Red Scarlet X #316 "Skully"

[Michael Millichamp]

Phil, what spreaders do you have on your 536's?

 

[Phil Holland]

Nice cart! I feel you on the system meltdown. I had it happen to me last year and it's no fun. On the plus side, you get to build yourself a better machine.

I would highly recommend the Antec Easy SATA for your next tower. I did some testing and found that I can download a full 64GB Redmag directly to a 7200RPM HDD at essentially the same speed as downloading the mag to my desktop (SSD).

I back up everything to a USB 3 drive, plug in a freshly formatted MacOS Journaled drive (FAT32 caps file size at 4GB), and work off the Easy SATA drive as my scratch disk. Once the project is complete, I throw away all the unused clips and only backup files that are used in the edit to my tower's internal RAID. It's a nice way to work fast, save space, and I can playback clips at 1/4 debayer.

That's the Multi-Cart. It's been on every set with me since about 2008. Can't live without it and I don't have a grip truck for something bigger. Works great for me. I have the foam inserted tires, which actually is nice if you ever want to use it for dirty dolly moves with a high hat on top.

I have eSATA ports on my CPU and I use external drop in enclosures. I also use Sabrent eSATA plugs for my portable solution and occasionally at home. I'm also a bit eSATA and USB3.0 fan. Pretty much all I use these days. eSATA for my backup purposes. USB3.0 for client drives and portable backup solutions.

Phil, what spreaders do you have on your 536's?

They say 3137, but since Manfrotto changed their catalog a bit ago that translates to the "Manfrotto 127VS Variable Leg Spread Portable Dolly". Doesn't exactly roll of the tongue there.


Another quicky note I forgot to mention earlier, that bandana type fabric that you see on my fluid head isn't there for looks. It actually helps dampen vibration if you ever have to take your hand off the operating handle. That way if you have to quickly re-position yourself, your hand, or something on the rig you don't ruin your longer takes. Just grab onto the fabric and it "crushes" rather than "dings". Helps tons especially on longer days.

 

[Michael Millichamp]

They say 3137, but since Manfrotto changed their catalog a bit ago that translates to the "Manfrotto 127VS Variable Leg Spread Portable Dolly". Doesn't exactly roll of the tongue there.


Another quicky note I forgot to mention earlier, that bandana type fabric that you see on my fluid head isn't there for looks. It actually helps dampen vibration if you ever have to take your hand off the operating handle. That way if you have to quickly re-position yourself, your hand, or something on the rig you don't ruin your longer takes. Just grab onto the fabric and it "crushes" rather than "dings". Helps tons especially on longer days.

Thanks Phil,

And that is quite a brilliant idea. (The bandana thing)

 

[Zeb B]

Thanks for sharing Phil . . . you're my new Rock Star Idol!! Let's shoot something sometime

 

[Mike Garrick]

Hey Phil
More updates, man where do you get the time?

A question, in a lot of your shots, "Skully" is mounted on a slider atop an elevated platform. Because I don't use this system I'm wondering the advantages of this system as opposed to not having the platform & just mounting the slider higher.

P.S. Your outdoor LA foothills shots look great.....with all those gum trees in the background & dry grass it looks like Australia ...apart from the art departments flowers that is.

Update I was having a "man look" I now notice you have different "column" than previously to accommodate your new head. This arrangement makes sense, gaining clearance for adjustment of the bowl.

 

[Lliam Worthington]

Thanks Phil, alway really enjoy reading your updates.

Best

Lliam

 

[Phil Holland]

Hey Phil
More updates, man where do you get the time?

A question, in a lot of your shots, "Skully" is mounted on a slider atop an elevated platform. Because I don't use this system I'm wondering the advantages of this system as opposed to not having the platform & just mounting the slider higher.

P.S. Your outdoor LA foothills shots look great.....with all those gum trees in the background & dry grass it looks like Australia ...apart from the art departments flowers that is.

Update I was having a "man look" I now notice you have different "column" than previously to accommodate your new head. This arrangement makes sense, gaining clearance for adjustment of the bowl.

Hehe. Well, I've been bad this time. Feels like forever since I've updated, but there's one coming soon. Been insanely busy the last few weeks.

To answer your slider question Mike, I elevate the camera with the 100mm bowl adapter so it clears the slider itself on moves that aren't horizontal. If I travel with the camera with the lens pointed the same direction of the track I don't want to see the slider in the shot. This setup allows me to use up to a 14mm lens without seeing the slider (as long as I'm not tilted down). As you observed, it's also nice to adjust the bowl with that setup. I have this other bowl adapter plate that helps getting the camera about 6 inches lower, but it will offset the weight considerably. Good for low ground work though. I pretty much love the Kessler Cineslider. Kinda wish it was about 10-12 inches wide sometimes, but it would be less portable.


