RED SCARLET-X on Steadicam Zephyr BTS

[Anthony Vu]

Hey guys,

I just wanted to share some BTS photos/video with our SCARLET-X being flown on the Steadicam Zephyr. We did some early tests and it proved to be a learning process.

Two major factors to consider that stood out to me was the weight and focus. Since we are coming from DSLR, rigs can easily be as low as 10lbs. But our SCARLET-X rig was about 20lbs. This was a 15mm rig that included Zacuto universal base plate, Redrock Micro mattebox, Bartech wireless follow focus, and Canon lenses. If you don't perfectly hit your focus marks on DSLRs, then it's ok. It's very forgiving and hard to tell if you messed up. But on the SCARLET-X, if don't hit your focus points, you will notice them at 4K. This actually forces us to be better at focusing though. So I consider it a blessing in disguise.

We are having a lot of fun shooting with SCARLET-X. I'm still blown away by the dynamic range. 4K projectors and TVs for the consumer can't come out fast enough!

http://vimeo.com/34397237

BTS photos provided by Georgia Yeh

 

[Anthony Vu]

I'll have footage as soon as we get clearance to post.

 

[Matt Bowden]

Very very nice. Great looking rig. Can't wait to see some footage too! Awesome job...

 

[Andy White]

A very useful post

Is your Zephyr the HD version (with the HD monitor)? I'm intrigued to find out if this supports the progressive output of the Scarlet.

If it's the SD version, are you guys using a signal converter (BM etc) as a pass-thru?

Looking forward to seeing the footage when you can show it.

 

[Phil Holland]

Very nice. I might have to upgrade to a Zephyr!

 

[Jarek Zabczynski]

I made a dolly just like that! I hate sliders!

 

[Charlie B]

Very nice photos, Anthony. Having been wondering if there is a way to power the scarlet from the same IDX battery on the Steadicam. Can easily shave quite a few pounds from your rig. No?

 

[Brandon J.F.]

Thanks for sharing this! What are you using for a slider?

 

[Daniel Stilling]

Regarding focus, what I see is your assistant pulling focus of the monitor.
Maybe I'm too old school, but I like my assistant to pull out a measuring tape, making marks, and pulling focus without using the monitor. If you use the monitor as your main source for focus, you are always behind, always reacting. By doing it from measurements, you are on top of it, instead of behind. It's not easy, it makes the focus puller an artist, but your results will be a lot better.

 

[Jay Kim]

Regarding focus, what I see is your assistant pulling focus of the monitor.
Maybe I'm too old school, but I like my assistant to pull out a measuring tape, making marks, and pulling focus without using the monitor. If you use the monitor as your main source for focus, you are always behind, always reacting. By doing it from measurements, you are on top of it, instead of behind. It's not easy, it makes the focus puller an artist, but your results will be a lot better.

+1

Good point and Happy New Year!

 

[Anthony Vu]

When we first got the Zephyr, it was not the HD version. When we acquired the SCARLET-X we immediately purchased the V-LCD70XHB-3GSDI Marshall LCD Monitor. On our first tests with the SD monitor, we used a decimator to feed the HD-SDI to SDI. And that also requires power through the D-tap. So four things on the Steadicam rig needed power.

A very useful post

Is your Zephyr the HD version (with the HD monitor)? I'm intrigued to find out if this supports the progressive output of the Scarlet.

If it's the SD version, are you guys using a signal converter (BM etc) as a pass-thru?

Looking forward to seeing the footage when you can show it.

I love dollies too. They feel much more stable, especially with these bigger rigs. If I were running and gunning more, then I would definitely go with the slider though.

I made a dolly just like that! I hate sliders!

We thought about that as well, but then you would drain the battery pretty fast. I mean, you need power for your HD monitor on the bottom sled, for the SCARLET-X's and its monitor, the follow focus motor and its wireless receiver. I would imagine that battery would be changed out more often if we were to use one battery.

I suppose it really depends on what configuration you prefer. I don't see the harm in using one battery to lighten up the load. We may try the one battery option to see how it goes.

Very nice photos, Anthony. Having been wondering if there is a way to power the scarlet from the same IDX battery on the Steadicam. Can easily shave quite a few pounds from your rig. No?

It's a Midas Mount 6' Slider System. I wasn't expecting much from it, but it was VERY smooth.

Thanks for sharing this! What are you using for a slider?

That's how we do it too. But the Canon lenses are not true cinema lenses, so they shift off their marks when pulling rendering them useless sometimes. Maybe I'm too crazy as a pixel peeper, because audiences hardly ever notice these things.

Regarding focus, what I see is your assistant pulling focus of the monitor.
Maybe I'm too old school, but I like my assistant to pull out a measuring tape, making marks, and pulling focus without using the monitor. If you use the monitor as your main source for focus, you are always behind, always reacting. By doing it from measurements, you are on top of it, instead of behind. It's not easy, it makes the focus puller an artist, but your results will be a lot better.

Jay, I believe that is your Bartech System we bought from you. That is Michael Shu operating the Zephyr.

+1

Good point and Happy New Year!

