Dan Brockett
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XDCAM is a long GOP format which will quickly degrade with rendering, color correction, etc. so you should just convert it to ProRes before editing. If you have a fast Mac, it won’t take long at all and if you have a slow Mac, it doesn’t take that terribly long either. ProRes and DVCPRO HD play very well together in the time line.
This whole thing about mixed format time lines is overrated, it still pays off in the end to just convert to ProRes.
Dan
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I have not shot yet with the AG-3DA1, but I have written some articles on the 3D production process, most notably the 3D cover story for the NAB issue of HD Video Pro Magazine. You can easily shoot and or edit in 2D with the camera. Most people are not aware that you can easily release almost any 3D material in 2D, other than film, you just choose a channel to output, left or right.
As far as what the image will look like, the AG-3DA1 uses a matched set of 1/4″ CMOS sensors, recording to AVCCAM (AVCHD). The camera will have almost infinite DOF, uses a small sensor and records to a long GOP 4:2:0 format. I think you get a picture about what the image will look like.
It will be a simple matter to produce a show in 3D but release it in 2D. Piece of cake.
Dan Brockett
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You have the display on this camera set to “all” whereas the other two cameras are probably set to “partial”?
Dan
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This is the fault of whomever was downloading the card, you ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS pop the protection tab. The Duel is junk anyway, mine often locks up the laptop, I would say about 40% of the time.
I would also agree that if the structure on the card is intact (Contents folder and last clip.txt), then there was no material on the card to begin with. If the card gives you “format error – cannot read card” then the card is defective, I had that happen once in 2007. Sent the card back to Panasonic and they replaced it. When shooting with multiple cards, if the camera ops and the person downloading are not well organized, it is easy to get cards mixed up and grab the wrong card/blank card, I have done that in the past.
Usually a card that has had the header not completed because of a power interruption or someone ejected the card without stopping the camera will show up as material is there but it cannot be played. Then the card repair function in the camera or with P2CMS or P2 Log Pro can repair the clip because all it is doing is completing the header. The easy way to tell if there is any material on the card is to insert it onto the Duel and just highlight > click on the card icon > command I. In the information readout, it will tell you if there is any information on the card. If it shows zero with full card capacity available, repairing the card probably won’t do anything for you.
Good luck,
Dan
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Hi Rob:
Shane is right, of course. I am in the same boat with my G5. PB G4s and G5s are antiques in editing today and unfortunately neither processor is capable of ingesting and turning clips into ProRes. I have had success in working with 5D MKII clips into DVCPRO HD, which your G4 probably can handle but of course, ProRes is a better codec.
As an experiment, I have ingested 5D MKII clips using my Intel MBP, then transferred the ProRes clips to the G5 but it still chokes on them pretty quickly. Your G4 isn’t going to cut it.
It sounds as if your choices are upgrade to a modern computer and enjoy the benefits of ProRes or limp along with your G4 and DVCPRO HD. Editing H.264 clips with a G4 is not really much of an option as you have discovered.
Cheers,
Dan
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Emre:
If you have the amount of business to support buying an Alexa, I am very happy for you, you are one of the few. With everything needed to make a shooting package, are you at around $100k? Or would the Arri just replace another body that you already have? Would be great to see some footage and hear about your experience with it if you buy one.
I think that this new Panasonic will be more my speed, I paid off my HPX170 with four months of charging it as a camera package to clients. If I put $10k into this new camera including building up various mounts and lenses and perhaps adding an AG-HPG20 so I can keep using my P2 cards, I think it will be a good investment. I am done buying expensive cameras, I had a BVWD600 in the late 90s, that cost me close to $80k after glass and a tripod. After I replaced it with a DVX100A, I never looked back, I now really dislike shooting with large, heavy and complex cameras. In my business, cameras over $10k are rented, I will never own one again.
Cheers,
Dan
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I now have had my 5DMKII for over a year. I also have a Letus Extreme sitting around, collecting dust. Guess I should sell it, if anyone out there is even buying these anymore?
Dan
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I think it will be a very interesting camera. Wide angle fast lenses will be a challenge. While you can adapt just about any lens to the 4/3 mount, the crop ratio is 2.0 so your 20mm 2.8 Nikon, Zeiss or Canon becomes a 40mm 2.8. It also means that you will need to use a wide angle lens to be a normal view lens and a normal view lens will become a short tele.
I have not shot much with AVCHD but I have edited some footage and it can look very good. You wouldn’t want to shoot a lot of green screen or do a lot of compositing with it, but most of the projects I shoot and produce do not have green screen or a lot of compositing. It will be nice to have the option of an AG-HPG20, Nanoflash or Ki-Pro to record it’s output.
Since this camera is using the same imager as the consumer GH-1 camera, I will have to be convinced as far as noise and skew levels. I hope that with the better DSP engineering and better codec, that the output will be superior to our current DSLRs. I own the 5D MKII and really dig it, but it is a really limited camera as far as what I shoot with it and how I can use it. If this camera mitigates all of those factors, while keeping extreme low light capability and has a very nice image, I would buy it. Having all of the great parts of a DSLR system combined with XLRs, phantom, time code and video ergonomics sounds like the holy grail. We’ll see what Panasonic can actually deliver and what the shooting experience will be like.
Dan
Dan
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The new Panasonic reader, while I am glad that it exists, is pretty slow in comparison to other solutions. For the cost of a netbook and the Panasonic reader, you can buy a brand new PC laptop with a built-in slot that will handle the P2 cards or you can buy a used PowerBook for about the same, which is to say hundreds less than a netbook and the USB reader. One piece versus two pieces, less cost and faster. Why would anyone want to use a more expensive and slower solution?
*Edit – I stand corrected! See Helmut Kobler’s first hands-on test of the PCD-2 at NAB https://www.varicaminla.com/blog it is pretty fast. Much faster than any previous P2 devices I have tested are. He downloaded an 8GB R Series full card in 3:26. Pretty much 2GBpm, which is faster than the Sonnet QIO and on par with my G4 PB. I don’t know how Panasonic is doing it but this is great news!
I still stand by my assertion though that a netbook and the Panasonic reader combined are still more expensive than a PC laptop or a used G4 PB though.
Dan
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There are literally thousands of posts about the 370 on DVXUser and DV Info, not sure why nobody on the Cow seems to be interested in it? Barry Green and Philip Bloom have already shot with it and written articles and Philip posted some nice images he shot with it of the California coast.
It is a huge improvement and yes, it is the replacement for the HPX300/301. If you need a 1/3″ pro camera, it is the best one on the market.
Dan
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