field recorders

[George Burbano]

NO fight here, you are disagreeing with me, on advise that I provided to a person who was seeking advise on a recorder, and is obviously not a pro-cinematographer or audio engineer.

The advise to use pre-striped tapes was to avoid timecode breaks, when you pre-record on a tape a base timecode is placed by the recorder. If you accidentally stop, review and then dont find the exact place of the last clip, if you didnt prestripe, your camera would place a new timecode, and you get a timecode break. This was advise to novices, and yes this happens with pros, even the most seasoned..

The advise on recording ahead of time, was again directed at someone who is not a seasoned pro, to allow him/herself plenty of time and ensure a good timecode reference. That is all , this advise is not for seasoned pros- cause many of us who shoot, know when to cue the camera, the audio and call for action, with no problem.

Besides, when people use crap cameras that cannot even set a proper TC

Wait in many of these forums people are using cams, in the range of $4000-9000 USD, that puts many people here in the Sony Z1U, Pan HVX- Sony PD-170, FX1, V1U, etc… These arent crap cams like you said, these are cams that are perfectly suitable for the things that these people are using. While there are many people here who have a variety of higher end, sony’s, varis etc… as well as some arri’s my advise was for someone who perhaps doesnt own a Varicam, and still wants to make it work.

(Bouke)Your suggestions are quite helpfull for those who have no budget but want to put in a lot of effort to get the best results.
Perhaps there are some old farts around that do not know any better and are willing to pay for lack of equipment, but i have never met them in my world.

That is exactly what my advise was for, people who want to do the best they can, with what they have. Not everyone here, is working on Million dollar films, commercials, or movies. Many are just trying to get into the industry.

Old farts arent the ones who dont know better, They should know better, it’s the young guys who are just starting, that dont know better, and that is why many visit here. The cow is a great source of info for many, but quite often some info is wrong. I dont know everything, Im far from perfect but what I said does work, I have used it and so have many others.

In my world, “NYC world” I have met people who are willing to pay for lack of equipment, they do it well with what they have, they work hard and as they get better and make money they can pay for more equipment. If you havent met them in your world, either you are living with people born with a silver spoon, or just havent visited the world outside your block.That is fine, but I dont say I speak for anyone other than myself. You seem to be speaking for many.

Im not fighting with you either, but all this person wanted was some advise on a recorder and timecode. When I searched for this advise years ago, I didnt get anyone telling me that Im too cheap to buy anything, or Im in a different world..

I got good advise, from people who were willing to help, and teach. I practiced, and when I made mistakes, I learned from them.

Anyway I think we both occupied way too much writing time and effort on the Cow, for this subject. I wish you well, as well as Tom, whose head is probably spinning. I know mine is getting there.

be well

George

[Bouke Vahl]

yeah, poor Tom…

Don’t misunderstand me. My normal jobs aren’t high profile.
But, (at least over here), low end stuff is NOT cheaper than the good stuff. It takes more labour to get the job done, and since labour is more expensive than decent gear, i do not see the logic in using cheapo cams. Of course there are situations (very long shooting time, unattended cams, risk situations, amateurs using the equipment) that cheapo cams have their place. But in normal operation, if you want quality, having decent gear does pay off.

What i don’t get from your situation, over here it nowadays is NOT common to have a sound person on the job. Most shoots have one lav that the cam op puts on the talent, the boom (sometimes over a mixer) is held by the director or (if available) intern.

The whole reason i’ve developed my AUX TC reader is to make it possible on low cost shoots to have maximum efficiency.
Using it for muliple take music video shoots is great.
One channel of music for playback on set, the other one LTC, no fuzz finding back what shot goes where.
(Alough that’s a situation where almost never a sound person is present, as it’s playback only…)
Multicam with unconnected cams and BWF recorders where the second reason.

All in all, in my world (and my opinion!) cheap gear does not mean low cost. The cost just shifts (luckily more money for me, although i always have to explain why things aren’t running as smooth as normally…)

Bouke

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