Photograjph

I'm curious as to the gear your photographer has suggested you get? If it was as simple as pulling together a shopping list, there might never be another flame war on the Interwebs!! A quality photographer would have some good ideas for shooting stills, but shooting film consistently so that your editors don't want to stab you is a whole different ballgame (workflow suggestions anyone?) ;) "I raised close to $200k on a crowdfunding website to build an online yoga video platform" - this sounds like $200k for the ENTIRE project/solution, so clearly you aren't spending everything on gear. Off the top of my head (and based on the sample video you linked): Camera department - bodies, lenses, follow focus, matte box, rigs (shoulder, steadi, tripods and heads), monitors, storage, etc, etc Grip - dollys/sliders, stands, weights, flags, etc Gaff - what sort of lights to balance the ambient? LED, HMI, Tungsten, Fluoro, plus power management Audio - recorder, mics, boom, monitor (notice the audio is all over the place on the sample vid? They needed multi-mic, including lav, not just the boom) Data - a wrangler will need transfer gear, or you'll need to record externally (such as onto an Atomos or similar). Data handling and workflow may affect the types of cameras you can use (and may force you towards Nikon for 4:2:2 in a DSLR vs C300 in a Canon) I'll cut to the chase - shooting regular content with consistent quality that doesn't bury you in the workflow requires significant planning and has all sorts of variables to be considered. That's not even including getting some experience on the set - On my projects, we would sacrifice gear to save money just to get a really versatile AD, grip or gaffer on the set, worth their weight in gold!! Is this for MyYogaPro? It actually doesn't matter - if you raised $200k crowdfunding, expectations are HIGH that the quality will be HIGH and the deadlines won't be missed!! I hope it all goes really well for you, you've got a very busy few months ahead!! :D (was there a reason this was posted in Anamorphic? I suggest for this project you DON'T use anamorphic, IMHO)

Great advice Tony - I've been chasing one particular scammer for around 6 months, with fraudulent listings totaling around $US 1million (not just camera gear). There is a definite pattern to how they work and why they end up being successful. The key issue revolves around the payment occurring outside of eBay and paypal, with buyers being induced to take part in a fake eBay buyer protection process - the emails all look legit, and the payments are made directly to bank accounts and not Paypal. eBay are very proactive at pulling down the scammers, which makes it tricky for me to get info about them before they disappear. I posted some tips on this thread > and I'm always happy to respond directly to anyone if you are suspicious of a seller and want someone to help you verify (I'm an Internet Security specialist by day, anamorphic fan by night!). Be careful out there everyone, if it's too good to be true then it will be a scam 100% Jeff

Oh, and some photos would be helpful as well (and would answer my question!) - cheers J

I'm slightly confused about pre-36 vs others - does it have a serial number or "1,5x - 36" printed on the front? I'd raised this before on the forum but received inconsistent answers - I specifically need the latter, and would be very interested if it has 1,5x - 36 printed on it. I've been watching the eBay listings for over a year, the prices and quality are all over the place. Genuine buyer though - if it is exactly the lens I need, let's talk. Jeff

Greetings all,   Can anyone give me a definitive answer on whether the two different versions of the Isco 36 (printed "1.5x-36" or those with a serial number) are actually different lenses?  The excellent anamorphic guide says that the two are "practically the same" optically, and the difference is a slightly smaller rear element on the serial number versions.   I have a project where I need a pair of identical lenses, so "practically the same" may not be good enough - is anyone able to tell me if the slight physical differences actually result in any difference in the footage, adapter use, focal distances, etc?  (to clarify, I already have a 1.5x-36 and am now trying to source another that MUST be optically identical, and would like to be sure of the differences before committing the bucks to a serial number version, which seems to be more readily available than the 1.5x)   Appreciate the help, and if anyone has a version with "1.5x-36" printed on it (non-MC) they want to part with, I am a SERIOUSLY keen!   Thanks, Jeff

  No shortage of people who would be interested in such a lens, but you've got quite a bit of work to do before people will hand over a lot of money. eBay is useful simply because of buyer protection (when it works!), but firstly you need to prove you have the lens and it's in reasonable condition.  Start with: Detailed photos of the lens A photo of you holding the lens, with perhaps a piece of paper with "EOSHD" and today's date on it (so we know you actually have the lens and the photo is current) Some sample footage shot with the lens I'm very interested if it says "1.5x - 36" on the front, perhaps start a new thread and post some images.  Good luck!

Did you ever get any replies?  I'm starting to think these lens are nearly extinct - I've been stalking here for months, watching eBay like a hawk, even chased down a couple of scammers just in case they were actually genuine!!  I'm sure there must be some collecting dust in cupboards around the world, just gotta figure out how to get their owners to read these forums!

Just a quick reminder to everyone to be particularly diligent on checking seller details on eBay - I've been tracking a fraudulent seller for 6 weeks now, and they include Isco and other anamorphics in the listings. They've been hacking eBay accounts of highly rated sellers with very high positive feedback to lure in buyers. Three easy things to check for: Do they provide an email address off eBay to contact them on? Two I've been tracking are marhef.ebay@gmail.com and over4.ebay901@gmail.com Is the email address displayed in a picture (ie you can't highlight/select the text, this is one method they use to hide from eBay fraud detection) Look at their other items for sale, you'll see a distinct pattern (highly sought, often rare, listed for a low number but all asking the same high price in the description) The first time I tracked this seller, I worked with eBay to remove 35 fraudulent listings totaling around $85k (most had bids registered). The second time I found him (last week) he had listed over 170 items totaling $425k!!! Be skeptical, ask around (and I'm still looking for an Isco 36 non-MC, very keen buyer here!)

I'm keen to know more, do you have some pics of the unit and the separation I could see?  Happy to discuss here or PM (and despite my low post count, long time Isco stalker on this forum, 100% feedback on eBay with lots of purchase history - genuine buyer for the right unit)

Also watching this listing, been stalking eBay and this forum for a while looking for quality Isco 36 glass - I see these auctions come up and feel a bit like a seagull, looking for a stray chip and hoping no-one else has seen it!  Chips aren't getting any cheaper either!   Adding myself to the "Wanted to buy..." crowd, and so the stalking continues