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Rainier Davenport

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Everything posted by Rainier Davenport

  1. Are you at all interested in selling the 2040's? PM me if you are.
  2. I've had Boom Ops who just refused to swing a 816 with fluffy on a long pole, then I've had Boom Ops who suggested that we use it instead of radio micing. I used to use it a lot when I started out, but I found in the last couple of years I haven't got that kind of energy myself anymore working solo. I recently got a new mic case and there wasn't any room for the 816 anymore. Can't remember the last time I used it and it's not in the Sound Van anymore either.
  3. What is RoHS? I had hoped my 2020's could be retuned and continued to used as they work well.
  4. I was in Ho Chi Mihn City for two weeks in December last year. As you live in Canada and I live in Australia, two reasonably well ordered and regulated Countries that are pretty much on the same wavelength, just forget about everything as you know it, it doesn't apply in Vietnam. Basically nothing seems to be regulated and everything can be bought. I wouldn't be too concerned about frequencies, I'd just take a couple of different blocks, and swap if necessary, as if you were going anywhere. Our equipment got seized and wasn't released out of Customs for the entire shooting period, for reasons I still don't understand and wasn't told. I made up detailed equipment lists, and itemised everything with serial numbers I took and valued everything at replacement price. Most of that info came out of my own insurance details. I had a huge amount of fun, and the Vietnamese people are genuine, friendly and curious and the food was awesome. There were a few sketchy moments but most things went well. I was always aware that I was the outsider and was always polite and made an effort to learn 'Thank you' in Vietnamese. Its amazing how far one word will get you. Have fun and take lots of photos!
  5. I have been using my 744 and 442 combo for years as well. I have put off purchasing a 788, but finally made the decision and I pick the 788 CL8 & CL9 on Monday.
  6. Have to say I've not had an issue with the BMC, the DOP has got himself an A-Box so it's super easy to put audio into at mic level. I think Time Code input would have been good, and the Time Code functionality would have been good as well. The DOP isn't concerned, he's of the opinion that 'Plural Eyes' program is just as good. After three days of Corporate shooting, I'm not sure he'll have the same sentiments
  7. Don't do it! You're trying to save money in the wrong place. Try saying "No" to the Camera Department a few times and you'll have enough money to spend on a quality Production Mixer with top equipment who knows how to use it properly. And while I have your Ear, why not tell the DOP they can't shoot Wide and Tight at the same time!
  8. Has anybody got or had any updated experience with the BMC since the last post in April?
  9. Hello, I was in a similar situation to yours with wireless T/C. I still use the older 'Blackbox Series' Ambient Wireless Timecode Slates which still work very well for their age. I also bought a 'Blackbox Series 'T/C receiver which I used to attach to the camera, so it was jammed from a wireless T/C signal. That used to work OK for small shoots, but like your Times Square experience, if the camera went too far away the T/C signal would fail. I also experienced signal interference, as unknown to me the T/C slate was on an improper frequency. After changing the frequency, I didn't have any problems, but I decided to buy two Ambient 203 Lockit Boxes which were going cheap as the new 204 Lockits were about to be released. I now have two Ambient 203 Lockits as part of my kit for challenging RF environments and I often turn off the wireless T/C on the slates and Jam instead. That said, I have found I don't really use the Lockit boxes as much as I thought I would, and have not actually attached them to a camera yet. The reason is I work with the Alexa most of the time and I Jam one Lockit which I keep with me to refresh the Alexa with T/C if off speed frame rates are used. I think purchasing a Lockit box or two might be the cheapest method to solve your wireless T/C problems.
  10. If you know what you want Murray Tregonnings & Associates are also Lectro dealers. I buy my Lectrosonics gear from them.
  11. I had the same experience, i had the editor on the phone saying "your sound is out of synch blah, blah, blah", and I asked him to look at the time code slate and he eventually realised that the camera was 2 - 3 frames out constantly as the slate was exact. He rang back the next day and apologised, and then complained that it was never the same amount of frames out, and would vary, which would annoy him even more. I told him that I thought that RED made a crap product.
  12. This 2-3 frame thing is my experience with the RED One, and the Editor was of the opinion that "2-3 frames is the best it can do...", wouldn't surprise me with Epic, it fails in most other areas as well...
  13. Don't forget having to move all that gear around! You'll need some transport. I don't live in the USA so I can't suggest vehicle types or brands, but there have been plenty of threads discussing that issue.
  14. How many times have you forgotten to change frame rates for some wonky camera or some shit! Glad to see someone else has the same problem.
  15. I thought his casting as Captain Edward Teague in 'Pirates of the Caribbean, At Worlds End' was some of the most appropriate I've ever seen in a film.
  16. Does that mean RED are going to start to build these fans into the cameras, or are they going to remain as a modification that owners can upgrade their Hairdryers with?
