Real World Workflow

To all you Techs out there:

Here’s to another year gone by, and to the new one upon us.

May you have a Happy and Prosperous 2009.

Available for download here: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/imaging_3d/rawdeveloper.html

For those of you that aren’t familiar with RD. It’s a great alternative to the 800lb gorillas of raw conversion software, and when you’re searching for a conversion with a little something extra, RD is worth taking a look. It makes some of the best conversions from Phase files that I’ve ever seen, and the price, at 120 clams is a bargain. Think of it as another arrow in your digital tech quiver, you silly wabbit.

That’s the inside scoop.  No idea on how much there offering for the position but if you have the experience I would make them an offer that works for you and stick with it.

Update: Capture Integration has posted a series of tests with the 1DsIII on 10.5.5 and 10.5.6. The results are that 10.5.6 is almost twice as fast as 10.5.5.

http://www.captureintegration.com/tests/canon/

I’m still hearing people are having trouble with installs (use the combo updater) and various bugs, so don’t make the jump until you’re absolutely sure that everything is good, or you need to tether the 1DSMkIII and are willing to take your chances.

Ok, I have to admit, I’ve been waiting for this ever since the iPhone apps hit the market. Air Mouse allows you to control your cursor via the iPhone over a wireless network. You can use the trackpad just like you would on a MBP, or you can get jiggy and use the iPhone’s accelerometer to gesture and have the cursor follow suit. It’s great for those couch sessions where you just can’t be bothered to reach over to the computer, or say when doing a presentation, although it does take a little bit of time to get comfortable with the setup, and Air Mouse points out that it was never meant to be a truly perfect wireless mouse solution. It works great for me though, and the best is yet to come: Once you have the app in your iPhone, install the Air Mouse server app on your computer and fire up C1. I’m still using 3.7.9 on set, and have yet to try this with 4.5.2, but anyway, go into the Camera pane and mouse to the “Capture” button. Hit the left click button on the Air Mouse and Voila! Wireless remote capture in C1!

Just perfect for those sessions with ten AD’s, CD’s, interns and the kitchen sink standing at the capture station, and you’re tired of fighting your way in to the keyboard.

Never mind the look on the shooter’s face when you reel off a capture from across the room.

Air Mouse is available in the App Store, or on the web here. It’s $5.99, and while there are a slew of mouse apps out there, this one is ok by me.

Made an impromptu modification to an H1 on set this week. Shooter wanted a WLF so we robbed one from an RZ and got artistic with the gaffer tape. Even was able to attach the PocketWizard to the hood and the camera was very stable. Was using AutoFocus on the User Button and the photographer was able to shoot low to the ground without getting the common H1 Low Level Neck Kink. A 503 style WLF would probably work even better but we used what we had on hand

In tech world location carts are almost as important as the camera/DB/computer when shooting tethered. If you can’t provide an accessible solution, you might as well shoot to card, which comes with it’s own set of issues. (Fwiw, card shooting is faster, provided the shooter knows proper exposure and can nail focus. If not, by the time you’ve downloaded the card, checked exp and focus, and reshot if anything needs to be corrected, you could very well have tethered up and been faster overall. Eric I. please feel free to chime in.)

On location, I tend to use a variety of cart solutions depending on what the type of shoot and subject is. Many times, a lappie with a gitzo plate fits the bill, but on longer jobs where the shooter wants a tower based approach, I’ll usually go with the location standard  Kartmaster 500. It’s solid as a rock and works exceptionally well overall (especially when the AD decides to lean on it while editing.)

There is a downside however: It’s a heavy, pricey bastard.

Admittedly, all that solidness comes at a price, and that is weight. Getting that thing in and out of a cab can be a pain. Downside number two is that the front wheels in kart mode can be a little too small and catch in potholes or on curbs. Oh, and number three: price. This puppy can run you close to $1000.00 by the time you get the shelves that make it a functional location piece of gear.

All that said, the Kartmaster 500 most definitely has its place in tech location setups. It sets the standard for other carts to measure up to.

Functionality in any location cart is key, and with that in mind I started wondering about the Multi-Cart series of carts, having seen them at Fotocare and PhotoPlus Expo here in NY. While they definitely seemed scrawnier than the burly Kartmaster, I could see a use for them in situations where portability and form factor were more important than the 500lb gorilla. Specifically, I loved the idea of being able to take the Multi-Cart down to half size, giving me a more portable footprint that was still leagues above the tripod plate combo.

I purchased the R10 because of the locking 5″ casters, although I would have preferred the R12 with it’s four 8″ pneumatic tires that would come in handy around NY’s potholey streets from hell, but the 8″er’s don’t have a locking mechanism, although I think one could find a suitable 8″ caster that would fill the bill. Plus, the R10 goes for around $230.00, with another $60.00 or so for the shelf unit, a considerable savings over the 1k Kartmaster. So, how did it perform?

In short, pretty darn well. The versatility of the R10 is pretty hard to beat, you can configure it eight different ways, and the felt covered shelf lets you mouse around to your heart’s content. I loved the half size for tight location shoots, and it’s a breeze to chuck in a cab. With the cart fully extended, you’ve actually got more lengthwise room than the Kartmaster. Downsides? Well, build factor of the R10 compared to the 500 is no contest, the 500 wins hands down–it’s a solid pro level piece of gear. With the R10 I did get a bit nervous anytime someone went to lean on it; it’s a little too unstable to totally support that kind of action, but to be fair it wasn’t designed to. As expected on the R10 the 5″ locking casters still catch in potholes, and I would love to see a 8″ pneumatic version w/lockers on the R12 as an option. Give yourself a little bit of time for assembly, this unit is not ready to go out of the box, and mine came with a shredded tire tube that Fotocare fixed right away. But overall, as for price, value and versatility, the R10 has earned a place on my gear shelf as a very useful piece of location gear. I think with a few tweaks it could be my goto cart for many shoots. Check one out for yourself next time you get a chance.