Dirt Bike Diversion - part 1

[Note: Links at the end to things referenced in this post ...]

After having a stupid amount of fun completing a CornerSpin school for the first time this year, I  picked up a 2011 Honda CRF100 as a playbike and learning tool. Since I can never leave anything stock, a K&N air filter, Renthal bars and Acerbis hand guards went on first, quickly followed by a FMF Powercore 4 exhaust.

Now she's a beast, but two days of hard riding with my nephews over Thanksgiving revealed a few things:
1. The FMF exhaust is the shit! Really uncorks the torque of the little 100cc mill.
2. She's running really, really lean with the stock jetting and the K&N & FMF mods.
3. Re-gearing would make better use of the gears, as I rarely get above 3rd in general riding.
4. The suspension is woefully inadequate for my, ahem, adult-sized body.

So, up on the workstand she went. Here we go, in a partial state of disassembly/reassembly:

First up was the jetting. Stock is a #35 slow and #95 main, so in went a #40 and #105, respectively, sourced from jetsrus.com. I fully removed the carb for this, but it really wasn't necessary. Just drain and remove the float bowl, and there's plenty of easy access to the jets. The job was so easy, I forgot to take pics. Sorry.

A new rear tire was next. After removing the wheel from the bike, out came the Motion Pro tire irons. I only have a set of two, 11" irons, but will be ordering a set of their (longer) tire spoons shortly, as soon as my bruised knuckles allow me to type again. Here's a great video on how to change a tire and/or tube, from the experts at Dirt Rider, who make it look so easy:

Of course, I tried to re-use the original tube and pinched it on installation, and it leaked. Off again came the tire and a new, heavy-duty tube installed. Sure, the heavy-duty tubes are tougher to work with, but IMHO they're worth it on dirt bikes. While the wheel was off, I installed the new rear sprocket. Ain't she pretty?

I wanted to change the gearing to better handle adult riders. Factory is a 50:14 (3.571), and I’ve installed a 49:13 (3.769). This should result in a lower top speed, but should make better use of the power available. We’ll see. It’s a different animal since installing the FMF exhaust!

Changing the front (countershaft) sprocket required removing the left crankcase cover. Of course, I'd not purchased a replacement gasket, so one is on order now. BikeBandit is my friend!

Next up was the rear suspension. I purchased a BBR rear spring and fork springs that're supposed to be 30% stronger. While I was on the back of the bike, I started there.

Removing the rear shock requires taking at least one bolt out of the suspension linkage. Not a big deal, but you need to support the frame of the bike enough to let the swingarm sag. Got the OEM shock on the bench and...

First, there’s no (obvious) way to take the spring off the shock. No threaded collars for preload adjustment; no split top ring. Maybe, once I get some spring compressors on there, something will make itself apparent, but I can’t see anything at this point. Second, that aftermarket spring has about one half more wind than the OEM. That means the preload will be a lot stronger, and the travel distance (to the spring binding) will be shortened. Not good. There are aftermarket adjustable shocks available, but I’d prefer to not spend that money (yet).

Okay, spring compressor ordered (after the one I have for automotive springs wouldn't fit, darn it), and shock re-installed in the bike for now. Time for the new chain.

And f#%^$&%^%^#%#!!! The chain I bought, per the manual, is wrong. Manual spec's a 420, but a 428 is needed.

The 420's for sale on eBay, by the way, and a new 428 is on the way to me.



Next time...

Stay tuned. In our next episode, we'll install:
1. The proper size chain, and
2. The left crankcase cover with new gasket.

Plus, we'll attempt a disassembly of the OEM rear shock.

Cheers!
- Rob.

Post Script, links of interest (as promised)
K&N Air Filter
Renthal Playbike Bars
Acerbis Hand Guards
FMF Powercore 4 Exhaust

Carburetor Rebuild - 1973 Honda CB350 Café Racer

This was a fun escapade. Completely stripped, cleaned and rebuilt the carbs. Photo essay follows.

As they started, replete with lacquered gasoline.

Yeah, the floats weren't in much better shape.

Removing the jets.

The vacuum sections were in pretty good shape. Note the beverage.

Skipping lots of boring disassembly photos (that I took to help me upon reassembly), Most parts went into the degreasing/cleaning bucket.

Then dried in the dish drain. (I'm divorced, so there was no argument over this. Highly recommended.)

After cleaning and drying, reassembled with new components.

Hooray!

Kickoff - 1973 Honda CB350 Café Racer

A few years ago, I purchased a 1973 Honda CB350 with the intention of turning it into a café racer. I've been working on it slowly and sporadically since then, so it's time to start a blog. Here's what she looked like upon purchase, before disassembly:













After a complete disassembly, the frame looks something like this:



I'm in the process of removing all the unneeded tabs and mounting points from the frame and cleaning it up. Then I'll cut the rear of the frame behind the shock mounts and install a hoop to match the café seat.

