[Anthony Marotti]

Hello,

I’m looking for repair parts for these lights, especially replacement LEDs.

Anyone know of a source??

Thanks!

AM 🙂

[Anthony Marotti]

Hello,

Sorry, I haven’t been on the forums in years.

I sold all of my Fujinon stuff along with the documentation… But I do have this PDF file that might be helpful.

I wish there were a way to attach a file, or even a photo to this post. I really don’t know an easy way to share it here and I’m far too busy now to go through any machinations to figure it out.

If you know of an easy way to do it here in the forum let me know.

AM 🙂

[Anthony Marotti]

Hi,

The reason I included the clips of the eyes only is to make the point that regardless of any key specific issues, like even or proper exposure of the green screen, key settings, etc. that isn’t relevant to the main problem… Adding the Ultra Key Filter amplifies and makes minor noise horrible.

Just look at the left eye. Without the key you can see minor noise that you might expect at 400% magnification and a underexposed subject.

As mentioned, at 100% magnification and at the proper viewing distance, you wouldn’t think there was any noise at all… it’s pretty clean.

But as soon as you add the Ultra Key, you can see noise everywhere and look closely at the left eye… with out the key there’s some fine grain but negligible, but with the Key on, you can see some pretty disruptive noise.

So it doesn’t have anything to do with the background at all, addint the Key magnifies the noise Everywhere, so that means it doesn’t have anything to do with the background only something peculiar within CS6 in communion with Ultra Key.

I’ll try some of the other keyers to see if they do the same thing… it might just be how CS6 handles keys??

I can’t be the only one that this is happening to.

I would like to see if anyone can replicate this.

Next Ill try resetting the key and not choosing a key color. I susspect it won’t make a difference.

I’ll also try a different keyer.

Thanks!

Anthony

AM 🙂

[Anthony Marotti]

Hello Again 🙂

OK the tests with solid objects on a solid object background proved your point that Ultra Key wasn’t creating the noise, at least under these conditions. No noise was visible when using and keying all solid graphics (non movie clips).

Again, as I mentioned before, I don’t know of any sensor that is noise free, and the next test I ran using the GH4 footage should prove my point that Ultra Key actually amplifies any grain or noise present in the video footage.

All of the footage is shot at 4K and 100Mbp and magnified so that any noise in the original footage could be seen.

I exposed the green screen correctly but purposely underexposed the face so that it would have more noise for this test.

With that said, if shown at normal magnification and at the proper viewing distance, the noise in the non-keyed footage would be undetectable, even in the shadows of the face.

The following clip shows the footage with and without the Ultra Key Filter applied.

The first series of shots focus on the eye of the model so that you can see the noise amplification effect without the distraction or implications of the keying issue.

The next shot series deals with fine hair against a green screen. Here I did not use an underlying graphic as it would distract from the test and I did not try and get a great key, because that also would obfuscate the test results.

What you will see is a clear amplification of noise any time the Ultra Key Filter is applied.

Let me know what you guys make of it.

Thanks!

Here is the clip:

https://youtu.be/6USbtSHfIpg

AM 🙂

[Anthony Marotti]

Hello,

Thanks for the response, I didn’t think might see my post.

I haven’t tried AE yet, but may once I have the time to get in there and learn Keylight.

I shot the screen from 60IRE to over 90IRE and in every case there was noise introduced.

Let me clarify because I couldn’t edit my first post for some reason.

At 400% magnification you can see some very, very fine noise in the original clip. I don’t know if any sensor can produce an image with no noise.

But this very fine grain like noise becomes big blotchy serious noise (in comparison) once the key is applied.

You gave me a good idea that I’m going to try as soon as I get back to my workstation.

I’ll create a solid green HD size graphic, and I’ll create a solid square graphic that I can place in the center say 450X450 and apply UltraKey to that.

As you mentioned, if the process doesn’t produce noise, then we know more about the problem.

If it doesn’t create noise with completely noiseless elements, that doesn’t mean that UltraKey isn’t amplifying noise in my clips, but it is an interesting test.

As far as posting a full frame PNG… are you suggesting creating a snapshot of a frame in CS6?

I don’t have any other footage at the moment to test anything other than the GH4. Maybe I can find a clip from a camera that is known for getting good keys and key that in CS6… Do you know of any sources off hand?

Thank you so much for your interest, I’ve been out of the game for a while and am just now getting back in.

Anthony

AM 🙂

[Anthony Marotti]

Hello All

I know this is an old post but I hope someone finds it and responds.

I have run numerous experiments and must disagree with the noise theory… that being “noise in the original footage is causing the problems in UltraKey”… and I’ll explain.

First I’ll state my theory: The PremierePro CS6 and UltraKey combination are creating the noise.

My Camera is a GH4, which is known for being a bit noisy at high ISOs in low light, however I removed this behavior from my tests.

My Test Technique

I shot footage against a green screen at all different ISOs and in various formats. I used super fast lenses and slower lenses. I shot at different exposures from overexposed to underexposed, and pulled all of them into PP CS6 and keyed them with UltraKey.

