[Adam Keyes]

Haha, thanks guys,

Sounds like I’m in a similar situation as you used to be Bill, regarding the location…

The showroom is actually really nice (at least on the surface :), but there are indeed a million light fixtures and I’m sure they’re all on dimmers.

Something else I forgot to ask about….obviously the camera itself has a input record level that i can adjust, and the mic has an output level…should these two levels be about equal (as in, both around 25% of maximum), or should one typically be much lower than the other….or is it just a trial and error kind of thing? 🙂

Oh, and what does this mean: “HIVE of RF” ? radio frequency?

Thanks so much guys,

Adam

[Adam Keyes]

Thanks for the reply…a few responses to yours:

Yes, using a LaCie FW800 external HD, that should be fine.
My 20 tracks that I mentioned…let me clarify: 20 total, maybe 10-12 are being used at one time, but 75% of those are things like a small logo in the bottom corner of the screen, or a website address in other corner, etc, no movement on them or anything, they just come in and out….so those shouldn’t take up to much processing right?

I group block of graphics w/ lots of movement on them to save space on my timeline, but I always assume that doesn’t really help in terms of rendering or keeping my processes more simple.

Never tried nesting, and I can’t really export anything and bring it back in, as I’m editing 30 second car commercials that are ALWAYS requiring changes from the client up till the last second… 🙂

It’s an SD timeline too, w/ usually NO Motion, but lots of graphics moving around via FCP’s motion adjusting…so I just figured that my maxed out iMac would be able to handle it.

Maybe it’s just time for a $3000 upgrade. sigh….

[Adam Keyes]

THANK YOU EVERYONE, i started replying to each of you, but i’ll just do this instead. 🙂

seriously, thanks for responding. audio problems make me laugh, cause i have no idea what is going on!!!

other background info: we’re shooting in a car dealership showroom, using a heavy duty jib for the camera, lowell light kit (often several things running off same wall outlet), only thing on batteries is the mic transmitter and receiver, everything else off wall outlets. but even so, could that really be causing the signal to go THAT bad? maybe so…

general answers to some of your questions:

1. not sure if it’s line/mic level at mic/camera, i’ll check
2. not sure which specific series lectrosonic mic i’m using, i’ll check that too
3. mic and camera are basically STRAIGHT out of the box, turned on, and go. no adjusting settings, etc. this, i’m sure, has something to do w/ it. ?
4. i think levels are set properly on mic/camera, but i don’t know what “proper” levels are for each piece of equipment. i guess more playing around will help there

THANK YOU everyone, i have a LOT to go back and check out. i’ll check what you guys suggested and hopefully you won’t hear back from me!!

thanks thanks thanks,

adam

[Adam Keyes]

thanks for the reply…

not sure. if you listened to my sample, you know that i’m in the local tv car commercial business, which means: no time to think, JUST SHOOT! 🙂

all our gear is basically right out of the box, turn it on, and go.

i’ll have to check on the mic level / line level, etc….

thanks again,

adam

[Adam Keyes]

not sure, would that setting be on the pack? receiver? camera?

[Adam Keyes]

here’s a sample of what i’m talking about, let me know if you can’t download…

files.me.com/prohd/qvncoh.mov

[Adam Keyes]

Thanks Mark,

Yeah I’ve read similar complaints about the 300…I had seen several comments similar to that and most people wondered if they had a faulty camera, though I never really saw any follow ups to those comments, so maybe that’s just how the 300 is…in which case, what the hell??? how can a $10k camera require -3db outdoors? something’s not right…. ?

i’m really torn now about getting the 300 or the 370 (i’m seeing about a $3k price difference b/t a gently used 300 and a new 370, i haven’t seen any used 370’s).

Thanks for the insight though!

Adam

[Adam Keyes]

thanks Steve,

just wanting to get a better idea of HOW MUCH better the 370 is than the 300…? and i suppose my main problem is that the tech specs of saying “measured at F10” or whatever, though i know what an F stop is, i don’t really know how to compare based on those measurements…

so i guess i’m really wondering if the 370’s low light shooting is $2-$3000 better, or if it’s just a LITTLE bit better, and not really justifying the extra cost compared to the 300.

thanks,

adam

[Adam Keyes]

Thanks Richard, very helpful indeed.

We’ll get a monitor for sure…

Question: Once everything is plugged in and working, will the Kona and external monitor run in real time? or do you have to export something, then play it on the monitor by itself, then go back and make color corrections, then export, etc, etc…or does it just show on the external monitor as you’re editing/color correcting, which would obviously be helpful. ??

[Adam Keyes]

Andy,

Export settings are definitely tricky, and trial and error will always help you get a better understanding of how it all works.

But I would think that you’re settings are way too high. You don’t need a 1+ gig file if you’re final video is 8 minutes long, in SD format.

Try this:

Export using QT convers
quality: high
keyframes: auto / or 30 / or 24 for PAL i guess
audio: probably just leave it, or you can change to aac and leave the rate, or go to 96, 128, etc

try that, see how it looks/sounds, and then adjust things accordingly. that format should upload to youtube great. the keyframes will adjust the filesize a lot, but i export things at 60 or 120 keyframes and they can still look good.

set your in and out points in a 20 second section of your video, then start exporting and keeping track of what settings you used, then you can compare them all to each other, then you should know what looks good for you!

Cheers,

Adam Keyes