Multicam is great when the tapes are continuous BUT

[Craig Seeman]

This might clarify

I set Aux TC1 of each camera to match the timeline time so all cameras now have matching AuxTC (this wouldn’t work with a stop/start accident as AuxTC “ripples” throughout a clip). In this current shoot the only TC break is on the reel changes.

The cameras have staggered their reel changes so there’s always one camera rolling coverage. That’s three break points. Two cameras (2 and 3 below) infact changed reels only seconds apart.

Here’s a visual representation.

1———- ———-
2————– ——
3————- ——-

BTW the manual mentions using Multiclip Sequence if you have time code breaks in free run mode (Vol II p257). You can set an overlap which determines whether it breaks into a new Multiclip or stays continuous. UNFORTUNATELY MS uses TC only, NOT Aux TC.

[Sean Lander]

Not having used the multicam feature, why don’t you A. Don’t capture footage with timecode breaks.
B. Capture each clip individually. C. Can you multicam subclips? If so do that.

Apple Certified Final Cut Pro Trainer
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email: sean@rednail.com.au

[Craig Seeman]

[Sean Lander] “A. Don’t capture footage with timecode breaks.
B. Capture each clip individually. C. Can you multicam subclips? If so do that.”

A – Time code breaks happen on reel changes. No way to avoid that.
B – For a 90 minute performance shot on 60 minute tapes, each clip is 30 – 60 minutes
C- Yes but that can be an awkward work around.

There are many work arounds. I want to know what others are doing?

[Duncan Craig]

Even though you can multiclip using inpoints, without genlock on the cameras you’ll get drift.

I’m editing a 110 minute concert I’ve just shot. 4 Sony Z1’s captured in DV and a locked off wide DV camera. The timecodes are of course different. I’m having to do it the way I always have, dropping the clips in the timeline and adjusting sync through the show chopping out or adding singles frames roughly every 20 minutes of rushes on the timeline.

I could use the multicam feature only using lots of 10 minute sections, but it is a fiddle.
I have tried to use it, and had so many crashes, lock up and head scratching I started again. I reinstalled the entire OS and FCP studio, but it’s still a flaky feature for me.

If, as said above, you could simply create a multiclip from a sequence which is timed and repaired it would be a lot more workable. It’s accepted that most FCP users work in DV, therefore a more flexible multicamera feature would be a godsend. Because most people don’t use cameras with Timecode in or Genlock in.

(I do most of my work UC10Bit from Digi, but jobs like this are shot on DV for budget reasons).

Cheers All, Duncan.

[Craig Seeman]

[Duncan Craig] “Even though you can multiclip using inpoints, without genlock on the cameras you’ll get drift.”

Not in my experience. I’ve been shooting multicam with miniDV for 7 years. No drift (or at least significantly less than a frame for 2 hours). Offset maybe but never drift. Only drift is when trying to lock to DAT or other digital audio source since the clocks aren’t truly dead on.

[Duncan Craig] “I’m editing a 110 minute concert I’ve just shot. 4 Sony Z1’s captured in DV and a locked off wide DV camera. The timecodes are of course different. I’m having to do it the way I always have, dropping the clips in the timeline and adjusting sync through the show chopping out or adding singles frames roughly every 20 minutes of rushes on the timeline.”

Maybe there’s an issue with the “conversion” on the Z1 given the encoding for audio and video but that’s not inherent in miniDV. Some of us have seen “drift” issues with Canon XL-1 too but that hapens when Quicktime “handled” the audio from DV to DV wrapped in Quicktime.

[Sam Zimman]

I’m still editing on FCP4.5, but I’ve cut a bunch of Multicam stuff on Avid and the following is what I found to be the best workflow. Most of it involves giving whoever the production company is detailed specs. If it is shot right Multicam is helpful, otherwise sometime it can be easier to just forget it.

1) Slates – nothing makes syncing easy like a good old fashion clap.
2) Let the camera run – Don’t turn the camera off, and if you do shoot another slate.
3) Subclips – Bring in all the footage and then subclip out the different takes. If you just let the camera run you are going to end up with a lot of stuff you don’t want, so subclipping will speed up your editing. Also, everytime a camera gets shut off and a new slate is shot, that is also a new subclip.
4) Timecodes – Camera 1 should have timecode starting at 01:00:00:00 while Camera 2 should have timecode starting at 02:00:00:00. If you know that you are shooting more than an hour bump up the TC so that you don’t have overlapping hours.
5) Reel Names – come up with a naming process for your reels so you know which one is Cam 1, 2, etc

[Zman]

I read these post and really wonder if you understand how multi cam is shot correctly. What you need is a TC source and that feeds the cameras, this TC source is usually time of day and it never get turned off untill you are all done shooting, then you just select the clips you want grouped and group by time code source and they all group up, if you have a break it just stops that camera track where it breaks, and picks up where it stars if you have the clip selected in your grouping. I really dont get all the misunderstanding, we do shows for MTV that are multcam everyday, we use to use avid because FCP didnt have MC, and now all we use is FCP, and have no problems as long as you have a TC source, do not use the cameras TC or clock time it lags and jumps you need an external TC source feeding all the cameras and we do it wireless and have no problems, so far and i am cutting show 6 of 10 and all is sweet on FCP w/MC.

[A.lee]

Craig-

Was wondering if you’ve gotten this feature to work for you? I think I have similiar issues and am about to declare this feature useless to ME and am sort of regretting money spent on the upgrade, etc. well, not really that, but I am disappointed.

NOT using mulitcam with TC synchronization.

-shooting 3 DV cameras, usually 60 min tapes. for 80 minute content
-involves reel changes
-many times we do not pull out a fully empty tape at the start. (so the tape will have content before and afterwards that will then need to be edited with. Somehow, I feel it is hard to organize these with the multicam workflow to avoid confusion.
-2-3 separate audio sources, continuous. recording

anyways..after several hours of trying this out, I’m going to go back to the “old way.”