[Bob Cole]

[Duncan Craig] “I also keep a proper log of every day of filming”

You have a great system!

So, when you resume work with client ABC, and you are resetting the clip naming inside the camera, do you look up your log and start the first clip number after the last prior clip number?

How and where do you keep your log? Why do you record which card you used? (Isn’t that irrelevant once you’ve downloaded and reformatted, or is that for quality control?)

Do you attempt to download your SxS cards in the field, or, with your 16 cards, are you able to take them all back to the studio to download?

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

The EX1R is a brilliant camera, but the lack of a good shoulder-mount/viewfinder combo for exterior run-and-gun work can be a problem.

I agree about wanting to see more field reports or trade show opportunities. The biggest of course is coming up at NAB, but you run the risk of a crowd preventing you from being able to get time on the equipment. Do you know of any showrooms that will let you put several of these units together and test them? I’d travel a good way to do that.

On a related front: the EX1R needs not only the shoulder brace, but also proper viewfinder shielding and positioning. Any good tips on that?

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Hi John, all:

Good link. Particularly alarming to me was this reply from a user: “This is a common issue with UniBody MacBooks. They don’t support SATA II very well. All of Apple’s Drives are slowed down to SATA1 1.5 Gigabits. I’m surprised they don’t know this, its all over apple forums. I had the same problem when I added my own 1TB drive. Some manufactures like Hitachi provide a firmware SATA speed downgrade to fix the problem.”

Comments please?

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Correct – in the menu, the trim is grayed out, which is a nice confirmation that you’re on Line In.

[Bob Cole]

This was a timely post for me. I just used a Tram on my EX1R (with +48v phantom supplied by the camera), and even with fairly high (low) trim, the audio has a slightly noisy floor. Acceptable, but not perfect. I didn’t test using the little battery in the Tram’s own pre-amp barrel.

I recommend, and when possible will probably use, line level on the camera and in line with the Tram, a Sound Devices pre-amp (MM-1). It is CLEAN. The difference is remarkable.

Did the correct trim setting in the camera fix your problem? If so, what trim setting did you ultimately find solved it?

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Hi Rafael,

Where would I learn more about Shake? Can’t seem to find good info on it on the web – probably too generic a term, or I’m not using the right search words.

What little I found made it seem like very very expensive software.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Here is the (temporary) solution! Disk Warrior!

Console is fascinating. I discovered that a small utility program is hassling my MacPro’s CPU more or less constantly (Spyder3 – which allows you to color calibrate your monitor — gonna make sure that isn’t running when I don’t need it!).

I ran memtestosx on both machines overnight. Memory tested perfect.

But Disk Warrior found tons of directory errors on the HDOne drive on the MacPro. (One year ago, I had to back up the HDOne and reformat. This time, Disk Warrior by itself seems to have done the trick.) Now, I can both read and write on the HDOne.

I think the problems I had on the MacBook involved using too many Firewire devices at once. When the dust settles (hah) I’m going to dedicate two bus-powered Firewire drives to making regular, rotating Carbon Copy clones for the MacBook. I’ve already dedicated two 3.5″ drives in external enclosures to CCC for the MacPro, and boy am I glad — when my MacPro’s system drive acted up a few weeks ago, the first CCC didn’t work, but the second did.

Now I’m looking for similar software (similar to CCC and Time Machine) for my PCs.

Thanks for your help. I’m still on the fence about Tech Tools.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Thanks.

No opinions/experience on the “hybrid” drives?

[Bob Cole]

[Rafael Amador] “I have streamlined my downscaling workflow because is critical.”

Not quite clear what you mean by this. Could you explain further, please?

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

True, but my post wasn’t a plug for Edius – just a note that Edius has a very nice feature, which makes a tedious task dead simple. If “Share” or iDVD work as easily as they seem, I’ll be happy

Bob C