 

[Stephen Strangways]

An easy way to shed a fair bit of weight from your Steadicam rig would be replacing the RedRock Mattebox with something much lighter, like an Arri LMB or, as a budget option, a Genus. You might even be able to run it in a clamp-on configuration with some lenses.

 

[Daniel Stilling]

That's how we do it too. But the Canon lenses are not true cinema lenses, so they shift off their marks when pulling rendering them useless sometimes. Maybe I'm too crazy as a pixel peeper, because audiences hardly ever notice these things.

I had some issues with my Zeiss ZF lenses as you point out.
what you need to do is to get the metal focus scale rings for the BDF from Luis Puli from Australia, and one day when you are not busy, mark them using a tape measure. Mark the rings with real distances that you phisicaly measure and focus to, and the lenses will always be calibrated.

 

[Anthony Vu]

Awesome! Thanks for the info Daniel. We will definitely check it out!

I had some issues with my Zeiss ZF lenses as you point out.
what you need to do is to get the metal focus scale rings for the BDF from Luis Puli from Australia, and one day when you are not busy, mark them using a tape measure. Mark the rings with real distances that you phisicaly measure and focus to, and the lenses will always be calibrated.

 

[Anthony Vu]

We actually have a light weight mattebox, but haven't gotten around to configuring it on the Steadicam. The lens mount is higher than what we are used to.

An easy way to shed a fair bit of weight from your Steadicam rig would be replacing the RedRock Mattebox with something much lighter, like an Arri LMB or, as a budget option, a Genus. You might even be able to run it in a clamp-on configuration with some lenses.

 

[Trevor Meeks]

An easy way to shed a fair bit of weight from your Steadicam rig would be replacing the RedRock Mattebox with something much lighter, like an Arri LMB or, as a budget option, a Genus. You might even be able to run it in a clamp-on configuration with some lenses.

Agreed. That Redrock MB is ridiculous. Huge and heavy (no offense, of course...)
I got rid of mine pretty quickly. Was really disappointed with what a POS it was. Wobbly on that swing-away arm, and the filter trays fall out really easily.

Genus Elite has been a great LW mattebox. Dual rotating 4x5.65 trays, and accommodates wide lenses with no vignetting. I use it with a clamp-on ring for the Zeiss CP.2s, but they do have LW15mm rod adapters, if your rods are at standard spacing.

 

[Charlie B]

We thought about that as well, but then you would drain the battery pretty fast. I mean, you need power for your HD monitor on the bottom sled, for the SCARLET-X's and its monitor, the follow focus motor and its wireless receiver. I would imagine that battery would be changed out more often if we were to use one battery.

I suppose it really depends on what configuration you prefer. I don't see the harm in using one battery to lighten up the load. We may try the one battery option to see how it goes.

Would really love to know how you power Scarlet from the Steadicam IDX.

Btw, +1 on the old school pulling focus method brought up by Danniel. So, if the focus puller is not relying on the 5" touch for focus pulling and you can operate the Scarlet from a detached Redmote, you can also lose the 5"touch on the rig, which combined with a lighter MB will reduce the weight even more. It really helps when you need to do long takes.

 

[Michael Shu]

Hi All,

Michael Shu, the steadicam operator, chiming in here (now that my account is activated)

Very nice photos, Anthony. Having been wondering if there is a way to power the scarlet from the same IDX battery on the Steadicam. Can easily shave quite a few pounds from your rig. No?

I ran a test with a Tiffen-made Red One cable connected to the Scarlet through a Red A-B adapter to power the camera off the rig. Scarlet+Bartech+Monitor powered up fine off of a single battery on the rig this way. The runtime for such configurations is, of course, a concern, so Tiffen fashioned an additional battery plate adapter you can attach to the bottom of the rig to give another source. You can actually see the adapter on the rig in the photo (sans battery).

We decided to go with the battery on camera, since we had very little time to re-configure on and off the steadicam. With the pictured rig, we just had to remove the Bartech motor and receiver, attach a shoulder pad and we were ready to roll.

If you had more time and wanted to shave some weight on the steadicam to load up more accessories, then powering off the rig is very much accessible.

 

[Michael Shu]

Agreed. That Redrock MB is ridiculous. Huge and heavy (no offense, of course...)
I got rid of mine pretty quickly. Was really disappointed with what a POS it was. Wobbly on that swing-away arm, and the filter trays fall out really easily.

Genus Elite has been a great LW mattebox. Dual rotating 4x5.65 trays, and accommodates wide lenses with no vignetting. I use it with a clamp-on ring for the Zeiss CP.2s, but they do have LW15mm rod adapters, if your rods are at standard spacing.

No offense at all! Though Anthony may be offended since he loves the thing to death . I have many gripes about that matte box and considered having it on there more of an experiment rather than what I would bring onto set. The balance for such a small rig is totally thrown off by the matte box and the bulk of it and the lack of tightness in the components becomes a risk of making the rig jitter, which can be transferred to the image.

I unfortunately didn't have my little matte box with me that day, which is a cheapo rendition of the Genus. I am actually curious to try to the Red Pro Matte Box once they come out with the version for smaller lenses.

 

[Peter Staubs]

Cool steadicam Zephyr!