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Far from cutting edge
My studio setup is far from cutting edge, I know.
Dual 2.3 G5, XServe RAID, Kona2, FCS2, After Effects…
My field gear is not the hottest, I also know.
Sony Z1 HDV, MINI35 lens adapter, Carl Zeiss & Nikon lenses, etc.
I digitize HDV material from a HVR M25 deck through the Kona to the DVCPRO HD codec and the results are less than satisfactory.
What am I doing wrong? I know people out there are happy with this workflow… and my question is:
Will the Ki Pro improve significantly the image quality? I guess recording ProRes straight (no more HDV compression and no more HDV-DVCPRO HD transcoding) should help but, How much? Will it be apparent? Should I look into a different camera as well?
It’s gotten to a point where I need to invest into new gear but the Ki Pro + extras + a new edit bay + new Raid… But, but… how much is all that gonna cost? And a new camera too !!???
Seriously now. Not the best of times to invest that kind of dough over at my neck of the woods (Canary Is.) but will take the plunge if ‘forced’ to it.
Any encouraging words, fellas?
Chemix Ferreiro
BUNKER studio
Canary Islandsbunkerstudio.es
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1 Reply
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It’s hard to say. The ProRes codec is great but it doesn’t save you from garbage-in, garbage-out. I would run a test by capturing directly into your computer from the camera through your Kona card. Your Xserve RAID is fast enough to handle uncompressed HD so bring in some test shots in that format. If you can appreciably see improvements in the footage you shot in that method compared to the same shot compressed down to HDV then you will find it worthwhile to include ProRes (and the Ki Pro) in your workflow.
If the results don’t show a noticeable improvement, it could be limitations of the camera’s sensor or the lenses in front of it, and a Ki Pro can’t help that at all.
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