Several purchased parts will go into this build, including:
- Clubman handlebars
- Fiberglass café seat/tail
- High-mount pipes
- Lots of stainless fasteners

I had planned to re-use the forks, but found the fork tubes so severely pitted where they'd been encased by the headlight mount shrouds that I had to find an alternative. eBay to the rescue, where I found a great set of forks from a '74 CB360. They are the same 35mm OD, so the triple trees are reusable.

I completely rebuilt the carburetors, with new jets, floats and other parts, and they're ready to reinstall. I'm looking to get the engine running on the stand in the near future.

More to come, and your questions are welcome.

An open letter to Virgina Governor Terry McAuliffe

Dear Mr. McAuliffe;

You cannot be an unintelligent or uneducated man to have reached the position you now hold. I do wonder, though, if you are a logical man.

I am a law-abiding resident of the Commonwealth of Virginia. I believe in my family, my country and my rights as outlined in the Constitution of the United States of America. I also posses a permit to carry a concealed weapon, as I believe in the Boy Scout motto: "Be Prepared." I hope I never have to use my weapon in self defense. Should I be forced, however, to defend my life or the life of a loved one, I hope I will not hesitate.

I hope you realize that I am not the problem. That law-abiding citizens are not the problem. That tools in the hands of the law-abiding are not the problem. That criminals ARE the problem.

Criminals, by definition, do not obey laws, do not abide signs, and do not care about those who do obey laws and abide signs.

I hope you and rational enough to realize that removing the ability or legal authority of the people to defend themselves against crime does NOTHING to prevent such crime.

Any effort you take to deprive the law-abiding of their rights to self defense only creates more opportunities for criminals to exercise their unlawfulness, and for law-abiding citizens of the state of Virgina to die needlessly.

Please, please realize that the criminals are the problem - not the law-abiding - and do everything in your power to bring criminals to justice without affecting the Constitution-granted liberties of the law-abiding.

Sincerely,
Robert X. Xxxxxxx

Metabones Speed Booster Auto Focus - Finally!!

Prelim report on Metabones Speed Booster update with autofocus for Canon lenses (on GH4):

EF-L 24-105 - works beautifully. I think this is my new happy place!
EF-L 20-35 - check.
EF 50 f/1.4 USM - check.
EF 40 f/2.8 pancake - check (and a great, compact combination!)
EF 85 f/1.8USM - check.
Unfortunately, my 35mm f/2 (not USM) doesn't respond, and the 75-300 IS USM makes the camera freeze.

Bottom line: Hooray!!!! The AF is quick and accurate.

In all functional cases, autofocus engages when I first bring the viewfinder up to my eye. This is probably a setting I need to disable somewhere in the prodigious menu system of the GH4.

Note: This is all with the (now discontinued) standard 0.71x Speed Booster. There are two other versions now available: the ULTRA (still 0.71 - not sure what the extra is there) and the XL at 0.64. I'm thinking seriously about picking up the XL. If you're really bored, ask me about the math of lens equivalents...

Filmmaking Resources

There are SO MANY great resources available these days to learn about filmmaking and all the related arts. I keep a list of bookmarks that I frequent to stay abreast of ideas, technologies and information related to this artistic pursuit. Below, for your hopeful elucidation, is a sampling of my reference list. Please comment and share what other good resources you frequent!

Newsy web sites:
studiodaily.com
nofilmschool.com
blog.planet5d.com
cinema5d.com
eoshd.com
creativeplanetnetwork.com

Filmmakers’ web sites/blogs:
philipbloom.net
vincentlaforet.com
hurlbutvisuals.com

Gear-heavy blogs:
dslrvideoshooter.com
suggestionofmotion.com

Technique-focused blogs:
prolost.com
videocopilot.net
www.stillmotion.ca or stillmotionblog.com

Magazines - print/subscription:
Videomaker (videomaker.com)
HD Video Pro (hdvideopro.com)
Moviemaker (moviemaker.com)
Filmmaker Magazine (filmmakermagazine.com)
Mix Magazine (mixonline.com)

Magazines - free/electronic:
digitalvideomagazine.com
videoedge.net
microfilmmaker.com
prosoundnetwork.com

On YouTube:
Freddie W. (youtube.com/user/freddiew)
Corridor Digital (youtube.com/user/CorridorDigital)
Film Riot (youtube.com/user/filmriot)

Commercial companies with cool products:
Rampant Media (rampantdesigntools.com)
Red Giant (redgiant.com)
Black Magic Design (blackmagicdesign.com)
Wooden Camera (woodencamera.com)
Redrock Micro (redrockmicro.com)
Zacuto (zacuto.com)
Rode (rode.com)
Rokinon (rokinon.com)
Metabones (metabones.com)

Thoughts on the SLR Magic 25mm T0.95 Hyperprime Lens

Received my SLR Magic 25mm T0.95 HyperPrime lens today. First impressions:

• It's heavy! It's tiny!
• The geared aperture/iris and focus rings have a nice resistance to them.
• Very solid all-metal feel.
• It has a small sliding lens hood that won't stay in place without tape.
• Comes with a threaded metal lens cap; very nice, but overkill. I'll be storing it in favor of a quick plastic cap.
• Focus throw is about 180 degrees.
• At T0.98, focus is limited to a few millimeters of depth.
• Compared it briefly to a 50mm on my full-frame 6D; the 6D is still wider, despite the math that the two should be close to equivalent.

