Lets hit the basics?

[D.St.]

Lost in Translation:
Since there was no Japanese translation for hand held video camera, when Ikegami first developed the ENG camera the verbatim translation was "Color Handy Looky" hence the HL model designation. "Color Handy Looky" was actually stamped on the bottom of the HL 33 & 35.

Not including 26 lb electronics backpack or the 3/4" vtr:

At my station, we have an old HL-35 in our photog room as a decoration. The station used to have a promo touting that camera since it was the first "LIVE" camera in the market. Nowadays, it just collects dust.

 

[Shaky & Blue]

Originally posted by D.St.:
registration

Registration is a film camera's ability to expose each frame of film in the same place in relation to the sprocket holes. A camera with good registration will put the picture almost in the exact same spot on the film every time. In a camera with bad registration the film will "weave" or jitter.

Or were you talking about video?

Originally posted by D.St.:
Sun Gun

Sun Gun is actually the name of a specific product manufactured by Sylvania. It is a battery operated tungsten light with a handle built into the bottom of it so that it can be held by hand. You power the Sun Gun with an external battery or battery belt, such as the Cine 60 belts we were discussing earlier.

If you ever cover something that attracts crews from Korea, you may notice them using Sun Guns. I'm not sure why, but instead of using top lights, each of the Korean photogs who came into the country to cover the South Korean President's visit had an extra guy with him who handled the Sun Gun and wore a battery belt.

Come to think of it, I think have a Sun Gun somewhere around here. You can pick 'em up cheap on eBay.

 

[<basset>]

and speaking of Handy Lookys... we all know CBS O&O KMOX in St. Louis was the first station in the country to quit shooting film and go total-ENG, but
what was the second?

 

[Tippster]

Well, our studio Audio guy gives the talent mix minus because he claims they tend to talk too loud if he doesn't. Makes sense, since you don't normally have your own voice amplified when you speak. Ever talk to someone who's listening to headphones?

Also, some Eastern Europeans (especially the former SSR's like Georgia) still have "Light Holder" guys. They're leftovers from the "Assistant Camera" days of TV production.

 

[tdelarm]

The handy looky thing kills me...I would of never had guessed.

Tomorrow..er..well...later today when I get to the studio I'll ask the audio guy about the mixed minus or IFB sent to the anchors.

Reg. for video should be for aligning the tubes...which thank god we don't have to worry about anymore.

 

[Icarus112277]

Just doublechecked- we give straight PGM to our in house talent.

Not because its what we wanted to do, but since management skimped on the audio board, there aren't enough mix-minuses to handle the situation properly. Go figure.

 

[Icarus112277]

At the NBA FInals the on court guys had Sun Gun boys with them

 

[<C St. SW>]

For those who've never seen one, this is what you used before every live broadcast to "stack" the "guns" or color tubes in the studio camera. After the camera was registered, you would turn the chart around and use the

"chip" chart

which was used to balance the RGB signals.

 

[BluesDaddy]

Originally posted by Icarus112277:

quote: Originally posted by Shaky & Blue:

quote: Originally posted by Icarus112277:

quote: Originally posted by Tippster:

quote: Originally posted by Shaky & Blue:
...Thus, foldback is a friendlier term, in that the sound coming out of the talent's mouth is being "folded back" to him from the audio board without risking hearing loss.

Or not, since hopefully they "Interrupted" it to avoid the dreaded echo...

Hopefully it would be a mix-minus going back tot he talent- hearing yourself talk in your ear in quite confusing.

I can't remember... Do they give the anchors in the studio mix minus? I was thinking the anchors get a full mix and hear themselves (which is, of course, the highlight of their day), since there isn't a noticeable delay in the monitor audio coming back to the studio.

Also, I thought it was Interruptible Foldback, with interruptible referring to the capacity for a producer or director to interrupt the audio and irritate the anchor or talent by talking in his ear while he's trying to read (as opposed to a closed monitoring system where you would only hear the on-air mix).

Its definitely iterruptible, otherwise there wouldn't be a point to it.

If its not a mix-minus, it should be. Try talking while hearing yourself on a slight delay- its a bit confusing. Mix-minus is the way to go.

Can we go for a record "Most Nested Quotes"? I know you guys have it in you!!!

