Don Greening
Forum Replies Created
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[Craig Bass] “Am I on the right track? “
Mmmmm, not really. 30F is Canon’s version of progressive shooting, so it is essentially one complete frame of video compared to interlaced, which is 2 fields of video per frame. That’s the fundamental reason why interlaced is referred to as 60i and 30F is well, 30F. If you mix the two in the same timeline you’re going to have to change one or the other to match. If your final delivery is for the web it’s always better to shoot in frame mode because computer screens display video in progressive format. If you shoot for SD DVD personally I would still shoot with the A1 again in frame mode because today’s HD plasma and LCD TV monitors handle progressive video better than interlaced. This last bit is just my own observation. To satisfy your own curiosity you might consider doing a test using both modes and judge for yourself what looks good on today’s televisions.
Hope this helps.
– Don
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[Craig Bass] “This is probably going to come off sounding ignorant, but how is it that the XH-A1 can shoot at 1080i and 30p?”
It doesn’t sound ignorant. The numerous formats and the way they’re advertised these days is confusing, to say the least. Canon’s are even more confusing in that their progressive mode is actually called 30F instead of everyone else’s 30p. The A1 shoots in both interlaced and in “frame mode”. Interlaced NTSC mode is referred to as 60i but is actually shot at 59.94 “interlaced” frames per second to conform to the NTSC broadcast format. Canon’s frame mode takes two interlaced frames every 30th of a second and combines them to form a single complete frame every 30th of a second and then records that to tape. But the 30F mode is actually shot at 29.97 complete frames per second to again, conform to the NTSC broadcast standard. Confused? Yeah, I know. True progressive mode is where the camera has actual progressive imagers and records one complete frame every 30th of a second (actually 29.97 fps) to tape. This is known as 30p.
– Don
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[Chris Yeo] ” it automatically done when I transfer the files over to my hard drive or do I have to manually set the sequence settings and then lay the transferred footage onto the sequence?”
I’m totally P2 challenged in that I’ve never used it but I do use FCP and I know that if your footage comes in squeezed all you need to do to “unsqueeze” it is to go to the anamorphic column in the Browser window for that particular clip and put in a check mark. Your clip should pop out to 1280×720.
– Don
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[Marc Chapuis] “Is it capable of capturing in HQ mode.”
I honestly don’t know. What I do know is that you can’t record under/overcranked footage to the hard drive because the data rate is too high for the device’s USB 2.0 interface. So, maybe the specification you read is correct and that the hard drive is only good for recording in SP mode, which is basically HDV format. The other thing is that you have to upgrade to the latest EX firmware, which is v.1.11, otherwise you won’t be able to use the drive. The firmware upgrade will also allow the use of the 32 Gbyte SxS Pro cards.
NOTE: If your EX3 was shipped after the first half of August then it’s supposed to already have the latest firmware.
– Don
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[Nigel Ellis] “Sony also installed firmware 1.11 for me (free).”
Nice! Everyone else is saying that Sony’s going to charge 100 US dollars for doing the firmware upgrade, which if course comes with an inspection and calibration at the same time.
Thanks for the update regarding the flicker reduction switch. Let’s hope your info will reach others with the same issue.
– Don
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[Jana Novosad] “I was also told that my capture setting in fcp is my import setting?? “
Yes. Basically, importing or capturing/transferring EX footage from SxS Pro card to NLE is the same.
[Jana Novosad] “So far, whenever i imported a quick time or anything else into my projects (not that i had to do it many times), it came in in the same resolution as the files were made in, regardless of my capture setting. Hope i’m making some sense so far?”
Yes, your understanding is correct. However, this is not a tape based format where you can capture something like HDV to Pro Res on the fly using firewire with just your Mac.
[Jana Novosad] “Surely, i must be able to change my import setting to pretty much anything i want to import at but i was probably so far completely overlooking such a setting.”
Yes, you can do this provided you have a 3rd party capture PCIe card like a Kona board. A device like this will allow you to transcode your footage on the fly in real time through the SDI port of the EX. If you don’t have this capability then you’ll have to transcode after you’ve transferred your “as shot” footage, whether it be directly in the FCP timeline or with Apple’s Compressor application. If your intent is to create an SD version of your HD footage you can set the EX to do a down convert of your footage, but again, you need to be able to utilize the SDI port of the EX.
