Cheap video tap cameras

[Nigel]

When ever I have brought out the Video Tap. People spend all day long looking at a monitor that doesn't really show you what you are getting to begin with.

I also hate to use it because it means that the director will often be sitting there trying to be a DP. Which then makes me nothing more than a CameraOp.

Do they have places??? Of course. Steadicams are the best example. But the best place for a Video Tap is in your closet next to your camera case.

Good Luck

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[crimsonson]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Courier, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Nigel:
When ever I have brought out the Video Tap. People spend all day long looking at a monitor that doesn't really show you what you are getting to begin with.

I also hate to use it because it means that the director will often be sitting there trying to be a DP. Which then makes me nothing more than a CameraOp.

Do they have places??? Of course. Steadicams are the best example. But the best place for a Video Tap is in your closet next to your camera case.

Good Luck

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I will have to disagree. There are too many reasons (most already articulated) to use than not to use. In reagrds to 'hands on' directors/producers/clients.. they are more of an annoyance than a threat.
And those crew members standing by the monitor not doing their job.. a question that begins with "Are you sure that you....?" usually gets them back to what they are supposed to do.



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[Ronson]

Another good reason to consider using a tap:

Over a year ago, I had lazik surgery on my eyes, to correct some astoundingly bad vision (20/650).

Everything has been peachy since then (20/15, better than perfect)...

...until I tried to keep my eye against an eyepiece for longer than a few seconds, at which point, my eye started to water like crazy. I couldn't keep it open to look through the eyepiece.

So, now I'm considering using a tap again.

Plus, as a director who prefers to camera op when he can (so long as I have an experienced cinematographer running the lights), a tap can be a very useful tool.

And the main reason I prefer to cam op is because I've been burned by DPs who said they got the shot, when in fact, they did not. At the very least, a tap would offer video playback opportunities for those dicey moments...

Or, I could just find a DP that I could trust implicitly.

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[Ronson]

Roger, another thought...

Something that I've never seen for a Super-8 camera is a T-bar viewfinder that would allow for a video tap *and* an eyeball against an eyepiece, like you find with some Arri SR packages.

Is this something that could be fabbed, maybe with a couple of tiny mirrors to bounce the real eyepiece image... one to the tap and one to the secondary eyepiece?

Think you could do it? Because I'd sure pay for it!



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[PhillipF]

Hey Roger!
Well, while we're employing you do build stuff, I've got a question for you. How hard do you think it would be to modify a follow focus rig to a super 8 cam? I realize that most people wouldn't understand the use for one on a super 8 camera, but I can think of a few cases where I could.
Any thoughts?

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[mattias]

*very* watery eyes when kept open too long is a well known and documented side effect of the lasik process, due to the fact that the eye actually gets drier for some reson. i experience it too all the time. and don't you just love the "black pro mist" effect in high contrast night situations? that's why we're not allowed to fly airplanes commercially. :-)

/matt the hawk

[Cranium]

I like that... Black Pro Mist. I'll start using that to explain it.
I gotta say, Lasik is the best thing I've ever done, even with the big negative side effects (oh, wait, there weren't any...)


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Mikel Z

[MrObvious]

Somebody mentioned a T-bar for the viewfinder. I don't think you need to get this complicated. A simple swinging bracket for the video camera would be a LOT easier and cheaper to design and implement. Sure, you don't get to see both the viewfinder and the monitor screen at the same time, but so what?! Compose your shots and focus through the viewfinder, and then swing the video tap in for the steadicam shot.

Marc S.

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[Ronson]

Marc S: "Somebody mentioned a T-bar for the viewfinder. I don't think you need to get this complicated..."

It isn't a matter of complication. It's a matter of need. If you are one of the lucky ones who has had Lazik surgery, the one filmmaking side-effect is that you can't keep your eye open for an extended period against an eyepiece, due to rapid drying, followed by rapid watering.

The ideal gizmo -- which is what I was describing -- would be a T-bar adapter for the viewfinder, so that it wouldn't be necessary for said Lazik recipient to look through the viewfinder at all, assuming he has a reasonably competent cinematographer.

In my case, as the director, I gander at the video tap monitor, while the shooter glues his eye to the viewfinder... the same as the world over, when it comes to the whys of using a T-bar adapter, except that this is more for comfort, than for convenience.

A swinging bracket would not be an answer to this very specific problem.

In addition, if, as a director, you have a very specific shot(s) in mind -- in my case, I always storyboard the entire script, in detail -- you will want to know for *certain* that your shooter got the shot, if indeed you are not shooting it yourself.

Which, if you've had the Lazik surgery, is perhaps the one thing that isn't as easy to do, post-surgery.

Otherwise, I think some sort of swinging bracket is a great idea.

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[PhillipF]

Maybe if you could do a customized T-bar job. For example: A tube piece that would "slide" over the existing viewfinder. This piece could have an enlarging lens so as to see "through" the viewfinder And then through a prism (much like you'd find in the Bolex Rx 16mm cameras) the image would reflect upwards onto the video assist camera lens. God I hope this makes sense to others besides me! )

PhilF

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