to DV stock. There is also a Sony branded hard drive unit that you can attach via firewire to record HDV footage directly to the disk.

The Sony HVR-Z7U. I really liked this camera. This is like a poor-mans EX1!

This shoot was staffed with freelancers from the Boston area. I work with most of these guys on a regular basis and I did what I could to help them with the operation of these new cameras.

This was Jim’s position just after the start / finish line. He shot with a Sony 270 on a JLG lift.

This is the view from the bottom of that hill I was talking about. The bikes come in from the right and head up this hill and then take a left and roll back down a block from here.

The old workhorse Z1U with the Sony wide angle lens. I shot from a tripod at the start and then ran up and down the hill to mix up the shots. I had about three minutes to re position my shots before the leaders came flying past me.

Crazy Weather and David Ortiz

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:39:01 -0400

I do not have any pictures or video to go along with this post, so I will be as descriptive as possible.

I witnessed one of the coolest moments in my career thus far. And it actually had to do with baseball!

David “Big Papi” Ortiz is a legend in baseball. Most people know this. He plays for the Red Sox and he is known for his clutch long ball hitting. Yesterday, he made his minor league debut at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He is currently rehabbing a wrist injury with the triple A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, the Pawtucket Paw Sox. During his second at bat, he drove a ball to right, and into the bull pen for a homer. The near record setting crowd of 11k plus rattled the structure as Big Papi rounded third and headed homeward. The Paw Sox scored 16 runs that day and guess what, that was enough to win.

That is baseball. That is David Ortiz. The googley-eye luster for me has long since worn off. I have seen so much baseball in my career thus far, and I am ready for change.

But what I experienced tonight, I will never forget.

The day started like all others at McCoy Stadium. Show up at 3pm, unbag my hard camera at the high first position, make sure everything is working and head to lunch. The air is thick and it is very warm. The sky is a hazy shade of blue and the sun is filtered as if shining though silk. The Paw Sox are playing the Mud Hens...thats just terrific.

The ball park is once again sold out. There are actually scalpers wander the stadium perimeter looking for families who could not get tickets to watch their favorite Red Sox super slugger. Little kids sporting Red Sox garb line the seats and rails with “Go Big Papi” or “Welcome to McCoy, David” or “Get Well Papi” signs scribbled on white poster board.

The place is electric and every time David Ortiz steps out of the Sox dugout and toward the on deck circle, the crowd erupts into life as one obnoxious beast. David hits another home run, this time over the left field wall. The place goes nuts and Ortiz is greeted with huge smiles when he returns to the dugout.

I am keeping an eye towards the sky. I see the sun low to the west, but I also see some unusual cloud formations. I shot a video at this ball park called “Sundown In The Minors” and caught a spectacular sunset with my EX1 camera a few weeks ago. You can see it here: http://www.tomguilmette.com/Site/EX1_Letus_Videos/Pages/minors720.html. But, tonight is different. These clouds look like thunder heads.

The night is very sticky and the humidity is high. I did not look at the radar before jumping on camera, but I always have a protective jacket for my camera and a GoreTex jacket for me at the base of my tripod just in case. New England weather can change in seconds and I am prepared for that.

At around 9pm in the seventh inning, the Paw Sox are up 6 to 1. Vivid cloud to cloud lightning is making the crowd, “ooooh and ahhhh”. I ask over headset if there is something on the radar and my answer is, “we will check”. The grounds crew did not seem to be overly concerned. The tarp is ready to roll out, but they are not near it.

I get my weather answer just as David Ortiz steps to the plate. The graphics guy in the truck says over headset that there is a nasty storm cell headed right towards the ball park. At this same moment, I see the head grounds crew guy call the first base umpire over to the fence and whisper something into his ear. The wind is really starting to pick up and I see large lightning hitting the ground over the wall in left, due west. But Big Papi is up at bat.

I look over at David, in the batters box. I see him with his bat ready for the pitcher to throw him a ball that he is going to crush. The wind is really picking up. Plastic bags, empty beer cups and other debris swirl around David, but he is focused on the guy standing on the mound. A hugh twisting wall of dust nearly takes out the left fielder and an umbrella in the stands shoots upward into the sky as if it sprouted wings. A large lightning bolt cracks nearby and the pitcher throws the ball.

I am wrestling with my rain cover trying to get it over the massive network camera. I am not shooting anything at the moment, but during my struggle, I am caught up in this mighty icon of baseball standing focused while the torrents of rain fill the air, highlighted by the bright light towers. Ortiz is still standing there hungry for a fastball. Another flash of lighting and everything touches darkness. The lights are out and the rain and wind is all I know. People run for cover and I look towards the batter’s box, Ortiz is gone. I see a popcorn box rip across home plate.

David did not hit a home run. But it was the moment leading up to that possibility that will be forever locked in my mind as a moment I will never forget. The combination of his larger-than-life status and the power of nature hit a chord with me. I wondered if I would have been able to capture that moment on videotape, if I had all my camera gear and weather protection. In my haste to protect the network camera gear, I was not able to watch the entire event play out. I wish I could have, as a fan of baseball and of the power of nature.