I ran the gambit as far as different shooting conditions to see what would get me the best results for keying.

I always noticed noisy keys using PP but I attributed it to my camera gear being noisy. But when I got the GH4 and was shooting 4K at 100mb I thought that I could get a clean key easy enough… But even though better than 2 K, and pretty darn good, I still got noise when keying.

I have been on a quest for clean keys for some time now and am reaching a frustration level that doesn’t correspond with my Zen like approach to life.

This latest set of test were meant to test different lenses to determine if they made much of a difference and whether I should pick up a new lens for my small studio (wider angle).

What I found surprised me. I discovered that I could get a cleaner key by correctly exposing, or even underexposing rather than slightly overexposing.

The reason that I was surprized is that I thought underexposing would create more noise and therefore lend itself to the theory that the noise I experienced in keying was a result of noise present in the original footage.

So if underexposing should create more noise in my original footage, why did it give me a better key than slightly overexposed footage that should have less noise??

After some thought I revisited a previous opinion that I had. I thought that PP might be adding noise to my clips once I applied UltraKey. After reading some posts here I dismissed that as being the case and continued looking for a solution.

Well after my recent tests I am leaning heavily toward my original opinion that UltraKey, in communion with PP, is creating the noise.

Analyzing my footage, both in and out of PP, I concluded that the original footage was extremely clean and most of my test footage was, what I would consider as close to noise free as any footage I have ever reviewed.

So if my footage was very clean with no detectable noise, why did the footage get noisy after applying UltraKey?

Again I looked at the footage very carefully and did not see any noise in the areas that I tested until I brought it into PP and applied UltraKey.

And I’m not just looking at output files that had been compressed, I see the same results in PP prior to export.

So I am convinced that the combination of PP and UltraKey is the problem, but I would love to be proven wrong or lead to a solution.

What say you?

Thanks in advance for your constructive feedback!

Anthony

AM 🙂

[Anthony Marotti]

Hello Again 🙂

I don’t get any error from the camera at all.

When I load the Stock Firmware GH2__1.1.bin into the root directory on my SDHC card and insert it into the GH2, I power on the camera and then press the preview button. At this point I should get a screen asking me if I want to install the update or something to that effect, but I get a message that essentially says: No viewable Image to Display…

So it’s telling me that it can’t find any clips to play, so it doesn’t recognize my stock firmware as needing to be installed.

If I follow the same procedure with a patch, the GH2 asks me if I want to run the update.

And Yes, I used the name that PTools suggested as the default, which was ver 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, etc.

So I’m not sure how to rectify this??

Any insight is appreciated, and thanks again for the reply!!

Anthony

AM 🙂

[Anthony Marotti]

Hello and Thanks for the Reply,

I may very well be doing something wrong (or not) that’s why I asked the question.

I have hacked my 1.1 firmware and in order for it to act like un-hacked firmware you go into Ptools and un-check all of the boxes.

I did that… but that isn’t the same as re-installing the stock firmware.

And I already know that using the above procedure is suppose to be the same as using the stock 1.1 firmware, but that isn’t what I want to do.

When attempting to re-install the stock firmware, the system thinks it is already installed and will do nothing, thereby preventing me from actually re-installing the stock firmware.

So how would you do it?

Thanks Again.

AM 🙂

[Anthony Marotti]

Hey Kyle,

I don’t remember reading in the manual that there are repeated dropped frames??

I know that the Panasonic know how to answer questions without really saying anything. I have asked them for specifics and all I get back is a cookie cutter response that it wasn’t designed for that… well I didn’t ask you what it was designed for, I asked what exact signal is being output to the HDMI port… I am so sick of non-tech, entry level people and interns being assigned to tech support 🙁

Anyway, the whole interlaced thing was fixed just by altering my editing workflow as mentioned in my previous post.

As far as playback is concerned, just like Chris said, the shuttle is a simple record and playback machine, it doesn’t even let you change between uncompressed and NDxHD recording without hooking it up to your computer.

The only control you have over the deck wen in VTR mode is through the physical controls on the unit i.e. the buttons.

And the only control you have while connected to the computer is to change the recording mode as mentioned above, and some housekeeping chores.

Yes you can connect the Shuttle to your monitor and use your monitor normally, not just for playback. The HDMI is a true loop through and works as designed and advertised.

It’s a solid (like a tank) little unit.

AM 🙂

[Anthony Marotti]

Hello, and thanks for the reply!

I have read so many conflicting specs on the HDMI output that it’s mind boggling.

So don’t take this wrong, but where did you get your information from?

Thanks for the tip, I will Google “pulldown removal” shortly.

BTW I think I solved the problem using another technique.

In CS6 I right click on my clip in the bin and conform it to Upper First, but it also works with Lower First, that makes the clips look fine on my timeline, although when output the results are horrible.

Now when exporting to Media Encoder (only tried it with H.264) I choose Progressive, and that corrects all of the problems that I was having.

Thanks Again!!

Anthony

AM 🙂