Al Bergstein
Forum Replies Created
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Ivan, do mean place all the clips on one track, one after the other? You are describing a process that is all done in Pr , correct? Not in Au? Somtimes posts are not as clear as video. Thx. i’m sure I’ll face this at some time. Usually my sound tracks in multicam are not used for main audio track. I almost always record to an external recorder when shooting multiple camers. But you never know.
Cole, do you really need all the tracks individually? Often B cam audio is discarded.
Al
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Eric, not to be critical, but aren’t you recieving and buffering the TB input and sending it out at the slower speed? Just trying to understand.believe me i’ll buy one if it gets me a port on a slightly older i7 w/o usb 3.0.
Al
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In this day and age, with liability what it is, everyone needs to get paid something, to clarify the relationships, legal and otherwise. The Black Swan suit people didn’t start out looking to sue. They were pissed that they were being used, and we all know it happens. Get clear going in. It doesn’t cost that much more. If not, then they are ‘extras’. A dollar a day and the ability to say they were in movies.
Al
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The Lightpanel 1×1 with battery has changed my filming a lot, and for the better.It is amazing what having a portable light like that can do to spark up a scene. I still have a lot of 110 based lights, but find I keep them for special situations. I could probably sell them and not think twice about it.
Add to that a DSLR for low light performance and it is a long ways towards handling most situations. I always put the light case it in the van, and usually end up using it. It can even help to some degree in bright sunlight. I’ll have a bunch of new work up on the web by the end of September that will be with it in use. I’m still getting used to it, and it’s not a panacea, but for a small operation, it is one of the most significant tools I’ve added to the kit. While expensive, it has already paid for itself, IMHO.
Al
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Al says: I’m no expert, but here’s been my experience.
See inline below:
You said:
We use Pana P2 cams for camcorder factor and really like the quality. But I was asking about wider DOF using the DSLRs. We are considering the 5D or if budget doesn’t allow the 60D for a photo/video cam and was asking if you can get a wider DOF with it?Also what would you suggest as a kit for it?
AL says: Wide DOF can be achieved but needs proper F stop to accomplish. So you need light. I’ve found, in lower lit situations I often boost the ISO to get my deep DOF for group shots. It’s doable, just takes more thought.Specifics on:
Lenses,
If starting out I would get the Canon 14mm, the 24-105 and the 70-200. That covers the waterfront. For specific theatrical work, I’d add an 85 mm.follow focus,
There are lots of choices. Depends on budget.mat box,
Stay away from cheap india knock offs. I suggest Chrozial.media cards,
I use nothing but Sandisk Extreme Pros. Have had others fail.etc.: whatever has come in handy that you learn with experience.
I never have a standing budget so when I order a piece of gear I need to have the whole kit. We have a pretty decent set of lights – kino flo-s and fresnels, and a LED lit Cyc wall which has been great for photo/video shoots.
Al says: Sounds like you have the lights. I now almost exclusely use 1x1s with batteries. Really makes a huge difference in the field.We also use Canon HV40s for beginner cams and loaners and they do pretty well but are getting old as is tape and HDV.
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Al
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Adobe doesn’t call out a llack of support on TB but neither do they claim to support esata or FW which we knowthey do. I would reinstall the software.make sure you have all updates installed. Their hardware support page simply says RAID 0 preferred.
Al
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Thanks Craig. The rest of this project will be released in September on Vimeo.
The xf105 can give you large DOF with no problem. That’s what small sensors do best. The biggest problem is low light. They just can’t do well without a lot of gain. For low light I always shoot some other kind of camera, whether 5D, C100 or C300.
I have to say, that given your requirements, you should either choose a Canon camera that uses EF lenses, and stick with it, or get a Panasonic, etc. I have stuck with Canon. So I can interchange 7D, 5D, C100, C300 and C500 if I choose to rent those cameras. It’s a compelling arguement. Of course Panny and Sony also have similar ranges. It’s just that I’ve always been partial to Canon.
Some folks are raving about the Sony FS100 and up. I found that ND filters are a must, and the lack of them on the Sony forced me to the C100. I would love to have super slow mo, but frankly, rarely use it.
Best of luck.
al
Al
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Mike, there’s nothing wrong with the XF105, I had one and sold it a month or so back. The 4:2:2 is great, it’s low light ability is a bit weak, and the single sensor is not quite as sharp as the XF300, with it’s three sensors. For interviews on the street, it’s fine, but to get an out of focus background you need to move back and shoot with telephoto. But it has all the controls and XLRs that you could need.
While the BMCC is obviously a great camera if you want/need 4:4:4 I have no intention of buying one anytime soon, as the issues of file size, compute power, and tools are a bit bleeding edge for my system, and frankly, my end product is almost exclusively sent to the web and DVD. If I was thinking of shooting theatrical or for large screen at film fests, I might consider it. But I also have a 5Dmkiii and it produces fabulous quality, and with the RAW ability of ML you might look into it. Good news is that it shoots 29 minutes now, not 12 (not sure about with ML).
This video is what I consider to be a decent example of one I shot with the 5Dmkiii, using a wired lav mic plugged directly into the camera, and prime lens (28, 50). https://vimeo.com/55526954
You can see that you get it all, pretty dang good quality rendered out to Vimeo, decent sound, and DOF. I didn’t do a lot of color correction as this is a part of a larger video I shot that will be corrected better later.Ultimately, if you could afford it, the C300 is a great option, or even a C100 with a ninja. I think the C100 is one of the best cameras I’ve ever shot with, for what I do which is primarily docs and doc like corporate. It’s picture quality is far better than the xf105, and even better than the xf305 for many shoots.
Al
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It’s a little more complex than that Sean, but Chris brings up a good point. Having gone through all the stages from ‘hobbyist’ shooter with a T2i to a ‘full time’ professional (if I can loosely use that word) using broadcast quality equipment and still occassionally shooting with a 5D, I can say that if you are serious about primarily shooting video, then skip the T5i and go directly to something that can really monitor your audio properly, and give you the stuff that matters when shooting video (zebras, waveforms, etc.) While you can ‘hack’ in your ML to the T5i, (I guess), it’s still not a proper video camera. The downside to the Magic is that it’s going to create some mighty big files that you need to consider your computer’s power and capability. If I was shooting theatrical, I might seriously consider the Black M.
You didn’t mention if you have access to Canon lenses or not. The new B.Magic I think is using Panasonic style lenses.
Some other ideas include looking at the GH3, as it is a very nice camera at that price range, and includes audio meters and the quality of the image out of the camera is superb. Your lenses can be used later with a BM or AF101, for example, which is still a great camera for the price. I seriously considered one for a while before getting the C100 (I already had lots of Canon glass)
Be aware if you go the DSLR route, you are going to likely need to spend at least as much as the camera on lenses, a Zacuto Z-Finder is pretty essential IMHO, and probably something like an external recording device (I like the new Tascam DR-60D, or the Shure VP83F). So if you think you are saving money by buying the T5i, it’s not likely. I don’t know if you will need a Zacuto for the Black Magic, but Philip Bloom was not hot on it’s viewfinder.
The BM won’t be a good choice if you plan to take lots of stills. That’s why I keep around my 5D. It does both well.
Good luck.
Al
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This kind of posting easily leads to misinterpretation. Hope my post was not misconstrued. We wish you the best of luck. And let us see how things came out.
Al