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Noisy camera
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“l qualified soundmen would place the boom mic within 18″ of the subject for a sit down interview. No such thing as a super duper telephoto mikey phone.”
On a public forum one has to eliminate even the obvious.
Sure we all know the camera is noisy! so why is the sound guy complaining about the camera!If the soundrecordist is complaining it means
1/ There is an unusual fault with the camera so it makes more noise.
2/ Soundrecordist has not worked on video before and is not familiar with normal sound from camera.
3/ Soundrecordist is a novice and either mic placement is incorrect or he has camera mic switched on camera on but doesn’t know it. (a not uncommon occurance with pros too)I said in my post “the critical piece of information is how far the boom was from talent” refering to a previous post from Ty where *camera to subject distance was mentioned*
Tony, you assume the sound op was a pro and experienced on video, this is not always the case!
You also assume that I was ignoring that HD cameras are noisy, I wasn’t, others had already mentioned video cameras are noisy in this thread. I do refer to noisy cameras on the FAQ on my website and included it in a book for European Digital Cinema Production Guide, which included a interview with Bergmans dislike of shooting HD due to noisey cameras.Ty you mention it was a Sony HD camera. Was it a Z1? FX1? f900? HDW750? HDW730? or a HDW700?
The older camera, HDW700 will almost certainly have needed tape transport parts changed or it will become even more noisy. f900 mark ones are probably also of a vintage where this should happen.Is this mentioned in your book that you advertised on your post; “Audio Bootcamp Field Guide”
was written for video people who want better audio.Mike Brennan
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I’m a fairly experienced location audio guy and an even more experienced studio audio guy.
It was a CineAlt camera. I don’t consider the Z or F Sony HDV cameras HD. They are HDV. Big diffference for me, although they are quieter than the Cinealt I was working with.
No I don’t mention it in my book. Not much you can do about it. I can pretty much tell the producer I’m hearing it and hand him/her the headphones so they can make the call. If they want to go with it, I’ve done my job.
Based on what I know about the final mix, they were going to put music under it. I don’t know if they did that to cover up the noise or just because they wanted to move the sections along.
Regards,
Ty Ford
Ty Ford’s “Audio Bootcamp Field Guide” was written for video people who want better audio. Find out more at https://www.tyford.com
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It’s true that the F900 camera requires a fan for cooling that can be heard in quiet environments or when the camera is close to the subject and mike. It’s also true that some transports that are aged or out of adjustment make an even louder sound that the fan, and undoubtedly can be picked up on the track.
It seems to me that it would be obvious if this were the case as you hear (as was mentioned) the noise more when the on-board deck was turning, and a logical corrective manuever would be to use a heavy coat or jacket as a “barney” to deaden the effect where and when its required. There are no commmercial barneys made for this camera that I know of, unlike those which we used to use on our Eclair NPR’s (which really cound put out a noise including an occasional squuking sound) and again logic would require that you remove the makeshift barney to let the camera cool when you’re not rolling.
By contrast, the Varicam is dead quiet, which can be equally disconcerting because sometimes you’re not sure you’re actually rolling (except for the tally).
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[Ty Ford] “I was on a studio shoot the last two days and was pretty amazed at how loud the whine was from the Sony HD camera.”
The old 900 cameras can be quite noisy. The newer 750 is completly silent – was one of the reasons why we didn
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Mike,
Are you trying to imply that Ty is not a professional? It was clear to me that he is not a novice just a professional seeking information.
I regret you did not mention the audio information on your website in your first post which would have been quite helpful for all “pro’s” seeking information.
Tony Salgado
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::chuckle::
Ty
Ty Ford’s “Audio Bootcamp Field Guide” was written for video people who want better audio. Find out more at https://www.tyford.com
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The 950 should be exceptionally quiet because there is no tape deck.
I have a difficult time believing how many people do not know that the 950 is a camera head and nothing else.
I’ll bet the Viper is a quiet one also.
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[Steve Wargo] ”
The 950 should be exceptionally quiet because there is no tape deck.”
Yeah, but does it have fans? The taperun never was the problem with the 900&750 for us, but that little fan in the 900.
btw – i can -
“Are you trying to imply that Ty is not a professional? It was clear to me that he is not a novice just a professional seeking information.”
No it is obvious Ty is a professional, the mystery to me is that he was surprised that/by f900s noise, despite having written the book about audio for video.
Hence asking the basic questions to check there wasn’t something basicly wrong in the room ie camera mic on , mic placement, faulty camera. Kinda things that happen to everyone eventuially.
I guess this led you to believe I was questioning his professionalism?“I regret you did not mention the audio information on your website in your first post which would have been quite helpful for all “pro’s” seeking information.”
Googling the subject “f900 noisy” would get to my site and also I notice, to this very thread!
Mike Brennan
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Whereas my surprise was that a manufacturer of professional video gear would intentionally produce a camera that generated enough noise to be objectionable. How does something like that happen?
The only parallel I can think of at the moment (and it’s a poor one) would be a boom operator who constantly dipped his/her boom into the shot. Of course that would not be tolerated. Why then should a camera that makes enough noise to be picked up by a boom mic.
The only presumption I can muster is that the manufacturer didn’t intend for the camera to be used in studio environments or in other moderately low noise environments.
I did sound on a 2x digibeta shoot a few years ago in a 12′ x 14′ room. We were shooting a string quartet. The noise from both digibeta cameras really compromised the sound. I doubt the CineAlta used on the two days of my recent shoot would have fared much better.
Hey, if nothing else, this should be a wakeup call for camera manufacturers…’Quiet On The Set’ includes the camera as well!
Regards,
Ty Ford
Ty Ford’s “Audio Bootcamp Field Guide” was written for video people who want better audio. Find out more at https://www.tyford.com
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