[Don Greening]

There isn’t much that gets past Clint.

– Don

[Don Greening]

Also make sure that the multiclip is set to “Un-collapsed”.

– Don

[Don Greening]

Sorry, I’m a frayed knot.

The only other thing you could do is to connect a compatible HDV deck or camera to the firewire port and get a backup of what you’re shooting that way, or from composite or component out, and of course from the SDI connection.

– Don

[Don Greening]

Flip video is square pixel web video? Okay. I thought it was some sort of consumer camcorder. If it’s 1280 x 720 square pixels then you can still down convert it to 853×480 square pixel DV NTSC if you want. It’ll work out to the same thing in the final render, anyway. I would use Compressor to do the down convert.

– Don

[Don Greening]

Agreed. No one, especially Sony or Sandisk want to hear about their own cards failing. And neither do I, but as they say, *stuff* happens. I’ve got a substantial amount of money tied up in genuine Sony SxS Pro cards now to support 2 cameras so I need them to be reliable. So far so good.

– Don

[Don Greening]

[Lauren Williams] “This is my first posting here but am a convert!”

Well, you just stumbled onto the best FCP help site in the free world (maybe that other world, too). Not me, mind you. I just help out when i can but I’m no expert. It’s others here that are.

[Lauren Williams] “So how much do you know about muffled sound repair?”

Not a lot, I’m afraid. I’m usually blessed with the option of having multiple audio tracks to choose from during the edit but I also make sure the audio is sounding good before I roll the cameras. So….

I have changed the subject title to reflect your new request, so maybe someone more knowledgeable than myself will respond. I know there are several audio filters in FCP that can affect the higher frequencies and make the audio pop a little more so it’s a bit more understandable. I think the best program for this might be Soundtrack Pro, though. Anyway, here’s a link to a detailed 2 part description of all the audio filters in FCP.

https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/basic_audio_filter_guide.html
https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/basic_audio_filter_guide_pt2.html

Perhaps you’ll find the right one for your application. It’s always been my experience, however, that the way to fix poor audio is to re-shoot.

– Don

[Don Greening]

[Carl Battreall] “The logical step above a EX3 with a NANO Flash would be the RED One (until the Scarlet arrives).”

Unless you’re obliged to shoot on your own, like ENG work, for example. Operating a RED One requires a crew, doesn’t it?

– Don

[Don Greening]

Are you trying to create a final 4:3 master using your DVX footage and the 16:9 footage? If so then create your 720 x 480 DV NTSC timeline and drag your DVX 4:3 footage into it.

[Lauren Williams] “I’m using MPEG Streamclip to convert the Flip footage but when I try to make it 720×480, it causes distortion of the original footage.”

You have to tell FCP that your flip footage is actually widescreen footage. In the Browser window select one of your converted Flip clips and put a check mark in the anamorphic column then drag the clip into the timeline. FCP will automatically letterbox your clip. Resize your clip in the canvas until the top and bottom edges of the frame is filled. The sides will have disappeared off the edges but now you’ll have a 4:3 or “centrepunched” version of your widescreen clip. Once your edit is complete you can highlight the centrepunched clip and copy it to the clipboard (Cmd-C). Then highlight all the other Flip clips that aren’t resized and then hit “Option-V” without the quotes. A dialogue box will come up with options on which attributes you wish to paste onto the highlighted clips. Choose to keep the “scale” and “distort” attributes and click OK. Now all your other Flip clips should match the first one you fixed.

– Don

[Don Greening]

[Todd Roush] “He said EVERYTHING is manual and I may be wrong but I thought he said there is either no auto focus or that it’s so bad it’s useless.”

I’ve got an EX1 and and EX3 they both have auto focus but it’s slow to acquire the target depending on how far you’re zoomed in and what your F stop is. Obviously the farther you’re zoomed in and the more open your iris is the shallower your DOF will be and that’s what affects how fast the auto focus works. The upside to this is the fact that once the auto focus locks on it’s not easily confused if someone momentarily walks in front of your target. It will hold focus for quite a while even with a larger target in the viewfinder. There are several focus aids on the EX cameras that really help in acquiring your target:

• focus assist – when you get close the camera will lock on by itself. I don’t use this- that’s just me.
• peaking – a coloured outline will appear around something in focus – several levels of peaking avail.
• expanded focus – zoom in 2X more while recording. This is a great feature.

The EX cameras have an LCD viewfinder that is sharp enough for critical focus – a first in this class of camera.

The EX cameras are not what I would describe as “point and shoot” cameras. They take more work to learn to use properly but the results are more than worth the effort. But you aren’t just buying the camera: you’re also buying into the workflow. Remember, these record to solid state media. And there’s nothing under 40 grand that comes close to their low light performance. And no lens ramping, meaning you can zoom in all the way and your iris will not close down from f1.6 to f2.2 – not like my XL2 does.

Downside – only 14X zoom and your A1 has 20X. I could go on but this is a Canon forum. BTW, when we do 3 camera shoots and the final delivery is for DVD I use my XL2 along with the 2 EX cameras. I love that XL2. Other than the fact that it records to tape 🙂

– Don

[Don Greening]

Hello again, Martin

Well, what can I say: you pays your money and you takes your chances. Even Philip Bloom said that he would not use SDHC cards in a professional capacity because “it’s just too risky.” As I said in your previous thread I’ve never had a corrupted clip or lost one from a Sony SxS Pro memory card. So far! If you want to see the full interview where Philip talks about SDHC cards compared to SxS cards you can find it here:

https://www.macvideo.tv/camera-technology/interviews/index.cfm?articleId=114983

The conversation about the EX cameras and the solid state memory options start at 07:45 minutes into the interview.

– Don