I'm shooting a music video over the next 4 days and will be out of town. After that I'm zipping over to NAB. Likely after NAB I'll drop a big post from a few shoots. The Scarlet X has been working great. Even been experimenting with a few new setups.

 

[Marko Hocevar]

Hey Phil,
I noticed somewhere your comment about compatibility between manfrotto quick release adapters and plates.
Do you know if 509PLONG plate from the 509 head is compatible with manfrotto 357 QR adapter (357PLONG plate) or 557 QR adapter(501PLONG)? Or does it require some completely new QR adapter?
I searched all over but I couln't find any compatibility chart with 509PLONG.

Thanks!

 

[Stephane Marino]

Hi Phil,

that cinebags seems very handy, where did you find it ?

Thanks.

 

[Kemalettin Sert]

hey phil thanks for this amazing thread.what kind of audio solutions do you have for scarlet?

 

[Phil Holland]

I noticed somewhere your comment about compatibility between manfrotto quick release adapters and plates.
Do you know if 509PLONG plate from the 509 head is compatible with manfrotto 357 QR adapter (357PLONG plate) or 557 QR adapter(501PLONG)? Or does it require some completely new QR adapter?
I searched all over but I couln't find any compatibility chart with 509PLONG.

I agree Marko. Manfrotto is a bit cryptic about their plate specs.
The 509PLONG plate works with the "Manfrotto 577 Rapid Connect Adapter" (B&H has them). You can use the 509PLONG plate on the 501, 503, 504, and 509 heads without any issue.
Which also means you can use those shorter plates on the 509 head if you need to.

that cinebags seems very handy, where did you find it ?

Hi Stephane. I ordered it from their website. It's the first item in their store as of this moment. I've used it on every shoot since purchasing it. It's not the perfect bag, but it is an incredibly useful bag.

hey phil thanks for this amazing thread.what kind of audio solutions do you have for scarlet?

Hi Kemalettin. What I have used and what I have are slightly different.

At this point I've:
- piped audio in via a MixPre (don't own the MixPre)
- piped audio and recorded "blind" via a Zoom H4n (I own the Zoom)
- piped audio and recorded "blind" via a Marantz PMD660 (I own the PMD)
- piped audio and recorded timecode synced via a Sound Devices 744T (don't own the 744T yet)

I use the Red XLR to Mini cables when working with the Sound Devices 744T to get scratch/reference audio in camera. I use Hosa cables splitting to L and R mini 1/8" when working with everything else listed there. I'm planning on purchasing a Sound Devices 744T with a mixer down the road as it's pretty much standard equipment out here in Los Angeles. For production work out here timecode is pretty much a must.

If you're curious about mics. I own and use the Sennheiser ME66 shotgun and 2x G3 Wireless Lavs. I have a few other mics I use as well mostly used for field sample and vocal work, but these are what I've used the most at this point.

 

[Kemalettin Sert]

thanks for the detailed reply, i dont have 3-4K for sound equipment have only 2 option for sound ,Zoom H4N or TASCAM DR100 MKII..

 

[Stephane Marino]

thank you Phil.

 

[Ben Scott]

Great thread Phil. Has been very helpful, thanks.

Any updates on using the 509HD with those 536 legs? I won't lie, they scare me

 

[Phil Holland]

@Ben - I'm still enjoying the Manfrotto 509HD head/536 legs combo. It's light enough for me to move around with and the 536 legs have proven to be very versatile. More so than I even imagined.


It's been a bit of time since I've updated this thread of Skully madness. Trying to keep it visually interesting and informative with these posts. A lot has been going on post NAB 2012 and I wanted to update with a few things.


3K Low Light

The video above is actually one of the first things I shot with the Red Scarlet X, just about a week and a half after getting it in December 2011. There were three major challenges regarding this shoot. The extreme low light conditions, pulling wild focus at f/1.2-f/2, and navigating through a crowd of about 200 in darkness with sticks. There's a bit of shoulder work in there, one shot I stabilized with the new Adobe Warp Stabilizer through Premiere Pro CS6. Grade performed with a bit of mix and matched work through RC-X Pro, Premiere Pro, Looks, and Speedgrade. Tried to keep it natural to what could be experience in the room.

This was shot during New Years Eve and represents an interesting collaboration between two friends of mine. Andrew Jones who paints live with light with his wife Phaedra and William Close who creates his own unique instruments to create his musical compositions with. William just performed with his Earth Harp on the first episode of America's Got Talent and got a standing ovation from the judges and the crowd.