After some time to play with the lens, here are some more thoughts:

1. Like most (budget) lenses, it's soft wide open. It takes on a 'dreamy' soft look, though, with focus limited to a few millimeters. At T2, it's very nice and sharp, still with a beautiful, even, soft bokeh.
2. The small sliding lens hood is in fact threaded (and not, insofar as I've found yet, removable). The lens itself takes a 49mm filter; the hood a (much more common) 55mm. If you install a 49-77mm step up ring to the lens itself, e.g. to add common filters, the hood will contact the step-up ring when trying to focus to infinity (and thus prevent reaching that focus); the solution is to use a 55-77mm step up ring attached to the hood rather than the lens itself. This seems like a small detail, but has ramifications in certain applications. For cine lenses, it's nice to have the front-most lens attachment not move as focus changes. Attaching step up rings and/or filters to the lens hood enables this.
3. A point worth highlighting: This is a COMPLETELY MANUAL lens, with no electronic communication to the camera. This means no lens metadata (i.e. focal length, aperture setting, etc.) will be recorded with your photos or videos. This is generally not a problem for video work, but might matter to a stills photographer.
4. The aperture ring is VERY close to the camera body, as in about 1cm away. There's only about 2cm separation between the aperture and focus rings. Should you want to operate both these rings via follow-focus type controls, be prepared to get creative! The focus ring is so close to the body that I can't fit a follow focus on the traditional left side when using my GH4 and the Wooden Camera cage.
5. That said, the built-in metal gears mesh perfectly with every follow focus system I've yet tried. Both focus and aperture rings have very little backlash/hysteresis.

Some photos:

T0.95 Soft!

T2.0 Nice and sharp, with good bokeh

T0.95 useless for wide shots

Much better when stopped down.

Can you be big enough?

Let me give you an example:
Every week, at my workplace (a publicly traded company), someone writes a Bible verse on a public white board in the main hallway. This is allowed and accepted, despite laws separating the workplace and religion.

If I were to express the offense I feel** at seeing this, I would be ridiculed and ostracized. If I wrote on that same white board--not obfuscating the Bible verse--a verse from some text I happened to believe in, it would likely be erased, or if not, quite a row would result.

This is because Christianity is the 'popular' choice here (where I live and work), and people are too ignorant to accept that different points of view and beliefs exist. "Not Christian" is equivalent to "Evil" in their small minds.

The point is: It's hard to express a non-popular opinion. At our American core, we all say we support free speech, but it's very hard to accept (or support or defend) the speech of those with whom we disagree, especially when it rubs us to an emotional rawness. Most are not intelligent or cognizant enough to understand, let alone embrace and realize, the distinction, or the importance that the distinction exist in the first place.

So what's the message? If you find yourself offended, angry, in a sense of outrage, etc., can you be big enough to view the situation objectively and be true to the principles?



**This is for discussion only. I actually take no offense at others expressing their religious viewpoints; I DO take offense at those attempting to force their viewpoints on me, or those who would demean my expression of my religious viewpoints.

New (to me) sporty car: 2009 Mazda MX-5 Miata

Picked up a very gently used, cherry 2009 Miata the other week. Bone stock, and a perfect platform for modification and upgrades.

To take it on the track, a roll bar is needed, so that will happen shortly. In the meantime, a few aesthetic & creature comfort things:

1. Stubby antenna from CravenSpeed. $20, and already looks better. Easy peasy!

2. Aluminum pedals from GoMiata. They arrived with minimal hardware (as in three bolts, three nuts and a hex wrench) and sans instructions, despite the listing on their web site, "Complete 4 Piece Set with all hardware and detailed instructions included." I've emailed them and we'll see what they say.

3. Adding a hidden garage door opener. I bought a spare OEM switch cover, and an electrical engineer friend has mapped out the circuit so the opener will get the right voltage and only work when the car is powered on.

4. AeroCatch locking hood latches. Might install these this weekend, if I have the time. Requires cutting the OEM hood, which is scary at first, but not a big deal if planned very carefully.

