Chris Elley
Forum Replies Created
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Jeremy,
Thank you so much for that critical piece of information. I’ve located the frame rate converter and look forward to giving it a shot as soon as possible. If it works, I can’t tell you how relieved we’ll be.
We have turned to only shooting on the Firestore in an extreme emergency, for a number of reasons that I will be happy to share with the forum at a later date. Right now, I’m under a very tight deadline for the project in question.
Thank you again. I look forward to following up.
Chris
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In the HVX200, 24PA is not an option for 720 resolutions, only 1080.
We have been shooting in 720/24P on the camera using Firestore (as indicated by the Firestore instructions). It is supposed to drop the duplicate frames upon import and result in a 23.98 fps clip. It is not doing so.
Our other companion HVX200 cameras are shooting 720/24PN to P2 and work great. The real problem here is that the Firestore is not delivering a 23.98 fps clip following the import with “remove duplicate frames” as indicated on Page 7 of the Focus Enchancements FCP workflow document.
Has anyone experienced this same phenomenon?
Thanks,
Chris -
Carlos,
Your description sounds very similar to what I experienced in terms of jitter. I deliberately refrained from using the word “interlace” in my description, because I didn’t want to start a whole progressive-interlace discussion, but you are absolutely right that it “looks” like good ol’ school interlace problems. The most puzzling part was that the jitter stopped and started arbitrarily within a single clip.
As you have read, I will be sending my footage to Jan for analysis. She will no doubt share her findings in the forum.
Chris
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Jan,
Thank you for your prompt reply. I will definitely send you the footage for analysis. I look forward to your findings.
Thanks again,
ChrisChris Elley
Austin, Texas
Electro-Fish Media LLC
bbqfilm.com -
As many of you know, the zoom is truly manual; the focus is not. However, both are good. What you do is what you get with the zoom. There’s no lag; a characteristic missing from all the electronically controlled zooms out there.
Even though the focus is an infinitely spinning ring, it is better than any I’ve used. It also drops down into macro mode. The focus assist is exactly like the Z1U, except that it can be used during recording as well.
I know there were more questions about the night settings and my settings. In another string, Toke pointed to auto focus and image stabilizer as possible culprits for some of the strange issues I reported on the other string. Experimenting with shutter speeds will be next on my list for shooting at night. Daytime shooting will not require as much practice on my part, as it has had wonderful results.
I will check back in as I have progress to report. Even though I want to experiment continually and report to you guys, I’m caught up getting work out the door.
Thanks,
ChrisAustin, Texas
Electro-Fish Media LLC
bbqfilm.com -
Toke,
I think auto focus and image stabilizer are great guesses for this issue. That is something I certainly was not thinking about while testing the unit that night. Because, I didn’t notice the jitter in camera, I did not specifically troubleshoot for it in the field.
I will re-visit the scene as soon as possible to try to re-create the phenomena, testing with these features on and off.
If anyone has any additional theories, I will be happy to test those as well. My hope is that it is something simple like that, but obviously it needs to be pinpointed. Since that night, I feel like I know the camera a million times better.
Thanks!
ChrisP.S. Danny, I purchased through Texas Media Systems here in Austin. They are an incredibly customer-oriented dealer and receive my highest recommendation. I cannot speak to their order status at the moment, but they may be reached at 512.440.1400. Dial extension 203 for Terry Nixon. Tell him I referred you. He’ll be glad to help out where feasible.
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Thanks for chiming in. Last night, I took the camera to the same places I went in full daylight. While the daylight shots awed me, the nighttime shots did not. We all know that shooting at night requires appropriate lighting, but I just wanted to try existing lighting one would find in downtown at night.
Where there was potential to capture at least some detail in peripherally lit shadows, it didn’t really happen. However anything that had some significant light reflecting from it in some way was fairly detailed. The camera did perform much better than the JVC HD100, with which I also shot our state capitol at night (from the same positions) just after that camera came out. I was so disappointed with that camera that I ended up scrapping the tape and making it a scratch track audio tape, so I no longer have that test footage for comparison. Trust me, it was not acceptable. For me, the Panasonic isn’t a miracle worker at night, but it is certainly much stronger than the JVC.
Ultimately, we all want the best picture and strive for the camera with best specs. That debate is endless and not one I wish to endure at the moment. I am now comparing my personal impressions of working with the aforementioned JVC, the Sony Z1U and now the HVX 200. In all situations I’ve encountered thus far, the HVX 200 works best for my purposes. I would also say that its usability is several steps above the other units.
The electronic controlled zoom on the Z1U does not work for me. The button placement on the Panasonic seems more intuitive to those of us who came from Beta SP and similar. The Panasonic’s ability to review shots instantly, ditch junk and record at any moment is wonderful! At the end of the day, I used far less storage on the P2 cards than I thought I would, because I could shoot something 3 or 4 times and ditch 1 or 2 takes in a matter of seconds. It is not arduous at all. My real work, documentary, won’t allow me to ditch as much (if anything), but I was still impressed with the ease and luxury of the process. Finally, one thing that really stood out last night was the power and detail in the optical zoom. I was able to clearly see the edges of signage at the top of a 40-story building. For my work, I don’t rely much on far away zooms, but it’s great to have in the arsenal if you need it.
I’m going to keep making mental notes as I go along and will share the wins and disappointments. I know this isn’t a shoulder mount or a Varicam, but as for handhelds, I have never had a more positive experience. I have no question that with some care in shooting, I will be able to produce content that easily conforms to broadcast standards. I’ve done it with far less cameras than this; now, I feel like I’m regaining some much missed latitude in my shooting since my “big camera” days.
Chris Elley
Austin, Texas
bbqfilm.com -
Gingerbreed,
You are welcome to contact me offlist if you seriously need ‘this’ camera for your production. What everyone has said on this list is absolutely correct. If you are not on a purchase list and can only work with this camera, we may be able to help. As you can see in a previous posting, we have taken delivery.
Chris Elley
Austin, Texas -
Thank you for the clarification.
Chris Elley
Electro-Fish Media LLC
Austin, TXVisit http://www.bbqfilm.com
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Jan or someone who has used the HVX-200,
Could you please clarify the first two bullet points on page 35 of the user manual under Step 4 of Native Recording:
1) “No signals are output from the 1394 terminal during recording or recording standby in the native mode.”
2) “Sound is not recorded. However, sound will be recorded when the same frame rate is used for both recording and playback.”The bottom line that is that I would like to know whether I can record and monitor sound in 720/24PN and whether 720/24PN will also be captured to devices such as the Firestore product when it is available?
Do bullet points 1 and 2 only apply to the other 9 Native frame rates ‘other’ than 720/24PN and 720/30PN?
Thank you.