When the electricity is restored and the storm has passed, the mercury vapor lights slowly regained their white intensity like a ghostly sunrise. The field is only half covered with the tarp. Third base area and some of second base are exposed, and that part of the infield is a small muddy pond. The storm came in so quick that the grounds crew were unable to fully protect the diamond.

The game is cancelled and official favoring the home team. The 11,000 fans went home with wet clothing and shoes, but they got to see their Big Papi swing the bat with the flash of lightning and the sound of thunder.

Downhill Mountain Biking with Matchstick Films - Attitash

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 00:07:11 -0400

I am tired. Very tired. Most of my body aches and I have not showered in three days.

I love to add a little story now and then to my blog so here goes.

The last two days I have been tearing up Attitash Mountain (http://www.attitash.com) on my Iron Horse Sunday down hill mountain bike. The bike is basically a dirt bike with out the motor. But who needs a motor when you let gravity take you down the hill?

My story starts late friday night. I camped out near Attitash so that I could get up at first light and hit the trails. I got up at 6am, saw a great sunrise and headed to the mountain. Saturday was just another great sunny day riding the lift-service terrain. I saw a black bear dart across the trail. I met up with a few riders who were as good as me (haha) and we rode for eight hours straight. I lost count after the twenty plus runs I got in.

Saturday night I camped out in the same place, under a trap (no tent), and was woken up at about midnight by heavy rains. My fire was swamped and I was attacked by bugs. Also, to make things worse, I picked a bad place to sleep and was flooded by a river of cold water, sticks and leaves. I moved my camp and all was well. But woke up a few times and only got about three hours of sleep. I was just too wet and tired and did not try to get another fire going. It was a long night to say the least.

Now to the fun part, I hit Attitash for my second day and while I was getting checked in, I was told a television crew was shooting on the mountain. Sweet! (Mountain biking and television, a great combo for me!)

The top of the mountain was wrapped in fog and I figured the trails who be terrible after all the rain, but I went to find the film crew.

I spotted them early from the lift, but I was having a great time flying down the mountain cranking the music on my ipod. The trails were fast and I felt strong.

I kept riding for a few hours and then decided to hit a trail where I knew the crew was shooting.

Aaron Chase, Cameron Zink and a few other famous and talented mt bikers were on the mountain shooting a tv show produced by Matchstick Productions for Rush HD. The show was called “Focused” and it follows world class action sports athletes around world telling their stories as they jump out of planes, shred ski slopes or hit huge jumps deep in the wilderness. They had the entire world to ride, so why where they at Attitash Mountain in Bartlett, New Hampshire?

I got to speak to cinematographer, Guillaume Tessier (http://www.mspfilms.com/company/tessier?size=_original) and producer/cameraman, Nate Nash, (http://www.mspfilms.com/company/nash?size=_original). I found out that both of them worked on the “Ski Movie”, one of the best ski and snowboarding films of all time. Guillaume was shooting super 16 film with an Arri Flex and Nate was using a Sony 750 HDCAM with a set of Sac sticks. He also had a Fuji wide-angle lens he mounted for a few shots. These guys have shot some great footage for MSPfilms.com and the creative company’s very successful extreme sports film series.

Nate used a Lowe Pro bag to travel the HDCAM with the Anton Bauer Dionic battery at the bottom of the pack and the lens at the top. I zipped past him a few times as he walked the rig down the trails in the large rectangular backpack. He did have access to a four-wheeler (thanks to Nate Waterhouse) to get the gear from place to place.

I stopped at one of the shooting locations near the botton of the “holy Shoot” trail and heard one of the guys say, “So would you rather push papers across a desk in an office, or push your bike up the mountain”. The rider quickly replied, “I’d rather push my bike up the mountain all day”. I would say that during this shoot, all five pro riders pushed and hiked their heavy down hill bikes up the mountain 80 percent of the time and got to ride only 20 percent of the time. Multiple takes, one camera. These riders are use to it. They are making television. I have to say, these guys are fearless and once they drop in, they almost always hit it in the first take. The cameraman has to ask them to do it again so he can set up for a different angle.

The crew broke for lunch and I found out that these guys are doing a motorcycle road trip for “Focused”. They had a trailer full of mountain bikes and Harley Davidson motorcycles. They were going to hit the Mount Washington Auto Road (sketchy road that goes up the mountain with unreal views) tomorrow with the gas powered bikes and Nate and Guillaume were going to document it. Great gig!

As for me, I managed to ask a few questions about the extreme sports video/film trade and share some of the stuff I had done. I shot a quick video at the end of my two days of riding with my crappy point and shoot still camera. I have no idea why the sky is purple. It is not easy to adjust the camera with my left hand while holding on for dear life with my right hand. And, since it looked so bad shooting video, I did not mind running it over with my bike...

If you managed to read this far, then you will be interested and delighted to hear that I will be shooting a video for Attitash with the EX1, Letus Extreme, my dolly system, my jib and a few other new toys later this summer. I am headed to the mountain this Saturday with my buddy, TJ to scout it all out. I will bring the EX1 and the Letus to do a few tests with local riders. I just might post some tease vids to my blog a few days later. Stay Tuned!

Fenway Park HD Camera - Video Blog

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 02:34:20 -0400

I shoot the Red Sox for a living in HD. I enjoy working with expensive and state-of-the-art television equipment.

