[Fcp Leader]

I was the DiT on a multi camera feature shoot utilizing this workflow this past June, 2005. One, register the surprize on my face when I discovered the image was upside down! I was wholly unprepareded for this. You will need a cpu faster and more recent than my tiBook to effectively handle the upsidedown image. to edit using the slower machine, I had to create severa window layouts and use custom keyboard and button bars to edit effectively. My alBook, 1.67mHz’s ATI card was able to flip the image around and go out directly as a desktop preview from FCP, so I left the upsidedown images for the post facility to manage.

Upon my discovery that first day, the DP said to me, “any edit (NLE) worth it’s salt will rotate the image on ingest,’ but I’ve got to ask the the DP’s worth their salt out there, do you want to trust the nle to not introduce image artifacts when processing your footage? In the film past, any optical would cost you one generation.

We were also recording dual system sound and using a smart slate. There is currently no way I know of to get VITC into the HVX200, or no way to get the camera’s time out to jam external equipment. Yes, you could sync in post using TC offsets, but one time code would’ve been more effecient. The Sound Devices 744T digital recorder was used, it records using the Broadcast Wave audio format. Working with QT, there is a snafu here that you’d best research.

Week two, we added a camera, making this a 2 camera shoot. Neither of the cameras would sync reliably to each other (according to the camera dept), so we dropped the uniform TC idea all together. As it was, we has 29.97 free (or Time of Day) on the sound, 23.98 RR (record run for the first three days)/free on A Cam, and 23.98 free on the B cam. No timecode matched anywhere. This is a concern for multiclipping, where TC needs to match.

If you intend to shoot multicam and multiclip, then you need to get the camera’s synced or will have to use Aux Timecode for each track, setting each camera’s clip to 00:00:00 at the slate clap, or matching one camera’s TC to the other. With all three out of whack, it was easier to reset all three (Cam A, Cam B, and Sound) to 00:00:00. If not, sometimes the angles would be offset, not visible in the formed multiclip.

Following the shoot, the editor also voiced some concern over the image, that the edges/corners seemed soft when she viewed the image on her studio monitor. I personally feel that this adaptor and nikons allows film makers to use this camera to achieve a more film like look, but at such a price. The Red Rocks costs the camera 1.5 stops of light, potentially adds softness, and when it stops spinning, looks like a gossamer, black spider’s web over the image. Consider the alternative, MOVIETube and Superspeeds. You’ll regain the .5 stop you’ve lost over the Red Rocks, and pick up 2 stops with the Superspeeds (Nikon f2/2.8, Superspeeds T1.2/1.4). Oh yeah, no moving parts, no motor to flip on every shot or 9v battery to monitor.

By the way, you’ll need an aux viewfinder like a 6 or 7″ HD monitor on your camera. Don’t trust the on board viewfinder or LCD to help you focus accurately. This production used Marshall 7″ HD monitors with compnent analog inputs on both cameras plus a Panasonic L3400 17” monitor as a confidence monitor for the director.

With all this in consideration, TC, image inversion, and additional glass, I think any production would be more productive using a real HD viewfinder, MOVIETube and superspeeds. As for the TC limitation, contact me directly and I’ll explain the fix for that.

HTH’s,