Complete 4 Piece Set with all hardware and detailed instruction included - See more at: http://www.gomiata.com/20srpalpe.html#sthash.rHTcGbxi.dpuf

Complete 4 Piece Set with all hardware and detailed instruction included - See more at: http://www.gomiata.com/20srpalpe.html#sthash.rHTcGbxi.dpuf

Complete 4 Piece Set with all hardware and detailed instruction included - See more at: http://www.gomiata.com/20srpalpe.html#sthash.rHTcGbxi.dpuf

Complete 4 Piece Set with all hardware and detailed instruction included. - See more at: http://www.gomiata.com/20srpalpe.html#sthash.rHTcGbxi.dpuf

Canon FD Lens Testing with the Panasonic GH4

The DMC-GH4 is one fun little camera. And it is little! It's smaller than even the Canon T3i I bought several years ago.

I've been experimenting with Canon FD glass for a few years, as it's cheap (by comparison), and designed to work with film 35mm cameras (anyone remember the Canon AE-1?).

There seem to be three quality levels out there; the most common (on eBay and other places) are the inexpensive range. You can find 28mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm lenses typically around $15 or so. These are not the fastest lenses, with max apertures in the f/3.5 range.

Next step up are the more expensive FD lenses, but not yet in the L-series. These will be $100-$300, and offer a great value for the money, with max apertures in the f/1.4 to f/2 range.

The top step are the Canon L-series. These are more rare and a lot more expensive, and I've found very few of them available in the US. Lots in Japan, though.

I've bought into the mid-level, and my favorite three are 50mm f/1.4, 35mm f/2 and 28mm f/2.

I found these on eBay for $40, $199 and $185, respectively. Combined with the $399 Metabones Speed Booster, this is one handy little filmmaking kit!

The Speed Booster Effect
First example is the dramatic effect of the Speed Booster. I set up this shot with it:

GH4, Canon FD 50mm f/16 with Speed Booster

 Then removed the Speed Booster, keeping all other lens and camera settings identical:

GH4, Canon FD 50mm f/16 with non-Speed Booster adapter

The 0.71 'crop factor' and the one-stop light gain of the Speed Booster are obvious, don't you think?

FD Lens Sharpness
Next step was to look at lens sharpness. Again, these lenses were designed for a full 35mm film frame, so they should resolve 4K and cover the GH4's Micro Four-Thirds sensor with no problem at all. And they do. As with most lenses (certainly in this price range), they are somewhat soft at  extremes of the aperture range. See for yourself. Focus in each case was on the corner just above and to the right of the main entrance door, and a variable ND filter was used to keep a balanced exposure.

FD 28mm f/2

FD 28mm f/4

FD 28mm f/8

FD 28mm f/16

FD 28mm f/22

 Overall, this lens looks good, especially for the price! No vignetting, plenty of sharpness across the entire image, good color. I did notice a slight color shift in the sky introduced by the variable ND, but it's not significant on this lens (on the 50mm it was downright nasty).

Now, consider the focal point at each aperture setting. For these I zoomed in on each of the images above.

f/2. Unacceptably soft.

f/4. Usable.

f/8. Still looks good. Greater depth of field.

f/16. Starts to soften again.

f/22. Not as bad as wide open, but soft.

Results
Worth the price? Definitely! Okay for 4K? Definitely.

Let me know what questions you have, or other specific tests you'd like to see.

Happy Shooting!
- Rob.

SnapFocus from Midas Mount - First Impressions

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I just received my SnapFocus late last week. I had fulfillment number 40, if that info helps anyone else waiting.

First impressions are mixed. The build quality is good, not great. The rack and pinion housing seems well-built, but is mounted atop two ugly, unfinished stamped-metal pieces that form the slide for positioning the drive gear against your lens gear, and they’re held in place by a single ¼-20 screw that you adjust by hand (I’d recommend against really cranking on this one, as it will mar the pieces forming the slide). Other than the slide, all the components are nicely black anodized. The rail mount is from SmallRig, with their logo on the locking handles.

Mounting it up presents some challenges if your lens has larger-diameter sections near the focus gear (e.g. a Rokinon Cine 14mm). Raising the camera farther above the 15mm rods helps a lot.

The bicycle levers are pretty simple, and mounted up very easily on my Redrock Micro handles (by removing the grips and attaching the bicycle handles to the core rod). The drive gear is natural-colored plastic and looks to be 3D-printed.

The rack and pinion system is capable of about 4 inches of rack travel, but (and this is my biggest beef with the unit right now), the bicycle levers only allow about 1 inch of that travel – severely limiting the range of lens focus throw you can use. The drive gear rotates about 90 degrees maximum, which is WAY too short to use the full focus of most lenses.

Yes, I know drive gear rotation doesn’t correlate 1:1 to lens focus throw, but the bottom line is the same: The SnapFocus only uses a very short range of the focus throw of the lens. I have some cine lenses with 200 degrees of throw, and with the SnapFocus I can use very little of it.

The limitation is the short pull radius of the bicycle levers – it’s about 1 inch. As the lever travels, the net cable travel lessens even further as the cable stretches between two points of the arc – geometrically forming a segment rather than a sector (yes, I’m an engineer).