  17. Hello Alan, I use Lectrosonics LM transmitters and receivers as camera links on a daily basis. I find I get about 5-6 hours burn time per Alkaline battery. Sometimes, that changes depending on the condition or brand of the battery itself. By chance I also use Eveready batteries as Larry suggests, as I find I get longer from this brand. Depending on your set up, you might be interested in investigating the Lectrosonics 9volt battery eliminator which replaces the battery in the transmitter.
  18. I've never seen the DR680 but after I Goggled it, I discovered that it is a 6 channel recorder with an additional two track mix. I can't see how a Sound Devices 302 would be of much assistance to your needs. If the DR680 is working well for your Boom and mic, I wouldn't change anything.
  19. Why don't they just out their energy into making their cameras quiet? This all seems totally pointless to me.
  20. Seems to me the issue is that the 5D wasn't recording any audio to the CF Card. I've never had that happen, and I'm not aware of any options in the camera menu to patch or send the audio anywhere else, as there isn't anywhere else for it to go but the CF card. The only idea I have is that perhaps in the menu where the options are to use Internal Mic, External Mic or Turn Audio off, perhaps the audio was accidently switched off after the levels were checked. The only thing I don't understand about your post is that you say the Internal mic worked as well, but you sent audio via a radio link. The problem is you cant have both, it's either the internal mic OR your wireless link. That's why I think you might have accidently turned the audio off accidently. But I could be wrong or remembering the 5D menu wrong.
  21. My K-Tek internal cabled Boom pole is one of the best bits of kit I have ever bought. It far exceeded my expectations in performance and ease of use and reliability. I use it for one person work, and I really could not go back to winding a cable back around the outside of a pole and retain my sanity. Don't think about it, go buy one. I've had to re solder the end twice in countless days work (years) and it is a bit tricky, but very possible. I also have a longer non cabled K-Tec pole, but I usually end up putting a radio boom on the end before I will wind the cable around the outside. Mine has a XLR output on the side. You won't go back.
  22. In Australia we are all quite geographically challenged, and fortunately I happened to be in Sydney to attend the Australian Screen Sound Guild event on Tuesday 26 at AFTRS. What was interesting about this night was that the 'Digital Dividend' was explained in detail from a few different viewpoints. Possibly the most complicated and detailed explanation was given by Roger Bunch who works for 'Free TV' which (I think) is the Lobbying Body representing the free to air television networks. James Waldron from Syntek also gave a very interesting talk as well. Steve Caldwell from Norwest Productions didn't give a long talk, but interestingly he was the one person whom I wanted to talk longer, as he knew well what is about to happen and is actually a 'hands on guy' who understands the real problems of working with multiple TX and RX systems. My motivation to attend this night was to actually find out what is going to really happen, and the news isn't really good. Its going to get a whole lot harder very, very soon. I'm glad I did attend because I suspected that I didn't really have a complete understanding of the Digital Dividend and I was right. I'm not the best person to explain what is going to happen, but I will give it a go. (1) So we all know that 694-820MHz is being cleared and sold to the Telcos to enable you to upload and down load things faster on your Phone. So you might think "Well that's cool, I'll just work under the 694MHz cut off!". It's not that simple. (2) So what is going into the space between 520-694MHz? Well that is where the Digital TV stations are going. Between 520-694MHz are four or five blocks (five I think) which one of these blocks now fits ALL the Digital TV stations. The Digital Stations are actually able to sit right next to each other, unlike how we have been familiar with them spread out over the whole spectrum. With all the DTV stations next to each other, there isn't (to the best of my understanding) going to be any space for us to fit in between. (3) So you might say, "Well there are four other blocks that are not being used, as all the DTV stations only take up one block". This is why I started talking about Geography at the beginning. In Regional Australia, there will be four unused blocks, so if you are in the country, it will be alot easier, but each Regional Centre uses a different block so to mitigate interference issues. So a Wireless system that works in one Country town, might not work in the next Country Town. (4) What about in the Metropolitan Areas? Again, you might ask "So if all the DTV stations fit in one block, that leaves four unused?" Well, you are right, but this is where it gets very difficult. So take Sydney as an example, Sydney Metro DTV is using block 1, but the Illawarra gets retransmitted on Block 2, the Central Coast on Block 3, and so on. Remember, there isn't any space between these blocks so you can't just slot in like we do now! (5) Geographical areas like the Gold Coast, Northern NSW and Brisbane are areas which are really going to suffer (as if it isn't hard enough Spectrum wise there already). The Spectrum allocation will even be more intense as you have Metropolitan and Regional Centers quite close geographically. Currently, I don't quite know where I will fit in when this frequency re stack takes place. There really is an argument that Manufactures need to start producing Block Agile TX & RX. Being frequency agile in one block won't be enough any more. I personally have $25-30K of Radio gear that I probably won't be able to use after the 'Digital Dividend' starts to operate. I can have equipment retuned, but I'm not sure quite where, currently!
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