Thanks for your response though! Very appreciated. It was a long week of going back and forth and your review was one of two that really pushed me over the edge towards the SmallHD.

Great write up and you have landed yourself a new frequent visitor.

Also great to see another tri-state area (saw you’re from DC?) DP doing the goods. Keep it up!

What I don’t like about that marshall model is that it’s not future proof. No hd-sdi connections. I use other cameras beside hdslr so that’s important for me.

Do you plan to be handheld? Will you need to split out to a director’s monitor or for 1st AC?

I believe Marshall has or is coming out with a monitor that splits HDMI. Which is great to not have to deal with a splitter cause they are a PITA.

Cineroid is coming out with an EVF that takes hdmi and converts it to hd-sdi. That’s HUGE if you’ll be shooting a feature. You won’t want to deal with HDMI connection day in and day out.

It’s down to buying the Marshall 5″ AND a Zacuto Z-Finder or the Small HD … which path would you go (both these gigs are non paid at the moment)

Thanks!

It’s pretty common for people to use 60fps in 24p timeline to get a significant sense of slowing speed with people in action. But if the people are NOT creating a fast movement (i.e standing and looking at someone) I find 48fps a perfect mix for people doing fairly ordinary actions (natural movements).

So the Director and I decide what shots we want filmed in a slower motion, and those shots are the only ones we would shoot at 48fps.

For this project I’ll probably stay around 35-50mm for the majority. I believe these focal lengths allow the audience to buy into the reality of the story. Because of their similar focal length to the human eye. But it also allows the 65mm-100mm to shine in the close ups because there so significantly different.

But for the train shots I think it would be great to stay close and use a wide to give the viewer an idea of the sheer size and power of this machine. It is a massive beast!

Thanks again for the comment and I hope I was able to answer your question.

-Garrett

You say that ‘for filming people going through natural movements I prefer 48fps’. This seems a little strange to me, you really shoot 48fps the whole time over 24fps? Forgive me if I’ve got that wrong, but it seems to suggest that. If so, are you just throwing away every other frame for a 24fps playback? Do you mind how it affects your shutter angle?

The steam train and camera moves you describe lend themselves to a period style feel. How will your lens choice complement that? Glossy and staying at the long end? Or will you be quite happy to come in close with wides if it calls for that too? Are you really picking a style and sticking to it or go with whatever you feel like on the day? It seems that your camera moves will be well planned, are you thinking about lens choices in advance?

Thanks for the post, I’m looking forward to seeing how the project progresses. Good luck with it all.

In the mean time just rent a Arri or Bartech unit if necessary.