To me, this is a very significant shortcoming of the system, and I’m eager to hear from others who have received their units and had time to play with them. Short of completely changing the bicycle levers (to ones with more pull) or rigging a planetary gear, I’m puzzling over how to get the full linear travel of the rack to get the most focus pull range from the SnapFocus.

Why I'm Through with Digital Juice

I have spent thousands of dollars over the past several years with Digital Juice. My studio shelves are overflowing with DJ’s software products. I have gear bags and reflectors and lights and C-stands and flags and greenscreens and more from them, and I like and use this gear regularly. In fact HERE’S my list, copied from their site.

However, I think I’m done buying from Digital Juice. I’ve gone from being a strong advocate for them to recommending against them. The reasons are many, gradual and intertwined.

Point Number One: Devolving Content

Early on (c. 2006), Digital Juice offered wonderful tutorials and videos about filmmaking, with several great contributors, like Perry Jenkins, D. Eric Franks, Jeff Earley and Chuck Peters. (These great episodes are (as of this writing) still available at digitaljuice.com/djtv. You should check them out while they’re still available.) Even Rick Green was worth watching. Their videos since have shifted to tutorials for their products (nothing wrong with that) and purely promotional pieces. (And don’t get me started on Trevor Haugen.)

Point Number Two: The Juicer

A long-time beef of mine with Digital Juice has been over the Juicer. Nearly all their software products are designed to work through the Juicer, and some even require it (e.g. DJ Fonts). The Juicer has always been the weakest link in their offering. It’s slow, cumbersome and temperamental, with an outdated interface that doesn’t comply with convention. It could have been a wonderful, all-encompassing tool for managing digital content, but DJ didn’t develop it to that point. Instead, they kept it proprietary and limited. (I asked repeatedly for the ability to add my own keywords, to no avail.)

Point Number Three: Iffy Customer Relations

My experiences with DJ’s customer service have been outstandingly positive and questionable. There seems to be no middle ground. In one case, a Fresnel lens cracked on one of my DJ Helios lights. I inquired if the standard Arri sizes were a direct replacement. DJ replied without answering my question, but offered to replace the broken lens, and made good on that offer. In another case, a software product (on DVD) didn’t work due to obvious, visible defects in the DVD’s manufacture. DJ refused to help as it had been more than 30 days since the purchase date. Silly me for buying a multi-disc, post-production graphical software product that I didn’t use and fully test for functionality within 30 days.

Point Number Four: Pricing Practices

Twice, I’ve purchased Digital Juice products shortly after their introductions, at ‘early adopter’ pricing, only to find the prices reduced about a week later. This drove me to never buy a DJ product upon its first introduction. Though this one bit me twice  I will say that DJ stepped up and granted refunds for the difference each time. Only once I asked.

Point Number Five: Degrading Quality over Time

I bought four C-stands when they offered the chrome, solid version; they then changed it to black, with inferior hardware. I bought LED lights when they offered them from Prompter People; then they re-packaged it with a plastic housing (vs. aluminum). On the media content side, the early products from DJ (JuiceDrops, StackTraxx, etc.) were packaged in sturdy, rigid covers that continue to hold up well over time. They switched to very flimsy packaging originating in India (based on the little paper flags that fall on the floor when you open their products). I have continued to wonder where their products are developed and produced; in supporting Digital Juice, based in Florida, have I been sending my money overseas?

Point Number Six: I’m Stuck

DJ’s license agreement prohibits anyone from re-selling the media products purchased from them, even if it’s the original physical product. This is quite different than the music world, for example, where you can buy and sell used CDs, DVDs, etc. so long as you’re not selling illegal copies. DJ’s license agreement means I can’t sell the original packaged product I bought from them, despite it being of no use to me any more. They’re within their rights here, but that doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it. Even if I have a duplicate, I can’t sell the duplicate.

Point Number Seven: Outright Thievery?

The latest product offering is “Drag & Drop,” and is very, very similar to products offered over the past few years by Rampant Design Tools. Scary similar. To make matters worse, when I (and others) posted politely and factually about this on DJ's forum, they deleted the posts. For a company to be so insecure that they can’t tolerate discussion of their competitors’ products is sad; for that company to delete legitimate, non-critical posts comparing their competitor’s products is community-destroying.

No one of the above points was enough to prompt me to action. Taken together, however, they are. I’m moving on. My Digital Juice buying days are over.

What to Charge - An Experience

Hey everyone;

I want to share a bit of philosophy about video-for-hire work, or videography. Videography is different than filmmaking. Filmmaking is art; videography is a business. A customer is buying a product and/or service from you, the videographer. That product has costs associated it with it, and you deserve to make money from it.