Adobe Production Premium CS6 - Editing, VFX, Color, and Sound

I did an extremely intensive 6 hour presentation on using Adobe Production Premium CS6 last week. It was actually way more casual than I'm making it sound. It was about 40 people in a room staring at my demonstration projected on a 20 foot screen with food throughout. The focus was on color correction and color grading, but I also showcased a little bit of the editing, VFX, and audio workflow.

The interesting bit here is that I utilized Speedgrade, Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere Pro, and even Adobe Camera Raw demonstrating different color workflows for each of them. I tied in some thoughts about working with Baselight, Resolve, Looks, and some proprietary software over the years. It is interesting that within Adobe Production Premium you have so many different ways to tackle color work. Each has unique strengths and possibilities to explore.

Speedgrade is a nice addition to the suite and is powerful. I've certainly compiled a list of about 100 ideas, revisions, and changes that I'll shoot off to Adobe at some point. I'd also love the ability to add some transport controls and the ability to handle video through Adobe Camera Raw with an effects plugin for Premiere Pro and After Effects as I enjoy that workflow sometimes. In fact that's how I graded my short for the Reduser 4k Competition. You can read all about that here if you missed it:
http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?77542-The-World-After-Reduser-4k-Portrait-Finalist&p=991870&viewfull=1#post991870


Libec Swift 50 Jib

Promptly after NAB 2012 I was fortunate to take a close look at the Libec Swift 50 Jib. I'm in the market for something a bit more robust and a bit longer than the compact jib I currently use. The Swift 50 sports a little over a 7 foot reach at full extension, which is why it caught my eye. I went down to their sales headquarters in Torrance and worked with the jib for a couple hours too feel things out. The Swift 50 has a maximum payload of 50lbs which means it can handle everything from DSLRs up to heavier cameras like the Red Epic, Red Scarlet, and Arri Alexa.

The Swift 50 clearly was designed to be quick to setup on site. This is very important to me. With it's single beam design and single camera leveling extension you can have the jib arm on the tripod with counter weights in about 10 to 12 minutes. That's pretty fast. The center column stays permanently attached to the jib when put away that helps to speed everything up. It certainly lands into an interesting size bracket that's not too big and not too small. Still portable, but built solidly to help keep moves nice and smooth.

The camera platform has a nice bubble level and 100mm bowl. There are also several accesory mounting points around the jib and center column in case you want to attach a monitor or a handle. We built the jib up with Libec's T102B Tripod with spreader and wheels, which is really helpful when repositioning the jib. Move it around and then engage the locking feet and you're done. A neat feature I learned about after setting the jib up is that you can actually retract the whole main arm about 12 inches via unlocking the center column. Really nice if you're in a tight location.

I also tested out the REMO30 which is Libec's remote head/control combo which attaches to the weight bar of the Swift 50. Their catalog states a maximum capacity of 11lbs, but they tested up to 19lbs. I built my Scarlet X out to about 15.2lbs and tossed it up there. Once balanced (it took 66lbs of counterweight) it worked like a charm. There are a couple awesome things about the controller that I should point out. The controller has a built in V-Mount battery plate and can run the remote head for 9 ours off a single 90Wh battery. Nice. Also there's a built in HDSDI pass through tap on the controller and the signal transfers though the control cable. Nice and tiddy. An as of yet undocumented feature I discovered after a bit of usage tracking moving subjects with the different speed settings for pan and tilt with the joystick is that you're able to actual do speed ramping/dampening on the fly by turning the speed nobs while moving. I can see situations where this could come in handy for sure.

Overall I'm really impressed. I can't wait to get this jib out on locations. I love it's height and portability. The addition of the nicely thought out remote head, controller, and really sturdy tripod makes it ideal for production use on both small and large scales. Aesthetically speaking, everything is designed nicely. Rounded edges everywhere, which is nice if you're moving this jib close up around talent. Another nice touch is Libec is selling weight kits with rubberized weights with carrying cases. Smart.

I played around with a few of their higher end fluid heads while I was there too. Libec's definitely got some nice gear suitable for higher end setups and are worth looking at. Their top of the line H100 head had zero backlash and return and I was able to dead stop at 35mm on the edge of a sheet of paper from 20 feet away consistently. Movement was very smooth throughout my brief testing. Solid stuff.


Duclos Cine-Mod - Leica 60mm f/2.8 Macro-Elmarit-R

It's no secret that I love Leica R lenses. There's one lens that has been begging to be Cine-Modded. That is the Leica 60mm f/2.8 Macro-Elmarit-R. Primarily because it's focus throw is 320 degrees and it makes so much sense to get a perment gear on there to assist with that huge rotation. So I took a trip over to Duclos Lenses and the techs over there promptly got to work and produced the beautifully modded lens you see above.

