[Emre Tufekci s.o.a.]

Steadicam 100%…. on the scene with the silver bowling ball you can see the operator running in low mode.

Emre Tufekci
http://www.productionpit.com

[Emre Tufekci s.o.a.]

You can use the USB port on your computer. Here is a link to a previous thread where I had referenced the pages in the HVX manual where it shows you how to do it step by step.

Hope it helps

https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/193/879129

Emre Tufekci
http://www.productionpit.com

[Emre Tufekci s.o.a.]

Back in the old days of filming documentaries here is trick I used to use since I didnt have a 1stAC.

Put your dolly in the starting point (a) and focus the camera. Place your index finger on on the top, between the lens and the zoom control (essentially creating a hard stop).

Then with out lifting your finger have the dolly move to the end of shot (b) and re-focus. Now place your thumb under the lens leaning on the bottom end of the zoom control.

Now you should have 2 hard stops that you can pull focus without looking at the lens.

It might not work if your subject moves back and forth as opposed to linear move but its worth a try.

Emre Tufekci
http://www.productionpit.com

[Emre Tufekci s.o.a.]

Make sure the Camera is set to Firewire mode not USB (refer to manual page 83).

Than go to clip view mode, than hold down MCR button for 2 seconds to go to external connection mode (Page 84).

ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/pub/Panasoni…_AG-HVX200.pdf

Emre Tufekci
http://www.productionpit.com

[Emre Tufekci s.o.a.]

Aside from Jeff’s excellent recommendation you can use 2/3″ Prime lenses with no adapter.

https://www.canon.com/bctv/products/fj_prime.html

But they will NOT give you same DOF as 35mm primes but they will be faster than and cleaner than any zoom lens.

Go to rental house and test them.

Just another option.

Emre Tufekci
http://www.productionpit.com

[Emre Tufekci s.o.a.]

I finished 3 client projects while snowed in ahead of schedule. 🙂

We lost power for 2 hours and I kept going on my UPS batteries.

But back to the original question:

-My offices are in Bethesda MD and I also have a system at home. When I telecommute and there is no client around, its a very relaxed environment (no dress code), but I find myself stuck in front of the computer for hours without a break. My wife has to remind me to eat food. I enjoy what I do so much I actually have to discipline myself not to push too hard. The only times I take a break is to clear my mind for 5-10 minutes so I can go back and watch what I did objectively.

Just like Mike:
-No going to the mall
-No unnecessary breaks
-30 minute lunch and back to work.

I do a lot of work with studios in LA and when we do a live video chat, I dont dress up but make sure its a very sterile environment.
I also close all other windows on my desktop as they can see my screens. So no cow forums…. 🙁

Emre Tufekci
http://www.productionpit.com

[Emre Tufekci s.o.a.]

I hear you herb and agree,

There is no one solution for companies of different sizes but I dont think Tapeless workflow is out of reach of small companies.

But here is a small cost breakdown of archiving and storage for small companies:

-P2 express slot card reader $2000 (not needed if you want to use your camera.)
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=Panasonic+AJ-PCD35+5-Bay+P2+Drive&N=0&InitialSearch=yes

-10 Slot VXA machine $1200

https://www.amazon.com/Exabyte-VXA-2-PacketLoader-Packet-Autoloader/dp/B0000TN1DE

-VXA tapes 160GB at $70

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006HYOH/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0000TN1DE&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1GP66TBCE5HMQXPHR3SB

-Caldigit Raid 1 Drive for online storage $500

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=cart&A=details&Q=&sku=592170&is=REG

So for under $5000

You have and storage and archiving system that can support any NLE and be very reliable. You would not need any decks since a P2 camera can shoot HD or SD.

You can bill your clients for archiving (hard drives, vxa tape) just like you would bill them for deck rentals or edit bay rentals.

Of course XDCAM would cost you nearly nothing to archive but it has its disadvantages as well.

I just wanted to present some alternatives with prices.

Emre Tufekci
http://www.productionpit.com

[Emre Tufekci s.o.a.]

Tape is much more reliable than any disk backup.

Both have advantages and disadvantages, with a 6000 tape library we are very quickly moving to get rid of them all. The space used to house them will be turned into edit bays to generate money. Big cost savings there.

But instead of Data tape I might suggest a novel approach – video tape.

Video tape cannot store project files, different formats require decks. DV, BETASP, DIGIBETA, MPEG IMX,DVCPROHD, HDCAM, HDCAMSR, HDV…etc Thats a lot of money to buy or rent.

a few dropouts here and there
Digital back-ups are lossless and no drop outs. There is also no time wasted digitizing, plug and play.

The one major tapeless project I had I backed up to DVCPRO HD tape when I was done. If someone wants to recut it 5 years from now, short of a fire, it’ll still be there.

Our content will there even if there is fire with offsite storage and 3rd party cloud computing. When you commit your tapeless content to tape you also loose all the metadata, clip based editing/re-linking and option of MXF aware database search.

I just wanted to point out its not just black and white when comparing both workflows. There are things I miss about tape but at this point in our growth it seems so far away.

I still have Beta and DV decks available for the occasional client that has tape but that number has diminished greatly. (less than %10 of our projects are tape based.)

Emre Tufekci
http://www.productionpit.com

[Emre Tufekci s.o.a.]

We use a system by VXA,

https://www.tandbergdata.com/us/en/products/search-result/?action=2&product=7&ref=166

It has been adequately problem free but in hind sight we might have gone for LTO, cost was an issue and this was cheaper.

Each edit bay has a RAID 1 drive (G-Safe by Gtech) that is used to archive content (1.5 TB).

The VXA is a multi tape drive that holds 10 tapes (1.6 TB)

Every night the footage is automatically backed up. Once the drive is full we assign new RAID 1 drive and the old one gets transfer to a holding spot. It is NEVER turned off just monitored with its external display. The VXA tapes are swapped out and the old tapes are archived.

Note: We are extremely displeased with G-TECH, 12 failures in 10 months, zero customer support. But thats another thread…

Emre Tufekci
http://www.productionpit.com

[Emre Tufekci s.o.a.]

John,

We have a Rimage P2 archiving solution (60K) to Blu-Ray and we do not use it.

I would recommend a tape based system with a raid 1 back up.

Emre Tufekci
http://www.productionpit.com