A few people emailed me recently and asked me if I could shoot a video blog of my very expensive HD camera that I use to shoot for the networks at Fenway Park. Well, here you go!

I use a Sony HDC-910 camera head with a 75x (9.5mm to 700mm zoom 1:1.7) Canon HD lens with an optical image stabilizer. The camera head new has a retail price of $94,700.00 and that does not include the viewfinder or the lens! The lens is almost as much! The camera is mounted to a large fluid head on Miller sticks. The fluid head is the Vinten Vector 70 and I would ague that this is the best hard camera pan head ever made.

I brought my PMW-EX1 to work today and during my lunch break, I shot a quick video explaining the camera the best I could. I had a million other things I had to do that day. I did not spend much time on this, but this short little film should answer the questions I was asked.

Keep watching until the end. I got a shot of the moon rising over the right field seats and I think you will like it. I shot this during the game a few days ago and TV color analyst Jerry Remy even stated that it was “the best shot he has ever seen on NESN” (New England Sports Network). Now keep in mind, this shot had nothing to do with baseball or sports for that matter. Go figure.

I see shots like this on the Discovery channel all the time!

The moon shot I added to this video was off a dvd copy of the clip. In crappy standard def. I up-converted it to 720p in Final Cut. I did not have a chance to get a HD version yet.

Email me any questions.

Deadliest Catch - After The Catch Shoot In Gloucester, MA

Thu, 5 Jun 2008 23:47:40 -0400

I had the opportunity to work on the wrap up show for the number one cable television show, “The Deadliest Catch” produced by Original Productions (Burbank, CA) for Discovery.

The name of the production I worked on was “After The Catch II” and it was basically a wrap up show for the entire fourth season of Catch. Most of the boat captains and deck hands were there including the narrator, Mike Rowe. They also did mini features on local Gloucester fishermen and had them on as guests.

I was honest with people from the start. I wanted to get off my summer gig on the Red Sox home broadcast for just three days so I could work for Discovery for four days. I really wanted to meet Mike Rowe.

I had followed Mike’s career since his first “Dirty Jobs” episode aired a few years ago. I was always amazed at how professional and witty he was on his show and after watching a few episodes, I though to myself, I would love to work along side Mike, Doug Gover, Dave Barsky, and Chris Whiteneck on the dirtiest show on television. There was just so much talent working on such a unique show. I respected the show so much because it payed respect to the hard working people in this country who work their butts off doing crapy jobs that the rest of us would never want to do. But these jobs are essential so we can live civilized lives. That is basically the “Dirty Jobs” motto.

So I took the job to meet Mike Rowe. I did and I must say, he is exactly like he presents himself on television. A fun guy you would want to work with and then drink a beer with at the end of the day. I was so relieved that he was not a jerk. He was a true pro.

As for this gig, I was just a studio camera guy. Very easy, no stress. I just took the opportunity to network with people. I did have the privilege of working with a great mobile truck, Metrovision out of New York. This HD truck had Sony HDC-1500 720p/1080i selectable cameras and it mastered everything on Sony HDCAM. There was a super expensive Sony HDCAM SR uncompressed HD deck on board to feed some “Deadliest Catch” elements into the production stream.

The show format was a bunch of boat captains sitting around a round table in a bar. They drank like fishermen, smoked like chimneys and told fish stories from the Alaskan seas. Sometimes it got emotional, other times it got heated and in some cases they were all laughing out loud.

Mike Rowe hosted the show and kept the guys on track.

I operated a camera in the bar shooting through a small window where beer and other drinks are served. I got to use a C 40 Italian dutch head mounted on my Sac 30 pan head. This allowed me to dutch shots (throw the horizon off) as I snapped from the plasma screen out of roll-in videos. I also used the head slightly dutched about 5 degrees to the right and slowly pushed into guys seated at the table. I did not over use this, but the times I did use this unique camera shot, it really stood out and added to the production.

The show will air on the Discovery channel as 6 hour long episodes. It begins very soon, June 17th in the US during prime time.

I have posted some pictures below...

This is the Metrovision truck we used. This truck was working Fenway the next day for the Japanese feed. Mike Rowe signed the inside! It had Sony HDC-1500 cameras with sleds so that you can mount big lenses to them to shoot sports. The inside is well laid out and it is filled with HD equipment that I could never afford to buy.

Special thanks to Paul Wolf, a very talented Engineer In Charge for some of these production stills.

You can see the director, Matt, from New York pointed to a monitor as he directed Tim (right) to punch up the cameras. Every camera was iso recorded to Sony HDCAM and they also recorded the switched line cut. Editors will later tighten up the show and add shots that did not get punched into the line cut.

Inside the Bar, this is what I saw for four days of shooting. I am standing behind my camera. I am shooting from the beer taps into the main room of the building. This place use to have a pool table and some tables. Now it has a round table lots of tv gear, lights and a bunch of set props. Lobster traps, buoys, netting, rope, ect. They also added a hugh salt aquarium in the back.

I think this dolly might be a little better than my home made PVC pipe dolly system! A guy from Connecticut named Brian ran this camera. He had a dolly assist named Rick working with him. Brian and I talked tv stuff for a while during our breaks. Brian was the only guy I ever met who has shot with the RED ONE camera. He showed me some RAW clips on his Apple MBP. Amazing.