After meeting Matthew and the rest of the team at Duclos Lenses during the SALT II Lens Tests I have nothing but positive things to say about the work they do there. Especially that gorgeous Leica R 80mm f/1.4 Cine-Mod I saw the last time I was over there. Very nice work.

On the subject of lenses here's a shot of the vast majority of the glass that I use on the Scarlet X. Mostly primes, three zooms, and a couple of speciality lenses. 11mm-600mm with a couple of fisheyes in there too.

Life and Work Things
I'm just finishing up another semester of my Sunday class at Gnomon. I've confirmed that I'll be instructing during the summer term (I'm trying to do this as long as it's possible). I finished up shooting another commercial and two music videos since NAB. Waiting on the edit to be done on a couple of those. I'm doing the color and finishing work on one of the music videos and can't wait to get cracking on that. I've been poking around to DP a feature or episodic for the rest of the year. As of now I'm waiting to hear about two projects that will both be awarded in July. A feature in Louisiana decided to hire a local DP that I was previously tapped to shoot. Kind of a bummer, but that's somewhat normal these days. I have a couple small shoots in June. Besides that I'll be taking some time to develop a couple of my own properties. Also, I shot the launch event for Diablo III for Blizzard a couple weeks ago.

I'll leave with a couple grabs from a couple music videos:

 

[Andrew Walker]

@Ben - I'm still enjoying the Manfrotto 509HD head/536 legs combo. It's light enough for me to move around with and the 536 legs have proven to be very versatile. More so than I even imagined.


It's been a bit of time since I've updated this thread of Skully madness. Trying to keep it visually interesting and informative with these posts. A lot has been going on post NAB 2012 and I wanted to update with a few things.


3K Low Light

The video above is actually one of the first things I shot with the Red Scarlet X, just about a week and a half after getting it in December 2011. There were three major challenges regarding this shoot. The extreme low light conditions, pulling wild focus at f/1.2-f/2, and navigating through a crowd of about 200 in darkness with sticks. There's a bit of shoulder work in there, one shot I stabilized with the new Adobe Warp Stabilizer through Premiere Pro CS6. Grade performed with a bit of mix and matched work through RC-X Pro, Premiere Pro, Looks, and Speedgrade. Tried to keep it natural to what could be experience in the room.

This was shot during New Years Eve and represents an interesting collaboration between two friends of mine. Andrew Jones who paints live with light with his wife Phaedra and William Close who creates his own unique instruments to create his musical compositions with. William just performed with his Earth Harp on the first episode of America's Got Talent and got a standing ovation from the judges and the crowd.


Adobe Production Premium CS6 - Editing, VFX, Color, and Sound

I did an extremely intensive 6 hour presentation on using Adobe Production Premium CS6 last week. It was actually way more casual than I'm making it sound. It was about 40 people in a room staring at my demonstration projected on a 20 foot screen with food throughout. The focus was on color correction and color grading, but I also showcased a little bit of the editing, VFX, and audio workflow.

The interesting bit here is that I utilized Speedgrade, Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere Pro, and even Adobe Camera Raw demonstrating different color workflows for each of them. I tied in some thoughts about working with Baselight, Resolve, Looks, and some proprietary software over the years. It is interesting that within Adobe Production Premium you have so many different ways to tackle color work. Each has unique strengths and possibilities to explore.

Speedgrade is a nice addition to the suite and is powerful. I've certainly compiled a list of about 100 ideas, revisions, and changes that I'll shoot off to Adobe at some point. I'd also love the ability to add some transport controls and the ability to handle video through Adobe Camera Raw with an effects plugin for Premiere Pro and After Effects as I enjoy that workflow sometimes. In fact that's how I graded my short for the Reduser 4k Competition. You can read all about that here if you missed it:
http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?77542-The-World-After-Reduser-4k-Portrait-Finalist&p=991870&viewfull=1#post991870


Libec Swift 50 Jib

Promptly after NAB 2012 I was fortunate to take a close look at the Libec Swift 50 Jib. I'm in the market for something a bit more robust and a bit longer than the compact jib I currently use. The Swift 50 sports a little over a 7 foot reach at full extension, which is why it caught my eye. I went down to their sales headquarters in Torrance and worked with the jib for a couple hours too feel things out. The Swift 50 has a maximum payload of 50lbs which means it can handle everything from DSLRs up to heavier cameras like the Red Epic, Red Scarlet, and Arri Alexa.