 

[Shaky & Blue]

Originally posted by BluesDaddy:

quote: Originally posted by Icarus112277:

quote: Originally posted by Shaky & Blue:

quote: Originally posted by Icarus112277:

quote: Originally posted by Tippster:

quote: Originally posted by Shaky & Blue:
...Thus, foldback is a friendlier term, in that the sound coming out of the talent's mouth is being "folded back" to him from the audio board without risking hearing loss.

Or not, since hopefully they "Interrupted" it to avoid the dreaded echo...

Hopefully it would be a mix-minus going back tot he talent- hearing yourself talk in your ear in quite confusing.

I can't remember... Do they give the anchors in the studio mix minus? I was thinking the anchors get a full mix and hear themselves (which is, of course, the highlight of their day), since there isn't a noticeable delay in the monitor audio coming back to the studio.

Also, I thought it was Interruptible Foldback, with interruptible referring to the capacity for a producer or director to interrupt the audio and irritate the anchor or talent by talking in his ear while he's trying to read (as opposed to a closed monitoring system where you would only hear the on-air mix).

Its definitely iterruptible, otherwise there wouldn't be a point to it.

If its not a mix-minus, it should be. Try talking while hearing yourself on a slight delay- its a bit confusing. Mix-minus is the way to go.

Can we go for a record "Most Nested Quotes"? I know you guys have it in you!!!

We can try. What do you think, Tipp?

 

[queen of blue]

In the studio where there is no delay, do the anchors still get mix minus in their IFB on the set? You don't get mix minus in radio; what comes into your cans is the full mix with your voice included. I don't see why the live audio mix for in house monitoring in a television studio would be any different.

Ah, not almost but not quite true. At every radio station I worked at you had two different ways you could pipe audio to the cans. 1> Through the program monitor - no delay whatsoever and my personal choice. The drawback was that if you popped off the air while you had the headphones on you didn't have anyway to know about it as you we listening to what you were putting out of the studio.

or 2> You could also take "off-air" straight to the headphones. (Although I guess it would technically me "on-air".) This produced a slight delay, the length of which seems to have a lot to do with various things in your audio chain. The advantage was that you knew EXACTLY what was being heard on the air at every given moment. In essence you were "listening to the radio."

Personally, I ran the Studio Monitors "off-air" and the headphones on "program" because the delay made it hard to concentrate ..... and we all know I have enough trouble with that already!

 

[Lost in Alaska]

Originally posted by BluesDaddy:

quote: Originally posted by Icarus112277:

quote: Originally posted by Shaky & Blue:

quote: Originally posted by Icarus112277:

quote: Originally posted by Tippster:

quote: Originally posted by Shaky & Blue:
...Thus, foldback is a friendlier term, in that the sound coming out of the talent's mouth is being "folded back" to him from the audio board without risking hearing loss.

Or not, since hopefully they "Interrupted" it to avoid the dreaded echo...

Hopefully it would be a mix-minus going back tot he talent- hearing yourself talk in your ear in quite confusing.

I can't remember... Do they give the anchors in the studio mix minus? I was thinking the anchors get a full mix and hear themselves (which is, of course, the highlight of their day), since there isn't a noticeable delay in the monitor audio coming back to the studio.

Also, I thought it was Interruptible Foldback, with interruptible referring to the capacity for a producer or director to interrupt the audio and irritate the anchor or talent by talking in his ear while he's trying to read (as opposed to a closed monitoring system where you would only hear the on-air mix).

Its definitely iterruptible, otherwise there wouldn't be a point to it.

If its not a mix-minus, it should be. Try talking while hearing yourself on a slight delay- its a bit confusing. Mix-minus is the way to go.

Can we go for a record "Most Nested Quotes"? I know you guys have it in you!!!

Might as well add one to the fire. Another possibility for IFB, at least according to the first station I worked at: Intercom's F*!king Broken.

 

[queen of blue]

Wait - but now that I go back and read what Shaky wrote a little closer .... he's right after all. You do get a full mix as opposed to mix-minus - but the reason you get a delay has to do with "program" vs. "off-air" .....

 

[David R. Busse]

Originally posted by Tippster:


Also, some Eastern Europeans (especially the former SSR's like Georgia) still have "Light Holder" guys. They're leftovers from the "Assistant Camera" days of TV production.

I have worked alongside Japanese crews who have an extra guy to manage lights and camera batteries.