I was camera five. This Was the Sony HDC-1500 with a HD color LCD viewfinder in top and a Fujinon 22x HD lens. I swapped the lens with a sweet Fuji wide lens for a few shots during the four days. Look closely and you will see the c 40 dutch head mounted on my Sac 30. That was fun to operate!

I had some down time so I checked my email on my MBP.

This 1500 was mounted to a pipe to get the “Sky” cam shot of the round table. This camera was fixed and did not have an operator

This shoot was like a movie set. We had art directors, props and we blocked stuff. I had beer in front of me every day and I could only watch it sweat and get warm! I used it as fore ground in many of my shots. The Letus Extreme would have came in handy here.

The show also had a jib peering through two wood trimmed windows looking into the main set. The guy who ran the jib was from New Hampshire. His name was John. Good guy. His jib moves were awesome, even with the short arm and tight space.

Mike Rowe was great. He was funny and very easy to work with. He ad libed his way through the show and kept everything under control even as the people he talked to were getting drunker by the second. He took some time off to sign a boating chart of Gloucester. I plan to get this framed. I am certain I will get to work with him again down the road. “Why does everything sound so credible when you speak into a pipe.” I asked him that, but he did not have a good answer.

Outside the bar, the crowd we building. Local newspapers where printing stories and posting pictures of the event. This was big for this small fishing community of Gloucester. The movie “The Perfect Storm” was shot out here a few years ago. This was where the Andrea Gail was docked before the tragic end.

Left to right: Edgar Hansen, Watty, Sig Hansen, TV Tim, and me after the show.

Edgar and Sig are brothers and they run the NorthWestern in the “Deadliest Catch”. Great guys. Sig was really funny with a few in him after we wrapped up.

See what I mean, Sig was arm wrestling one of the art directors. He has had a few beverages.

This show was fun. I got to meet a bunch of people from a few of the production companies who create excellent tv for the Discovery Channel.

I also met some of the top people at Discovery channel. I hope that this gig served as a stepping stone into a new career in television for me. I have always dreamed of shooting for this network. I love the content they focus the cameras on.

It has been a while...

Tue, 27 May 2008 07:29:26 -0400

Sorry, I have not been able to post much to my blog over the last two weeks. I have the excuse of work. I work all the time.

A few things to report. I am working on a motorized system to preform very slow dolly moves to add cinematic slides to my time lapses. I am also working on a few “instructional” videos where I use the Surviorman multi-camera technique to talk about my Letus Extreme (specifically the $350 acromat kit), my homemade jib and my homemade dolly system.

I got a gig with “Deadliest Catch” and I will finally get to meet Mike Rowe. I will be shooting just north of Boston for the Discovery channel during the first week of June. I will try to do at least one Blog and maybe even a video blog.

I am sorry if I did not answer your emails. I receive many each day asking questions about my work, the Letus and the Sony EX1.

Please join my forum. It is easier for me just to post my answers in there so I do not have to keep answering the same questions over and over.

That is all!

Video Blog - Fishing and Lobstering in Gloucester

Wed, 7 May 2008 09:15:47 -0400

This is a rough behind the scenes video blog. Vimeo link: http://www.vimeo.com/989635

Today I got up at 5 am, packed a bunch of my TV gear and headed out to Gloucester, Massachusetts to shoot for a hockey TV show on a lobster and fishing charter boat. This was the same area the Andrea Gail set out during “The Perfect Storm”.

So what does this have to do with hockey?

'The Chief' Johnny Bucyk and ‘Pieface’ John McKenzie were on board.

Bucyk retired as the Boston Bruin's team leading scorer, a mark that was surpassed by defenceman Ray Bourque in 1997. The Chief remains Boston's goal scoring leader, compiling 16 seasons of 20 or more goals, receiving two Lady Byng Trophies, and appearing in seven NHL all-star games. He was the fifth NHL player to score 50 goals with 100 points in a season.

McKenzie played in 691 NHL games, totaling 206 goals, 268 assists and 917 penalty minutes. His teammates called him “pieface” because of his acne that lasted into his twenties. Hockey players can be so cruel.

I brought along my Sony HC3 to shoot during the downtime (there was not much) and after I was done edited this, I just watched the film and talked about the visuals in a very conversational way. I added it like a directors track on a movie DVD.

For the broadcast shoot I brought my Sony Z1U with a wide lens (and was asked by the client to shoot in standard def 4:3 DVCAM), about ten tapes, a monopod, a vinten vision 3 tripod, two sennheiser evolution wireless systems, two Sony ecm-77b lav mics, an audio technica shotgun mic, a bunch of batteries, water tight pelican cases, foul weather gear, a/c charger, gaff tape and a magic arm to mount the camera in the wheelhouse.

I shot five 40 minute tapes and got a lot of great footage with the Z1U. I was amazed at how still the ocean was. I was able to get great rock solid tracking shots from the boat deck as we drifted by the old fishing ships and the old New England lighthouses. I did not get sick...this time.

I shot most of the TV show either on a monopod or run and gun handheld.

