Ultimate HVX package

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DoubleIt

Well-known member
A producer wants to pick me up for the summer to do this gig and wants to buy all new equipment (Dream come true!) So I am putting together the ultimate HVX package. This is going to be a mix of traditional dramatic shooting and run and gunning. I dont need everything until the end of June.

So far what I want is

HVX - $6,000
Matte Box (Indie Snap! - $250 ... but thats not a rod system right? And I will want a rod support if i am using the 35mm adapt? The Chrosziel is a rail system right? Is it worth the 3k price tag?)
Light kit - Arri Softbank D2 Tungsten 3 Light Kit -$1800
Some sort of storage solution (Are either of those out yet?)
StediCam system (Not sure which I want - Merlin wont be able to support the cam with anything on it as far as i know)
A 35mm Adapater (g35 or Redrock M2)
Follow Focus (Geared IndiFocus? - $350)
Some filters both screw on and for the matte
Shot gun mic - Audio-Technica Deluxe Shotgun Microphone Kit ($1150) or is the MKH416 kit at nearly $2300 that much better?
Sennheiser Evolution 100 wireless lav ($600)
Mixer - Sound Devices Mixpre ($665)
Mixer Case - Kata Koala-4 Mixer Case $166 or the Sound Devices CS-3 Production Case $160
Tripod + head - The Vinten Vision 3 Tripod System looks nice but which one do I want? Goes from $1700 to $2500 for 22lbs of support. Or maybe the Cartoni Focus - but again which one would I want? price ranges from 1200-2100
Battery belt (Do they have one for the HVX?)
On camera light (LED?)
On Camera mic (Or is the one that comes with it good enough ... this would be in addition to the seperate shotgun)
Hi Def LCD screen (Marshall V-R70P-HDA 7 Inch LCD? - $1340)
Wide Angle and telephoto lens (Century Optics 0.6x and .3 - not sure where to get or how much - prolly $350 each?)
Pelican 1550 ($182)
Will I need a baseplate and rails and such? How does that all work if using a 35mm adapt?

What would you guys sugest for the above components? What else am i missing? Pretty much I want all the toys. I have at least $10,000 plus the cost of the HVX.

Also I will need a new editing setup for HD. I have always been a Premiere guy, but part of me is saying its time to switch over to the intel based dual Mac - maybe get a sweet desktop system with the 24in (or howver big) cine display and then an intel based power book for on set. Whats the deal with final cut and editing HD footage? FC has been updated to work, correct?

So that adds;

2ghz Mac Book pro - 2,499.00
Quad 2.5Ghz G5 - 3,299 or 20in 2ghz Intel - 1699 but im guessing the quad 2.5 is better...


This is so exciting for me, but a TON of new stuff to learn. I hope to get the contract signed soon and get the HVX so i can learn that then start buying all the goodies. Think itll be a bit overwhelming to get it all at once.
 
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Go for the Chrosziel but get the 411-50, it takes two 4x filters instead of one 4x and one 4x5.65 horizontal only. Get the rails and adapter. Look for the Bebop Foxi as a follow focus. Steadi cam flyer is the only way to, well, fly. Vinten Vision is absolutely the way to go, I have the 6. Get an older 1.67 G4 for the laptop. It has the built in PCMCIA bus and FW800. This is way more important than the speed. Wait for the Intel based towers for editing. STORAGE, STORAGE, STORAGE... think either Raid or LTO. You need a place to keep all this wonderfull footage your creating.
 
Vocas DV mattebox MKII (with two 4x4 filterframes), Vocas MFC-1
follow focus system. Sachtler tripod, Senheisser 416, good CRT monitor!!

Look for a 15" PowerBook G4, 80GB with FW800, all the software is working on it,
a P2 card fits in the slot and you can buy them ' cheap ' .

Look for LaCie D2 300GB usb2/firewire400/800 external drives (cheap on the
moment). And you have a working solution for shooting and offloading and basic
FCP editing.
 
Yes the contract is important!

You lucky ...