A recent experience highlights the difference between reality and perception regarding the cost of videography. It started with a note on a mailing list (note that names have been changed throughout, but the details of the job are as accurate as I can convey them) on a Thursday evening:

I am a member of a student organization, the Students Want Video society. We are organizing an event, SWV day 2011 on the XXth of Month (next Tuesday) from 5.30 pm to 9.45 pm, at the Big Hotel. We wanted to have video coverage for the event. I was wondering if you would be interested in doing it.

We do have some money allocated for this purpose, so we can pay you as well. However we have no expertise in any kind of video editing or video coverage. So we would like to hand it over to one person who could be in charge for the entire video, which will go up in youtube.

You can find more details about the SWV day event from our website : www.blahblahblah.com. Do let me know if you would be interested in taking up the job. We can negotiate the money involved as well.

Best,

Student Leader

I spoke to Student Leader about the job. It was a 4.5 hour conference with 100 attendees, with A) presentations to happen for the first hour, then B) break-out sessions where participants will prepare posters, followed by C) presentations of those posters to the group, and concluding with D) final remarks by the organizers. He wanted to capture the components A, C and D in their entirety, with a montage of activity from the break-out sessions. He wanted this edited and produced for display on the organization’s web site and on YouTube. Note that he was looking for someone to do this five days from when he sent the inquiry.

To properly capture this event would require a minimum staff of three: Two camera operators and an audio/grip.

One camera could be fixed on the stage and/or presenter, with a second to roam and capture b-roll footage. Given, one active cameraperson could do both, but the scale of the project really needs two. To accurately capture the stage presentations would require the fixed camera be operated, as presenters tend to move about. Normally, I'd want separate audio and grip workers, but for this job could likely get away combining the role.

To estimate what to charge for this job, I used the following: 4.5 hour job, plus 1 hour of setup and 30 minutes of cleanup; 15 hours of editing. (Note that a fully-edited piece requires about 1 hour editing per minute of finished video. As the customer wanted ‘let the camera roll’ footage for much of this event, the 2-hour video product would not require such intense editing.) I value labor as follows:

Camera operator: $50/hour

Audio operator: $25/hour

Grip: $15/hour

Editing: $100/hour

If these rates seem high, consider this: They are ‘charge-out’ rates the business charges to find, provide, organize and manage the skilled resources. These are not unskilled, minimum-wage jobs.

So, six hours on-site at a combined $125/hour (2 cameras plus audio) is $750. Plus 15 hours of editing for $1500, with a total ‘cost’ of $2250, not including travel time, meals, media costs, depreciation on equipment, etc. These are very real costs to a business.

Therefore, I estimated the job at $3,500. The customer choked. He was thinking ‘a few hundred dollars at the most.’ The quoted price is at a gross margin of only 36%. This is a bare minimum to most businesses in order to be successful. Many businesses strive for 50% or even 60% gross margin. The food service business scrapes by with about 33% margins (ask anyone who owns a restaurant about how rich they’re not).

The bottom line is this: Before jumping at a videography job because ‘a few hundred dollars’ sounds reasonable, do the math. Nothing is more valuable than your time, especially with your skills applied during that time. You deserve to be paid a fair rate for the work and product delivered.

As always, your mileage may vary. Happy Shooting!

-Rob.

The Blacksburg Photography Club

June 29, 2010. Blacksburg, Virginia.

Just got back from the June monthly meeting of the Blacksburg Photography Club (www.blacksburgphoto.org). I will admit I went into it with some hesitation, for a few learned reasons.

First, I'm a video guy more than a photographer, though (I rationalize to myself because it's true) the foundations of good film/video are the same as in photography: Lighting, composition, exposure, etc. all matter tremendously to both branches of the art.

Second, I've done my share of 'users groups' and 'peer review groups' and generally have a distaste for groups that do nothing but cheer each other on with no focus on true individual artistic development. While I'm very much in favor of hobbyists and non-professionals networking and collaborating, my opinion is the work product must be considered against the best professional work of the day. If one only compares one's self to the other amateurs around, one will not progress.

Fortunately, I was very pleasantly surprised. My fears were unfounded, and I look forward to more such gatherings!

The guest speaker was Jeremy Jackson, a Light Painter from Floyd (www.tackyshack.net). While not a professional presenter, Jeremy made a very engaging and interesting presentation, highlighting the evolution and many of the fun, simple tricks of light painting. Nearly everyone in the room had their phones or cameras out to try it, and the 'box of toys' Jeremy shared was quite entertaining. I have to do some experimenting.

The photos presented by members (the club holds a peer-judged competition every month around a theme as well as an 'open' category) were really very good. A group of like-minded enthusiasts they may be, but a group worth checking out. Highly recommended.

The discussion about presented photos got me thinking about moving pictures, particularly in regard to color. Much of the discussion was around the colors captured in the photo and how they were achieved. In film and video, color is much more than 'pretty;' it is a key component to the emotion and story of the film. Color can set the tone or give the audience insight or create an emotional response all by itself.