We caught four Cod and two Haddock while deep sea fishing and we also pulled in one troll line of twenty lobster pots. We were able to keep about 30 lobsters out of the near 60 we must have trapped in the pots.

Lobstering is defiantly dangerous. We all had to pay close attention to what was going on around us.

I cannot post any of the video I shot with the Z1U because of copyright issues. I am not editing this TV show. The tapes are sent to New Jersey to be edited for broadcast.

TRT 4 minutes 43 seconds

Here are a few pictures from the trip:

Video Blog - Vignetting and the Letus Extreme

Mon, 5 May 2008 23:44:00 -0400

I decided that I would share whatever knowledge I have in my brief time with my EX1 and Letus Extreme 35 mm lens adapter by doing a video blog. I am not an expert, but I have logged some serious hours on both of them.

I created this website to get my name out to potential clients and sell my television skills as a freelancer. I have found work because of this website, but I have also found that there is a huge community of people who are interested in producing quality television. Most of them have commented on my videos and send me comments through my chat room, forum and email.

Many people have emailed me and asked me several question regarding my dolly system, my telescope panning time lapsing, features on the ex1, color grading using Magic Bullet and shooting with the Letus Extreme.

I have found it very difficult to email answers to these questions. The best way to help people understand is to show them.

This is what I am planning to do with Video Blog entries. This is my first.

I have shot a video in the “Surviorman” technique with multiple cameras alone in the wild (where I like to shoot). I decided to answer the vignette question that many people have asked me. I own cheap lenses, so some of my vignetting could be inside the film lens and not in the Letus. This “webisode” details using the EX1’s zoom lens to push past the Letus innards and remove the black on the sides of the frame. It is important that the ground glass window is close to center in the frame as you push through it. You will see that it is not and I need to calibrate it. This is beyond the scope of this webisode.

I am currently having trouble with edge sharpness. This is because I adjusted the Letus back-focus and by doing so, the ground glass plate is not perfectly straight anymore. I will try to fix this (or I may have to send back the Letus to be fixed).

One thing to look at here is the fact that the EX1 blows the Sony Z1U and the Sony HC3 HDV cameras away in color and imagery. When I was cutting this together, I could not believe how bad the Z1U looks against the new Sony CMOS chips in the EX1.

I tried to be as clear as possible, but if you have any questions, please use my forum. For more information on the Letus Extreme (or to purchase one) please check out http://www.letusdirect.com.

Spring on the Kancamagus - Production Stills

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:16:33 -0400

I add a detailed description to most of my films that I post on my website or on Vimeo. I do not, however, add any of my behind the scenes production stills to the video descriptions. I save all these cool pictures for my blogs.

Today, I went to the Kancamagus highway with my Sony PMW-EX1. Of course, the Letus Extreme was attached to the front.

The Kanc is route 112 and it runs right through the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It will get you to Lincoln from Conway or vise versa. There is nothing in between. No gas, homes or business for almost 30 miles! Cell phones do not work and the drive is steep and dangerous.

There are hundreds of hiking trails and the mountain views are beautiful....when they are not cloaked in fog.

I started at 6 am. My first stop was a mountain tarn. A tarn is a small pond locked high in the mountain tops. This place is very clean and the water is crystal clear. I had hoped to nab a shot of some wildlife here.

I hiked in dolly track, my Vinten tripod, lenses and my camera. Anytime I do this sort of stuff alone, I have to make a few trips to get the gear in and out.

I used my long lens to get shots of the lonely duck sleeping on the rock. This is a Nikon Nikkor 300mm f4 telephoto. By using this long lens on the EX1 and Letus, I was able to get tight shots of the sleeping duck from far across the pond. I also used this lens to get some of the shots of the mountain tops and exposed valley in the middle of the short. I had to add an extra support I bought from Letus to hold the weight of this lens and place it on the rail system.

I did not get any pictures of the Sabaday Falls setups. Sorry about that. I was scrambling to get it all shot before the rain got heavier.

The above picture is how I laid the 1 1/4 inch PVC pipe down in the stream. This was not easy. I pulled rocks from the stream and built up a “railroad tie” support to hold the rails in place. I did not want the dolly to shift and dump the camera in the drink. The rocks were slick.

I do not have a rain cover, as you can see, so I used an 11 cent trash bag to protect my investment.

One other thing I have to say is that my boots were full of icy cold water, my hands were freezing and since it was pouring rain, the stream was turing into a raging torrent by the second. I had left the dolly track in the stream for about five minutes while I was drying the camera and when I returned to it, the water had risen and was washing over the plywood decking! The rain must have been falling even heavier upstream at higher altitude.

Wet and cold feet. My boots were water proof, but when the water gets so deep that it goes over the top of the boot, the water proofing only hold the water inside. Got trench foot?

Headed home on Rt 93 towards Boston. Heavy rains made rush hour traffic even more enjoyable. I can’t wait to shoot another video on the Kanc!

Email me if you have any question

Day Game - Behind the Scenes

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:23:13 -0400

First off, I want to give credit where credit is due.

My idea to do this type of blog was inspired by Philip Bloom. I was amazed at his knowledge and his style of shooting. I was very impressed with his website. He not only produces excellent content and imagery, but he explains his technique in his blogs. He is a teacher as much as he is a great shooter and editor. His website is located at http://www.philipbloom.net.

