1st AC kit?

P

PDX_DVX

Veteran
I am always looking to beef up my 1st AC kit, and I am curious as to what people tend to carry with them, here's my kit right now:

Cleaning:
  • 1'', 2'' camels hair brushes (for dusting off lenses/filters, won't scratch, 1'' brush is delta brand from filmtools, the 2'' is used for dusting monitors/camera bodies, bought a generic one at an art store)
  • lipstick style lens brush
  • hurricane air blower
  • Pancro lens cleaner (available at filmtools, spendy, but the best stuff I have ever used)
  • Rosco lense tissue (also at filmtools, but DTC also carries it, it comes in a pad with 100 or so sheets- again, the best stuff I have found for lenses)
  • Windex (for tripods/camera bodies)
  • Chamois type micro fiber cloth, good for cleaning the camera LCD and viewfinder
  • Kim wipes (comes in a box of 100 or so, I got the smaller size, available at filmtools, super cheap, great for cleaning delicate things when you want to save your lens tissue)
  • canned air
  • diaper cloth, good for delicate cleaning, I buy the stuff marketed for auto waxing
  • standard cotton bath towell, good for many things, make sure and wash it a couple times to get rid of lint, has been used for cleaning up fake blood, cleaning dolly track, wiping sweat etc etc....
Organization
  • 1 ea. mini-sharpies, blue, red, green, black
  • 1 silver sharpie
  • 1 fine point black sharpie
  • 1 fine point red sharpie
  • Black, red china markers (great for slate marking, FF marking)
  • mechanical pencils, ballpoint pens, standard ticonderoga pencils
  • Small pad of paper
  • Steno pad, for sketching lighting setups etc etc
  • Calculator
  • P-touch labeler
  • Metal clip-board and small plastic clip board
  • Lindcraft AC pouch
  • box of misc. spare sharpies
Tools
  • 1 set of Wiha jewelers screwdrivers, phillips and flathead
  • tape measure, 25' and 50'- Classic Stanley, and Keson fiberglass
  • pocket knife, Olfa snap off blade knife
  • Leatherman
  • Light Meter (old Sekonic manual type, never needs batts, great for ambient readings)
  • Walkie Talkies
  • 12''x12'' piece of black wrap (great as a sunshade extension for blocking flares)
  • Binder clips, large and small sizes
  • 2'x2' piece of black duvetyne, great for killing reflections, temporary flagging, blocking light to look at a viewfinder, etc etc
  • 1'' white paper tape
  • 1'' white gaffers tape
  • 1/2'' neon orange spike tape, 1/2'' red spike tape
  • 1/2'' white paper tape
  • 1'' black paper tape
  • 1'' Neon Green, Neon Pink gaff tape
  • 1'' yellow paper tape (I have alot of tape around for labeling things, color coding, labeling broken gear, subduing reflections, making focus/spike marks....etc etc)
  • Multi-meter for testing electronics
  • 10' stinger and cube tap for batterie chargers, monitors, etc. (It's good to have a dedicated one that ALWAYS stays with your kit so you have a solution for your camera dept. power needs....)
Other
  • insert slate (small, good for MOS closeups)
  • extra BNC, RCA cables w/ adapters
  • trash bags, good for disposable rain covers
  • velcro cable wraps
  • ASC manual
  • gel swatchbook (you can sometimes white balance through 1/4 blue or orange with a similar effect as "warm cards")
  • Kodak color reference chart (depending on CC, I sometimes shoot a color reference chart after lighting and camera is set, as a reference for color correction later)
I'm considering getting a folding hand truck/cart for all this crap, because hauling a tool box + milk crate around set all day sucks!
 
sounds pretty good. some ac's i've worked with have had batteries, all kinds, their own magic box, sharpness indicators, charts, flashlights (was that on your list), this cool little gizmo that tells you filter intensity/ angle of view etc., ears and brows for the matte box,
 
Fantastic list Patrick! Many of these things are making it into my list of things to keep around as a one man band shooter. Would be interested to hear others list and how you are keeping it all organized and accessible. I just got a Portabrace Slinger to keep things right at hand and am so far very impressed (of course I havent shot with it yet - shooting a dog show this weekend, we'll see how it works out)
 
there are a lot of things that I need to add. I do have a focus pattern that is in there, and also just picked up a pretty sweet xenon flashlight that's SUPER bright, I have a couple backups though, less bright LED ones for focus pulling and such. Forgot to mention the plethora of AA's that I carry, and also a head-lamp! There are various DOF calculators that I don't have, such as the SamCine one, but until I start doing a lot of film work, I don't need them too badly. Oh yeah, and ALTOIDS! Camera ops (and everyone for that matter) tend to dislike stinky breath......

As for organization, I have a big 26'' tool box, and a GI issue canvas tool bag that most of the stuff rides in, in addition to the belt pouches which get filled with some of the smaller items depending on the situation. I would like to get a big bag though that I can throw it all into and have it in one place, maybe a porta-brace production bag, or a lindcraft AC bag.
 
go for the traditional ditty bag, not sure who manufactures it. their compartments and zips and velcro are great. good support too.
 
A front box. I hear that Redrock will be coming out with an inexpensive one that mounts to tripods, etc., in addition to tripod heads. Just rumor at this point.
 
Depending on the project having a magliner with a mitchel mount is a life savor. Besides organizing camera cases I've seen AC's load on them in locations that don't have any flat surfaces around.

Also the collapsible camera cart made by backstage is really nice.

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Cheers,

Matt :beer:
 
Looks nice, I found a local outfit that carries Magliners, or more specifically "Liberator" carts made by B&P. I think I'm going to pick one up locally, which will help me avoid high shipping costs. I took a look at one today, they seem really solid. I might buy the shelving and accessories later from filmtools.com, probably a top and bottom shelf to start off with, then maybe upgrade the front caster wheels, and eventually a mitchel mount, but as of right now I don't deal with too much mitchel mount stuff. Is that your cart in the above post Matt?
 
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