Al Bergstein
Forum Replies Created
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Hey Patrick, I’ve done a lot of interviews like that on a tight budget. The ability to do what you want is found in a huge array of cameras right now. I would certainly think of buying used. I sold my C100 a while back, and it was a great deal for the person that bought it. I also have owned the xf305 and xf100. For achieving best DOF the C100 would be a great choice with a fast 35 -105 lens. (you don’t even need a super fast lens with the c100 and a short throw. ) But you could also buy a used GH4 orGH5 and achieve the same DOF within a smaller form factor. That’s what I use now.
There’s also the Canon XC15 4K Professional Camcorder, which might do the job for around $2k without a lens.
So check ebay and see what you can find.
Al
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[Al Bergstein] “it would be trivial for me to learn final cut Pro X. It’s even more trivial for me to buy it.”
The don’t. Man, you PC guys are touchy!
Al says: Wasn’t being touchy, just pointing out that the price and training time is not the issue.
[Al Bergstein] “Apple has done little to convince us that they won’t do another FCP switch again. ”
That’s right! As an Avid|DS user I know Avid would NEVER do that. Oh wait…..
Al says: Well, I moved to Pr. They haven’t done that yet. I have no idea about Avid’s history. I’ve been overall happy with the switch to Pr. Though it seems that a lot of complaints are showing up currently on their boards.
[Al Bergstein] “They could dump us all tomorrow, and it would not affect their bottom line at all.”
As Steve said, a switch to Premiere, Avid or Resolve would be in order. Plus, on an hourly gig, there would be more money to be made….
Al says: Yes, I did. And yes, probably true. I am a long time Apple (and Windows) customer. To be clear, I have used Macs since the very first one was brought out (boy does that date me!). I have wandered back and forth with Apple over the decades, and supported thousands of their machines as well as Windows machines. I loved FCP, and felt it was extremely stable for those days, compared to the competition. I felt the move to X was extremely poorly handled and showed a lack of respect for the customer. I have loved working on Pr (and it’s tight integration with Audition and AE). I am a working pro but only local docs etc. Not involved in any big ticket filmmaking. (I have done a lot of local video and a few longer docs). I should have been Apple’s X customer. But am not. I just bought a new MB Pro, have an iMac 27″ (2017). But I’m not convinced any of us have a future on Apple’s platforms, and I use NTFS drives with Paragon software’s NTFS for Macs to allow cross platform compatibility and a way off Apple if needed.
Al
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To me Michael really hits the nail on the head. it’s been a very interesting conversation thread to read now seven years into FCPX. Apple has failed in a fundamental marketing issue which is technical evangelism of their product . they have left it to Larry Jordan and a few others to make their case, and as an ex user of Final Cut Pro I was shocked when Apple simply abandon the product and told us to move on to a new product that was essentially still in beta. There was no roadmap from Final Cut Pro to Final Cut X. Apples insistence on silence before launch only works in the consumer world. For corporations and other professionals, roadmaps are a necessity, so planning is able to be done, for budgeting purposes primarily. The lack of trust has just recently been shown again as we start to hear that the Macintosh operating system team has been dismantled. This can only point to one thing, that Apple is betting the whole farm on the iOS operating system. The fact that Apple is not discussing this publicly is another example of poor marketing on their point to this piece sector of the market. The latest products in the laptop market from them are underwhelming from a professional standpoint. The idea of any of us who were professionally whether a one-man band or a major editing shop in Los Angeles to consider running our business on iOS for editing is just absurd at this moment in time. The limitations of this consumer operating system is evident anyone that tries to work deeper than email or Facebook posts on it . it would be trivial for me to learn final cut Pro X. It’s even more trivial for me to buy it. But the notion of investing in an editing suite which is what we all do means we have to believe that the company is not going to go out of the market tomorrow. Apple has done little to convince us that they won’t do another FCP switch again. We know that for all their faults, Avid and Adobe exist to produce professional products for editors. Apple does not. They could dump us all tomorrow, and it would not affect their bottom line at all.
Al
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With all due respect, given that the Zoom is not taking it’s time code in a way you need, perhaps this is simply a problem of not being clear with your requirements before buying it. I was curious about your original question because I own both a Zoom H5 and F8. The H5 has no way to *reset* the time counter (maybe if I reset the clock every time, but it still would default to a time of day not a counter. The F8 has timecode and you can set and reset it without plugging in a TC generator. So while it would unlikely be exact if your needs are simply to get the numbers cleaner, you could reset before every take. I assume other higher end recorders have this function also. Sounds like you might want to sell this current model and get one that has the features you need. Hope this helps! All the best!
Al
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What John said. From one who recently upgraded his iMac 2012 to a new 2017. 4k edits just fine.
Al
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Bill, Robert has some good points. You may still be using FW drives that new machines can’t support without adapters. You are on the far side of modern, and close to being unable to upgrade your software, let alone your machine. That age of machine is at a much higher probability for failure of components, likely when you least want it to happen. Anything over 5 years is living on borrowed time. That’s just stats talking.
At any rate, my recommendation is to move to an iMac if you want to continue editing modern footage. I have a newer iMac and it works great with 4k footage. I would look for a used machine on Ebay. I’ve bought two of my last four machines on either Ebay or Craigslist and they worked just fine. Look for 4GB of Video RAM and 32 GBs of RAM. An SSD is preferrable. then plug in your older USB drives.
Getting off 10.8 is important for many reasons, security, and also the ability to upgrade software with newer, more secure versions is important. I had a friend wait too long and all their word processing was unable to be migrated forward because they had a program that no longer was supported by anyone on any OS. It is unusual but it happens.
Good luck on your upgrade path. If you are not feeling competent on upgrading older OS’s find someone you know locally who can help you. It’s well worth a few bucks or a beer to find someone who can guide you on this. Upgrading software is the first thing to do, then the OS can follow. That way you’ll find the software that won’t run on your older machine.
Al
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Hi guys. I had a Canon xf305 for a number of years. Perhaps I’m not totally understanding your setup.
If your mixer is getting a series of mic feeds, and you want to send those to the XF305 XLR in’s, then set the in’s to LINE IN not Mic. Maybe you had the setting set wrong. Your noise might have been that. It also could have been caused by long runs of not grounded cable, a short in an input plug, etc. Glad it’s gone though.
Al
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It depends on what you want to shoot. Focus on your requirements first. I.E. shoot mainly stills and a little video? Lots of video and a few stills? What’s your budget? What’s your goals? Weddings? Sports? Wildlife? etc. There’s far too much choice to simply say one is a better choice than another. The answer might be “none” if your needs point to a camcorder style product, which would give you far greater video flexibility for the price, but limit your stills quality.
Al
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If you need the versions like CS6 there are some likely being sold on Ebay cheap, and at the worse, maybe there are some Windows folks here that if you sent them the files they could open and then save them on CS6 and maybe even further. I no longer have it on my machine, though I do have the disks. Not sure if I have the Windows or Mac version. I used both back then.
Al
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Jamie, that very short clip viewed on my iPhone at least seem very much like what I would expect from that camera . To get a real sense of the ability of the camera you might shoot a series of situations on a tripod and perhaps get a color chart to work with .
Al