On my first shoot for network news (1980) we were operating under DC bureau management at the Republican Convention in Detroit. We had a third man--called a "utility" man--whose job, among others, was to carry a sun gun and a couple of batteries. We were not to attach any kind of light to the camera. Shooting in a hallway got crowded with sound guy and light guy bouncing off each other more than once.

I think the third guy as standard on certain net ENG crews went away about 1984.

I also remember a production I did for charity back in the 1980s where a bunch of TV people donated time and talent to produce a PSA. I was the cameraman, and I had a full film-style crew, including an a/c who handled focus-pulling and a second assistant who schlepped the tripod and carried it between shoots. Nice. Several on this crew were astounded when I told them that normally I did all this stuff myself.

 

[Shaky & Blue]

All right. I have one out of left field I want to see if ANYONE knows:

bokeh (pronounced bo-kay)

And if you have to do an Internet search to find out what it is, fess up and let us know you cheated.

 

[whatsatripod]

Originally posted by Lost in Alaska:

quote: Originally posted by BluesDaddy:

quote: Originally posted by Icarus112277:

quote: Originally posted by Shaky & Blue:

quote: Originally posted by Icarus112277:

quote: Originally posted by Tippster:

quote: Originally posted by Shaky & Blue:
...Thus, foldback is a friendlier term, in that the sound coming out of the talent's mouth is being "folded back" to him from the audio board without risking hearing loss.

Or not, since hopefully they "Interrupted" it to avoid the dreaded echo...

Hopefully it would be a mix-minus going back tot he talent- hearing yourself talk in your ear in quite confusing.

I can't remember... Do they give the anchors in the studio mix minus? I was thinking the anchors get a full mix and hear themselves (which is, of course, the highlight of their day), since there isn't a noticeable delay in the monitor audio coming back to the studio.

Also, I thought it was Interruptible Foldback, with interruptible referring to the capacity for a producer or director to interrupt the audio and irritate the anchor or talent by talking in his ear while he's trying to read (as opposed to a closed monitoring system where you would only hear the on-air mix).

Its definitely iterruptible, otherwise there wouldn't be a point to it.

If its not a mix-minus, it should be. Try talking while hearing yourself on a slight delay- its a bit confusing. Mix-minus is the way to go.

Can we go for a record "Most Nested Quotes"? I know you guys have it in you!!!

Might as well add one to the fire. Another possibility for IFB, at least according to the first station I worked at: Intercom's F*!king Broken.

Ahh Hell I will help out on the quotes. Another one for IFB... Intercom For Bimbos

 

[Tippster]

Originally posted by Shaky & Blue:

quote: Originally posted by BluesDaddy:

quote: Originally posted by Icarus112277:

quote: Originally posted by Shaky & Blue:

quote: Originally posted by Icarus112277:

quote: Originally posted by Tippster:

quote: Originally posted by Shaky & Blue:
...Thus, foldback is a friendlier term, in that the sound coming out of the talent's mouth is being "folded back" to him from the audio board without risking hearing loss.

Or not, since hopefully they "Interrupted" it to avoid the dreaded echo...

Hopefully it would be a mix-minus going back tot he talent- hearing yourself talk in your ear in quite confusing.

I can't remember... Do they give the anchors in the studio mix minus? I was thinking the anchors get a full mix and hear themselves (which is, of course, the highlight of their day), since there isn't a noticeable delay in the monitor audio coming back to the studio.

Also, I thought it was Interruptible Foldback, with interruptible referring to the capacity for a producer or director to interrupt the audio and irritate the anchor or talent by talking in his ear while he's trying to read (as opposed to a closed monitoring system where you would only hear the on-air mix).

Its definitely iterruptible, otherwise there wouldn't be a point to it.

If its not a mix-minus, it should be. Try talking while hearing yourself on a slight delay- its a bit confusing. Mix-minus is the way to go.

Can we go for a record "Most Nested Quotes"? I know you guys have it in you!!!

We can try. What do you think, Tipp?

No, I don't think I'll play along.

Bokeh

Yes, I "googled" that.

 

[Shaky & Blue]

Originally posted by Tippster:
Bokeh

Yes, I "googled" that.

That's a good explanation, but that guy left an important detail.

