We're having a problem with the Jimmy Jib HD monitor. The color looks off in Camera 4 and there's a 'temperature warning' blinking in the viewfinder. Check out Camera 1, the lens mount seems to be loose.

I'm on the North Shore of Oahu, the sun is shining, the waves are breaking, but Hawaii hardly seems like paradise.

I've been at the "Hawaiian Tropic International Swimsuit Competition" for less than ten minutes and Bennett Productions President/Director of Photography Casey Bennett has an ever-growing punch list. As a Digital Imaging Technician, it's my responsibility to ensure that the list goes away so Bennett's crews can focus on capturing beautiful High Definition shots of the 60, well, beautiful and highly defined women cavorting on the beach.

Bennett Productions has been working with Hawaiian Tropic for ten years and using HD for the past two. This year's gig involves three days of location shooting with four crews. Each crew has a Sony1080i (700A) camera, with audio, grip and utility personnel. A Triangle Jimmy Jib and Canon 40x1Telephoto lens with stabilization round out the highend production specs. Two additional camera bodies will be added for the competition's last night, when the contestants square off in the pageant.

In post, the three days of interviews, modeling and entertainment will be edited with the pageant footage to form a one-hour program. The result: a 1080i edited master for HDNET and a down-converted NTSC version for national syndication.

Digital Imaging Technicians ensure that the HD cameras, monitors, and downconverters work perfectly; the time code on multiple cameras matches; back-up DAT audio records at the proper frequency; images are at proper HD levels; and most importantly, watch for bad pixels - which I often repair on set. Digital Imaging Technician was one of two entirely new designations added by the Cinematographers Guild in November of 2001. Both positions were added because of the prevalence of HD and additions are rare, there had been only one other addition since the 1960s.

Although the first hours on Oahu were a bit hectic, the next couple days went smoothly - only some minor tweaking and trouble-shooting - as the equipment performed flawlessly.

On the night prior to the pageant, I was introduced to Chris Mitchell. Mitchell is a technician who specializes in HD and spends much of his time installing HD trucks. Our biggest challenge with the pageant was selecting appropriate white balance. A 7:30 p.m. start time meant coping with an hour and a half of changing daylight. We discussed the possibilities while tweaking the six Standard Definition monitors for Director Brian Lockwood. Although Lockwood would use the monitors for "calling" a live show, the cameras were each recording independently. His commentary was recorded and used as a scratch track to assist the editor in post. Our prep concerns were alleviated as a rain delay pushed the show back an hour and a half.

Jill is the reigning Queen of Hawaiian Tropics products

When the rain stopped and we powered up the cameras, it was quickly apparent that the preset white balances differed as much as 500 degrees Kelvin between cameras. The recently tweaked SD monitors really saved us. Following a manual white balance on the same section of a 100% lit stage, the cameras' Kelvin Temperature matched almost perfectly. The pageant went off without a hitch and Bennett Productions produced an HD program as beautiful as the pageant contestants.