Don Greening
Forum Replies Created
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[Lucy Mal] “One thing that has confused me is what easy set up i do in FCP and do I do the easy set up before or after ingesting the footage?”
You can do the easy setup after you’ve ingested. Editing XDCAM EX natively or in a ProRes timeline is dependant upon how you like to work. Editing EX footage is more processor intensive because Final Cut Pro has to ‘conform’ the footage to the MPEG 2 long GOP codec at each edit point. The advantage here is that your footage will take up much less room on your media drive.
Editing in a ProRes timeline is less processor intensive because it’s an ‘I-frame” codec but takes up more storage on your editing drive.
If you choose to edit in a ProRes timeline just choose no when you’re asked if you want change the sequence settings to match your footage. If you want to edit natively then choose yes when FCP asks you. In the FCP menu at the top choose: Sequence – Settings (or Cmd 0). When the window pops up here are the settings you should have:
under the general tab:
height/width should be 1920×1080
Aspect ratio should be HDTV1080i (16:9)
Pixel aspect ratio set to Square
Field dominance: None
Editing timebase 25Quicktime video settings: Apple ProRes 422 Quality 100%
Using ProRes 422 under QT settings will tell FCP to render all effects in ProRes instead of XDCAM EX regardless of whether you’re editing in either format.
[Lucy Mal] “I’m shooting in Africa so some of my rushes are a bit overexposed, which doesn’t help with the quality problem once it’s gone through youtube. “
You’re right. There’s not a lot of exposure latitude on the EX series of cameras so you have to choose what’s more important: saving the highlights at the expense of losing information in the shadows or visa versa. It depends entirely on your subject matter. If you’re shooting scenery then save the highlights. You can always pull a bit of detail from the shadows in post by slightly increasing the blacks and mid tones using FCP’s colour correction. Once the detail from over exposed highlights is gone you can’t get it back.
[Lucy Mal] “I’ve also been reading on the apple fcp notes about rendering in apple pro res when I’ve finished editing. Would you do this or do it natively?”
My workflow is pretty simple and i’m happy with the results on Vimeo. I edit in a RroRes timeline. When finished editing I always export a ProRes movie and then open it up in Quicktime Player 7. I then choose a frame size (usually 1280×720) set the quality and then export an MP4 directly from QT 7. The last step is to upload to, in your case, YouTube.
My export settings in Quicktime Player:
Export settings for the video tab
File Format: MP4
Video Format: H.264
Data Rate: 5000 kbits/sec.
Optimized for: download
Image size: 1280×720
Frame rate: 25 (for you) mine is 29.97Now click the Video Options tab at the bottom of the window.
H.264 Video Options.
Restrict profile(s) to: MAIN
Encoding mode: Best quality (multi-pass)Always try to give places like YouTube and Vimeo the best quality movie you can. How they encode or what else they do to the movie after the fact is beyond your control.
Cheers,
Don
Don Greening
A Vancouver Video Production Company
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com -
[Steve Mullins] “I cant find this in the ex3 manual so hopefully its possible?”
Yes it is. Go to the the EX3 menu and choose VIDEO SET (the third one down from the top). In that menu choose the first one that reads: YPbPr/SDI Out Select. Make sure it’s set to HD. Now you’ll be able to record from both the Component out and the SDI at the same time as well as to the camera’s internal cards.
– Don
Don Greening
A Vancouver Video Production Company
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com -
I’m happy to hear that everything worked out. I was starting to think there was something seriously wrong with your camera. Cheers .
– Don
Don Greening
A Vancouver Video Production Company
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com -
That’s crazy. The exposure is definitely still changing. Although it probably won’t make a difference go to the OTHERS menu and hit RESET ALL. See if that changes anything. When the camera changes the exposure is the iris on the lens barrel physically moving?
My only other suggestion is to take your EX3 to a camera repair place close by and see if they can get the exposure to remain constant. If they can’t then there’s something wrong with it and it should be sent to Sony Repair and have them deal with it. You might be able to speak to a Sony technician before you do that and ask if they’ve ever heard of this problem before. Make sure Sony knows you’ve had this issue since day one.
I wish I could be more helpful.
– Don
Don Greening
A Vancouver Video Production Company
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com -
Have a look at the reply at the link below.
https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/142/881492
– Don
Don Greening
A Vancouver Video Production Company
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com -
[Heiko Knoll] “Does anyone here know if there is a connection between the power circuit and that release button or does it just simply block the battery from accientally slipping out?”
There’s no electrical connection with the release button but it does hold the battery tightly against the camera battery pins. Try pushing the battery against the pins with your fingers and see if that turns the camera on. If it does then try using a small wooden shim or something similar to keep the battery tight against the pins.
In any event you’ll have to get the release button fixed.
– Don
Don Greening
A Vancouver Video Production Company
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com -
The stuttering zoom is a known issue with the EX3 along with the EX1 and EX1R. If there is a smooth zoom issue with the speed set to 10 or less then Sony won’t fix it. More information here:
https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/142/878108
Don Greening
A Vancouver Video Production Company
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com -
The only time this has come up previously was several years ago but it involved Final Cut Pro 6 and XDCAM Transfer 2.7. There was no mention from anyone about trouble with Premiere Pro and of course Sony Content Browser was several years away from being released. It turned out to be a bug in Final Cut Pro that was solved with updates to the program.
There was talk that if XDCAM EX files were imported into an existing project that duplicate filenames would appear but if the clips were imported into a new project the problem disappeared. Sony did come out with another program called Sony Log and Transfer that allowed the importing of XDCAM files from within Final Cut Pro and that also made a difference.
I don’t know if any of this info is going to be relevant to your situation but at least you know now that you were not the only one with this issue. For more info on this just do a search in this forum using the “duplicate clips” or “duplicate filenames” search terms.You’ll find stuff from as far back as 7 years ago.
– Don
Don Greening
A Vancouver Video Production Company
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com -
The EX1 doesn’t have an HDMI connector but the EX1R does. On that camera the HD SDI and component (RGB) signals are active at the same time but the HDMI connection is not. If you have a monitor that accepts a component connection then use that and leave the HD SDI for streaming.
– Don
Don Greening
A Vancouver Video Production Company
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com -
I’m using a Sony UWP-V6 wireless kit for an EX1R and EX3. I liked the first kit so much I bought a second one. I just discovered that this kit has unfortunately been discontinued according to the B&H Photo web site but they do suggest an alternate from Sony named the UWP-D16.
If this kit is anything like the UWP-V6 the performance should be stellar. It has a true diversity receiver which is a must for clean audio. The reason I was first drawn to the Sony UWP-V6 kit was because they did some of their testing on it with the EX series of cameras. I previously had problems with picket fencing and dropouts with other wireless brands but never with these. The price of the UWP-D16 is higher than mine by a $100.00 dollars or so USD.
– Don
Don Greening
A Vancouver Video Production Company
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com