FS7: It's a heavy beast !!!

Donny 123 said:
I was an assistant to the last generation of gentlemen film makers !..when the DP,s had large country houses ..and a couple of Volvo's in the drive...and we would shoot about 40 mins a day.. stay in posh hotels..
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My boss in the 80s had the country house, luxury flat in Soho, Rolls Royce and his own f***ing helicopter! Paid us a pittance.
 
Liam Hall said:
My boss in the 80s had the country house, luxury flat in Soho, Rolls Royce and his own f***ing helicopter! Paid us a pittance.
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haha .. I made quite a good crust as an assistant .. I think the rate was £150 for an 8 hr day..and often work 250 days a year..which was a good wedge when your 23 yrs old in the mid/late 80,s.. and DP rate was around £250- £300.. (hasn't gone up much has it ,after 40 years of inflation )..and a huge house in North London was only about £80,000 and a country pile about the same or less.. actually given inflation /house prices its probably the time I earn the most in my life !!..
 
Basically conditions have got alot worse in our industry.. and pay has actually gone down massively from the 80,s.. and alot more gear is expected.. and now the crew has become 1 person !!..shooting scorched earth policy 14 hrs a day led by in experienced young directors who are also getting paid peanuts.. and call sheets being drown up by interns who are often presumably being told that the crew dont need a lunch break and interviews take 15 mins to set up.. unfortunately not the relatively pleasant and well paid job it used to be..
 
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morgan_moore said:
Doug - I think the 2/3 all day comment is a little off - yes people use them but they still restrict mobility and agility however fit you are.
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We'll have to agree to disagree then because I stand by my statement.
And one of the best things about a 2/3" ENG camera, that has not even been mentioned, is how easy they are to sling over your shoulder with a comfortable Portabrace padded suede strap when you've got to move to a new location. Those cameras are designed to make that easy and comfortable. Camera on one shoulder, sticks on the other to balance you out, batteries and crap in a backpack, and you are pretty mobile for long distances. It also gives your shoulder and arms a rest when you aren't actively shooting. On the the hand, I've still never found a good way to sling any of my cinema cameras over my shoulder without a lot of awkwardness and pointy edges jabbing me. That is a big difference between the two types of cameras that shouldn't be ignored.
 
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Doug Jensen said:
We'll have to agree to disagree then because I stand by my statement.
And one of the best things about a 2/3" ENG camera, that has not even been mentioned, is how easy they are to sling over your shoulder with a comfortable Portabrace padded suede strap when you've got to move to a new location. Those cameras are designed to make that easy and comfortable. Camera on one shoulder, sticks on the other to balance you out, batteries and crap in a backpack, and you are pretty mobile for long distances. It also gives you're shoulder and arms a rest when you aren't actively shooting. On the the hand, I've still never found a good way to sling any of my cinema cameras over my shoulder without a lot of awkwardness and pointy edges jabbing me. That is a big difference between the two types of cameras that shouldn't be ignored.
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This straps pads, one item (including one lens), no corners is wonderful and I completely note and value that.
 
Liam Hall said:
My boss in the 80s had the country house, luxury flat in Soho, Rolls Royce and his own f***ing helicopter! Paid us a pittance.
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Funny - I had a similar experience. Lousy pay, but he gave me an Audi Quattro to drive, aged 18, and an expense account. And a 3 machine BetaSP suite to learn my craft in. No commercial imperative. Those were the days...
 
Doug Jensen said:
Absolutely. If you can't carry around a 2/3" ENG camera on your shoulder for a day perhaps it is time to consider another line of work. The guy in the image above would be a laughing stock on every shoot I have worked on. Maybe some support might be helpful with an ungainly cine camera, but an ENG camera? I weep for our industry if this is what we have come to. :-)
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At first I was going to object -- but actually I ended up agreeing. I gave up 'reality' shooting because I couldn't handle it physically. The basic 2/3" camera was ok, but once they added two audio wireless receivers, a confidence audio wireless transmitter, timecode lockit box, video monitor for the director, video transmitter for the producer, matte box with filters, and of course enough batteries to keep everything rolling for hours at a time, and combined that with tag-team producers who never wanted to see a camera that wasn't on your shoulder and rolling, the resulting bruised shoulder and eventual back surgery were hardly worth it. I'm always reminded of the adage that the less you make on a job the less respect you get. Now I'm happy to dp green screen shoots, interviews, multicam performances and corporate jobs. But when I get a call and they don't tell me what the shoot is, or tell me their set 12 hour rate is less than what I get for 8, I just don't take it anymore.
 
