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Clip Naming on the AF100
I have a question that perhaps some kind soul from Panasonic could address.
It’s how the AF100 names it’s AVCHD clips.
If you are familiar with this camera you’ll know the with each new card inserted, the card resets it’s counter to 00000. This means that if you use 4 cards on a shoot, you end up with 4 clip files named “00000.mts, 00001.mts and so on.
If you edit in AVCHD like I do, having bushels of identically named clips is a gigantic pain. Of course they can be renamed in the editor, but that can be a lot of work on a large project. I’ve used a variety of cameras that create digital media, from DSLRs to EX3’s, but as far as I know the AF100 is the only one with this repetitive approach to media identification.
I keep hoping Panasonic will someday release a firmware update to correct this annoying problem, but maybe it’s hard wired into the camera’s silicon brain. Or maybe there’s just haven’t been enough users raising a hew and cry. I know I’ve not seen many complaints so maybe others know something I don’t or they have found a tolerable workaround.
In any case I’m open to comment, correction, or just commiseration.
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9 Replies
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Simplest solution is to organize each card separately and designate by “Reel” I generally organize reels by shoot date- i.e. CAM01_DAY01_REEL01 and then you put the card contents in there. Most NLEs will let you organize by folder/reel as well.
Noah
Call Box Training.
Featuring the Panasonic GH2 and Panasonic AC160/130. -
We organize by Reel Numbers too for each card shot.
So far it has worked very well with no confusion of files. -
Right.
One must devise clear and relevantly named containers for each card. It’s a regular discipline that I’ve incorporated into my workflow. Using it permits keeping track of all the identically named clips. But from time to time I get media from EX1’s or EX3’s. And seeing each clip/shot with a unique numerical identifier makes me green with envy. I can’t imagine that programming camera firmware to execute this apparently simple protocol could be all that complicated. Sony has mastered it. I believe Canon has too. But for reasons I don’t understand Panasonic seems oblivious to the simple utility of such a fundamental step. Panasonic is making great cameras, and I’ve pitched them to more than a few colleagues and friends, but on this single issue I’m flumoxed.If there’s a philosophical rationale behind this approach I’d love to hear it. But as a shooter/editor I find it an annoying and persistant thorn on the rose.
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Agreed- it would make life easier. Then again, I find the unique serialization of RED files to be incredibly cryptic to deal with in the Finder. Clearly it’s a choice that they do it that way and not a shortcoming.
Noah
Call Box Training.
Featuring the Panasonic GH2 and Panasonic AC160/130. -
Yeah, I understand that life isn’t a bowl of cherries.
Good organizational skills are a fundamental requisite for any editor.But unlike Red who is just beginning to face serious competition in their niche, Panasonic is very experienced in marketing cameras to a much larger market with a variety of able competitors. Many of these competitors have cameras that do create clips in a format that is easier to manipulate and track. I’m just surprised that they don’t bother to provide either more options for clip naming in their firmware, or at least supply a disc management/transfer utility that is robust and focused on real world post production processes.
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Which they would have had a majority of folks complained about it….
Noah
Call Box Training.
Featuring the Panasonic GH2 and Panasonic AC160/130. -
True.
But many Mac users just bought Clipwrap. PC users have less in the way of viable options. However it says something when nobody goes to the trouble of fashioning a AVCHD utility that allows quick and easy manipulation or organization of these files without necessarily transcoding them. So I get your point.
Maybe everybody is out creating phone apps.
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I think it’s because the AVCHD format is consumer not professional.
I’ve had issues as well with media going offline in Premiere Pro CS6. When I opened the project Ppro is asking where clip oooo1 is. Have to cancel and relink in the project. I have four SD cards. Each cards bin name was the same as the SD cards name in the project making relinking easier.Blog https://www.eriknaso.com
My Vimeo Page https://vimeo.com/user626030
Follow me on Twitter @ErikNaso -
Okay, everybody’s work flow is different, so my solution may not work for you. I shoot multi-cam with three cameras. The AF100 is one of these. The other two use Ninjas so the files coming out of them are Pro Res. When I put the SD card from the AF100 into the computer I import the files directly into Premiere Pro 6 from the card reader. There I fine tune the white balance and exposure and then I encode it to Pro Res and stick it onto my raid for editing. Basically I do the same with the Ninja footage. I tweak the white balance and exposure then encode in again to Pro Res and transfer it to the appropriate folder on my raid for editing.
I do agree that the file system on the Panasonic is a pain.
Next year I intend to put a Samurai on the AF100.
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