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Jamming the timecode for 2 camera shoot? In order to sync audio in post?
I’m shooting an outdoor wedding tomorrow- I want to get THE SAME great sound going to both cameras for the ceremony.
I’m using two Panasonic DVX-100P’s.
Camera 1 is rigged with a Sennheiser shotgun mic (utilizing both channels).
Camera 2 is rigged with a Sennheiser ME-66 shotgun mic on channel 1 and a Lectsonics wireless lav on channel 2.
The wireless lav is rigged to the groom and will be picking up the groom, bride and the officiant (for the more “close-up sound”).
Then the Shotgun mics will be filling in the sound-Is there a way to sync up both cameras at the beginning of the ceremony to ensure that they’re running at the exact same time code? Obviously so in post it’ll be much easier to cut back and forth between cameras without a huge headache.
I’m thinking of mixing together the best sound from both cameras (all four channels).
Any advice or suggestions?
Should I get an extra reciever to run to the camera 1? So both cameras are getting the lav signal?Thank you very much.
Michael
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5 Replies
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You could run them both with time of day timecode. As for keeping them completely in sync that would require both cameras to run exactly the same amount of time- starting and stopping together. I suspect you’ll be in for some post synching. I’m not a wedding guy but I know they are present as edits not start to finish every second of the ceremony.
Noah
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If you set both cameras to FREE RUN timecode, and PRESET (not REGEN), they will stay in sync throughout the day so long as you don’t turn either camera off. Turning one off (to change a battery, etc) seems to cause the timecode to lose a few frames of sync. They may drift a little during a long day, I haven’t verified that, but they will definitely be very close.
Set ’em both to the same setting (DF or NDF, FREE RUN, and PRESET). Then set both to the exact same timecode preset, but don’t confirm the preset using the menus; instead, use a remote control and put both cameras side-by-side. That way they’ll both respond to the remote control’s signal at the same time. Start ’em off the same and they should stay the same, regardless of when you start or stop recording.
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Thank you Barry-
For some reason, I can’t get the cameras to preset to the same timecode. I’ve been setting them both to 00.00.00.00 and then (using the remote) commanding both cameras to “free run” at the exact same time. At first it seems to work, but then when I go back to the main menu I see that the timecode is NOT running at the same time. Both time codes are running free- but one is like 23 hours ahead of the other (so I obviously wasn’t getting the initial timecode set correctly.What am I doing wrong here?
thank you
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Not sure. Make sure they’re both in TC PRESET and FREE RUN and the same DF mode (either both DF or both NDF). Set the preset and trigger it to start with the remote, and both cameras should have identical timecode.
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Get the most from your DVX camera. The DVX Book and DVX DVD are now available at https://www.dvxuser.com/articles/dvxbook/ and at Amazon (https://tinyurl.com/54u4a) -
I’ve edited a huge amount of wedding ceremonies with two cameras with live operators.
The key is this:
Run both cameras throughout the entire ceremony without stopping. Digitize the tapes from Camera A and B.
To sync, make markers on your clips for both A and B camera where the cameras flash (photographer and guests) when the bride is coming down the aisle. If you only do one flash and there are many, sometimes you may select the wrong one, but if you have 5-10 camera flashes marked on both the A and B camera, it is very easy to sync them up in the timeline. Always check the sync by playing camera A with B’s audio and vice versa to make sure.I also do sync at the end of the ceremony to make sure that everything is still in sync. I use 2 DVX-100s, and they are never off by more than 1 frame by the end.
No need to run audio to both cameras, just mix the audio on the timeline, using only the best audio channels on one or the other camera (assuming you are using a non-linear edit system).
Not as fancy as matching timecode, but it works every time.
Hope this helps,
Lane Wyrick
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