[Dave Johnson]

Thanks for clarifying, Michael … you mentioned 4 hours record time so I thought you were suggesting SP mode … the 64Gb SxS card specs say HQ Mode (35Mbps) record time is 180 min and SP Mode (25Mbps) record time is 240 min

[Dave Johnson]

I appreciate your feedback and understand your points, Michael. I was trying to keep my posts brief by not going into every detail, but must factor in our specific circumstances. For example, it’s very likely cards will get lost and budget cycles won’t allow purchasing additional cards as needed. So, we can’t miss important needs because we chose to delay a relatively minor expense by buying an extra card after we needed it.

Similarly, we often shoot 4-6 hours on each of 2-3 consecutive days with no opportunities to transfer footage and reformat cards. So, footage will have to sit on cards until there’s an opportunity to transfer and back up.

Also, our primary cameras are PDW-F355s and we often shoot in HQ mode so we can’t assume we will want to shoot all EX footage in SP mode.

[Michael Slowe] “Why the need for the reader/writer you mention?” To get footage from cards to any one of three edit suite computers of both platforms (but none of which are a MacBook Pro with an express34 slot) and without using the camera as a deck. Also, to avoid the method of copying files from cards via Finder and Explorer, which many EX users seem to consider problematic and unreliable.

[Michael Slowe] “… why take chances, it’s like using second hand tape, would you?” No … we take zero chances in our circumstance and it has served us well. In fact, we didn’t even re-use our own tapes when we were shooting on tape (primarily because all footage is archived, rather than concerns over re-using tapes).

[Dave Johnson]

Any equipment that can use a Sony V-Mount (like the Nipros ST7) can be adapted to an Anton Bauer Gold Mount … I’m sure the folks at Anton Bauer would be happy to tell explain exactly what is needed specific equipment.

As far as batteries in general, I’m a long-time Anton Bauer user, but have gone to IDX instead for the past few years … so far, I find them to be just as reliable Anton Bauer. Not only are they cheaper than Anton Bauer, but what really won me over is the IDX ability to piggyback two batteries together effectively doubling the battery power. That isn’t a strong selling point for use with these smaller cams that can’t support as much weight, but with the full-size cams like the Sony PDW-F355s I use, it’s an invaluable advantage that I’m surprised Anton Bauer hasn’t adopted yet.

[Dave Johnson]

No, “Compress” just adds the files to a ZIP file. I haven’t tried this so I’m not promising that the renders will still work properly when you take render files back out of a ZIP, but that may be one option … compress the render files into a ZIP (in case you later realize you need them), delete them and extract them if you do need them again.

Personally, I would just delete them since doing so doesn’t harm projects … if you need to go back to projects for which render files have been discarded, you just have to re-render. Even though I use a fairly large RAID array and am not pressed for drive space, I delete my render files after mastering every project anyway since I don’t trust old render files. When I have to go back to a completed project to make changes, I actually prefer to re-render the whole thing since I’ve occasionally seen old render files seem to cause unintended results (flash frames, etc. where the software seemed to be confused about which of duplicate render files to reference).

[Dave Johnson]

I think we’re splitting hairs here … with the one oversight I’ll clarify, my initial answer is quite clear and, I believe, equally accurate. However, as I said, others may disagree and have every right to.

Granted, I just answered Shane’s question without mentioning why I don’t think “Film Maker” in particular really belongs in the question in the first place since it really refers to Producer and/or Director roles.

I agree it’s not all about acquisition format, but there’s no denying the fact that’s where the terms come from in the first place and, thus, how they’re typically interpreted. In other words, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone either shooting or distributing wedding videos as film and, thus, calling themselves a “Cinematographer” or “Film Maker”.

I respectfully disagree that it’s appropriate for someone who shoots video with an iPhone to call themselves a “Cinematographer” or “Film Maker” regardless of what they do with the result … unless of course, their “film” is picked up and distributed to the big screen (aka, cinema or film) … in which case it would first have to be transferred to and, thus, become a “film”.

[Dave Johnson]

Although there’s no reason you can’t do it by copying layers from PSD to PSD, since you want “another document (same size and resolution), so that they are exactly in the same place in the new document”, why not just save a copy of the PSD with a different name?

[Dave Johnson]

Joshua, Might you be able to clarify the interlacing support issue? I’ve read this whole thread to get end-user feedback before buying, but am now only confused by contradictions in the feedback …

This comment seems to say the units do not accept interlaced sources …
[Heinz Bihlmeir] “As long as you don’t need encoding support for interlaced formats … Interlaced sources should be de-interlaced externally before encoding.”

These two seem to say the units do accept interlaced sources …
[Scott Francis] “Since it states in the tech specs that it does 1080i (60) I suspect it will accept the signal from the camera”
[Joshua Helling] “As far as interlaced support, how it works now is that if you feed 1080i59.94 to the encoder it will output 1080p29.97. Same data rate, its just doing a deinterlace. I think we’d like to add proper interlaced support to it in the future.”

This one seems to say both since a deinterlacer has to exist in order to be of bad quality. So, how can there be both a bad-quality deinterlacer AND “lack of support for interlaced encoding”?
[Lauri Ahonen] “… the only real concern is the bad quality of the deinterlacer and lack of support for interlaced encoding.”

[Dave Johnson]

Glad to help, Gary. All the best.

[Dave Johnson]

[Kenneth WedMore Lund] in FCP X you can set the time limit where in FCP 7 you had to stick to the, what, 15 minutes delay in this process starting automatically

That is a little confusing to me … could you clarify? In other words, I often change the FCP7 “start auto render after x minutes” preference to as little as 1 minute and, in other cases, I make it 30 or 180 minutes. So, as someone who hasn’t yet dabbled in FCPX, I don’t understand the difference you’re pointing out in regards to being able to set an auto-render time.

[Dave Johnson]

Excellent post, Phil.

Thanks for taking the time to articulate the exact things I’ve been debating in mind ever since it became obvious a couple years ago that development for all parts of the Final Cut suite was being gradually abandoned … coincidentally, of course, right as the iPod/iPhone market started to skyrocket. All things considered, it would be counter-intuitive for Apple to serve the relatively tiny “pro” market and, since they obviously realized that many years ago, the only issue I have with the whole thing is the ongoing bait and switch tactics.