If you want to go the Steadicam route - and have never done it before, I'd sugest you also consider hiring an operator for those shots as learning to become proficent enoguh to market the skill (especially with all the other stuff going on!) will be hard in the time you have. If you are buying a rig, then yes, the Steadicam Flyer is the only way to go for this kit. A good place to pick one up is www.steadicamflyer.com - Peter is there in NY and a great guy, he'll help you get all set up with both a rig and training too if you want. Tell him I said Hi.

- Mikko
 
Manfrotto Fig-Rig

http://www.manfrotto.com/page3349.html

Well its just a nice solution for smaller cameras to be able to run and gun and still have some roughness. It makes ur image smooth but u get a more saving private ryan style when running. I can get crazy angles, its great for filming music vids etc. I was filming a band with it the other night. And it looks cool. But its a ceap solution, u probably have enough money for a steadycam or something fancy.

Im shooting a documentary with the Rig at the moment, and the angles im shooting from etc turning the wheel so the guys head is in framme and his hands that are streched out etc will make my documentary stand out.

Hope the website helps, see if u can get a demo of the rig at a local manfrotto place. Check the website for a distributer near you. :)
 
Digital Angel said:
Manfrotto Fig-Rig

http://www.manfrotto.com/page3349.html

Well its just a nice solution for smaller cameras to be able to run and gun and still have some roughness. It makes ur image smooth but u get a more saving private ryan style when running. I can get crazy angles, its great for filming music vids etc. I was filming a band with it the other night. And it looks cool. But its a ceap solution, u probably have enough money for a steadycam or something fancy.

Im shooting a documentary with the Rig at the moment, and the angles im shooting from etc turning the wheel so the guys head is in framme and his hands that are streched out etc will make my documentary stand out.

Hope the website helps, see if u can get a demo of the rig at a local manfrotto place. Check the website for a distributer near you. :)
Click to expand...

That thing is pretty cool. How much did it cost you?
 
Hi everyone.
I came across the same task – putting together an ‘ideal’ HVX200 package for about $20,000.


Here’s the configuration and the approx. budget I came up with.

  • HVX200 Camera - $5400
  • Cartoni F-102 Tripod - $1400
  • M2 Lens Adapter - $1500
  • Steadicam Flyer - $1500?
  • 2 x 4GB Cards - $1250
  • Cineporter Harddrive - $2000 (when available)
  • IndieSnap Mattebox - $330
  • Foxi Focus Control - $465
  • 4 Extra batteries & charger package - $750
  • Marshall V-R70P-HDA 7 Inch LCD Screen - $1200
  • Arri Softbank D2 Tungsten 3 Light Kit -$1800
  • Lens & Filters - $1200
  • Mic & Sound - $1200

I have a few questions.
First - are all of these compatiable?
1.The mentioned matte box with M2 adapter?
2.What about Foxi Focus control, or is it not compatiable once I put M2 on?

This is my first film. It’s a dramatic documentary. We will be shooting in mountains & villages of India – remote locations & villages.

What do you think of this configuration above?
What basic set of lens would you recommend for me to get for the M2?
What about sound recording equipment?

Any advice is appreciated.:dankk2:
 
No the Foxi will not work with add on lenses, only the HVX's own glass.

Also, your price for the Flyer is off, it's about $7k, I'd leave it out for now and spend the money on other gear like glass or sound. (and/or get a Merlin for the odd flying shot without any adapters.)

India, sounds like a hell of a trip, have fun!

- Mikko
 
Thank you.

Which lens would you recommend? what's the 'perfect' glass package?
Will IndieSnap matte box work with this?
Whih focus control is acceptable since foxi won't work?
 
I'm looking into lights myself. It seems the D2 system is pretty popular. Would this be the recommended "ideal" light kit?
 
FatBird19 said:
^^^I like their rental prices. :o

Anyone know of anything better?
Click to expand...