I'm not necessarily going to rush out and start trying to perfect my still frame craft, but when I do take stills, I'm going to think much more about what the color does to tell the story I have in mind for the image...

Happy shooting!
- Rob.

Footage Firm 'Free Footage' Review

As a videographer, there is often a need for a shot that I just don't have. Sure, I could schedule talent, find a location, recruit a crew and capture the footage myself, but when time is of the issue, stock footage comes in very handy.

Stock footage is, by my definition, royalty-free or royalty-paid clips that I can freely use in my productions. There is no shortage of sources out there, with pricing varying from free to several thousand dollars per clip. I recently procured some DVDs of stock footage from Footage Firm. Here is my review.

Footage Firm (www.footagefirm.com) offers stock footage in SD and HD resolutions on DVD. Recently, they have been offering certain titles for 'free,' charging just $8.41 per DVD for 'shipping and handling.' Taking advantage of this offer, I purchased eight DVDs for a total of $67.28.

The first thing to realize is that this footage is in fact not free. It did not cost Footage Firm $67.28 to ship me eight DVDs… In fact the postage was likely something around $10.00. You see the gimmick here, but on the surface it's not a bad deal overall.

The discs I purchased are:

• HD City Rush
• HD US Cities
• HD European Architecture
• Time Lapse City Scapes
• Time Lapse Night Scapes
• Time Lapse Winter Landscapes
• Time Lapse Road Rush
• Time Lapse Traffic Patterns

Each DVD contains 15 clips, with HD and SD versions of each clip. This equates to $0.56 per clip, which is a really great price for stock footage, so long as the content is useable and the quality sufficient. In this case, the content is somewhat useable and the quality is okay.

Packaging is a simple plastic clamshell case - nothing fancy here - and each disc appears to be burned rather than produced. The bottom of each is purple in color, just like the burn-it-yourself DVDs you use at home or work, though the label appears to be printed on, which is a step above an adhesive-backed version.

Technical Specs
Each clip is somewhere between 7 and 30 seconds in length, with most right around the 15 second mark. SD clips are 740x480 at 29.97 fps, and HD clips are 1920x1080 at 29.97 fps. All clips are in Quicktime *.MOV format, making them more immediately useful to Mac-based editors, but a Windows File Converter application is included on each disc.

Content & Quality
The base directory of each disc is clearny organized, with separate folders for the HD and SD clips. The 'Shot List' folder contains a single-page PDF with preview snapshots of each clip. Similarly, the 'Still Frames' folder contains a *.jpg image of each clip.


I find that I usually want my stock footage to be kind of neutral. As an editor, I want to be able to apply my own color correction, effects and filtering to a clip depending on the needs of my project. Over-stylized or highly-processed stock footage is rarely of use to me.

Similarly, in most cases I prefer a static shot, with no dollying or zooming applied in-camera. I can simulate these effects very easily in editing, and the more content I have to work with, the better. The exception, of course, is when the camera movement is part of the content of the shot.

To this end, the Footage Firm content delivers nothing better than inconsistency. The Winter Landscapes are very color-rich, while the European Architecture are decidedly flat in color with a bit of a 'tourist video camera' look to them. The rest I sampled fall somewhere in between.

The variety of content is also somewhat lacking. Occasionaly, multiple clips are in fact the same location framed differently. Admittedly, this can have its uses, but with only 15 clips per disc I would expect every clip to be unique.

Many (seemingly most) clips were obviously shot in Las Vegas, and numerous business logos and identifiable buildings are pictured: Circle-K, Citgo, Met Life, MGM Grand, Starbucks, etc. Their inclusion can seriously impede the usefulness of a shot, as care must be taken to properly represent (or more specifically, not improperly represent) the business or brand in your end project. In one case, an otherwise gorgeous shot of Grauman's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles is ruined by a 'Hellboy II' banner. Sure, it can be removed in editing, but that's added work. Stock footage is supposed to reduce the added work.

Another challenge is organization: finding the shot you need when you need it. For my purposes, I imported all the still frames into a photo album in iPhoto, whereby I find it much easier to browse all the content quickly and avoid loading multiple DVDs just to survey clips. Another option (which I plan to do) is print the index PDFs and transfer the discs to standard DVD cases with the PDFs as labels. Sure, this takes up more room on the shelf, but to me the improved browsing ability is worth it.

By comparison, I also have stock footage from Digital Juice, who coordinate all their content through their own free application, the Juicer. Given, this option locks one into a specific database method, but again, this tradeoff is worthwhile for ease of access.

Bottom Line
While certainly not 'free,' the stock footage options from Footage Firm are very reasonably priced, of decent though variable quality, and therefore not a bad deal at all, as long as they fit your need.

Disclaimer
I purchased the reviewed product. I was provided no compensation of any kind from Footage Firm (or anyone else) to produce this review. The opinions herein are completely my own.

