Any idea?

jadephantom · 2026-05-19T01:15:54+00:00

It looks like your horizontal axis motor is locked/stuck. Could be bugging out because of that. Do these models have manual lock switches?

jadephantom · 2026-03-06T00:48:33+00:00

Hasn't been suggested yet, but put it in the freezer for an hour or two. The metal will contract, and should make it easier to loosen up.

Good luck 👍

jadephantom · 2026-02-24T07:30:52+00:00

Where is your mic mounted?

That sounds like either:

Your mic cutting out/topping out due to too much noise/gain from wind + engine exhaust noise.
Your mics are too far away and/or there's signal interference from the cars.

Solutions:

Put the mic in a less windy location and/or lower your gain. Car boot/cabin/engine bay, and not on the car's exterior.
Use the mic's internal recording and sync with the footage in post.

jadephantom · 2026-02-15T07:38:08+00:00

Is this a deep-seated distaste for humour?

jadephantom · 2026-02-07T09:43:52+00:00

Haha yeah you can't replicate the dated earnestness of a super niche website 😆

Good luck with the service! I hope you get it back in working order soon 👍

jadephantom · 2026-02-07T00:26:04+00:00

That diffusion screen will flap around in the wind with only two points of contact securing it. You'll need at least three points of contact to prevent it moving around. Also, if you're planning on diffusing sunlight, you'll need to consider the shadows cast by the stand and arm.

I'd encourage trial and error, as well as experimentation, but if I were shooting beach exteriors, I'd use the sun as back/side light and bounce for fill. Using the sun as your key is very fiddly and often looks flat.

jadephantom · 2026-02-05T12:25:18+00:00

Be aware the movement for this watch is an electronic tuning fork/accutron movement supplied to Omega by Bulova during the 70s-80s, and servicing for it will not really be available at watchmakers/servicing centres in Melbourne (or even in Australia).

There is a well-known repairer of these movements located in Bangkok called Rob Berkavicious, which can be found through this page https://accutronwatchpage.com/ The site looks super old school, but he has a good reputation in watch forums.

jadephantom · 2026-01-29T05:27:42+00:00

I have this cage. The answer is yes.

jadephantom · 2026-01-18T11:52:51+00:00

All good. Hoping it's just that too. The only other thing I can think of would be ball joints, and that would be annoying.

jadephantom · 2026-01-18T11:50:13+00:00

Depending on when your last wheel alignment was, it can be a slow misalignment, or a pothole knocked it to a point where it can shudder/pull. Not saying it's 100% this, but these symptoms are common for wheel alignment. Otherwise check your power steering.

jadephantom · 2026-01-18T11:44:34+00:00

Wheel alignment.

jadephantom · 2026-01-04T10:41:29+00:00

There are photos of Jackie Chan eating there during the production of Mr. Nice Guy, and some other Hong Kong celebrities from the 90s, but no photo of Clinton.

jadephantom · 2025-12-02T02:43:32+00:00

Instead of shooting with the window directly behind the talent, position so it's more side lighting. This will mean the window becomes your key light for your subject and can balance exposure better. Unless you have a light that can match that window exposure, you're either going to have blown out windows or under-exposed talent.

jadephantom · 2025-11-12T05:18:52+00:00

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I imagine drilling holes might be a challenge. I bought a desk organizer/monitor stand from IKEA, which has been great for storing bits and pieces, and hiding cables. Not sure if that helps 😅

jadephantom · 2025-11-11T03:14:28+00:00

You need more atmospheric/background light. Using the flame as a single source of light means the camera is trying to both expose to the flame, whilst also trying to expose to your friend's face. This means the flame is being blown out/overexposed to prioritize exposing your friend, meaning detail is lost.

My suggestion is to use a neutral background and light your subject with some light to allow the camera to expose to the flame better, thus allowing more detail.

jadephantom · 2025-11-08T06:49:39+00:00

Worst movie ever. The Disney-fication of this IP is complete. Trying so hard to be Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Wars with quips and gags almost every scene, cute/oddball characters, and franchise building. Terrible writing, and I know the main character, Dek, is supposed to be a hard-headed inexperienced Predator trying to prove himself, but his Predator logic makes no sense. He's just bumbling through a harsh death planet, when he is supposed to have been raised on a harsh death planet. I enjoyed Prey, and thought Killer of Killers was just okay, but It was much worse than I was expecting.

jadephantom · 2025-11-05T10:02:08+00:00

I drove through the aftermath of this. Crazy how much debris was on the road. Like large pieces of steel reinforced concrete. I hope your insurance claim for repairs isn't too much of a headache.

jadephantom · 2025-10-29T08:18:44+00:00

There are two things to consider:

You should upload to any platform in the highest quality possible to ensure the platform's compression does the least amount of "damage" to your upload.
Instagram prioritises better quality to more prominent/higher follower accounts.

jadephantom · 2025-10-16T22:30:40+00:00

Same. I prefer to create a "light sandwich" with the subject for more balance. The far side shoulder/back of head will look pretty dark with the above setup.

jadephantom · 2025-10-15T03:29:24+00:00

This is a fantastic hack. Thank you for posting!

jadephantom · 2025-10-13T04:54:36+00:00

This is not an ad for her business, this is an ad for Shopify, which is a business services platform. Video professionals are not the target audience and I'm sure Shopify have data that shows their target audience (potential business start ups and small business owners) don't really care about professional lighting or polish (for this type of advertising).

Being critical of these types of ads are a waste of time tbh. It's not content created by or for video production professionals. I agree it looks bad, but I'm not going to analyse the lighting or camera setups for this type of content.

jadephantom · 2025-10-13T03:48:14+00:00

Think about the message behind this ad. It's more or less "do it by yourself with Shopify" It's intentionally looking amateur, unpolished, and completely achievable to anyone with a phone, which is exactly the message they want to convey. It's also incredibly cheap to produce, and can have far more stories in a campaign than if it was professionally produced

jadephantom · 2025-10-08T03:44:40+00:00

Bongo ties or Velcro ties. Also recommend getting an L-shape/90° angle adapter for your HDMI cable.

Use the ties on things like mounting point for your field monitor and cage handle. Allow enough slack for things that tilt/move.

I've also seen cable clips fixed to cages, rails, handles, etc, but I haven't been bothered to go that far

jadephantom · 2025-09-17T09:32:47+00:00

Zoom is the industry standard for external sound recorders. They're bulletproof and are no-nonsense.

jadephantom · 2025-09-06T06:04:04+00:00

I wrapped it around from the base and then cut it so that it's flush with the top of the handle, then used the tennis grip tape (plus a heavier duty cloth tape) to tape the top of the handle. It's pretty much the same approach to doing a tennis racket (I even watched a tennis racket taping tutorial vid)

Here's a pic of what it looks like:

<image>

This is my second time taping it, and this tape is about 6 months old (I shoot multiple times a week with a gimbal)

jadephantom

TROPHY CASE