Don Greening
Forum Replies Created
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[Luc Majno] “You say the best way is to copy the BPAV folder to the HDD.”
Correct.
[Luc Majno] “But then the originals stay on the camera?”
Yes, until you delete the media from the card.
[Luc Majno] “Isn’t the idea to off-load the clips to empty the card?”
Correct.
[Luc Majno] “You copy the folder and then delete it from the card?”
Tht’s right. You can make an exact duplicate of what’s on the card. Highlight the card icon on your desktop, choose “open”. There is one folder in there called the BPAV folder. Drag that to any other hard drive to copy it. Once the copying is complete you can drag the original BPAV folder on the card to your computer’s trash bin to empty the card. Then you can start the Sony Transfer Tool, navigate to your copied BPAV folder and transcode the native MP4 files to MOV files for editing. If you leave the copied BPAV folder alone (without altering anything inside it) you can always copy that BPAV folder back onto the card for later use with the EX1.
– Don
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Create your 4:3 sequence. Drag your footage in. FCP will automatically letterbox the footage. Double click your first clip to load it into the viewer. Change the clip size so it fills the top and bottom of the 4:3 frame with the left and right sides of the 16:9 footage out of frame. Hit Command C to copy the clip attributes to the clip board. Highlight all the rest of your clips. Hit Option V. A dialogue box will come up showing you which attributes are available. Choose to keep the frame size (or scale) and click OK. All your clips will be changed to reflect what you did with the first one. Then render and you’re done. This process is called a centre cut. Unless you live in the USA then it’s called a center cut ;0
– Don
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[Javad Ahmadi] “Now, the XDCam software handles the reader the same as the Camera and I start capturing?”
The USB reader should work the same as if you had an EX hooked up via USB. You do need to install the Sony FAM driver on to your Mac otherwise the reader (or camera for that matter) will not show up on your desktop. The FAM driver is available at the Sony web site as a free download as well as on the software installation CD that ships with the camera. The FAM driver will enable the USB reader or camera to mount on the desktop and is used like any other attached device like an external hard drive etc.
[Javad Ahmadi] “I filmed at 720i (1280×720). A particular setting I should change in the preference. Please advise.”
Each clip on the card has attached information about the recording mode and that data is read by the Sony Transfer Tool which in turn tranfers the data to FCP. Once your card is mounted and seen by both programs just choose the proper sequence setting in your “Easy Setups” menu withn FCP.
– Don
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[Javad Ahmadi] “My FCP version is 6.0.3. I installed XDCam EX clip browser, but I can not get it under my import menu inside FC.”
Sony’s Clip Browser software is not used for transfer to FCP. You have to use the Sony Transfer Tool for this purpose.
[Javad Ahmadi] “Another issue is that I used a Firewire cable to connect Sony EX1 into my G5 and it does not mount on my desktop?”
The EX1 does not use the firewire port to transfer files. The EX1’s USB connection is what’s used if you intend on using the camera to transfer files from the SxS Pro memory card to your computer.
The above information is all in your EX1 owner’s manual.
– Don
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Hi Mick,
The laptop I use is a Macbook Pro with an Express 34 slot. If you’re using a Windows laptop your workflow may be somewhat different. Emptying an SxS Pro memory card using my Macbook Pro couldn’t be simpler for me.
– Don
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[Mick Haensler] “My only question is how to reformat the SxS card out of the camera for continuous shooting.”
I do this all the time using my laptop. Open the card icon on the desktop, drag the BPAV folder to the trash. Empty the trash. Eject card. Done.
– Don
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You can monitor using the AV in/out or component if you want. Whether SDI is better for that I wouldn’t know but there are many monitoring choices with the EX.
– Don
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Fluorescent lighting also presents a problem for CMOS rolling shutter, at least here in NTSC land. I talked to an EX user the other day who was getting black rolling horizontal bars in the VF and recorded to the card. His shutter speed was around 1/500th sec. at the time and had to go back to 1/60th sec. for the issue to be reduced to the point that it wasn’t really noticeable. He said he could still see the bars slightly at 1/120 sec. shutter speed.
Something to be aware of.
– Don
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[Arnljot Bringedal] “But that might be believing in Santaclause?”
Maybe not. Check this out:
https://www.totevision.com/Second/ToteVision%20-%20HD%20MONITORS.htm
Look for the 7″ HD monitor at the top of the page.
– Don
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[Randall League] “Is the difference between “prosumer” and normal “consumer” camcorders that great?”
Well, if you compare certain models that have “consumer” and “prosumer” versions you’ll find things like more professional connections on the prosumer version: XLR audio inputs instead of a miniplug, proper RCA composite A/V out/in connections instead of a fragile mini-connection that tends to break if you sneeze the wrong way. More control over your picture profile settings too, as well as being able to control more things with a dial or a switch instead of having to drill down into a menu to change something. A consumer and prosumer version of the same thing will share the same basic imager and lens, however.
[Randall League] “Should I go with High Def?”
I would. Future proof yourself and get something that can shoot both HD and SD. Of all the cameras that you have listed as possible candidates I would without question go for the Canon XH A1. There are tons of them out there already and lots of available accessories. It shoots both SD and HD but if it was me I’d always shoot HD and downconvert in post because downconverted HD always looks better in the end than shooting straight SD.
– Don