Useful Resources for DIT’s

If you are interested in becoming a working DIT or just understanding a bit more about what they actually do, then this 4th round up of useful links and resources should help you in that venture. To check out the previous posts just jump over to the growing DIT category for all related Digital Image Technician content.

DIT Forum – A Place For Professional DIT’s

I noticed on twitter the other day that @DITStation pointed to a brand new forum for DIT’s to gather and discuss the finer points of what they do for a living. There are only a couple of posts so far but I’m hoping this is going to be a continually updated source of really valuable information. For example Charlie Anderson (who blogs under the moniker of Dork In a Tent) links to a detailed tutorial on using Pomfort Live grade with DaVinci Resolve Lite.

DIT station have also just released a new version of their compact DIT station Rogue4, which runs off a laptop and some speedy Sonnet Thunderbolt tech.

DIT Station today introduced the DIT Station Rogue4, the newest version of the company’s ultra-portable and compact on-set data management and playback workstation. The Rogue4 is faster than ever before, with Sonnet Technologies’ built-in Thunderbolt™ expansion, media ingest, and storage solutions offering performance up to 900 MB/s.

DIT Interview

Clay Asbury has an excellent interview with experienced DIT Griff Thomas over on Screenlight.tv in which you get a soup-to-nuts run through of what a DIT does, how they do it and who they work with to get the job done right. There’s also tons of technical detail on gear, software and workflow. It is a great read for any aspiring DIT.

Mostly for commercials we’re shooting with the Alexa to SxS cards. A standard workflow is to shoot 12 bit QuickTimes In Log C. I monitor the camera’s built in REC 709 look up table, then I’ll take those camera masters, the log C and the ProRes files and then do a primary color correction and generate deliverables for post. It depends on the job, but often I’ll deliver ProRes files with a baked in look that the DP has approved. I’ve got an upcoming job where I’ll be transcoding to DNX36 for an AVID offline.

Using Light Iron’s Lilly Pad On a Commercial Shoot

Cinematographer Matt Workman has a very short post on his experiences using Light Iron’s Lilly Pad cart on a recent commercial shoot. If you’re thinking of getting on this might be the little extra encouragement you need.

Understanding F-Stops and Bit Depth

No DIT post would be complete without a link to some color science info and this post from Phil Rhodes on RedShark News will clear up some apparent confusion over F-stops and bit depth. If you need some clarity on how these two interact, then this post should do it. Phil also touches on shooting LOG and the Technicolor Cinestyle camera preset.