msalvetti wrote:
Yes, Anwar. Username is alawadhi. He's in Bahrain.
He hasn't posted here (or on FM) since Dec 2020.
Mark
I miss Anwar, super guy. I've tried to get a hold of him a couple of times, with no success. Hope he's doing ok.
People's lives change, and over the last few years I think just keeping one's head above water has become a challenge for many. I'm sure that factors into some of the attrition we've seen. Political division is a factor I'd guess, although I don't think we spend a great deal of time on that, everyone kind of knows where everyone stands, shouldn't have anything to do with photography but in today's life it permeates everything. Gone are the days that folks could engage in civil discourse about differences in perspective and I'm as culpable as the next guy. I have close friends across every ethnicity, faith, and socio-economic strata, but have zero interest in being around anyone who espouses the progressive agenda, or the outer fringes of the right for that matter. Funny, I don't ever remember a time when a word, or a sentence could radically and immediately alter my opinion of someone, but it sure does. Not condoning cancel culture in any way, just now more than ever, people need to say what they mean and mean what they say. Used to be once every couple of years folks walked into a voting booth and checked the boxes for a party and or people that they believed in, walked back out and got on with their lives. Today we find ourselves in a society where every minute of every day is a constant barrage of people's "rights" and agendas being shoved down everyone's throats and the proclivities of 3% of the population can turn a nation, even the world upside down, very strange times.
All in all, MA2A is, in spite of the above conditions, a wonderful spot, with wonderful people, and I think it will remain so long into the future. The credit goes to all of you.
Scott Kelby is a great guy, wonderfully quick wit. Larry Grace and I had him at Alliance a couple of years ago and we are trying to put our schedules together so we can spend a few days shooting at El Centro with The Blues and the T-Birds in a month or so. He's a marketing and a media genius as well as a great photographer. I never let my Kelby One subscription lapse, there is always something interesting on the site, many things to learn and refer back to. You can time it right and take advantage of special pricing every once in a while and get the Pro subscription for $179, it's one of those spots where you pick up tips that are worth multiples of the membership cost.
I was raised with two brothers and we were constantly sharpening our wits on each other, if you hesitated, or weren't at the top of your game with a come back, you lost and were relegated to the bottom of the heap. Back to my comment about one word or sentence forming an opinion, Scott and I sat down for lunch with a group at the ISAP Symposium in Virginia Beach a few years ago, we were all ordering and I ordered some kind of salad. Scott looked up and said, "Do they make one of those for a man.......?" One split second, one quick quip, and I knew that Scott and I were going to be friends for life, the banter hasn't stopped since.
JWilsonphoto wrote:
Ray, you are probably used to this from all of your years in the service, but yesterday as I got deeper and deeper into this assignment I was struck by the sheer magnitude of the work that I was capturing. Just inspecting something as large and complex as a 777 is an unimaginably daunting task, muchness modifying and rebuilding one. Talk about a perfect example of the old cliche "How do you eat an elephant...........?"
Once I got the RS3 Pro configured I did a little research and found a set of arms that DJI offers with a grip that has all the controls in it. FedEx is dropping that product at my door today. I found it a bit clumsy trying to suspend the gimbal and control it from the joystick on the center column. I think this accessory will help a lot. FYI, in the situation that I had yesterday I found that my footage was smoother if I left lens IS "On" rather than "OFF". I had read several IS reviews relating to using the RS, IBIS should be "OFF" but lens IS seemed to help. All the video I shot yesterday was on the R5C so in body stabilization wasn't an option anyway. This is the first time I really put the R5C to the test and it was the perfect scenario for it, we'll see....Show more →
RS3: Is the grip the one from SmallRig? If not, which one?
I'm chillin' a bit today due to the ridiculous amount of exercise that I got yesterday. Been doing RS3 Pro tutorials. The handles that I ordered, and which just arrived, are indeed Small Rig:
I didn't deck the gimbal out with the Atomos Ninja V and a microphone yesterday just because I didn't really need it and I didn't want to over complicate my trial run. The RS 2 Pro and RS 3 Pro are wonderful tools, but as you and I both discovered, to get pro results, time with the units is vital.
One thing that I have fallen deeply in love with on the 3 is the auto lock button, man what a feature! I'll get back to you as soon as I get the handles mounted, but I think they'll be an upgrade.
Just began going through the R5C/RS3 Pro video clips from earlier this week and I have to say that I am really pleased with the feel. Given these are the first clips out of the gate I'm pretty amazed at how well the rig performed. I was expecting a lot of jitter and a bunch of pretty clumsy clips, but I haven't found any yet. Tomorrow I'm back at it and I am going to try some more intricate moves with the gimbal with the Atomos Ninja V+ attached. They are sliding a Triple into a huge inspection gantry which ought to be full of graphically interesting compositions. Hoping that the RF 15-35 is wide enough to capture what I'm envisioning.
