Everything you could ever want to know about being a camera assistant. If you want to have anything to do with a motion picture camera you need to read this.

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Product Description

Every film or video shoot calls for at least two camera assistants. Camera assistants (or first and second ACs, as they're known) have the important job of maintaining the camera, readying it for use, troubleshooting (such as knowing what to do when a camera drops into the ocean), and preparing it for transport. The Camera Assistant's Manual teaches the complete workflow in easy-to-understand terms and does not assume prior knowledge. It is a must-have on the set for camera assistants and is loaded with reference material such as camera illustrations, forms, charts, checklists, and equations. Invaluable career advice rounds out the book.

· New companion website with extensive forms, charts, and illustrations to print out and use
· Completely updated with information on digital video and high definition cameras that are changing the camera assistant's job
· Career tips and complete job descriptions help camera assistants get and succeed at jobs
· Companion website: www.cameraassistantmanual.com
· Author's site: www.davidelkins.com

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #662256 in Books
• Published on: 2005-02-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Review
The Camera Assistant's Manual is essential reading for the beginner and for the experienced camera assistant alike. For the beginner, it contains complete descriptions of all aspects of the jobs of first and second assistant cameraman, as well as a new chapter on the basics of cinematography. For the experienced camera assistant, it continues to be a complete reference source dealing with all aspects of the job. The material has been organized in a way that should make it very easy to find specific information. This extensively updated edition contains information that should make it quite easy for the beginning filmmaker to start his or her career because it features new sections covering the basics of cinematography, the job interview, set etiquette and networking, camera and magazine illustrations by 16mm and 35mm camera systems, complete checklists for camera equipment (including filters and expendables), tables covering f-stop compensations, hyperfocal distances, and footage-to-time and time-to-footage conversations. The Camera Assistant's Manual is comprehensive, practical, informative, well-organized, and the most valuable book an assistant camera operator could have on his or her reference bookshelf. -- Midwest Book Review

Review
"David Elkins, SOC does it again. In this latest edition David covers all of the latest cameras and accessories that have been invented since the last edition. This is truly the "Bible" for seasoned camera assistants, and an indespensible tool for all veteran and student film makers."

- Stan McClain, SOC (Past President) Filmtools-President

"Absolutely everything you need to know as first or second camera assistant is here, of course and all the reference tables, film can labels and camera department reporting forms you are ever likely to see or need are here - along with an associated website that holds even more...The Camera Assistant's Manual is an essential in the ditty bag as gaffer tape and as useful to the DoP's as it is to camera assistants. It makes for a first class learning tool between assignments and my advice to camera assistants is, keep it covered when on the set. There's a whole camera department around you who will want to borrow it." - www.dvuser.co.uk

The text is supplemented with illustrations that convey Elkins' ideas, and the clarity with which he lays out the chronology of a film shoot is impressive - years of working and teaching have clearly allowed the author to hone his approach with military precision, and it's hard to think of any assistant armed with the book's checklists coming across a problem he or she would be unable to solve. -Jim Hemphill, American Cinematographer Magazine

From the Publisher
The material has been organized in a way that should make it very easy to find specific information. This extensively updated edition contains information that should make it quite easy for the beginning filmmaker to start his or her career. The Camera Assistant's Manual, Second Edition, features new sections covering: * The basics of cinematography * The job interview, set etiquette and networking * Camera and magazine illustrations of the currently used professional 16mm and 35mm camera systems * Complete checklists for camera equipment, filters, and expendables * Tables covering f-stop compensations, hyperfocal distances, and footage-to-time and time-to-footage conversions

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Customer Reviews

THE Textbook for Assistant Camera
Having been trained by David Elkins from the original manuscript of this book, I was eager to read the second addition.

This book is the perfect primer for the beginning Assistant Cameraperson. The details of the camera department, each department broken down into chapters, gives not only an overview, but a detailed step by step description of the tasks and duties of an Assistant Camera.

This has been an invaluable text book for my beginning Film Students.

The Best Technical Book on Moviemaking
David Elkins's The Camera Assistant's Manual, Fourth Edition is the best technical book around, and one of the best books on movies, period.

Dave manages to cover every aspect of an assistant's job, no matter how obscure or infrequently encountered. But the completeness is only one aspect which recommends it to any aspiring or working cinematographer.

Written in a clear, conversational manner, Dave manages to demystify both the jargon and the sometimes strange job of an assistant. His accounts of procedure for both first and second assistants clarify what we in the business call "industry standard": the accepted, professional way of conducting yourself and doing a job. Outside of a job on a
Hollywood set, it is nearly impossible to learn these classic, time-saving routines. And unless you've been a pro in the business, you're not going to know about such things as the relative merits of Magliner and Rubbermaid carts for hauling equipment.

The book covers the general characteristics of film, cameras, and lenses in such a way as to give a general technical education. Dave also gives a valuable overview of the camera department and its place in film production overall.

What many readers will find most useful are the sections on troubleshooting, the diagrams and threading patterns of every currently used camera, and the wealth of forms and lists to organize the on-set work.

I've tried to give a good idea of what the book covers, but it contains much, much more. I've been using The Camera Assistant's Manual since the first edition. This is the biggest and the best version. I only wish that, when I started as a camera assistant, I had had access to such a clear, helpful book.

Amazing reference! May leave you a soulless husk if you read it all the way through...
I bought this book when I was hired to AC for a project on equipment I had never worked with before. For one of those, "Holly crap! I agreed to do a job I only know how to do part of!" moments, this book is great. Every question I could think of was answered thoroughly and I mean THOROUGHLY. If you want to learn exactly what the responsibilities of an Assistant Camera Person are and how best to execute them read this book! If you are a working AC and want an easy to read, text-book style reference this is it.