[Jana Novosad] “Also, do i have to compress the xdcam files to get them into the project?”
No. Just use Sony’s Transfer Tool app to import the native EX files into FCP. The FCP editors I’ve talked to who edit EX footage recommend that you transfer the EX footage into FCP “as shot” and then do any down or cross conversion after the fact. Contrary to what the folks at Apple have told you, you cannot gain any more quality by converting to another codec like Pro Res. The best quality is the unaltered format the footage is shot in. Apple’s Pro Res codec is not going make anything look any better.
What Pro Res will do for you is to reduce the rendering time if you choose to set FCP to do the renders in Pro Res, which is an “I Frame” codec as opposed to the EX Long GOP recording format. For example, let’s assume that you have EX footage shot in HQ 1080p 30. FCP will know the shooting mode of those clips and will import them correctly. In order to edit in a timeline without rendering you need to have the sequence settings match the transfer/import settings. Then set the sequence to do any renders in Pro Res by going to the Sequence menu>Sequence Settings, clicking on the Render Settings tab and changing the render codec to Pro Res instead of “use sequence codec.” Using this method is a win-win situation because you get the small file sizes of the EX Long GOP format but the short rendering times of Pro Res.
I hope I’ve understood your questions correctly and answered them in a way that makes sense to you.
– Don
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Someone emailed me with this exact question about a month ago. This person is living in South East Asia but is planning to come to North America within 2 years His situation is somewhat different than yours in that he wants to start a stock HD footage company here and sell to the North American market but still keep his options open to sell to PAL countries.
Between him and myself we agreed that he’ll shoot in both HQ progressive modes if time permits him to get the same shot twice. If not, then he’ll just get the shot in HQ 1080p 30. I recommended shooting in the largest frame size possible and 30 frames instead of 24 for the smoother look of panning and zooming. 30 fps is also easier to use for the purchaser of the footage in that it can be simply dropped into a 29.97 timeline here in North America.
There is software available to cross-convert between NTSC and PAL footage, so you have to decide what format you’ll be selling more of and choose that one for shooting. But whatever format you choose, make sure it’s progressive because it looks better on today’s LCD and plasma displays.
But don’t take my word for it. Do a test with interlaced and progressive and see the differences for yourself.
– Don
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It’s my understanding that lens controllers are lens-specific, in that a controller for the stock EX lens may not work on a 3rd party one. That being said, probably the least expensive controller for the stock lens is the Libec ZC-9EX and can be viewed here:
Click on “Other Accessory” on the lower right side of the web page. The Libec piece has record start/stop, zoom and last clip review functions.
– Don
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[Stephen May] “All that said, I’m probably pretty behind in my Quicktime Updates.”
You’re not alone. I’m also using QT 7.3.1 because of its stability with the rest of my FCS2 suite. My past practice is to not update anything unless a piece of software critical to my work will not run because something else needs updating. When I do need to update I never, ever do it in the middle of a project.
Alternatively, a lot of users will, or should, clone their startup drive to a bootable external hard disc (firewire 400 minimum) if they feel compelled to try the latest and greatest software updates. If it doesn’t work out they can always boot up using the external drive and carry on like nothing happened. Programs like Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper are designed for this. With Leopard and its Time Machine software you can do the same thing as long as you have a dedicated drive set aside for this one purpose and it’s always connected and running.
– Don
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[Stephen May] “So does the shockmount attach to the (hot-shoe?) mount that is directly above the onboard mic, and to the side of the shotgun mount that I’ve been using?”
Nope. There’s another K-Tek piece that can be found here:
https://www.ktekbooms.com/products.php?id=81
that goes right inside the stock Sony mic holder. It’s got a bolt on the end that the K-Tek shock mount attaches to. The cylinder is just a tad smaller in diameter than the Sony mic clamp but I just wrap some black camera tape around it until it fits snugly inside when the clamp is tightened down on it. These K-Tek pieces are widely available so you shouldn’t have much difficulty in finding them at most broadcast supply stores.
K-Tek also makes a mic adapter for the cold shoe but I prefer to keep the mic in its stock location and save the cold shoe for other things like lighting or a wireless rig.
– Don