[Chas Smith]

Danny, thanks for the detailed reply. It pretty much confirmed what I already knew about DV/HDV recording/compression. I’ve yet to employ any live camera HDMI output/input but I’ve thought a lot about that lately… especially any greenscreen/composite studiowork.
That seems like a great appplication as well as getting super quality recordings at live events. I’ll try some tests after I get my newer workstation built.

While a good bit of my work comes from HDV and stuff either shot on DV or archived on older analog formats, I am getting more work in the HD realm and am looking to get my feet wet in HDSLR soon. Having
a multiple format I/O solution is attractive. Of course having ability for uncompressed video (when appropriate) could be a real plus too.

Thanks again for your thoughtful responses… good info!
Chas

[Chas Smith]

“While I appreciate the outstanding Gomer Pyle impression in your post, I’m still not quite convinced that the wholesale devaluing of skills sweeping our industry isn’t at least somewhat linked to the wholesale devaluing of how we allow language to be used to describe the people in it.”

SUH-PRIZE…SUH-PRIZE…SUH-PRIZE!!!

Bill…FWIW…(and it ain’t worth much)… I didn’t look into William Kamp’s original post as deeply as you apparently did. I wasn’t compelled to consider his qualifications or background, I only read a post requesting advice or opinions as to “lighting a sitcom set”. And so I was a bit surprised at your response, somehow implying that as a “DP” he should know what to do already. You obviously take a lot of pride in your profession and I suppose the DP’s you know and work with probably wouldn’t have need for such a query. You’re one lucky guy. 🙂

Too bad you didn’t have any suggestions you’ve picked up along the way regarding “how to light a sitcom” so that Mr. Kamp (as well as the rest of us) could benefit from your experience.
Gooollllleeeee! That would’ve been sumptin’ to write back home about. 🙂

[Chas Smith]

Thanks John:
Yep…RAID 0 is what I currently have and I’m looking at an External Array setup for ease of access. I just wanted to get some first-hand feedback if anyone here has used UltraStudioPro yet. I’ve got a posting on the BlackMagic Forum so maybe I’ll get some end-user’s to chime in over there.

Thanks again,
Chas

[Chas Smith]

Thanks for the response. From a format perspective… I guess I should’ve mentioned a “multiple format I/O configuration”. I get a considerable amount of work using older archive formats from analog to DV and more current stuff on HDV/HD. I like the idea of the connectivity that this UltraStudio Pro has to offer (i.e. SD/HD capture & playback solution). Sorry not to be vague…it’s just I sometimes rent decks on a per-project basis depending on source media. (historic or medical or gov’t archive).

You’re right…it looks as though Adobe CS is the featured compatible software so I can’t answer the Vegas question. That’s why I posted here thinking that if someone has used it with Vegas, it would be in the CreativeCow Vegas Forum.

As for speed boosts… I was wondering if UltraStudioPro has advantages when added to a USB3.0 port on a PC. Working with uncompressed video would seem to slow a PC down a bit.. so my query is really asking if this will speed things up. As an added bonus.. using uncompressed videofile for streaming video seems like it would offer some advantages in terms of quality. If not…someone who knows about this could maybe address it.

I have an e-mail in to BlackMagic Design asking that very question.
I’ll get back to you when I get an answer.

Thanks again,

Chas

[Chas Smith]

Gooolllleeee !!! Poor guy asks “what time is it?” and has to defend whether or not he is qualified to ask the question. Ouch!!

Anyways… yeah.. Lowells / Tota-Omni’s are good for many things and if you’re good at tweaking and supplementing with dimmers, gels, scrims and flags….you can get some good results. However I would also agree that you would be better served considering other options.

But more importantly, I’d look at things first from a show theme POV. As you probably know, most sit-coms have traditionally been shot before studio audience to provide feedback/energy to actors and 3 camera blocking developed by DesiLu (“I Love Lucy”) has been the standard approach. With this practical approach, “High Key Lighting” has been the standard (wide spread of softlight, low contrast ratio…no more than 3-1 or 5-1 max.) So softboxes or frames with spun diffusion…or KinoFlo fluorescence heads….there’s sooo many ways to go. I saw a low-budge indy set up where they hung Chinese lanterns suspended above set and had backlight redhead & pepperbox kickers for separation. I guess at the end of the day, what look are you going for and should you rent or buy or combo of both.
Taking a look at sit-coms today… everything from “How I Met Your Mother” to “Modern Family” (3-cam vs 1-cam/sorta) you’ll see most of the lighting design is High-Key/Low Contrast-Even Spread. Hope I’m not being too obvious with all this but it’s like asking about computers… some swear by Mac…others by HP or DIY-workstations… choose the tools that work best for you and ya can’ts go wrong.
My2Cents.
Chas

[Chas Smith]

Thanks for the link!

[Chas Smith]

Thanks to all for the replies… it helps a lot!

[Chas Smith]

send me an e-mail: agendavideo@msn.com

[Chas Smith]

Seems to me the “judder issue” isn’t that big of a deal unless you do a lot of “shaky-cam” or “swish-pan-zoom” for intentional effect. If you do slow tracking and/or slow panning… I don’t see it really happening all that much.

As for audio recording… given that the camera would be used in place of a “film / motion picture camera” where there would be double-system audio recording anyway… it’s not that big of a dealbreaker. With these high-quality images at a lower-than-Red price… ponying up a little for separate audio recording shouldn’t be to big a deal, unless one-man-band is what you’re aiming for.

My2cents

[Chas Smith]

Okaaayy…. after a thorough trouble-shoot. I found the issue.
Turns out that somehow…someway…( gawd I don’t know how but…)
the Video Preview Window had “FX Bypass” setting selected.

I have no idea what happened unless an errant cursor drag over it changed it. ( as in next to the Draft/Preview/Good/Best settings).

So I clicked on icon and scrolled through the settings and got the VFX to work again. Gawd what a deal.!