Don Greening
Forum Replies Created
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Minimum requirements for editing EX footage:
Mac OS 10.4.11
QT 7.3.1
FCP 6.0.2
Sony Transfer Tool software
Sony FAM driverWorks on Intel or PPC G5
The only thing you can’t use on your G5 is the free Sony Clip Browser. It’s Intel only.
– Don
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[leon mills] “I take it the EX3 would fall under the category:
o Inter-frame based recording formats below 50Mbs
Thus making it unacceptable? “
Sounds like it, doesn’t it? Perhaps recording to the Flash XDR recorder via HD-SDI would make EX footage acceptable for broadcast.
– Don
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You have two options:
1. Format the shared drive in FAT32 binary. This is the only format that will allow both Windows and Mac computers to read and write to the same drive without buying any extra software. FAT32 is also the the format of the SxS Pro memory cards. You’ll notice that long clips on the cards are split into 4 Gbyte chunks. This is the file size limit of FAT32 formatting. The same holds true for the FAT32 formatted hard drive. If you want to share the EX files between platforms you need use the Sony clip browser on the Mac to manually split the files into 4 Gbyte pieces and put them on the shared drive for use with a Windows machine.
2. The easier way to share the files is to format your shared drive in Mac OS Extended. Then buy the program MacDrive for Windows. Put the software on the Windows machine and this will allow the client to connect any Mac formatted hard drive and be used by their computer.
https://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/
– Don
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[Rafael Amador] “Any helpful experience?”
Don’t start drinking until you’ve finished the shoot.
Raf, if you’re using the EX for this get used to seeing lots of half frame flashes from the rolling shutter thing when your friends start taking pictures. If it was me I’d shoot progressive and white balance with all available lighting sources reflecting off your white board. During the performance if they start using different coloured lights, so be it. Don’t try to W/B for the coloured lights or your finished project won’t look anything like what the original performance lighting was and how it reflected off people’s faces and clothing.
Set your on-camera mic to AGC because the ambient noise floor will be so high in the pub anyway you’ll just make more work for yourself trying to ride the gain controls manually while you’re trying to also be a camera operator. If you had a helper in charge of the audio I’d suggest something else, but not in this situation.
That’s all I can think of right now.
– Don
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[Andy Nickless] “Surely a higher shutter speed is going to exaggerate the strobing?”
The reason for my post is because I’m finding that a lot of EX users don’t realize that they need to have the shutter switch turned on before they’re able to control the shutter speed. With the switch off the camera will default to the same shutter speed as the frame rate i.e. 24p will be shot at 1/24th sec. which is too slow to record smooth motion during camera moves. A good shutter speed baseline to start at is always at twice the frame rate.
24p (23.98) – 1/48
25p – 1/50
30p (29.97) – 1/60
50i – 1/50 (still recording 25fps but with 2 interlaced fields)
60i (59.94) – 1/60 (still recording 30fps but with 2 interlaced fields)This advice is based on my own experience but is also mirrored in articles I’ve read.
Strobing video is defined these days as the “Private Ryan” look and is achieved by using high shutter speed settings. There seems to be some confusion, at least to me, on how people use the terms “stroby video” and video that suffers from motion blur because the shutter speed is too low. Whatever the original poster is describing I’m just trying to cover all the bases by mentioning the shutter switch and where one should start with regard to shutter speed testing.
– Don
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[Arif Syed] “Sony PD170 is not HD, correct?
Correct. Most people who are buying new cameras and want to future-proof their business are buying HD cameras. If most of your work is destined for the web then I would suspect buying a good camcorder-style SD camera makes sense. There is only one handheld HD camera I know of that comes close to the PD170 in low light performance in the 1/3″ chip class and that’s the new Sony Z7U.
The Sony PMW EX1 is also a handheld HD camera and it actually beats the PD170 in low light tests but the EX is in a different class in that it uses 1/2″ chips. It’s also more money than the Z7U.
– Don
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The A1 is a great camera and Canon sells a ton of them. Weddings require a camera that’s good in low light and 1/3″ chip CCD HDV cameras like the A1 are not as good in low light as say, a Sony PD170 which is the king of low light shooting and used by most wedding people. My advice is to borrow an A1 and try it in a wedding situation as a test. If you like the result then you’ll feel better about spending the money on one.
– Don
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Make sure your shutter control switch below the lens on the front of the camera body is set to “on” and that your shutter speed is set to at LEAST 1/48th per sec. if shooting 24 fps.
– Don
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[Terry A. Davis] “1) What is the best codec(s) for the timeline for HDV, Canon 24P/30P, and XDCam EX files, and is our G5 fast enough to edit the files? “
Probably ProRes. Yes, your G5 should be fine for editing in this codec. Keep in mind that G5’s have been used for editing uncompressed 8 and 10 bit codecs for years without issue. The key here is to have the fastest hard drive array you can afford, 5 drive minimum, 8 drive arrays even better.
[Terry A. Davis] “2) What is the best way to monitor the HD output from FCP for editing and color correction? (I am undecided between a HDTV and a computer LCD, with some sort of output device from the G5) “
For Mac people I would have to recommend the Matrox MXO. With this you can monitor broadcast quality for colour correction/grading using an Apple 23″ Cinema HD Display.
https://www.matrox.com/video/en/products/mxo/
[Terry A. Davis] “3) I have been told that ProRes422(available in FCP V2?) is very efficient and file sizes are small. How big and fast does storage have to be, given the appropriate codec(s).
“As I eluded to in my first answer, a SATA array formatted with RAID 5 would be preferable.
– Don
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[stefano bianco] “really there is no way I can work with jpeg footages in multiclip environment? anybody had my same experience??”
FCP requires that all multiclip components be the same format, all DV, DVCPRO 50, HDV etc. A future version will probably allow for multi-codec, multiclip editing.
– Don