OnSet said:
But when I get a call and they don't tell me what the shoot is, or tell me their set 12 hour rate is less than what I get for 8, I just don't take it anymore.
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Same here. I've become very selective about the freelance work I will accept. And if it is not a turnkey production (one where I'll be producing, writing, directing, shooting and editing a finished production instead of just handing over footage at the end of the day) there is a 90% chance that I won't be accepting whatever it is that is someone is contacting me about. Frankly, if I don't find the shoot that is being offered to me interesting or challenging, I'm just don't care anymore and it feels great to say I'm too busy. And the type of shoot where a video transmitter is required is an immediate NO. If a client can't put their trust in me to get the shot, then that is not the type of client and/or shoot I care to be a part of. If I was 30 years younger and still trying to make my mark, I'd take anything that was offered to me regardless of the physical burden, hours, or pay ( just as I did 30 years ago!) but fortunately I've have reached the point now where I can be selective and still stay as busy as I want to be.
 
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Doug Jensen said:
...that has not even been mentioned, is how easy they are to sling over your shoulder with a comfortable Portabrace padded suede strap when you've got to move to a new location.
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For this reason alone I hunted around for some high tensile shallow head screws and Nyloc lock nuts that would work with my top cheese plate which then allowed me to fit a standard Betacam or Portabrace shoulder strap. Works a treat. Still doesn't fix some of those pointy angles and corners but still makes it a lot easier when on the move.

Chris Young
 
I did the exact same thing . . . with the same results.
However, I will say that adding the ENG dock to my F55 did help mitigate the problem quite a bit as it put more distance between the contact points for the strap, but it still does not hang from the shoulder like an F800 or Z450.
 
Ditto on the reality shooting nonsense. Back on the 2/3" camera & weight: Years ago I bought an interesting contraption from a long gone company called "jib jobs" It was a back brace combined with a strap that went over your shooting shoulder that was a soft wedge about an inch think on the outside down to less than a 1/2" on the inside . It served to keep the camera level without having to lift the shoulder. I can't express the amount of relief that gave my back without limiting my maneuverability a bit. A friend of mine who was more concerned about "style" than comfort once observed - "that's a good idea, but I would never wear it" He Was observed about 2 weeks later lying on his back in pain during the middle of a shoot. Its a shame they stopped making those things. I still wear mine occasionally .
 
Haha - If the shoe fits maybe you should wear it Doug, but I don't think you get out to San Francisco that often. I'm far too much of a gentleman to name names though.
 
I have an easy rig.. and for some shoots its great.. it takes the weight off your back etc.. but you cant walk and shoot with it at all.. and it does constrict your movement ... everyone would rather not have to wear one.. but the hours you are actually shooting per day now, with the media being free for production, has sky rocketed .. from maybe 4/5 rolls of 10 min 400ft 16mm a day,4/5 30 min tapes to up to 6/7 hours of solid shooting a day.. convert a long 14 hr day into 30 mins tapes .. it can be like 12 or more !.. production is not paying for tapes /film anymore .. we are.. inexperienced dir.. shoot all day .. there will be a retirement village full of 35 yr old Ronin M/Movi shooters all in wheel chairs... awesome dude..
 
cyvideo said:
Lastly the 'B' camera and backup was an x70 but has now been replaced with a Z90. The Z90 is a great small B cam and is great to use on quick streaming jobs and produces an output way better than one would expect for its price. In quite a few places it is the ideal little, hate the phrase, 'run-n-gun' tool. With a wide angle on it it has delivered a lot of entertainment back stage color footage with a lot of camera movement far easier and quicker that anything larger that has far more difficult movement options. It's a mess of cameras but they all have their strong and weak points. I just use whatever works best for the job in hand. In the end I guess we all work out what works best for us.

Chris Young
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Hey Chris, I own an x70 with 4K firmware installed and wondering how does it compare to the Z90? Is the Z90 a noticeable upgrade?
 
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