[Gigi Harris]

thanks, I’ll try that.

gigih7

[Gigi Harris]

I have the edit tab of the drop down menu bar also continuously disappearing as well. Have trashed preferences, repaired permissions and run disc warrior and still no luck. the only way I get it back is to close and reopen FCP 7. I have a back pro 8core with 4 gigs of ram. This happens early on in a project without much editing and no other programs open. Any clues. Is this a re instal of operating system problem. It just started happening yesterday. Really annoying as I use the drop down menu a lot.

gigih7

[Gigi Harris]

Warren,

Definitely capturing directly to prores is the way to go with the Z5U. When editing MP2 footage captured to prores, there is a negligible difference to that of AVCHD. Both have pros and cons. I do a lot more weddings than commercials, infomercials, documentaries and music videos. But I do enough of these to tell you that shooting M2T and tape at the same time is great. Editing is a breeze. I guess the only time I would really think about the minimal quality difference is if my video were shot 24P and transferred to film
For theatrical distribution. Otherwise I would definitely go with the Z5U if weddings is your mainstay. You can always output your final to quicktime and print back to video for a hard tape copy for archiving. As I said before, AVCHD, M2T, and tape all have their place in the wedding business. I shoot a lot for other companies and have to send in the tapes. Sending flash cards is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too expensive. So I have the best camera (Z5U) to serve all those purposes. Those people giving opinions and advise, unless they understand the wedding business and the huge volume of footage, they would understandably vote for AVCHD tapeless. Old technology isn’t always the worse.
In regards to the quality in comparison to the pd170. It depends on what you mean by quality. The PD170 is an unbelievable camera, great low light and rock solid. Love it. But it doesn’t shoot HD. Now if you are looking to go into the HD world but still want the choice to shoot SD which most HD cameras do, then the HVR-Z5U is every bit as wonderful as the PD170. In some ways much better. 20X lens, 3.23 inch led monitor (I think it’s bigger) also the Z5U shoots true native 24/30 progressive. The Z5 will also give you far more options to adjust the image than you find on the PD-170.

Here is a link to my documentary page with my South African Gim scenes. One of my favorite docs to date. Loved working on the safari. https://web.me.com/gigih7/Spirit_of_Play_Video_Productions/Documentaries.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrJic7yiuxo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrJic7yiuxo&feature=related Gim South Africa Langa part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xckcxOdqr6s I shot the american interviews but most of the footage was shot by the students in South Africa, alot using a camera for the first time, so the shots were not always the best. I learned so much about South Africa that I was never aware of. Especially apartheid. would absolutely love to visit. It has been a dream of mine. I would love to see some of your South african work.

gigih7

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[Gigi Harris]

Didn’t mean to unsubscribe. Hit wrong button. Hope this puts me back on this thread.

gigih7

[Gigi Harris]

HI Warren,

I did a South african documentary a few years back with Northwestern Kellogg University GIM Program. Fell in love with the country. What part do you live in?

In regard to your post, yes I still shoot with the Z5U and love love love it. Flash (M2T) files as well as shoot tape at the same time. Best of both worlds. I still like tape as archive and need it for weddings I shoot for others. The camera is rock solid, absolutely fabulous in low light. Up there close to the PD170 and 2100. the all time best low light cameras. I also am a huge fan of the Sony 970 battery (the real sony still in package not the knock offs) This battery lasts forever and out lasts every other battery on the planet bar none. I have had them all. I love the fact that the camera also shoots native 24/30. Great for Docs and Music videos. I Edit with FCP 7 (still some kinks after doing a clean instal with snow leopard) But there are alot of improvements as well, I shoot HDV or M2T and Edit Pro Res. Pro res is a dream and render times are a fraction of HDV. (Never ever edit an HDV timeline unless doing straight cuts or simple transitions. useful if printing back to video, but that’s about it) Definitely less hard drive space needed but the rendering times for effect heavy timeline is unbearable. It’s worth the money to by some 2 terabyte external firewire drives or Raid. Editing in ProRes gives better color space and green screen is alot easier. If you are not interested in going to tape at all, you still can shoot flash M2T. The new AVCHD tapeless HXR-NX5U might be a good choice for you. The camera is almost identical outside of being tapeless. Call me old fashioned. but I still like tape for archiving as well as shoot flash. Whats not to love by being able to do both at the same time. Hope this helps

gigih7

[Gigi Harris]

