movietube?

K

krish

Well-known member
ok so i am potentially looking at an opportunity where i might get to use Movietube for a 2 day video shoot as a 35mm adapter. I have never worked with any 35mm adapter before. My question is how difficult it is for a newbee to use it?

Also what is the general opinion on using movietube?

Also what differences do you see in the final output by using DV v/s HDV. In otherwords, if i use DVX100b insted of HVX do i still get better images then say a M2?

sorry just too many questions but wanted to get a feel from the people on the board .

I would appreciate any info.

Cheers,

-Kris
 
I think you are in way over your head, and you'll likely waste those two days and wind up with unacceptable results if you can't answer those questions for yourself.

I hope that doesn't sound too harsh, but a 35mm adapter is not something you just jump into.
 
thats all right. I thought so. One other option that i might consider is to by M2 and use it for a month before renting movietube. I know in reality even a month is not enough but atleast it will give me a feel of what to expect.

I know that M2 setup is a pain in the neck and takes a while every time you want to shoot something. How bad is movietube. Is it even worst then M2 in setup? I thought being a highend adapter some of the focusing issues would be taken care by the adapter. Am I wrong in assuming that?

Anyway I appreciate the feedback.

Cheers,

-Kris
 
If you buy a M2, I would shoot with that instead of the Movietube, because you'll at least have some familiarity with it after one month. Why switch to gear that is completely new to you, and risk wasting two days of everyone's time?

The M2 can be cranky, but there is lots of information on the Red Rock forums to help people set them up. Haven't used a Movietube, I've been close to one only once -- it's a beast.

MovieTube1.jpg


MovieTube2.jpg
 
man those are some sweet pics. Whats the deal with the slanted placement of the camera. Does it somehow help in inverting the imagem upright?

Anyway, the whole idea for the movietube was to create a music video for a broadcast network (not in the US but india) so the better the quality is the easier it is to promote it. Another thing is as of now we are more leaning towards DVX rather then HVX so i thought if we use movietube we might get that extra cleaner pic that migth help.

But wishing to use one and actually using one are two different things.

I guess i have my work cutout for the holidays !

thanks again,

Cheers,

-Kris
 
You'll get a "cleaner" picture using an HVX sans 35mm adapter than a DVX with an adapter.
The DVX without any adapter is a perfectly viable solution for "broadcast". If you Have an HVX available, well, even better, but if your final output is PAL or NTSC both those cams will perform just fine without an adapter. The 35mm adapter will give you a shallower DOF, but not a "cleaner" picture.
 
krish said:
Whats the deal with the slanted placement of the camera. Does it somehow help in inverting the imagem upright?
Click to expand...
Correct, it's to avoid the upside-down image problem that most other DOF adapter have. The Movietube renders right-side up.
 
What a sexy adapter.

They really aren't too difficult to learn. Give yourself a good hour with the MovieTube to set up and play around with.

You'll need to be sure that you have the right adapter for whichever lenses you are using, and be able to calculate the focal distance to the "film plane" (most likely a notch on the bottom of the MovieTube somewhere... I've only worked with the P&S Teknik before, so I am unsure).

There's no spinning ground glass in this, so you don't need any power.

Best of luck!
 
Movietube Hype

Movietube Hype

Pretty looking gear doesn't make a pretty picture. I've used PS teknik which I liked but still had a few misgivings (light loss and grain). But overall with a sensitive camera like a Varicam or DVX, the light loss isn't a huge issue. The end image has fooled many people into thinking I shot 35mm. The HVX however, is a good stop less sensitive than the the DVX. With any 35 adaptor, light loss becomes a huge issue to the point where you have to ask yourself: if I didn't rent so many lights and waste so much time (labor $$), I might have enough many left to rent a Varicam.

Unless you're shooting exteriors, I feel any light loss more than a stop is unacceptable for an adaptor.

Which brings me to the Movietube. Looks great on paper. Looks even better when ooing and aahing. Sucks as an adaptor. The light loss is at least 2 stops. Just finished shooting a music video in a studio and we ended up ditching it less than half way through. The light loss made 2k's into 500's. 4 bank kinos into 1 banks. When we pulled the adaptor, I closed up more than two stops to achieve the same exposure on my waveform.

But what really had me ditch the Boobtube was when we went to wide angle lenses. A wide angle especially if your subject's in the background really shows a lens systems resolving power - or lack of it. The movietube's softness was as bad as promist 1 or 2. Unuseable, we took it off and the amount of resolution we got back was astounding. No you may be thinking our backfocus was off. We checked, checked and triple checked. There's not much to calibrate on the movie tube - infinity and zoom.

Being alot of beauty shots, our closeup work was acceptable. But after getting our light back and some sharpness, I swore the movietube off. Two stops of light isn't worth the flipped optics or non-moving GG.

Will be testing a Brevis soon. So far, what I've seen looks good. And the 1/2 stop of light and much better H.Held functionality seem promising.

The moral of the story - don't believe the hype.

Tim Naylor - DP timnaylor.com
 
Pretty looking gear doesn't make a pretty picture. I've used PS teknik which I liked but still had a few misgivings (light loss and grain). But overall with a sensitive camera like a Varicam or DVX, the light loss isn't a huge issue. The end image has fooled many people into thinking I shot 35mm. The HVX however, is a good stop less sensitive than the the DVX. With any 35 adaptor, light loss becomes a huge issue to the point where you have to ask yourself: if I didn't rent so many lights and waste so much time (labor $$), I might have enough many left to rent a Varicam.

Unless you're shooting exteriors, I feel any light loss more than a stop is unacceptable for an adaptor.

Which brings me to the Movietube. Looks great on paper. Looks even better when ooing and aahing. Sucks as an adaptor. The light loss is at least 2 stops. Just finished shooting a music video in a studio and we ended up ditching it less than half way through. The light loss made 2k's into 500's. 4 bank kinos into 1 banks. When we pulled the adaptor, I closed up more than two stops to achieve the same exposure on my waveform.

But what really had me ditch the Boobtube was when we went to wide angle lenses. A wide angle especially if your subject's in the background really shows a lens systems resolving power - or lack of it. The movietube's softness was as bad as promist 1 or 2. Unuseable, we took it off and the amount of resolution we got back was astounding. No you may be thinking our backfocus was off. We checked, checked and triple checked. There's not much to calibrate on the movie tube - infinity and zoom.

Being alot of beauty shots, our closeup work was acceptable. But after getting our light back and some sharpness, I swore the movietube off. Two stops of light isn't worth the flipped optics or non-moving GG.

Will be testing a Brevis soon. So far, what I've seen looks good. And the 1/2 stop of light and much better H.Held functionality seem promising.

The moral of the story - don't believe the hype.

Tim Naylor - DP timnaylor.com
 
The movie tube is a tool like alot of other tools. It is suited for some sitations and definitely not suited for others.
If you shoot with one you have to be prepared to bring light and if you don't you suffer. The look is softer and that has a place. I shot with one outside and was really happy with the results, but low key, small interiors would definitely be much more of a challenge from a lighting perspective.

Just consider it one of the options on the menu.
 
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