Doug Graham
Forum Replies Created
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That’s the way we do it…stagger the tape changes between the cameras. Be sure to record a “leader” on all your tapes beforehand. I record 60 seconds of color bars, but anything will do. That gives your capture software a running start so you don’t lose the first few seconds of the tape. Also, most tape defects occur in the first and last two minutes of the tape.
I don’t use the 83 minute tapes; I’m worried that the thinner tape stock will cause problems (although I haven’t heard of any).
I don’t use LP (available on some DV cameras…not sure about the HVX-200), because of potential playback problems, especially in devices other than the original camera.
A 63 minute tape should be enough unless you’re recording a Catholic or an Episcopal ceremony.
Go do a lot of test shooting with your HVX on Thursday and Friday. Two days isn’t a lot of time to get familiar with a new camera.
Regards,
Doug Graham -
Great!
Hey, didja see the Green Flash?
Regards,
Doug Graham -
“if there is a way to mount a shotgun mic to my old Sony 8 camcorder”
Yes. You’ll need a camera bracket, something like this one: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/133276-REG/Bescor_VB50_VB_50_Universal_Shoe_Mount.html
and a microphone mount to fit into the shoe, like this one:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/225809-REG/Azden_SMH1_SMH_1_Shock_Mount_for.html
“or rig it so I can carry and use it and my camcorder at the same time”
Yes, with some caveats. You can get a boom pole or a handle for the mic…but it’s better to have someone else hold it. Remember that the key to good audio is to get the mic within 2 feet or so of the sound source. Your camera, and you, are probably not in the best position to capture the audio. I’m sure you can find a volunteer to hold the mic for free.
“can I hook up the mic to a minidisc recorder if I want to record sound separately?”
Yes, but try it out with the MD before you buy it. The MD recorder might not supply it with enough power. In that case, one of the mics with its own power module would be required.
Regards,
Doug Graham -
Two hours is a lot of sunrise. The sun will travel a considerable arc in that time, and you’ll have to be zoomed out to catch it all. Fifteen minutes ought to do it, if you pick the right fifteen minutes.
Pointing the camera could be difficult…do you know just where the sun is going to come up? “In the east” covers a quarter of the horizon.
Setting exposure could be difficult, as the light levels will be changing a LOT. You could come out a day early, and see what exposure you need for the brightest part of the shot…then use that setting when you shoot the real thing. Or you could take an exposure reading two hours before sunset, and use that.
Which brings up an idea: Why not shoot the sunSET instead, and reverse it in post? This has advantages…you know where the sun is. You can decide exactly when to start shooting. You’ll know what exposure to use. You don’t have to get up before dawn. Unless the eastern horizon has some feature that must be in the shot, I’d recommend this approach.
In any case, use ND2 and set white balance to 5600K.
Regards,
Doug Graham -
Two hours is a lot of sunrise. The sun will travel a considerable arc in that time, and you’ll have to be zoomed out to catch it all. Fifteen minutes ought to do it, if you pick the right fifteen minutes.
Pointing the camera could be difficult…do you know just where the sun is going to come up? “In the east” covers a quarter of the horizon.
Setting exposure could be difficult, as the light levels will be changing a LOT. You could come out a day early, and see what exposure you need for the brightest part of the shot…then use that setting when you shoot the real thing. Or you could take an exposure reading two hours before sunset, and use that.
Which brings up an idea: Why not shoot the sunSET instead, and reverse it in post? This has advantages…you know where the sun is. You can decide exactly when to start shooting. You’ll know what exposure to use. You don’t have to get up before dawn. Unless the eastern horizon has some feature that must be in the shot, I’d recommend this approach.
In any case, use ND2 and set white balance to 5600K.
Regards,
Doug Graham -
[Richard Allen] “It was working fine for about 6-9 months, then one day sloppy playback.”
Then something, either hardware or software, has changed. If you can, try using Windows Restore to go back to a point where you were sure things were working OK.
If that doesn’t work, the next thing I’d do would be to remove the drive and see if it will work OK on another system. If the problem goes with the drive, replace it.
If the problem is not the drive, then carefully check all internal connections. Make sure all cooling fans are working. Clean out dust from inside the case.
If you have a spare power supply, swap it in. If that doesn’t fix the problem, then reinstall Windows and all your application software. (I left this one for last because it’s the most bother.)
Regards,
Doug Graham -
You shouldn’t have playback problems on a system of that power, even when using a single drive instead of a RAID.
If your drive uses an IDE interface:
Check to see that your drive’s data bus is working in its optimum mode. Go to Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager/ and select the data bus your video drive is on…might be either Primary or Secondary IDE channel.
Right click the bus and select “Properties/Advanced Settings”. The “Current Transfer Mode” should be DMA 5, or any other DMA mode..l.but not PIO. The other settings should be “Auto” and “Use DMA if Available”.
If you’re using an external drive with a USB or Firewire interface…don’t. Take the drive out of its enclosure and mount it in your case as an internal drive.
Turn off Windows’ Indexing service for the video data drive, and make sure that the drive isn’t set to Compressed mode.
If the drive is already internal, and uses a SATA or SCSI interface…I don’t know what to tell you.
Regards,
Doug Graham -
If the shake is only for a short period, it’s pretty easy to use pan/crop and keyframing to manually counter the shake.
The basic idea is to start with the first frame of the clip. Look for a couple of visual “markers”… small objects near the edges of the frame.
Forward a few frames. Grab the video window and reposition it in the pan/crop window so that your markers are returned to the positions they had in the first frame. Set a keyframe.
Continue in this fashion until you’ve worked your way through the entire clip. How long you can go between keyframes depends on the severity and frequency of the shaking.
Regards,
Doug Graham -
Well, the customer is always right…but I see a couple of problems with the concept.
1. The big attractions of the photo booth are privacy, and immediate delivery of the final product. This proposed video booth would do neither.
2. If you’re going to edit these, my assumption is that the vendor is planning on offering a fairly high value end product (a professionally edited video). However, the booth format would result in a very poor background, and very likely poor lighting as well.
3. Another advantage of video is movement. Putting the talent in a booth eliminates any kind of movement, and reduces the end product to one long “talking head” shot.
Regards,
Doug Graham -
The Media Manager problem is, I think, related to the version you are using (7.0c). 7.0d is available for download and fixes a number of bugs. 7.0e is also available, but I’ve heard some folks are having problems with it.
The halts while rendering might indeed be heat-related. If you have a little utility that can report the CPU and motherboard temperatures, run it while you’re rendering. If the temps go up to 60 C or more, you should think about getting more or better cooling fans. Also, if you haven’t blown the dust out of your machine in a while, do so.
Are you using an external drive as a video source or render destination? USB or Firewire interfaces can present a data bottleneck and a crash. Your drives, whether internal or external, should use SATA or SCSI interfaces.
Is your machine optimized for video editing? Running a lot of processes or background applications can use up resources. There’s a couple of good articles on Windows tweaks and streamlining available through Gary Bettan’s site, https://www.videoguys.com
Regards,
Doug Graham