Another friend of mine, TJ Powers, gave me the idea of using a telescope motorized pan head to shoot panning time lapse. I thank them both for getting my head outside the sports television viewfinder.

Now let me talk about my short, “Day Game”.

I set up this time lapse in the very same spot I set up my first Fenway Park time lapse, “One Day at Fenway”. This time, I had fixed my back focus and I was shooting a day game. I ran the camera off the supplied ac power adapter. I had to plug it into the utility power in my hard camera because they never installed an outlet on this roof!

I pointed my hard camera at the time lapse so that I could keep an eye on it from inside the TV truck just in case someone wanted to mess with it.

I framed for the sky, hoping for sweet cloud movement, but got stuck with total and infinite deep blue.

This is a shot of the bracket I bought for 2 bucks at Home Depot. I pulled the telescope off and tossed it in the closet. I only wanted the pan head. The telescope model is the Celestron 114 GT telescope. It has a key pad that I can use to program the pan speed and it runs on eight AA batteries.

This is the controller that came with the Celestron telescope. I use this to dial in the pan speeds. This pan head was designed to follow the stars in the sky as the Earth rotates. I had to figure out a way to make it work for my application. It was easy. I just set the rate to “one” and press the right arrow. I then unplug the CAT3 cable from the pan head (unplugging the keypad) and the pan head continues to pan very very slowly on its own. The only way to stop it is to unplug the battery pack. I like this method because it removes one more cable from the pan head that could get tangled up during the six hour time lapse pan. I cannot tilt with this due to the weight of the camera rig.

The fans have entered the ballpark and are enjoying the game. The pan head has moved about 100 degrees so far and is pointed into right field. I had started at the green monster about three hours ago! It moves kinda like the hour hand on a watch dial.

This was an ideal place to preform the long time lapse because I could keep a close eye on the camera and yell at the drunk fans as they tried to rest a full beer on the top of the Letus!

I have learned this about drunk baseball fans: They all want to be on TV and the way they break the ice is by asking, “...is this game on TV?”

The key to ending a conversation with a drunk while you are trying to shoot a baseball game is to ignore them. If you yell at them, they get angry and if you talk to them they never stop talking and become your best friend.

I never had to deal with this in my last 8 years at Fenway. I had this entire roof to myself! When they added these new seats, they added a bunch of curious fans who sometimes are not interested in the game. But man can they drink.

I digress...

I mentioned in my video description that I had some trouble with my Letus motor. This is a shot of the ground glass inside the Letus. I had opened up the Letus before to adjust the back focus. I had to tug on this 16:9 piece of frosted glass and pull it out (from it’s three points) a fraction of a millimeter to gain infinity on my film lenses. I also open this thing up to clean it out as dust tends to collect on the ground glass.

I knew that the motor was just below the GG. So in order to get the motor spinning, I tapped it with my finger and on she went, vibrating the ground glass to produce a clean film-like image. This little piece of info just might help you out if you own a Letus Extreme or plan on buying one.

Email me with specific questions and I will try to help you.

Fenway Cameraman

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:16:43 -0400

I had a crazy idea and it was slightly narcissistic. I wanted to point the time lapse PMW-EX1 XDCAM at myself as I worked. I wanted to see just how many times I whipped panned, tilted up, got a red tally, moved around the platform and touched the controls on my hard camera at Fenway Park.

The end result was what I would assume a rabbit would look like if given a pound of caffeine and a few lumps of sugar. I do like Red Bull.

I placed the camera on an old Vinten Vector 100. I extended the tripod as far as I could so that it would place the lens up over my shoulder and frame me with the game action going on in the background.

I also used my letus and a star filter that produced a four point star.

You can see the first set up (of two) where the EX1 is pointed at my hard camera. The green monster was in the background behind me.

Ahh.... I do love the golden hour. Great light hitting the EX1. I have said that the Sony PMW-EX1 with the Letus Extreme 35mm film lens adapter is worth its weight in gold. I absolutely love shooting with them both.

I set the camera to record one frame every ten second that passed by. I still have not experimented with the under cranking feature on this camera. The technique I had used on this short was called interval recording. I hope to try the under cranking method on a future time lapse. I think it may show the rapid motion of my camera in a more smooth and realistic way.

I looked up to the light tower to my left and saw “The Hawk”. This is the very same hawk that attacked a girl on a Fenway Tour about a week before opening day. This red tailed hawk had a nest just below the press box and was defending her one egg. The nest was moved by environmental officials and relocated. I think the bird is still pissed off. One of my favorite parts of the game is watching the hawk flying over the crowd with a dead bird or rat in it’s talons. There are two of them.

You can see that I have a telescope for a zoom lens. The camera had a 75x telephoto zoom with an extender that doubles that! It is pretty sweet!

Perhaps someday somebody will pay me to follow a bird of prey instead of a Rawlings laced baseball.

Another Day at Fenway - Behind the Scenes

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 02:15:58 -0400

I brought my EX1 with the Letus and my motorized telescope pan head to Fenway to shoot my second time lapse. Here are a few pictures to show you my set up.

My last time lapse, “One Day at Fenway” was shot from the left field seats. This time, I set up on the right field line and shot towards the west. This time lapse includes a great sunset.

