Looking for work

I'm currently looking for work, so I can fund more film and chemicals, and more cameras. Well, and of course rent and food.... but that's lower priority ;)

I had an offer from Owen from David Hawk English School, who posted me a contract and can sponsor me for a VISA for teaching English in Zhongshan, about 130km west of Shenzhen iirc.

I'm unsure whats best for me to do.

Whether I should take that, hold out for other offers, or try to find an offer from Japan, or simply pack up all my crap into storage and stay at a hostel in Sydney while looking for anything (such as night fill), though I'd be giving up shooting film mostly, and I'd probably need to get some kind of laptop which is more expense..


Blah.

Mamiya RB67 ProS Repair Manual and Parts Catalog

A kind internet user has emailed me both the parts catalog and repair manual/sevice instructions for the Mamiya RB67 ProS, I previously scoured the internet for these but could not find either.

So I am making them available here for all film users, enjoy.

Service Instructions for Mamiya RB67 ProS
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=12CM_sA3yELlU4ek6n7e5QCF7yAZjnOOo4zicWgWWc0ewuMDfm-9P8zGGmjPV&hl=en&authkey=CIH7t-0M

Parts Catalog for Mamiya RB67 ProS
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=1zH6tCMpny0AnZvulZzEkjiy1eHmDWBve0K70pH7CFWjvoLpem_sYmOaRTDw0&hl=en&authkey=CLaQ9eoC

Shoulder Mount Follow Focus Idea

After seeing the excellent work done here - http://athan.se/diy-shoulder-rig/

I (obviously) thought that inexpensive plastic gears with a gear ring would make it a litle more 'proper' (or even lego gears), but the major problem was still the twist of the wrist while holding a shoulder mounted camera, which is not ideal.

No matter which way your hands are position with bars that are more horizontal, or vertical, the concept has the same problem (though its a very excellent solution for a mobile camera and pulling your own focus).


It suddenly hit me - a trigger.

You could use a trigger (like a gun), instead of any twisting motion.

The trigger pulls a spring when you press it in, which draws a line/cord/etc hooked up to pulley or other device, that converts that motion into rotating motion so you can run a gear, which then you gear up to the lens.

So as you press the trigger in, the focus moves closer (or further away), and as you let go, the spring pulls it back in the opposite direction.




So simple!

I'll have to find time to start building all this shit.

Satay

Peanut Oil + Chilli Powder + Ground Corriander + Ground Cumin + Brown Sugar + Peanut Butter + Milk = Delicious.

Graduated | Bleach Live Action

So I graduated.

What to do now?


I'm toying with the idea of doing a live action Bleach fan film in the trailer format, I want to show what a anime/manga to film translation should be like, as I heard there is a Hollywood manga to film adaptation of Bleach on the table.

Also because, the music is so great, and it can be really strong at times, I wish Bleach was pushed up to a Seinen rating from the beginning rather than Shonen, it'd have so much more potential.

Anyway, whatever I do, I'd be staying true to the character and style of Bleach and not raping it, though some differences rather than a complete literal translation are always needed to be true to the feel of the original material, as they are not in the same context across media.

I'd definately however, be targetting mine as 'seinen' though, in the anime adaptation of the manga, there is a deeper, darker and sinnister feel that kind of comes through but not quite, I want to bring this feeling right out, along with all the good points of Bleach.

DIY Light Meter Concept

So, just thought I'd make a new blog entry saying that I intend to build a light meter.

A CdS 'sensor' (light dependant resister or photo resistor) is pretty cheap, about $1, so I'm going to try and experiment and build a low-light meter.


Sekonic's seem to stop metering somewhere really lame, my Gossen Luna Pro SBC is several stops better, and goes down to EV -5, so I'd be looking at improving upon that essentially, a number of more stops.

 Would be handy.

16mm Motion Picture Film Developing Tank Mk1 aka "Missile Launcher"

Okay so the first developing tank is completed, it has numerous problems in operation, though isnt expensive to make, is a pain in the arse to actually use, I have already learned a lot and have a number of refinements for the heliacal-spiral type, though I'm 'putting my money' on a simple 2D spiral type.

Ultimately I want to construct something that has semi-automatic loading of up to 1000 ft in lengths in both 16mm and 35mm formats, which I have a few ideas for the future for.

Anyway, I've posted a video on vimeo detailing on putting this first version together, I will post chemistry mixing for ECN-2 and other videos in the future, such as other tank versions, and actually processing ECN-2 film, and B&W motion picture reversal stock.

http://vimeo.com/12522602


Video journal of the "missile launcher" (since it likes to launch the inner tube like a missile if you dont tape the end cap on when using it).

This shows construction of the first 16mm ~100ft I built (ended up being 86.5ft in this one).

There are problems with this design I didn't know about or think of until I went to use it.

This design takes a long time to construct, is very difficult to load.

I would also recommend if using the heliacal-spiral type like this desig of mine, to have the spiral track cut into a tube (perhaps a wooden solid cylinder?) about 0.5cm+ deep so the film can be crank-wound on.

Currently, at the moment I recommend a 2D spiral type on a base board that gets placed into a bath, a spiral may seem hard to make, but you can do it with vertical rods (nails, dowel, otherwise, etc) rather than two tracks at bottom and top like a 35mm/120 roll hand processing tank for still film.

If your film needs to touch against something (such as the rod 2D spiral type or rack processor, or this tank in the video) wind it on so the emulsion side is not touching anything, then it is perfectly fine.

I'll make a new tank and show a video, as well as mixing up useable formula for processing ECN-2 at some point.

I'll be scaling up my final design when I find the perfect design after building enough 100ft tanks for 400ft and 1000ft and 35mm as well.