[David Eaks]

You mind linking to that video?

[David Eaks]

Like John, if I was shopping for a camera right now, I’d look for a newer model. While I’m quite happy with my four NX5’s, you might find the small 1/3″ sensor rather limiting vs the 5D when going for shallow DOF in live event situations (not that I’ve done any comparisons). Also the auto focus is notoriously reffered to as “anti-face detection”.

That Sony NEX EA50 looks pretty sweet, if it had SDI output I’d replace one of my NX5s with it in a heartbeat. If you don’t need the HD-SDI, I say go for it. APS-C sensor, E-mount, 1080p 60, SDHC and FMU128, and this little paragraph from B&H-

“To accommodate Sony’s first E-mount lens with servo zoom, the NEX-EA50UH sports a rocker-style zoom lever. The rocker zoom is a familiar feature for long-time camcorder users, but those who are familiar with interchangeable lens systems may wonder, what good is a zoom lever if you’re using a prime lens or a manual zoom? Sony’s answer to that question is a lossless digital zoom. The effect is achieved by cropping the image sensor in real-time, which changes the angle-of-view with no sacrifice in resolution. This is possible because the sensor has a native resolution that’s much higher than 1080p to begin with.”

After thinking about this camera while I type, I’m seriously thinking about replacing one of my NX5s with the NEX-EA50 and getting an AJA HA-5 or similar for SDI to my Panasonic Switcher. Time for more research…

[David Eaks]

So you have two clips butted up to each other and want to fade the second one in from black? Just stick a gap clip between the two (option-w), add transition and ripple trim the excess gap clip by grabbing the top right side of the transition or with keystrokes.

With playhead at edit-

option-w

‘
cmd-t

;;

option-]

Think of gap clips in FCPX as an empty space on the timeline of FCP7 (sort of).

[David Eaks]

No problem, at least you know your projects are OK and can access them from the external!

Something strange going on for sure. Try logging in as another user and see if the internal drives projects and events show up in FCPX. If they do, you won’t want the external that has copies of the same projects connected. Unless you hide the projects on one drive or the other first.

When is last time this system has had a clean install?

[David Eaks]

You haven’t altered the name and/or location of either the “Final Cut Projects” folder or the “Final Cut Events” folder in Finder have you? FCPX won’t recognize Projects or Events that are in any folder other than the “right” one. Like Event Manager X uses a folder “Final Cut Events – Hidden” so FCPX won’t load those projects within.

Are trying to open a project by double clicking the “.current” file? Don’t.

FCPX has to have at least one event, that’s why it automatically makes a new one when your internal events don’t load and no external is connected.

[David Eaks]

I had a Samurai for a short time. Like Ben, I was recording the output of a switcher, a Panasonic AWHS-50 switching a couple Sony NX5s. I ended up returning it and getting an AJA KiPro instead. Not that I had any problems with the Samurai (I really didnt like the mini-SDI connection though), it just wasn’t the right solution for me. I just needed the I/O flexibility and up/down/cross conversion capabilities.

Are you doing anything that really requires the increase in quality/convenience of recording Prores? I ask because, in my experience, the quality of the NX5s internal recording is virtually visibly indistinguishable from feeding the SDI to my KiPro. My test being NX5 clip L&T into FCP7, layed on V2 over the same KiPro clip, then keyframe some crops on V2, export and inspect playback from KiPro on an HDTV for visual differences. Of course if your shooting for green screen work, color grading or something, that’s a different story.

The Ninja might be perfect for you but it really depends on your needs.

[David Eaks]

Darius, did you ever export a short test clip from FCPX and view the result? Then compare it side-by-side to the same source clips and effects exported from FCP7/Motion? It seems like you only mention exporting from FCP7/Motion but not FCPX.

In FCPX> Preferences are the playback settings on “high quality” or “better performance”? Better performance drops the video quality in trade for Realtime playback, but does not effect export quality. like the unlimited RT dropdown options in 7.

What is your computer setup and OS X/FCPX versions?

How are you judging the image from FCPX? Viewer window on computer monitor or external monitoring?

Is your work around for the linear/ease keyframes issue the “add and delete a keyframe repeatedly” trick? Or something else that requires less clicks?

[David Eaks]

I predict that in 2013 FCPX will get Magic Trackpad support. A habit from FCP7 that STILL lingers, my left hand just can’t refrain from trying to pinch-to-zoom the timeline.

[David Eaks]

Can you type in a smaller number like 0.25 instead of using the slider?

[David Eaks]

OK it indicates the space between “motion” and “templates”, why the space before motion?