Timecode break advice PLEASE!

[Robin Probyn]

While your on the subject.. I know you should always try to hit the return button on the lens after power down and on again with the tape still in the camera.
But if you dont(sometimes there just isnt time) is it really such a big problem for TC,or a minor annoyance ???

Thanks

[Del Holford]

[Redflag] “sometimes there just isnt time”

Do you think the talent will start without you? I understand if the material you are shooting is live action for news or documentary events, but even then, edit systems need at the very least :10 of leader and trailer to ingest material easily and cue past the timecode jumps. Anything else costs time ($) and aggrevation. Trust me, you want your editor to be happy 🙂

Del
fire*, smoke*, photoshopCS3
Charlotte Public Television

[Robin Probyn]

Yes Iam all for happy editors … arnt they all .. on those massive salaries and 2 hr lunch breaks 🙂
Is 10 sec really needed in this day and age,if a camera can record in about 3 sec,s from save, whats the story with editing gear?
Not questioning you.. just surprised..

Thanks

[Del Holford]

Having ten seconds is a good safety margin to get sync lock on a poorly maintained machine that may need a long pre-roll.
It also allows you to do a video lead into a subject in the edit. Sometimes you want the subject onscreen but under narration and then they come up full for their sound bite.
Post-roll is also important because NLEs need a couple seconds past the out point when ingesting. The photographer never knows when these things may happen so doing it automatically means you always have that safety margin.

Del
fire*, smoke*, photoshopCS3
Charlotte Public Television

[Paul Thurston]

This scenario, which happens more often than not, has various solutions…

1. The expensive way… Make a copy of your tape to a new tape. (Most Editors prefer this option… Producers hate it… unless you use used work tapes to make the copies to.)

2. The cheap but harder way… just select shots that have usable timecode before and after the shot. (Editors hate this option, Producers love it)

3. The intelligent way… always make sure you press the “return” button on the camcorder before pressing the “record” button. (Editors and Producers love this option, but Talent hate it because it slows down shooting time… that is unless you have those nice Digital Betacam camcorders that have eight seconds of solid state memory that capture images eight seconds before you press the record button.)

As you stated, you have the Digital Betacam tapes with broken timecode. If you don’t have used “work tapes” that you can use to copy your camera original tapes to, option #2 will be your option.

-Paul

[Editvideo]

Digibetacam should have 4 audio tracks. Just record new TC to an unused audio track and let your editor know where the new TC is.

[Tom Matthies]

Guys…
ALL Digibeta editing decks have the ability to simply insert new time code information using a simple insert edit. Just set your starting code, do an insert on the time code track only and you will be good to go. The only problem here is if your original tape does not have a continuous control track. Then you will have problems.
If you have another Digibeta deck available, the best solution is probably to simply “clone” your tape to another tape. This will be a digital transfer to another machine resulting in a continuous time code track and control track with no loss in quality. If you have just a tape or two, and don’t have two decks at your disposal, it might be a good idea to simply send these off to a dub house for the duping.
As for adding a little “heads” and “tails” to each shot in the field, while not strictly necessary for preroll purposes, it is just a good habit to get into. Tape is cheap. Production time isn’t. Which would you rather pay for?
Tom

[Robin Probyn]

Hi there

Yes all camera people learn/are told by editors early on to have a hold on each end of a pan,hold a shot for 10 sec,s etc.
But thanks for clarifying that not hitting the return button a couple of times in a week shoot is not going to mean the production company will go bust,or editors hurl themselves from tall buildings.Which is sometimes the message that they seem to put out 🙂