The camera started to the right and slowly panned to the diamond on the left. I was surprised that the heavy vibration on the roof did not effect the quality of the panning time lapse. You can see that early in the day, some of the Red Sox players were hanging out in right field. This time lapse spanned about 6.5 hours from 4 pm to 10:30 pm.

I taped the focus and the exposure to avoid any slippage due to the vibration. I made sure I turned on the motor for the ground glass before I left the camera.

This is a tight shot of the motorized telescope head. The model is the Celestron 114 GT telescope. It has a key pad that I can use to program the pan speed and it runs on eight AA batteries.

This shot gives you an idea of the type of camera platform I had set up in. It is a bunch of steel that sticks out over the crowd. There was a lot of vibration and I made sure I tied the camera down just in case it fell over. I did not want the entire rig to fall on the baseball fans below.

If you have any questions about this set up, please feel free to email me. I plan on doing a few more of these time lapses at Fenway Park so keep an eye on my website.

Boston Marathon 2008

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 01:56:12 -0400

Yea, I know. The helmet makes me look like an idiot.

Today, I shot two of the participants in the Boston Marathon for the Discovery channel. I got to ride on a full electric motorcycle for half the race. I sat on the back and a guy named Dana took me down the streets of Massachusetts as we headed to the finish line in Boston.

I hung off the back with a Sony HVR-Z1U camcorder covering Lynn and Jamie Parks as they put the miles behind them.

Lynn and Jamie have a very unique and inspiring story.

Lynn was in a car accident a decade ago and this tragic event occurred just after Jamie asked Lynn to be his wife. The accident took almost everything from Lynn but Jamie stayed by her side.

They have been a team ever since and do everything together despite Lynn’s disabilities.

Discovery Health wanted to make a documentary called “Marathon Love” and hired me to be one of the shooters. It will be finished in June 2008.

The pictures above show the electric motorcycle. This was the first marathon these state of the art bikes were used on.

I must say, these bikes were great. Super smooth and very quiet. I was able to hang off the back and get awesome shots of Lynn and Jamie as they moved through the course.

The electric bike was so quiet, that I was able to get up next to Jamie as he pushed his wife in the wheelchair and ask them both questions! I got some great sound from the two of them as they pushed themselves to the limits in the Boston Marathon.

A friend of mine, Eric, was one of the other film crews on the project. Eric and I were fitted with Z1U’s with wide angle lenses and our own audio kits. We both wore vests that held wireless receivers, lens wipes, cell phones and two-way radios.

This was my point of view off the electric motorcycle. You can see the Z1U in the bottom left of the frame. My shotgun was all I needed to get up close and get sound bites from Lynn and Jamie as they moved down the suburban streets of Ashland Massachusetts. This was around mile marker 4. The race was 26.2 miles long!

The was a self portrait shot when we reached our designated pull off. That helmet was not very comfortable, but at least it protected my mellon. At this point, I left Dana and his electric bike and headed to a parked vehicle. I met up with my Production Assistant and we drove to the finish line.

I did not take any other pictures because I got too busy to do so! Let me just say, the traffic was miserable and I slept through most of it. I had just came off working a double the night before, early Red Sox and then Game 1 of the Celtics NBA finals. I was functioning on two hours of sleep.

When we got to the finish line, I just had to get one other shot. Jamie and Lynn’s daughter was going to join them for the last mile of the race. It was a great moment. I got the money shot and the field producers were very happy. The documentary should be good and I look forward to seeing it on the Discovery Health channel later this summer.

Long Lens for Lake People Short Film

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:48:02 -0400

A bunch of people emailed me after I posted “Lake People” and wanted to see my set up. I did not take any pictures of the dolly system. If you want to see it, check out my blog on “The Warehouse” short.

The red backpack in the picture above is the way I travel all my lenses. It is a great padded compartmentalized pack made by Lowe.

The picture below shows you the Nikon Nikkor 300mm f4 lens I bought off eBay. The lens works great and if you look closely, you will see that I ordered a second support for the weight of the lens from Letus. This gives me piece of mind when shooting with the hefty glass. It puts the weight on the rail system and not on the nikon mount connected to the Letus Extreme.

Email me if you have any further questions.

New Sony Camcorder - The PMW-EX3

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 01:08:16 -0400

I got an inside guy at NAB. His name is TJ and he is giving me the inside scoop. It looks like Sony will be releasing this sweet new camera in their PMW line of solid state SxS camcorders.

I hope to continue to break news (or almost break news) on my site thanks to TJ. I wish I was there!

I don’t have much information on this camera, but I do know that you can hook a 60GB hard drive to it by plugging it into the side of the SxS slot.

It also appears to be a camera that you can mount on your shoulder.

This is the hard drive. It can be powered off the same batteries that the camera itself works on. This will really help keep the recordings going. I hope this works on the PMW-EX1 as well. I will find out soon.

Here is the PMW-EX3 and the PMW-EX1 side by side. I own the EX1. The EX3 will be more expensive and is not yet available to the public.

It looks like the eye piece can flip up to reveal the LCD screen. Also, the camera has a few more BNC connectors on the back. Perhaps a genlock, a timecode and maybe this camera can even accept incoming HD signals so that it can function as a deck?

