Al Bergstein
Forum Replies Created
-
What I’ve found out is that something like the Teranex deck is what is needed. It cross converts on the fly. It’s pricey, and requires wall power, but it does the job. When you say you are ‘capturing’ to the MBPro, you mean not broadcasting. If you are only capturing, why not use the Atomos? I really like mine and it does the job just fine. Actually better than trying to capture 24p in AVCHD.
But I’ve recently started broadcasting with WIrecast and Concert Window. For that, I need to cross convert on the fly. I did that recently with the BM Intensity Pro, but it did not convert the 1080i. If you decide you need multiple cameras in your shoot, you will need to probably spend a couple of thousand to get both the Teranex and the BM Switcher. Do your switching on it, then run into the Teranex for conversion, and into the MBPro. I can’t seem to find anything that removes pulldown on the fly like that other than the Teranex. Maybe I’ve missed something. Would love to find a cheaper solution!
There is also the possibility, which I’ve got to look into, that if you run the HDMI into the Atomos, that it may push the HDMI out as progressive, as it has a passthrough HDMI port for external monitoring. I think that’s *not* accurate, as I believe it has to be interlaced to display properly on HDMI monitors. I’ll see what happens.
Am I reading your post correctly?
Al
-
Kathreen, I’ve owned both cameras, still own the C100, and can say that they are very different cameras. It really comes down to your budget, and what you want to achieve in the look of your video. The C100 requires extra lenses. The xf100 comes with a decent but ‘short’ lens, and does allow zooming, which is really valuable in shooting theatrical and other live performances. If you need to add a second camera, the xf100 is also cheaper. It does have some downsides, however, in that it cannot shoot in as low light as the c100. Hopefully your theatrical work will be well lit. But I prefer my C100 in all situations. If you can afford it, it’s worth it.
What I might recommend to you is to look at the XA25 or XA20 from Canon. It has a lens that has a longer zoom (20x) and believe me, that is important in theatrical at times. It also has a slightly better sensor, so it is likely to do better in low light. I shot with one last month, and it was better than my xf100 was by a small amount. It’s also smaller, and less noticeable for documentary type of work.
Another option is to look at the new XF200 or 205. It also has a better zoom and other features from the xf100.
I mention the 25 or 205 models because if you need to add second cameras, you may want to link them together. These models come with more external options for doing that, such as SDI out. If you want to save some money, just by the xa20 or 200 models, and worry about connectivity later.
While neither of these cameras are as good as the C100, they will save you a lot of money, and give you plenty of great features while you learn if you really want to invest more in video. You can always sell them or use them as a second camera if you step up to the C100 later.
good luck.
Al
-
Gotcha. I just actually looked and my xf305 shoots 1080i at 60fps. So that will match the C100’s output apparently. (posting this for other’s who may have similar question). I’ll go ahead and order one, and get back to folks about what I find.
Al
-
Undertstood. However, as a machine that’s now 6 years old it is at the age where failure rates go way up. Statistically, failure rates on electronics have been shown to go up quite dramatically over 5 years of age. I think it has to do with heat related failure, etc. The fact that you say you haven’t upgraded any software lately seems and that you actually have reinstalled the OS and it still happens, tends to point to it. I had a 2008 Mac Pro and it did experience hardware failure, in that it’s memory cards started failing and I had to replace them.
Apple will likely ask you to take all the third party cards out, and run diagnostics overnight. If the machine fails the diags then you know it’s the motherboard or other component, and at that point, it’s likely time to replace the machine. However, it could be that one of your third party cards is failing and bringing down the machine with it. The graphics card or RAID card are the possible suspects there.
good luck
ps:
This article documents failure rates in the 2006 era, which shows pretty significant (10%) failure rates after 4 years of age. If this computer is critical to your making a living, I’d start budgeting for a new machine in the next year.https://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pop/lm_failureRates.html
Al
-
You say it’s restarting. When? When you boot? Or after you have booted and everything seems to be running fine? Randomly or can you do something to cause it to happen?
You can use Console to see what may have been running when it crashed. However, crashes like this tend to be hardware oriented.
You can startup in various modes to test your system. Here’s the key combinations.
https://support.apple.com/kb/ht1533
Try both holding down Shift first.IF you are not near a repair center, you might want to start by removing your non essential hardware, one piece at a time until you have found the one that seems to be linked to the failure.
You also mention you haven’t upgraded your OS, and it’s crashing regardless of new install or not. That would seem to point to a hardware failure, but Apple will likely insist on you taking out your third party cards to eliminate them as a root cause. If it was an Apple hardware issue I think you would get a specific error message from the computer.
Hope this helps.
Al
-
Since the 10.9.4 update just came out and fixed a lot of major video issues for Adobe, I’m wondering if this is related to the update. I would call Adobe tech support and find out if this is a new issue they are seeing, as well as check the Blackmagic and Aja boards here.
Al
-
Totally agree with Terry. Always shoot manual. If you want to do professional work, you gotta master the basics. But I’m thrilled that the mystery is solved. It’s so hard not being able to see the camera and it’s settings in front of me. We likely would have solved in in 5 minutes! Good luck with the XF305. I’m, sure you love it.
Al
-
So by changing the shutter and testing various shutter speeds, you will see changes in the light getting to the LCD or viewfinder. Changing the shutter speeds will change your exposure because it lets in more light. You might want to just run through a series of quick tests to see how the same scene is affected by simply changing the shutter speeds.
After that. I would create a series of quick tests with gain. Put the shutter in one setting (say 50 or 60) and change the various gain settings. You will find the limit of what is acceptable to you in gain. For example, if you were shooting on automatic exposure in the church, you might have had the gain boosted by the camera to an unacceptable level. It might still mean that you had to shoot at that level to get a decent exposure, but you will at least know where your ‘break point’ is.
Al
-
Hmmm. yes, I think you are right in trying an external recorder. As mentioned, it’s only happened to me once. I have been watching for it. Just did shooting last week but no flicker. If I catch it again I’ll let you know.
Al
-
The choices have to be made by you. But you can do a real easy test. The shutter speed switch is on the left side, clearly marked. I simply aimed my camera at a darkened part of my living room, and switched through the choices. You will see things lighten up considerably, especially at (since you are on EU/UK settings) choices other than 180 degrees. remember that usually the shutter should be set to twice the fps (i.e. 25 would mean a shutter speed of 48 sometimes rounded to 50, which I believe is where it is if you select “OFF”). Why? Because of the standards of film cameras. To get clean motion they had to abandon the original, which was 18 fps (the old silent films like Chaplin used that). When sound (and better mechanisms) came in they boosted the speed of the shutter and it cleaned up the motion. The 180 degree shutter is meant to simulate the way the older shutter worked, and is more likely to help get that *film look* that we are so in love with. But today, slower shutters on a video camera also mean blurring of motion. You can choose a shutter speed by cycling through that is 1/2 your FPS, which in my case, at 30fps, shows 1/15th of a second. 24fps can be set to 1/12th. Remember that this might not work where your subject is moving. I would do tests to find the right choices. Maybe someone else on this thread can help explain in greater detail. But the simple story is that when I went to film/photography school, (a long time ago) our instructors had us do the tests to learn it ourselves. It still is the best way. Testing your equipment will help you be more comfortable under pressure. Good luck.
Al