Real World Workflow

127 Productions is having an extensive hands-on Leaf workshop in Chicago on April 25th, 2008. You can check out the the details here.

Here’s a classic on set scenario: Call time is at 8:30 with Ms. Big Shooter for SnazzyStyle magazine. The Supersnobby Studio where the shoot is won’t let you get in any earlier than the call, and you know that it takes 15 min to set up the gear and the monitors will just barely be warming up when Ms. Big steps on set, and she will start hammering on the camera at 9:02.

Do you calibrate asap, knowing full well that the monitors will not be fully warmed up thereby screwing with your brightness, OR wait until they’ve warmed up and you’ve got a break in the action to whip out ColorNavigator?

Me? I know what I do, I’m a wunderin’ about you…

Yup, that’s right. First on the block with new blower bling. Can’t wait to plop this on the set cart on Monday.

I just spent the good part of my morning playing around with the new Photoshop Express, an online photo editing application by Adobe that uses a flash interface to allow simple editing: color balance, exposure and simple touchup and then allows you to share your modifications with others through email and online galleries and albums. I think its a bit further away from online editing software that we would use in a real world situation, however, it does have a few more capabilities than a program like lightbox. While Light Box Networks has notation capabilities, Photoshop Express allows the user to edit the images in a quick and simplistic manner that just about anyone can do. PS Express also links up with popular social networking sites such as Facebook and allows you to import your albums from those sites to edit the photographs that get re-exported back to the original site.

You can sign up for beta use of Photoshop Express Online at: www.photoshop.com/express

So Phase One has announced the AFDIII as their new flagship body, with allusions to better glass on the way. But with the wider industry already entrenched with the Hasselblad H-series, will people be willing to jump ship?

I’ve been upset with Hasselblad ever since the H3 (well, okay – since H1 dying shutters…but REALLY upset with the H3). I like the THEORY that Phase is keeping their platform open – even though with 4 different DB mounts of their own, that’s a relative merit. Phase is also generally considered the first choice in DB’s. But considering the difficultly Broncolor has gaining market share on Profoto, due mainly to the latter’s pervasive presence in the rental industry – does Phase-Mamiya stand any real chance of competing with the H1/2, now (IMO) considered the defacto ruler of the MF market?

I’d been looking into buying my own system – for shooting and for rental, and ran smack into this issue. Since the H2 will be defunct in another 7 years or so (assuming they cease support after the federally mandated time expires), part of me thought the AFD a wiser investment. But then I thought to myself: “Is anyone really going to rent this, or are they going to demand an H2? After all, even if it’s “as good” (highly debatable), they already KNOW the H-series.” So, I thought maybe it’d be better to have an extinction-bound system for 7 years than one with long-term viability that nobody wants to use. After all, in the digital world a lot changes in 7 years…think what we had in 2001.

What do people think – can the AFD make up lost ground to become a real competitor to the H2 in the auto-focus MF world?

~Gully

this site is sooo damn informative! Thanks guys —–

Hi! Long time reader, first time poster. Any advice on getting more digital experience or heads up on workshops in the L.A. area would be greatly appreciated. ‘been here 5 months and trying to break into the game. Thanks a bunch

I am hoping to get some suggestions for brands of eSata drives and RAM (for mac). Any information about reliability or performance would be great.

just a quick one and i will get into the nuts and bolts of this latter – but is anyone running a
raid0 configuration on there startup disk ‘ie stripping that bad boy to double or triple or even quad the throughput ‘how ever you say that lastone…”,

i want testimonies kids not hypotheticals – lets see how this runs….

Call me crazy, but today I was on a still-life set with available light doing 2-4 sec exposures with an H2/120mm/P45+, and right there staring me in the face was a lens cast, you know the thing one sees when using a view cam or wide angle lenses with a mfdb. I did a calibration and voila’ much better files. Now retrofocal lenses rarely exhibit this, but I think the conditions of available light and long exposures contributed to the situation. So keep it in mind the next time you’re staring at a file that just doesn’t look right.