It's Daylight Saving Time, NOT Daylight Savings Time

By now you’ve hopefully remembered to turn your clocks back one hour with this year’s start of Daylight Saving Time. I researched DST hoping to be able to provide a fun, concise history, but found the practice anything but simple in introduction or perseverance! I did find that the first nationwide adoption (by passing of a law) was in 1918 (during World War I) as ‘An Act to preserve daylight and provide standard time for the United States.’

Interestingly (as I have a love of precise English), the official term is “Daylight Saving Time,” not “Daylight SavingS Time,” as is common parlance. It’s a kind of time that saves daylight, and it would be more accurate (grammatically) to use a dash: “Daylight-Saving Time;” but this just isn’t the practice. And to make it more confusing, no daylight is actually saved—rather it’s shifted. Daylight Shifting Time just doesn’t seem as politically powerful when it comes to energy savings, I guess...

Thoughts on the iPad

Well, Apple has released the iPad. I'll admit to wanting one, despite not being sure what I'd do with it. Thoughts that come to mind are:

> Reading books and magazines
> Controlling/monitoring my home network

The first one is well-supported. The Kindle iPhone app will run on it, and will certainly be upgraded to support the larger screen, and Apple will be offering additional books via their own store.

The second one, however, is lacking. See, I envision using the iPad like the handheld touch screens on Star Trek TNG - able to access anything on my network from anywhere. This is a current limitation of the iPhone--there's no app for that, it seems.

It Makes One Wonder...

Location: 2009

Mirriam-Webster defines 'astrology' as "the divination of the supposed influences of the stars and planets on human affairs and terrestrial events by their positions and aspects." Since the latest theory is that the universe is expanding (and has been since its genesis), it's reasonable to assume that the position of the stars and planets never repeat. That is, their positions are ever-changing and never the same.

So if astrology assesses the 'influences' that affect our lives and the planets have been constantly changing positions since one's birth, the idea of 'biorhythms' has merit. Biorhythms (again according to Mirriam Webster) are " innately determined rhythmic biological process[es] or function[s]..." or " the internal mechanism that determines such a process or function."

Simply stated, biorhythms use your birth date and cycles of emotional, physical and intellectual states to map how you will feel on any given date. Okay, seems logical so far.

* * *

For the past week, I've been feeling particularly tired. Sleeping almost ten hours per night has not helped. I've dragged, been lethargic, and generally a slug without the energy to be more.

At the same time, my mind has been racing. I'm exploring concepts, wondering about interesting topics, mentally picturing complex 3D suspension designs (a current passion), solving Sudoku puzzles, reading heady stuff (Kerouac, Kafka, Danielewski's House of Leaves)...

On a whim, I checked my biorhythm today:


So, for the past week, I've been (according to my biorhythm) in a physical low and nearing an intellectual high.

Coincidence?

An Organized Economy

This stuff in the news about the big three auto makers (in Detroit) asking for more bailout money bugs me. It is indicative of the ‘entitlement’ mentality that suffuses American business, and organized labor in general.

In a free market economy, the best businesses usually win. Those who can control costs, be aggressive and innovative in their strategy, be flexible to shifting markets and demands and operating costs and challenges, will be more successful than those who try to keep doing the same thing over and over.

My personal opinion is that organized labor is a large part of the problem purely because the costs of labor are not in line with the service delivered. Unions are about entitlement. "I did for you before, so you do for me now." It’s contrary to the way the business world really works, which is, "I did this before, and now I’m doing this and next I’ll do that." Success is about pay for performance, and constantly improving that performance. It takes constant improvement, not resting on past successes, to be successful in the future.

If organized labor could do an about-face and become more like guilds, they would deliver true value. If the purpose of a union was to develop and provide the best trade service to their customers, and hiring a union worker meant the customer knew she was getting a proven, qualified and skilled person, the whole thing could be different. Unions could demand the same dollars (if not more) they do now because the customer would be willing to pay for quality, not because they had successfully tied the hands that feed them. You have to make your customer want your product. It's about customer satisfaction. But unions aren't in the business of customer satisfaction. They’re in the business of making union management fat dumb and happy.

I think organized labor is the leading driver that limits our ability to compete in a world-wide marketplace. We have the laziest, highest paid workers in the world. It’s a cultural problem, however. It’s based out of a belief in individual rights at the expense of others’ rights: Me before you. It disgusts me.

How do we forget?

We have things that we really enjoy. Things that revive us, rejuvenate us, remind us why we go on day after day.

Sometimes, other things get in the way. We're distracted, diverted from the things that sustain us. We go for days, then weeks, then longer and slowly tell ourselves we'd rather not. We're too tired. It's too much trouble. There are things more important. We forget--forget what makes us happy. We substitute sustenance for joy.

When we wake up, however, and make ourselves get up and go and do the thing we know we love but have forgotten temporarily , the surge of well-being is addictive. How did we ever go this long without, we wonder.

Now, if I can just remember how to not forget.