Blaise Douros
Forum Replies Created
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It’s not the focal length changing, but the focus distance–and yes, it’s likely changing. As far as I know, the lenses of the XA-series are not parfocal. It’s better to set focus using the focal length you’re going to use, and then lock it off in Manual Focus mode.
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60 is about the max. Even that is debatable; that’s why we shoot with a 180 degree shutter, to minimize flicker at lower framerates by introducing a certain amount of motion blur to help connect each image.
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…it depends on the framerate. That’s literally what framerate means. Frames Per Second. FPS. The number of frames in a second.
24 FPS: 24 frames in a second. 60 FPS: 60 frames in a second. If you shoot a Phantom high speed camera, you can shoot 1000 FPS: 1000 frames in a second.
If you play back a 1000 FPS clip at realtime in 1000 FPS, it will be one second of video–and if you recorded audio in sync with that, it would play back at realtime, as well. Now, you can slow the video waaaaaaaayyyyy down, and still get smooth motion, because there are more frames there that your eye can perceive–the audio would then slow down by an identical amount. Play it back at 500 FPS? Audio slows down to 1/2 speed. 250 FPS? 1/4 speed.
I suspect that you are confused because you believe that there is only one “correct” framerate, and that all video plays back at that framerate regardless of what framerate it was shot. This is not the case.
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Because more frames per second just means that you’re slicing one second of time into 60 pieces instead of 24. A second of audio is a second of audio, regardless of how many frames per second are captured in the video.
Now, if you shoot 60 fps and do a framerate convert to 24, then the audio slows down to match the video. But if you play 60 fps back in realtime, and you play 24 fps back in realtime…there’s no change in the audio.
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Audio has a sample rate, measured in kilohertz. Standard audio for video is recorded at 48 khz. This does not change with framerate; audio will always be the same, whether you’re shooting 23.976 fps or 59.94 fps.
Unsynchronized devices will “drift” out of audio and video sync due to tiny differences in their electronics. For this reason, timecode/genlock hardware, usually found on professional cameras, can be used to synchronize the clocks of each device, and ensure their recordings are synced.
In practice, unless you have hours and hours of continuous video, you won’t get noticeable drift these days. I’ve never had a problem with noticeable drift in a modern camera and external audio recorder.
Perhaps you can tell us what you’re trying to accomplish, and we can give you more than very general answers?
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The lenses will not fit without an adapter, nor will they autofocus well. Canon EF lenses are not meant to autofocus for video. Unless you are SUPER comfortable focusing manually, the video-DSLR route is not right for this gig. Focusing is harder, and the image stabilization is not up to snuff for continuous motion.
You need a video camera. Get something with XLR mic inputs so you can put a wireless mic or shotgun on the camera. A used Canon XA20 camcorder would be perfect for something like this.
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I don’t know if it’s powerful enough for that many people, but I’d suggest trying at least one shot using your built-in flash to fill in the shadows. That can mitigate the worst of the raccoon eyes that will be created by the noon overhead sun, and provide a bit of catchlight in their eyes.
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What’s your budget?
My instinct would be to recommend something like the Sony FS5, which is a great balance between a true cinema camera with prices that aren’t as outrageous as the REDs and Canon C-series. It shoots in a high-bitrate log color space to .mxf format on SDXC cards. Super-35 sensor (APS-C), and the E-mount can take basically any lens you’d ever want, with the right adapter; this opens the door to vintage manual SLR glass. Native ISO of 2000, very little noise when rated higher.
If that’s too rich for your blood, the A7S or A7SII, with the Sony K2M XLR attachment, will do very similar stuff, with a 30-minute record limit since it’s “technically” a stills camera. Full-frame, too. Amazing low-light performance.
Full-frame is not necessary, though–in fact, most cinema cameras, including RED, Arri, etc, shoot Super-35, which is basically APS-C.
Both of these options provide basic 4K, as well, so they’re future proof. For myself, I’m using the FS7 (the big brother of the FS5), and have only shot 4K a handful of times. It’s still the best camera I’ve ever used, and I’m immensely happy with it.
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I’ve had this happen on my Sony FS7; if any changes are made to the card, including deleting clips via the computer instead of formatting them in-camera, the camera tells me that it needs to “restore media.” I then need to reformat in-camera unless I want a bunch of weird empty clip files showing up in the camera’s playback browser.
+1 for all who are saying copy, backup, then wipe.
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There’s your answer. Yes, if both NLEs are reading the files the same way, I’d bet dimes to dollars that it’s a camera setting. If you want really definitive proof, see if someone else’s edit station reads it the same way.