All in all, I'm giving the RS3 Pro a 5 star rating. I'm charging the Small Rig remote and it will be ready for duty in a couple of hours. The reviews all rave about battery life, 8-12 hours supposedly, but I'm thinking that it's more like 4-6. I'll be picking up an extra battery grip on the way home tomorrow.
Now that I have been putting the R5C to work I'm discovering that battery life is absurdly brief, even with the dual battery pack. I haven't been timing it but my guess is the dual Canon batteries last less than 60 minutes and that is with intermittent recording and standby. Love the camera, and the quality of the video, but I need to find a work around for that really quickly. I suppose the solution is going to be an auxiliary V-Mount battery with a dummy battery in the camera body, not really what I wanted but.......
The RS3 Pro lasted 8 hours today with intermittent use so my estimates are correct, 4-6 hours if you are working it hard. Today was working it all hard, my Apple Watch tells me that I walked 11,667 steps/5.38 miles and 16 flights of stairs.........no wonder I'm a little sore.
So Jim, I'm thinking that this assignment is a nice prelude to next getting you into the Vehicle Assembly Building at KSC as they prepare for the next Artemis mission to the moon. I would love to see what you could do in there with the drone.
I had the opportunity to photograph this Hawker 4000 this week. Never have photographed one of these, until this week. I think they only built 71 of them.
Thanks for sharing that video, very cool. Yesterday I spent most of my time doing a video of how they move Triple 7's around . They have three heavy maintenance bays that are like gigantic Lego sets. The units are on semi-circular tracks so that, once the aircraft is in position, it can be rotated in close to the fuselage.I shot that process in a normal frame rate, but will speed up versions of it so it looks like a time lapse. The infrastructure that has been designed and built so these huge aircraft can be inspected and maintained is nothing short of amazing, I leave the site feeling very small.
I have a new client that is involved in custom building Velocity Aircraft. He is delivering a new version after a couple of years of work and wants me to do a whole portfolio on the airplane, interiors, studio shots, air to air, stills and video. Something to look forward to when the backgrounds green up in the Spring. They want varying landscapes as backdrops, cityscapes, mountains, ocean shorelines, etc., so it should be a lot of fun.
Headed downtown to figure out my R5C power system and get that configured. I guess, in retrospect, it's no surprise that that little camera consumes power like it's going out of style. There's a lot going on inside that little frame and the addition of the cooling fan adds an additional power draw. The camera really is perfectly matched to the RS3 Pro gimbal though. The rig is going to be a great asset when shooting run and gun stuff for my fracking clients too.
For those of you who would like to shoot out of a B25 for the first time, or again, I have good news. I have a new client who purchased a Mitchell and it is currently undergoing refurbishment, new engines, etc. and we're hoping to be shooting out of it by spring/summer. The first assignment is already booked, a pair of Phenom business jets, but there will be lots more.
That's exactly what we have, and a pair of Marchetti S211's. My Wide Body clients have been asking me if it would be possible to do air to air with the 777's as they are completed. My plan was to enlist Devil Dog, and that may well be the most economical route still, the new B25 is based in the southeast. If everything goes according to plan, which is rarely the case, we'll have it all over the country.
I spent a couple of hours cogitating on my R5C power situation and I believe that I've solved it. First I removed the Canon battery pack and put the normal Small Rig cage back on the camera, then I mounted the R5C back on the RS3 Pro and balanced it (took five minutes which was great!) Just ordered an LP-E6 dummy battery to DTap cable to run power to the camera. Small Rig makes a mini v mount plate that will mount nicely to the right stabilizing arm and having the 50W Lion battery on that side will balance out the Ninja V+ that's on the opposite arm. If the Lion battery has enough juice to do it, maybe I can use it to power both the camera and the Ninja V+ and save a little weight.
I'll post a shot of the set up once all the parts arrive next week.
JWilsonphoto wrote:
That's exactly what we have, and a pair of Marchetti S211's. My Wide Body clients have been asking me if it would be possible to do air to air with the 777's as they are completed. My plan was to enlist Devil Dog, and that may well be the most economical route still, the new B25 is based in the southeast. If everything goes according to plan, which is rarely the case, we'll have it all over the country.
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Triple WOW...
Marchetti S211, Phenoms, 777...Dang, what's that gonna run
I'll go rob a bank now.
They will be separate shoots and I'm guessing that there will be more exciting subjects when this gets rolling. Experience tells me that you never know if any of these missions are actually going to happen until you are hanging up there with something banking into view. Weebeesee!
