[David Grantham]

Thanks. Yes, say hello to the Steves. And Snow White, too.

I’d certainly tried the built-in NDS and decided that I’d have to try something with a higher D to have an effect; but I guess it isn’t worth it. (I usually work in a state of underexposure of up to 2 stops – and boost the gamma in post – so I can maintain good highlights. So I’ve been thinking my high DoF was from unusally small aperatures.)

I knew there was a difference in contrast and colour between lenses, but I had no idea it was that extreme. Great to see.

I’ve got some wonderful Leica 35mm still camera lenses. I wonder if they can be made to work. And also how AF and AE function with these adapters.

[David Grantham]

Actually I see from some forum searches that the DOF on these cameras is still quite broad even wide open – embarassed to admit I haven’t fully explored that enough to realize that.

I guess sooner or later I’ll test all this thoroughly myself. No substitute for that. But still I’d be curious to know what sort of luck folks have had photographing ordinary domestic scenes (let’s say something like people in a living room having a conversation) using ND filters to get a bit of separation happening (maybe not as much as the ‘PGSsed’ gnomes on page 37 of Todd’s article, but more than the ‘non-PGSsed’).

(by the way – I wonder if the aparrent difference in gamma and saturation between the 2 gnome images on that page is also a result of the 35mm gear, or something else.)

[David Grantham]

Thankyou all for your comments.

The big lingering problem (Batch Capture Failure) has been solved.

It turns out that Project>settings>Capture>DeviceControlSettings isn’t the complete list of settings one would have every reason to think it is. There’s also Edit>Preferences>Device Control>Devices>Matrox1394DeviceControl>Options> where Drop-Frame or Non-Drop frame is set separately for the Matrox Device Control as opposed to setting that for the entire project. Changed that setting and that appears to have fixed Batch Capture.

[David Grantham]

Thankyou all for your comments.

It turns out that Project>settings>Capture>DeviceControlSettings isn’t the complete list of settings one would have every reason to think it is. There’s also Edit>Preferences>Device Control>Devices>Matrox1394DeviceControl>Options> where Drop-Frame or Non-Drop frame is set separately for the Matrox Device Control as opposed to setting that for the entire project. Changed that setting and that appears to have fixed Batch Capture.

[David Grantham]

Been to that page, thanks, and tried most of the fixxes. THe computer’s in the shop for a second time having everything reinstalled to try to address this problem, and the rest will be attempted through that troubleshooting.

As to other software, it’s got a matrox card and the matrox ware has a capture function I haven’t tried, because while previewing it won’t display 16×9 with the proper aspect ratio. Can’t try that til the machine is re-re-configured.

There’ve been so many other propblesm with the system that I just figured it was another prblem with the NLE – but lately all other issues are solved with this one lingering on so I’m wondering about camera problems.

[David Grantham]

yeah, tried the cable already – new cable makes no difference.

Not sure how to test the port. Myae by attempting capture while holding it in different positions (there’s a bit of play in the connection.)

The video and audio previews in the capture window; and it scrubs without visible or audible artifacts. I haven’t used the camera capture very much. The port has a tiny bit more play in it than the identical port on my laptop, but not an enorumous amount.

[David Grantham]

And decks are $5000.

Any suggestions to optimize cameras for capture (mine’s an XL2.) (Pre-striping, of course, but maybe there’s something else.)

That little connection at the camera seems flimsy to me. I’ve been using a cable holder to keep it from wiggling, but I can’t imagine how that little thing establishes a positive connection.

[David Grantham]

Hmm. Appreciate the response. What i heard from this guy was that the recommended solution for capturing DV didn’t involve usb, but to capture from DV tapes in a deck.

[David Grantham]

Problems continue, even on a reinstall of windows and an upgrade to the reputedly most stable (on this system) version of PPro (1.5.1). Everything else appears to work, but batch capture and automated capture is hit and miss, mostly miss. In addition, my backup aplication (Acronis TRuimage) won’t recognize my drives properly as part of its initialization. This has come and gone as a problem in the past – we thought we’d beaten it with a BIOS upgade and SP3. Not so. Not being able to backup jeopardizes progress even in Adobe mode, and suggests other problems – drive recognition problems which could reflect transfer rates and that could be behind the capture issues too.

The machine’s in the shop now, but I’m not convinced they’re absolutely knowledgable. I’ve been asking around and have assembled the following possibilities for problems with batch capture (and/or drive recognition at backup), and I welcome any thoughts.

1) Firewire-to-camera unreliability?: A salesman at a pro shop here told me that his AVID tech said batch-capture over firewire (ie between camera and computer – not talking about firewire hard drives) wouldn’t work consistently because firewire “isn’t frame accurate.” He believes a deck is necessary for batch capture from DV tape.

2) Faulty RAM: He said he’s heard of faulty RAM causing batch capture issues.

3) Transfer Rate problems: I wonder if a problem getting data onto the drives is screwing up batch capture progress as well as causing backup utilities to have trouble recognizing the drives. This could point to a problem with the motherboard, the drive cables, the drivers, the boot assignments, or some combination.

4) RTX conflicting with system drive recognition: The Acronis drive recognition troubles were gone on a pure installation, but recurred after the RTX card was installed. There have been many times when I sense the machine is recognizing the rtx card as if it were a drive on the system. Maybe this confuses Acronis, and maybe it confuses the system when seeking the destination for batch captures.

5) Slot 5 problem? The card was orginally spece’d for slot 1 only on my motherboard, but it overheated against the display card there – so after few years slot 5 became the recommended slot
Maybe slot 5 is a mistake after all and encurrs problem 4.

6) Firewire conection to camera? Even on my XL2, that little connection is wiggly and weak. I have it held in place with a cable holder, but maybe it’s a problem or has become one. It looks like a point of vulnerability.

7) Camera time code problem? Could the camera be generating inconsistent time code, even with pre-striping

8) Power issues? (I’m stretching but I’m desperate with less than a few days now to do what requires three weeks to do properly.) I live in a reconditioned antique building and there’s a bit too much on the circuit my computer gear shares. Though the computer’s power supply is more than sufficient to power the drives in the box, Maybe there just isn’t alwyas enough power getting to the power supply.

Thanks for any more suggestions. It’s a labyrinth of possibilities, but I haven’t any choice. I’m well into the Red Zone.

[David Grantham]

Thanks for the comments – I’m in worse trouble, now. This morning Matrox remotely installed PPro and Matrox tools on a clean windows sp3 install and it still won’t capture without major crashing. They seem unsure if rolling back to sp2 would resolve it. It’s a difficult situation, with many clips already captured in matrox mode.

Maybe it’ll work without matrox installed at all, and I can import the matrox clips (via import>project) into an adobe project to start working that way. I’ve got to get something going. Thanks again for the comments. It’s a bad situation.