The Swift 50 clearly was designed to be quick to setup on site. This is very important to me. With it's single beam design and single camera leveling extension you can have the jib arm on the tripod with counter weights in about 10 to 12 minutes. That's pretty fast. The center column stays permanently attached to the jib when put away that helps to speed everything up. It certainly lands into an interesting size bracket that's not too big and not too small. Still portable, but built solidly to help keep moves nice and smooth.

The camera platform has a nice bubble level and 100mm bowl. There are also several accesory mounting points around the jib and center column in case you want to attach a monitor or a handle. We built the jib up with Libec's T102B Tripod with spreader and wheels, which is really helpful when repositioning the jib. Move it around and then engage the locking feet and you're done. A neat feature I learned about after setting the jib up is that you can actually retract the whole main arm about 12 inches via unlocking the center column. Really nice if you're in a tight location.

I also tested out the REMO30 which is Libec's remote head/control combo which attaches to the weight bar of the Swift 50. Their catalog states a maximum capacity of 11lbs, but they tested up to 19lbs. I built my Scarlet X out to about 15.2lbs and tossed it up there. Once balanced (it took 66lbs of counterweight) it worked like a charm. There are a couple awesome things about the controller that I should point out. The controller has a built in V-Mount battery plate and can run the remote head for 9 ours off a single 90Wh battery. Nice. Also there's a built in HDSDI pass through tap on the controller and the signal transfers though the control cable. Nice and tiddy. An as of yet undocumented feature I discovered after a bit of usage tracking moving subjects with the different speed settings for pan and tilt with the joystick is that you're able to actual do speed ramping/dampening on the fly by turning the speed nobs while moving. I can see situations where this could come in handy for sure.

Overall I'm really impressed. I can't wait to get this jib out on locations. I love it's height and portability. The addition of the nicely thought out remote head, controller, and really sturdy tripod makes it ideal for production use on both small and large scales. Aesthetically speaking, everything is designed nicely. Rounded edges everywhere, which is nice if you're moving this jib close up around talent. Another nice touch is Libec is selling weight kits with rubberized weights with carrying cases. Smart.

I played around with a few of their higher end fluid heads while I was there too. Libec's definitely got some nice gear suitable for higher end setups and are worth looking at. Their top of the line H100 head had zero backlash and return and I was able to dead stop at 35mm on the edge of a sheet of paper from 20 feet away consistently. Movement was very smooth throughout my brief testing. Solid stuff.


Duclos Cine-Mod - Leica 60mm f/2.8 Macro-Elmarit-R

It's no secret that I love Leica R lenses. There's one lens that has been begging to be Cine-Modded. That is the Leica 60mm f/2.8 Macro-Elmarit-R. Primarily because it's focus throw is 320 degrees and it makes so much sense to get a perment gear on there to assist with that huge rotation. So I took a trip over to Duclos Lenses and the techs over there promptly got to work and produced the beautifully modded lens you see above.

After meeting Matthew and the rest of the team at Duclos Lenses during the SALT II Lens Tests I have nothing but positive things to say about the work they do there. Especially that gorgeous Leica R 80mm f/1.4 Cine-Mod I saw the last time I was over there. Very nice work.

On the subject of lenses here's a shot of the vast majority of the glass that I use on the Scarlet X. Mostly primes, three zooms, and a couple of speciality lenses. 11mm-600mm with a couple of fisheyes in there too.

Life and Work Things
I'm just finishing up another semester of my Sunday class at Gnomon. I've confirmed that I'll be instructing during the summer term (I'm trying to do this as long as it's possible). I finished up shooting another commercial and two music videos since NAB. Waiting on the edit to be done on a couple of those. I'm doing the color and finishing work on one of the music videos and can't wait to get cracking on that. I've been poking around to DP a feature or episodic for the rest of the year. As of now I'm waiting to hear about two projects that will both be awarded in July. A feature in Louisiana decided to hire a local DP that I was previously tapped to shoot. Kind of a bummer, but that's somewhat normal these days. I have a couple small shoots in June. Besides that I'll be taking some time to develop a couple of my own properties. Also, I shot the launch event for Diablo III for Blizzard a couple weeks ago.

I'll leave with a couple grabs from a couple music videos:

Nice collection of glass Phil.

 

[Daniel Stilling]

Do you really have to quote the whole post, just to say "nice"?

 

[stu aull]

Nice Phil!


breath-taking lens set! I'm only 21 behind you....
!

Stu Aull
Alaska

 

[Lliam Worthington]

Phil, always a real joy when you post one of your big updates. Really enjoyed your friends painting with light/Earth harp performance also.

Best

Lliam

 

[Kyle Gentz]

Phil,
What lens rings are you using?