Opening Day at Fenway Park - NESN

Tue, 8 Apr 2008 21:55:01 -0400

Today was opening day at Fenway Park and I am entering my eighth year at my position on the left field wall.

The only problem was they have totally redesigned the left field roof. My camera position no longer exists as I remember it. But, it is not that bad.

Here is what my first impressions were.
Not that bad of an angle. I could not really notice the difference in height, but I did notice that I am off the left field foul line, deeper in the stands. I am also closer to the Green Monster wall, so it looks smaller and less intimidating. Very little vibration on the roof. Dugout visible.
The railing are short. I am able to set up my camera very low, and not get blocked. I like to be able to see over my camera.
Large area to work. I hope they don’t try to cram an extra camera in there. I may share the place with one wheel chair at times.
I can actually talk to girls instead of just rats running under my old platform.

8am on opening day. A very adventurous climber scales the flag pole and adds some hardware to allow the World Series 07 flag to be raised later in the day.

It was cold and windy. The guy was yelling stuff to other guys who fed him cable from the dirt of the warning track.

This is the new Coke-A-Cola corner. You can see my new camera seven position just under the “a” in Cola. I am now near the crowd and I had to put up a chain to make a fence to keep fans from trying to get near my camera to snap photos or find a good place for their standing room ticket.

My old position is almost dead center in the above photograph. Before they added the seats, I was all alone on the roof set up on a metal platform. The position was destroyed this past winter and now a staircase lives where I spent seven summers.

I had to climb underground on the other side of the park to locate a fiber optic cable. This place stunk and there were rats scurrying around.

This was taken in June of 2004. You can see the old camera angle in this shot. No foreground, the advertisement signboard was blocking some of my shot to the right. In this old shot, I am also closer to the action and lower. I can shoot down the line.

This was taken today. This is the new camera position. I will have company on occasion. To my right, in the empty area, one wheelchair and a companion. But not everyday.

I have much more foreground to work with. The crowd goes nuts and I can get their reaction in the lower portion of my frame. The sun still sets behind me, so I use card board to keep my viewfinder dark.

I look forward to the summer months up here. Today was about 35 degrees with a very cold wind. This picture makes the seating area look huge! They added about 1,000 seats to the ball park this year.

Things I don’t like about the new position:
No Electricity
No Internet hard line
No bolt in the concrete to chain down my camera
Drunk fans over my shoulder
Being higher seems more windy and “closer to lightning”.
I lose a lot of the third base foul line.
I shoot down on the monster seats, not into them.

I will post more in my blog as the boys of summer are back in Boston.

Misty Brook Letus Short Film Behind the Scenes

Sun, 6 Apr 2008 22:32:56 -0400

I shot at Ashland State Park today and got some more great footage using the PMW-EX1. I also used the Letus.

I over-saturated this footage and used the over cranking feature on the camera at 59.94 frames per second.

I used just one lens, the Nikon 50mm f1.4 and kept it wide open. The depth of field was great and the pictures were very sharp.

I have attached a few production stills to this blog. I used a plastic bag to help keep the camera dry and only had one 8 GB card. My battery only lasts about one hour and I need to get a larger one.

Most of the shots were off the tripod. Sorry I can’t go into more detail, but I am very busy!

The camera survived the rain and the mud. I need to get a working rain cover.

TAX TIME!

Wed, 2 Apr 2008 22:35:18 -0400

I cannot add to my website or shoot with my new EX1 camera because I am doing my taxes.

I am literally buried in receipts. Thousands of them.

Every year at this time, I lock myself inside my home and work without interruption on my favorite thing in this world, my tax return.

See you on the other side. I have been thinking about new videos to shoot and I will be on a lobstah boat off of Glostah Mass this Sunday. I will not shoot with the Letus, just with my Z1U with the Sony wide angle lens. I’m an certain I will be hurling off the side. Ever see the movie, “The Perfect Storm”?

I will take pics and blog about it. Back to the mileage log spreadsheet...

I got the Sony PMW-EX1

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 22:20:40 -0400

I now own a Sony EX1 XDCAM EX camera.

I have wanted to upgrade for quite some time, but did not think solid state media was cost effective. Now with flash memory dropping and Sony offering a free media card with the purchase of this camera (by the end of March 08), I decided to pull the trigger.

I must give a very special thanks for my friend TV, the guy who helped me pay for this camera.

I will not go into great detail about this camera right now (since I have yet to use it), but here are my first impressions.

This camera is worth every penny. It is a REAL camera. It has a manual lens (not removable) and iris ring. It is evenly balanced. And best of all, the LCD viewfinder is very, very High Def! My Z1U had a analog-like lcd. This EX1 lcd is super sharp and easy to tell what is in focus and what is not.

I like the menu system. Very easy to use (for me anyway) and since I had read the instruction ops manual for this camera a month ago, I already had a head start.

I will shoot my first outdoor footage on the included 8 gb SxS card on Sunday. This card will allow me to shoot about 28 minutes of HQ 720p or 1080i HDTV. I will post the video to the “EX1 Letus Videos” page.

That is all for now. As you can see, I have moved the Letus from the Sony Z1U and put it on the EX1. I am ready to go!