Syncing up two cameras with FREE RUN TIMECODE

[Everest Mokaeff]

Pluraleyes

Sony PMW-EX3, Canon Mark II 5D, FCS3 in Moscow
http://www.mokaeff.com

[Dylan Murphy]

yeah but is there any other way with using the TC and not sound

[Michael Gissing]

The cameras need to be capable of jam syncing and your sound recorder also needs to jam sync and record broadcast wav files. Then you have a common timecode reference for syncing multiple sources.

[Dylan Murphy]

The recording is not the problem, the cameras are synced with free run timecode.. the problem is in FCP trying to sync them up easily on the timeline

Thanks

[Michael Gissing]

OK. Start a sequence and set the start timecode to where the first free run timecode starts. Match the clip timecode to the sequence code. Do that for each camera angle and sound bed. Put camera one on track one and camera two on track two.

As long as the first frame timecode of each clip is identical to the sequence master timecode, you will create a timeline with all elements in sync and split by camera, as long as all sources were properly jam synced to free run timecode

[Dylan Murphy]

thanks for that Michael.

my only problem is that the cameras cut and started at different times..

will that not mess everything up?

[Michael Gissing]

No because every new camera start you match the clips first frame to the same timecode in the sequence. With jam synced free run this will keep sync

[Ken Jones]

In my experience, every camera’s internal clock will run at a slightly different speed. This means that as the day progresses the cameras’ time codes will drift further apart – just like no two digital watches always keep the exact same time.

If your cameras stop and start constantly you can use the free-run time code as reference to get you in the ball park, but probably the most hassle free way of syncing all this up is to purchases pluraleyes.

The only foolproof way to keep time code in sync is to jam the time code to each camera with a BNC cable. You don’t necessarily need a stand-alone generator. You can use one camera as the time code generator and then loop from camera to camera with these cameras set to external time code.