I've been all over the place looking at rental prices for my movie... I couldn't find anything cheaper for the Varicam, HVX-200, CineAlta... or anything that they have for that matter.... Other than a couple of monitors, like renting the BT-LH1700W for more than 3 weeks, at $1000, you might as well buy it.... since it cost $2800 new. Anyway out of all the rental houses I've looked at, Zacuto is the cheapest I could find....
 
HVX Package

HVX Package

I've been wandering around in little-HVX-accessories hell for a while, here's what I know:

1. Buy the zacuto plate with a petroff 2 stage matte box. Kick ASS. The vocas 350 is arguably cooler than the petroff but it's also $2200.
2. Get a nice chamois for your eyepiece, filmtools.com sells them for $5, the "XL1" fits.
3. Get an 8GB card, 4GB card = PITA
4. Get a powerbook G4 15" with firewire 800. Look for one that has sat on a desk, ask about its history. Obviously test and throughly inspect it. Should be about $1200.

5. If you want mass storage and are willing to handle power-inconvenience (or don't care because you are in a studio) buy a large OWC (macsales.com) "mercury elite" with a 320GB WD hard drive in it, cheapest price per gig and it is 13 hours of 720pn storage. OR buy a couple of the ruggedized lacie microportable drives that take bus power: that means you can run everything with a single power tap or 1/2 powerbook batteries. Plus the drive mechanisms in the "ruggedized" are 2.5" lappy drives so they are much more shock and G resistant.

6. Buy neil rowe's dolly kit. Well engineered. Unless you have extra to drop on a losmandy or a microdolly (which is nice for flying)

7. Buy a sony MFM-HT75W 17" monitor and calibrate it to the extent possible. Cheap pixel-for-pixel monitoring and it's pretty cute. Or drop $3k on the panasonic monitor, which has slightly better color accuracy and useless waveforms (compared to my FCP and Color Finesse waveforms)

8. Buy cokin Z-series filters, if you get a petroff matte box beware that you will need to order the 4x5.65 (100x150mm) filter holder because the Z series grads are 100x150mm. They are cheap and do an excellent job. Anyone that tells you their optics aren't good enough for "HD" is unaware of the difference between this toy (the HVX) and a cinealta. They work perfectly well and are dirt cheap compared to Tiffens etc.

9. Buy a color calibration chart. Greytag macbeth makes a number of them. I bought the "mini" because it was... cute.

10. Get a rolling hard case. I bought a 1610 but beware that it would have to be checked for flying. I believe the 1510 is carryon legal. There's a thread about it somewhere on here that shows a guy packing an insane amount of crap into one.

---

I am not yet sure, but it appears, much to my frustration, that the redrock follow focus will not work properly with my rig. So I might be selling one soon, it will work perfectly if you have their rails.

enjoy, toys are fun :)

_a
 
You might check out the Petroff Matte Box solution. It's a new concept in building the matte box with the ability to build stages. Very nice unit and made of an incredibly strong material. Saw it at NAB and may sell my Vocas to move into the petroff.
http://www.petroff.ws/home.htm
 
getken said:
You might check out the Petroff Matte Box solution. It's a new concept in building the matte box with the ability to build stages. Very nice unit and made of an incredibly strong material. Saw it at NAB and may sell my Vocas to move into the petroff.
http://www.petroff.ws/home.htm
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link getken. When I eventually get a HVX-200,300 I was planning on going with the Vocas as you did. Can you elaborate a bit more on your impression of the Petroff ? The Vocas seems pretty hard to beat... Does the design and manufacture of the Petroff seem sound ?

FWIW I've been shoting with a Chrosziel on my 100A for the past couple of years. Nice stuff, but way overpriced.
 
I have been using the Zacuto plate with Petroff matte box for the past few days and must tell you it blows away the Chrosziel. First, the Zacuto plate is adjustable on both horizontal and vertical planes. It has a very solid attachment to both camera and to tripod plate. The Petroff matte box can be built in stages, as noted above. The follow-focus seemed a little stiff to the DP that was shooting my camera on Wed, but, then again, I had just assembled it in haste and probably could have tweaked the tolerances a little better. If I were buying today, this is the ONLY route I would take.

Ned Soltz
 
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