For those who didn't read it, bokeh is a term used to describe how a lens renders the area of the picture that is out of focus. It's somewhat subjective, but generally a lens with a good bokeh will present a nice, smooth blending of the out-of-focus elements in the frame, providing good separation for the elements that are in focus. A lens with bad bokeh will produce uneven unfocused areas that bunch up in patterns that detract from the area of the frame that is in focus.

One common effect (the detail this guy didn't mention) is a "double image." In some lenses with poor bokeh, as the image goes out of focus the circles converge in such a way that instead of blending smoothly, they appear to split the image unto faint double images. I have seen this effect in some of the low-cost plastic lenses that get sold with entry-level DVCPro and DV cameras, and even in some of the cheaper glass lenses.

The best bokeh I have noticed in a video lens is in Canon's HD glass. Part of what makes HD video look so good is that Canon has for years been developing lenses with good bokeh, and it makes the focused areas of the picture look even sharper. You might do a resolution test on a Canon lens and find that it's technically really no sharper than another lens, but it will usually look sharper because it has such a good bokeh.

Several years ago I was shooting a film with a set of newer generation Zeiss Superspeed prime lenses on an Arri SRII. Because of an equipment conflict, we had to give up our camera and borrow an Aaton that only had a big Canon zoom with it. The first thing we noticed was that that zoom looked better than the primes, not because it was sharper, but because that Canon bokeh was so beautifully even. Luckily we shot entire scenes with the Canon lens and didn't have to mix the footage within scenes, but I was still irritated that the footage didn't match exactly throughout the whole film. On the other hand, I might have been one of three or four people in the theater at the premier who noticed the difference.

Here's some bad bokeh:

I hope your lens doesn't look like that.

Here's some better bokeh:

Notice how smooth and even the background is, popping out the leaf? Actually, the leaf isn't really that sharp, but it looks good because of the nice separation.

Here's some nasty double-image bokeh:

Notice that the image is bunching up in vertical lines out to the left and right of the objects in frame. This is just sad.

Holy crap this is ugly:

I'll just leave it at that.

 

[<understanding IFB>]

IFB is either Interruptible feedback or foldback, depending on who you talk to or what book or manual you read. Mix-minus is an element of IFB that takes the full program MIX, MINUS a single or group of audio sources, mostly microphones but sometimes can include tape decks or other audio devices. We feed our talents in studio (anchors) a full program audio mix, that was a decision made by all of our studio talent. MIX MINUS is used whenever there is or could be a delay involved. The interrupt is exactly what it sounds like it interrupts the signal either total loss of program audio or by ducking the signal to a lower level so talent can listen to program and producer, director, etc., etc. The reason for the delay on off air is because of the delay it takes to get your studio signal to the transmitter site. It is usually a microwave signal called a STL- Studio to Transmitter Link. On top of that delay you can have phone delays. Regular analog cells have about a 1/2 to 3/4 of a second delay. Sat phones can have as much as 3-4 second delay depending on the amount signal conversion. Next time you are doing a shot with a confidence monitor turn the volume up while you have IFB you should notice that your monitor will lag behind the IFB. Don't even think about using a off-air monitor if you are doing a sat shot outside of your city. By the time it makes it from your station to the transmitter then to an off air reciever for a translator then makes the gap to your monitor you have some major delays, once again 3-4 seconds minimum! I hope this got laid out so you understand a little more about how we make TV work. Any other questions?

 

[<UberRookie>]

Originally posted by Icarus112277:
3:2 Pulldown
Pre-read
Combiner
SDI/ Embedded audio/ Mux/ Demux
Keyframe
Terminator
ISCE
Codi
EVS
Aliasing
Reference
Downstream keyer
9-Pin
Confidence
Para-Run
Omega Head
Aux Bus
Timeline
Send
Cap

Oof! I'm WAY too lazy to answer all of these but here are a few:

Pre-read is the ability for a machine to dissolve between a shot already laid down and a yet to be laid down shot by "pre reading" the video <---Prolly wrong on this one someone please let me know.

3:2 pulldown refers to the conversion between video and film usually by a telecine machine. Since there is a difference between 24 fps in film and 30 fps in video, the machine makes film viewable on an NTSC video screen by subtly adding a new video field every 3rd then 2nd frame.


Keyframe is a term that was originally used in animation to describe certain characteristics of a single frame of film. In non linear editing a keyframe can be used to manipulate certain settings applied to a channel of video over a period of time


Timeline: the visual representation of a video and/or audio project on a non linear editing system.