Bill Ravens
Forum Replies Created
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I’ve been dropping 30p footage in a 24p project with MC4.02. The resulting output footage is buttery smotth. Avid did an excellent job, here.
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Amberfin has a free utility that will deconvolve the Sony mxf into m2v video stream and aes audio files. The m2v files can then be read by most mpeg codecs. If you google AMBERFIN or MXF DESKTOP, you should be able to find this utility.
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No. This isn’t the rolling shutter. Funny how people can ascribe all manner of ills to a “rolling shutter”, evil invention that it is. Chances are, the color shift phenomenon experienced with a polarizer, is due to dichroic filters used on the mirror system within the lens. Dichroics uses selective polarization to seperate out various wavelengths of light, either for metering or for capture by the 3 different (RGB) color sensors.
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I’ve had very good success with recording 720p60 straight off the HD-SDI port on my EX1. Halving the framerate in Vegas is a little tricky because I think it will just throw away every other field, thinking it is 60i. Also, be careful for the tendency for vegas to auto resample.
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For what it’s worth…
I am invested in both Convergent Design CF recorders, which rely on the Sony XDCAM 422 codec to encode the HDSDI input signal. The encoded file is a proprietary Sony mxf format at bitrates that exceed 35 mbps. I have continuously asked for a SONY SDK that defines the decoder for these encoded files, specifically, so Cineform can implement the decoder into their NEO product. Cineform has informed me that they will not implement the XDCAM 422 codec until Sony releases this SDK.I am boggled at the thought that a company as “prestigious” as Sony continues to treat professional and prosumer customers with such obvious disregard. Sadly, chronic complaints fall on deaf ears at Sony.
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Hi Rafael…
Dynamic range is a rather curious topic when it comes to the EX1. The dynamic range of the EX1 is rather variable depending on a number of items. For example, selecting a gain value of -3dB will limit the super-white values recorded by the EX1 to 103%, as opposed to 109% IRE when the gain is set to 0 dB. Furthermore, the CINE gamma settings use a knee in the highlights to roll off the highlights, rather than truncate them, providing more data in the brighter regions of the image. I’ve found Cine1 to yield about 11 stops of range. Cine4 will yield a larger range, perhaps as much as 12 stops, however, this is done by rolling the gamma knee off sooner, resulting in low contrast thru mid to upper highlight values. For this reason, I tend to avoid Cine4 for bright outside scenes and use it, primarily, for indoor scenes where the contrast is not as high. Cine2, of course, will limit IRE values to no more than 100%. All other gamma presets demand some post processing to bring the illegal values of super-whites back into legal range, but, the advantage is increased highlight detail.
My point is, high dynamic range isn’t the holy grail of shooting performance. If you don’t intend to color grade in post, then one is obligated to use Cine2.
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Bob I tried to do the same thing a while back. The best I could do was by turning the Color Correction ON and boosting the Green. My attempts were mildly successful, not nearly as good as the first cut, tho’.
here’s those settings:
Level: ………………………..0
Phase:…………………… -29
R-G: ………………………+31
R-B: ………………………48
G-R:……………………….. -2
G-B: ……………………….-32
B-R: ……………………..-38
B-G:……………………. +4
Color Correction………… ON
Target Phase:…………….. 274
Target Width: …………….0
Level: ……………………91
Phase:………………… -18
Knee SAT ……………….50
Gamma Level: ……………0 -
Amazing to me that this has gotten the exposure it has gotten. With a lot more experience under my belt witht his cam, this profile still works well. Keep in mind that settings like DETAIL and BLACK LEVEL don’t really effect the color balance like the MATRIX adjustment does. Tweaking BLACK LEVEL is really based on the scene being shot. If you lower the shadows to near pure black(RGB 16 or less) the scene lighting needs to be carefully controlled so the shadows aren’t crushed(like an indoor performance). If you’re shooting outside, raise the BLACK LEVELS back up to give yourself a little headroom, aka wiggleroom, for uncontrolled variations more than 11 stops.
On the subject of dynamic range, I use Cine1 for outside under direct sunlight, Cine 3 for outside with filtered light(cloudy day) and cine 4 for indoors. If you happen to prefer the Standard settings, I tend to avoid Std1, altogether and always turn off AUTOKNEE.
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I experienced the same thing. Directors with Avid experience would keep their thumb in the post production phase, looking over my shoulder continuously. Why does Vegas do this? Why doesn’t Vegas do that? Ultimately, the preview window didn’t match the final rendered output. Try explaining THAT one to a director.I found myself dancing on the head of a pin until I couldn’t take it any more. I moved to Avid and haven’t had an unpleasant day since then.
Fortunately, I don’t do any work for television, or I might have to learn FCS.
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Something to keep in mind…720P downconverts to SD much better than 1080P