Brent Critchfield
Forum Replies Created
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I also fly regularly with my EX-3 in a Kata CC-197. I pull the camera out at security and put it in a bin for the xray, and have never had a problem with TSA. The guys usually see the camera and help you out a little – I’ve had them catch the bin on it’s way down the conveyor and hold the camera for me so that it didn’t get bumped. Usually toss a jacket in the bottom of the bin to pad it a little.
Another tip is you can often get pre-boarding. When the agent is calling to start the boarding process, walk up and politely ask if you can get a “courtesy pre-board for media”, explain that you need overhead space for the camera. 90% of the time they’re grateful that you ask so that they don’t have to deal with shuffling bags later on. Don’t ask the agent at the counter though – for some reason they’re usually much more reluctant to do it than the agent that’s actually boarding the plane. Just don’t abuse the privilege – if you’re flying Southwest with open seating, head to the back half of the plane and don’t take the exit row. Nothing good about having the cabin crew mad at you before you take off.
Also, you never know when you’re going to get a flight attendant at a bad time of her month. I’m always ready to pull the camera out of the bag and hand-carry it if they insist on checking the camera bag. Hasn’t happened yet, but it’s been close.
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SP, not SD. As far as I know there’s no way to get SD out of the camera except through the analog I/O. Shooting in an SP mode will set the Firewire output to HDV format. It might do the same for the HQ modes too – I’ve never tried it. As you said though it may be different for the EX1.
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Actually that’s not quite true. I use it all the time with my EX3 – you have to set recording modes to SP and the camera will output HDV over the firewire connection, which OnLocation supports. It makes a good field monitor in a pinch, and is a big help as a scope.
Thanks,
Brent
Brentwood Video Productions
Brentwood, California -
Thanks to Ronnie and the others who replied by email – my original guy was able to get his medical condition dealt with without being admitted to the hospital, so he was able to make the trip after all, which is good for both him and me.
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So it seems like the consensus is FCP runs fine, but CS4 doesn’t. For you guys on FCP, how are you monitoring?
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Allen, are you editing on Premiere or FCP?
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I should have mentioned I’m editing in Premiere CS4. Using G-Raid drives connected on FW800. And while it’s not perfect playback anytime, it definitely degrades significantly when playing through an un-rendered section of timeline. I can live with that, I just need good performance when I’m playing sections that don’t require renders.
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Analog video over VGA is sketchy anytime you go over 50′, but over RGBHV (especially with component) it’s rock solid up to 300′.
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If you have an A/V rental house in the area, you should be able to rent some RGBHV (5-wire) cable that you can use to run analog component to the RCA component inputs on the TV. I routinely run HD component this way in pro AV applications and get great results. The ends on the cable will be BNC, so make sure they give you the proper adapters to get from RCA male at the camera to RCA female on the HDTV.
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For general information, I just got off the phone with one of the tech guys from Hoodman. They’re getting ready to release a new adapter that is significantly faster than the current version (he didn’t have an official ETA yet, he was going to call the guys in Australia and find out). In testing yesterday they were able to sustain full 60fps overcranking for 2 mins.
At this point I’m probably looking at the Hoodman card and adapter. It’s a little bit more than the ATP, but at least the manufacturer will stand behind it and support it, which is worth the little bit of extra $$ to me.