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Beginning Better Filmmaking

PostPosted: Sat Jun 17, 2017 6:55 pm
by Adam Wright
Hi guys,

My friend and I have a passion for filmmaking. Our first short film we made together is now coming to the end of its film festival screenings, and we are now looking forward to better projects.

We filmed our first on a DSLR, and now want to move onto something better.

When we saw the Blackmagic URSA Mini 4.6K footage, we fell in love with it, and we really do have our hearts set on using it for our next film. It is perfect for our filming needs.Neither of us have used a camera that good before, and we are looking for some pretty basic advice. We would really appreciate some information to get us started.

1. Does it need to be plugged in or can it be charged and use wirelessly?
2. Audio wise, if are using lapel mics with wireless transceivers, will the audio be recorded separately to the video?
3. Which lenses will we need to hire to use with it?
4. Do we need specific handle types or fittings to fit onto its mount?

Keep in mind that we will be hiring the camera and all extra equipment.

Thank you very much. I know we are quite inexperienced, but we are passionate about cinematography and filmmaking and would really appreciate some advice.

Thanks

Re: Beginning Better Filmmaking

PostPosted: Fri Jun 23, 2017 8:48 am
by Robert Niessner
Adam Wright wrote:When we saw the Blackmagic URSA Mini 4.6K footage, we fell in love with it, and we really do have our hearts set on using it for our next film. It is perfect for our filming needs.Neither of us have used a camera that good before, and we are looking for some pretty basic advice. We would really appreciate some information to get us started.


Welcome Adam!
Just a word of advice for beginners: Do not underestimate the amount of money you need to really get a working package and not the body alone. Anyway, the quality you can get from the UM46k is brilliant and totally worth the money.

Adam Wright wrote:1. Does it need to be plugged in or can it be charged and use wirelessly?

The camera has a standard 4-pin XLR power-in and comes with a power supply. You have to buy the battery plate from Blackmagic separately and mount it to the back of the camera. With the plate you can then use V-mount batteries and work without the power cable. The camera eats ~45 Watt so a V-mount battery with 95 Wh lasts around 2 hours.

Adam Wright wrote:2. Audio wise, if are using lapel mics with wireless transceivers, will the audio be recorded separately to the video?


The camera has two XLR inputs and records 2 audio tracks into the ProRes file or into a separate WAV when recording CinemDNG raw. Audio will be in sync with video. You can either use the internal camera mic or the XLR inputs, but you can't use both at the same time. I've found the internal mic pretty good for ambient sound, but in low noise locations it will pick up the internal fan sound too and any handling of the camera.

Adam Wright wrote:3. Which lenses will we need to hire to use with it?

That will depend on what you are planning to film with your camera. You might find this thread useful:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=60632

Adam Wright wrote:4. Do we need specific handle types or fittings to fit onto its mount?

I am not sure how to interpret that question, could you specify a bit?

Re: Beginning Better Filmmaking

PostPosted: Wed Jul 05, 2017 5:53 pm
by Adam Wright
Robert Niessner wrote:
Adam Wright wrote:4. Do we need specific handle types or fittings to fit onto its mount?

I am not sure how to interpret that question, could you specify a bit?


Thank you very much for your reply. Sorry for not replying sooner, I have been away. As you can likely tell, I am not too confident with the correct language to use, but I meant to ask about if I will need specific types of tripod and/or steady cam to work with the camera.

Re: Beginning Better Filmmaking

PostPosted: Wed Jul 12, 2017 12:07 pm
by Robert Niessner
Adam, you need a tripod capable of supporting the weight of you fully rigged camera. That can be anything between 6 and 12 kg, depending on your equipment.

The tripod head should at least support 10kg because you shouldn't use it at its edge.
There is a thread about tripods in the cinematography section of this forum with lots of recommendations.