[Bj Ahlen]

If you want to save your sanity, don’t export still frames to Photoshop (unless you have some very esoteric needs).

Color is very powerful, albeit a bit of work to learn.

Colorista II is a simple plug-in for FCP that gives you lots of controls.

If it’s too late to save your sanity, read https://provideocoalition.com/index.php/awilt/story/exporting_stills_from_fcp/“>this article about how to export stills from FCP 6.

There must be at least 10 ways to screw up the export of stills/image sequences to work on frames in other apps and import them again.

Gamma and YUV<->RGB conversion are just four (yes!) of the biggest culprits.

You need to test your workflow carefully.

Or just use Colorista II and do it all in Final Cut Pro (after rendering your timeline!).

[Bj Ahlen]

There is absolutely no problem whatsoever mixing Apple RAM with good quality, in-spec RAM from for example OWC, as long as you do it the right way.

Here’s how Apple says to do it for an original or 8-core Mac Pro.

(I expect they have the same how-to for the late-2010 Mac Pro also.)

This has worked flawlessly for me (and many others) for years, and I saved a ton of money compared to getting it all from Cupertino.

[Bj Ahlen]

Thanks for the C II video, nice presentation.

I agree on the lens condensation, that’s an easy trap in Singapore if you take the camera out of an air conditioned hotel.

I remember having to bring a change of clothes just to cross the street… (I asked a local, “You live here, so you must have gotten used to the heat and humidity, right?” The short answer was, “No.”)

Cars there have no heater controls at all, only A/C units that could make a Delco executive blush.

[Bj Ahlen]

[John Fishback] “PC and Mac have different gammas.”

Unless the Mac is running Snow Leopard which now uses 2.2 gamma like Windows to solve this problem.

Hopefully everybody will update to SL soon :O).

[Bj Ahlen]

The Alesis monitors have a combo connector that allows you to plug in either an XLR or a 1/4″ TRS plug.

If you get another monitor with XLR-only, you just need a Male 1/4″ TRS to Male XLR cable, less than $6 for a 3 ft. length at monoprice.com (which is a good supplier with quality products).

If you really need the most compact monitors, look at Blue Sky’s midrange monitors.

They cost more than 3x as much as the Alesis M1s, but they are somewhat comparable in sound quality.

Blue Sky’s higher end monitors are even used at Lucasfilm.

[Bj Ahlen]

The M-Audio ProFire 610 sounds OK and would save you $100.

But the sound isn’t at the Duet level, and you need a 16″x12″ space to park it within reach (in practice you’d probably have to put it somewhere else and get a separate line level volume knob for $75-$100, which would of couorse negate the savings).

It is also reputed to have buggy drivers, which sounds likely considering the experience I had with my M-Audio FW410, which you just reminded me to pull out of the closet for disposal on eBay.

Firewire interfaces are a royal, nay imperial, pain when the drivers aren’t great (like the Duet drivers are, perhaps because they only support OS X nowadays). Do you really want to use language your mother wouldn’t approve of?

[Bj Ahlen]

The Apogee Duet is totally great in sound, ergonomics (big knob and on screen mixer), and very good micpres with 48V phantom power.

The less expensive Genelecs (<$2K/pair) I find to sound too “pleasant.”

That’s a problem when mixing and mastering, because it can make you think you’ve got great sound even as your clients wonder if you need a hearing aid.

Get a pair of Alesis M1 Active mk2 Biamp Monitors for $299 + a pair of Auralex MoPads ($38) to isolate them from whatever they are standing on + a pair of 1/4″ signal cables to connect to the Duet.

The monitors should ideally be at ear level to avoid a nasty bass bump from the surface they’re on, but even just the little raise from the MoPads will help some. Keep them at least a foot from the back wall also.

Don’t snicker at the low price of these monitors, they are very very good for this purpose, and they’re not tiring to listen to, which is important at the end of a long day.

[Bj Ahlen]

Best deal is usually to get an older version of FCS (or FCP) for not so much money (with discs) and then pay ~$266 net for an FCS3 upgrade from one of the retail advertisers on this forum (check out the left side and read the text on the banner ads).

[Bj Ahlen]

[peter pop] “Its new Mac Pro time”

It seems that Intel finally got 6-core production going, and Apple has reportedly told resellers to minimize inventory of Mac Pro and iMac computers for the moment, and Apple stores show no availability for some current Mac Pro models.

I would wait a week or two at least, you could get USB 3.0 and some other things in addition to the new CPUs.

Also in the mill seem to be new Mac high-performance graphics cards from both ATI and Nvidia.

Normally I wouldn’t bother passing on rumors about unreleased products, but at this time there are multiple independent indications.

[Bj Ahlen]

Thanks for the confirmation, much appreciated!

It used to be impossible to run MC and FCP on the same machine; glad it’s possible now, makes my life easier.