Kiki,
Are you looking for an HDV camera or AVCHD? If you are looking for HDV at a low cost, I would say the Sony FX7. Now this is a 3 chip CMOS camera but they are 1/4 not 1/3. I know this camera is a 20X lens which is nice if you are looking for a second camera. https://www.videomaker.com/article/13066/
I have done a three camera shoot using this as my third camera along with the FX 1000 and the Z5U. they integrated together very nicely. Had to do a little color correction (usually do for weddings) because the light sources were varied at each angle. But I was not disappointed one bit. Important not to go automatic on one or a few or the cameras. Better to manually adjust them all and white balance, as the auto balance on all can very greatly. Of course, you can handle much in post but better to try to match. That camera I have seen for as little as $1500 new. OF course the FX 1000 would be my next choice but you’re talking more bucks there. Hope this helps I know many hmmmm and Hawwww about how we should go tapeless, but that is easier said than done when you are in the wedding business especially shooting for others. I love my Z5U because I have a choice. I think you can attach the sony hard drive via firewire on the FX7 if you ever want to go tapeless as you can for both the FX1000 and the Z5U. Where there is a will there is a way. Hope this helps

gigih7

[Gigi Harris]

Thanks again.

Actually my FCP certified trainer is also the Genius that installed my FCP 7. He specifically wanted to do a clean instal and was the one that told me. I know we did because I forgot to copy a few things and lost them after the instal. He is one of the Genius Bar guys that is also a one to one trainer. He works as a FCP editor in a popular Chicago editing house he is and outstanding editor. You’re right, I should learn to do this myself and I for sure will in the future. Sort of hind sight now. In the meantime I am just trying to find my way through.

Yes, I am capturing via firewire and have tried different new cables. They are fine. I thought that may be the problem early on, but this is a sporadic problem happening with different cables so I threw that possibility out in troubleshooting. I know that it’s not a good idea to run other applications while capturing, but since I did it in FCP 6 all the time with no issues, I have been concerned. I will definitely read up on repairing permissions. I have backed off on trashing preferences because I have so many favorite effects I have created as well as transitions and settings for different jobs. I didn’t know what would happen to those jobs I am in the middle of if I trash the preferences. Have you ever heard of this issue or has anyone else on this forum or am I one of those rare weird situations that happen to very very few or am the first. hate when that happens!!!!

gigih7

[Gigi Harris]

Scott, I forgot to mention I don’t know if the genious did the Prokit updates until there were no more. I don’t know what Prokit updates and SL updates are. God, i feel pretty stupid. I should know these things. I have never repaired permissions. Never had to before. Things ran really smooth in FP 6. It was a stable workhorse for me.

gigih7

[Gigi Harris]

Hi scott, thanks for your reply.

In regard to your questions, yes, my install was a clean install. A final cut pro genius at the apple store did it. Yes, all the drivers were updated and no I never ever capture to the system drive. I have 4 internal 1.5 drives and I capture to one of those separate to my system drive. I know 4 gigs of ram isn’t a lot. I feel it when editing effects, HD , etc. But this was SD captured to a fresh new project where it was the only one open in FCP. As I said before, with FCP 6 I never had an issue like this. Is it possible that Snow leopard is more of a Ram hog. I wonder if anyone else has experiences this blinking green screen. When its happened before without a crash, I do see that the footage is all there no blink when done if it makes it through the capture without crashing. But it is scary and because of the crashes definitely something that shouldn’t be happening

gigih7

[Gigi Harris]

Hi Kiki,

I haven’t had any experience with the kino lights or Cool lights so I can’t give an opinion. I did by the canon Vixia 40 for about 700 and it has been a great little work horse third camera and also my digitizing/Capture camera. It shoots HD and SD and the picture is really nice for a one chip. It does shoot native 30/24 progressive which is unusual for a camera in that price range. Great bang for the buck. Again, no capability to go tapeless, but for weddings, most videographers I know are still going that route out of necessity. I do also have the sony FX 1000 which is almost identical to the Z5U except there are no XLR inputs, no second she whole at top and it does not shoot native Progressive. Otherwise it is a fabulous second camera. Is 3500 your total budget for all the cameras or just the second camera. I still would go with an HD camera that shoots SD. This way you can use it as an extra HD camera on a multi cam shoot. I always get my cameras from B&H Photo and buy the 5 year extended warranty. That also covers damage. I think Sony has that warranty too but I think B& H is the best. I know they cost, but by year three, digital cameras just seem to need work. Especially the tape mechanism can go. The warranty has paid for itself many times over on most of my cameras. Once I didn’t by it, and I probably dished out over 1500 on repairs over a 4 year period with my panasonic.

gigih7