Jun 24

ARCHIVE - Have you allready used the Cinefade?

Have you allready used the Cinefade? Cinefade By Rozemarijn on 5/25/19, 12:01 PM • 410 views Have you allready used the Cinefade? Did you like it? Easy to setup? Ive used it a few times, and i did found the setting up easy, but only when reading the manual and understanding the cpro handunit. Setting up on set, works quite easy. Im curious if any of you need tips, trick or can show me some!

Clemens Hönig On 5/27/19, 11:26 AM I think there are some basic tips you should know when working with the Cinefade for the first time: The Cinefade is a creative tool, which can be a part of the AC`s toolbag, but which would be controlled by the DoP. So setting it up right, is key, as the DOP won`t be able to dive in the technical aspects of the system. Here are some tips I would like to share, but let me know if you have any other experiences: 1. lens mapping: when mapping a lens, always approach the engravings from the same side. That means, if you set your lens values and you overshoot a mark, turn back the motor to the latest correct mark and approach it again form the same side. Especially older motors can have some play when turning back and forth. Setting the marks always form one side will avoid any offsets of the lens data. 2. put the Iris motor on long or max ramp to avoid any changes of the brightness when doing the Cinefade effect. 3. set up the hand (User buttons) unit correctly and explain it to the DoP. Ideally it is a plug and play operation for the DoP. For the User buttons, there is no right or wrong, but I think there are some features which are essential within the Cinefade mode:

Assign either the knob or the zoom to Iris control
assign the user buttons to Cinefade/Filter related settings. My favorite settings are:
UB1: filter increase (increasing the filter, while in Cinefade mode)
UB2: lens limits (Iris) (to limit the motor rotation of the iris)
UB3: filter decrease (decreasing the filter, while in Cinefade mode)
BB1: Cinefade mode on / off

What's your experience? What have you learned and what are your favorite settings for the Cinefade?

Oliver Janesh Christiansen

Jul 29

Clemens' tips are great and I totally agree with Rozmarijn on the importance of following every step in the manual for the setup and lens mapping.

One thing to remember is that two lens motors are required for the lens mapping procedure. The lens files require focus positions and iris positions to be saved successfully. The focus motor can be removed after lens mapping if you're using the Cinefade with a second LCS and there is also a workaround solution if you only have one motor (outlined in the manual).

Sometimes the markings on vintage lenses or even on some modern ones are not completely accurate, especially the wide-open T-stop (for marketing purposes they can be marked faster than the actual light transmission). This can cause a small exposure jump but can be fixed by editing the lens file and changing the wide-open iris value, for example from an indicated T1.4 to an actual T1.6.

MENU > Lens > Edit > next/cal > [select lens] > next > [edit values].

When handing the hand unit to the DP, I would always recommend to set limits, so that the iris slider only controls the Cinefade range (eg. between T8 to T1.4) to avoid a change in exposure when the iris surpasses the deepest depth of field setting (eg. T8).

If you're on set and the exposure changes while you have Cinefade mode activated you can press the user button assigned to 'Filter increase' or 'Filter decrease' to quickly change the Cinefade start position by ⅓ stop rather than de-activating Cinefade mode, adjusting the iris with the slider and re-activating Cinefade mode. A small time saver and more pleasant for the DP and people watching the monitor.